Thursday, September 11, 2008

Trying to Keep the Lil' Guy Busy

Ok, I am so not one of those "ditto" parent/teachers. I mean give me a hands-on activity any day! But, when Dave came home last month with a phonics preschool set of workbooks, CD, and DVD I thanked him. I mean he was totally thinking of Ethan. But, come on he is 18 months old. So, I put it on the shelf.

Well, this week Ethan has kept me going! He surprises me every minute of the day. As a teacher I know that "boys are wired different than girls." I also know that "school was made for girls and not for boys." I also have experienced the "boys are more active" scenario. But it is different when you have an active boy ALL DAY LONG! I mean come on! On some days it was great to send the kids home at 11:30am... and there were a few times I would go back to my classroom and collapse on the floor. Wake up call! Moms don't get time to even make it to the floor to sit down let alone collapse.

The problem is that I would be expecting Ethan to play like an 18 month old. I honestly think that he was born late and I really have a 2 1/2 year old. All he wants to do is read letters, color with crayons, read numbers, read colors, and throw a ball here and there. I have to get over it and realize that Ethan needs more. So, I am trying all of these activities to keep Ethan busy.

I actually pulled the phonics books off the shelf and we are on letter C. Look how he found the "c" and colored it in himself. Crazy!

We played a game that he made up for his alphabet blocks - but I used numbers on apples. I asked him "Where is the 3?" He looks at my hand using ASL and he finds the number. He usually points at the right apple, yells the number, and claps for himself.