Watch Her Grow...

Bear sitting with us at the table. Q-ball wanted to make sure he had kombucha to drink- not sure all bears are the lucky!

This Week's Focus: Language and Practical Life

  Interactions with Materials

• For the past two weeks, Q-ball has been deeply involved in pretend play. Her stuffed animals (and a few of mine from childhood!) are invovled in nearly all parts of our life. I'm asked to fix them plates at mealtimes while Q-ball makes sure they are comfy in their chairs; they sleep with us; they wear our clothes and shoes; they go on stroller rides; they take baths in a little bath tub that an aunt gave us; and, of course, they sit on the potty!
• We are gearing up for Easter, so Q-ball has loved reading her books about bunnies and eggs. I have included some books about the actual Easter celebration in our mix, but this, of course, just don't seem as interesting.  

Interactions with Others 

• Q-ball continues to slowly open up to others.  She played with another child at the park for a few minutes yesterday and was excited about the attention.  But, after about 2 minutes, was ready to move on.  And, then refuse to have another mother push her on the swing. Small steps.
• Q-ball does continue to get excited about seeing her closest friends, a set of twins.  We went to dinner with them last night, and I talked with her about ways we can say hi to people when we first meet them.  I didn't think she was listening to me, especially as it was snack time, but, to my surprise, she immediately went up to them and tried to shake their hands when we first saw them!

Critical Thinking

• Q-ball's sentences are growing incredibly complex! The other morning the first statement out of her mouth was "Mama wash Daddy lightening bolt shirt so Daddy wear it right now."
• It's funny to hear the phrases she is picking up.  Certainly makes me think about when I use these phrases.  Some favorites- "right now!" "Keep your eyes peeled." (Very important when looking for choo-choos when driving.) "Beep! Beep!" (efforts to teach excuse me have not paid off...)

Interactions with Life 

• Still focusing on putting on and taking off her own clothes.  We introduced the "Montessori way," and she loves doing it! 
• The other night, Q-ball couldn't sleep (DST was not made by someone with toddlers.) So, after nearly 2 hours, Mama tapped out, and Daddy came to play.  He told Q-ball that she was a "goofball," and Q-ball thinks it's the funniest thing ever. Now, she'll randomly throw herself on the ground with her legs up and say, "I'm a goofball! I'm a goofball!"

We are linking up with Vibrant Wanderings!  Check out what the other kiddos are up to!

Watch Her Grow...

This Week's Focus: Language and Emotional Intelligence
Over the past week, it seems my little girl has really entered a new toddler phase.  We had several days of 3 more or major tantrums, no matter what I did.  These seemed to be do to her inability to sleep- perhaps because there was just too much going on in her growing mind.  But, this new phase also ushered in some very, very concentrated play, which I'll discuss below...

 

  Interactions with Materials

• So far, her concentrated play has centered on stacking or unpacking.  Some of the activities she practiced this week- she self-checked out 8 books at the library for almost 20 minutes, carefully stacking each after scanning; she laid all of Mama's cupcake holder around the kitchen and then re-stacked (most) of them; she has removed and replaced entire shelves of our bookshelves at home. 
• Of course, stacking involves blocks!  These are items that I rarely remove from her toy rotation as she always finds something new to do with them.  
• Like blocks, Q-ball has always loved her stacking tree ring, although I think it is supposedly aimed at children younger than her.  With this new interest in stacking, I quickly again brought out her rings. 

Interactions with Others 

•  Q-ball seems to have found her first real friends- a set of twins.  She practices saying their names, and she is excited to learn when we are going to meet them.  She loves showing them new toys or tricks, and even held the little girl's hand to when they were walking to watch a band at the market this past weekend.

Critical Thinking

• Q-ball's language skills are always growing.  She can express very complex ideas- describing what makes her happy and working to fill Daddy in on all of the details of her day.
• This week she seemed to really be practicing prepositions- on, off, in, out, on.

Interactions with Life 

• Q-ball is really increasingly focusing on doing more and more herself, especially when it comes to getting dressed.  She really wants to put on and off her own clothing and shoes.

We are linking up with Vibrant Wanderings!  Check out what the other kiddos are up to!

Watch Her Grow...

This Week's Focus: Language and Emotional Intelligence

  Interactions with Materials

• As I've discussed previously, Q-ball loves to push her umbrella stroller.  She now pretty much never rides in it- just pushes it around our small neighborhood as I walk next to her.  As we don't have sidewalks, this provides an excellent learning opprotunity for walking safely in the road...and a really big opprotunity for Mama to strengthen her patient muscles.  
• About two weeks ago, we gave Q-ball her dinner knife (part of a set of small silverware) for the first time.  She was very excited and quickly started to attempt to use it while carefully observing Mama and Daddy.  She now asks for a knife at most mealtimes.
• We have a small boombox set up in Q-ball's area, and she loves asking for us to turn on the music so she can dance along.  I'm surprised it's taken so long, but she is now working to figure out the buttons for herself- hopefully she'll be able to start and stop the music on her own soon.

We attended the stock show again this year- look how much she's grown by comparing these pictures to those from last year!

Interactions with Others 

• I think she is starting to try to initiate play with other children her age.  Of course, her social skills still need a bit of work.  At this point, she just runs up to other toddlers and then a short distance away and then toward them again, and repeat a few times.  A little like a dog trying to get your attention.  She hasn't had much success yet, but I'm sure she'll figure it out.
• She does have some guts in social situation.  The other day at the park, while I was sitting a short distance away, an older boy (around 8 or 9) was trying to kick her off of the swing.  Q-ball stood up, but held on to the swing and just said, "no, no, no," while pointing him to the slides.  He continued to try until he saw me watching.  Why don't kids pick on people their own size?

Critical Thinking

• Q-ball has loved stacking blocks and other shapes in the past, but this week she worked to expand her skills and stack plates and bowls during her snack time. 
  

Interactions with Life 

• Potty-learning success continued.  We've had only one daytime accident all week- even while out and about.  And, Q-ball completely surprised me on Tuesday by sitting on the potty and even pooping!  More glorious potty details to come in an upcoming post dedicated to early potty learning.

We are linking up with Vibrant Wanderings!  Check out what the other kiddos are up to!