After 19 years of having a toddler-free home, I’d forgotten how much work it could be. This time around is very different, especially considering the fact that Little has multiple allergies. Consequently, I have to be very careful of what we eat. Take-out is not an option at all for us, which means mama’s a busy bee! With that in mind, if there’s any assistance received with household chores it’s well appreciated. To be honest, there were days when I wanted to leave the house to it’s own devices and let the chips fall where they may! Lol! Yes, indeed I did, but I knew the time would come when this little blessing would begin to mimic everything I did. That knowledge alone was motivation to make sure I maintained daily cleaning routines. So, I was a proud mama two months ago, when I saw Little attempt to use a sponge to wipe her table. It was so cute! Instead of taking it away, I decided to buy a sponge and cut to fit her little hands.
Of course I don’t expect her to fully clean the table because she’s too small, but she’s welcome to practice as much as she wants. After wiping for about 20 seconds, which by the way is a long time for a baby her age, she literally said, “Bye-bye!” Then dropped to the floor and crawled away. It was hilariously adorable.
Now that she is older, to nurture her interest I’ve decided to give her more experience with the sponge. She has been using a a dry sponge on the table. The other day during her nap, I prepared the materials for a wet spinge presentation, so I could let her practice with a wet sponge a bit and help her understand just what a sponge does.
I placed one bowl filled with water and another empty bowl on a tray. Then, I practiced with the sponge so I could think of all the things that would be important for her to understand about it. For example, initially it’s dry but when dipped in water it absorbs, and the water is released if you squeeze it. I also figured she’d need to know how to squeeze the sponge properly to transfer the water into another container.
When I took her down to her table, she was very excited. I demonstrated then I gave her a nice dry sponge to practice too. She dipped it into the bowl of water, then held it close and squeezed it as hard as she could. Silly me, she got a little wet because I was so anxious to work with her that I forgot her waterproof smock (IKEA).
I gave her some practical application once she had a bit of practice squeezing the sponge. As I pretended to put the activity away, I showed her the water spill on the tray and said, “Uh-oh! We have to dry this up right away. Can you use the sponge?” I demonstrated a little then handed the sponge to her. Once she wiped a way some of the water, she was happy about her accomplishment. Honestly, I was one proud mama!
~Witty Little’s Mom
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