Copy Cat

If you watch children in most any situation they will imitate each other, at the park one child will crawl up the slide and then all the other kids try it. I remember the first time E saw another kid climb up the slide, she was enthralled. She hadn't seen it before and hadn't thought of doing it herself. At first I wouldn't let her do it, I was afraid she'd hurt herself, then her pediatrician said that it strengthens muscles and builds coordination.

Mr N has imitated E's playing and climbs up the slide, too. I still worry that one of them will get hurt, but I let them be, he so badly wants to do the things his sissy does. It's equally as cute when E wants to do what Mr N does, this morning E was eating her cereal with milk and Mr N wanted his without milk. E stopped eating hers because she wanted to eat it like Mr N, without milk. 

E was so excited when Mr N put Dog in a line with Cat, Black and White, and Black; they are E's favorite stuffed animals and doesn't like Mr N to play with them generally, but since he was placing Dog with the others, she was happy.

Positive reinforcement has been such a great tool in working with both kids, E even tells Mr N when he's doing something good. 

During therapy yesterday Mr N was kinda being a pill, he didn't want to cooperate, he wouldn't stay focused, he just wanted to play with his sister. But he still did some great things when he was on task, he did stomp feet, jump, and touch ears and even got intro mastery on them. He really does so much better when he's interested in what he's doing. 

We made "slime" out of cornstarch and water and a touch of food coloring. Mr N was not impressed, he touched it and then bowed out. Mommy and the therapist, on the other hand, quite enjoyed playing with it. E thought it was quite fun, too. 

I worked on curtains during most of therapy (well really most of the day) and got another panel done. Hopefully I can get another panel done today, they certainly take a lot longer than I expected. 

Speaking of working on things for the house, I've grown tired of the house projects. I typically enjoy working to make a house our home, but with therapy then trying to relax and enjoy our weekends the house is just too much. I can't wait to have a functioning kitchen, some storage, bedrooms and bathrooms done. Just to be able to live day to day life without walking around and digging through boxes. I think we underestimated how much time Daddy would be away with his long commute, how much fun we'd want to have in the area we live, and how difficult DIY projects are when you have two toddlers. Our next house will not be a project house.