Starting Early...

O was SO excited when E started pushing her vacuum cleaner back and forth. She said "Look mama! She's vacuuming ALL by herself! We'll never have to clean again!" If only that were true :)

I'm very busy cleaning and organizing our house and finishing O's handmade birthday presents...her birthday party is on Saturday, and there is still SO much to do. I apologize for the delay in answering email. I hope to get to them soon.

July 4th Flag Cake

My mom started the tradition of making this delicious flag cake for July 4th last year, and we were glad that she continued it this year. She makes an angel food cake and tops it with cool whip. O enjoys decorating it to look like a flag with strawberries and blueberries, but she REALLY loves sneaking licks of the cool whip...there was a tongue indention and several finger marks in the cake after she finished decorating it!

A New Sensory Experience for Baby...

lying on her back in the grass...she was not impressed! I was surprised by how aversive this experience was for her. She cringed and got up as quickly as she possibly could. She didn't cry, but she acted like this was just a terrible experience. However, she doesn't mind crawling in the grass, and she's always trying to eat it!

The Amazing Action Alphabet

A reader sent us The Amazing Action Alphabet flip chart and cd a few months ago, and these are great products! The Amazing Action Alphabet uses a multisensory approach to teaching letter names and sounds. Children see the letters, hear the sounds in a story, and then do an action. Learning is most effective when material is presented through the use of several senses.

I accepted this product for review because I knew O would love it even though she already knew her letters and letter sounds. I was right...she does love it, and I wish I'd had it sooner. It's fun to play the cd while flipping through the flip chart, and I'm looking forward to introducing letters and sounds to E using this method.

I have only a couple of complaints...I really wish the flipchart had a built in stand instead of lying flat (I guess I'm spoiled by all of the testing manuals that I use because they all have built in stands). Also, a couple of the stories were a little difficult to understand because the voices were a little strange (the main one that I didn't like was A). However, most of the stories (and voices) were great. Overall, this is a great product, and the price is right. I hope you'll check it out and let me know if you like it, too.

A Simple Behavior Intervention

As a School Psychologist a huge part of my job is planning behavior and academic interventions for kids. However, when it comes to my own child, it is a little more difficult. Luckily, I work with some wonderful psychologists who are great at coming up with super simple interventions.

O has not been listening quickly for the last couple of months, and I've found myself repeating myself more often than I would like and counting to 3 to get her to listen. I really don't like counting to 3...it just gives her a reason to wait to listen instead of listening quickly. So, I asked my friend Jan for ideas...

To do this intervention, I gave O a piece of blue cardstock (blue is her favorite color). I explained to her that when she listened the FIRST time I asked her to do something, she would get a star on her paper. That's it. Simple and VERY effective.

O was very excited about her sheet. At first I gave her stars very frequently, but I didn't give them everytime she listened the first time because random reinforcement seems to work better than continuous. Also, I didn't want her to expect to get a star for listening...I worry about eroding the intrinsic motivation that comes from behaving nicely. However, I did want her to be excited about earning the stars in order to help her get back into the habit of listening quickly. So far this is really working. Here are a few important points of this intervention:

-She is not allowed to ask for a star (this was never an issue, but if it had been I planned to tell her that she would not get a star if she asked).

-I did not ask her to do something by saying "If you do ..., you'll get a star." The stars were like a fun surprise after she listened the first time...there was no convincing her to listen by promising a star.

-I did not take away stars when she didn't listen. I didn't mention the stars at all when she didn't listen.

-She doesn't earn anything once she fills the sheet up with stars other than the satisfaction of knowing that she did a great job and earned a sheet full of stars. (Elliott's first question was "what does she get for filling the sheet?") I didn't want this intervention to be about what she would get because I don't want to instill in her that she should "get" something for behaving appropriately. I just want to help her get back into the habit of quick listening.

So far this is working for us, and we're having fun (which is the most important thing). This turned out to be a pretty wordy post (for me!) for a simple intervention. Enjoy!

Drop It In...Where Is It???

E and I have fun dropping small toys (but not so small as to be chokable) into this wipes container. I put the toys halfway in the slot, and she tries to grab them out to put them in her mouth. Occasionally, she'll push them the rest of the way in, and she reaches in to try to get them out. She'll also hold the container up to her eyes to look in it and shakes it...so cute. We have lots of fun with this simple activity. We use a Huggies wipes container since it has a rubbery material surrounding the opening which makes it easy for baby hands to reach in without getting scratched.

Fun with Unit Blocks

Unit blocks (and playsilks) are my most favorite toys for my kids, and we have really enjoyed them lately. O and I have fun building towers, and E loves to knock them down.

I need to find a new storage solution for the blocks...when they are put away in their bin on the IKEA storage unit, we almost never play with them. We left them out for a few days and played with them everyday. It's interesting how the placement of a toy is so key in the amount of playtime it sees...

1000!

I just noticed that I have 1000 followers on blogger. Thanks!

Baby in the Mirror

I've planned to write a post about E's Montessori bedroom, but I never have...mainly because we spend so little time in there. We sleep on the floor bed, but that is about it.

Lately, I've been trying to spend more time playing in front of these mirrors on her floor. She really enjoys them, so I'm trying to set aside some time each day to play in this space with her. I'm thinking of putting a baby gate in her doorway so I can leave her in her room to play by herself while I wash clothes. I have a feeling that she may climb the gate, but I may try it anyway...

Painting a Birdhouse

O painted a lighthouse birdhouse for her daddy for Father's Day, and she REALLY got into it! She started painting with brushes, but she quickly decided that she'd rather paint with her hands. She mixed the paint together and smeared it all over her hands and painted the house. Before I knew it, she'd smeared the paint all the way up her arms to her shoulders. Wow! Then she asked for a wet towel to wipe it off...Um, no. I took her out to the deck and sprayed her off with the waterhose. What a fun and messy day!

Tunnel Time

O and I have been setting up obstacle courses in our den for E to crawl through and this tunnel was a popular addition! We set up the tunnel for E to crawl through, couch cushions for her to crawl over, chairs to crawl under, etc. I was really surprised by how quickly she crawled through the tunnel and then continued to crawl through it over and over again. It's amazing how different she is from O...O didn't even start crawling until she was 10 months old. E is only 9 months old, and she is crawling, climbing, standing, etc and I'm very afraid that she may be walking soon. Slow down baby girl!

"Not a Paper Towel Roll"

O was having a GREAT time playing with a paper towel roll a few days ago, and it reminded me of the book Not a Stick. I started asking her "Whatcha doing with that paper towel roll?" and she'd say "It's not paper towel roll. It's a ..."

We had fun reinacting the book (with a twist)...O LOVES to reinact books, movies, recitals, etc. The "not a paper towel roll" was a telescope, microphone, megaphone, microscope, magnifiying glass, vase, cast, drumstick, sword, horse, train, etc. Who needs toys when you have trash?

Piano Girl

Playing her piano is one of E's favorite things to do! She loves to pull up to her piano, and I couldn't believe when she stood up and started playing her piano a few days ago. Our baby girl is growing up way too fast!!!

Little Ballerina Shadowbox

O just completed her 1st year of tap and ballet lessons, and she LOVED it! She spends most of her time dancing and putting on shows, so her recital was especially exciting for her (and us!). She glowed on stage, and we were so excited to see her so happy.

I made this ballerina shadow box as a memento of her first year of ballet lessons. I used double sided tape to attach her 1st pair of ballet shoes and her ballet picture to the matte. This shadowbox took about 5 seconds to put together, and I love how it turned out. O gets VERY sad when she sees it because she's so sad that she doesn't fit in her ballet shoes anymore (she has several hand-me down pairs that do fit), so she says that she can't even look at it. What a sweet and silly girl!

I'm looking forward to making several more shadowboxes of special mementos...the only problem is that I have no where to hang them. I wonder if we should buy a bigger house just so I can have wall space for O and E's artwork and shadow boxes...

From Art to a Softie

I found this post saved in draft from months and months ago. I can't believe I haven't posted this already...

A few months ago O drew this portrait of her baby sister. I loved it so much that I wanted to do something to preserve it (she drew it on lined notebook paper). After thinking about it for a few days, I realized it would make the perfect softie!

I traced around O's drawing with an iron-on transfer pencil (I have no idea where to find these pencils. I have looked and looked, and the only one I could find was in my mom's old sewing stuff, so it is probably 30 years old). I ironed the drawing onto a piece of cotton fabric. Then I embroidered along the lines using the backstitch. This was simple and fast to do, and O was VERY proud.



After I finished the embroidery, I cut out the fabric along with a same sized piece for the back of the softie. I pinned them right side to right side, sewed them, and left a small opening for turning. After I turned the softie right side out, I stuffed it, and my mom sewed the small opening closed. Done!

O stared it for a while and wondered why she didn't give baby sister a nose or a neck :) I'm looking forward to making more softies from the girls' drawings. I'd also love to make pillows using their drawings (which would make a great gift for grandparents).

Edit to add: I photocopied O's drawing 1st...I didn't ruin it by tracing over it with the iron-on pencil. The actual drawing is framed downstairs in the kids' art area and is hung low on the wall at their eye level.