4.75 years old

1. Ian has started playing on a soccer team for the first time! He had his first game last week, and he did much better than expected. He almost scored a goal! Hopefully he'll make progress in his skills and stamina over the next seven weeks. He also needs to do a better job of following instructions.

2. He's continued to improve with eating a wider variety of foods. The most recent addition to the "will eat rather easily" list is macaroni and cheese! He also has gotten accustomed to drinking water at lunch every day. He has skim milk at breakfast and dinner. His favorite breakfast was toast, but lately his favorite breakfast has been a bowl of cereal (Trix, Chocolate Cheerios, Golden Grahams, Cocoa Puffs, etc.).

3. He doesn't ride in the stroller any more. He walks with Nadia and I, and Oliver rides in a single jogging stroller.

4. He's definitely getting braver with climbing. I haven't been able to get him to go across the

rope at the playground, but he is climbing much higher. He also finally learned to enjoy jumping on our trampoline this summer! I give the credit for that to our neighbors.

5. He's gotten much better at riding his bike with training wheels this summer. Now to teach him how to ride without training wheels.

6. Ian has been promoted from a booster seat to just a regular chair at our dinner table.

7. Now that I'm spending more time doing homeschooling with Nadia each day (usually about two hours), Ian is spending more time playing with Oliver than he has in the past.

8. Ian has started writing in his first journal. He's also working through the Level One reading curriculum and a handwriting textbook.