It's the Little Things...

My FAVORITE book as a toddler was Brown Bear, Brown Bear. I adored bears and, therefore, the book. I asked my mom to read it to me every night. So often, in fact, that I had it memorized when I was about 2 and a half and my parents recorded me “reading it” (glided R’s and lisp included). So when C started getting interested in Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? (Brown Bear and Friends) ,  I ran with it! This book as SO many speech and language targets appropriate for toddlers! I LOVE to read books more than once. The first time, I’m all for reading the book in it’s entirety and just letting the child listen and learn. Each subsequent time, I like to choose a different target to focus on. Every time I read a book, I don’t always read the words (I like using a technique called dialogic reading to increase oral language skills). Here are a few of my ideas: Colors Learning to identify and express colors is a milestone for 2-3 year olds. C doesn’t know his yet...whi...

On Sundays, I'd like to write a little about how God is shaping me and teaching me about Him through being a parent. God has really molded, shaped and taught me about His love for me through given me C. Although I know that right now I only see dimly, and won't fully understand God's love for me until I meet Him ( 1 Corinthians 13:12 ), I truly believe that He uses all circumstances in our lives to help us better understand who He is.  Yesterday, my mom, best friend and I had a little girls day (and we let C tag along). We went to brunch and to the mall. C is at the stage where he enjoys being in the stroller for a few minutes, but then his independence gets the best of him and he wants to run free! It was a Saturday, and the mall was pretty crowded. In an effort to keep him safe and not get another bruise on his forehead, my rule was that he could walk but he needed to be holding someone's hand or the stroller. At first, C was quick to comply, thankful for the small ...

My son turned 2 a few weeks ago, and we suddenly have a full blown toddler in our house. To be completely honest, I LOVE 90% of this age! It’s so fun to watch C develop a personality and opinions. He’s growing into such a sweet and caring little boy. Last weekend we went to a friend’s house for a party, and C (who is usually on the shy side), went and asked a boy we had met once to play because he was sitting by himself. It was so sweet to see him be so inclusive. He’s also started to tell me stories about what happens while he’s at daycare. Although he has a wonderful babysitter and friends, it’s still tough to leave him, so I love that he’s able to relay memorable parts of his day to me. Along with the amazing things that C’s developed have also come the dreaded toddler temper tantrums ! Working at an early childhood school. I’ve become very familiar with what they look like, however I’m new to the embarrassment that comes when it’s YOUR child that’s screaming and incons...

If there’s one thing I have learned working at a school, it’s that kids LOVE cars! When I got my first job working with preschool and elementary school students, my mom bought me 5 wooden cars from the dollar aisle at Target. They are the most well loved and favorite toy in my speech room! Luckily, there are so many language skills you can target using cars! 1. Basic Concepts According to Super Duper publications , “Basic Concepts are the foundation of a child’s education. They are words that a child needs to understand in order to perform everyday tasks like following directions, participating in classroom routines, and engaging in conversation.” Basic Concepts include words pertaining to colors, directions, prepositions, quantities, shapes, sizes and more. Cars provide such a fun and natural opportunity to introduce your child to these words! Practice playing a little “red light, green light” or racing with your cars and embed words like “stop, go, fast, slow.” At fir...

Hi, everyone! I bet you thought I abandoned this blog… I’ll be honest, I wondered if I did for a while there. This post is going to be a little bit different. It’s been a really tough few months for me. It seemed like it would be trivializing everything that happened to jump on into a post about toys or language. As I reflect and work through everything that happened, I keep coming back to how it all makes what I do-- my work, speech therapy, being a mom-- that much more important. I’d like to think of myself as a writer. When I was in college, I would feel deeply moved by nature or The Lord or by songs or conversations, and I would make sense of it all by writing. This is me making sense of 2018 so far. My dad passed away suddenly in early January. He started feeling crummy on Thursday, so he went to the doctor and was diagnosed with flu (even though his test was negative and he’d had the flu vaccine) on Friday afternoon. He continued to battle and ended up at the hospital e...