Lil' Man Growing Up

Lil' Man has grown up so much since we started school in September.  And all of his growing up has created so many challenges!!

At the end of September, Lil' Man celebrated his very first birthday!  And that was just the first milestone in the last few months.

Posing with his "cheesy" grin before devouring his cake

Since his birthday, Lil' Man has gone from army crawling to crawling to walking.  And now, we are on to running!  Man, is that little boy fast.  This running business can present a challenge when it come to our schooling.  Lil' Man loves to grab whatever he can get into and take off running!  So, he might grab a worksheet and take off running.  And he thinks it's hilarious!!  The current solution is to make sure that he has enough toys to keep him distracted while we are having school, and work on activities that don't require as much concentration when he is around.

That brings me to the next challenge Lil' Man has thrown my way.  Way back in September, Lil' Man was napping twice a day.  This was very convenient.  Lil' Man napped for two hours twice a day.  That was an easy four hours of school with no (well, fewer) distractions! Fast forward, and he's now only napping once a day for a couple of hours.  To deal with the greater distractions he provides, we have had to make some adjustments.  Our morning now consists of calendar time, daily notebooks, Bible lessons and story time. These activities tolerate the distractions a toddler creates pretty well!  In the afternoon, while he is napping, we focus on the activities that require more concentration: reading lesson, math, and any projects that are too messy for Lil' Man.  

And the final challenge Lil' Man has created is that he has become a toddler!  Yes, I knew that would happen, and having two other children I knew the challenges that would bring.  But this Lil' Man gets into so much more than either of his sisters did!  He is a problem solver.  If I take something away, instead of just playing with the appropriate toy I gave him, he will try to find a way to get the inappropriate object back!  He will climb, he will crawl, and he will turn laundry baskets over and drag them to the right place to climb on something.  He is one smart cookie! 

But challenges and all, he is awesome!  It's so cool to be at home with him every day.  He loves to cuddle up and read a book. He is super observant (which is why he can get into so much trouble so fast!) and I think that when the time comes for him to "officially" start school in a few years that he is going to inherently get what's going on and learning will come easy to him.  Time will tell!  Love that Lil' Man!