Here is the update from Bear Park for November - Tadpoles!
The Tui room was recently gifted some tadpoles and Nate has been drawn to them! A few weeks ago Nate pulled me over to them and pointed up at the large bowl. I used Nate's core board and pointed to "you" and "look" and Nate nodded. Laura and I have been loving using Nate's core board as a means of communication and we are amazed with how we are all able to work collaboratively to have our messages understood. "Let's get a chair" I said to Nate, and pointed to a nearby chair. Nate helped me to pull the chair over and he held my hand as he took a large step up onto it. Now he was at eye level with the bowl and I stood back to watch. I was so amazed with Nate's initial reactions. The first thing he did was pop his mouth open and closed, making the sign for fish. "These are tadpoles" I told him, pointing. What Nate did next is what really astonished me: he gently placed his ear up against the bowl as a way of exploring the creatures living inside. I have not seen anyone else interact with the tadpoles this way and I was blown away! It actually made me wonder if Nate listened to baby Lola when she was in mum's tummy.
"You're listening" I said to Nate. He then leaned away and pointed at one of the tadpoles who had swum right up to Nate's face. This made Nate giggle and it was so delightful to see the joy he was gaining from these strange animals. After a few more moments of quiet observation Nate hopped down from the chair and I brought him over to the mat to show him a book we have about the life cycle of frogs. I turned to the page with the tadpoles and told him, "tadpoles!" as I pointed to the ones in the book as well as back at the bowl. Nate looked back at the bowl and then at the pictures in the book. This was such a great way for him to make this connection. Nate turned the pages of the book and made his way to the end, where the tadpoles were now frogs. He quickly pointed to the frog and looked at me with a smile. "Frog!" I said, and hopped up and down. Nate giggled and then hopped up from the mat and ran back to the tadpoles. This time, Nate held onto the top of the lockers and pulled himself onto the chair. He was so determined to see those tadpoles again!
It was neat to see Nate exploring this new addition to the Tui room and to communicate with him in a variety of ways. I think as the tadpoles evolve into frogs it will be great to spend more time with Nate introducing new language and seeing the wonder as he spots the changes taking place. Often, we bring the tadpoles down onto a lower table and I'd love to do this with Nate in the future. I wonder if he'd like to feed them?!
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