Lana is doing great. Friday was our last day for OT, and though I will miss Theresa greatly, it is nice to be done for awhile. She completed the peabody testing again on Monday and she has advanced from the 19th percentile (28 months) to the 50th percentile (43 months) in her fine motor skills, which is fabulous.
I have to admit that parenting a toddler has been much more of a challenge than I ever expected. She is brilliant, (and in fact it wouldn't surprise me in the least bit if further down the road we discover that she is "gifted") but it is almost as if she is too smart for her own good. And she plays "dumb" a lot, which frustrates the heck out of me. Even though she knows something, she insists on being disobedient and making me repeat myself ten million times. We can go a week and she can be punished 10 times a day for the same thing every single day, but the bottom line is if she wants to do, she is going to. And if she doesn't want to, she is NOT going to. For example, I have been working with her, and so has the OT, on how to draw shapes. We sat with her for over 3 months practicing shapes, tracing them, drawing them hand over hand, everything we could think of we tried...all she would do is draw circles. Well Friday there we are working on shapes again....
"Olena please draw a square for me"
she draws a circle
"No Olena, a square" and I point to the one that Teresa already drew on the paper moments earlier.
"Draw a square....PLEASE!"
I am not even exaggerating when I tell this story, but she sighed - picked up the crayon, slashed out 2 vertical line, and then connected them with 2 more horizontal lines all the while she has the snotty look on her face. She then rolls her eyes, slams the crayon on the table and looks up and Theresa and I
"There! I draw you square!"
we both just sat there in shock. Then with no warning she grabs the crayon again, draws a V and then connects the bottom making an upside down triangle.
"SEE, Lana draw triangler too"
If we were in chairs, we would have fallen out. She was such a smarty pants about it that I think is what got me the most.
Theresa looked at me and started to laugh.
"I think this little girl is playing us all as fools."
After witnessing this little episode I figured I might as well challenge her a little bit because obviously the stuff we keep trying to focus on over and over, is not a problem for her. She just isn't going to prove herself until she feels like it. She can write her letters (upper case only though) , there not the best, but definitely legible, she can evidently draw her shapes :), and she can count to 20, (so today we started on spelling 3 letter words, but I am focusing on using the lower case when doing this. She has trouble with b,d,a,n,h,t and f. I have flash cards that are sets of 3, with 3 letter words, and a picture of the word. Each card has to go together like a puzzle and each card has 1 letter on it. She really seemed to enjoy it and I think she craved the change in her "studies" I have a feeling little miss priss is bored with all of the babyish lessons. On to the bigger and better stuff, I guess. I'll let you know has she is doing in a few weeks.
We got lots of friends and family expecting babies in the upcoming winter/spring too, so looks like we'll be in for a big baby boom soon. Jason is so funny because he is going through the baby blues too...sorry charlie, not yet! The guy sees a pregnant belly and just falls to mush, and weeps over the fact that he wants one. We were sitting at dinner the other day and he talking about everyone who's pregnant and how it seems everywhere he looks it is being put in front of his face. At that moment here comes our gorgeously big bellied pregnant waitress who was about to bust out her seams. The timing couldn't have been better planned. I was laughing so hard I swore I was going to pee my pants. The bad part was when the poor girl got to the table she smiled and said I should share what I'm laughing about and I couldn't help it, I just blurted out "your pregnancy!!" OPEN MOUTH, INSERT FOOT! boy did I have some back pedaling to do on that one :( thankfully in the end, all was well and I explained myself, what and meant, and of course I apologized. I told him, talk to your work...if you can carry the baby and take the maternity leave lets go for it. He didn't like that too much. I'm just not ready yet, and like I said, this toddler is giving me a run for my money. I'm content with things right now thank you! Besides with all of these new babies coming into the world, we'll have lots to love...and then send HOME :)
Other than that, I honestly don't have much else to share. It has been a pretty low key week. Just completing chores, getting ready for the winter, and I am trying to get prepared for the Holidays...yes the Holidays are almost here. Where did this year go? This weekend we'll be laying our new living room floor so I am excited about that. I'll post some pics when it's done.
I have to admit that parenting a toddler has been much more of a challenge than I ever expected. She is brilliant, (and in fact it wouldn't surprise me in the least bit if further down the road we discover that she is "gifted") but it is almost as if she is too smart for her own good. And she plays "dumb" a lot, which frustrates the heck out of me. Even though she knows something, she insists on being disobedient and making me repeat myself ten million times. We can go a week and she can be punished 10 times a day for the same thing every single day, but the bottom line is if she wants to do, she is going to. And if she doesn't want to, she is NOT going to. For example, I have been working with her, and so has the OT, on how to draw shapes. We sat with her for over 3 months practicing shapes, tracing them, drawing them hand over hand, everything we could think of we tried...all she would do is draw circles. Well Friday there we are working on shapes again....
"Olena please draw a square for me"
she draws a circle
"No Olena, a square" and I point to the one that Teresa already drew on the paper moments earlier.
"Draw a square....PLEASE!"
I am not even exaggerating when I tell this story, but she sighed - picked up the crayon, slashed out 2 vertical line, and then connected them with 2 more horizontal lines all the while she has the snotty look on her face. She then rolls her eyes, slams the crayon on the table and looks up and Theresa and I
"There! I draw you square!"
we both just sat there in shock. Then with no warning she grabs the crayon again, draws a V and then connects the bottom making an upside down triangle.
"SEE, Lana draw triangler too"
If we were in chairs, we would have fallen out. She was such a smarty pants about it that I think is what got me the most.
Theresa looked at me and started to laugh.
"I think this little girl is playing us all as fools."
After witnessing this little episode I figured I might as well challenge her a little bit because obviously the stuff we keep trying to focus on over and over, is not a problem for her. She just isn't going to prove herself until she feels like it. She can write her letters (upper case only though) , there not the best, but definitely legible, she can evidently draw her shapes :), and she can count to 20, (so today we started on spelling 3 letter words, but I am focusing on using the lower case when doing this. She has trouble with b,d,a,n,h,t and f. I have flash cards that are sets of 3, with 3 letter words, and a picture of the word. Each card has to go together like a puzzle and each card has 1 letter on it. She really seemed to enjoy it and I think she craved the change in her "studies" I have a feeling little miss priss is bored with all of the babyish lessons. On to the bigger and better stuff, I guess. I'll let you know has she is doing in a few weeks.
We got lots of friends and family expecting babies in the upcoming winter/spring too, so looks like we'll be in for a big baby boom soon. Jason is so funny because he is going through the baby blues too...sorry charlie, not yet! The guy sees a pregnant belly and just falls to mush, and weeps over the fact that he wants one. We were sitting at dinner the other day and he talking about everyone who's pregnant and how it seems everywhere he looks it is being put in front of his face. At that moment here comes our gorgeously big bellied pregnant waitress who was about to bust out her seams. The timing couldn't have been better planned. I was laughing so hard I swore I was going to pee my pants. The bad part was when the poor girl got to the table she smiled and said I should share what I'm laughing about and I couldn't help it, I just blurted out "your pregnancy!!" OPEN MOUTH, INSERT FOOT! boy did I have some back pedaling to do on that one :( thankfully in the end, all was well and I explained myself, what and meant, and of course I apologized. I told him, talk to your work...if you can carry the baby and take the maternity leave lets go for it. He didn't like that too much. I'm just not ready yet, and like I said, this toddler is giving me a run for my money. I'm content with things right now thank you! Besides with all of these new babies coming into the world, we'll have lots to love...and then send HOME :)
Other than that, I honestly don't have much else to share. It has been a pretty low key week. Just completing chores, getting ready for the winter, and I am trying to get prepared for the Holidays...yes the Holidays are almost here. Where did this year go? This weekend we'll be laying our new living room floor so I am excited about that. I'll post some pics when it's done.
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