- Zeke really liked some specific pictures in a catalogue so I decided to cut them out and stick them in a page in his drawing book so he could look at them whenever he wanted. He enjoys looking at pictures that he likes frequently, so this was a good way not to have a pile of junk mail hanging around and let him keep the pictures. There's a picture of some apples, a cat, some puppies, a baby and the biscuits from the packet we'd just finished. Very proudly later the same evening, he's showing Ryan the pictures, and suddenly he points to the biscuits, says "nana" (which sometimes means banana, and sometimes food in general) and runs off to the pantry to wait for us to get him a biscuit. He can also ask for an apple like this now - so I'm definitely going to have to get some new pictures done so he can ask for more than apples and biscuits!
- Last night, we were sitting (well he was sitting, I was kneeling) at his little table and eating dinner. I'd forgotten to peel his carrots before I cooked them, and he doesn't like carrot skin, so I was pulling the skin off each slice and making a small pile of them on the table next to my plate. I also spat a little bit of gristle from my chicken into my hand and put it there too, and Zeke had obviously been watching me very closely. He ate another piece of carrot and found a bit of skin I'd missed, so he pulled it out of his mouth and put it in the pile with the other skins & gristle!
- Not long after that, when I was putting our plates away, he had followed me into the kitchen and was making his "mmm na na na" noises, asking for food, so I gave him a piece of carrot that was still in the pot. I forgot to peel it, so he spat the carrot out and threw it on the floor. I told him right away "If you don't want it, don't throw it on the floor, give it back to Mummy", and he picked it up, and tried to open the cupboard under the sink where we keep the bin. He gave me the carrot and was very pleased to see it go in the bin.
- The last couple of days as well, he's really been noticing where things belong in the house, if he finds the phone lying around he'll carry it over to the base (which is on a small chest of drawers) and try to put it back in its cradle, although he can't quite reach. When we offer to help him, he gives the phone over and watches to make sure we put it away. He also spotted my mobile on the floor (it usually sits on the mantle next to the heater, but had fallen off) and as the mantle is well out of his reach, called for me and stretched up with the phone to show me what he wanted! He couldn't bring the phone to me, because it was plugged in to charge and the cord would only let him go 2 or 3 feet, so he shouted out until I came to him!
- He's also starting to show me when he needs a nappy change, by finding a nappy, either from his nappy bag, or the actual packet and bringing it to me. He doesn't always let me, know, and sometimes he's just playing with the nappy, but it's a start!
Showing posts with label learning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label learning. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
My smart boy!
I am just SO proud of Zeke and what he has been learning the last few days, I need to tell you all!
Back again...
We've been sick - then got better briefly, then got sick again. It has been a vicious cycle! Anyway, here's an update of the last couple of weeks.
The week before Zeke's party we were all sick. I had gastro, a cough, sore throat the works. Zeke was snotty and generally cranky, turns out the poor baby had a double ear infection. Anti's cleared it up quickly enough, but oh my god - upset tummies from antibiotics make for the WORST nappies. Ryan had some respitory/cold thing as well... we were a sick bunch!
Then, just as that was clearing up Fri night before his birthday party Zeke developed a slight fever, but seemed okay on Sat morning, so we went ahead with his party, although of course once everyone arrived he was obviously not 100%, and was very tired - he didn't even have any cake!
By Sat evening he was feverish again and started refusing bottles, he was also restless and sleeping poorly though some paracetamol had helped lower his fever. He woke up around 2am and cried non-stop, absolutely nothing we did could settle him, so we decided his ears might be infected again so we took him down to the ER of the children's hossy where he had his op.
Of course he turned into Mr Personality again once we were there, smiling and flirting,
but the Dr said he was obviously not well, his throat was a bit red, his ears were a little sore, and generally everything was a bit off. She Dx a general virus and told us to take him home and to push fluids, and lots of love, and to go to the GPs on Monday if he was still unwell.
Sunday was generally sleepy as we'd gotten back from the hossy at 6.30am, not to mention being pooped from his party, and he was fairly good that night. However when he woke at 7.30am Monday, had a bottle & went straight back to bed, I knew he still wasn't better. He woke again at 10.30, had 3oz, a nappy change, and then picked up hs dummy, laid down on my lap and went to sleep - just like that, after only 20 mins of awake time. He woke again at 12.30pm, and repeated the same routine and was very lethargic & dopey, not to mention hot, so I decided I wasn't happy, especially with how out of things he seemed, and to skip the GP and head back to the ER.
This time he was definitely sick and a nurse saw us right away, and said he'd try and get us seen ASAP, when he saw that Zeke was spiking at 39.8 (103.6 F). Zeke just flopped on our chests, and did almost nothing. The Dr who saw us was lovely, & said we'd done the right thing to bring him in, as lethargy + fever can be very serious.
Thankfully it wasn't serious, still a virus, which had to get worse before it got better and a big dose of paracetamol began to ease his fever almost immediately. The Dr also wanted a urine sample, so we had Zeke without a nappy on for over an hour, bribing him with Pedialyte, chocolate milk, gatorade and cordial to try and get him to produce something. He got pretty cranky being in the little cubicle, so we thought we'd test out karma for a little, giving Zeke the chance to pee on us in public - we walked around the ER station for 20 mins with him only in a onesie, Ryan following along with a cup just in case and nothing!
However the Doctor decided that given how well he was responding to just the paracetamol that there probably wasn't a UTI as well, and sent us home, saying if he wasn't improving in the morning to persevere with the sample & take it to the GP for testing & ABs if needed.
Fortunately Zeke went straight to bed when we got home & barely woke the whole night, waking late on Tuesday morning & acting like a new baby! He's been steadily improving ever since, but of course I promptly came down with a head cold, which I spent the last week recovering from, too zonked to post here.
And now... his birthday! I haven't uploaded pics yet, as there are a lot of other things I need to do here, so many unread blogs and emails! It was great, a lot of work, but a huge success, lots of fun & laughter. The cake looked AMAZING, I am so proud of myself. We of course have enough toys to start a toy store & enough books to start a children's library, but I am trying to space out discovering them, so there's something new for Zeke to do each time he gets bored with something he has had for a while.
And now an update on Zeke seeing as I've been lazy and not done a proper update - he was weighed on his 1year birthday.
Weight: 9.8kgs (21 lbs 9 1/2 oz) but just 10 days later when he was weighed in the ER has stacked up to 10.3 kgs (22 lbs 11oz) still a lightweight, but gained 500g so fast!
Height: 75cms (29.5 inches - my baby is almost 2 1/2 foot tall!)
He is running almost everywhere, I don't think he crawls anymore unless it is over the top of Ryan or I when we are playing! He picks things up and carries them too. We got him a push along toy thing for his birthday, and he only just worked out how to push and walk along behind it today - until now he's been carrying it everywhere! I think there's a photo somewhere on my camera.
Zeke has learned a new word and he is obsessed with it - "duh" which means duck. He has a few books with ducks in them now, and he will keep bringing the books to us demanding "duh duh duh!" until we open it to the right page to show him. He even knows which book has ducks on 3 different pages, and won't stop until he's seen all 3!
There's even a book which I was convinced didn't have one on it, and yet Zeke was pushing the book on my lap, slapping it and going "duh duh duh!" and I'm trying to divert to another book that I know has a duck in it. But Zeke was smarter than me, finally he takes the book over to Ryan, who looked where Zeke was pointing (and I thought he was just banging the book, bad mummy!) and there it was, his precious "duh!" barely an inch high on the back cover!
When the TV had some white geese (which for all intents and purposes are just big ducks) & goslings, which if I hadn't known better would have thought were ducklings, on it this morning, his proud "DUH!" and pointing was just too cute for words! I think it's time to rug up & head to a lake to see if we can't find some "duh" for real to feed. Zeke's good at throwing things, so I expect will be great with bread - as long as he doesn't eat it!
There are so many more smart things my baby is learning about that I want to share with you as well. I think I need to do a separate post, not to mention upload some photos of his birthday! I'd better get busy!
The week before Zeke's party we were all sick. I had gastro, a cough, sore throat the works. Zeke was snotty and generally cranky, turns out the poor baby had a double ear infection. Anti's cleared it up quickly enough, but oh my god - upset tummies from antibiotics make for the WORST nappies. Ryan had some respitory/cold thing as well... we were a sick bunch!
Then, just as that was clearing up Fri night before his birthday party Zeke developed a slight fever, but seemed okay on Sat morning, so we went ahead with his party, although of course once everyone arrived he was obviously not 100%, and was very tired - he didn't even have any cake!
By Sat evening he was feverish again and started refusing bottles, he was also restless and sleeping poorly though some paracetamol had helped lower his fever. He woke up around 2am and cried non-stop, absolutely nothing we did could settle him, so we decided his ears might be infected again so we took him down to the ER of the children's hossy where he had his op.
Of course he turned into Mr Personality again once we were there, smiling and flirting,
but the Dr said he was obviously not well, his throat was a bit red, his ears were a little sore, and generally everything was a bit off. She Dx a general virus and told us to take him home and to push fluids, and lots of love, and to go to the GPs on Monday if he was still unwell.Sunday was generally sleepy as we'd gotten back from the hossy at 6.30am, not to mention being pooped from his party, and he was fairly good that night. However when he woke at 7.30am Monday, had a bottle & went straight back to bed, I knew he still wasn't better. He woke again at 10.30, had 3oz, a nappy change, and then picked up hs dummy, laid down on my lap and went to sleep - just like that, after only 20 mins of awake time. He woke again at 12.30pm, and repeated the same routine and was very lethargic & dopey, not to mention hot, so I decided I wasn't happy, especially with how out of things he seemed, and to skip the GP and head back to the ER.
This time he was definitely sick and a nurse saw us right away, and said he'd try and get us seen ASAP, when he saw that Zeke was spiking at 39.8 (103.6 F). Zeke just flopped on our chests, and did almost nothing. The Dr who saw us was lovely, & said we'd done the right thing to bring him in, as lethargy + fever can be very serious.
Thankfully it wasn't serious, still a virus, which had to get worse before it got better and a big dose of paracetamol began to ease his fever almost immediately. The Dr also wanted a urine sample, so we had Zeke without a nappy on for over an hour, bribing him with Pedialyte, chocolate milk, gatorade and cordial to try and get him to produce something. He got pretty cranky being in the little cubicle, so we thought we'd test out karma for a little, giving Zeke the chance to pee on us in public - we walked around the ER station for 20 mins with him only in a onesie, Ryan following along with a cup just in case and nothing!
However the Doctor decided that given how well he was responding to just the paracetamol that there probably wasn't a UTI as well, and sent us home, saying if he wasn't improving in the morning to persevere with the sample & take it to the GP for testing & ABs if needed.
Fortunately Zeke went straight to bed when we got home & barely woke the whole night, waking late on Tuesday morning & acting like a new baby! He's been steadily improving ever since, but of course I promptly came down with a head cold, which I spent the last week recovering from, too zonked to post here.
And now... his birthday! I haven't uploaded pics yet, as there are a lot of other things I need to do here, so many unread blogs and emails! It was great, a lot of work, but a huge success, lots of fun & laughter. The cake looked AMAZING, I am so proud of myself. We of course have enough toys to start a toy store & enough books to start a children's library, but I am trying to space out discovering them, so there's something new for Zeke to do each time he gets bored with something he has had for a while.
And now an update on Zeke seeing as I've been lazy and not done a proper update - he was weighed on his 1year birthday.
Weight: 9.8kgs (21 lbs 9 1/2 oz) but just 10 days later when he was weighed in the ER has stacked up to 10.3 kgs (22 lbs 11oz) still a lightweight, but gained 500g so fast!
Height: 75cms (29.5 inches - my baby is almost 2 1/2 foot tall!)
He is running almost everywhere, I don't think he crawls anymore unless it is over the top of Ryan or I when we are playing! He picks things up and carries them too. We got him a push along toy thing for his birthday, and he only just worked out how to push and walk along behind it today - until now he's been carrying it everywhere! I think there's a photo somewhere on my camera.
Zeke has learned a new word and he is obsessed with it - "duh" which means duck. He has a few books with ducks in them now, and he will keep bringing the books to us demanding "duh duh duh!" until we open it to the right page to show him. He even knows which book has ducks on 3 different pages, and won't stop until he's seen all 3!
There's even a book which I was convinced didn't have one on it, and yet Zeke was pushing the book on my lap, slapping it and going "duh duh duh!" and I'm trying to divert to another book that I know has a duck in it. But Zeke was smarter than me, finally he takes the book over to Ryan, who looked where Zeke was pointing (and I thought he was just banging the book, bad mummy!) and there it was, his precious "duh!" barely an inch high on the back cover!
When the TV had some white geese (which for all intents and purposes are just big ducks) & goslings, which if I hadn't known better would have thought were ducklings, on it this morning, his proud "DUH!" and pointing was just too cute for words! I think it's time to rug up & head to a lake to see if we can't find some "duh" for real to feed. Zeke's good at throwing things, so I expect will be great with bread - as long as he doesn't eat it!
There are so many more smart things my baby is learning about that I want to share with you as well. I think I need to do a separate post, not to mention upload some photos of his birthday! I'd better get busy!
Monday, January 19, 2009
Storytime at the Library
Monday mornings at our local library is Tiny Tots Storytime. It's a half hour session for children 0-3years, although there are often older siblings around too. It consists of 4 or 5 books about a specific 'theme' (eg: beach, animals etc) a few songs and nursery rhymes, a small craft project and then a general play session for half an hour or so while everything gets packed up. Best of all - it's FREE!
Zeke absolutely LOVES it. He doesn't always sit and listen to the books, but really enjoys the singing, and the social aspect. This week our theme was animals, and we read 5 books about different animals, mostly jungle ones. The books are all very engaging, brightly coloured and contained a lot of animal noises so the librarian had to be very enthusiastic, roar like a lion, trumpet like an elephant, screech like a monkey etc, which the kids loved!
The craft project is very simple as a rule, we had a paper cutout monkey, which was coloured and then attached to paddle pop stick and a peice of string to make a puppet. Zeke is a little small for that - he ripped the monkey's foot off twice and tried to eat it, but he had a go at the colouring (he bangs the crayon on the paper) and now that it's finished enjoys watching the monkey bobbing around on its string.
The social play session afterwards is Zeke's favourite. They have bead frames to play with, which he loves, as we don't own one yet ourselves, and the other kids mill around, chat and crawl. It's a fun, if not noisy time, and Zeke really gets into it. Yesterday he saw another baby about 5 metres (a little over 16ft!) away and went shuffling over at light speed to say hello. He & his new friend (who was a little shy when confronted with my shrieking, in-your-face son!) had a bit of a baby-chat, and I got to have a talk to the other mums as well.
I get a few blank looks when I tell people I take a 7-month old to story time, so why do it?
Benefits for you:
Zeke absolutely LOVES it. He doesn't always sit and listen to the books, but really enjoys the singing, and the social aspect. This week our theme was animals, and we read 5 books about different animals, mostly jungle ones. The books are all very engaging, brightly coloured and contained a lot of animal noises so the librarian had to be very enthusiastic, roar like a lion, trumpet like an elephant, screech like a monkey etc, which the kids loved!
The craft project is very simple as a rule, we had a paper cutout monkey, which was coloured and then attached to paddle pop stick and a peice of string to make a puppet. Zeke is a little small for that - he ripped the monkey's foot off twice and tried to eat it, but he had a go at the colouring (he bangs the crayon on the paper) and now that it's finished enjoys watching the monkey bobbing around on its string.
The social play session afterwards is Zeke's favourite. They have bead frames to play with, which he loves, as we don't own one yet ourselves, and the other kids mill around, chat and crawl. It's a fun, if not noisy time, and Zeke really gets into it. Yesterday he saw another baby about 5 metres (a little over 16ft!) away and went shuffling over at light speed to say hello. He & his new friend (who was a little shy when confronted with my shrieking, in-your-face son!) had a bit of a baby-chat, and I got to have a talk to the other mums as well.
I get a few blank looks when I tell people I take a 7-month old to story time, so why do it?
Benefits for you:
- As a SAHM it's important for your sanity to get out of the house occasionally and have fun.
- It's a wonderful social opportunity for you, you can meet some other mums in your local area, and make friends.
- It's a great chance after the session to return your books and pickup a couple of new ones for yourself
- Sitting and listening to another person reading I have found to be much easier than trying to hold a squirming child and a book at the same time
- If like me, your Library is within walking distance, (and has paid parking!) leave the car at home, get out the pram and have a stroll
- The songs and books covered are a combination of old favourites and as some new ones, refreshing your memory and teaching you some new ones as well
- The simple, cheap (and relatively mess-free) craft ideas are easily replicated at home on a rainy day
- You don't have to spend a cent to have a nice morning out!
Benefits for your baby:
- It encourages an early love of reading and books for children, which will give them many benefits as they begin school, and start to get out in the world on their own. This site has some information on the benefits and other ways to promote literacy in your child.
- For older children it can help their reading and language development, and introduce new words and concepts to them
- For pre-verbal children like Zeke, it's a great chance to 'study' the art of conversation, listening to the rise and fall of the librarian's voice as she reads, and listening to the other children coo, laugh and sing
- Imagination is never far away. "Can you roar like a lion?" "What would YOU do if you had a pet monster?" etc... the kids are encouraged to be creative and think outside the square
- It teaches a range of social skills, to be quiet when someone else is talking, taking and waiting turns, sitting down in a group, sharing etc. (Zeke is a little young to grasp this, but I still encourage him to sit down during the story like everyone else rather than standing up and holding onto me)
- As well as teaching new social skills, it gives your bub a chance to practise them with the other children.
- The art projects require hand-eye co-ordination, imagination and give them something to take home to show Daddy. (Or Mummy if Daddy takes them!)
Most libraries have some form of storytime for children, and it's free, easy and fun. Why not ask at yours and find out?
Some pictures from our most recent session:
Zeke playing with the bead frame shortly before going to say hi to the other babies
Exhausted in the pram after our walk home
His puppet monkey... note all the stickytape holding it together!
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