April Toys of the Month - Jack

Jack has been enjoying everything related to being outside every since the weather got warm.  The Legos have been tossed aside, the cars sit in their bin (until Casey tosses them around the room for fun) and Candyland is taking a little break.

We've been spending hours outside and Jack makes his way through every toy in the garage and then every toy in the backyard.  We play baseball...sometimes Jack hits, sometimes he's the pitcher.  He rides his tricycle up and down the driveway.  He rides his scooter up and down the driveway.  He pushes strollers around.  He gets the hockey net out and plays hockey.  Then it's on to the bubbles and the sidewalk chalk.  There's also the little playhouse outside and Jack and Casey climb in and out the doors and windows.

But Jack's true love (right now) is golf.  In the last month or two, Pat finally convinced him to place his hands correctly on the club and he's been pretty serious about his golf since then.  And Pat likes it even more that Jack is so into it.  They've got a big net set up in the backyard so they can practice without driving balls into neighbors' houses or the woods.  They've gone out to the golf course and played nine holes a few times and they've gone to the driving range.

Jack practices his golf in the driveway, in the grass, in the mulch and even a couple of times out of the sandbox.  He says, "Mommy, I'm trying to hit the ball and Casey is talking.  She's not supposed to talk when I'm hitting the ball."  I told him we have to modify the golf rules he is learning when we are home and that Casey isn't quite old enough to understand that rule.

He says, "Mommy, I'm just going to practice my chipping now and then I'm going to practice my putting."  And he really know the difference.  It's amazing what he has learned in the last couple months.  He is happy every time he hits the ball no matter where it goes.  He told Pat last week, "I like the sound it makes when the ball goes in the hole."

I was just trying to think what he plays with when we are inside and then I remembered all the little pieces of construction paper that are all over the house.  He loves to cut things up with the scissors.  His specialty is making hearts, but he is happy to just cut it into little pieces and give them away to anyone who will take them.  Or to put them in an envelope and ask me to address it to the grandparents.  Or to spread them over the floor.  And then to cry when I vaccuum some tiny shred up from the floor.  He also likes other office supplies like the pencil sharpener and the stapler and the hole puncher.  He's on a quest to sharpen all the colored pencils in this house so that they're weapons-grade sharp.