A bookcase with hardly any books. Not my ideal home decor strategy, but last week T1′s speech therapist suggested an interesting strategy for encouraging further growth in his vocabulary. I hadn’t thought about it, but we have our life set up in such a way that he doesn’t often have to ask for stuff. I bring up a bath, brushing his teeth, meals, naps, going to the jumpy-gym, snacks, going bye-bye, blowing bubbles, and all of the other things we do on a regular basis. So the speech therapist suggested we provide more incentive for him to ask for things.
I did this by clearing off the shelves of the bookshelf and placing one toy on each of the higher levels. Now I point to each of the shelves and ask him if he would like the bird, blocks, choo-choo train, etc. I’ve only had it this way for a few days, but I can already tell he enjoys his toys more because he isn’t so overwhelmed by the options he has to play with.
He does have a few toys that are accessible at anytime in his green box. The rest are in a bag in the closet, ready to be switched out on a regular basis so he doesn’t get bored with what is available.
This reminds me of some of the principles espoused by Montessori, a method I’m intrigued by. I’d like to set up T1′s bedroom Montessori-style when we move to California.
T1 is making good progress with his language, though he isn’t where the therapist would like him to be yet. I can never remember all of his words (are the other moms writing them down, how are they making these lists of 100 words their child says?) but notable favorites include poop and light. When he says light he sticks his tongue out and touches it to the bottom of his chin. “lllllligh” is my best approximation of what it sounds like, and I’m apparently not supposed to encourage the incorrect pronunciation, but it’s tough because I love to hear it so much.