Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Animal or Food


Ella is very good at labeling things (she will happily point out your ears, hair, nose, eyes, and boobies) but is not very good at categorizing things (do you smell with your nose or your boobies?) So, our speech therapist has her categorizing items she sees on flashcards. We call this game “Animal or Food?” We’ve been practicing this throughout the day. Here’s a portion of yesterday’s edition of “Animal or Food”:

“Ella, is this an animal or a food?”

“Apple.”

“Very good! It is an apple. Is an apple an animal or a food?”

“Food.”

“Good job! Okay, look at this picture. Is this an animal or a food?”

“Kitty.”

“Yes, it is a kitty. Is a kitty an animal or food?”

“Mew!”

“Nice kitty noises. But I asked if a kitty is an animal or a food…”

“Animal.”

“Yay Ella! Okay, how about this one?” I show her a picture of a cow and she stares at it, perplexed, like she’s never seen a bovine creature before in her life. After a moment of contemplation she responds:

“Food.” And I have nothing to say to that because we had hamburgers a few nights ago.

The potty-training is not going well. Ella pooped in her brand new Cinderella panties. Daniel is taking a Custer’s Last Stand approach to the issue. The whole thing has been rather exhausting.

Today is the last day of school. Caleb wants to celebrate. Caleb is very big on celebrations. The other week, he came home and wanted to know what I was planning on doing to celebrate Flag Day.

“I wasn’t planning on doing anything,” I told him. He crossed his arms and scowled.

“You should at least go out and buy a flag.”

I didn’t.

I really want to send the twins to preschool next year. Mainly because I crave two mornings of freedom, but also because I think it would be good for them. But I just don’t think it’s feasible. Twins, you know, are expensive. Twice as expensive as singletons.

And to be honest, I have doubt as to whether or not they will potty-trained by fall.

Last night, Ella and I played "Boy or Girl."

“Is daddy a boy or a girl?”

“Boy.”

“Is Caleb a boy or a girl?”

“Boy.”

“Is Ella a boy or a girl?”

“Boy.”

I think we’ll work on gender recognition before we force the potty issue. Sigh.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ah, an intelligence analyst in the making. (BTW cats are food too)

Tracy said...

It is impressive that she knows cows can be food. Many do not make that connection between what is at the store and what is in the field.

Holly said...

Oh, I think the initial correct answers were flukes. I'm sure she has no idea she is eating cow :)

What a useful site you have, Tracy! Thanks for visiting:)