Benjamin's Day Care Report

Benjamin enters into his ninth month at his day care center. Every month he gets a growth report from his teachers. Here is a summary of his latest with a couple comments from me:

Language and Literacy-He can say hi, bye-bye, more, baby, ball consistently. He understands simple phrases and he likes to blow kisses to his family and friends. He loves picking up books and having adults read to him while he picks out familiar animals, shapes and colors.

Wellness-He can walk well, he eats food by himself. He likes to dance and clap his hands when we are singing. He assists in toy pick up. He smiles and laughs a lot.

The World and Me-He recognizes himself in the mirror, he likes to participate in finger plays and songs. He gets along well with his playmates but can get upset sometimes if a toy or other object is taken away. He remembers things and routines easy.

A lot of their activities in the infant classroom involve flash cards and reading. Playing with certain musical instruments, listening and singing to the classics like "Old McDonald", "Row Row, Row Your Boat" and "ABC's".

He's brought home some classic pictures he's crayoned and he's made some pretty neat paper cards for us. One thing I like to do when I pick him up is have the two of us mingle with his playmates before we leave. It teaches him social skills and he will say bye bye and wave to them.

He's learned how to high five us and he can shake hands. I've got him trying to kick a mini soccer ball in the basement. We got into a little game of pass back with our feet and I was amazed at how he understood this and completed the passes. Sure, a few were off target and he fell on his rear end a couple times but he understood what to do. Also, it looks like he's turning into a left handed thrower just like his Dad.

He loves his Sesame Street time, especially Elmo and last night while watching D.C. United and Olympia play before his bed time, he screamed out "ball!" as he saw players dribbling the soccer ball in the game. Both Weena and I are very pleased with his development. We still need to encourage sharing with others but many parents have told me this takes some time to learn.



We had some time to color today and we pitched in to help Benjamin with this.