All by herself

Sophie's class is working on individual presentations for social studies, they are talking about community helpers, which in turn means that they talk about the jobs that family members do.  So Sophie and I decided that she would talk about her Papa, my dad, who is an artist and retired teacher.

Sophie and her Papa with one of his paintings

Today while I was retrieving Sophie's Step by Step with levels talker switch to use for the project , I came across her adapted crayon holder.  It has been quite a while since we used it but I knew it would be perfect for this too.

She thought it was super fun to be colouring all by herself.  She was very focused for a long time.  Sophie chose all her crayon colours, just like she does with paint colours.

 

I want Sophie to be able to do as much independantly as possible.  She gets a lot of confidence when she is able to do something without help, again the active learning motto that we live by. 

The step by step talker allows Sophie to tell her classmates stories, or ask them questions.  Every day at school Sophie tells the class something about what she did at home the night before.  For this project I put some messages on her talker so that she could tell her class by hitting her switch all about her Papa who is an artist and teacher.

Looking away before she hits her switch.  Sophie almost always looks away first before reaching for something.  This is a classic thing to do for someone who has a cortical vision impairment (CVI).

 Reaching for her switch.

 Got it.

Loving the message and proud of herself.  :)

Tomorrow Sophie will be able to take to school a piece of her artwork along with a photo of her Papa and herself with his artwork.  I know that she will love telling her friends all about it.

Glowing solar system

Last Christmas (as in a year ago :p )Santa brought Sophie some glow stars and planets.   I finally got them out tonight so that she could use them for the first time. I stuck them to the inside of her actitunnel and we had an instant indoor glowing solar system to look at. 

I was impressed with how brightly they glowed and Sophie seemed to be able to see them, she was interested for a good little while.  I think that because the planets glowed as well (and they are larger) it helped catch her attention.  I had to flip on some lights to take these photos but it was fun in the dark with only the solar system lit up. 

All good things must come to an end and this is Sophie telling me she was done. Over and out. lol.

Playing with Slippery Spheres

Almost a year ago now I ordered some water beads online to try with Sophie.  I pretty much forgot about them until I came across them doing some cleaning up over the Christmas break.  I decided it was high time we tried them out.  The ones I ordered are called Slippery Spheres, pretty cute name that reeled me in.  It only took a few hours of soaking in water and these suckers were the size of marbles, they start out super duper teeny tiny.  They have the strangest feel to them, kind of cold and slimy, but not really, it is very hard to explain!!  But Lucas and his friend thought they were awesome so at the very least they would play with them if Sophie thought they were a bomb.

Luckily, Sophie thought they were awesome too.

In fact, she dove right in and couldn't get enough of them! :)  When Sophie puts both arms in in one motion like this it is because she is very excited about touching something and she can control her body best like this.

She kept putting her hands in and out of the bowl, which is very difficult for her, for over a half hour.  She had a huge attention span for this, she also thought it was hilarious to get a handful and constantly throw the beads overboard (just like her squishy bags) but the water beads were alot more labour intensive for mommy to pick up!  These suckers really bounce and roll!

 

The water beads were a bright green when they started but lost alot of the colour in the water.  I put a piece of green felt on the light pad so that there was more contrast for Sophie.  The photo below is what they really looked like. Sophie didn't look at the beads very much the first night we used them, but tonight as soon as I brought them out she had a look before she put her hands in.  She was very curious.

Tonight Lucas sat with his hands in the bowl for about 20 minutes too, they are a bit addictive to play with.  I think I may have to buy some more colours so we can fill a larger bowl and have some more fun!

Light up my life

Sophie received some wonderful gifts from family and friends this Christmas.  She is not an easy girl to buy gifts for and I could tell that everyone put alot of thought into what they gave her.

A few of the presents she received are light up toys and musical toys that respond to touch.  She even received Christmas cards that sing to you and have moving parts.  She thought they were great.

While we were in England we happened to go by a shop that had a whole bunch of electronic gadgets in the window, the shop was right around the corner from our hotel so we stopped in one night to check it out.  I found a light that responds to sound, it is almost identical to the Hydrasphere, which I had in my sights for a long time to get for Sophie.  We have been having alot of fun making it dance to our voices as we sing for Sophie.  Tonight we encouraged Sophie to sing and she did make a noise, it was very cute.

I had the toy on auto with each globe lit for these pictures so I didn't have to sing non-stop for the photo.  :)

I hope that Sophie will start to figure out that if she makes a noise or even bangs it a little that it will light up for her.

She was also given two other light up toys by family that are really unique.  Lucas also thinks they are awesome and was happy to help me with the photos as long as he got to spell his name in lights.  So I fell for his conditions,  but Sophie loved watching him move the lights all over the room.

This one is actually a double ended fan which makes it even more perfect because Sophie likes the feeling of the wind as well.

 

 This light up wand is really cute.  It has a whole little village inside, very much like a snowglobe, but with foam instead.  It plays music, spins and lights up.  The trifecta of CVI love.

These photos are awful but they show how much Sophie enjoyed watching the show...

Sewing some cozy

I was searching on Etsy for some new cloth diaper wipes for Sophie over the holidays and realized that it would be much cheaper and more fun if I made some myself.  We seem to have lost half of her cloth wipes so we are getting to the point where I am having to wash them everyday so that we have enough. 

So I pulled out the sewing machine and went to town...

I have many more squares cut and ready to sew for the weekend.  I made them all double thickness with a different pattern on each side.  Because Sophie is getting bigger I also made them much larger than the baby washcloths you typically find.

Tonight I sewed a bigger project and made her a full size winter flannel/fleece blanket, about 6 ft. long.  I love the reindeer print and the blue and green together looks really sharp.  I have a feeling Lucas might be wanting one too when he sees it. :)
The blanket is super soft and cozy and I can't wait for her to snuggle under it.

New year, new adventures

Happy new year!

We have had a wonderful couple of weeks off, the time has flown by.  Last night we rang in the new year with friends, the kids all stayed up late and had so much fun.

For Christmas my mom made this Christmas activity bar for Sophie.  It was a definite hit!  There is a little musical bell that plays Christmas songs, the bells are nice and big for Sophie to hit and jingle and there is a Santa Claus for her to see.  She loves it (as does Zoe my niece!).

 

 

Sophie and I spent a couple mornings baking shortbread cookies this week.  She loves to dump and stir the ingredients and had a ball pressing the cookie dough.  I hope to have many more baking mornings this winter with Sophie and Lucas.

 

 

I have so many crafty ideas floating around in my head, I can only hope that I get a chance to put some of them into action.  It doesn't always work out that way but it is fun planning it all out nonetheless.  Many times the reward is in the journey, not the destination.

 

I have started a sewing project I am excited about, it is just little but I am so happy to have the sewing machine out again, it has been a long time!  Of course I am having fun using my new camera as well, I am still learning all it's intracacies, but I have loved the results of the photos I have taken so far.

 

So much to do, so little time.  Who knows where this new year will take us.