1 2 3 4 5

Today we started with this worksheet and bowl of animals.  We counted "wa" "ta" "e" "fo""fi" while pointing at the numbers and counting the squares.  Then I signed and asked for "one red", "two purple", etc.  Since I had sorted the correct number of each color animals beforehand it was a quite easy task.  She just needed to choose all of the color I was asking for.  Then she put each one on the square. 

One Hit Wonder

Dear World,

We have decided we are going to have one child.   We never tried for number two.   We didn't have any issues conceiving.  We are not too old.  We have three bedrooms.  Our marriage is happy and stable.  We love her with all our hearts.  She is the best thing that has ever happened to us.  She is sweet, smart, charming, and kind.  I have never met anyone I love more.

I always thought I wanted two.  I am still jealous when I hear someone tell tales of their big family with 6 or 10 siblings.  It sounds so fun... I worry I am doing my one amazing child a disservice by not giving her a sibling.  I just don't think that is the right reason to create another life.

Every decision has pros and cons.  Kids with siblings have to share, practice more social skills, and someone they will spend their lives with.  I love having an adult sibling, but was not always a fan.

I feel sad when I think about my husband and I aging.  That she will be stuck with us alone, no one to share the burden.  I worry about her not having siblings after we pass.  She has cousins close to her in age.   That will have to be enough.  

She has no interest in sharing our attention.  When we went to visit her new cousin for a week she did not even look at the baby.  When they were here for two weeks she still did not want to hold her.  I love babies, and giving them back to their moms and dads.

One child allows us to give her 100%.  She needs our time and love.  We spend a lot of time in speech, in OT, in camps, in bounce lands, in water parks, at playgrounds, in music class, with friends, learning new things, and having fun.  We would have to limit these if we had more kids sharing our love, time, and budget.

Therapists are often surprised how much time we spend researching and executing to try to find the best options.  I hear how it is unusual.  It is all part of the choices we have made.  We chose to have just one child.  We chose for me to stay home with her and be her primary care giver.

We are still at an age where she just gets more and more fun.  I don't want to start over.  I might regret our decision when she is 14 and hates me.  I am confident when she is 20 and realizes we are awesome it will all be fantastic.

At the end of the day, it is our decision.  To each their own.

Kind Regards,
Momma (to one fantastic kid)

Jump

We finally checked out Pump It Up in Wixom this week.  It was adored by all.

Bedtime Favorites

 

1.   Time for Bed by Mem Fox - This story says a rhyming good night to a variety of animals. It is sweet and it has a nice rhythm.  When we read C approximates "fish", "bubbles", "cat", "me" and "sheep".  We try others and study the beautiful pictures.  It is a great book to cuddle up to read.

2.   Froggy Gets Dressed by Jonathan London - Froggy wants to play in the snow, but forgets pieces to get all the way dressed.  This book is a joy to read, full of fun noises and a great cadence.  When we read we touch the part of the body where the piece of clothing goes.  When froggy puts on his hat we touch our head, socks we touch our feet, etc.


3.   All By Myself by Mercer Mayer -C fell in love with the Little Critter books this fall. We find the mouse on every page and laugh and laugh on every page with little sister.

4.   Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do you see? by Bill Martin Jr. - Brown Bear was a favorite for a long time and recently made a comeback.  We love the pictures and are able to say a few words on each page.   I sign all of the colors  on both of our hands as we read.  C always says "me" at the end of each page.  She also approximates "cat", "duck", "sheep", and "bird".


5.   Pete the Cat:  Rocking in my School Shoes by James Dean - A very fun read.  I dare you to read this book and not sing about Pete's shoes.  The pictures are fantastic and the story is about adapting to new situations (something we struggle with).

6.   I Like Me by Nancy Carlson - This story is about loving yourself and everything about you.  Who can not use this lesson?  This book has "me" in the text more than any other.  C says most of the "me"s and loves the skates.  On the page where she falls down we say "uh oh" and on the page where she picks herself back up we say "woo hoo".

7.   It's Time to Sleep, My Love by Eric Metaxas - We read this every night when C was a baby.  It is no longer a top pick, but maybe once a week I get the pleasure of reading this one.  I love it.

8.   Super Sweet Dreams! by Natalie Shaw - A heart warming tour that shows you what Kai-lan and her friends dream about.  Each dream is revealed behind a flap.  When we read this she says "knock, knock" before we can open each flap.

9.   The Going to Bed Book by Sandra Boynton - This is the book chosen most often when C is VERY tired.  It is a quick and silly story of the animals getting ready for bed.

Jackpot

Our timing was perfect today.  We walked into our therapy center as a truck was unloading all new mats.  Being me, my first questions was "What will you with all the old mats?"

We are the proud owners of a tumbling mat that runs the full length of the family room.  We tested it, it works great.  

One Quick Slide

Excuses, excuses

Had a successful visit to the dentist

Played with our friends and jumped on our bed 

Enjoyed the indoor water park

I am sorry I have not been here in a while.  We battled a mild illness for 10 days and that really threw us off.  Here is a quick update.  We are "Tangled" crazy.  While sick she wanted to watch it multiple times a day.  In addition to being sick we...

Played in the snow

Relaxed and read

Patterns

 We spent some time working on patterns yesterday.  It is a spatial logic concept that should help her motor plan, understanding at some level you can anticipate what comes next.  We have tried many pattern techniques in the past and this is a concept she has a difficult time with. We have most often tried with blocks.  So, we tried a few new methods.  I found a printable with with colored bears in rows.  Then I cut each row and provided her just animals to match the colors in the row she was working on.  This wound up being more of an exercise in matching.  She did not place them in order left to right.  However, she did complete the task.  My hope is after we practice matching the patterns we will be able to continue them beyond what it on the page.  For example, if the bears are RED BLUE RED BLUE RED BLUE then she would be able to continue RED BLUE RED BLUE RED BLUE RED BLUE.

I also took a sheet of paper and used our dot paints to make patterns.  I limited the colors, and think I will just use two colors next time.  She did needed some hand of hand help on this one, but did an excellent job.

This bucket was a gift from Grandma and Grandpa to bring all her Christmas gifts home in.  She LOVES it.  She moves it around the house, throws balls in it, reads in it, positions it in front of the mirror and pops out of it to surprise herself, and gets carried around the house in it.  The bucket is crazy fun.

Scooter Board, Bouncing Bull, and Spirals Oh My

We went painter's tape crazy today around the house.  We are still working on mastering circles and other pre-writing skills.  So, one of the suggestions was to trace as many circles as possible in different ways.  We made a spiral on the floor and drove the cars round and round.  She really wanted the car to stay on the road and this went much better than expected.  

Then we moved into the kitchen for some scooter board fun.  I scattered 12 small Toy Story figurines around the kitchen and dining room.  Lying on her belly on the scooter board she got them one at a time and put them in the red container.  This is to build up her trunk control and upper body strength.  It is a crazy core workout I am quite certain I could not do.

Just for fun, we went back and forth on the line on the bouncing bull 4 times.  Again, she was very focused on staying on the line.

We used the talker in the dollhouse to talk about who is doing what.  I take all the people into a container to start and she has to ask for each one and then tell me what room they should start in or what they are doing.

Sign Alphabet and Talker Practice

We were lucky to receive this awesome sign alphabet puzzle for Chanukah this year (Thanks, Uncle Steve and Aunt Laura).  We dump the whole puzzle and I hand her one piece at a time.  I do the sign, then do the sign on her hands, then list words that start with that letter.  The last word is the picture in the puzzle.  Then she gets the piece to put in.  We are both making good progress on learning our sign alphabet.

Our talker exercises today were these lacing shapes.  To describe these shapes multiple screens must be used for navigation.  We discuss what they are ("plane", "strawberry", "fish", etc) and then the color.  The objects vary enough to make her move through many of the noun screens.  Then she returns to the colors.  It is a nice exercise because it helps her learn to navigate her talk and shows her knowledge.  When in the mood it is fun for everyone and she is proud of herself.  When she doesn't want to she really doesn't want to.

Happy Birthday, Mom

It is my amazing mother's birthday today.  The little one and I had the pleasure of celebrating with both my parents over yummy meal and a dreamy carrot cake.  I am so lucky to have them just a few miles away.  

Since Christmas is barely a memory I often find it difficult to think of a gift for her.  As it is the start of a new year and everyone has renewed focus on getting healthy I decided to pre-make 7 healthy meal options for her ease.   

I made Mexican Strata, Healthy Breakfast Burritos, Spinach Egg Muffins, Apple Bran Muffins, Moroccan Chicken with Chick Peas, Chicken Fajitas, and Crispy Ginger-and-Garlic Asian Turkey Lettuce Wraps.  It was a labor of love.  Happy Birthday, Mom.  I love you!