Life With A Toddler
O.K…I’ve missed a few more days again of blogging! I’ve been rather consumed the past few days with my daughter. She just got over the flu the end of last week. I know she is feeling better, but her behavior is, hmmm, what shall I say…erratic, unpredictable, uh, challenging?
I am trying to discern what might be the remnants of her not feeling well versus she still wants the world to revolve around her like it did last week. Sick or not, toddlers like the world to revolve around them! I really believe what I’m dealing with right now is a combination of the two!
Either way, it’s challenging for me as a mommy. I want to be sensitive to her needs and also not give in to ‘toddler’ behavior. Basically, I just deal with each situation as it arises and try not to project that this is how it’s going to be forever!
One of the things that I am certain of right now in life is that parenting is not for wimps. It requires you to be engaged and on your game pretty much all the time! But it’s more than worth it! Children are our reward!
So, keep your heads up… all you parents of toddlers out there…and know one thing: the toddler years are not forever!
Get baby-talking!
Depression and Childbirth
A study published by the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine in March, 2006 examined whether a mother’s postpartum depression impacted her parenting practices.
The study revealed when mothers are experiencing symptoms of depression after having a baby, they are less likely to do the following with their newborns:
- breastfeed
- play with
- read to
- perform any other interactive parenting tasks
Based upon the list above, one can see that depression affects more than just the mother. Those activites listed above are crucial ways of bonding and enriching your baby’s life.
If you feel you are battling with symptoms of depression after giving birth, do not hesistate to talk to your doctor. Get help. Do it for you and your baby. Post-partum depression is real and it’s not your fault. Don’t let guilt or shame stand in your way. Talk honestly with your doctor and examine your options.
You are worth it and so is your baby.
Get baby-talking!
Simple Practical Advice
It has been quite a roller coaster ride around my house the past couple of weeks. My husband has been battling kidney stones, my daughter had a funky rash and mysterious itching last week, and now she’s battling fever and flu-like symptoms. Its really not been a whole lof of fun around here.
My daughter appears to be on the mend and my husband hasn’t had any flare-ups since Sunday. This is a blessing! Hopefully this explains why blogging had to take a back seat for a while.
But now, I’m back! I wanted to share some advice with you that I’m SURE you are familiar with, but it never hurts to be reminded about a good thing.
Do you know one of the best ways to minimize your familys’ chances of contracting the flu, or any other kind of virus or bacteria? I’ll give you three guesses, but the first two don’t count!
You guessed: Wash your hands…frequently, regularly, often, every other hour, every other minute, every other…O.K., I’m kidding about the every other minute, but really wash your hands frequently.
It’s a simple, mundane thing to do, but extremly beneficial and preventative.
So, get baby-talking and hand-washing!
Organizing Your Baby’s Brain!
“To some extent, the size of a child’s vocabulary shapes the organization of the brain. As children learn to understand and produce more words, the brain becomes more specialized for processing language.”
Debra Mills, Developmental Cognitive Neuroscientist
What more reason do you need to keep engaging your baby in communication-rich, language developing activities?
Stay tuned for more great ideas to boost your baby or toddler’s speech and language skills.
Get baby-talking!
The Power of Communication
“That living word awakened my soul, gave it light, joy, set if free.”
Quote by Helen Keller
How often do we take for granted our ability to communicate? Perhaps no other individual could have appreciated more the ability to communicate than the great Helen Keller.
Helen Keller overcame great disability and learned to communicate through the use of sign language. Those gestures became Helen’s conduit to break free from her prison and let light and joy invade her soul. It allowed Helen to communicate her soul to others and let others do so in return.
The power of communication can never be overrated. Whether the mode of communication is the spoken word, sign language, some form of augmentative communication, or the written word, it is simply power in it’s purest form.
This is why I became a speech pathologist. This is why I am passionate about helping our children become the best communicators they can be. Communication unlocks our soul and sets us free.
Be blessed today and you know what I’m going to say:
Get baby-talking!
Gender Differences
I was reviewing some research today and came across an interesting study. This study by Infoture, Inc. reported that mothers of girls tended to talk more with their daughters than mothers of boys talked with theirs sons. Up to age 30 months, mothers conversed with their daughters 12.2 percent more than mothers talked with their sons.
That’s an interesting statistic to me. It makes me wonder, “What is the reason for this?” Do we just naturally assume girls are more verbal than boys or are more interested in communication, even when they are babies? And based on that presupposition, do mommies just talk more to their daughters than their sons?
Well, whatever the case may be, the bottom line for me is to talk a lot to your daughter or your son. Studies have shown a strong correlation between the volume of talk a baby or toddler hears from birth to age three and their language and cognitive skills. In other words, the more talking they hear and conversational turns they participate in, the better their language and cognitive skills are…
Bottom line again: Get baby-talking!
The Best Speech Therapy Tool I Ever Used!
O.K…
Can you guess what was the best speech therapy tool I ever used? It was nothing high-powered, expensive, or super special, but it was highly effective in eliciting responses from my clients. Are you ready?
BUBBLES!
Yes, good old-fashioned bubbles! I would use them with my clients as young as 15 months old up to 10 years old! Everybody loves bubbles. Not only do they put a smile on your face, but who can resist chasing them and popping them?
So, besides being great fun and completely engaging, bubbles truly do have some great speech and language building characteristics. Let me name a few!
1. Bubbles are great for encouraging those early developing sounds like b and p. You can ‘pop‘ the ‘bubbles‘ and say the words or at least the /b/ and /p/ sound at the same time you’re popping them.
2. You can identify ‘big’ bubbles versus ‘little‘ bubbles; great way to build opposites!
3. Did I mention they make you smile?
So, parents, if you want a great way to boost your little one’s developing speech and language skills, go get some bubbles and get baby-talking!
The Bucket Game Continued…
Another way to play the bucket game is to have your child group the objects they remove from the bucket into categories.
For example, you put into the bucket a combination of food (fake, of course!), doll clothes, cars, and trucks. Your child divides them into categories or groups of food, clothes, and vehicles. Of course, you will want to explain to your toddler what ‘vehicles’ are! You’ll be really surprised how quickly they pick this stuff up!
And by the way, Happy Valentine’s to all of you out there and don’t forget…get baby-talking!
The Bucket Game
A great and fun way to expand your toddler’s vocabulary skills is with the bucket game!
Put objects into a bucket, and have your child take them out one at a time, naming what it is! (This may be a little tricky, but keep working on it!) You repeat what your child says and expand on it.
For example, your child pulls a teddy bear from the bucket and say “bear!” You could say, “Yes, that’s a soft, cuddly, brown, little bear!”
Stay tuned to tomorrow’s post for more ways to build your toddler’s vocabulary through the bucket game.
Get baby-talking!
Give Your Child A Chance!
By the time your toddler is heading towards age 3, you should be able to hold little conversations with them. This is such a fun time to learn more about your toddler’s personality and likes and dislikes!
An important thing to remember when conversing with a toddler is to give them a chance to respond. Often times, as parents, we want to fill-in the blank! Don’t do that…give them a chance to talk and figure it out for themselves. They’ll get it!
Get baby-talking!