Update: part 3

This ones all about Asher :)

Our boy is growing up so fast! i HATE that he's not my baby anymore, but I have to admit that I love all of the fun new activities he get's to be involved in!

Baseball

This Summer we signed him up for a city recreation baseball program for 4 and 5 year olds - they let him in, even though he wasn't quite 4 :)
The program is called "Smart Start" and it's for preschoolers and a parent. Each week they work on 4 skills - hitting, catching, throwing and running. They stay at a station for 15 minutes before moving on to the next, doing fun things like running backwards or throwing tennis balls at a target. Asher has LOVED it, and Matt has been adorable with him. During the last two weeks (this week and next week) they will be setting up a T-Ball game. This week the parents stayed right with their child, but next week the kids are supposed to be a little more independent...I can't wait to see that!
These kids are little, so even though they've been practicing this stuff for 7 weeks, they still don't really "get" it a lot of the time. This week a lot of kids ran the wrong way or picked up the ball after they'd just hit it, instead of running to first. It's hysterical.
Asher has done a great job! Lots of kids have had serious meltdowns while playing, but he's kept really cool. He's got a great stance, knows how to hold the bat, and connects with the ball almost all of the time! His favorite thing is the running, and he's pretty fast - usually one of the first 3 or 4 kids to finish a race :)
He doesn't throw or catch all that well, but he's got plenty of time to get better.
And if not, maybe he can be the designated batter :)

 

 

Swimming

Asher's also in swimming lessons this Tuesdays and Thursday this summer - we just started our second session. He LOVES the water - though we did have a rough start...
The first week of lessons he had a breakdown and cried the whole time. He ended up sitting next to me on the side and not doing anything.
But we talked about it and he promised to try harder next time. I told him all he had to do was try, and that if he didn't like it, he didn't have to do it. That I would be there the whole time. He told everyone we ran into the next day that he was "going to try really hard tomorrow!"
Thursday he got in the water - whimpering a bit - and kept his promise to me that he would "try really hard"
After about 5 minutes he was totally fine, and he's been a star pupil ever since.
He goes completely under water, blows bubbles, kicks and does his "ice cream arms" with everyone else and he LOVES it. We haven't had a chance yet to go to the pool for fun this Summer, but I can't wait to take him - he's getting quite adventurous!

 

The Rest
Other things about our boy...
He's so smart! I worried, for a time, that he wouldn't be as smart as Tessa. Surely her intellect has to be a freak occurrence? But he seems to be just as precocious :)
He's very interested in spelling, still, and asks me to spell words 100 times a day. It's a nice test for me, too, lol.  "Mommy, how do you spell airplane and helicopter?"
"airplane is a-i-r-p-l-a-n-e. helicopter is h-e-l-i-c-o-p-t-o-r."
"c-p-t-r?"
"No, c-o-p-t-o-r"
"oh...okay!"

He can spell his name and Tessa's name on the magnet board without help. He likes to write mom and dad, too, but still needs to be reminded how :)

He loves to "read" and spends 20-30 minutes every day looking at his books. He has some memorized and he tells the story to himself...it's so cute I can't stand it. I want to videotape him, but I know he'll stop if I try. I need to find a place to hide so I can tape him without him knowing!

He counts like crazy - to 100, easily.
For a time he would say "28, 29, 2-10, 20-11..."
Then I wrote all the numbers out for him and showed him how they start over. He picked it up very quickly!
He counts backwards from about 15 perfectly.
He counts backwards by 10's int eh funniest way, it just cracks me up...
He's say "seventy, sixty, five-dy, forty, three-dy, two-dy, one!" I haven't corrected him - it's just too cute!

He's obsessed with popsicles this summer - same as last year. If he doesn't have at least 3 a day he thinks he's been cheated.

Last thing...
The Circle of Life
He and Matt were in the backyard a few weeks ago, Matt was working on something and Ash was playing in the sandbox.
Ash says to Matt "Dad, did you play in the sandbox when you were a kid?"
Matt says "yes, I played in the sandbox when I was a kid"
Ash says "But then you grew up and became a man. And then I came along and now I'm the kid. One day I'll grow up and then I'll be the man, and then I'll have a kid, and he'll like to sandbox, too."
Matt says "You're so smart, mister!"

He's such a thinker! He comes up with stuff like this all the time. Our little philosopher :)