Magic Marker Monday: Rainbow Weave

James brought this project home two weeks back. Woah! I know a lot of work went into this, as he still needs practice cutting with scissors, let alone weaving. The hues sing to me in a technicolour chorus. I feel a little more energized by the movement in the wavy lines and stripes of rich tones.

 I enjoy looking at it. Especially as Michelle's rain was visiting us as I wrote this post!


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Magic Marker Monday: What Am I?

James' class had a pre-Easter assignment -- take home an egg drawn on paper and create a riddle for the class to guess. They were to write clues on one side and draw the answer on the other.

James and I did his the morning it was due, at the coffee shop, on our early morning run to school after dropping Daddy off at the commute bus. Yay organized Mom, *not*!

Here are the questions (which I ran by him for approval and gave him lines for writing):

1. I am big.            
2. I lived long ago.
3. I can roar!          

Answer:

Note the drawing in the upper right corner. That was my quick reference scribble. James was very clear that it wasn't just any dinosaur, it was a Stegosaurus!

Good fun and practice for all!

For more great masterpieces or to share some of your own, visit
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Good Day, Sunshine

James, about 30 seconds after he rolls out of bed:

He's been drawing shapes in colours, and writing their names in black marker. His handwriting is improving, although the letters look more decorative than literal.

Here's what he has to say about his favourite (for now) activity: "I get markers? Oh! Here you are!" (looking at markers in a cupboard door).

Pulls out a chair and squares up to the table: "I sit here and write. I'm BU-sy! Mommy, I'm working."

Work away, little dude. And keep smiling. It makes my morning.

That Left-handed Thing Again

A YES! moment: James' teacher, aide, and O/T are finally coming around to looking into the possibility that James might be left handed.

We are going to start trying to encourage his left hand for writing. This is totally against conventional wisdom (you are supposed to put the pencil in the middle and let them choose which hand to use), but that is James, who is now having a meltdown fit if I turn left instead of right on the way home (he is that tied to routines). I think that he is choosing to write with his right hand because it's been his routine to do so.

He throws and kicks with his left. Without a pencil or crayon in his hand, he will write with his left fingers. My mom's family is full of lefties. When he grips a pencil with his left hand, the grip is better than with his right one, and while the writing is messier, he can still write using his left hand.

And I would like to clarify that even though this issue has been frustrating me, I still admire and have confidence in his team at school. They are looking at James, not just pushing him through a system, and I really appreciate it.

Magic Marker Monday: Drawing Numbers

James' urges to play with coloured markers on a large pad of paper have cooled. His new interest is something he called Doing Homework. I know! Go figure.

I am not complaining. It's great that's he's so engaged in doing his classwork. His aide says she uses it both as an incentive to complete tasks while in class and as a focussing activity for the times that he's bouncing around (literally).

What makes me think of Magic Marker Monday is the care James puts into his work. In fact, he calls it Drawing My Numbers. His pencil grip and fine motor coordination have improved immensely since school began.

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I Think He's Left, But Is That Right?

How do we determine hand dominance? It's a question about James that's been bugging me for almost a year. His sister was pretty easy to determine as a right-handed and footed person because she consistently used the right side of her body to write, draw, kick, and throw. James, in keeping with the mysterious/super powers aspect of his personality, is keeping the whole dominant hand card game close to his chest (with both hands).

Last year, when he had better mastery of eating with utensils and was starting to use markers and paint brushes, I started watching his to see which hand he used. A lot of times it was his left. Then he started to use his right. I know that many kids do this, but by a certain age, children need to have a dominant hand to support. I started discussions with his preschool teacher, who recommended a wait-and-see approach, as well as a helpful suggestion of not handing him something, but rather putting it on the table in between his left and right hand. James continued to experiment, but then picked it up with his left and transferred to his right.

Through this Spring and Summer, he continued to throw consistently with his left hand, kick with his left foot. He also used his left fingers to draw in the sand and WRITE HIS NAME IN THE CAPRET (this, when his teacher and O/T said he could not write and needed to concentrate on making circles and crosses). Yet for table activities he usually picked up with his left and transferred to his right.

I am not trying to discount the knowledge and experience of James' preschool teacher or O/T (the same O/T as in his preschool), but I continue to push the question of hand dominance with James. There are many left-handed people in my Mom's side of the family, and my uncle has shared stories about being punished when using his left hand and being made to use his right (which he hated and now no longer does). My mother taught SpEd for many years and I remember her talking about how not determining hand-eye-foot dominance can make some learning disabilities harder to overcome. In short: I worry that James' development will be negatively impacted by this protracted waffling about which is his dominant hand.

I am now being told that "some people" are ambidextrous, which is "fine". That "some people" don't settle on a dominant hand "for a while". That "some people" have a dominant left foot and a dominant right hand. This adds to my concern, because while I am sure this is fine and dandy for many of the "some people", this is our James, and I think we need to start supporting the appropriate hand NOW, because he is just getting this school thang, is absolutely in love with it, and does better when he builds consistently on a routine.

I've watched him get excited about playing a game with other kids in a room full of beach balls, just waiting to be kicked. I've seen how long it takes his brain to process (1) the ball (2) the activity (3) triangulation of said ball in regards to his body (4) figuring out where his legs, then feet are (5) shifting from one foot to another to find his starting foot and then (6) brace on one foot and start the kick with the other. Somewhere in between steps 4 and 6, I watch another kid zoom in and kick his ball out from under his foot. Yes, that's a game; he had fun and practiced; it won't always be like that. I want this to limit this happening with him at school, learning-wise.

I'm his mom and I worry. It goes with the job. If anyone has any helpful ideas, I'd love to hear them.

Magic Marker Monday: Fat Crayons

Giving James writing instruments can be fraught with peril. With pens and markers, he wants to decorate his skin and the walls, not use them on paper. Paint winds up everywhere, especially his fingers (and everywhere he can put said painty fingers). Even if I give him a brush.  He has not been able to maintain a good grip on regular pencils and crayons, and tends to break and chew them.

This year, his O/T and aide at school are working on using a pencil grip to improve his fine motor skills. His teacher from last year reminded us that he does much better with fatter pencils and crayons. I managed to find some big crayons that he had not yet broken and set him up with paper and crayon. He went through several sheets, front and back, solemnly drawing Jand j ,,, and his name:

J .... a .... m   (we are still working on the e and s)

I am enjoying this while it lasts. He is asking me to be able to do his "homework". I hope that one day he'll start drawing his own pictures, and tell us all about them!

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Magic Marker Monday: Digging the Pad

I am always looking for new things that can engage James in creative ways. Sometimes I forget how satisfying a really big pad of paper on the ground can be. With crayons and pencils (of which we have dozens).

James carefully got out the pad and neatly extracted the crayons from their box. I think he just loved having all that paper to flip and decorate at once. Big drawing pads are fabulous:

We had circles, lines, and outlines of James' hand. He got excited and did shorter lines with dots. He called out colours and shapes. I noticed he drew using his right hand, then changed over to his left:

Further proof that getting there is half the fun. He also got a kick out of putting everything carefully away. This is new. I like it!

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Magic Marker Monday: Blue

I finally opened the bag containing James' last pieces of artwork from his preschool. I cried. It's almost as bad as sorting the outgrown clothes out of his closet. After seven years, you think I'd have learned to deal a bit better. But I digress.

The colour of the month was blue. I like how James got to try various media with one colour. I have the car in several colours. He likes the red one best so it's still up on his wall.

I like Seeing the dot and painting streaks on the car. James had a bit of fun there. This is great because when he first started preschool it was a real struggle to get him to make dots with the big Bingo markers -- even with someone's hand guiding him. I think the blue car will go up on the wall too.

The birds are quirky -- they have personality. For the first time, I see 2 shades of a colour on a project -- interesting! And I like how they kept the blue bird theme but changed the paper colour and detailing. James loves to glue things down now. I am pretty sure he had some help with the eyes though. I remember his Picasso Bear ...

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Magic Marker Monday: Farm

James' regular preschool is winding down for the school year. The teacher sent home pictures and art projects today. More than usual, because next year James starts Kindergarten and she will be at a new campus. Oh, don't get me started. I am trying to remain calm.

One of the projects caught my eye. What a great way to learn about farm animals, while practicing colouring and cutting with scissors!

I put this up in his bedroom and he immediately started paying with the doors. I'll bet there are some other themes that can use this technique -- a circus, perhaps?

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Magic Marker Monday: Feathers

Remember the art project with feathers and glue? It's dry!

I could not tell which James enjoyed more: squeezing the glue out onto the paper or picking out his feathers and laying them *just so* on the paper. I have rarely seen him so focused on a class project. Maybe it is time for more projects with glue. Those feathers are pretty fascinating.

James would check the feather's position carefully before putting it on the glue, sometimes nudging it into better position. This one is going up on his wall!


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SOOC Saturday: Finger Fu

James is cooking, in more ways than one. Language and social skills are really coming along. We have signed him up for extra gym at his second school and it is helping him become more coordinated. His fine motor skills need some attention too -- holding a pencil or spoon can still be difficult for him.

Enter cooking! Big sister loves to do it, ergo James wants to try it too. That's how I found out that stirring batter is a good way to help him practice a better grip and test his muscle tone while having fun and feeling like he is being like Big Sister. This morning it was pumpkin muffins. He even likes eating them now.

Besides, I like to be pampered. Cook, children, cook!

Fingers, Hands & Arms

James has trouble grasping things with his hands, unless he initiates the action (then, prepare for a death struggle, should you attempt to break said grip). He has had real struggles with wrist rotation and self feeding. Just look at him this summer:



His self feeding skills are much improved, and he eats so much more confidently with a spoon and a fork. It's still a struggle for him to grip a pencil or crayon and make marks on paper, but we're working away at it. Sometimes his hands will flutter up in to the high guard position, like excited little kites. They stay there, as if he doesn't realize his hands and arms are attached to him.


I keep trying to think of new things to try to connect the dots for him. Or, as the case may be, get him more connected with his arms, hands, and fingers.

Puppy Love

James has a new love. It's the Scavenger Hunt game for Clifford the Big Red Dog on the PBS Kids web site.

Oh. My. Goodness!

He really gets into looking for the items, and is getting good at saying their names. I think he's doing a bit of echolalia for the locations that he has to choose from, but wow, he is turned on!

And this evening, his sister sat with him and coached him even more on the words. I am happy for several reasons: James is practicing fine motor control and verbal skills with this game. He is getting social interaction with his sister. They are playing nicely together! And he feels like a winner.

Thanks, Clifford, Cleo, T-Bone, and Mac! Signed, a very grateful Mommy