Speech Wednesday

I have been scouring the internet and stores clearance sections looking for Montessori projects for Alexis and her siblings. While I was out after Christmas, I found plastic colored jems. I thought they would be great for sorting. So this is how I set up the tray. I recycled yogurt cups for the dishes.


Alexis knew exactly what to do when I put the tray in front of her. Using the tongs is very challenging for her. Manipulating utinsels is hard but I make her do it anyway.


When I am not looking she stops using the tongs and just uses her hands. It gets the job done sooner. I stop her and make her start over trying to use the tongs.


After a few more attempts,I just let her use her hands. She will sort them for awhile and then she gets bored. I handed her the bag to put the gems away and she plays with the bag for awhile. Putting the gems in and then pouring them out. Whatever makes her happy and out of her sister's hair.


I made these writing pages for Alexis. I laminated the pages so that she can use them over and over again. They have snowflakes and snowman on them which are some of her favorite things.


I had Alexis work on her speech. These are pages from when we were going to Speech. Alexis has to do work to earn the balls for her favorite toy.


Then she gets to play with them twice and then we do more work to earn them again. This toy was a motivator while Alexis was attending Speech therapy. So when I saw it at Target I had to get it. It was on clearance which was better.


Lexi likes this time of day on Wednesday. I think it is because I am just focusing on her. It is hard to share mom when you've had her all to yourself for most of your life.

Disney World Dreams

On Monday we told Alexis that we are planning on going to Disney World. Wow was she excited! We are planning on going in December for her thirteenth birthday. I am excited to take her. Not only will we be at Cinderella's and Mickey's house but it will be Christmas. That is Lexi's favorite holiday. Didn't you know everyone puts the lights up for her? Anyways, we made a bank for Family Home Evening.
This is Alexis and her sister putting the money in the bank. This morning Alexis wanted to spend the money to go Disney. I told her we needed to save it for later. I have a feeling she will be talking about it all year. You know how it gets. They get stuck one thought and repeat it over and over and over.

Ouch!!!

Last Wednesday I went into Lexi's room to wake her up for school. When I was getting her baby sister out of her crib, Alexis said her head hurt. I turned around and saw Lexi rubbing her eye. When I got closer I saw that her eye was swollen shut and there was dried blood in her nose. I freaked out! I asked her what happened and she said that she fell out of bed. After I cleaned her up, I saw that she had a black but it wasn't as bad as I had initially thought. Although it was still pretty bad. Lexi is a violent sleeper sometimes and she has fallen out of bed before but was never hurt. Poor Alexis.

Misleading

Lexi's ailments can be misleading. She does not let us know when she does not feel right. She came home from school yesterday and she had really bad body odor. Her teacher sent a note home saying that Alexis had gone to the bathroom a lot. Not knowing if there was something wrong, I made an appointment at the doctor's. She did not have an infection. I think she is using the bathroom to get out of doing what she is supposed to be doing in the classroom. I know she tries to use that at home.

Eating, Eating, Eating

One thing that Alexis does that drives me crazy is her eating and food focus. She will say that her tummy is full and then go over to her sister's plate and eat off of that. She will then go into the kitchen and eat what ever she can get her fingers on. If I haven't gotten to the dishes right away, she will pick the food off of those dishes. It grosses me out and worries me. We keep a lock on the refrigerator and have the kitchen gated off, but it does not always work.

I am afraid that when she is out on her own she wont be able to control herself. It is almost as if she sees the food she has to eat it. I know that eating is a problem for 1p36 kids but usually it's the lack of eating. Her step father and I have started portion control at meals. We will give her half of the normal portion and then give her "seconds" to complete the portion. She usually gets down from the table after that. This ha s helped so far. I just can't get her to stop piecing off of other plates.