The Oatmeal Mountain

Alex invented a nice game this morning, which we call The Oatmeal Mountain. Since he loves to cook, and wants to feel and taste every ingredient, I let him place handfuls of oatmeal into a pan this morning for breakfast. Then I gave him about a 1/2 cup into a plastic bowl. He sat on the floor for about thirty minutes, dumping the oatmeal out of the bowl, then gathering it up into a little mountain and then picking up handfuls to put back into the bowl. This is a great exercise for any child with a hand disability. To use his disabled lefty, he had to reach across his body (good for balance and reach), grab with is fingers (good for strength of his hand and fingers), then reach again to put his left hand over the bowl, and then open his hand (good for flexibility, strength, coordination) to drop the oatmeal into the bowl.

He loved this game for many reasons. First, the feeling of oatmeal in his hands was a new feeling. It undoubtedly stimulated his tactile sensations and fired some new synapses in the brain. Second, he was successful at the game, which is important to keep him interested. Alex gets frustrated when he can't accomplish a task with his left hand, and this task was foolproof. Oatmeal naturally stuck to the moisture on his hand, so it was easy to pick up and when he opened his hand, some of it naturally dropped off into the bowl. He loved his accomplishment. Finally, Alex loves to "clean up", an important habit to teach a two year old. When he can be helpful, he feels good about himself, and he learns to take responsibility for his own toys and games. The act of grabbing the oatmeal and dumping it back into the bowl was an act of "cleaning up". When we were finished, we cleaned it all up. I swept and he held the dustpan and then walked the dustpan carefully over to the trash to dump it. This was a good morning activity on a rainy day.

And as for my oatmeal mountain...today is an easy spin day. My weekend workouts are getting progressively longer and harder, so an easy Tuesday spin is a welcome rest for my legs.