Three good things

Here are some things I've been enjoying watching Bright Eyes doing recently.

Reading independently

Of course, he's been a good reader for some time but I've not really seen him enjoy books at such length until in the last couple of months. He's borrowing from the school library (and taking responsibility for getting them back to get more every Monday) and entertaining himself for a good period with reasonably complicated stories.

Playing with the Batman Figures

We have a bit of a Batman fest going on in our house. My husband and the boys turned an old dollshouse into a 'SuperHero Centre' a few months back and ordered 5 inch figures of Batman and all his mates. Bright Eyes spends a long time playing with them, and even makes up his own stories or variations of stories he's seen. He's quite flexible with who can play and how they play and deals with changes to the script well. 

I remember playing with dolls and figures like this from the age of about three and the wonderful feeling you get when you enter a made up world where you can do anything. I hope he's enjoying the same feelings.

Being friends with Coco

Coco, of course, is our very vivacious two and a half year old who has confidence and smarts beyond her years, and who has turned into a very valuable playmate for Bright Eyes. She also loves Batman and the two of them have some pretty good games and adventures. Bright Eyes tries to boss her around but she stands up for herself and takes the control back and I can see him being very accommodating and gentle with her wishes.

He also loves to entertain her, and it's great to see him figuring out how to do it effectively. He can't get her attention by using great big torrents of words and scripts so he does physical comedy and tickling and hide and seek and peek a boo. Then he has to continue to readjust as she gets used to the funny thing and is looking for variations. It's amusing to see him almost in the role of RDI guide with her, framing and spotlighting and doing 'same but different' to keep her engaged and learning.