Mommin' It Up!

June 19, 2013

All the King’s Horses

sad day — This is my “I had a bad day” face.

Yesterday I had a bad day.

Here is what happened:

About 35 minutes into his hour-long therapy session at PACE (the free program through the county), Jonah got mad about having to be all done with a fun activity and having to move on to the next activity, and he threw a giant fit, rendering the next 25 minutes of the session completely useless.

Day ruined.

Jonah’s therapy sessions (he just started last week with Sophie’s former speech language pathologist, the Amazing Miss Kristen!!! so now he goes twice a week) are the most important part of my week. This is because, like I was when Sophie was delayed, I am super, super, super, super, super, SUPER-FOCUSED on Jonah getting past his speech delay. I think about it all the time. I plan times for us to work together at home. In every little thing we do together, I try to figure out how I can apply it to teaching him speech.

But 90 minutes a week, when he is at therapy, I can relax a little bit. Just a little, because obviously I am watching him like a hawk during that time and tucking away notes about how I can apply this or that at home. But for those 90 minutes it’s not my job to teach him. Pressure’s off a little. And usually, he does well and has fun and is adorable and I leave feeling encouraged.

But when he doesn’t, I just cannot recover. I lost something more than 25 minutes yesterday. I lost my ability to function for the next 12 hours. I didn’t get my encouragement, my high, my feeling of progress. I didn’t get any relief, just pressure and doubt heaped on more heavily.

I wish I could shake it off, but I can’t. The rest of my day was a wash. I feel nothing but despair. I hate to be dramatic, but that’s how it is. It’s how it was with Sophie too, but she was so much older when we started therapy that her days of non-cooperation were extremely rare and her progress was always evident.

We’ve only been at this a few months and I’m already tired of it. I would give anything to have Jonah wake up tomorrow and be caught up; to feel like conversing with me instead of only communicating his basic needs and wants. Other people’s kids seem to learn this stuff with no problems; why can’t mine?

I know he’s only two. But I’m 35, and I feel much, much older. And I’m tired of having to be all the things I’m supposed to be instead of just…being.

November 1, 2012November 1, 2012

More Fun Toddler Learning Activities

tiles — He’s having fun! HE IS, I swear!

Since I am home with just my Jonah boy now, I have been a pinning fool the last couple of months, looking for toddler activities to do with him that will be fun and help him learn. I showed you a few a couple weeks ago, and now I’ve got some more we’ve tried and loved! In the picture above, he’s putting Scrabble tiles into a cocoa can with a slit cut in the lid. I also have him put Connect 4 checkers in it. This is good for his hand strength and fine motor skills as well as for his learning letters. And despite the expression on his face, he really does love to put things in, then have me open the lid, dump it out, and do it again! I’ve been really pleased with this activity for letter learning. So far he knows A, B, C, D, E, L, O, P, R, S, T, and Y! I think that’s pretty good for 22 months!

This next activity is somewhat similar.

wipestub — Use Memory or other matching game cards to work on vocabulary.

We have a great Curious George matching game from the Wonder Forge (my fave game makers!) and I took some of the cards out of it and gave them to Jonah to put into this Huggies wipes tub. When he puts a card in, I say, “I see a ____.” – filling in the blank with whatever is on the card. So far, he has picked up the new words girl, boy, man, and bike from this exercise! Some of the cards have words he already knew and there are plenty he doesn’t say yet. When we’ve gone through all the cards, he of course likes to open the tub up and dump it out and do it again! The Huggies wipes tubs are good for all kinds of activities like this.

This last activity we just tried yesterday and it was a big hit! I held a pipe cleaner and let Jonah put beads on it. He figured out how to do it pretty quickly and he really enjoyed it. He did ALL those pictured above before he got bored! He even did the last 5 or 6 completely by himself, holding the pipe cleaner in one hand and string the bead with the other. Boy, was I impressed! After he was done, he put beads in that empty spice jar in the picture for awhile before he was ready to get out of the booster seat. It has a really small opening on one side and he was able to get the beads in. The other side has a larger opening, so if he had needed to, he could’ve used that side. More “put it in, dump it back out” fun!

We’ve been having a lot of fun with these activities! I think I’m going to try and find him another inexpensive memory game for more vocabulary words. If you try this with your kiddo let me know how it goes! And if you’ve got any more great ideas for playing with your toddler, feel free to leave them in the comments! Might save me some time on pinterest. 🙂

January 13, 2010

That’s Not Peanut Butter

Yesterday Sophie and I were having a great afternoon, which involved me breaking my high score at Wii bowling (208 baby!!) and her sitting at the dining room table watching me bowl while eating a nutritious lunch of grapes and chicken nuggets. What could be better?

I was getting my bowling groove on when all of a sudden Sophie began to fuss. “Need help! Need HELP!” she cried frantically. I turned to look at her and she had her hand extended toward me, covered in peanut butter. Neither of my kids like it when their hands get messy while they’re eating so I am used to having to wipe her hands before she can finish her meal. But as I walked toward her to grab a napkin, I realized: She’s not eating peanut butter. That can’t be peanut butter.

I took hold of her wrist and got a whiff and panicked. THAT’S NOT PEANUT BUTTER!

It was poop.

She had a chicken nugget in one hand, and a bunch of poop in the other.

I immediately did what I could with a napkin, then began jumping around screaming “NO touch! No touch!” while frantically trying to locate the wipes and wrestle the Wii controller that was strapped to me off of my arm. (I am very good in a panic situation. {Sarcasm sign!})

I found the wipes, got her hand cleaned up, washed it in soap and scalding water (just kidding, it was just really warm), managed not to VOMIT, and then went about changing her diaper. I quickly discovered that she’d had a bit of a blowout, and feeling poop on her lower back, had reached back to find out what the heck was going on back there. And found out. Eeeeeww.

I made it almost six years as a mother without having a kid stick his or her hand in their own poo, I guess that is pretty good. But YUCK. It was disgusting.

And it is time for Camp Potty to begin TODAY!