Unexpected Education

Micah is taking on more responsibility and that's allowing more teachable moments. He's always had an interest in helping me fold and put up clothes. He's working very hard on learning to fold on his own now. (And he's pretty good at it!) Last week he asked me if he could put all of his own clothes away in his drawers and I let him. He did a great job and so now he's got a new chore!

He's been trying to open the refrigerator pretty much since he was able to walk. About three weeks ago I was puttering in the kitchen and Micah came in to talk to me. He grabbed the handle on the fridge and pulled on it as he talked. He had such a look of shock on his face when the door swung open! He's finally strong enough to get it open. He's been drinking so much more water now (rather than milk or juice) because he thinks it's fun to open the door and fill his cup from the water dispenser inside. With his newfound capabilities regarding his drinks, we decided to set up a "snack shelf" to help him become a bit more independent with food, too. I've gathered six or seven tupperware containers and filled them with various snacks. We keep them on a shelf close to his level and he can choose his own snacks (after getting permission) twice a day.

Of course, with all of these new responsibilities, he's also been exposed to more ways to get in trouble: dumping his clothes out of the drawers, un-pairing all of his socks in his sock drawer, rifling through the fridge when noone's watching, etc. And of course, it's been a hard lesson for him to learn that he can't snack endlessly throughout the day- no matter how many tantilizing options are within arm's reach!

On another note, our behavior chart is proving tremendously helpful. He is usually very aware of how some activities can earn him "happy squares" or "sad squares." And when he misbehaves (with a minor viloation, NOT something like flushing washcloths down the potty- his new favorite hobby) we don't have to fuss about it or argue with him. We simply put up a sad square and he deals with the consequences at the end of the day when it's time to add up his good and bad behaviors. Which brings me to another unexpected education- the behavior chart was intended to work just on his behavior, I wasn't really thinking about the possibility of education, too. But every night he has to count his squares. And it's even helped him begin to learn about the concept of more and less. We ask every night after he counts, "Did you get more happy squares or sad squares today?"

We've been playing Sorry as a family for a while now. There are obvious educational benefits from this classic board game. But I accidentally stumbled on a way to improve the game. Micah was recently given two different pez dispensers that each came with three packages of the little sweet candy. As a fun way to give them to him, I decided that when we play Sorry he gets to choose a "candy number." Last time he chose three. So every time someone drew a card with a '3' on it, that person got a piece of candy. It made the game more fun for all of us, and reinforced his number recognition. (And only slightly backfired when he drew three '3s' in a row, once!)

It's fun to see how many little teaching opportunities pop up as Micah gets older. He's not a baby anymore and seeing him gain these new responsibilities is crazy! How did he get so big so fast?