growing & learning with him
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.
My Book Tie-In of the Week
We read Five Little Pumpkins illustrated by Ben Mantle. This wonderful version of the book has light hearted pictures that didn’t scare JDaniel. I love the happy pumpkins and fun characters in the book. It is a padded board board which I have found helps books last. That is really important when it comes to this book. We will be reading it for a long time.
Craft
We painted egg carton cups with orange bingo markers and placed them on a fence. It was fun to use the egg pumpkins to retell the story. The green strips were left over from a Sunday school lesson I taught two weeks ago. They are lick and stick.
Experiment
Orange food coloring was created using red and yellow neon food coloring. JDaniel and I mixed the colors using cotton balls. This was fun, but very messy.
Disclaimer: I review books for Tiger Tales. Five Little Pumpkins is a book I was sent to review. The thoughts about the book are my own.
There are so many decisions families make about Halloween.
Here are a few we have talked about at my house:
Will we trick or treat?
Some families don’t trick or treat. They have legitimate reasons and have decided not to participate. My husband and I both trick or treated when we were little and decided that it would be all right for JDaniel to dress up and visit houses in our neighborhood.
Will you put out a pumpkin?
Yes. We both had pumpkins on our porches when we were little and don’t see this as a problem for us.
Will the pumpkin have a face carved into it?
Yes. We decided that we could have a happy face carved into a pumpkin. I am totally aware of the history of carved pumpkins. A parent wrote me a three-page letter on the horrors of Halloween when I first started teaching twenty years ago. He detailed as much of the ancient history and meaning of Halloween objects he felt I needed to know followed by a declaration that his child wasn’t to participate in any Halloween related activities in the classroom. I think he had a right to share his thoughts about Halloween with me. His feelings on the subject were respected and I let his daughter abstain from activities that would have been objectionable to him.
Will we decorate the outside of the house with skeletons and ghosts?
No. JDaniel recently noticed some Halloween decorations at a friend’s house and was scared of them. They weren’t going to be a part of our Halloween décor anyway. We certainly wouldn’t be doing them even if we had planned to do them with JDaniel’s fear of them.
Will we read Halloween related books?
Yes. I am reviewing one this week in Read. Explore.Learn. I am not pointing out witches or ghosts out and discussing them. If he asks about what they are, I will tell him what they are called. At two he probably won’t want an in-depth discussion anyway.
The theme for Muffin Tin Monday is pumpkins this week. I have been brainstorming for about a week to come up with ideas for this tin.
As you can probably see, I really enjoyed this book. It is easy to read. It is straight forward in its presentation of ideas and concepts. I think every new parent would love it. I think all moms can glean information that will help teach their children even if your child is old than three. You will that this book is not opinion based, but based on research done by the author and her life experiences as a mom.The information contained in this book is so helpful. Read it to learn. Read it to be inspired. Read it to say, “Ah-ha” I did that well with my child.
If you would love to add this book to your parenting library, here is a SuperBaby by Dr. Jenn Berman link to Amazon.com where you can get it for $16.47.
