Learning to honor Ian’s emotions

I think our move has affected Ian more than usual. Usually changes impact Ian’s sleep (or better said, worsen it, because he is a bad sleeper). This time our moving has made him quite bad tempered. Ian is an active child but now he seems hyperactively. His attention span has decreased, he’s been disobedient, reacting very badly when I call him to order: throwing things, kicking and hitting. I don’t know if it’s just the “terrible two’s” or if our relocation has exacerbated it.

At times I forget that he does not have an appropriate vehicle of self-expression and I was punishing him with time-outs, getting caught up in power struggles. Even when those punishments made Ian calmer, they made me feel sad. So, I’ve been trying to identify and acknowledge the feeling behind Ian’s behavior and I came to the conclusion that he is very upset because with the move he has not received much attention from all us and of course we are imposing too many changes in a short time.

Now I am trying to be more empathetic to Ian’s feelings. It is taking lots of self-control from myself and I know I will need much more along with experimentation and practice. I also decided to slow down arranging our stuff in the house to spend more and better time with him. That made Ian peaceful and more willing to do some learning activities. Here is a review of them:

Cookie cutter silhouette matching. I traced the silhouette of some cookie cutters in a paper to let Ian match them with the cutters. This activity was an easy one for him and he enjoyed more sticking adhesive tape along the border of the paper. He is very much into cutting the tape by himself and sometimes he gets it.

Sorting the cutlery. As a first exercise I gave Ian spoons and forks to sort and he had no problem. Later, I let him try the spoons, forks and knives (no sharp ones of course). He sorted them pretty well. For both exercises we used two sizes of forks and spoons, but I didn’t show Ian how to separate the sizes and he didn’t discriminate between them. Next time, I will ask him to attempt to sort them by size.
 

 
Sorting flowers by color in spice bottles. The first time I set up this activity was six weeks ago and Ian was unable to do it, he was not interested in trying more. Now, the sorting is the easier part and he needs more concentration to insert the stems into the holes of the spice bottles. Once more, everything in its time.
 

 
Puzzles. Ian has been working with these four-pieces puzzles for long time and each time he needs less help from me to complete them. When he finishes, he likes to put them in a row, admires his work and calls out the names of the figures.
 
 

 
Floats and sink. Ian has been playing a lot with water lately and one of the things that catches his attention is putting different objects into water, pushing them down and observing what happens. He did this by himself. So I decided to prepare some extensions.

For the first experiment we used leaves and very small pebbles. Ian floated a leaf and tried to put as many pebbles on as possible until the leaf sinks under the weight.

He worked patiently putting the pebbles on the leaves for a while. Then he decided to rush the experiment and dropped all the pebbles from the container.
 

 
And here is a photo showing how our science session finished (lol)
 

 
For our second experiment I prepared two “boats”, one with cork and the other with a piece of Styrofoam; for both I made the sail with a leaf on a pin. I put the “boats” on the water with the idea of just letting it float for a while and then show Ian how to blow it with his mouth. But Ian wanted to continue the previous experiment and in one second flat he disarmed my boats. So I gave him different objects for a free experience.
 

 
By the way, the first time I attempted this activity was when we just started Montessori at home and I still thought Ian would follow the lesson. I took my time to prepare everything including the cards with labels “sink” and “float” following strictly the instructions of an album. I invited my little piggy for an “exciting activity” :-) and as soon as he saw the materials, he put all the objects in the bowl with water including the cards :-) ; he didn’t even observe his “work” and left the room immediately. I didn’t know if I should laugh or cry … but, I laughed heartily.
 
Peeling beans. Ian loves to peel shells and I love to observe him while he does this. He is very focused and ordered. Well, last week, he peeled beans. I broke a bit of the outer pod and he split it open and extracted the individual beans. When he finished, he was not done yet! He also peeled the skin off the beans. If you like beans, I recommend let your children try this activity. It is an excellent exercise to improve fine motor skills, concentration and order.
 

Ian also loves to separate and wash the florets of broccoli. I did some superficial cuts to make it easier for Ian who has to use a bit of strengh to get the florets.

The last things that we moved to our new home were the flowerpots and Ian was so happy to have them again because he really enjoys taking care of the plants.

And challenging his balance

3-Minute Chocolate Cake in a Cup

Ian is enjoying cooking. Even when it is really a messy activity for him, I like it because it’s not only fun, but it's also an activity that teaches practical skills, introduces new sensorial experiences, vocabulary and mathematical concepts.

I’ve been looking for easy to make recipes and yesterday I found this “Chocolate Cake in a Cup” recipe. Ian is fan of chocolate so we tried out it.

I gathered all the necessary ingredients: flour, sugar, chocolate powder, milk, egg and vegetable oil. I also gathered all the cooking utensils, including measuring spoons, spatulas and mixing bowls. But I didn’t put all the ingredients within Ian reach at the beginning because surely he would have poured everything without following my instructions.

I always give Ian the ingredients measured, ready to pour and stir. But yesterday, I wanted him to measure at least the dry ingredients. First I gave him the flour bag and the measuring spoon. I hadn’t started explaining the measuring before he began to pour the flour directly from the bag. When I tried to stop him he got very angry and poured flour from the bowl.

It took me a couple of minutes and some tickles to convince Ian that it would be fun to follow my instructions. Here is a photo of us in the middle of the negotiation :-)

Well, Ian spooned the dry ingredients into a bowl, while I counted, and stirred them up. Then he learnt to hit the egg softly to break the shell and how to pour the egg. I measured the milk and oil and let him mix it. We stirred the dry ingredients separately from the wet ones in order to show Ian the difference of stirring wet and dry ingredients.
Then he mixed both and poured it into two cups. (I sprayed the mugs with cooking spray first.) Then into the microwave to bake for 3 minutes and enjoy!

You can get the recipe here.

A pizza for Daddy

Daddy likes pizza, specially on Fridays, so, last Friday, I wanted Ian to surprise him preparing a pizza. This was the first time Ian participated that much preparing food. Even when he went away after finishing each step, he always came back for the next one.

He’s not mastered the use of the knife yet but did his best cutting the ham and the sausages and of course eating lot of the pieces :-)

He also helped spooning the olives from the jar. It was not easy as the jar neck was narrow, but he did not give up and got two olives that transferred to the tray where I was separating the ingredients. I did not have to point where to put them, he did it by himself.

He attempted to grate the cheese for first time. It seemed he liked it, so I will set up an activity to grate soap later.

Then he squeezed the baggies of tomato sauce all over the pizza dough and used a cheese knife (and his hands) to spread it. It was really a mess, there was tomato sauce everywhere including my camera.

Finally, he sprinkled the remaining ingredients over the sauce.

It was lots of fun!

Cookies for Aunty Kathy / Galletas para tia Kathy

Kathy is celiac and we have not been able to find many products gluten-free. So we decided to make our own rice cookies. It seemed a perfect opportunity for Ian to put into action his new practical skills. We wanted to do the maximum by himself so we sought an easy recipe and we put all the ingredients and utensils on Ian’s table. When he appeared in the kitchen, he was immediately ready to work, as if he knew exactly what to do. We only gave him instructions of what to do next (ok, I couldn’t avoid trying to help a little a couple of times, but Kathy reminded me not to intervene). Ian worked with great care and attention, providing a very nice spectacle. What surprised us most was his ability to use the spatula to take the biscuits off the table, moving them toward the cookie tray and placing them carefully, all of this without us giving him a demonstration. It was great.

Tia Kathy es celiaca y no hemos podido encontrar muchos productos libres de gluten. Así que decidimos hacer nuestras propias galletas de arroz. Nos pareció una oportunidad perfecta para que Ian pusiera en acción sus nuevas habilidades de vida práctica. Quisimos que hiciera lo máximo por si solo así que buscamos una receta fácil de hacer y pusimos todos los ingredientes y utensilios sobre la mesita de Ian. Cuando el apareció en la cocina, inmediatamente se predispuso a trabajar, como si supiera exactamente lo que debía hacer. Solo le indicamos que hacer a continuación (ok, yo no pude evitar tratar de ayudarlo mas de lo necesario un par de veces, pero Kathy me recordó no intervenir). Ian trabajo con mucho cuidado y atención, brindándonos un espectáculo muy lindo. Lo que mas nos sorprendió fue su destreza para usar la espátula para despegar las galletas de la mesa, transportarlas hacia la bandeja de galletas y colocarlas ahí cuidadosamente, todo eso sin que nosotros hiciéramos alguna demostración. Fue brillante.

My kitchen assistant / Mi ayudante de cocina

Ian has become an excellent helper at the kitchen. Here are some pictures of the things he likes to do.

Ian se ha convertido en un excelente ayudante de cocina. Aquí hay algunas fotos de las cosas que le gusta hacer.

Peel eggs

Pelar huevos

Prepare his own rice

Peparar su arroz

Prepare his own noddles

Preparar sus fideos

Shell peas

Pelar las alverjitas

Wash his dishes

Lavar sus platos

Wash fruits and vegetables

Lavar las frutas y vegetales

Prepare cookies and cakes

Preparar galletas y queques