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.