Hope everyone had a good Mother's Day. I slept till, holy cow, noon. Then Dave and Max went out and came home with cupcakes, including a pink one for Sabrina (of course), chocolate for Max, nothing for Dave (he's on some no-carb plan) and a vanilla coconut one for me (I swear, you could put coconut on cardboard and I'd eat it, I love it so much). Then I opened presents.
Max gave me a beautiful purple heart he'd made at school. Best part: He said the word "heart."
Sabrina gave me this flowerpot, with a photo of herself as the flower.
Then we all hung out and played. We'd ordered a puppet theater from Lillian Vernon and finally put it up.
I'm always looking for theraplay stuff—as in, it's fun and encourages Max to communicate and use his hands. Puppets seemed like a great idea. I got him some sports ones. Here he is with the football player, making my day.
I am going to start using one on Dave when I have to ask/beg/nag him to do chores, maybe he will be humored enough to actually do them.
What sort of theraplay things do your kids like?
sweet photos and I'm glad your mother's day was a good one.
ReplyDeletehow exciting to hear some words...
The heart Max made is gorgeous! Even better that he could tell you what it was that he made for you. And Sabrina as a flower? How perfect is that!
ReplyDeleteGlad you had a good Mother's Day.
My sons played for HOURS with figurines. We still have the whole collection. My sons are communication disordered so it was great as they talked a lot with their toys. SO funny it never mattered to them as they had tons of Star Wars mingling with Disney and one son had a Barbie (McD's happy meal) one that he found at a garage sale. He didn't care, my Mom braided her hair and she hung out with Lea from Star Wars. Those figurines helped them with speech and fine motor skills as well as they travel quite nicely!
ReplyDeletePUPPETS!! My mom makes puppets for the boys out of thick WALMART sweat socks and pieces of felt and yarn--she's very talented with a needle and artistic too--the kids love those puppets and they're sturdy, plus, they wash up great in the machine (which is good when they're playing out back in the mud). They've got puppets of the whole family and half their friends, too!
ReplyDeleteMy kids also like playdough (you can make your own, there's recipes on line). The squishiness of it is good for the weaker hand, especially if you make a game of "We can only use the left hand to make these monsters!"
We also have a beanbag (beanbags courtesy of my mom, and they're what you'd think--scraps of sturdy fabric, sewn up with beans inside) game that the boys love. It's a piece of sturdy fiberboard on a little stand that grampa made--he cut holes of assorted sizes in it, and the kids decorated it with their coloring pens. The smaller holes are worth ten points, the larger holes are worth five points, and the big one in the middle is worth a point. That can amuse them for hours on a rainy day, and it helps with accuracy as well as strength. It also helps them learn math (they're not always accurate at adding, but they're getting the idea). When we first got it Buster couldn't get anything in the holes unless he stood right beside the thing--now he can land a five pointer from three or four feet away with his weak hand.
The other things the kids love are the big red rubber ball--they'll go out in the back yard and kick that around for an hour (and the dogs will chase it, and they'll chase the dogs). They also have a red wagon that they use for all sorts of things (they're very creative). And of course, they have a "fort" that they made out of the big heavy cardboard boxes that the washer/dryer came in. They love that stupid thing--it looks like an eyesore on the back porch, but they love it, so I'm going to let them use it till it falls apart.
Your presents from the babies were beautiful! I got some "keeper" homemade cards and a big bunch of flowers. We had a really nice day yesterday, absolutely no stress, just a wonderful, easy day, and me and my mom were treated like queens. I'm still full of barbecue, too!
sounds like a great day and I love the puppet set!
ReplyDeleteVery cute puppet. I love the heart that Max made you.
ReplyDeleteHow exciting to here some words! Max is to cute! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI am glad you had a great Mothers Day!
Oh my, that purple heart is absolutely gorgeous! I have never seen anything like it. And it's wonderful that you got a second gift, hearing him say the words. :-)
ReplyDeleteThat video is adorable. Max looked like he was having a blast. Sounds like a great Mothers Day.
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