delayedtoddler

photo by Monterery Public Library on flickr

Well, this week, we attempted toddler time at the library again. I loved going to the library as a child and I’m happy to say that my kids do too. B is very interested in the stuffed bear that is sitting reading a huge dictionary, the water fountain, spinning the book racks and looking at some of the books. She is not interested in sitting still for any amount of time. That being said, she did pretty well for toddler time. She really enjoys being around all the kids, but there are so many transitions in the program it’s hard for her to sit still. They start with the welcome song which goes through each child’s name (this can take awhile depending on how many kids are there!). Then they have a story and the librarian tells the parents a bit about why she has selected each book. Then it’s time to use the shakers (B’s favourite part) for two songs, then the shakers go away and it’s story time again…. I let B move around somewhat, mostly because it’s impossible to keep her still. I did pick her up a couple times and bring her back to her seat, but she started to go stiff on me and I knew she was working up to a good scream, so I nipped that in the bud. She wandered around outside of the childrens’ area a bit, but she kept coming back. I felt like I was a bad parent for allowing my child to wander about freely when other moms told their kids to sit still and they did. It’s like I’m being the lax parent, letting mine do what she wants. Maybe in some ways, I am, but I also know that she’s going to be a lot more disruptive if I try to force her to sit in one place. Of course, I could be wrong, maybe none of the other parents cared. But it sure felt like they did!

Cheap thrills is my own little section where I just talk about inexpensive things to do with your child whether they have special needs or not.  Today B and I did something that was cheap and fun.  We went outside and drew with sidewalk chalk.  I like the sidewalk chalk for her because it is nice and big and easy for her to get her chubby little fist around.  I was able to ask her some choice questions to initiate conversation.  “Would you like green or pink chalk?”  She would draw something (OK scribble), and I would draw a shape and tell her what it was.  She’d then tell me she was making the shape too, and scribble some more.  When I offered to write her name, she pointed to it and said, “Me!”  B also had some fun bossing me around, “Mama, on bum!” which as you can guess is something she hears a lot in a day because she’s a little dare devil and likes to stand on chairs.  “B sit on bum,” is a constant phrase around here and works a lot better than “sit down!”  I think it’s because it’s the word “bum” and it’s funny and your bum is what toots, so that’s funny too.  What can I say, she’s a funny kid.  We had fun being outside together and it was one of the few times all day she wasn’t saying her new favourite word, “No!” (and for some reason, she says this very loudly, often in a scream, even when she’s happy!).

So, price of a box of sidewalk chalk, less than $2–and the bonus is we now have twice as much because so many pieces got broken!  Just a word to the wise, you will never fit them all back in the box they came in once you take one out!  If I can figure out how to transfer pictures from my phone to my computer, I’ll post a couple of our artwork later.