Sparkle, growing up

Today was more educational for Sparkle than I expected it to be. I expected that today would be devoted to play. In the morning we joined a group of friends for open play at a place with giant inflatables for jumping on. While we were there Sparkle got thirsty, but I didn't have anything to drink. Instead I showed her the sign pointing to the restrooms and suggested that she follow them to see if there was a drinking fountain by the restrooms. I also made her look around to see how to return to the play room. (At church, she had to get up to go to the restroom and freaked out a bit on the return trip because she had trouble finding us.) Sparkle successfully navigated the maze of hallways to get her drink and return.

Then we returned home for lunch. Fridays is Sparkle's turn to make lunch. Usually she makes sandwiches, but today she didn't want to make sandwiches. I told her that lunch was up to her - she could make anything she wanted within her power and within reason. (And pumpkin pie is not an acceptable meal, even though at breakfast both girls begged for the pumpkin pie I made last night.) Sparkle wanted soup. After a bit of musing, I decided to let her try warming up a can of soup on the range. She opened the can. It was a pop-top, and bits of soup went flying when she opened it. She cleaned up the mess. She poured the contents into the pot. *I* turned on the range and shooed little sister away. She stirred the soup while I lectured about safety. Finally, she carried the hot pot of soup from the range to the table, with me hovering close by.

The next big learning experience was at the library. Last week I had picked up some Flower Fairies Friends books. I had heard that they were good books for helping young readers transition to chapter books. Well, Sparkle loved them and wanted more. So, I had her go up to the librarian and explain what she wanted. The librarian looked up the series and wrote down where to find the books on a slip of paper. I helped guide Sparkle (pointing out were the aisles were, the author's name on the spine, etc.) but she found the books herself. Then we couldn't find one of the books, and went back to the librarian, who discovered that the books were filed elsewhere. On a whim, I decided that for all that effort, Sparkle deserved her own library card, so I got her one, and let her check out her books herself on her own card. It took her three tries to get all of her books checked out properly (I checked the receipts), but she was really proud. (Now I'll have two library cards to maintain, sigh.)



After the library, the weather was not abominably hot, so we went to the park next door. We didn't have any of our drawing stuff, so we just checked out the Gardenia and then swung on the swing. We played the observation game while swinging. This is one of my new favorite activities for killing time while being slightly educational. We each take turns stating one thing that we see/hear/smell/feel. No repeats unless you're under 4 years old. It helps us notice details, put thoughts into words, and share with each other. By limiting it to one thing per person, we don't get bored waiting for our turn, and we don't get put on the spot for describing too much.