Baer Does 3K
Today is a big day, one that I’ve been dreading, one that I’m just not ready for: today is the day that my baby Baer is no longer classified as a toddler. He is now… a preschooler. Baer starts 3K today.
In fairness, he’s been in the classroom since June. However, I feel like he’s “officially” starting 3K today because he and his classmates just had a summer vacation, and today is the start of the fall semester. Thus, I consider this to be the start of the school year and his preschool career.
Preschool! Man! How on earth did we get here? It feels like just yesterday Nate and I were bringing our little buddy home from the hospital, and it feels like the day after yesterday I was dropping him off in the infants’ room with bottles of milk. Now, we pack him an entire lunch, and he comes home full of stories and asking for more food after a day full of learning. I love watching him learn and grow, and as an occupational therapist who has been educated on childhood developmental stages, I get a sense of parental pride seeing him hit certain mile markers. A few I was particularly proud of include taking the stairs without holding a handrail, jumping on one foot, and playing pretend. I love watching a program with him and having him ask me appropriate follow-up questions. Yes, the nonstop “why?” questions can be a bit… grating, but I love when he they’re related to something we just saw or experienced.
Some other milestones that Baer is still working on include:
Riding a bicycle. He can ride a tricycle just fine, and a balance bike is no problem. We’re working on a bike with training wheels… and it’s taking some time. Hills scare him (they scare me, too!), and he doesn’t quite grasp that a wobble doesn’t equal a fall. But that’s okay, we’re getting there.
Dressing himself. He can undress himself, but the opposite is still a challenge. Honestly, I think that 90% of the issue is disinterest. He also thinks it’s funny to put things on backwards or inside out. Again, we’re getting there.
Concentration to tasks. This one makes me anxious because I’m a bit of a helicopter parent. When something is interesting, he can absolutely stay on task, but if the task isn’t something he’s absolutely engaged in, then he just won’t focus. At three, this isn’t necessarily the biggest deal (so I’m told…), but I would like to see an improvement on his attention to task by the time he moves up to K4.
Overall, my little guy is right on target and even surpassing those targets in certain areas! Speech and language development is insane. He is such a chatterbox, and I don’t even know where he picks up half of the things he says! He is 99.9% potty trained (just have to remind him to pee before bed and to “listen to [his] body,” as he likes to say), and he loves imaginary play. He loves sports and Spiderman, he likes to sing songs, put together puzzles, and count objects. He gives hugs and kisses and words of affection. He is so darn tall. He is so fast. He is so funny. He is my favorite.