Thursday, April 22, 2010

Under The Sea

It's been a busy week as usual. I'm so glad it's almost over. I'm beginning to enjoy working with my new supervisor. She's not perfect, but who is? At least she seems pretty level even if she's kind of rough around the edges. Work is going well. My kids are hilarious and crazy of course. We went on a field trip to a marsh. They were showing us around the marsh, talking about plants. We had been there all of 30 minutes when one of our kinders came up to me and was complaining about looking at the plants and this what he said: "I've been here for three days, and I just want to stand on some rocks!! When are we going to stand on some rocks!?!" That pretty much made my week.

Skyler had OT yesterday, he's doing great, she suggested we get him some of those shape sorter toys. I've been meaning to pick some up for a while now but haven't. She said it will be good for his motor control. Also she is very impressed with his visual range. He is definitely seeing further than before, and his play and movement and interests are all mainly visually guided. He may hear something but he will turn to look at it right away and see if it's of interest. She also pointed out that most children with visual impairments are apprehensive when it comes to touching new things, but Skyler is more apprehensive about new things when he can see them. He will stare at it and concentrate trying to figure out if it's safe before he makes a move to touch it. Textures however don't bother him in the slightest.

As for me, I am beginning to get a little burnt out lately. C has been working nonstop pretty much. He has been working almost a full week and everytime he's not at work someone is calling him from work or he's going in to do interviews for new applicants or he's going in to cover a shift. I got dumped off at church with Skyler on Sunday because he got a call from work saying someone had called in sick. I ended up spending that service in the nursery with Skyler because my nose wouldn't stop running and I had no tissues so I went downstairs to blow my nose and never made it back up. It was lonely up there without him. I'm so proud of C for being such a hard worker, but we talked today and I told him that his family still needs him too and he does need some time for himself as well. He agreed and said he'd tell them not to call him on his days off anymore.

And now, what did I spend my night doing tonight? Scribbling and cutting and gluing and being silly. Nothing like working in a daycare to make you randomly want to create things. Here's the finished project, Skyler's new placemat (laminated of course):

Don't mind the hilarious size differences between things. Nothing in this picture makes sense, which is probably because I'm a prairie girl who's never even been near a coast, and my drawing skill leaves much to be desired. And yet I think it's kind of cute nonetheless. Also Skyler helped paint the background blue with his fingerpaints so that makes it special right there.

5 comments:

Stacie said...

That's great that Skyler's vision has improved!

That place mat is adorable. You're so creative.

Speaking of textures, Laney has this horrible fear of bandaids and stickers. She refuses to go near them. If I had a bandaid on my finger, she doesn't want me to touch her with that hand. She HATES stickers. I don't think she's ever touched one. I try working with on these things, but we never accomplish anything.

jennohara said...

Sounds like Skyler might be able to see more than they think!! YAY!
Hanna`s getting MUCH better with textures. Be thankful you don`t have to deal with tactile sensitivity!!

Azaera said...

Skyler doesn't have a problem with stickers (aside from wanting to eat them) and I'm sure if I put a bandaid on him or on me he'd probably rip it off because he wants to play with it or eat it.

We were lucky with Skyler in that we found out when he was only a few months old that he was blind and we did all the research we could and discovered the tactile sensitivity so we started brushing his hands every day and exposing him to every kind of texture we could think of. I think it paid off, either that or he just wasn't going to be defensive to begin with. Either way I agree we're very lucky. I hope Hanna continues to improve with the textures!

Ashley's Mom said...

I love the placement, and anytime you want to visit the shore, just let me know! I grew up at the beach, and would make a mean tour director!

LuckyOnce said...

Very cute placemat! (Do you have to live near the coast to know that an octopus is bigger than a fish? lol Just kidding. :) )