The Franke Five: Jonathan

Where has the last 7 years gone!!! My baby is turning 7 on friday. I just can't believe it. He is growing up way too fast!

Jonathan has become such a good reader and speller we have officially reached the stage of no spelling because he will figure it out. When he started preschool 3 years ago simple concepts where very difficult for him and I don't know if it is because of the tubes and now he can hear or what but he's a quick little guy. He is reading chapter books all on his own. He LOVES to draw. Star Wars is his new favorite. I'll be honest I have never even seen one episode so this is new territory for me. Master Yoda (sp?) is his favorite although I have no idea why. He is really taking a liking to sports. He did excellent in basketball. I was expecting a repeat from his soccer debut but it was just the opposite. He was the little star on the team. And of course running. He cannot wait for the warmer weather so we can go to the track and he can run again. This year he wants to compete in the State Games in track and we told him he could. So he wants to practice for it. Daddy loves that he wants to do this.

He is still my little cuddle bug. At night while reading stories he loves to climb in my lap and cuddle and I love it. I know one of these days that will stop but for now I am cherishing it.

This year we decided to have Jonathan repeat Kindergarten. We kind of knew we would going into the school year last year. We had decided a full day of Kindergarten was better than a half day of preschool so we let him go. Then we held him back and had him repeat this year and it has made a HUGE difference. Last year we was kind of in the middle, middle bottom as far as knowing how to do things and keeping up with the class. We worked hard all summer and this year he is the top student in his class. His confidence has sky rocketed and he absolutely loves school. It was the best decision we could've made for him. We were a little nervous about what the kids would say that moved on to first grade but as far as we know there haven't been any issues. All of the kids that were his friends still are. Most of them were jealous. So it turned out to be a good situation. And thankfully he hit a big growth spurt so that has helped too. Last winter and summer he was wearing 4t pants and shirt, and maybe a 3t shorts...maybe. They were still a little big. And this year he is in a small 6/7 and either xsmall or small boys pants. Just a huge jump. He'll probably always be at the shorter end of the class but for right now he seems to be keeping up with the other kids.