1/10/13 & 1/11/13

I found that I didn't have very many notes on the kiddos from the last too days -- things were a little too hectic for me make as concentrated observations, I guess. Anyway, I am combining the two days into one.

Aaron wasn't here for breakfast, but ate all of his mandarin oranges and about half of his hash brown casserole along with a couple bites of biscuit at lunch,

Aaron played with Emily almost the entire large group time yesterday. They both just really enjoy playing with each other. She looks forward to it as much as he does, i think. This morning when he wasn't here during out big room play time, Emily just like of lay around, not doing much most of the time. She was kind of lost without him.

When we switch to our small groups Kenzie and Joslyn have really been interacting more with him also, which is nice. Today Kenzie invited him to play with her in the "car" she and Joslyn had made with the big interlocking blocks. After they used it as a car for a few seconds, it turned into a race track for the trains and then (several minutes later) a "walking trail" for the Pooh characters.

1/9/13

Aaron wasn't here for breakfast. At lunch he ate all of his saltines, but no ham, bean soup, or kiwi, although he did "kiss all of them goodbye".

Aaron shared his cars with Emily and they continued to play around and under the big room picnic table for At least 30 minutes. They both like to do the things they are interested in repeatedly.

As soon as Emily decided she wanted to switch to the other side of the big room, Aaron was right there with her, just waiting to see what they were going to do next.

Emily had pooped her diaper and she must have been trying to pass the buck. She turned to Aaron and asked in quite the accusatory voice, "Aaron, are you poopy?" Aaron immediately answered "No!" Emily wasn't ready to give up. She tipped her little head off to the side and said even more suspiciously, "Are you?!" Of course, he wasn't. I would have to say it was a case of the pot calling the kettle black!

Aaron and Emily were taking turns with one of them in the igloo and one out. The outside one was either pounding on the top of the igloo and saying, "anybody home?" or was peeking around into the opening and saying "peek". It is great to see him using so many words just in the course of play!

1/8/13

Aaron tasted both the dried apricots and the bagel at breakfast. At lunch he ate all of his applesauce,about half of his peas and pasta with cheese on it Nd kissed his tilapia goodbye.

Kenzie was reading to him and Emily in the big yellowish chair for quite a while this morning. She was having them count things on the pages, find different things she mentioned and answering other questions. If they answered correctly, she told them "good job!" and if not she would tell them the right answer. He was really enjoying it all.

Aaron was bringing me different stuffed animal characters today to show me. The first one he brought over was the cat in the hat and it sounded like he said, "at, at". That isn't a very common character, so I was surprised and asked him who it was again and he repeated it!

Aaron was spinning and dancing so cute when I turned on the music today. He was also singing like crazy. It wasn't the same song as what what's playing, but it was very enthusiastic and happy.

Aaron was sharing his shoes with Emily again today and I couldn't resist another picture.

Aaron was trying to help baby Noah by piling stuffed animals on top of him. He had so many that it was hard to see that their was even a baby under the pile at one point. Noah really didn't seem to mind, though. : )

1/7/13

Aaron didn't eat anything at breakfast -- bran flakes and craisins. At lunch he ate all of his cheese pizza, a couple bites of tropical fruit and a kiss of cauliflower.

Aaron and Emily played together so well again today. They were just racing around in circles on the rowdy side of the room. Emily also initiated a game of hide-and-seek with him. She informed him that he needed to hide, then sat on the mattress with her hands over her eyes, peeking through her fingers and counting then "ready or not here I come". Aaron obviously understood because he went into the igloo and waited until she "found" him.

They were also laying on the carpet and the mattress on their backs and moving their arms and legs back and forth, "making snow angels" as Emily said and Aaron imitated.

Aaron took off his shoes today and shared them with Emily. Emily actually even got them all the way on, but must not have liked the feeling because she didn't even take any steps with them.

Riley went over to the side that Aaron and Emily was playing on and Aaron emphatically told her "Go 'ther sigh!" (For "go to the other side"). That was all independently and not just an imitation of what someone else had just said!

1/4/13

Aaron didn't eat anything at breakfast. We had malt-o-meal and raisins. At lunch he ate all of his mixed fruit, several bites of spaghetti with thick meat sauce and even an actual bite of salad with ranch dressing.

Aaron and Emily played together non-stop until breakfast. First of all, they were "driving" their mixers (cars) around the picnic table race track over and over, then they moved over to sit in the yellow chair together. They took their mixers with them along with a couple scarves and were covering and uncovering the mixers in their laps.

Emily and Aaron were playing in and around the igloo and laughing so hard. Me would "hide" and the other one would walk around saying "ee--ee--ee" until they peeked at the hiding person and both cracked up. They were also doing similar play, peeking through the hole in the inside climber step.

Aaron worked and worked at getting a pair of the dress-up shoes on today. He didn't get frustrated, but finally brought them over to me so I could help him.

Aaron was a little lost and forlorn looking when Emily decided to play with Kenzie for a while instead of him. He stood and watched them for a while then started playing alongside them.

1/3/13

Aaron ate all of his berries but no cinnamon raisin English muffin at breakfast. At lunch he ate all of his canned cherries, a bite or two of hash browns and gave his canned chicken on saltine crackers a kiss goodbye.

Aaron really enjoys mimicking whatever Emily does -- marching, putting on dress-ups, jumping, playing on the mattress, pretending to cook or eat...

He especially enjoys spinning around and around to the music. Even after all of the other kiddos are done spinning and dancing, he still continued. Some of the time he will sing with the song, but no matter what, he always has a kind of dreamy and pleasant look on his face. Music is obviously a blessing to him.

When we switched to the back room the kiddos wanted me to help them make a big block car for them to play in they played in it for most of our time in that back room. He also was spinning the flower Duplo and laughed when it got going pretty well.

1/2/13

Happy new year! It is great to be able to continue to care for Aaron in 2013!

Aaron ate several bites of Cheerios and a kiss of banana at breakfast. At lunch he ate most of his apple slices, bites of his grilled cheese sandwich and no tomato sip -- sniffed it! : )

Aaron has been going around and around the climber/balance beam them jumping onto the mattress with Thomas and Emily today. They all really enjoy both jumping and watching each other. They also are awesome about taking turns, going around each other and waiting until they are out of each other's road.

He, Emily, Riley and Thomas were all having lots of laughter when they were in the Igloo playing! It looked like they were taking turns being the igloo "door" (except for Riley).

Aaron was hitting and hitting at several different kiddos this morning so we repeated went through the "gentle touches" teaching process, and gave him some words to say instead of hitting. He said them after us well. Now we just need to get him to say them on his own initiative.

Aaron really gets enjoyment out of watching the other kiddos, even if he isn't directly involved in the fun play. Gary was "getting" Emily today and Aaron was just grinning and chuckling like he was the one being tickled.

The kiddos all started marching around the big room without him. He went up to them with both hands up in the "Stop" sign and was saying "Top. Top guys!" He started marching around with them and he was fine with them doing it then. I think he just didn't want to be left behind! : )