Jonathan Narrates "At the Beach"

One of my favorite things is to have Jonathan "read" books to me. Here is his version of "At the Beach"

"Bucket"

"Shovel"

"Hoop!! Shoot it basketball!!! Two Points!"

Either he's missing that the book has an overall theme or else believes that basketball goes with anything. I'm guessing the latter.

Jonathan dump it?

Jonathan is a huge talker. Not only does he continually narrate his every move, but he also tells you in advance/asks permission for everything he is about to do. For example today one of our major activities was moving every one of his socks from his sock drawer to the laundry hamper and back. One. At. A. Time. And every time he got to the hamper, he would look at me and say "Jonathan sock in it?" and wait for me to give him the OK to put the sock in the hamper.

The upside is that he not only asks permission to do ridiculously benign things, but also asks about activities like throwing things in the toilet or hitting the dog with the pool noodle. Today at dinner he picked up his cup, looked at me and said "Jonathan dump it?". No sweetie, you cannot dump your milk on the floor. He will then re-ask the question 500 times, but will usually eventually take no for an answer. I imagine our ask-first days are numbered, but I'm enjoying them for now!!

Mommy's Helper

Jonathan LOVES helping in the kitchen. And he LOVES sitting on the counter. Today he was sorting the broccoli from the strainer into the pan. And then back into the strainer. And then back into the pan... the sorting occupied him for over 30 minutes. Here he is smiling for the camera!

bully

So it turns out Jonathan is the class bully at the preschool. I have seen him scope out a younger kid and push them down before. But lately we have been getting notes from his teachers such as:

"Jonathan has been pushing children down0 we've talked to him about his. Please talk to him at home".

or

"Still pushing quite a bit- we are talking to him about this and making him sit out for a few minutes"

or

"Quite a bit of hitting right before nap."

or (more hopefully)

"Less pushing today!! Jonathan really enjoys art class"

Upon discussing this with the teachers, I have come to learn that he specifically targets one little girl in his class. Great. So when we read books about other children, I try to emphasize that we are gentle with other children like we are gentle with the dog. I try to catch him in the act of being nice (or naughty) and reinforce, but I'm not around him with other kids that much. I guess I am glad that he has a confident temperament and that he isn't the kid letting someone push him around. But gee I wish he wasn't the class bully at 18 months old.