Watch and Learn

Life in M'town (as Daron would say: not to be confused with Motown) is good. I can't believe it's already the end of November and Thanksgiving is in just a few days. My dad comes tomorrow (yea!) and I will cook my first ever Thanksgiving meal, say a prayer. I have quite the list of food to prepare but feel lucky that I am able to do so. It will be interesting and I hope to capture it through pictures and flipcam clips....could be pretty entertaining.

As Dylan gets bigger and I think of new ways to engage and teach him I've thought back to my month teaching in a 3/4 year old Montessori classroom in Italy. It was such a great experience and I wish I would have taken more notes. However, through Montessori blogs, books, and a friend who is now a Montessori teacher I am working on creating a more Montessori like atmosphere for Dylan at home. Giving him more "choice" and letting him figure things out for himself. It's funny - the teacher in me wants to jump-in and show him how to do something. When I stepped back and just let him have at an activity the other day - I was impressed....

I had taken a metal tin that was divided into two sections. On one side I placed a handful of uncooked black beans. I took a spoon (his size) and showed him how to take a scoop of beans and drop it on the other side. I repeated this several times and then handed him the spoon. He took the spoon, smiled, and began to bang on the tin. "He doesn't get it," I thought to myself. So I showed him again and handed him the spoon back. Again, he smiled and began to bang on the tin. This time I just let him have at it and smiled every time he looked up at me. After a few minutes he put the spoon down and grabbed a handful of beans. He really didn't get it. As much as I wanted to show him again I continued to let him have at it. He felt the beans, rolled them around in his hand, and then put them in his spoon. He dumped the beans back in the tin and even made sure the ones that had fallen on the ground got picked up and put back. He then grabbed the lid sitting next to him, placed it on top of the tin and then put the spoon on top of the lid. He looked at me with such accomplishment and pride. He had cleaned it all up! 

While he didn't transfer the beans back and forth like I'd wanted him to, he did it in his own way.....I learned a lot while he played. First, he played before he tried what I'd shown him....teaching 101, DUH. Kids want to explore a new object/material placed in front of them, if 3rd graders needed a few minutes of play with manipulatives, why wouldn't a 1 year old?

Secondly, maybe he's not ready to move beans back and forth with a spoon or maybe we just need more practice. Regardless, a tin and handful of beans entertained him for over 20 minutes (that's huge). He also showed me that he watches and learns. I hadn't shown him how to put the lid on the tin or to set the spoon on top of the lid. But after he did it he looked to me as to say, "see, I cleaned up - aren't you proud?" He watches, he learns as I do things daily. And when I took the time to step back and not play teacher but just watch him, I learned, too. Looks like I need to implement this watch and learning business in all areas of life - maybe I'd figure more things out!

I'll leave you with a few Dylan pictures I took the other day of him in the woods behind our house. I'd also like to direct you to the "photography" page. I did my first "photo shoot" of somebody other than Dylan a few weeks ago and posted some of my favorite pics from it. I'm excited I was able to do this and hope it's something I can continue to develop. I had a blast!

Pumpkin Time

Well, I meant to post a few weeks ago with pictures from the pumpkin patch. We had a great time - once we got there! The highway was recently redone and the directions on the website hadn't been updated. We got there 5 minutes before they close and I'm not sure what Daron said to them but they let us in. Thank goodness because he doesn't get many afternoons to play with us!!

Dylan LOVED the pumpkin patch. (I feel like Dylan loves all things except being hungry!) He ran around the field of pumpkins, attacking them and being indecisive on which one to take home. Once we had one we checked out a few chickens (there was a small "zoo") and went inside to decorate the pumpkin. He had a great time running around the barn while Daron picked out a few decorations for him to glue on his pumpkin, I vetoed the paint!

Here are a few pictures to showcase Dylan's day at the patch:

Yes, I finally was captured in a few pictures (Brandi Virden -  I would like you to take notice, haha!).

Aside from that life has been its normal, crazy self. Dylan, football, work, and friends visiting have kept us busy. Dylan has 2 playgroups a week (will be cutting this down to 1 next semester) and we do a Bible study once a week which has been a great addition to our schedule. This was probably the thing I missed most about being in Detroit ( I LOVED my Bible study there).

We had an appointment with an allergist a few weeks ago for Dylan since his skin has been going crazy. We discovered he is allergic to all tree nuts except peanuts (weird), wheat, and cats. Lucky for us we have no cats. At first I was stressing about the wheat allergy - wheat is in EVERYTHING. But I have been prepared for this day since I made so much of Dylan's food to start with. I have gotten a bit more creative and I have found new recipes that he gobbles up. I have switched from pasta to rice and from flour to rice flour. I'd actually been reading about how grains/wheat actually aren't great for us about 2 months ago but never did anything about it. Here goes our own little experiment....we are now pretty much wheat free in our house. The doctor said most babies outgrow a wheat allergy between 3-5 years old. I figure by then we'll be so used to eating wheat-free but it will be much easier for him to eat at school and around other kids.

Now the nut allergy is another story - we have to keep an epi-pin on us at all times, scary! His nut reactions were so insane the doctor is scared for what would happen if he was exposed to any of these. Luckily, I was thoroughly prepared to stab him with the epi-pin thanks to a 3 minute video, haha! At least we know and are prepared!


Talking: Dylan has added a bit to his vocabulary but still seems perfectly content signing to me. I was determined to get him to "use his words" ... am I a teacher or what? Poor kid. Since he seems more excited to sign what he wants I've taught him more signs even though I said I wouldn't. He now knows milk, eat, and we are working on drink in sign language. Verbally we get apple once in a while and I'm working on Bub (grandpa is nowhere in sight and my dad is coming in a few weeks - he would be so excited if Dylan referred to him as something!).

Even though the munchkin won't say much he seems to understand almost everything we say. The other morning I told him we needed to change his diaper so he handed me his pack of baby wipes! However, later in the day when I was holding a new diaper and told him we needed to change his diaper he ran away from me. We have entered the "I hate being changed phase" which is insanely annoying!

In the morning when Daron leaves for work he'll say, "I'm headed to work" and Dylan will wave goodbye to him. The first time he did it Daron was in shock. It is  pretty crazy that he gets Daron going to work means goodbye.

Well, this post has turned into a Dylan update that is longer than I anticipated. Will post again soon!