Weight: 44 lbs
Clothing size: 6
Shoe size : 11/12
Favorite shows: Sophia the First (though he won't admit it), Bill Nye the Science Guy
Some of my favorite things he says:
Crisper Columbus = Christopher Columbus
rabiowi = ravioli
What took you so short? (Opposite of "what took you so long?")
He talks about an hour of time as being in the ones, the twos, the threes, etc. He tells us he wakes up in the sixes.
When I think of Jackson, I think accurate, precise, methodical. He brushes his teeth for exactly two minutes. Time should be told exactly to the minute and not rounded up to the next multiple of five, as most adults have the habit of doing. He washes his hands for exactly twenty seconds. The first time we played Battleship, he started guessing at A1 and went over one space to the right each guess. He takes his shirts out of the drawer from the left row and going front to back. (I fold the KonMari way. Once I realized he did this I would move each row over to the left and fill in clean shirts on the right side so that he would cycle through all the shirts instead of wearing the same row.)
He also likes to count all 250+ lockers at Costco.
I hate that I nagged him so much about hand washing and being clean because now he doesn't want to do anything if he knows he will have to wash his hands afterwards (like pet animals). He generally likes to be clean and inside playing some type of game or doing something math related. He also likes to play solitaire.
He can get on a swing and start swinging with no one pushing.
He loves climbing trees.
He is shy around adults but doesn't have a problem going up to new kids on the playground and engaging them in play.
He loves legos and still loves dinosaurs.
He used to be able to sit still and focus for long periods of time when he was smaller, but now his body is in constant motion all day. He'd basically be doing handstands on the couch while reading. It's really hard for him to sit still during meal times.
He hasn't lost any teeth yet.
He usually goes to bed around 8 and wakes up between 6-6:30.
School stuff:
- He finished all of his first grade work before his birthday. Last summer he was reading Bob Books and similar books that had lots of consonant-vowel-consonant words. We spent all kindergarten year on first grade easy readers. Most of the time he complains when it's time to read a book, but I know he is proud that he can do it when he's around other kids his age and older and is able to read like them. He likes to read signs now. He also leans over my shoulder and tries to read my texts and emails.
- Kind of dreading him going to school. He's a perfectionist and the grading system is going to kill him. He's the kind of kid who will come home upset about making a 98.
- Paul thinks his grades are going to suffer in math because he doesn't like to show his work. He just does it in his head and writes the answers down.
- He's still learning how to tie his shoes.
- He has been doing gymnastics this semester. I think he's great at it, but he thinks he's awful and wants to quit.
- One of the things I liked most about homeschooling was if Jackson got antsy, I could give him breaks to go run around outside. It was also easy to do around our schedule this year since we were traveling a lot. I also loved the extra time Jackson and Mika got to spend together. Sometimes they fight, as all siblings do, but most of the time they get along very well. They are best friends.
