Where The Milk Is

My daughter wants to do things for herself.   She wants to be independent.   And my husband and I want her to be as much as she can.   We try to never coddle her while balancing being there for her when she has an emotional need.   We each want to be that secure attachment for our child, because a child that feels secure will be willing to take risks to try new things.   My daughter needs to have the confidence to try things and fail, and then try them again.

My husband and I do have a downfall though, which I think any parent might agree they have too: it’s easier to get the toothbrush out and put the toothpaste on it for my daughter than it is to have her do it herself.   Can she do it?  Yes, but she has to feel when the toothpaste comes out with her finger, she misjudges amounts and it’s gotten everywhere, not to mention taken twelve times as long to do.

I realized the other day that I think my daughter could be more independent if she knew more—specifically knew where things were.  She wanted cereal for breakfast and wanted to get it herself.   I told her she could get up in the morning and get her own bowl of cereal.   She said, “but I can’t, I don’t know where the milk is.”

It’s basic things like this that get you as a parent to a blind child.   We put things in the same place every time so my daughter can find them.   The is a spot in the door of the refrigerator where her and her brother’s water bottle sots;   She can find it and put It away with ease.

The shelf right above where the water bottles are always contains three things, in this specific order: whole milk, orange juice, skim milk/.  Then I realized my daughter had no idea where the milk was, I showed her.   The next morning she made her breakfast without any help.

How many things about our house do I take for granted my daughter knows about that she doesn’t even know exist?  I’m going to make a point of showing. her something every day.

The Big Boy Update:  My mother and father’s sister watched the children last night.   My daughter went to sleep early which left my son up to entertain the adults.   They played a game of Katan Junior and then my son pulled out the Twister game next.   He wanted both my mother and aunt to play with him.   He told them though, “this may be a little rough on your bodies.”  They decided to watch some television instead when they weren’t quite up for a game of Twister.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter and I plated an app on the iPad today.   You get a collection of letters and you see what words you can come up with that can be spelled by the letters.   I’d played the app before but this version was for children.   My daughter is a good speller and sh has a decent vocabulary.   She was getting all the answers plus some bonus words on