Archive for the ‘Cognitive Development’ Category

Sammi and I spent the last year going round and round about preschool. She wanted to go so desperately but the only programs I could find in our very rural area were run through the school district which meant five days a week 5-6 hours a day. I didn’t want her gone so long. The final straw was when she started telling people I wouldn’t let her go to preschool because I didn’t like school. That took several days and a LOT of conversations with Sammi to straighten out! We finally compromised by calling everything we did at home (crafts, cooking, music and movement, dress up) preschool activities.

The other part of the compromise is that I would let her go to an all day/five days a week program when she was four. I picked a school a little farther from our house because it has a smaller class size and the teachers came highly recommended. We went in May to register Sammi for her class and meet her teacher. She was in love! She was so upset she had to wait all summer to go back to school. I didn’t know when school started exactly (they said they’d send me a letter sometime in July or the beginning of August!) so all I could tell her was “in the fall.”

Once we knew the official date, we made a countdown chain. She was so excited and got to stay up late one night to make it with me. The next morning she helped me make one for Elli for her birthday which was just a few weeks after school started (in fact, it’s tomorrow!) The girls loved their chains. And yes, Elli is wearing one of Sammi’s skirts like a strapless gown.

We had a lot of fun doing some back-to-school shopping. I wanted to make sure we had enough of everything that she would need so before we went shopping, I wanted to go through all her clothes to see what fit and what she had outgrown. I knew she wouldn’t have the attention span for all of it so we turned it into a fashion show. I put all the shirts in one pile and all the pants/shorts/skirts in another pile and let her pick the combinations. I made her bend over, sit down and stand back up in all the pants to make sure they weren’t too tight on her tummy or too low in the back. Amazingly, we went through all the clothes in just over an hour! I had an empty box ready and tossed in all the “rejects” as we went along. Then we folded up the rest and put them back in her drawers. We were done in time to make dinner!

Sammi wanted so much to take her backpack to school even though she didn’t need to take anything. So we put her extra change of clothes in the backpack and she was off for her first day. We went into her room and she was off to explore. And so was Elli. Elli was most unhappy when it was time for us to go and she didn’t get to stay and play. It’s gotten better but it still takes me at least 10 minutes to leave when we pick Sammi up. They both just want to play as much as they can. It’s a fun room so I just go with the flow.

So far she loves school and is excited to get up every morning and go. She’s starting to talk about her classmates by name and tell me all the fun things they do every day. So far, she has come home with paint on her shirt every day, so I’m guessing she loves that station! She also loves playing outside for recess and being the line leader.

The other week I was sick with strep throat. I drafted this post then, with the sickness fully on my mind and consuming a lot of my attention. But it turned out that there was a theme that Friday, books to sing, and I couldn’t pass up the chance to share some of our favorites. So I tabled this post for a theme-free week and here you go!

So Few of Me by Peter H. Reynolds

Feeling under the weather helped me realize how much I do, and enjoy doing, on a regular basis. Having lost so much energy, appetite and desire to talk has really changed our patterns the last few days. With that on my mind, I kept thinking of this book my grandma gave me for Christmas. So Few of Me by Peter H. Reynolds is a quick, humorous read. This book is a great reminder to focus on what’s most important and doing our best. Definitely a message I need to hear again and again. Especially with little ones at home, it’s easy to lose sight of how important the things I do with them really are for them, their development and for our relationships.

Sisters by David McPhail

This week I have really been enjoying how sweet the girls are together. {This is becoming true of almost every week now!} One Wednesday I posted pictures of them being adorable and their status as sisters is really taking shape. Sammi loves to talk about Elli as her sister, and how she can help her and teach her. Sometimes it’s bossy, but most of the time it’s sweet to see them play together. And work together to finagle ways to get more juice. So we pulled out a book we got when Elli was born called Sisters by David McPhail. It talks about the ways two sisters are very different and then very alike. Some of the things are true about the girls so it’s easy for them to identify with the characters in the book. My favorite pages say, “Both sisters liked to help bake cookies…and to play in puddles.” That’s my girls to a tee.

Flossing Teeth

The last book I’m sharing today comes from our public library. Sammi found it on a shelf and begged to bring it home. I wasn’t sure how she’d like it, but it’s been much requested. It’s called Flossing Teeth and is part of the Pebbles Plus series on Healthy Teeth. Anna shows us the right way to floss to get food and plaque off our teeth. It shows a diagram of two teeth and where the plaque and food like to hang out where the brush can’t reach them. It also shows how teeth get cavities when they aren’t cared for. This was powerful for Sammi since she had a cavity the first time she went to the dentist for an official visit! She really identifies with this book and it helps her remember to take good care of her teeth so she doesn’t get any more cavities.

Have books to share? Want to find more book recommendations? Check out Feed Me Books Friday hosted by The Adventure of Motherhood.

And please leave a comment telling what book you read to death this week

A year and a half ago Sammi and I took a brave step and read our first chapter book together. I was inspired by Jim Trelease’s book The Read-Aloud Handbook. I selected Charlotte’s Web because I remembered loving it as a child and it was conveniently unpacked and sitting on our bookshelf. Sammi was 2 years and 3 months old when we started it. We read it every morning at breakfast and we actually finished it. She enjoyed it and so did I.

Since that first success with a chapter book, we haven’t really had much success with any of the other chapter books we already owned. We started a few, but we’d read them here and there and the story line got lost because of our inconsistent reading. Elli has also grown a bit and developed her own opinions about what we read and how long she’ll allow us to read books that are too big for her.

I’ve been feeling like we needed to find some chapter books that we in-between Charlotte’s Web and long picture books. One day at the library Sammi pulled a book off the shelf and brought it to me asking if we could take it home. It was Junie B. Jones Has a Peep in her Pocket. I flipped through it and loved the layout. There are illustrations about every other page, the font is nice and big and it’s divided into chapters. There were six chapters in this book.

It worked out perfectly that we were able to read it for a chapter at a time. Elli could handle that much of the book before interrupting us. It really didn’t take very long to read a chapter. In fact, we’ve read picture books longer than a chapter and some as long as the whole book. But it has a more grown up feel because of the chapters and the layout. The story moveds pretty quickly and Sammi was always interested in rading one more chapter. We picked it up a couple times each day and had it finished in three days.

Sammi enjoyed Junie B. so much that we got two more books in the series. We’re currently reading Junie B., First Grader: Boss of Lunch. Sammi is thrilled with this book, too. At the bookstore where we got it, they had a whole collection of them and I let her pick out two. She seems very pleased with her choice. These books are written in first person from Junie B.’s perspective. It includes typical grammar mistakes of an early elementary school child and a whole lot of spunk in her personality. I often skip over words like stupid and dumb if they are used in a context that Sammi doesn’t know yet (and I don’t want to give her any ideas!). Other than that, it’s a fun read for both of us and we’re excited to be reading chapter books.

We’re definitely hooked on Barbara Park and her Junie B. Jones collection.

Are there any beginning chapter books you’d recommend for us?

Have books to share? Want to find more book recommendations? Check out Feed Me Books Friday hosted by The Adventure of Motherhood.

The links to the books are Amazon Affiliate links. I like to include links to Amazon because they have great prices and a good collection of reviews and additional info. If you happen to make a purchase after clicking on one of my links, I’ll receive a small percentage of that sale.

Don’t miss this week’s giveaway from Baby Cribs Plus (it’s my birthday present to you!) Come celebrate with me!

It’s been an interesting week around here. I went to the doctor on Wednesday and found out I have strep throat. I was pretty miserable Wednesday and then even worse on Thursday. I’m hoping that the medicine will finally start to clear up my throat and that I’ll have a fun weekend.

Today is Arbor Day. If you have a minute, please send a virtual tree through Hanes’ Facebook Page and they’ll plant a real tree for you! A simple way you can help make a big difference.

This week’s theme is books to sing. When we first started reading books with Sammi, the only ones she liked at all were books that had tunes. It was a great introduction to books for her and we had a blast singing.

Hush Little Baby by Brian Pinkney

I grew up to the song Hush Little Baby. My mom sang it to me every night and it’s always been one of my favorites. Brent and I have a hard time singing this together though because I always sing it “Mommy’s gonna buy you…” and he feels funny doing that. So when I found this version of Hush Little Baby in book form I fell in love. It’s all about a day when Mom goes on errands and Daddy is with the brother and baby sister. It’s so cute how the dad tries to make her laugh and forget that Mommy just left. Plus it was one that Brent loved reading/singing with Sammi.

Down by the Bay by Raffi

We have loved our Down by the Bay book to pieces. I really struggled with the tune at first because it was unfamiliar to me. Fortunately it has the music at the end of the book and I was able to plunk it out on the piano till I got the hang of it. The illustrations are great for this crazy song about moose kissing a goose, a whale with a polka-dotted tail and more. I liked this one because it broadened my horizons and taught me a song I should probably have known, but didn’t.

Ten Little Fingers by Annie Kubler

I’d recommend any of the song books illustrated by Annie Kubler and published by Child’s Play. They are so adorable and really bring the song to life. We received Ten Little Fingers as a gift when we were expecting Sammi. This was another one where the tune was unfamiliar to me and I had to practice a lot to get it down. But the actions are great and it’s so much fun to see little ones go from passively listening to the song/book to actively doing the actions and trying to sing the song.

Have books to share? Want to find more book recommendations? Check out Feed Me Books Friday hosted by The Adventure of Motherhood.

These books are linked to Amazon through an affiliate link. I provide the link so you can read additional reviews on the books as well as have easy access to more info about the book. If you happen to buy something through one of these links, I will earn a small percentage of the sale.

This Top Ten list is all about the social development of babies birth to one year. I think it’s fascinating they begin at birth to recognize and attach themselves to parents and consistent caregivers. Here are my favorite ten ways to know your baby thinks the world of you…and only you (and maybe Daddy, too.)

Birth to 4 Months

1. Gazes into your eyes while being fed.

2. Begins to coo or smile when you talk to him or her.

3. Fusses or cries to get your attention.

5 to 8 Months

4. Smiles when you smile or make gentle, funny faces.

5. Kicks legs or reaches with arms when seeing you approach.

6. Bounces on your lap to get attention.

9 to 12 Months

7. Checks out your reaction before deciding if he or she should act hurt.

8. Reaches to you for comfort when upset or hurt.

9. Shows great delight when playing peek-a-boo with you.

Your Favorite

10. How do you know you are the center of your little one’s world?

This post is linked to Oh Amanda’s Top Ten {Tuesday} carnival.

Happy Earth Day!

Check out our Earth Day giveaway!

I’m thoroughly enjoying the Earth Day ideas from the comments on the giveaway post. I’m surprised and please by how many people are planning on planting a tree. Some other great ideas include planting vegetable and flower gardens, participating in town cleanup, turning the compost pile, and going WITHOUT electricity!

Here are some Earth Day ideas
for little ones birth to five

Newborns and Babies

• Visit the park
• Sit on a blanket outside
• Feel the textures of different things outside: grass, leaves, flower petals, the bark of a tree.

Toddlers

• All of the above
• Have them accompany you to take recycling to a local facility
• Dig in the dirt, plant seeds and water
• Play in the water outside

Preschoolers

• All of the above
• Practice sorting plastics and cardboard into two bags for recycling
• Learn about conserving water and electricity
• Turn off lights, appliances, and electronics when not in use
• Turn off water while scrubbing hands with soap/brushing teeth

5 year olds

• All of the above
• Help pick up debris/litter at a local park or in your own yard
• Talk about/show how products are recycled
• Talk about decisions you’ve made to be more aware of the environment
• Decide one thing together to do to be more green
• Go on a scavenger hunt to find environmentally friendly products in your home or at a store
• Change light bulbs to energy efficient ones

All Ages

• Visit local events that promote Earth Day
• Make a craft using recyclable materials in your home
• Go on a nature walk and pick up any trash you see along the way
• Buy your produce from a farmer’s market or local farm

What are you doing to celebrate Earth Day? I wanted to go see Disney’s OCEANS as it’s in theaters today. But the closest theater is over an hour away so I’m not sure it’s worth the drive. I think we’ll spend some time at the park and plant our flowers.

A while back my mom attended a workshop taught by Dr. Wallace Goddard. Actually she attended two, one on strengthening marriages and another on parenting. She absolutely loved what he taught and shared lots of notes and book recommendations with me. While most of them were parenting books, he did recommend one book for children, particularly girls. It’s a princess book. A princess book like you’ve never experienced before.

Fanny’s Dream

Fanny’s Dream
Caralyn Buehner, illustrated by Mark Buehner
Picture Puffins, 2nd Printing edition (June 23, 2003)

Fanny is a hometown girls with big dreams. She plans on marrying the mayor’s son and never working another day in her life. She gets all dolled up for the ball at the mayor’s mansion and sits out to wait for her fairy godmother. While waiting, a suitor named Heber shows up. After a short conversation Heber proposes to Fanny. It means a life of work, but Fanny accepts. They have twins boys and then girl. They make a happy life together. Then one night her fairy godmother shows up. She offers to take her to the mayor’s mansion where there’s an available colonel. As Fanny hesitates the fairy godmother says, impatiently, “Do you want to go to the ball, or not?” Fanny replies, “Not.” And returns to her family in the little farm house. I cry every time I read it!

My favorite line is when Heber proposes. “Even with all that moonlight it took Fanny an hour to give up her dreams. She shook Heber awake.” And accepts his proposal.

In a lot of ways I can relate to Fanny. I had dreams of exotic travel abroad and a life of adventure. But when I met Brent, giving up doing those things in the immediate future felt right. It was hard, but I’m glad I did. I love him and our little girls and have grown more as a person with them in my life than I ever would have if I’d chosen to travel the world instead.

What Happens While I Blog

As I am writing this post, Sammi came to inform me that Elli spilled all the cinnamon sugar on the floor (fortunately there was only a little left). I look up ti find cinnamon sugar on Sammi’s chin. Hmmm. then Elli came i to tell her side of the story. She’s holding the lid and looking like this:

She takes me by the hand to show me the mess. Sammi is sitting on the floor drawing in the pile of cinnamon sugar. She explained that it’s a park. And with each movement of her fingers she tells me about trees growing here, people walking this way or going that way. I love her little park.

Not ready to tackle the mess just yet, I return to blogging. This is what I just found. I’m impressed she was able to get so much back in the container. But, don’t worry, it will end up in the trash!

This post is linked up with Feed Me Books Friday from The Adventure of Motherhood and Kids Make the Darndest Things from Buried with Children. Check out other books moms are recommending and the artwork by their children that moms are sharing at these to blogs.

Happy Friday!

p.s. What’s your favorite princess book?

I’ve always been drawn to the performing arts. I don’t have a great voice. I’m not gifted at playing a musical instrument. I’ve dabbled in drama, but nothing serious. And I’m quite the laughable sight on the dance floor. Despite these shortcomings, I still appreciate the performing arts. Having tried (and found my skills lacking) I know how difficult it is to do it well and that helps me appreciate great performances all the more.

I’d love for the girls to become great pianists with amazing voices that can wow and inspire on the stage or the dance floor. But that needs to be their choice when they’re ready to make it. For now, though, I can share my love of music, drama, and dance with them and help them see the beauty, the comedy, the inspiration, the joy that comes from the performing arts.

Why Are the Performing Arts Important?

Funding for arts in education seems to be at the top of the “Can’t Afford It” list every year. It begs the question, if it’s so easy to cut funding for it, does it really matter? YES! It does matter. Math, Science, English, History all serve their purpose in the basic knowledge we need to get educated. But appreciating and participating in the performing arts adds another dimension to life. We become well-rounded citizens when we allow the performing arts into our lives. We are inspired, uplifted, moved to better ourselves, our families and our communities. There is joy in living when we allow ourselves to be entertained in wholesome ways.

Appreciating the arts in general, and the performing arts specifically for this post, has always been a sign of advanced civilization. I’ve been thinking about that a lot and trying to find my own understanding of that classification. It reminds me of Maslow’s hierarchy from Psychology 101. If all of our time and energy is focused on meeting our physical needs for food and shelter then there’s no energy left over for emotions or relationships and thus definitely no energy left over for participating in wholesome entertainment. When basic needs are met easily and there’s energy left over, then we can focus on relationships, improving ourselves, understanding the world around us and appreciating or participating in the arts.

So civilizations or groups within civilizations that have an abundance of resources have the energy and time to devote to appreciating the arts and, if they chose, participating in them. From my experiences and observations, it seems that most people have some desire or drive to create something that inspires others. It can be anything from a lullaby for a baby, to a letter-craft for a preschooler; an impromptu band with friends to an comedy routine at a family or neighborhood talent show.

Two Ways to Help Little Ones Appreciate the Performing Arts

1. Exposure: They need to see the performing arts in action. Take them to see dance groups or music groups perform locally. Get season tickets to a children’s theater (one of my favorite memories from my elementary school days). Many communities offer free events at the park during the summer months.
2. Chance to Participate: You can enroll them in dance classes, art classes, music classes. There are many resources for mommy and me classes (in larger communities) If those things aren’t available, make some instruments at home, crank up a CD or the radio and dance around. Act our your little one’s favorite episode of Dora (or their favorite show or book).

Making the performing arts a part of their lives now will help them in so many ways. They’ll develop confidence in themselves as they perform (even if it’s just for you) and they’ll see the joy that comes from this medium of entertainment. They’ll make connections between their experiences and the culture in which they live. They’ll have knowledge that is shared among their community and society, helping them find ways to interact in new situations.

What other benefits do you see from helping your little ones appreciate the performing arts?

I’ll be talking more specifically this week about music, drama and dance and how to help your little ones appreciate these modes of entertainment, both as a spectator and a participant. Be on the lookout for a sweet giveaway this week, too.

Photo credit: Chipola College – Fine and Performing Arts

This collection of books is part of Feed Me Books Friday hosted by The Adventure of Motherhood. This week’s theme is Resurrection, Easter Stories and More. Check out what books Moms are recommending to help you get ready for Easter! We’ve been traveling this week so I haven’t had a chance to find Easter-themed books, yet.

We brought several new books with us on our trip and then were given several more from a dear friend. Sammi’s backpack can’t even hold all the books we now have! And she can’t carry it when it’s stuffed with as many as it will hold. But it’s a great place to store them so they don’t take over Grandma and Grandpa’s house. Some of our new favorites are listed below.

Chewy Louie is about a little boy who gets a brand new puppy from his dad. The puppy loves to chew and basically destroys the house. The boy keeps thinking his parents will decide to get rid of the dog, but they wait it out and eventually he grows out of puppyhood and stops chewing everything. Sammi and Elli have each brought this book to me asking for it again and again. They love the idea that he grows out of puppyhood just like they grew out of babyhood.

The Bouncy Baby Bunny is a cute book about how one bouncy bunny tries to settle down for a nap. He has quite an adventure trying to find a place where his bounciness is accepted and in the end it’s his bounciness that actually saves nap time. There are repetitive phrases in this book that work well with the rhythm and flow of the book. My husband didn’t like reading it that much because of the repetitiveness, but it didn’t bother me. Sammi loves this book the most of all of us and she reminds us of that each time she brings it to one of us to read.

We’ve had a lot of fun reading this week. Aside from playing outside, we’ve spent more time reading than on any of our other typical activities. Books are great because they’re easy to pack along, you don’t need many because kids love the same one over and over again, and they help make an unfamiliar place feel a bit more like home.

Don’t forget to see what other books Moms recommend today at The Adventure of Motherhood.

From my experience, it’s all about engaging them in the experience. Interaction is a key component to any successful activity. The more involved you feel, the more you want to participate. The same is true of all ages, especially little ones. They have such short attention spans and everything is new, i.e., distracting. The key is to work with those “limitations” not try to squash them. I witnessed a most unengaging book reading one time that made me, who loves books and reading almost more than any other leisure activity, want to run screaming from the room. { photo credit: chimothy27}

A teenage girl was trying to read a short board book to three preschoolers. Now, Sammi can sit through long picture books, so a short board book should have been a piece of cake for these kids. But they were sitting in a row facing the girl and she was sitting up on a chair reading the book to them. Anytime they fidgeted at all, she stopped reading and told them to sit still. At the end of every sentence she stopped and asked them a question about that sentence. Then she demanded the correct answer before she moved on to the next sentence. There was no flow to the story, no magic floating out from the book to capture the interest of these three little ones. It was pure agony. The girl was obviously frustrated by the behavior of the children and they were obviously bored with the experience, yet they pushed on. If this is the perfect example of how not to get kids interested in reading, I’d like to share some tips to turn this exact situation into the perfect way to get kids interested in reading.

6 Tips to Get Kids Interested in Reading

1. Get close. Be on the same level as the kids. Let them climb in your lap or on your back as you read. Let them sit as close as they can get so they can see the illustrations and let the magic of those pictures bring the story to life for them.
   
2. Accept age appropriate behavior. It’s not feasible for a 1 year old or a 2 year old or even a 3 year old to be perfectly still. They wiggle and fidget because that’s what they do. It doesn’t mean they aren’t listening. Because, believe me, they are. As long as they haven’t wandered off into another room, they are still listening and will probably protest if you stop reading. It’s okay that they aren’t able to give you their undivided attention for the length of the book. It doesn’t mean they aren’t ready for it or don’t want it. It just means they can only process so much at a time and the moving around may be a coping skill to help them get the most out of the experience.
   
3. Answer questions. Something like 90% of questions little ones ask about a story come from the illustrations. It’s a visual way for them to understand the story. Take the time to answer those questions and bring it back to the words of the story. Sometimes Sammi will ask a question from the picture that hasn’t been answered yet in the story. I usually say, “We don’t know that yet. But if we keep reading, I bet we’ll find out. Let’s listen for the answer.” And then once we’ve read the answer, we talk about it again.
   
4. Have stacks of books available in all play areas. Anywhere the little ones are free to be and play, have books visible. They will be more interested in them if they seem them often. It’s also a lot easier for you to just pick up a book and read with your little one if you don’t have to go find one.
   
5. Let your kids see you reading. I have a few things around the house that I read: a book, magazines, scriptures, the computer. Sometimes when Sammi or Elli want to get on my lap while I’m reading I’ll read out loud to them. They love being involved in that moment with me, but they usually get their fix and then move on, which gives me time to read one more page/article/post.
   
6. Extend the reading to other activities. Do a craft, make a treat, dress up, get creative. Anytime something relates to the story, tie in that connection so they can remember the book and build their background knowledge. There are tons of blogs that have examples of ways to extend a book into other activities. Some I enjoy are A Mommy’s Adventures and Silly Eagle Books.

I’m sharing these tips today because I’ve been invited to be on the panel of #GNO tonight on twitter. You can learn more about #GNO here and about tonight’s discussion here. Tonight’s topic is “Let’s Play—Getting Our Kids to Love Books and Reading” The discussion is sponsored by a brand new site, Memetales, that is devoted to bring parents, kids and books together in creative ways. I’ve only just begun to explore this site and look forward to sharing more of its potential and usefulness as I become better acquainted with it. If you want more info now, Mom Tried It and No time For Flashcards have both posted about Memetales. Here’s a slide show to give you a glimpse into the vision of tonight’s #GNO discussion and the mission of Memetales.