The Magic in Her Lace

The Magic in Her Lace

I will be the first person to say, my baby hippo is very hesitant and seems to be a cautious observer. This makes playing peek-a-boo with her very difficult. She is a little upset at the idea that some one disappears and then reappears quickly. Enter her ever so lovely piece of lace fabric…

It’s amazing; she doesn’t get spooked by the lace when it covers her face.  Better yet she gives you this look behind the lace as though she thinks she is oh-so-sneaky and can see you but you can’t see her type of thing. She really is clever. I ask her all the time, “Where’s my hippo?” And she giggles (rookie move, gives her spot away); then I lift up the piece lace and SURPRISE! There she is! It’s perfect. And the best part is she can still see me use American Sign Language (ASL) behind the lace.

And what may sound like a simple game of peek-a-boo, we have developed a fabulous routine that allows my little hippo opportunities to learn how to communicate with me.

Set scene;

I give Baby Hippo an anticipating smile while holding her piece of lace, Baby hippo smiles back and wiggles

(this is her way of telling me she is oh so excited to play our game and is demonstrating anticipation)

I hold up her piece of lace and cover her with it … Baby Hippo squeals

(This is her way to say she loves this part in our peek a boo game)

I ask, “Where’s my baby hippo?” … Baby hippo shouts at me

(This is how she shows me she knows to answer questions)

I then lift the lace she squeals with delight and I begin the routine again… But before I begin the routine again, I make the sign for “more” and wait for her to coo in response; thus beginning the cycle over again.

Peek-a-boo is a great game, and the best part is that Kids love it.  Second best part? It allows kids at such a young age to demonstrate anticipation, laugh during play, pay attention to the speaker, and vocalize during a game.  All which are skills we expect around 6 months of age. 

So give it a try, play peek-a-boo with a towel, a favorite blanket, a piece of lace like we did and see how your wee one enjoys it! Better yet, see if you can encourage your little one to hold the blanket or towel up themselves in a game of peek-a-boo!

Here are some other play skills we expect to start emerging between 6 to 9 months;

-       demonstrate anticipation of play

-       play with objects without mouthing or banging them

-       reach for self in the mirror 

-       tries to secure an object out of reach

St Patrick’s Day

Last year at this time I was enjoying an epic adventure celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with none other than the lovely Irish themselves. My husband and I went on a three-week trek around Ireland and finished it off with celebrating St. Patrick’s Day in Dublin.

I love holidays. Doesn’t matter what kind. And what I love even more about holidays is how easy it is to build a theme to learn about, talk about and even practice multiple speech sounds while playing various games.

 I also love the idea of turning old games into “new games” simply by adding certain holiday aspects to them.

I’ve just recently opened my TPT and have a few treasures to target speech sounds. And of course they have a St. Patrick’s day theme. Be sure to check them out! Here is a link to my store; 

Language First

                 Happy               

          St. Patrick's 

                Day!

“I just Rossettied my Daughter”

“I just Rossettied my daughter.” Those were the words that exited my mouth as I was discussing my daughter with my friend. 

I am a Speech and Language Pathologist(SLP) by training, and am a new mother by approximately 5.5 months of “training” if you will.  And in all honesty I am surprised I hadn’t “Rossettied” my daughter sooner than this. No. Really. I am shocked. 

If anyone has “hung out” or is friends with a pediatrician SLP, they will testify that we SLP’s tend to be organized people who are obsessively concerned with “developmental” norms. We are constantly assessing children’s speech, language, and play skills. I’m sorry, but it’s true. If you and your children are hanging around me, I have begun to assess them and could give you an informal assessment of their speech and language skills. (Who am I kidding? I’ve probably assessed your speech and language skills as well).

So there I sat, in front of my daughter, trying to objectively assess her using a copy of The Rossetti Infant-Toddler Language Scale .  I was trying to assess her “pre-verbal” language skills … to make sure she is well on her way to speaking at an appropriate age - months from now. Of course the key word is objectively.  And here is the catch. Just when I am about to get panicky and worried that she isn’t necessarily demonstrating ALL the play skills we would like to see for her age. She gives me a gummy, drooly smile that only a mother can kiss and think, “But she’s just a baby still”. 

I then set the Rossetti assessment down and went back to making raspberries on her tummy. It’s part of my job as a mom. I am suppose to love her, cuddle her, play with her, and be there to show her she is in a safe environment that is hers to explore and learn in.

However, I can't ignore my training and I genuinely do get excited when she reaches a milestone I know should be coming. So the question is, what should you look for in your 6-month-old baby? Here are some skills we would expect to see with a six month old;

Maintaining eye contact

Imitating facial expressions

Smiling at self in a mirror

Reaching for objects

Turning his or head towards a voice

Recognizing their own name

Anticipating feeding

Taking turns in vocalizing

Babbling and laughing

Stops crying when spoken to

Side note; Lets hope that the talented Dr. Louis M. Rossetti never reads my blog and is offended by the fact I have turned his name into a verb.

http://www.asha.org/SLP/assessment/Rossetti-Infant-Toddler-Language-Scale.htm