Hop Scotch!

Kailyn loves Movement with Missy, and gamely tries just about every activity. Today, Missy had two hopscotch courses, and Kailyn stepped up to take her turn. Declaring, "I do two feet!," she hopped from number to number. As she develops further, she will be able to balance on one foot, and even jump from one number to the next on one foot!
Kailyn is developing her strength, balance, and coordination through a variety of activities.

Get on Board!

Davie and Maggie had built boats out of big blocks. They were using the long blocks for oars and keeping look out with cameras and binoculars.
"Something is sinking in the water!" Davie declared.
Naomi hopped on Davie's boat.
"I don't see anything around here," Maggie said, rowing with the oar.
Juls kept watch from atop the climber, "I'll keep an eye on things!"
"I'm in a canoe. No, actually," Maggie decided, "I'm in a kayak."
"I'm in a kayak," said Davie.
"Wow. This is hard work," said Maggie rowing. "How do you do it in a real kayak?"
Tamara mimed the motion, and the two girls picked it up, paddling kayak style.
"This is hard work!" they agreed.

Juls and Naomi joined boat brigade, bringing along the classroom Summer Adventure Books.
Naomi picked up a board, singing, "Paddle, paddle, paddle..."
Kailyn came over, and invited Matthew, "Come on Matthew! Get your book!"
They sat side by side and read their Summer Adventure Books.

Kailyn enjoys joining in with her friends' adventurous game. In this situation, she and Matthew had been working together elsewhere, and she was able to bring him along into the game!

Initiating Play

Kailyn came over to a teacher, saying, "Katie's not hearing me."
"Okay, I'll go with you."
They approached Katie.
"Katie," Kailyn said softly. Katie didn't hear her.
"Katie?" she repeated, a little louder.
"Yes?" Katie said.
"I play with you?"
"We're playing sharks," Katie declared.
"I play with you?" she asked again.
Katie just looked at her.
"I play with you?" she repeated.
"You want to play sharks?" Katie figured out what she wanted.
"Yes!" Kailyn declared.
"Sure!" Katie said.
Katie and Kailyn are figuring out how to initate play. Katie's initial statement of "We're playing sharks" was actually an invitation of sorts, but they needed to talk about it a little more before they both understood that they could play together.

Train Adventures

Many different children have been working for several days on building a train. On this day, the train was constructed, and unfortunately, it seemed to run on batteries, which was just the first of many misfortunes to befall the train.
Maggie and Naomi were bringing blocks over to the train, and putting them in the a box. “More batteries!” they declared, filling the box.
“Oh no!” Our batteries died,” Robby declared, from atop the engineer's seat. “Look at the ground. The batteries died.”
Juls starting picking them up and putting them into the box.
“We were stuck in mud,” Juls explained. “We couldn’t move.”
“They were perfect, then they stopped being perfect,” Robby added.
Kailyn helped pick up the batteries.
“OK,” Naomi said, handing out calculators. She held the calculator up to her mouth like a walkie talkie. “Ok. We need to get out of the mud.” She walked over to the block area and then returned. “Now we are out of the mud.”
Robby banged a Boom Whacker on a box, making a rhythmic booming sound. “Oh no! Elephants are coming near our train!”
“Its ok. We’ll just put fire on them,” Juls said.
“No, they will just drink it up,” Robby said.
Atop the climber, Matthew sang, “In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight.” 

Kailyn is figuring out how to enter cooperative play with her friends. She is frequently drawn to their play, and finds ways to join in. In this example, she spent a long time building along-side her friends as they engaged in lively play.

Kailyn Watches "I Love My Hair!"

I was so moved after Carol's post on Kailyn's blog of the the new Sesame Street video entitled, "I Love My Hair." It was indicative of such a high level of sensitivity and respect for my daughter's experience. You see, one day, Kailyn came home and said that she wanted her hair down - she did not want curly hair. I was devastated, and yet, I wanted to help her in her exploration of her feelings. It became extremely important for Kailyn to be saturated with the many images that were reflective of her beautiful, dynamic, dark, curly fabulous hair! On Saturday morning, after I shed tears of joy and watched on my own before anyone woke up, I smiled as Kailyn sleepily walked down the steps. I invited her to watch something special. As she did, I recorded...

Kailyn Watches "I Love My Hair!" from Crissy Caceres on Vimeo.

Kailyn's Orange

At lunch today, Kailyn asked several times for help peeling her orange, but help was not immediately available. She did not become frustrated and, initially, announced, "I save this for snack?" Her teacher agreed that she could do that, but Kailyn continued to stare at her orange - clearly not wanting to give up on it. Again, she approached her teacher (who was tending to a child not feeling well) and asked, "You push in on this part?" Her teacher told her that that would be a way to peel it. Kailyn went and sat down, still studying her orange. Slowly, Kailyn began to work on her orange and, began to peel it. Although it took her quite some time, she was clearly proud of her accomplishment.
Kailyn is beginning to show an ever-increasing ability to withstand frustration, to focus on difficult or challenging tasks, and trouble shoot problems.