Shana Tova

We've been celebrating Rosh Hashanah, although we are Christian, we believe the Hebrew festivals are a shadow of Christ's life and of things to come.

Rosh Hashanah celebrates the anniversary of creation, and one of the things we have been doing is telling the creation story at breakfast and dinner each day by candlelight.


Cosmo is now very good at telling the facts of the story (the order things were made in, what Adam and eve did) but still struggles with questions like 'how did God feel when they disobeyed him?' or 'what do you think Adam and Eve felt like when they left the garden?'

I know it's in part because of the ASD, but it still always surprises me how well he can memorise facts, but how difficult he finds interpretation.

We've really enjoyed making a trumpet out of paper mâché and decorating it too. You can find directions on how to make the basic trumpet shape here. Cosmo especially likes waking daddy up with his trumpet in the mornings!

Israel enjoy fruits dipped in honey, a reminder of sweetness, as they wish each other a 'sweet and good new year'. We had fruits dipped in honey, and chocolate sauce, because nothing says 'sweet' to my children like chocolate!

Cosmo helped make the sauce, by melting chocolate in the microwave and stirring in double cream and milk. He's actually getting pretty good at using the microwave without help and can stir without spilling everywhere now. Hooray for fine motor improvement!

Most excitingly, he also wrote hi own name in a 'Shana Tova' card we made to send his cousins. Lychee painted the front and he wrote inside. It's the second time his managed to wrote his name, the first time being nearly two months ago, with no attempts in between.

It is frustrating to know that he can, but won't practise. He's still very unenthusiastic about writing or colouring, but lychee is the complete opposite. Colouring and painting are her two favourite activities.

Later today we shall go and perform our 'tashlikh' or 'casting off'. We are going to throw some stones in the river as we confess our shortcomings, to remind us that God will wash away our sins. This has been cosmos favourite part of the festival in the past, and I'm sure he will enjoy it this year too.

So, have a sweet and good new year, may your name be inscribed in the book of life!

Vocabulary

Here's an easy way to boost your child's vocabulary, which let's face it, if it makes communication easier and prevents frustration, is always worth a try!

When you introduce her to a new word (for instance 'cup') show her lots of different ones (eg mug, glass, beaker, red, blue etc). Researchers in America did an experiment where they introduced 18 month olds to the word bucket. Half the group were left to play with identical blue buckets. The other half were given big ones, small ones, different colours, with handles, without handles etc...

All of the children learnt the word 'bucket'.

But here's the twist - 6 weeks later the children who were show. A variety of buckets were learning an average of 10 words per day, whilst those in the blue bucket group learned only 4 words per day (very typical for children that age).

So get some variety in your toddlers life! She'll thank you for it later, with plenty of new found words!

Sex Education

Who'd have thought I'd be starting sex education with my three year old?

 

But after listening to Mary Flo Ridley on FamilyLife today I thought I'd put some feelers out. We started off watching an episode of 'Mr Roger's Neighbourhood' on YouTube, which was thoroughly enjoyed by both kids, then we sang the 'Every body's fancy' song for a few days. After a while I asked if he knew what we were singing about and he said no. I told him we were singing about private parts.



From then on he couldn't get enough of singing the fancy song. He quickly grasped that boys were 'fancy on the outside' and girls were 'fancy on the inside', but really wanted to see what a girls fancy parts on the inside looked like. We took a trip to the library, but it was actually not helpful at all. Every children's book devoted to the human body either;

a) didn't mention the reproductive system or

b) talked about being gay/straight/bisexual and/or how to have safe sex (different types of contraception etc) which I didn't feel was appropriate for a three year old.

 

But Granny came to the rescue, having kidnapped the plastic model from the biology department at her school, she came over and let us take it apart and put it back together. It even has a tiny baby which fits inside the uterus, he loved that and was fascinated that it wasn't in the stomach. We chatted about where wee comes from and he had a look inside the heart. It was a great way to have a look inside and she showed him which of the girl parts came out to make space for the boy parts so that he could see we were mostly the same inside with just a few changes.

 

What a great resource it is to have a biology teacher for a grandma!



For those who are interested, Mr Roger's 'Every body's fancy' song goes like this:

 

Some of us are fancy on the outside

Some of us are fancy on the inside

Everybody's fancy, Everybody's fine

Your Body's fancy and so is mine

 

Boys they are boys from the beginning

Girls they are girls right from the start

Everybody's fancy, Everybody's fine

Your Body's fancy and so is mine

 

Only the boys can be the daddies

Only the girls can be the mommies

Everybody's fancy, Everybody's fine

Your Body's fancy and so is mine

 

I think you're a special person

And I like your insides and outsides

Everybody's fancy, Everybody's fine

Your Body's special and so is mine
You can see it at 3:40 in this clip.

 

Free Movies!

Did you know that as a home educator this autumn you and your children can go and see some free movies? Not only that, they are giving away free educational resources to go with the movies.

You need to check in with your local cinema about what's available, but if you live in Bedford you can see Rio, Cars 2, Rango, Winnie the Pooh or Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief.

So... who wants to come with us?

Summer update

We've had such a busy summer, I can't believe how quickly 9 weeks flies by!

My littlest sister got married, and cosmo was the most handsome little page boy you ever saw, we went on our first ever family holiday, we've moved house and this Friday we have tenants movin into the house we own.

At the beginning of the holidays we got the final diagnosis that cosmo is indeed autistic, albeit very high functioning. It's interesting to note that the paediatrician was very clear to me that this label does not affect his potential or necessarily his development. It's a diagnosis of the way his mind works, not what it's capable of.

For example, I've been told before that autistic children don't know how to recognise other peoples emotions. What we've discovered is, although cosmo hasnt learned to differntiate emotions by himself, once you teach him the cues (eg tears = sad, shouting = angry, teeth showing = smiling/happy) he can readily spot these cues in other people. He also picks up details that help him process what others are feeling (the boy must be tired because he is wearing pyjamas).

I won't deny the summer has been very hard for him. A lot of people, a lot of change, but he's been doing very well. I'll be glad to get back into term and a bit more of a routine with him though. It should help calm things down a little.

This week he has learned to write! He can write his own name, so I'm confident he could write many other words (he happily spells them with fridge magnets) but he is completely unwilling to try. In fact the only reason he wrote his name is because he got a cars sticker for doing it. I'm not pushing it. I know he can and we'll practise later. I'm just excited because this is a huge step forward in his fine motor control.

We've also been working on a few other things since we moved including potty training (hell for about 4 hours, but relatively painless for the last few days) and choosing his own clothes.

Now that cosmo has a wardrobe he has been allowed to choose his own clothes each day (much easier than digging through drawers) and my father would be proud. He likes to choose smart shirts, everyday, regardless of what activity we are doing. I'll let it go for now, but once the novelty wears off I may have to have a word about choosing appropriate clothing.

We've also been at the library a lot. We've been taking part in their summer reading program and Cosmo loves that every book he reads sends money to sick children. He considers library books to be his 'work' like daddy, because he's earning money (even if he never sees it).

Lychee has been working hard too, her confidence in the swimming pool has improved massively and her speech is coming along well in terms of intonation and vowel sounds. 'heyow' for hello and 'mimimi' for milk etc... And she now reads about 50 words, nearly time for fast mapping...!!!

Catechism

The Puritans used catechisms, creeds, and confessions to disciple their flocks.  A catechism is the process of instructing believers both young and old in the basics of the Christian faith.  The Greek word for "instruct" or "teach" is katecheo from which we get our English word "catechize."

 

Catechisms provide basic summaries of the church’s teachings to ensure that all members of the church understand the essentials of the faith for themselves. Most catechisms generally have questions and answers accompanied by biblical support and explanations.

 

The Puritans developed their own catechisms, including theWestminster Catechisms in the 1640s. Written to provide children, new believers, and church members alike a short but comprehensive summary of the Reformed church’s doctrines, theWestminster Catechisms are the most important and influential of all the Reformed catechisms.

Helpful Catechism Resources

• The Good News We Almost Forgot: Rediscovering the Gospel in a 16th-Century Catechism, by Kevin DeYoung


• Big Truths for Young Hearts: Teaching and Learning the Greatness of God, by Bruce Ware


• The Big Book of Questions and Answers, by Sinclair Ferguson


• Small Children’s Catechism, by Chris Schlect


• A Catechism for Boys and Girls, from Sojourn Church Louisville.

 

Have any good ideas on how we can use catechisms in the church today?

Let me know in the comments section.

 

Cynical? Me?

Last week Cosmo's daddy was tucking him up in bed and during their chat Cosmo asked Jesus to be his friend. His dad was very pleased with this, but I was pretty cynical. The fact is, I don't think a three year old understands what he is saying when he says something like this. I think what he means is 'right now that sounds cool' rather than 'I want to dedicate my life to God'.

 

Turns out I might be wrong.

 

A few days later, it was Sunday and time to go to church.  We've had a little trouble recently, because there is a boy in children's church who doesn't get on with Cosmo. I'm told that Cosmo didn't start it, but I'm not dumb enough to think that he is completely innocent either. I've walked in to see him kicking that boy.

 

Over breakfast though, Cosmo suddenly announces that today, at church, he is going to forgive his nemesis. Really? I think, but out loud I say 'what a great idea'.

'Yes', he continues 'because God and Jesus have forgiven me and I am going to forgive him'.  Cue my jaw hitting the floor. Maybe he really does get it...

'And then I can ask him if he wants to be Jesus' friend too!' Now I really am wandering if this is all some elaborate dream, but I hold back on my excitement and think it is probably best to reserve judgement until after church and see how they manage 90 minutes in a confined space together.

 

I needn't have.

 

When we went to get him from children's work the leaders were all gushing about how wonderful he had been. Further questioning has revealed that his nemesis did not want Jesus to be his friend :0( but that despite having been spat on and told that he was hated, Cosmo did not retaliate and continued to forgive. In fact, by the end of the session his nemesis seemed to have forgotten all about their feud and was willing to sit next to him during the story time.

 

Wow. I am completely floored. I really have nothing else to say, but Wow.