Emilia's 15 Minutes

Since Emilia is now more compliant with structured/guided work and activities and has been home a full year, this month I have begun an educational regimen with her on the days that we stay at home and have nothing or not much else on the agenda.  Under this plan, Emilia has up to four 15-minute sessions throughout the day where the focus is on skills and academics.  I have discovered that her attention span is roughly that amount of time, depending on how demanding the activity is, so it’s a good base line for how much I can expect from her at the moment.  I try to keep these sessions very flexible and offer a wide variety of activities.  For example, watching a Baby Einstein video counts if she sticks with it for at least 15 minutes.  I am keeping notes for myself, so here’s what I recorded from our first two weeks:

December 6, 2012

1) Dotted with bingo daubers, independent scribble with pen and sharpie, hand over hand lines and circles as well as write name.  Discovered she knows the verbal command “knock” – practiced knocking on table top.  Looked at animal magnet book – she chose which animals to take out and I told her about the animal.  Compliant and interested.

2) Baby Einstein World Animals on TV.  Periodically focused throughout 30 minutes.

3) Read two Christmas books, practiced sign for book, counted things in the books, sang The Itsy Bitsy Spider.  Unfocused. 10 mins only as it was right before nap.

4) Transferred ten stickers onto paper all hand over hand, played with play dough all hand over hand – she was resistant to everything and cried almost the entire 15 minutes.

December 7, 2012

1) Water play: practiced washing hands and pouring from various vessels (with assistance).  Explored colored shaving cream.  Interested and compliant.

2) Read Does A Kangeroo Have a Mother Too – practiced pointing to things on the pages, practiced counting, signed book hand over hand, practiced turning pages – medium level of interest and participation.

3) Sensory play with popped popcorn.  Transferred uncooked penne pasta from table into a cup to practice pincer grasp (needed some assistance).  Large inset puzzle (pieces out independent, pieces in with assistance).  Largely compliant.

4) The Nutcracker on youtube (BBC production) – watched with intense interest beyond 15 minutes.  Climbed up onto TV stand and touched the screen as the performance unfolded.  Smiled, babbled, and laughed at the TV.

December 8, 2012

1) Drew with pens, practiced vertical lines, she attempted.  Looked at human face picture and pointed to parts.  Looked at family pictures and pointed to people.  Magnetic animal book – took out pieces and made animal sounds.  Moderate interest throughout.

December 12, 2012

1) Baby Einstein Let’s Look Book – talked about each page and had her point. She now extends her index finger at the command “point.”  Practiced sign for book.  Turned pages with hands and feet.  Played music on the toy xylophone/piano, using fingers and toes.  Signed music.  I named the colors of the keys for her. – Good interest.

2)  Music Time: Sang Hickory Dickory Dock – she signed music independently between every verse.  Sang Five Little Monkeys – she signed music.  Introduced sign for please.  She was babbling quite a bit throughout.

3) Super Simple Songs on Youtube – total focus and attention for upward of 40 minutes

December 13, 2012

1) Transferred ten stickers to paper hand over hand, but she was able to pull them off the paper unassisted.  Colored with crayons, minimal assistance with vertical lines.  Looked at Let’s Discover Colors book.  Compliant and interested throughout.

2) Shape sorter – hand over hand except for 2-3 independent.  She can lift the lid off the shape sorter and put it back on without help.  She can put pieces into shape sorter without the lid on with ease.  She held the shape sorter and jumped to make the pieces clank around.  Giant legos – built hand over hand.  Compliant and curious.

3)  Baby Einstein Numbers Nursery on Youtube – stood in front of TV watching mesmerized and giggling for the entire 28 minutes.  Does she love numbers like her daddy?

December 14, 2012

1) Played with vehicles (firetruck, school bus, dump truck).  Stacked legos on top of bus, sang The Wheels on the Bus, practiced rolling vehicles back and forth.  Practiced ripping paper – I know I will regret this.  Somewhat disinterested and reluctant.

2) Played with Mr. Potato Head – pointed to and named parts of his face and my face.  Then let Emilia study her own face in a mirror and point to parts.  She made facial movements and various sounds and watched herself.  She was extremely interested, animated and happy and lasted with this activity for 20 minutes.

Emilia's last day of preschool was yesterday.  We gave it four solid months to see if this environment would have a positive impact on Emilia's development.  We did not notice any worthwhile improvements and, instead, grew increasingly frustrated with the staff over basic issues like feeding, clothing, napping, and diapering, so we decided to remove Emilia from the school.  Starting in January, Emilia will attend individual weekly toddler programs in the community, but more about that in another post.