Thursday, June 11, 2009

plagued

The Hudsons are plagued with sickness again. What looks for the rest of us like a cold goes straight to Claire's lungs. She went in for a breathing treatment and antibiotic today. Hopefully she wont be as sick as she was last month. All of us are showing some symptoms. So much for making progress on the sleep issue...

I have a question about toys... Do your kids play independently with their toys? There are very few toys that Claire will pick up without encouragement and play with on her own. She will pretend with her dollies, play with her tea set and pots and pans, push a few buttons on her music table, put on some dress-up clothes that's about it. The rest of toys she will only play with if someone is playing with her and they usually have to suggest a particular toy. She spends a lot of time looking at books (and being read to). Today she recited from the beginning of Peter Rabbit. "Old Mother Rabbit said, 'You may go down the lane, but don't go into Mr. McGreggor's garden.'" She also has been reciting a lot of nursery rhymes in their entirety. Some of which I didn't know she knew. Today it was "Baa Baa Black Sheep". Some activities she requests are finger painting, play-dough, making muffins for Daddy and perpetually wants to go for a walk, see the kids and go to the park. so anyway back to toys. Any toy that requires any dexterity or practice is automatically out. She will stack blocks only when prompted. Same with lacing cards, shape sorter, stacking rings, pounding "nails" and other play tools, stringing beads is out because she still has to be supervised because she puts them in her mouth, She will occasionally play with her picture dominoes, farm animals, musical instruments and wooden snake pull toy.

3 comments:

Nanna said...

Sorry to hear you're all under the weather! And dear Claire, how is she now? I wish I could come over and play with Claire. Hugs to Em and Claire from Nanna.

Ma Torg said...

Toys: This isn't a toy but mesmerized our girls. We had the grandparents record themselves reading books and would play the tapes for them. They would sit for the longest period of times absolutely mesmerized.

My girls are dollies and dress up girls too. Does Claire like drawing? A magna doodle might be fun. There are also these mats that you put on the floor or table and the kids can draw on (with no mess) called Aquadoodle. Pop up play houses/tents are great too for pretend play.

Jen said...

I'm sorry you're all sick again, Jen.

Claire's play sounds normal to me. Don't we all gravitate toward what comes easiest and what we most enjoy? Katherine likes to play with someone else rather than by herself most of the time, too.