13 Months!

This week has been full of fun for Eamon.


We've been working on animal sounds.  I'm big on realistic sounding animals, especially since we can hear cows and chickens from our living room.  Our pig doesn't say "oink."  Of course, Eamon thinks all animals say, "Baa!"  Sometimes he'll repeat "bock bock bock," and "moo," but mostly it's "baa!" with a big smile.


I pulled out a few fine motor skill/tactile experiences for Eamon this week.  I poured some beans into glass bowls, added a few different size scoops, put the whole thing on a cookie sheet, and set it in the middle of the floor.  The look on his face was totally priceless, and the forty-five minutes of play was definitely worth the ten minutes I spent cleaning beans off my carpet.  This is a fun activity, one we will definitely do again.  Next time, I think I'll add a funnel and maybe a third color of bean.

 Since he did so well with the bean scooping (most of the ones on the floor are from tossing them out of the scoop), I decided to try marbles in bubbles one night.  I gave him this great little olive spoon I have, which was the perfect size for scooping up marbles.  He didn't have a lot of success scooping up the marbles, but he did have fun.  It's great to have these simple activities that help him work on motor skills and keep him entertained for more than three minutes.



It constantly surprises me how much time Eamon will sit and play by himself.  He's perfectly content to work on an activity for ten minutes or more, as long as: 1. he initiated it, 2. it seems to have a purpose, and 3. he's having a fairly high rate of success.  I've been putting these offerings out without really making a big deal of them, and letting him decide how to best approach it.  He wasn't sure what to think of the bubbles at first, but when he realized there were marbles in there, he dove in.

Fingerpainting was not such a big success.  He just wasn't sure what to think of it, and showed very little interest.  Most of the marks came from me, though he did explore a little bit.  On an upnote, I got to try out a homemade fingerpaint recipe I found on Pinterest.  I put the undyed portion in the frig, where I'm sure it will keep for a long long time.

We walked to the park one day this week as well.  The park near our house saddens me.  It reminds me of those abandoned parks in horror films - where the swings are swaying in the foreboding breeze, and dust is being kicked up.  Eamon was similarly unimpressed.  After about ten minutes of exploring, he climbed back into the stroller and asked to go home.

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