Birdie's Sabbatical Tricks
My daughter had a great time on our sabbatical. She got explore 12 different AirBNBs and the house we sat for, plus assorted restaurant patios, a pool, a splash pad, assorted hiking trails (including one inside a cave) and a lot of other fun places. Unsurprisingly, she picked up three new tricks along the way.
1. When we ate at The Shed in Santa Fe, the waiter brought her a cup with a straw in it. She immediately started drinking out of the straw like she'd been doing it her whole life. We bought her a new sippy cup with a straw a few days later.
2. Birdie has long since mastered spoons, but hadn't really used a fork. That changed on our trip. We bought many containers of cubed watermelon while we were on the road since it had the perfect amount for a meal or two and she loved it. We ended up giving her a fork. She quickly grasped "eating the food off the fork" once M or I stabbed it for her, but it took quite some time for her to understand the concept of "I will stick the fork in the melon by myself."
3. Birdie watched me unload the dishwasher where we were housesitting so many times that she started helping me. This has continued now that we're back at home. She's very good at removing the silverware from the drawer and handing it to me, with the important caveat that if I take too long to take it from her she'll sometimes put it in her mouth, which defeats the purpose of using the dishwasher. She's also not bad at grabbing plates and bowls from the bottom shelf. The top shelf is still too high for her. This is indubitably the first chore she's helped with!
1. When we ate at The Shed in Santa Fe, the waiter brought her a cup with a straw in it. She immediately started drinking out of the straw like she'd been doing it her whole life. We bought her a new sippy cup with a straw a few days later.
2. Birdie has long since mastered spoons, but hadn't really used a fork. That changed on our trip. We bought many containers of cubed watermelon while we were on the road since it had the perfect amount for a meal or two and she loved it. We ended up giving her a fork. She quickly grasped "eating the food off the fork" once M or I stabbed it for her, but it took quite some time for her to understand the concept of "I will stick the fork in the melon by myself."
3. Birdie watched me unload the dishwasher where we were housesitting so many times that she started helping me. This has continued now that we're back at home. She's very good at removing the silverware from the drawer and handing it to me, with the important caveat that if I take too long to take it from her she'll sometimes put it in her mouth, which defeats the purpose of using the dishwasher. She's also not bad at grabbing plates and bowls from the bottom shelf. The top shelf is still too high for her. This is indubitably the first chore she's helped with!