delayedtoddler

Did the title grab your attention?  Nothing naughty going on here tonight (sorry to disappoint).  My girls were both looking for something fun to do with Mama tonight, and I remembered having a conversation with G’s grade 1 teacher this week about her fine motor skills.  Her teacher is worried about her printing, so asked that we do some activities at home to help strengthen her hands.  One suggestion was play dough.  And, as you can guess, with B’s penchant for putting her hands into peanut butter and the like, play dough is a good option for her as well.  So, we made some dough.

I searched around online for homemade recipies, but many of them require cooking, not a great idea with a 2 year old.  So, I adapted a recipe I found here:  http://www.mothering.com/community_tools/family_fun/dirty.html.  We made the no cook playdough.  One thing I liked from the recipie was adding the food colouring to the water–this is much easier than trying to use food colouring after you make the dough.  I did not use the tartar sauce as that is something I don’t have around.

So, what we did was the girls got on aprons and sat at the table.  I helped them measure the ingredients and they got to stir it up.  Each one made their own bowl in their own colour.  Stirring is also good for B as it is a “heavy job” that helps her get her physical sensory needs.  They are having a blast shaping, rolling, flattening, “baking” cookies, and basically just playing with the dough.  The cost was 2 cups of flour, 1 cup of salt, a little water, food colouring and some elbow grease.  I’ll put it in an airtight container in the fridge and it will last a couple of weeks (although the recipie suggests it won’t, so we’ll see).   I think another time I may try some other recipies with different textures to help B that way too.  We’ll see.  I’m off to see what wonderous creations my girls have come up with.

Sometime ago, I ranted about all the waiting lists that we’ve encountered so far with getting B a diagnosis and treatment.  Well, I’m happy to say that after just eight months (sarcasm intended), we finally got the call from the speech therapy center.   So, in another month, I’ll be able to take B for her first appointment there.  It will probably be more of an intake interview than an actual therapy session.  I’m not sure what will be involved, but I was told to expect an info letter in the mail with details.

Eight months is a long time to wait, so I really hope this service will be beneficial.  When I first called, they told me it would be a 5-10 month wait, so I was somewhat surprised it took less than the full amount of time (I’m used to things taking longer).  This will be a big change for B as she really likes her current SLP.  Now our next video session will be our last appointment with her as she was going to keep B as a client until the center picked us up.  Oh well.  At least I won’t have to pay for parking at the center ($10/visit to the hospital has been pricey) and hopefully this will be much closer to home.