My birthday was this past Sunday, and one of my gifts was a $50 gift card for Amazon.com. This ended up being an awesome gift because money tends to be tight, so we have to limit purchases of things that aren’t necessities. There are a lot of books that I have had my eye on, and I was finally able to purchase some of them. Reading time for me is scarce, and the pile of books that I need to get through is rapidly growing. As a little bit of “back story” - It’s kind of a joke with Travis and some of my family that I spend more money on Lyric than I do on myself. I got a gift card for Christmas that could be spent anywhere, and I had to have Travis hang on to it because the card that came with it specifically stated that I needed to spend it on myself. I think I did end up buying a few things for Lyric with it, but shhh!
It’s probably a cliché thing to say, but if it makes Lyric
happy – then it makes me happy. I never
see it as sacrificing anything, because investing in Lyric is investing in me,
too. I have enough books, movies, and
clothes for myself already. If I can buy
something that will make the time we spend together more fun and memorable,
then that’s what I am going to use my money for. Maybe it’s a bad philosophy to have to put
her before myself, but it works for me for the time being, so I’m going to
continue to do it.
That being said, four of the books that I purchased are books
that will be useful for me to educate Lyric and to become more educated ABOUT
Lyric. Two of the books are on Montessori learning, so that I can get more activity ideas and learn how to execute them better at home with Lyric. Pinterest just can't match up with written out explanations in books. For example, I have already learned that activities should be presented on a tray to define the work space when offering Montessori activities. I had noted that most activities I pinned were on trays, but I figured that was just to reduce mess, or make it easier to present to the Blog audience. I didn't know it was actually a Montessori concept, because none of the bloggers explained that. I think they just assume that everyone who reads knows the basics of Montessori, but that's not necessarily the case.
The other two books are The Out of Sync Child, and The Out of Sync Child Has Fun. They're both books on sensory integration issues. I'm a little bummed out because I got the wrong copy of the first one, so I have to send it back and wait for a refund to order the proper edition of it. I did already have an "a-ha" moment while thumbing through it, so I might just start reading the second one to satiate my need for information. I'm trying not to get overzealous about it though, because Sensory Processing issues do not define Lyric. They're a part of her, but there's so much more to her than just this. It's a difficult balance to strike, because it's important (I think) to understand the issues but it's also difficult to not be consumed by them. She's growing every day, and I don't ever want her to think that she is limited in what she can do because she has a different way of understanding and processing what she sees and does. Being overzealous about it, or making it an excuse for things, would likely influence her in that direction. That's just my personal opinion on it though, so please don't flame me!
Moving right along, we had a speech therapy session today. Our new principle to focus on for Project Impact is Animation - being over the top and goofy about what we say, because that will get Lyric more excited about saying it and participating. We've figured out that she's not always that responsive to imitation, but being animated makes a difference. Melissa actually wants us to incorporate a DVD that we got of a show called Hopla, because there is no dialog on it - so it's an ideal way for us to suggest words and be animated about them. It's one of those shows that is like baby crack - she's totally engrossed and engaged for the full 60 minutes of the DVD, so that's 60 minutes that we can be using for teaching, too.
The other focus is something that is a learning experience for me, as well as Lyric. We're supposed to use 2 word phrases to describe things to her, because anything more might border on too complex. I tend to just err towards talking to her too much like an adult, so it's a process to pare down how I say things to a more Lyric like level. Perhaps I could start with shushing people, or telling them to "shut up" because she's been kicking the sass talk into high gear lately! Next week we have a visit from Tiffany, and before that I need to catch up on activity posts, so there might be blog overkill for the next few days. Apologies in advance for that!
The other two books are The Out of Sync Child, and The Out of Sync Child Has Fun. They're both books on sensory integration issues. I'm a little bummed out because I got the wrong copy of the first one, so I have to send it back and wait for a refund to order the proper edition of it. I did already have an "a-ha" moment while thumbing through it, so I might just start reading the second one to satiate my need for information. I'm trying not to get overzealous about it though, because Sensory Processing issues do not define Lyric. They're a part of her, but there's so much more to her than just this. It's a difficult balance to strike, because it's important (I think) to understand the issues but it's also difficult to not be consumed by them. She's growing every day, and I don't ever want her to think that she is limited in what she can do because she has a different way of understanding and processing what she sees and does. Being overzealous about it, or making it an excuse for things, would likely influence her in that direction. That's just my personal opinion on it though, so please don't flame me!
Moving right along, we had a speech therapy session today. Our new principle to focus on for Project Impact is Animation - being over the top and goofy about what we say, because that will get Lyric more excited about saying it and participating. We've figured out that she's not always that responsive to imitation, but being animated makes a difference. Melissa actually wants us to incorporate a DVD that we got of a show called Hopla, because there is no dialog on it - so it's an ideal way for us to suggest words and be animated about them. It's one of those shows that is like baby crack - she's totally engrossed and engaged for the full 60 minutes of the DVD, so that's 60 minutes that we can be using for teaching, too.
The other focus is something that is a learning experience for me, as well as Lyric. We're supposed to use 2 word phrases to describe things to her, because anything more might border on too complex. I tend to just err towards talking to her too much like an adult, so it's a process to pare down how I say things to a more Lyric like level. Perhaps I could start with shushing people, or telling them to "shut up" because she's been kicking the sass talk into high gear lately! Next week we have a visit from Tiffany, and before that I need to catch up on activity posts, so there might be blog overkill for the next few days. Apologies in advance for that!
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