Three-Year Evaluation

We recently received our end-of-year assessment of Danny from his preschool, who pronounced him gloriously average (okay, with a few above average checkmarks in the verbal department...but just a few). Anyway, now that Danny is three, it seems an appropriate opportunity to assess what, exactly, makes him tick. I figure I should do it now, before he ticks me off (har har). (No, seriously, I really am dreading this year, as I do not have fond memories of this age from Clare, and most of my fellow mom friends have similar complaints about the age. Can I get an amen, Mary Beth?) So the following are the things that most interest him these days.

Baseball. And golf. And football, soccer, hockey...maybe I should just say sports. But baseball is numero uno right now. His dad can now pitch him the ball overhand, and he still whacks it across the yard. If only he weren't such a slow runner...

Horses. To the extent that he can distinguish an Appaloosa from a Palomino from a dapple-gray. Ever since he saw the Kentucky Derby on the big screen at ESPNZone, he now likes to make his toy horses race. It's not that fun for me, though, because he always wins.

Reading stories. Danny is an energetic little boy, but at just about any moment he is happy to drop everything and listen to a book. I also frequently find him reading them by himself. He particularly enjoys the Skippyjon Jones books, and books about dinosaurs.

Talking. Both of my children are chatty. They like to tell us what they're thinking, what they observe in the world, and more than occasionally something silly. But always imaginative.

Holding his ground. Let's just say those bunk beds remain to be slept in.

Cooking. The Danimal is game to help me out in the kitchen no matter what I'm making, but especially when a lick of the spoon or beaters is involved. He's fairly patient and careful, too, when it comes to pouring and stirring. So if the athlete thing doesn't pan out, perhaps he'll have a show on the Food Network. He might need to overcome his aversion to fruits and vegetables first, though. Right now he is fond of telling me that certain things, for example oranges, make him sick. Kind of like my dad claims to be allergic to bananas...

Friends. He has definitely progressed from the parallel play thing to truly interacting with his friends, and has been doing this for quite some time. Maybe it's having an older sibling to play with. Anyway, he's wild about Parker, and also digs Zach, Lulu, Kylie, and just about any older child who is willing to hang out. So long as he has these friends to spend time with (and I their respective parents), we should survive this year intact.