maths, and other bits

Jordy is doing a lot of counting at the moment. He is getting up to 14 ok but then gets a little muddled. But he is really counting, ie he is understanding the quantity of each number to a degree that is a little surprising.

Even though i knew he enjoyed numbers (hence me introducing the spindles earlier than i may have otherwise) the last few days have seen a bit of a leap in his understanding. He is now adding things up. The first basic example for me was on Sunday when he said there were two chickens in the yard and two chickens in the house so there were four chickens. Fair enough. Not rocket science but enough to surprise me.

Today he asked for his talking calculator for the first time in a while. It’s one of those annoying battery operated things that never shuts up (that he totally loves) and i have often discouraged him from using… well not anymore. Today he sat on the floor and added over and over again things like 3+4=, and 6+2=, and 7+1=…. etc.  And did number quizzes counting forwards and backwards (surprisingly he got the counting wrong more than the addition which i don’t quite understand but there you go…)

We worked together with the stereognostic bag. He enjoyed feeling the shapes and rolling them. He won’t always feel the shape properly before pulling it out of the bag- he just reaches in to surprise himself with what he gets so we’ll have to work on the nature of the game a bit more.

I did a basic presentation of zippering the other day. He wanted to do it himself and got it once but then got frustrated when he did not immediately get it the next time. He hasn’t gone back to it although i offered it this morning.

What else have we been up to…. oh, been doing a little with the classified pictures. I’m not all that happy with the work that i have been presenting him and have had to rethink my method a little. I think i might sit with him and just look at a dozen or so pictures and talk about them a little and not try to classify them just yet. I briefly tried to sort 5 mammals, 5 birds, 5 reptiles today and show him a feather, the feel of scales and fur etc but although he went with it and we had a play i don’t think it really sank in.

I am now going to go with two separate paths with the pictures i have made so far-  simple sorting with 5 cards from each of three very distinct groups (animals, flowers, kitchen utensils) that he can work with without assistance so that he gets a good uncomplicated example of the task. And then present several at a time from the full range of cards from each group (eg mammals or fish etc) and just talk about them and relate them to our environment where possible.

I also took Jordy for his swimming lesson for the first time in several lessons (my mum has taken him) and it was wonderful to see how well he is doing and how much he is totally loving it. Now when we do ‘Under the Sea’ i can hold the back of his head and push him under and along and then let go and he kicks up to the surface, reaches for the wall and pulls himself out quite well (there is the occasional delay or flap and i can’t help but give him a little assistance!) His kicking and paddling is much stronger and he is holding his breath or blowing bubbles with no effort at all.

Swimming July

Jordy is becoming more confident with blowing bubbles and putting his eyes under the water. He is also stretching out well with ‘the rocket’.

He was quite strong this morning with kicking back up to the surface when doing ‘under the sea’. Next week i will support his body a little less when he goes under and let him kick up more himself.

We need to work on floating on his back and doing ‘the starfish’.

Swimming

Jordy can do ‘kick and swim’ quite well- sort of like a dog paddle but with me still supporting him. But I am not sure how far away he is from being about to paddle and keep himself afloat. I would imagine he is still quite a ways from it! But it’s hard to tell.  His kicks are quite good but i think he thinks it’s mostly for splashing and not for propulsion.

He is no worries at all waiting on the edge while i get a toy and come back to him. He understands that he needs to wait until i say it is ok to jump in. But he won’t neccesarily stand or sit still on the edge of the pool. He’ll sometimes move around even when i ask him to stay seated.

He is getting more confident floating just on the noodle but while he is floating on it he would overbalance and his arms would slip backwards off it if i was not holding him on it.  

He can do ‘monkey’ really well but often just wants to climb out of the pool so he can go on the slide etc cos he knows that is what comes next after the ‘monkey’.  But he can support his own weight on the edge of the pool with one hand while he uses the other hand to stick a suction cup toy onto the pool wall.  I like this skill and want to do it often as i think holding onto the edge of the pool is a really vital skill.

He does not enjoy the starfish float on his back. So that is the main thing i want to work on in the water so that he knows he can float on his back and not sink.

He is happy to go underwater but is often too busy talking or laughing to close his mouth. Last class the instructor passed him under the water to me for about a metre or more and he was under water for several seconds and had no problem.

He blows bubbles well but will often then breathe in at the end without taking his mouth out of the water.