growing & learning with him
This morning when I went into get JDaniel out of his crib I found him laying down with his blanket over his head. Yes, he was laying there clasping a blanket over his face and head.
I was frantic and shouted, “JDaniel get that blanket off your head!” What are you doing?”
“Oh! I am camouflaged, “he said calmly taking the blanket off his head.
“You can’t be camouflaged. Your blanket is green and the sheet is white,” I told him.
“Then I am in a cocoon,” he replied.
“You could have trouble breathing with a blanket over your face. It doesn’t matter what you were pretending to be,” I answered.
“No, look I can breathe,” he responded holding the blanket over his mouth.
Why did he have a blanket on over his face? There are three reasons for this my trying to sneak more sleep, JDaniel’s learning to make a bed, and the Cat in the Hat.
Trying to Sneak More Sleep
One morning I was exhausted and I snuck back into after getting JDaniel’s breakfast. I was sure that if I pulled the covers over my head he wouldn’t find me. Apparently large lump in the bed was very noticeable to him. He came charging in laughing and soon pulling at the covers.
“What are you doing Mom?” he asked.
“I am a caterpillar in a cocoon. If you give me a few minutes, I will burst out of the covers as a butterfly, “I said sleepily.
He waited patiently beside the bed for me to hatch out of the cocoon. I was hoping he would run back and finish breakfast or get tired of waiting for me to hatch or check out what my husband was up to. No, he waited. He wanted to see me fly out of bed and he wanted to jump in bed and pretend he was now it a cocoon. He has been pretending to change from a caterpillar to a butterfly ever since.
Learning to Make a Bed
I am trying to teach JDaniel how to do simple household chores. While helping me make my bed one morning he noticed that a flat sheet, pillows, and blanket were on the bed. He asked me about why they were there and why he didn’t have them in his bed. His crib contains only a fitted sheet. JDaniel has enough trouble finding his pacies as it is at night. I decided to not add pillows, blankets or toys that would impede his finding them. He was insistent that he needed them right away. I convinced him that starting with a blanket would be a good first step. If he liked it and it wasn’t a problem, we could add a pillow. He has used the blanket for a few weeks and loves to have it draped over him at night.
The Cat in the Hat
The need for extra sleep and learning to make a bed has been covered. What is left? Oh! The Cat in the Hat hasn’t been explained. Last night before bedtime we watched the Cat in the Hat on T.V. There were two stories in the episode. One featured a silk worn who built a cocoon. The second story was about a gecko and how he could hide well using his camouflage. I guess JDaniel must have been thinking about the show when he woke up this morning and decided to surprise me.
He decided to let the blanket hang on the side of his bed at nap time and not have it draped over him. Maybe he was afraid of scaring me again.
I tried to make a spider web with sour cream, but I couldn’t make a fine enough line. After three attempts I laid some whole wheat spaghetti on the nachos and prayed that people looking at it would think it was a web.
The second challenge as trying to make the muffins look like spiders. I thought using green peppers would look okay and be a healthy thing for JDaniel to eat. He loved the muffins along with the turkey and cheese inside. The olives disappeared quickly. The green pepper legs were handed to me with the suggestion that I might like to eat them. JDaniel thought the muffins looked like spiders. My husband wanted to know why JDaniel was eating cats. Aren’t cats a Halloween symbol? Is there a spider cat? Do they really look like cats?
The third and final challenge was trying to get JDaniel to try wearing the spider rings. He won’t wear bugs on his fingers he told me.
The carrots and apple weren’t a challenge. Thank goodness they went over with JDaniel. I was done with challenges for the day.
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My Book Tie-Ins of the Week
Tractor by Craig Brown describes how each of the tractor attachments can be used to help a farmer with his crop throughout the year. The pictures in this book are amazing. I have to admit that I looked in the glossary in the back of the book to find out what some of the farming terms meant. JDaniel loved watching the fieldwork throughout the planting and harvesting season.
Autumn Harvest by Alvin Tresselt shares with its readers the things that can be found in a farm community in the fall. This book contains a lot of words and JDaniel’s attention seemed to wander when I read him this book. I loved the weaving together of wonderful word pictures like “.. the gossipy birds strung along telephone wires, waiting to start their autumn flight.
What did we do?
Farm Equipment Sensory Box
I placed some rice and several types of noodles in a plastic tub for JDaniel to explore. I showed JDaniel the glossary at the back of the Tractor book and the noodles I had selected to represent each tractor attachments. He loved playing with it. He played with it for a long time and made very little mess. The next few times the rice and pasta tub was taken out it made a huge mess. I am still finding rice. My husband mentioned that maybe he was too young for this. I am not sure if he will get neater with age.
Painting Pumpkins
JDaniel got to paint his pumpkin from the pumpkin patch at playgroup this week. The mom who hosted playgroup this week, Jennifer had the children use washable finger paint. It was an awesome idea. The paint stayed on the pumpkins and not the children.
Catching Fall Leaves
JDaniel loves to be outside. He loves to play with leaves. I thought it would be fun to try to catch leaves in a butterfly net. The wind hasn’t been blowing here much lately so, I decided to throw leaves in the air and have him try to catch them. Later he decided to catch leaves out of piles of leaves I had raked.
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There are times when even I the official JDaniel translator does not understand what he is trying to tell me. Sometimes due to the context of the conversation and sometimes due to where we are when we have the conversation I can figure out what he has just said. When I do not recognize the word he is trying to say, I ask him to tell me about it. Sometimes I ask him the following questions: What does it look like? What is near what you want or see? What color is it? Have we seen it before? Narrowing down the object of discussion usually helps him discern the word he is trying to say.
Lately, JDaniel has been pointing out objects we see when we are out in the car as a fire truck. After getting me to tell him that it is a fire truck, he says, “Tell me about it.” The first time he did this I wanted to break out laughing. I caught myself before the chuckle could escape from my lips. I am so glad I did. JDaniel was being serious. He was giving me an opportunity to share with him what I knew fire trucks. I do not know a lot. Most of what I know about them has come from watching videos on fire trucks with him and he already knows those facts.
I look forward to him asking for me to tell him about things again. This is a great opportunity to talk about shapes, colors, sounds along with introducing new vocabulary words to him.
What are you doing Mom?
This question comes up a lot of car rides or when I am doing the most mundane things. The answer to the question when I am driving the car is to say, “JDaniel, I am driving the car.” I have thought about it and am not sure that is what is asking. He seems content with my answer but, I do wonder if he is looking for more details just as he is when he says,” Tell me about it.” I have started putting what I am doing in sequence with details. “Well, I am driving the car on the highway, because it is the fastest way to the library. When we get there, we can look for books” I say to him.
Does he need all these details?
Yes, he must or he won’t be asking for them.
Do I think taking the time to give him the details helps his brain development?
Yes, I think it is helping him build brain connections that he will use as a foundation to build knowledge on later.
Does he just like to talk like his mom sometimes?
Yes, he most certainly does.
What questions are your children asking?
Today’s Muffin Tin Meal was inspired by a picture I took when we visited the pumpkin patch last Monday. I loved the scarecrow in the picture and decided that I needed to try to create one for this week tin.
To make the scarecrow I cut a corn tortilla into a head and body. The scarecrow received broccoli eyes, whole wheat egg noodle hair, a sliver of tomato mouth and a red pepper speck nose. He is dressed in American cheese and ham. I think he would scarecrows.
Another section of the tin is a corn stalk made of French fries flanked by carrot pumpkins with cranberry stems.
The final area is layered apple slices. We purchased wonderful Yellow Delicious Apples during our pumpkins patch visit.
Today’s Fabulous Finds has the cutest ideas for Halloween-related fish she shares in the post-Halloween Fish. Say what?
The Attached Mama has set up the Ultimate Alphabet Craft Collection – Master List. It is a great place to find and share ideas and posts you have had related to the alphabet and crafts.
The Fryman Four has wonderful activities to share in their Pumpkin Life Cycle post. I love the balloon pumpkins.
