Some new photos

I know I don't post much anymore (reasons to many to list)  hopefully I will do better in 2012.

Here are a few photos and some thoughts (Olivia is 2 1/2 now and is a walker inside the home but she has not yet generalized the concept of walking to other locations, except therapy).

Here is a typical dinner or lunch plate for Olivia.  She is a healthy eater.  She will eat nearly all on her plate.  What you are seeing is pureed peas and green beans. She will not eat meat so we do this power protein puree.   Peaches, steamed broccoli, canned organic green beans,  cooked carrots.  Then she will eat about a cup of dry Rice Chex cereal  which we like because they are gluten free and fortified.  (Olivia was diagnosed with Celiac Disease about 5 weeks ago.  I will write about that later.  The diagnosis was  a God Send and her development has taken off in the past month!)  She also drinks fortified Almond Milk with her meal.

Olivia loves her sand table (we use moon sand) and she loves putting it on the floor and "cleaning up".   Funny how a toddler makes more mess when they "clean" than if they just left the mess.   No, the vacuum doesn't actually work. But I sure wish it did!

We bought this two stepped step stool for bathroom handwashing.  A small stool would have been disastrous at this point, but Olivia kept telling us she wanted to wash at the sink, so we bought this wonderful helper.

She still needs adult supervision so that she remembers which end is up.

The BIG smile indicates that Daddy did a really good thing in buying her this stool!
 Independence! With help of course!

Stringing Beads

We have been taking the Sensory Processing Disorder approach to Olivia for over a month now and we are seeing wonderful results.  All of the bean throwing, rocking horse, car riding, messy play, ball pools, ball tent, throwing balls, playing on big balls, climbing, bouncing, dancing etc has paid off!  Olivia has become much more focused and calm and able to concentrate and work on her quiet fine motor activities, and she can do so without Barney music playing in the background! 

 It brings tears to my eyes to sit in the background and watch her quietly work on stacking rings or a simply puzzle, over and over again and with great concentration!  This is what Montessori teachers love to see! Repetition and concentration!  Good signs! I thought I would never see it in Olivia. But thanks to doing all the "crazy" stuff, and using crazy Fisher Price toys too! We have seen amazing progress. 

 As I was buying Fisher Price type toys this Fall and Winter because all my "Montessori" type ideas were not reaching Olivia, I cringed. But I knew I had to do what my child needed.  Now I am seeing the benefit of "sitting on my Montessori albums" and doing it another way.  I did go back and read some Montessori theory. So I went about being a Scientist, studying Olivia and following what I believed Olivia needed.  What Olivia needed looked nothing like what I had ever done in a Montessori setting, but it worked and now we are getting to the sort of activities I had hoped to see Olivia doing. So in some ways, my "Montessori meets Fisher Price" activities was very Montessori in theory, which was my belief all along.  No matter and theories aside, what matters is what is right for Olivia!

Here is Olivia stringing beads. She still needs help holding the stick, but other than that she is doing such  beautiful work it brings tears to my Montessori trained eyes.