Sometimes, because Belle is 2, she loses interest before I finish the recipe. Given free-ish rein in the kitchen, here’s what she ends up doing.
Taking all the spoons (and forks and knives) out of the drawer. Continue reading “Occupying Belle While I Finish, Part 1”
We’ve been signing with Belle since she was about 5 months old – inconsistently at best, and without anything like the native fluency in American Sign Language that would be found in the deaf community. Nonetheless, Belle continues to surprise us with signs we didn’t realize she knew. Funny isn’t it, that a child can understand a visual language before she can produce it, just like a spoken language?
Truthfully, it’s not so surprising. Language in any format lights up the same areas in a healthy brain!
One of the first signs Belle produced was more – and she didn’t verbalize it the same time. It’s not precisely the ASL sign, but much like her verbal “more” is an approximation of an adult’s, her sign for more is similarly approximate. Continue reading “ASL Signs We Use: More”
I use mozzarella and a standard dinner knife to help Belle (age 2.25) learn to cut. The cheese is big enough to hold and soft enough that toddler levels of pressure can cut it. No sawing required, though she still draws the knife toward her. The knife’s minimal serration also can’t really hurt her if she runs it into her fingers.
I try to stand behind her and place one hand on the cheese and the other on the knife to give her a good grip and a sense of the pressure required, but she prefers to do it herself. I typically only get one opportunity to show, and the rest of the time I’m using verbal reminders like “hold the knife up and down” and “press down.” So we work on following directions! Continue reading “Knife Skills”
We keep bananas in the house as a relatively quick and tidy snack for everyone…though sometimes Belle goes on a banana strike and we end up with brown bananas. Time for banana bread!
First, a word of caution: things do not always go as planned. I expected Belle to spend a few minutes peeling and mashing bananas, but they were too soft for her to peel and she got distracted from her mashing as soon as the eggs appeared. Continue reading “Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Banana Bread”
A two year old’s attention span is mere minutes long when focused on a single task…if that. Belle switches between activities faster than I can clean up after her. So how do I practice longer tasks with her?
1. Break it into shorter tasks. Continue reading “Stretching an Attention Span”
Belle especially loves making scrambled eggs with her Papa – usually but not exclusively for brunch. Belle will pull the eggs out of the fridge or off the counter (it’s a perilous task!), and she’ll drag a chair over to the counter to get ready.
Sometimes she cracks her own eggs, though often she hands Papa eggs one at a time to crack. There are never enough eggs cracked – she always signs “more” and Papa will repeat back “more eggs? Okay, more!” or “more eggs? No, all done with the eggs,” to model two word phrases with clear enunciation. Continue reading “Scrambled Eggs”
Baking with Belle 