Doing too well?

Just when I think I have a handle on things, something new hits me out of the blue. Apparently Ava is doing so well, that she’s in danger of “graduating” from early intervention services. I didn’t even know that was possible. It’s a good thing no one is keeping track of all the things I don’t know.

I thought that once she qualified for services that she would automatically continue to receive them until she turned three years old. Then we’d have to re-evaluate to see if she qualifies for school-age services at that time. Ms. A, our early intervention therapist, just mentioned this in passing during our therapy session Friday morning. At the time, I was busy trying to keep Ava engaged and Michael from interfering too much and I didn’t really process the significance of what she was saying. Later, it occurred to me that I really should have asked more questions. I guess I’ll ask her what she meant when we see her next week. I’ll try not to worry too much until then. Worrying doesn’t do me any good.

Macaroni Colors

On a whim, I decided to try coloring macaroni last night with the kids. I looked up the directions online (consensus was 2 tbsp of rubbing alcohol combined with lots of food coloring in a ziplock with 1 cup of macaroni - then pour out onto wax paper and dry overnight). I have lots of macaroni around. I just scooped some out of the macaroni bin I made a couple of months ago. The kids had a blast helping. They held the ziplock open while I added the rubbing alcohol and food coloring to it. They put the macaroni into the bag and then squished all the contents around once I sealed it. Then they oohed and ahhed over the results.

I learned several things.

• This amount of liquid allows you to dye 2 cups of macaroni - not one.
• Do not use wax paper. It gets soggy with the extra liquid and then sticks to your macaroni. Use aluminum foil instead.
• When using blue food coloring, it mixes with the natural yellow of the macaroni for a result of green - not blue.

I now have several trays of colored macaroni drying overnight. I'm not really sure what to do with them though. Any ideas for fun projects with colored macaroni? Anyone know how to overcome the problem with the macaroni being naturally yellow in order to make blue or purple macaroni?

The Weekly Review: Week One

Blog Post I Enjoyed Most:  I loved this post by Swistle.  Technically, I’m cheating here because this post is over a week old, but I didn’t have a weekly review last week so I figure I get a pass on posting this one late.  I laughed out loud when reading this post.  Then I overheard my husband laughing out loud when I made him read it.  It’s such a human mistake and Swistle does a great job of telling the story. 

Therapy product I would buy if I weren’t on a budget:  Word Flips.  This is a great therapy product for apraxia.  Ms. J. loaned it to us to use for our homework for the current two weeks.  It’s great for apraxia, because you can work on the words individually, or mix them up to add complexity if your little one is ready for that.  The words are separated into sections by place of articulation.  You can combine individual words to make two syllable words or phrases (sew and pea make soapy). 

Interesting Apraxia Article:  Apraxia: Speech Therapy in Toddlers and Young Children by Sharon Gretz, M.Ed.   This is a nice article about apraxia diagnosis and therapy with very young children. 

Michael’s Mystery Question:  Did he really eat a blue crayon at school as his teacher claims?  Her evidence:  blue mouth surrounded by crayon crumbs and missing crayon.  He denies it, but the evidence seems pretty conclusive.  He’s never, not once, tried to eat a crayon at home.  In fact, he pretty much never eats anything that isn’t food.  So, who knows?  Maybe another child talked him into it?

Ava’s new favorite word:  Hide.  Whenever she can’t find something, she pauses and then says that it is hiding.  So I ask her to find her shoes, and instead of looking for them she’ll just look at me and say, “Shoe hide.”  So many things have been hiding this week.  It’s been pretty cute actually.

Something I’m proud of:  Coming up with the idea for Ava’s pillows and actually following the project all the way through.  I think they’re adorable and Ava loves the pink one (just because it’s pink).  She’s given the other one to Michael and so far they’ve had at least one pillow fight.  Watching them learn to play together is a joy.

To give credit where credit is due, I was inspired to do a weekly review by the one posted every Friday morning on this blog. (Hmm.  His webpage actually seems to be down at the moment, but it's the first time in the year or so I've been reading him that it's been down so I'm assuming it is temporary.)