( Xander is 14 months)
We had a really great week and hope everyone else did too! We enjoyed the sunny spring weather at the beginnng of the week with another trip up to our orchard. More tree trimming for me and hole digging for Xander.
He wasn't as willing to just sit in one place digging this time, so we played some fetch with the ball, went around exploring the orchard (which means I didn't get that much work done, only one tree worked on. But as Ryan said, "that's one more tree than if I hadn't gone out at all"). Xander was also was doing the cutest thing, he'd crawl from dandelion to dandelion and pluck it and tear it all apart. He seemed fascinated by them.
We played with his sensory tub aka bean bin. He had fun scooping up the beans and pouring them all over himself and the floor. By the end of tub time he had started holding his "scoop" by the handle! He really loved working with this. We will definitely be doing this more often.
On Thursday I tried reorganizing Xander's shelves. I got some smaller cardboard boxes to hold his board books facing forward. I thought that he could take out one box at a time and flip through his books, seeing the covers. That way he wouldn't have to completely empty his shelves to choose a book. Yeah, that didn't work out. He just pulled out the boxes and then dumped them all over the floor--- all at the same time. Sigh. He did then do some problem solving on his own. He wanted to reach some blocks I had put on the top of the book case (spelling out his name). So he flipped over the largest cardboard box and used it as a step stool. I quickly grabbed the camera and got a few photos before taking away all the boxes.
On Friday we had our screening to see if Xander needed to get therapy for his lack of talking. The Family Resources Coordinator came to our home and filled out an extensive questionaire. The sections about his fine and gross motor skills he did just fine but when it came to communication he was definitely scoring way below his age level. The next stage is to have an evaluation by therapist at the local school district. I was so completely stressed about this and it was really all for nothing. The coordinator was very helpful and friendly and easy to talk to and I feel very relieved that we've started the process.
On Saturday I got out Xander's color and shapes puzzle by Infantino. This was his first time playing with it. At first he was handing me the pieces to put together the little puzzles. Then he would take them apart and put them back in the tub. Then dump the tub out and put them back in again. By the 3rd time of dumping them out he didn't want me putting the puzzles together, it was obvious he was saying "no, Mommy, my toy". He just enjoyed putting them in the tub and dumping them out (and also using the tub as a drum!).
I thought it was a really good first experience with them. I can't wait until he is actually putting together the puzzles. I was really impressed with the sturdieness of the puzzle pieces. Xander couldn't bend them at all and the picture is completely part of the cardboard not something he can pull off. I think now that I'll be ordering more of their puzzles. The only thing I didn't like was the puzzle piece on the outside of the tub. It's great for shopping to show you how big the puzzle pieces are, but it frustrated Xander that he couldn't put it in the tub easily like all the others and it's going to be a pain to cut off the carry cord. (I was not asked to review this or compensated in any way, just sharing a product I liked.)
That was our week, to see what other families are doing visit Tot School.
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