I just found some Caillou pictures online that I can print out for Anna to color - it's free (just the cost of ink and paper) so I think I'll go ahead and print one or two out and let her bring her favorite tv friend to life. She loves to color just not always in coloring books - more free hand on her easel! The site is below if your little one is equally obsessed!
http://www.chouette-publishing.com/play-caillou/printable-pages
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Used Toys
As I said, I just bought Anna a second-hand kitchen. It's small, but suits our purposes. I bought it from a woman in Wayne (Barbara) who buys them inexpensively at garage sales and cleans and fixes them and then resells them. Everything is in great condition and very reasonable so definitely worth the drive out to Wayne. Plus, she's not far from all of the stores on 46 so I'm able to run a few errands when I head out to buy a 'new' toy.
I bought Anna's table and chairs there over the summer - a great buy considering she uses it throughout the day, everyday. I'm hoping the kitchen is as big of a hit. I just went back to her site and saw that she has a water table for sale. It's only $5 less than a brand new one though so I may hold off or try and bargain her down. Anna loves to play with water (this morning she tried to play with the water in a water fountain!) so I thought it might be a good investment for the summer - something for her to play with while Dave and I do the gardening. We'll see. . . we have a few months to go!
Anyway, if you're interested, the website address is on the homepage and also as follows: www.toys2sell.com. Good luck bargain searching!
I bought Anna's table and chairs there over the summer - a great buy considering she uses it throughout the day, everyday. I'm hoping the kitchen is as big of a hit. I just went back to her site and saw that she has a water table for sale. It's only $5 less than a brand new one though so I may hold off or try and bargain her down. Anna loves to play with water (this morning she tried to play with the water in a water fountain!) so I thought it might be a good investment for the summer - something for her to play with while Dave and I do the gardening. We'll see. . . we have a few months to go!
Anyway, if you're interested, the website address is on the homepage and also as follows: www.toys2sell.com. Good luck bargain searching!
Play Room
Recently I rearranged our living room to make a small play area for Anna. Our great room is now toy free! Well, there are a few kids books, but they're exactly where they belong - on the book shelf!
I bought a small coffee table for Anna's trains, cars and puzzles and just bought a second-hand small kitchen set to go with all of the 'food' and 'pots and pans' Anna received for Christmas. She loves it! In fact, she's downstairs with her speech therapist right now, and they've been making tonight's 'dinner'!
She's been enjoying her new tea set as well. I opened it the other week after we went to Lisa and Aly's for a play date. Lisa gave the girls water so they could have a 'tea party' and ever since then, Anna has requested water every time she 'serves tea'. She loves to pour the water from one cup to another. Unfortunately she doesn't understand how to divide the water so she doesn't overfill the glasses. All the water eventually ends up on the tray and table, but it's plastic and 'lives' in the kitchen so no big deal.
I bought a small coffee table for Anna's trains, cars and puzzles and just bought a second-hand small kitchen set to go with all of the 'food' and 'pots and pans' Anna received for Christmas. She loves it! In fact, she's downstairs with her speech therapist right now, and they've been making tonight's 'dinner'!
She's been enjoying her new tea set as well. I opened it the other week after we went to Lisa and Aly's for a play date. Lisa gave the girls water so they could have a 'tea party' and ever since then, Anna has requested water every time she 'serves tea'. She loves to pour the water from one cup to another. Unfortunately she doesn't understand how to divide the water so she doesn't overfill the glasses. All the water eventually ends up on the tray and table, but it's plastic and 'lives' in the kitchen so no big deal.
Caillou
If you're not already familiar with Caillou, let me quickly inform you. He's a 4 year old cartoon boy who lives with his parents and sister Rosie, and Anna loves him! I found Caillou by accident one morning months ago when we turned to PBS Sprout a little earlier than our 8 am Sesame Street viewing. She seemed to really like to watch the little boy play with his sister, friends and interact with his mommy and daddy.
I didn't go out of my way to let her watch Caillou since it was on kind of early for our morning routine. But then a friend of mine gave Anna two Caillou books (Caillou, Bath Time & Caillou, Which One?). She seemed very intrigued by this boy and his antics much more so than the monsters on Sesame.
Over the last few weeks, she's especially enjoyed reading the bath time book so when I saw a Caillou dvd at the library, I snagged it. Dave was away for a few days last week so I let her watch it while I made dinner. She was fascinated. It was fun to see how genuinely interested she was in the show. She even started to request watching it. She's never done that with Sesame so I realized it must be true love.
I returned it only a few days later because I didn't want to encourage her to watch the same show over and over again. I figured I'd just find some different episodes, but I guess it's pretty popular because I couldn't find another dvd. Perhaps for her birthday! In the meantime, I'll keep checking the shelf at the library. Maybe I'll find another 'favorite'.
I didn't go out of my way to let her watch Caillou since it was on kind of early for our morning routine. But then a friend of mine gave Anna two Caillou books (Caillou, Bath Time & Caillou, Which One?). She seemed very intrigued by this boy and his antics much more so than the monsters on Sesame.
Over the last few weeks, she's especially enjoyed reading the bath time book so when I saw a Caillou dvd at the library, I snagged it. Dave was away for a few days last week so I let her watch it while I made dinner. She was fascinated. It was fun to see how genuinely interested she was in the show. She even started to request watching it. She's never done that with Sesame so I realized it must be true love.
I returned it only a few days later because I didn't want to encourage her to watch the same show over and over again. I figured I'd just find some different episodes, but I guess it's pretty popular because I couldn't find another dvd. Perhaps for her birthday! In the meantime, I'll keep checking the shelf at the library. Maybe I'll find another 'favorite'.
Another Evaluation
Anna had her PT evaluation this morning at her soon to be new school. The room where the evaluations normally take place was being used for testing so the PT ad libbed in the hallway and on the stairs. Anna was definitely a bit distracted! She was very interested in all of the older kids passing by and what lay in the rooms beyond.
For the most part she showed the PT what she's capable of but she was a bit stubborn about it. On the one hand I try to remind myself that she's not yet three. But then I sometimes wonder if her behavior is typical. She didn't listen very well to her new teacher, but then again, this was her first meeting. Not to mention, I was there since there was nowhere else for me to be. Also she didn't have her peers around her like she will when she begins school in March.
Her current teachers have only told me about one day when Anna wasn't quite herself at school - and we had just returned from a week away with Grandma and Granddad so all was understood and expected. Plus, she returned to her normal well-behaved self the next time she had school. I wonder however how much her well behaved self was really a by product of her inability to move around as well and if now that she's more mobile, she finds it easier to do her own thing rather than follow instructions.
It's difficult having a special needs child at times. I wonder how much of her behavior is typical and how much of it is a result of her 'issues'. When I'm around other kids and moms, I feel more at ease realizing that they don't always follow instructions, don't always answer questions directly and are easily distracted. But when I'm alone with her for awhile, I find myself getting very frustrated with her toddler behavior, however typical it may be!
For the most part she showed the PT what she's capable of but she was a bit stubborn about it. On the one hand I try to remind myself that she's not yet three. But then I sometimes wonder if her behavior is typical. She didn't listen very well to her new teacher, but then again, this was her first meeting. Not to mention, I was there since there was nowhere else for me to be. Also she didn't have her peers around her like she will when she begins school in March.
Her current teachers have only told me about one day when Anna wasn't quite herself at school - and we had just returned from a week away with Grandma and Granddad so all was understood and expected. Plus, she returned to her normal well-behaved self the next time she had school. I wonder however how much her well behaved self was really a by product of her inability to move around as well and if now that she's more mobile, she finds it easier to do her own thing rather than follow instructions.
It's difficult having a special needs child at times. I wonder how much of her behavior is typical and how much of it is a result of her 'issues'. When I'm around other kids and moms, I feel more at ease realizing that they don't always follow instructions, don't always answer questions directly and are easily distracted. But when I'm alone with her for awhile, I find myself getting very frustrated with her toddler behavior, however typical it may be!
Monday, February 2, 2009
Funny Girl
Anna definitely has a sense of humor. When we drive in the car, I try to get her to work on her speech by asking her to repeat sounds like 'ta ta', 'tee tee', 'la la', etc. Since Anna's favorite word is 'no', she always initially says 'no' when I ask her to play the game. When I first started, she seemed a bit upset as though I was asking her to do something she's not able to do. But when I tried to make it more fun and took the pressure off by repeating 'no' in a silly way, she joined in. So now every time I start the game in the car, she begins by saying 'no' in a teasing way and laughing. Eventually she chimes in with sounds of her own, and I just run with it!
Anna has always interacted with us in a way that surprises me every time. And as she gets older, it just gets more fun. She teases and jokes in her own way that makes Dave and me laugh out loud. The appropriate ways she reacts to the silly things we do with her truly astound us. I guess neither one of us have spent a lot of time with young children because I'm always wondering, is this typical!?
This morning I was joking with her because she didn't want to feed herself her oatmeal. I wanted to be done with it, so I gave it to her but joked with her by asking if Anna was a baby or a big girl. When I said, 'I guess Anna must be a baby since Mommy has to feed her oatmeal to her', she said, 'Anna, me no baby no', or something like that! It was so funny to see how adamantly she was trying to convince me as if I really thought she was still a baby! Too funny!
Anna has always interacted with us in a way that surprises me every time. And as she gets older, it just gets more fun. She teases and jokes in her own way that makes Dave and me laugh out loud. The appropriate ways she reacts to the silly things we do with her truly astound us. I guess neither one of us have spent a lot of time with young children because I'm always wondering, is this typical!?
This morning I was joking with her because she didn't want to feed herself her oatmeal. I wanted to be done with it, so I gave it to her but joked with her by asking if Anna was a baby or a big girl. When I said, 'I guess Anna must be a baby since Mommy has to feed her oatmeal to her', she said, 'Anna, me no baby no', or something like that! It was so funny to see how adamantly she was trying to convince me as if I really thought she was still a baby! Too funny!
Counting
Anna is great with colors but not up to speed yet on letters and numbers. When asked how old she is, she says 'two' but when asked how old she's going to be, she says 'five'! Grant it, this is a mature concept, but a funny anecdote that leads me to my next story!
When asked to count, she says, 'one, two, five'! Sometimes she says, 'five, two, five' or some other combination that involves her two favorite numbers: two and five.
We're working on the counting now that colors seem to be 'mastered'. I borrowed a counting dvd from the library over the weekend and sat with Anna to watch it Saturday night. She really enjoyed it and thought that one of the puppets used looks like her 'Lambie'. Probably because it was a puppet like Lambie. So everytime she saw it, she yelled 'Lambie'! And after she'd watched for a little while, she anticipated 'Lambie' every time she saw 'Lambie's set'. I thought it was very clever of her!
When asked to count, she says, 'one, two, five'! Sometimes she says, 'five, two, five' or some other combination that involves her two favorite numbers: two and five.
We're working on the counting now that colors seem to be 'mastered'. I borrowed a counting dvd from the library over the weekend and sat with Anna to watch it Saturday night. She really enjoyed it and thought that one of the puppets used looks like her 'Lambie'. Probably because it was a puppet like Lambie. So everytime she saw it, she yelled 'Lambie'! And after she'd watched for a little while, she anticipated 'Lambie' every time she saw 'Lambie's set'. I thought it was very clever of her!
Stairs
Anna has improved so much on the stairs. She still tends to crawl up our stairs at times, but she is more than capable of walking up like a 'big girl'! She still needs to hold on of course, but she manages quite well. Coming down as also improved dramatically. She used to hang on with two hands or even back down the stairs, but now she holds the wall with her left hand and walks down. She is very proud of herself, and we're very proud of her!
I think one therapy tool that has helped improve her strength is her blue gym mat. I keep it folded so it's an approximate height of a stairs and she walks up and down on it without holding onto anything. Great exercise for strength and balance. We make a game of it by putting on music and incorporating a second 'obstacle' so there's a bit more to it. It's great for speech too because she always narrates her 'up' and 'down' as she goes along.
The other day I took out her mat, and she kept pointing to something in her closet. I didn't know what she was asking for until I realized that we used this pole (for lack of a better description) as an object to walk around before going back up on to the mat. I couldn't believe she remembered!
I think one therapy tool that has helped improve her strength is her blue gym mat. I keep it folded so it's an approximate height of a stairs and she walks up and down on it without holding onto anything. Great exercise for strength and balance. We make a game of it by putting on music and incorporating a second 'obstacle' so there's a bit more to it. It's great for speech too because she always narrates her 'up' and 'down' as she goes along.
The other day I took out her mat, and she kept pointing to something in her closet. I didn't know what she was asking for until I realized that we used this pole (for lack of a better description) as an object to walk around before going back up on to the mat. I couldn't believe she remembered!
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