Last weekend (or was it the weekend before?) we cleaned out the storage room in the basement. It was a lot of work, but Keegan found some interesting things. One was a box full of my old beanie babies. We went through the beanie babies and Keegan wanted to keep some of them. Mainly he wanted all of the cats, a snake, a greyhound, and some other misc ones. He lined them all up on a bookshelf in his room and there they sat for a couple days until he decided he needed some of them to sleep with him.
First was Hissy the snake, then Scat the cat. For a few more days those two were his "cutie babies" and he took them everywhere. Then he decided Scat was lonely; so he got Prance the cat and Meow the cat added to the mix. Then while out at Macy's this weekend he fell in love with a small stuffed reindeer which he dubbed Rudolph (even though his nose is black we are supposed to pretend it is red because maybe it just got dirty).
So now he is walking around the house with Hissy, Scat, Prance, Meow, and Rudolph...quite the armful. He has been taking care of them with his vet kit, building them houses out of tinkertoys, and generally making sure they get taken care of...he even had a picnic for them all.
The yesterday he decided they needed to come with us when we left to run errands. Lyle and I were like, pick two to bring along the rest can stay home. Keegan got all tearful and said the ones that got left behind would be lonely. Finally I got his Transformers backpack and told him he could bring them all if he stuck them in the back pack. Keegan then said he was worried that people would think he was funny because he had a backpack and wasn't going on a trip. I told him no one would think he was funny, I carry a purse so he can carry a backpack. Issue solved.
Then when we got to Best Buy he had to bring the backpack full of cutie babies in the store with us. We had to zip up the backpack before we left the car so that they wouldn't get too cold. It was getting a bit crazy, and although I don't mind accommodating some strangeness from Keegan; getting the backpack of cutie babies set every time we got in and out of the car was getting a bit bothersome.
Thank goodness Keegan decided the cutie babies were tired when we got home, so they needed to go stay in bed when we went to Keegan's friend's bday party in the afternoon.
But that wasn't the end of it. That night Keegan made sure all his cutie babies were in his bed all tucked in and I was cleaning out his dresser drawers of old baby stuff he doesn't use any more. I asked Keegan if he wanted to keep any of the small blankies or wash cloths for his cutie babies. He scoughed at me and said "Mommy all my cutie babies can use the toilet, they don't need diapers." I explained that these weren't diapers but washcloths and blankies. Keegan brightened up and said "Oh, yeah. My cutie babies are kind of dirty and they do need a bath!"
We read some books and then Keegan climbed in bed. He lined up his cutie babies and then picked up Hissy and wrapped him in a washcloth. Then he said "Mommy, I am wrapping up Hissy because he has a cold and I don't want him sneezing on me." Stifling laughter I said "Okay, that sounds like a great idea. Now are you done with your cutie babies so I can tuck you in?" He looked at me very seriously and said "Well mom you don't need to tuck me in. You see I have to wash my cutie babies." I said, "okay but make sure you get to sleep soon." He said "Okay, I'll try to be quiet, but you might hear some scrubbing down here..."
He is so funny. Lyle and I listened for scrubbing over the monitor that night, but if he did scrub he did so quietly because we didn't hear much.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Childhood Screening and Conferences
I will start with my usual apology for being extremly negligent with this blog. We have a great trip to Disney World and I haven't blogged about it...maybe I will get to it this weekend.
I thought I would write quickly about last night though. We took Keegan for his Early Childhood Screening (ECS) (required by the State of MN before age 5) and had conferences with his teachers at school.
I wasn't sure what to expect for the ECS; in fact to be honest I was a bit anxious about it all. Would Keegan listen to the teachers during screening? Would he do what they asked? He is kind of headstrong and, though I am sure he is developing fine, I was not sure he would cooperate.
As usual I shouldn't have worried. First he went through the ability screening. They looked at if he could stack blocks, memorize things, do basic motor skills etc. One of the most impressive parts was a part where he had to do analogies. They started pretty easy with a color analogy something like "an apple is red, so a banana is ___"
Then they went on to harder ones. The hardest one was "a table is made of wood and a window is made of __"
Keegan did both types flawlessly. The teacher was impressed and told us that the second analogy is aimed at 5 to 6 year olds; 3 year olds never get it right. She was also impressed with his memorization skills, his adding ability, and many other things. She got a bit excited that he was doing so well...probably just to keep him interested in things :-)
After all was said and done with the ability screening part, well, Keegan did an excellent job. He ended up scoring a 24 on the testing; he needed a 16 to be on track. The girl that came out before us was five years old and scored a 21; which was on track for a 5 year old. So basically we have a 3.5 year old that is thinking at a 5-6 year old level. Kind of neat; I wish we could take credit for it all, but Keegan is just a good boy and tries really hard.
Then we went in for the hearing/seeing portion part of the test. He passed both well. His sight is in the 5 year old range in one eye and the 4 year old range in the other eye. His hearing was a bit off cause he has a bit of a cold. He was less patient with this part, he thought it was boring and was ready to leave.
After that we went to LeeAnn Chin's for dinner. Keegan's pick; we had a deal going that if he listened well at the screening he could pick dinner. While at LeeAnn Chin's we ran into his buddy Henry from daycare. Then it was home to feed the animals and back in the car to go to conferences.
I was going to go to conferences by myself but Keegan really wanted to go, so we all went.
His teacher again had nothing but good things to say about him. She told us lots of interesting things. Him and his best friend are the two leaders in the class and lead most of the activities. He mainly hangs out with a group of five or so boys; but also plays with the other kids some. She talked about how smart he is and how helpful he is.
She also mentioned that he comes up with good stories, and can be strong-willed. Which we are well aware of. Lyle and I told her to be sure and let us know if any issues comes up. We want to know right away if he is causing or having any trouble. She said she would, but didn't foresee any issues.
She also gave us his journal, which was super cute. They sit the kids down individually every once in a while and ask them some questions and write the answers down in their journals. I didn't know they did this, so it was a fun surprise :-)
Overall it was a very good day for us. Everyone had nothing but wonderful things to say about the Keester. As a parent I can tell you that it feels wonderful to have such a smart boy that everyone seems to like. I am happy he has a good group of friends, that he is happy, and that he can sit down and listen to instructions well when he wants to. I am just so proud of him and so amazed at what he can do.
Hopefully this entry doesn't come off as too bragging; I am not trying to brag about my son...but I am very proud of him and want him to come back someday and read this entry and know how very proud of him I am.
I thought I would write quickly about last night though. We took Keegan for his Early Childhood Screening (ECS) (required by the State of MN before age 5) and had conferences with his teachers at school.
I wasn't sure what to expect for the ECS; in fact to be honest I was a bit anxious about it all. Would Keegan listen to the teachers during screening? Would he do what they asked? He is kind of headstrong and, though I am sure he is developing fine, I was not sure he would cooperate.
As usual I shouldn't have worried. First he went through the ability screening. They looked at if he could stack blocks, memorize things, do basic motor skills etc. One of the most impressive parts was a part where he had to do analogies. They started pretty easy with a color analogy something like "an apple is red, so a banana is ___"
Then they went on to harder ones. The hardest one was "a table is made of wood and a window is made of __"
Keegan did both types flawlessly. The teacher was impressed and told us that the second analogy is aimed at 5 to 6 year olds; 3 year olds never get it right. She was also impressed with his memorization skills, his adding ability, and many other things. She got a bit excited that he was doing so well...probably just to keep him interested in things :-)
After all was said and done with the ability screening part, well, Keegan did an excellent job. He ended up scoring a 24 on the testing; he needed a 16 to be on track. The girl that came out before us was five years old and scored a 21; which was on track for a 5 year old. So basically we have a 3.5 year old that is thinking at a 5-6 year old level. Kind of neat; I wish we could take credit for it all, but Keegan is just a good boy and tries really hard.
Then we went in for the hearing/seeing portion part of the test. He passed both well. His sight is in the 5 year old range in one eye and the 4 year old range in the other eye. His hearing was a bit off cause he has a bit of a cold. He was less patient with this part, he thought it was boring and was ready to leave.
After that we went to LeeAnn Chin's for dinner. Keegan's pick; we had a deal going that if he listened well at the screening he could pick dinner. While at LeeAnn Chin's we ran into his buddy Henry from daycare. Then it was home to feed the animals and back in the car to go to conferences.
I was going to go to conferences by myself but Keegan really wanted to go, so we all went.
His teacher again had nothing but good things to say about him. She told us lots of interesting things. Him and his best friend are the two leaders in the class and lead most of the activities. He mainly hangs out with a group of five or so boys; but also plays with the other kids some. She talked about how smart he is and how helpful he is.
She also mentioned that he comes up with good stories, and can be strong-willed. Which we are well aware of. Lyle and I told her to be sure and let us know if any issues comes up. We want to know right away if he is causing or having any trouble. She said she would, but didn't foresee any issues.
She also gave us his journal, which was super cute. They sit the kids down individually every once in a while and ask them some questions and write the answers down in their journals. I didn't know they did this, so it was a fun surprise :-)
Overall it was a very good day for us. Everyone had nothing but wonderful things to say about the Keester. As a parent I can tell you that it feels wonderful to have such a smart boy that everyone seems to like. I am happy he has a good group of friends, that he is happy, and that he can sit down and listen to instructions well when he wants to. I am just so proud of him and so amazed at what he can do.
Hopefully this entry doesn't come off as too bragging; I am not trying to brag about my son...but I am very proud of him and want him to come back someday and read this entry and know how very proud of him I am.
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