Fine motor skills

Here are some photos from our Memorial Day. Enjoy!

Dan and I have a new nap time routine. Each day before nap, we sit on the floor of his room and "do shapes." That's the catch-all phrase for reading the shape book or playing with the shape sorter or doing the dinosaur puzzle. And it's my way of trying to ensure he's developing fine motor skills. So far, Dan is really good at the big motions. He can kick and throw like nobody's business. Quite good for a toddler, I must say. He'll probably have an agent by the time he's five and go pro when he's in middle school.

I've been a little worried that he can identify shapes, but can't seem to place the square in the square hole without a whole lot of frustration and some direction from mommy. Each day, he picks up a square, circle, star or triangle and tries mightily for like 3 seconds to put it in a non-matching hole before hyperventilating, screaming and hurling the shape across the room. Sounds like a real relaxing pre-nap activity, huh? I worry about this kids sometimes. He gets really frustrated with reality, a trait I hope he outgrows. It took me years, and even now I sometimes have a strong dislike for reality.

Anyhow, we've moved onto the dinosaur puzzle. I make beeping noises as I move the pieces over the puzzle board and then drop them into the right place. He laughs and claps. He almost can get the piece in by himself. Almost.

But today, I was wearing a T-shirt with a small hole in it. Dan noticed it as he was using mommy as a jungle gym (another fun pre-nap activity). He cocked his head, then came at me with a finger and put it directly into the hole.

Okay, kid, I get it. You have fine motor skills.

And now, for a quick reward ...

Jim and Danny were in the produce section of Target today when a woman with long blond hair walked by. Danny followed her with his eyes and said, "Oh wow." I think he likes girls. There's a pony-tailed jogger in our neighborhood and he does the same thing when she passes. Cute.