It turned out to be kind of a rough week last week. The fever, that I'd initially chalked up to a vaccine reaction, spiked Monday night at 103F and didn't go away until Wednesday. By then Ruth Anne developed a sort of heat rash on her face that proceeded to spread all over body. Thursday morning she was flushed in patches and started coughing. The doctor diagnosed scarlet fever and prescribed antibiotics. Except for the cough and a runny nose (that she's actually been commanding us to wipe, “Nose, nose”) she's doing much better now. For several days it was like having an infant again all she wanted to do was nurse and sleep. I got some reading in between trips to the health clinic but very little writing.
A Couple More Notes on Bilingualism
In my last posting, I left out one of the most striking parts of Ruth Anne's bilingualism. It's easier for her to say "da" than "yes," and it's easier for her to say "no" than "nyet". So Joe and I in the position of regularly being contradicted in our own language and affirmed in the other one. Comparing notes with the other Embassy parents this seems to be a typical pattern.
After a pleasant week of circle games with their nannies at the playground and various houses, the toddlers cried in protest because their ignorant parents didn't know how to sing "Caravie". We taught Ruth Anne "Ring Around the Rosies" instead and then she spent the weekend chasing our hands singing "ashes, ashes" just in time for the start of Lent. (2/14/09)
Culinary Skills
Ruth Anne went on an mandarin orange peeling spree. Joe would get them started and she would delight in removing the peel and splitting the segments. The only problem was that she had no interest in eating the orange after. Mmmm... more toddler squeezed fruit for me. (2/9/09)
We lucked in to decent cauliflower and button mushrooms in the same week. Ruth Anne helped me make cauliflower maranca. Standing on her stool, she dunked the mushrooms in water (repeatedly), peeled a trimmed onion and some smashed garlic cloves, broke the cauliflower into florets and gave the cheese grater a couple of turns. Not only was each of these activities helpful in their own right, they kept her busy while I cooked the rice and cut the onion and mushroom. (2/23/09)
We usually give her peeled apple slices for her morning snack since there's only so much slowing her down at the playground. She can eat a whole apple though. The other day she polished one off core and all. (2/28/09)
Sensory manipulations
We have a neurosmith music blocks set. There are five cubes each of which has different musical phrase. Each side has a different shape and signals different instrumentation. You can either press a block and hear just that phrase or press a button and hear the five phrases in order. A great deal of our time with this toy so far has consisted in trying to teach Ruth Anne to press the button or a cube once and to listen to the melody instead of just holding down the button and sending the machine into a stuttering fit. (Yes, we pulled this one out a bit too early). Still she's making some progress. One day she sat and experimented with removing the blocks mid-song so that those phrases of music didn't play.
GrandMaryann and Grandma Patti sent a shape sorter in a recent box, more appropriate but still challenging. I was really impressed to see her pick up a second shape with an oval face after she successfully inserted the first oval faced shape into an oval hole. Unfortunately, there was another oval hole on another face of a slightly different size. Even though her instinct was exactly right - that one fit so this one will too - she wasn't rewarded. (2/9/09)
I'm starting to think about Montessori-type activities. The first two jobs I made for her were a fabric job and a sponge job. For the fabric job I put three pairs of contrasting fabrics - blue denim, red t-shirt, and yellow polyester gauze - in a little bag for her. I showed her how to feel the fabric with her fingers and against her cheek. She showed no interest in sorting though. She took one piece of fabric and used it to start dusting her job shelf.
The sponge job is a big hit. Of course, she squeezes the sponge everywhere, not just over the target bowl, but I'm hoping that eventually she'll settle in and get sopping down so we can move into some pouring. Meanwhile, she does pretty well carrying the tray to the table with two hands. (2/9/09)
A recent addition to the shelf is the macaroni stringing. It took several trips to the store before I remembered that I wanted to find some pasta that was short with wide holes. I got some nice squat penne-like noodles. I knotted one on the end to serve as a back stop. The first day Ruth Anne just moved the macaroni from the cup to the lid and this is still her favorite part. She's now taking some interest in stringing but needs help either poking or pulling the string. The shoe string I started with is probably too long... (3/2/09)
(The sponge job and sewing are officially practical life not sensory in the Montessori scheme but obviously Ruth Anne is experimenting along both lines simultaneously.)
This and that
We took Ruth Anne to see Cinderella in Russian. She needed a little pacifying but between my lap, Joe's lap and her own seat she made it through the show. She exclaimed wow when the fairy godmother came on stage and when Cinderella was transformed. She also bounced to the music (I think Joe identified it as Storm of the Mountain King - it was in Fantasia) in one scene.
Last Sunday I wanted to go on the health walk. We pulled out the red stroller but RA insisted on the doll stroller too. She and I both pushed a stroller all the way to the gate. Luckily the two ladies who showed up for exercise that morning were very, very patient with us as we switched between walking, riding in the sling and riding in the stroller while carrying the doll Mehri named Joey, in honor of the baby boy in our community.
This is far from all the cute things Ruth Anne has done lately but at least now I've polished off my list. Next time I have a story I'll try to get it down before the next one crops up and I have to try to work them into a master blog entry.
Ruth Anne models a new bikini
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