It's been ten days since my last post... Things have been kind of nuts. We've still been struggling with finding a routine that works, and also, the Chief is going through a thing. I don't know what it is, but I do know that I can't wait until it passes! He's been making a lot of progress over the past couple months, but as it is with any growth, there is a sort of crisis point that one reaches where he has to decide between good and evil, and I think the Chief is there right now. He's been playing with kids who are about 6, and that has been working well for him (he is 9, but has some developmental issues). However, now he is starting to get it, that you shouldn't grab things from people, that you need to compromise, etc. Of course every now and then he slips, but on the whole, he's been doing great at using his words and communicating and letting things go. Except... many of the younger kids still grab. A couple of his playmates think nothing of just snatching whatever they want from whoever they want whenever they want. And this causes meltdown city. I mean, sure it's not right for the kids, ANY kids, to be grabbing, and so the Chief has a right to be a little upset, but he just does not handle it well at all. Yesterday I was extremely proud of him, though--when someone grabbed a magic wand from him and said, "I want that!" he just found another thing he could use as a wand. We've really been working hard at the fact that not everyone does the right thing, and it stinks, but that does not mean that you should do the wrong thing, too. I feel like on one hand, being with some kids his own age might benefit him because it might be less competitive in that way (heh, though I don't know...), but at the same time I think he still has some things to work through before he's ready. He plays great with his older cousin, because they "get" one another, and the nine year old down the street has been playing with him for a few years, so they understand each other as well. But in a group with 9-10 year olds, I think he might seem very young. At the same time, though, seeing the other older kids as role models might be beneficial, depending on who the kids are. A conundrum...
Yesterday was the first book club day for the Chief. They read Stone Soup by Marcia Brown, and he LOVED it. They acted out parts of it, and after they got to make stone soup (sans stones, because you never know what might be in the stones... Of course, the Chief, ever the pedant, had to get his stone that we boiled the night before when we weren't sure about them, and stick it in his bowl. Hopefully all he got were a few extra minerals!), which turned out to be very delicious. Each kid brought an ingredient or two and helped chop. It was nice to be able to talk to a few other moms, even for just a few minutes. Being trapped in the house all day with no company but a nine year old can be...isolating.
We've had a couple critter additions over the past couple weeks. The Chief is the proud parent of a worm farm and a salamander we found under a brick in the garden. We have a little amphibian house, so we will see how that works out. Next week we will be reading the book Salamander Room in celebration (I've been incorporating Five in a Row back into our day. The Chief likes it, and it is so versatile that I can add whatever I feel needs to be gone into more deeply. We've tried to move on to bigger and better things, but I don't think he is quite ready yet. He really likes delving into one book over the course of a week, and exploring everything to do with it).
I have an addition to my Etsy shop, the first in my line of all natural fiber baby clothes. Check it out!
It's a very cold, wet day here, but the sparrows are out like mad, tweeting. It sounds like Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds out there. Here is one little fellow finding some shelter in our un-finished back porch.
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