Moving up (again) and Food Update

I have to say, 3 months out of eating no dairy has done Hayden a lot of good.  He is sleeping through the night consistently, drinking less soymilk to replace meals, and he is the happiest kid on the planet.  He is loving all things whole grain and actually doesn't even know that white bread exists and aside from crackers, doesn't eat any bleached white flour.  When I bake for him, I have been using all whole wheat flour for the added nutrients.    He did eat a whole peach applesauce at school Tuesday and will eat organic sweet potato fries which are also a new thing for him.  He isn't eating much meat still, but he does eat a lot of sunflower seed butter, soy butter and a little peanut butter for extra protein. I have, however this week been pretty successful with organic chicken nuggets with him, so that's a great thing. He is in the 5th percentile for height and weight so we are working on him eating a little more, without him knowing we are working on it. I never want Hayden to have food issues or feel like we are forcing him to eat so we make mealtime fun and never make food a consequence or reward. I am seeing him really enjoy several healthy foods now so I have a feeling he will start getting a little taller soon and expand his horizons a bit. We are heading to Sprouts on the northwest side tomorrow afternoon to explore their dairy-free options so hopefully we have some luck.

In other news, Hayden is still loving his schedule. He is hanging out with MeeMaw every morning for 2 hours, getting to school around 8:45 and leaving around 2 when I get off of work. I love that he isn't stuck there for 9 hours a day while we work and he is the luckiest kid in the world to have a grandparent that takes such excellent care of him. He is in total love with Ms. Mary and also really likes Ms. Prairie as well, but something about Ms. Mary just makes those two click. I have a feeling it's because she is a lot like us and always gives him little jobs to help around the classroom.

Hayden is begining to get a little bored in the young 3s class (not acting out, just getting frustrated with the kids who don't talk) and his teachers approached me today about moving him to the 3 1/2-4 year old class when he is officially 3. It's not that he's rediculously advanced or anything, it's just that he wants more interaction than some of the children in his class give him and he wants to be with kids that speak. A lot of his friends that turned 3 in the past few months just don't talk much and aren't really into creating games, stories, etc. yet. I'm sure the reason is that Hayden has been at school since ten weeks old and he has several friends he still sees from that school that are verbal like he is. He also is the only kid in the young 3s that is potty trained and he constantly asks me why his friends wear diapers like babies (not sure where he got that phrase, my guess would be his old teacher who was a little gruff). I told his teachers to go ahead and schedule him to move up because I want him to feel engaged and comfortable at all times and don't want to hold him back. His teacher did say that he is at the four year-old level for a lot of cognitive and math concepts, but I told her I would rather not see any assessments for him at this point.  I have been a preschool teacher for 5 years, working with all ages and know full-well that he is intelligent and I believe firmly that children should have fun and play, while learning all the way and shouldn't be constantly placed into categories. If it turns out later we need to challenge him more, that's fine but the kid isn't even 3 yet. I can't wait to see how he does with the older kids.  I am very proud he already knows several geometric shapes, can count to fifty and can trace a lot of letters and spell his name.  None of which were forced on him, he just wants to learn and that's fine with me.  Don't worry, I'm not saying he speaks fluent mandarin chinese or is the smartest child in history, I just think he's curious about the world and he's a little sponge.  All of the grandparents that read this can be proud their genes made such a special creature.  I am thinking he will be fine with older kids...short and missing Ms. Mary...but fine!