Words

I've been reading like crazy lately. It's something I've always enjoyed doing, but other things were more important for a while, like work and parenting. 

I started to read at the old age of 3, desperate to be like my sisters. I can actually remember seeing a tv commercial and wanting to understand the words on the screen. My 2nd oldest sister, M, taught me to read with the book, The Little Red Hen. Since then I've loved the written word. I would read books during bus rides to school. I carried a book with me to family parties and would spend them reading in a corner. It's what led me to journalism in the first place. But I always was happier reading than anything else. I would spend my summers reading books outside under trees. 

Luckily, Connor is getting my love of reading. He gladly sits on the couch to read with me and requests multiple stories at bedtime. I limit it to 3, but he usually wants more. He'll even lay in bed while "reading" his books on his own. 

Books have been important to me lately because they help me forget my own problems for a little while. I've been needing the escape. On that note, I'm going to get back to my new book. 

New Things

 There are a few new things that Connor has picked up lately. 

First is "Ta da!" He will put a blanket over a toy or himself then lift it up and say "ta da!" as if he's just done the greatest magic trick in the world. He will do this when he finds the remote hidden behind my back as well. 

Then there's the throwing himself onto the floor. He "fell" on the floor the other day, acting like he had been pushed or tripped when he really did it himself. 

He will spin around in circles. I think he learned this from my friend's little girls. 

He will put socks on his hands and pretend he's a boxer. Often, he will lift his arms up in a muscle show-off pose, scrunch up his face into a "mean" look and run at the front door in an effort to defeat it in battle. 

And my favorite: at least once a day he will throw himself on to me, wrap his arms around my neck and say "squeeeze." I will then squeeze him in a big hug while saying "squeeeeze."

I can't wait to find out what's next. 

New Activity

Yesterday, Connor got to enjoy some new activities. 

First, I took an empty plastic jar and filled it with about 1/2 an inch of dry navy beans and put the cap back on. Then I gave him a bowl and some measuring cups. He spent about 20 minutes unscrewing the cap and transferring the beans from jar to bowl and back again. He would use the measuring cups to scoop some out of the bowl and put them back in the jar. We stopped when he tried to eat the beans. They're edible, but not great when they're dry. The activity helps expose him to a new texture and practice his fine motor skills. 

We also drew for a bit using colored pencils. They're narrower and longer than the crayons he usually uses, so it provided more of a challenge to hold. Again, this works on fine motor skills, and stimulates his creativity. His drawings have started to be more purposeful, more straight lines and circles, less random. 

We've also been working on up and down. He loves to to jump up in the air, even though he only gets about an inch of the ground. Luckily though he hasn't quite gotten brave enough to jump off things. He prefers to climb them right now. 

Next week we're going to work on the alphabet and dressing himself. He's good at taking off his sweaters or jackets, but he hasn't quite gotten anything else. Although he is very good at putting his socks on his hands. 

New Words

I am amazed every day by how big Connor is getting. He just learns in leaps and bounds and spits out new words every day. 

Today in the car he says to me "Put shoe back on." This from a boy who usually only says one or two words at a time. 

Some of his other favorite phrases: 

"Get down!"

"What happened?"

"What are you doing?"

"Where's the ball?"

"Where'd it go?"

Can you tell where he got those from?

and my personal favorite "I love you"

Although it ends up sounding more like "I wub you." I still know what he means. 

I've read from multiple sources that the best way to help your kids grow a vocabulary is to talk to them all the time: Describe what you're doing as you cook dinner, or as you go grocery shopping. It sounded extremely silly to me. They really wanted me to say "Now, I'm chopping up the green broccoli and putting it in the black pot"? But since I've been doing this, his vocabulary really has taken off. I don't baby talk to him, never really have. Instead, I talk to him as if he were an adult. I simply use fewer words when I need him to do something. Three word commands are easier to follow than more complicated ones. 

So try it! Be silly and describe your day in detail to your little one. Pretty soon they'll be telling you "I wub you!"

Building onto the schedule

What I've been trying to do to flesh out the schedule a bit is a lot of research. I don't have a degree in child development, but I still want my son to be stimulated. He's at the age where he will sit down and watch tv if I let him, but that is no way to spend an entire day. 

I do however allow him an hour in the mornings while he eats breakfast. It's still more than the recommended amount for his age, but it makes it a lot easier for me to catch up on the news/blogs and do some quick cleaning. 

But I digress, what I want to talk about is research. There are a lot of websites out there dedicated to homeschooling. These are dedicated more to the school-age kids (as they should be) so they weren't exactly helpful for me. I did come across a lot of great news and information websites for parents, which are fun to read but not exactly helpful for my purpose. But then I came across www.babycenter.com which is the most helpful one I found. It goes into a lot of detail about kids' development at every age. It even had sections where it recommended some activities to do with kids and help them learn. 

The next thing I did was go to the library. I picked up a bunch of books that have activities for toddlers. Then I looked at his schedule from his old daycare to see how they broke up the day. Finally, I've been paying attention to what my son's interests are so I can make sure he will like what we're doing. 

All the research I've done says that kids learn best through play. I'm not planning on trying to make him sit down and do flashcards or drills. Instead I plan on asking him how many trains he has as we're pushing them along the tracks. If I can teach him to count or know his colors while we're playing, I think that's a great thing. 

Of course, I'll also make sure there's plenty of time for free play as well since that's just as important as anything else. 

And that, in my long-winded way, is how I'm creating a schedule for my son. 

Lists

I love lists. 

They help me feel organized and accomplished. My first post-college job involved a lot of tasks that needed to be done at specific times. So in order to keep them all straight, our department had a Task List. We would meet everyday and sign up for the next day's tasks. It was very organized and wonderful. The next job I took wasn't quite like that. I was forced to make my own lists and what needed to get done changed all the time. But there was still some sense of stability. I felt productive whenever I checked something off my list. 

So when I became a stay-at-home mom, I was a bit lost. Kids don't come with lists. With a baby, there's basic needs that are fairly easy to take care of. They're exhausting and needy, but you can check things off in your head. 

Feeding. Check!

Burping. Check!

Diaper Change. Check!

Sleeping. Check!

Make crazy faces at baby to get a laugh. Check!

But as time goes on, the list gets bigger. You worry about them learning words. Are they practicing gross and fine motor skills? What's the difference? Am I reading to him often enough? Should he be having more playdates? You want your child to have everything he needs to become a well-adjusted, successful adult. So where are the lists to help you accomplish that? 

I scoured the internet looking for advice and suggestions. I found some helpful websites, some funny ones, and a lot of mediocre, general advice. I wanted specifics. I wanted "On Tuesday, practice letter recognition by doing x." But that doesn't exist. So I've been forced to come up with my own lists. I'm still working on them.