Bye, bye, T.V.

As a teacher I know that every child learns and grows at their own pace. Each child is different and they should be treated that way. Furthermore, I know I shouldn't compare Erin to the other children in her classroom but on Wednesday I did and it resulted in taking her T.V. out of her bedroom.

I didn't have one in my room until I met Greg and he bought me one for Christmas. I was 19. It was pretty scary that Erin had one in her room since infancy (not like she watched it but it came in handy during feedings).

Oh, so anyways...back to the comparison.

Erin has a little friend in her room who we will call "Dora". Dora comes from a family of well educated parents like Greg and myself. (tee hee!). A co-worker of mine who had been visiting the toddler room earlier that day approached me with this story of Dora and how she had been playing with doll house toys. Let's just say this 18 month old was playing with these dolls like I wish some of my 4 year olds played with toys! Dora's level of play far surpasses her friends and instead of thinking, "How cute" or "Wow!", I instantly thought, "Erin would have never thought of that! She needs to stop watching so much television!"

For I know that Dora's parents allow very little if none at all television watching. I am sure that their nights consist of sitting around the dining room table playing Scrabble with "Dora" and her 4 year old brother, who for sake of argument, we will call "Favin".

Erin loves to "read" books independently, color on her easel, explore sensory activities like play dough and pouring and scooping oatmeal. She also loves to watch Toot and Puddle when she arrives home from school after a long day of play. Is that so bad?

I am hoping that by taking the T.V. out of the room she will be more willing to engage in more independent play. Lately, like most other toddlers, she is in the stage of wanting constant one on one attention from me or Greg. Some would say that it is time to start trying for child #2 but that would just be irresponsible right now. The T.V. in the bedroom was a babysitter for us on the weekends with our "up with the chickens" Erin and became such a bad habit. Right now we are limiting the television watching to when we are making breakfast before school and possibly for a 1/2 hr. while I make dinner on my work long days 3 days a week. The other days there will be very a strict rule of no T.V. Let's see how it works out! I want my little girl to become a cardiologist some day right? Future cardiologists don't watch T.V!
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Did you figure out what Erin was mixing in the bowl in the last post?



I think we had a guess of flour. That's partially right. She was mixing flour, water, oil and salt to make play dough. Due to the bad weather last weekend we were forced to stay indoors (again) and come up with something new to do. We had a lot of fun making our own play dough (1 1/2 cup flour, 1 cup water mixed with food coloring, 1/2 cup salt, few table spoons oil) It kept Erin busy for quite some time! We made it in the morning (hence the pj pictures) and continued playing throughout the day!










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You all like Sesame Street, right? Have you ever want to see Elmo gobbled up by the Cookie Monster? You have?! I was able to take a few shots of just that this afternoon at dinner time. Would you like to see them? You would?

These pictures are brought to you by the letters E and S and by the number 2!






Oh wait! "Cookie Monster" is eating pepperoni in the last picture not Elmo!