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| Toddler - Week #91 |
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| Milestones: |
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There has been so much more vocabulary development again this week! Since Evan has been such a parrot, I was feeding him phrases. He was in the tub one night and copying everything I said. So just for the heck of it, I said, "I love you," and got the reply, "I love eew!" Amazing! I was so very excited that Evan could tell this was a phrase to say over and over again and again. He has been saying it to me constantly just to get me to smile! It is the most wonderful phrase I could ever hear from him. He also is now saying why with high frequency. Often I reply with an "I don't know" response. Therefore, "I dunno" has entered his repertoire! I try to answer every why question he asks, but I don't think he even listens half the time! However, now when I ask him something, like where is his cup or why did you throw that toy, he tells me, "I dunno." |
| Creating Good Readers: |
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Why is a great word for reading a book. Questions are so important for developing better comprehension and vocabulary skills. When you read a book, you should stop and ask questions about the pictures and the story. Why is one of the best of the question words. Why did a character make the decisions he or she chose in the book? Why is the story happening in the rain or the sunshine? Questions like this will help your child really try to examine the author's purpose and relate to the characters. It is the best way to experience a story. After all, we want our children to really be in the story, not just have words being spoken at them. |
| Book Of The Week: |
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How Do I Love You? by Marion Dane Bauer This is a wonderful book inspired by the famous poem by Elizabeth Browning, "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways." In this well-built board book, a mom tells all the ways she loves her baby. I like this book, not just because it is touching and beautiful, but it also went hand in hand with Evan's recent knowledge of animals and their sounds. I loved the sappy declarations of love, and Evan loved seeing the bee that buzzes and the duck that quacks. |
| Activities: |
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This was a perfect week for Evan to declare his love because ironically, it was also our fourteenth wedding anniversary! One of the activities Evan, Alice, and I did to show Daddy our love for him was make a cake. It was a messy activity, but I like involving them in the kitchen a little. Evan did everything-from dumping water and oil in from the measuring cups to even cracking eggs! Yes, there were some shells, but I just dug them out! Evan also helped frost the cake. It was quite the activity. Evan also made me a lovely frame at school this week. It was made of foam and had foam hearts glued to it. He also glued sweetheart candies on it. In the middle was his picture. In his picture, he is holding a giant paper heart. The frame has a magnet on the back so that I can have it on the fridge. It is very cute. |
| Rhyme Time: |
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Here is a song to celebrate your love: I love you, you love me We're a happy family-- With a great big hug and a kiss from me to you Won't you say you love me, too? |
| Evan's Opinion: |
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Evan very much enjoyed making a cake this week. But oh, what a messy activity this truly was! He needed to break from our usual before dinner routine and go straight into the bath tub after making the cake! I made the mistake of giving him one of the mixer beaters so he could lick it like Alice, but instead, he felt it looked more like a drumstick and so he hit it on the table! The result was a splattering of chocolate all over the place. He had chocolate batter even inside his ears! Evan loved the book this week, too. But he loved it more because he is really into animals lately, not because it was about saying I love you, which was my reason for loving it! His frame from school was great. But one suggestion I would have if you are going to try this at home is not to let the child eat the candy while making the frame. Evan had some candies as a snack while making the frame. Now I constantly have to explain to him why he cannot eat the ones glued to the frame! I think it would have been better if they either hadn't used candy at all or hadn't let him know that these things were for eating. He could've just thought of them as another craft material. In any case, I don't advise having the candies be both food and decoration! |
| You're Probably Wondering..... |
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"Does breastfeeding create a closer bond with a baby?" Okay, so maybe you aren't wondering that, but I am! I am pondering this question this week because Evan is so mushy, easy going, and loving compared to my other three children. Evan is also the only baby I breastfed. And I often stop and wonder if there is a connection between his temperament and breastfeeding, as it is pretty much the one difference in my parenting for all four children. I know all babies are different anyway, but sometimes I think he got the best of me due to nursing. Breastfeeding was not an easy task for me. I was often angry with people who made it seem like it was such a natural thing, as though it took no work and should be easy. It was hard work, but I got stubborn and thought no matter what, I am doing this. Now nearly two years later, I know there were all the great health benefits for me and Evan-the easier uterus contraction, protecting Evan better from illness, the nutrients he received, etc. But I wonder how much of his personality I can attribute to nursing. When I stop and recall my nursing experiences, though, it makes sense that some of this personality can be attributed to the bond nursing creates. I remember feeling overwhelmed with how often I had to hold Evan and nurse him. I remember my friends with babies his age could give a bottle and their children would nap for a solid amount of time since it takes longer for formula to be digested. Sometimes it was so annoying to me to have to feed Evan with such frequency. But now when I look back, this meant I was holding him much more than I would have been if he had slept more. And while there were a thousand things more I needed to be doing, were there really any things that were more important than just holding my newborn baby? I doubt it! And when I returned to work and Evan had to spend the whole day away from me, he started reverse nursing-nursing frequently at night. So many people would comment that I must be exhausted and that I was crazy not to just give him a bottle or let him cry it out. I really wasn't exhausted. Sure, I was tired-after all, my body was being depleted, I hadn't been adjusted to getting up early, working, and such, and I was lacking sleep. But I was also nursing while lying down, and I pretty much slept while I did it! My husband was actually the one who got out of bed and brought Evan to me, so I wasn't even rising! And now when I remember this, it brings tears to my eyes to think I dedicated this much time to my baby who was probably missing me while I worked! So did all of this contribute to Evan knowing I would always be there for him? Did the cuddling time make him closer to me than he may have been if I hadn't nursed him? I don't know. But I am glad I did nurse him, and I am glad he is a mushy momma's boy! |
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