Oh, how he loves to "cook"

Jonathan. This boy is full of life, energy, tantrums, sweet hugs, and grumpy stomps. He is strong willed and determined. This has been his down fall and has also served him well. In the past year, he has gone from full blown tantrums to learning his boundaries and how to control himself. He has also had to learn how to entertain himself. Homeschoooling tends to force that on a child. Last year, when we started school, he really struggled with it. He wanted to be in the middle of everything we were doing and was very disruptive. Throughout the year, he learned that he had no choice but to find something to do quietly until we were done.

By the end of the school year it was as if he were a different child. He is my child who really plays with his toys. He doesn't just fiddle around with them and throw them down in boredom like my other two often do. He really plays with toys. All of the toys. (He will also sit and play with my kitchen toys as pictured above!) He has some favorites, but really plays with everything. I love to watch him play. He is very imaginative. I am also thrilled that in the last couple of months Aaron and Jonathan have finally started playing nicely together. What a joy it is for me to see that! Aaron and Martin were best friends from the very beginning. Aaron has always been so advanced in his expressive and cognitive abilites ... that in many ways ... Aaron seemed to always be on or about the same level as Martin. So, there was no real gap there that caused difficulties in them relating with one another.

Even though Jonathan and Aaron are much closer in age - the developmental gap between them has always seemed huge. Aaron (who is not at all patient) was just not able to cope with that gap. He was not the kind and patient helper of a brother - he would just get frustrated and tell Jonathan that he wanted to play by himself.

So, I guess - Jonathan must be catching up to an acceptable cognitive level, because Aaron is playing nicely with him now.