Letter E/Staying Focused and on Task
Roo did so much better this week, or maybe I did. Probably both.
She had to be reminded to stay on task often and if she felt my attention was elsewhere, she'd wander more. But over all the tantrums, the bossing, the attitude, all of it was toned way down. Her daddy and I have started saying "That sounded bossy," or "That was too whiney," or "Maybe you could say it nicer?" and just last night she said "Could I please have that?" with no hint of whining or attitude and without prompting. Although Roo is my first and only child, I'm not naive enough to think that I've cured the terrible twos. But at least I've had a little reprieve from the last two weeks of terror.
We got a lot of schooling done this week since she and I were both in higher spirits. It also helped that instead of doing school every other day, we did it three days in a row (visiting grandparents). The harder tasks got more practice and she had them almost mastered by day three!
Here's a video of Roo matching magnetic letters and numbers to a cookie sheet I drew the letters and numbers on to using a dry erase marker. The cuts are times I had to set the camera down and show her I was paying attention and remind her to stay on task. You can hear the giggles when she does something wrong on purpose to seek attention.
We worked on this all three days and this was the third day. This morning she was showing off her letters to her grandparents and busted out with her memory of each letter's sounds too! A skill I didn't think she had mastered yet but obviously she just needed someone to show off for incentive.
The letter we worked on this week was E and the number was 3, I didn't realize these would match up together until it was too late. I worried she would confuse them, but she's done alright so far.
We made a hand print Elephant. A E Eagle. And a googly Eye E.
I was really disappointed that I couldn't find more letter E words that are easily recognizable to preschoolers. Elephant was the best I could do! I also thought of Egg, so we did a spur of the moment craft to practice gluing. I cute a large white circle and a smaller yellow circle and had Roo glue them together to make a crude fried egg. Then I used foil and popsicle sticks to make a frying pan. We would sizzle the egg by shaking it, then flip it. Neither of us could catch the lightweight egg back in the frying pan, but Roo still had fun with it for awhile.
We worked on counting with the number cards I made and used a few different objects to keep her focused on doing it more than once. Buttons are her favorite. She is also extremely reward driven, so I can usually keep her on point by reminding her that she will get a sticker if she finishes it.
We made a bracelet to work on counting, colors, and patterns. ONE big bead, TWO white/clear beads, THREE blue beads, and repeat around the pipe cleaner. She likes to wear it and show it off to her grandparents.
The closest we got to a fall activity was this sticker pumpkin very similar to last week's robot. And she also helped me put together a pumpkin sheet cake. Roo loves to help in the kitchen and she really loves sweets so this was no problem keeping her attention.
I hope next week is just as good, but I'm prepared for more terrible twos. What are some ways you keep your two year old focused? How do you reward or discipline good and bad behaviors? I'd love to hear about them!
