Growing up

We heard that the Nugget officially has a spot for preschool this fall! He'll attend twice a week, in the afternoons. We are so happy for him and a little nostalgic too. Preschool signals the beginning of a new life stage, which also means saying goodbye to toddler-dom. Come fall, we won't have a toddler - we'll have a preschooler. Wow. I'm still not sure where our baby went.

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The Nugget started calling us Mom and Dad instead of Mommy and Daddy. I don't know where he picked this up, but I'm not sure I'm happy about it. I guess as long as he doesn't start calling us Mother and Father, it's ok.

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In a blessed turn of events, the Nugget also has developed a new interest in crayons. He finally figured out just the right amount of pressure which yields satisfying dark lines, swirls, and polka dots. He helped me hang a recent picture to the fridge with his alphabet magnets. Hubby was at work at the time, so I told him that he could show Daddy his picture when he got home. The Nugget not only remembered, but loves to point out his masterpiece to Daddy anytime they're in the kitchen. He'll grab his Daddy's hand and declare, "Dad, I LOVE that picture."

Another new sedentary activity includes puzzles. Our amazing babysitter L gave the Nugget a boxed set of 4 wooden 12-piece puzzles for Easter. The Nugget adores them and we get to spend quality time mulling over how the wheels fit together. He is persistent and gets faster at them every day. His favorite, the mixer truck, he can get together all on his own.

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The Nugget has pretty reliably been using his "gentle hands" in church. The quiet voice thing, well, we're still working on that. Any Mass that doesn't include high decibel screaming is a success for us. Music lover that is, he's always been an angel whenever there is singing and only fusses or gets rowdy during the talking. Now that he has some tunes under his belt, he is very happy to sing along. But since he can't read the songbook, he just belts out whatever song comes to his mind. Last week it was the ABCs. This week, it was Puff the Magic Dragon. I don't correct him or shush him, because I think it's awesome that he's trying to participate. Our church is pretty family-friendly, so instead of sighs and rolled eyes, he gets lots of chuckles. The funniest thing is when the cantor steps up to the podium, he sometimes yells a request, as if he's at a karaoke bar, "Sing Twinkle Twinkle please!" Ok, then I shush him. But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't laughing at the same time.

*Speaking of nostalgia, I have to share this video, because this song was running through my head while I was typing this post. Cheesy Care Bear goodness.*