Monday, March 17, 2008

Today may be some time

It really might.

It started at 6am, which is a habit we seem to be falling into that I am desparately trying to change. I realise that harsh shouty-type words at that time are not the answer, and so this morning (admittedly it was a little later once I'd prised my eyes open and calmed down) I attempt the 'let's sit down and talk this through sensibly' method.
Apparently just switching the bedroom light on and sitting quietly in bed either reading or playing is beyond M, as he 'will get lonely'.
I've changed his bunny clock to 7am, and hopefully A will back me up in enforcing the 'don't come out of your room until bunny wakes up' rule. Unfortunately at that time of the morning he is all for the easy life, so indulges it, but he has the distinct advantage of being able to fall asleep at the drop of a hat (is that the right expression?) whereas with me, once I am woken up find it nigh on impossible to sleep again.

So its 9am and I'm feeling grumpy. I think the best plan of action is action. So I've printed some craft ideas from here that we can do together.
Weather looks like being crappy again, so a trip to the shops for dinner might be the only trip out today.

Wish me luck!

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Speak no evil

We've just spent about 10 minutes (and they were the quietest 10 minutes we've had awake in months!) not speaking.

It all came about from T-Rex not being able to tell me where he wanted me to put the next piece of the puzzle. We (M and I, not T-Rex) talked about communication and the different ways we could communicate if we couldn't speak.
So we decided to try doing it for a few minutes. We decided that drawing pictures would take too long and M can't write more than his name yet, so we opted for signing. Well, pointing really.
But we managed to put the puzzle away, get a yogurt out, mix it up and eat it and clear away.
Things broke down a little when it came to asking for drawing material, but I think M did really well, particularly as this is a little boy who can't go for more than a minute without talking.

This activity ties in with one we did the other day, when M led me home from the bus stop whilst I had my eyes closed (on the path round the back of the buildings so no cars or roads involved!). The next day I did the same for him. I think I found it more difficult than he did to lead as I've always found that sort of thing (ie words!) quite tricky.

Trying to think of ways now to explore other sensory deprivation.....

Quite busy doing little things today. Still trying to recover being woken at 5.30am.....yawn.
But we've done puzzles, made soda bread rolls, done the not speaking thing, and M has just finished making a bird picture with drawing and glueing and feathers and stuff, completely off his own back, which I love.

Friends coming round to play this arvo, so I guess I should get dressed and stuff.

Me Like!




The Recipe For Clare



3 parts Intensity

2 parts Impishness

1 part Attractiveness

Splash of Genius

Shake vigorously

Friday, March 07, 2008

Let me teach you how to read Mummy

M has shown an interest in words recently, and in particular creating words to spell out. So far we have only done the sounds of letters rather than the names of them, and certainly not combinations of letters, like 'oo' etc.

So today he is in the bath, and asks me to read what he has stuck to the side of the bath. So I take a look.

s ə c a

He then spelt out a, c, e, s, so I pointed out that you read from left to right (he has a tendency to read and write his name from right to left :dunno) and rearranged them

a c e s

I realised that there might be a problem, so tried to explain that 'a' was actually 'A' in this case, and that 'ce' together is 's', so it spelt out aces.

No mummy, try again. Its a, cuh, eh, suh - acuhehsuh

Which I have to repeat several times, before finally achieving a 'very well done, mummy' said in such a patronising tone I was embarrassed!

In other news, I bought Connect 4, a travel version from the supermarket yesterday. I was a little wary as it says 7+ on it, but M loves it. He particularly likes the idea that he has to stop people winning (I have such a masochistic son!) but on occasion the concentration on his face was a picture (in fact I may have to try and capture it). I have a feeling we will be playing it lots more, just as long as the counters don't get lost....