Roots of Empathy

I've been meaning to post this for a long time! But here it is finally. So last school year (2012-2013) we were able to participate in the Roots of Empathy program at a local elementary school. My next door neighbor is a counselor at a school where they had the program in the 3rd grade classrooms last year. We had a wonderful time participating, but unfortunately because of funding and/or politics, the program is not being offered next year. Here is the website of the program (http://www.rootsofempathy.org/).

Basically, the children in the classroom get to watch the baby (called the teacher - see shirt below) grow and learn throughout the year. They interact with the baby and are encouraged to think about and label the baby's feelings and emotions. They also learn about a variety of topics surrounding babies including crying, safety, neuroscience (learning and development), milestones, sleep, eating, preparation, nursery rhymes, coping with stress, etc. The children learn about how to foster healthy relationships with their peers by watching the relationship between the mother and baby. I think it is a beautiful concept that the most basic human relationship, between a  mother and child, can be a model of empathy and can influence all of our other relationships throughout life. Bringing a baby into the classroom is a novel way to get the attention of the children, and teach them about caring for each other. One of the goals of the program is to reduce instances of bullying, and it has been shown to do that in studies in Canada.

At our first classroom visit in September

Geneva wore a T-shirt that said "teacher" on it at each class visit. The children all gathered around a green blanket each week and sang us a welcome song ("Hello Baby Geneva, how are you?", and "Hello Mama Tori, how are you?") as I walked around and let them each greet her individually. Then we'd learn about what Geneva had learned since our last visit, and the kids could ask questions to see what she could do. I would respond with "yes" or "not yet". I think they asked every time if she could walk or crawl yet, even at 3 months old. The children then got to interact with Geneva with some toys as we talked about her emotions and whatever the topic was. At the end they would sing a goodbye song and I'd walk around again. It was fun to see each of the kids' faces light up as the baby came up to them. There was one little boy who was particularly shy, but he would make eye contact with Geneva and get really excited when she would notice him.

It was fun to see how attentive they were to every little thing she would do. If she made any noise, the kids would all immediately get quiet and then get really excited afterwards. Since Geneva was a little slow on her motor skills, there were a few months were every little move she made would elicit laughter and applause.

We had a very talkative class who loved to share by asking questions and giving comments. Someone would raise their hand and say, "Well actually, I don't have a question, I just have a comment" and then proceed to tell us about something funny they did (or a sibling did) when they were a baby. It was pretty funny how often it happened. In one classroom visit, we set up a high chair and gave Geneva a new food - a slice of mango. At the end of the year, almost all of the kids said that was their favorite class visit. Another little boy also said his favorite visit was when Geneva was just starting to scoot around in circles. He said, "I just have to be honest with you, it was just really really cute."

At the end of year ROE gathering with Mrs. Christensen

Oregon Coast Trip

We decided to get away from the heat wave the first week of July, so we took a little impromptu road trip down the Oregon Coast! We'll definitely have to do it again and see the rest of the coast as we only made it halfway down. I realized as we stopped to take the first pictures that I had left my memory card in the computer at home... so all of these pictures are from my phone.

I think this claim might be a little iffy... there was no explanation whatsoever. 

Just me frying on the World's Largest Frying Pan, no big deal.

Henry was nervous about me taking a picture of "Jake the Alligator Man". Totally creepy.

The beach! Not your regular sunny, California beach, mind you. This is Oregon people!

I just loved Geneva's face here. I guess the reluctance to be in family photos has begun.

We fell in love with the Ergo on this trip. Borrowed this one from a friend, then bought an identical one when we got home!

Geneva was totally freaked out by this eel (I can't imagine why). She's actually just starting to cry in this picture.

Geneva loved the tiny Seaside Aquarium!

 They had a bunch of seals in this tiny area, it was so sad. I thought seals needed more room. But on the plus side, we got to get really close to them. Geneva was amazed.

Rockin' the shades, eatin' a seatbelt.

Geneva was so happy just strolling around the boardwalk in Seaside. It's fun having a baby that makes everyone smile. It was also super windy, so the video is a bit loud.

Geneva's first carousel ride. She was ambivalent - but it was right before nap time.

The Astoria Column. We made it to the top! But it wasn't really that hard...

View from the top of the column

My amazing, overpriced chocolate shake at the Chocolate Cafe in Cannon Beach. We didn't take pictures of our crepes because they were NOT amazing and also overpriced.

I think Geneva is resisting sitting here at one of the beautiful stops along Hwy 101.

Arm shot family photo! Geneva, once again, not interested.

Tillamook cheese factory! This was one of our favorite stops. Free cheese samples! Interesting little museum, but I wish there was more about the science of cheese-making.

Geneva perfected the two-handed assisted walk on this trip.

Another day at the beach in hoodies.

And some video of the beach. 

Geneva is always very interested in the camera.

She was a little bit hesitant about the sand.

Playing with mom's hair.

Exploring Portland. Geneva liked touching this seal.

I made Henry pose for this shot, but he chose the facial expression. Not exactly sure what he was going for. Probably "Nurrrr.... here look at me posing for this shot you wanted." This is at the International Rose Test Garden by the way. it was really cool to see all of the varieties.

Thanks to all of our friends who gave us recommendations. We had a great time! I'm just glad we live so close so we can go back and see everything we missed.

12 months!

This is the best blanket shot I could get this month! Geneva is not a big fan of laying down on her back for any length of time. Her favorite things to do are play with her walker toy and have mom and dad read her books. She loves walking along furniture and walking holding hands, but she's not too good at balancing on her own yet, so walking independently may be a little way off. She has recently started pointing at things (especially in books), giving slobbery kisses, and waving bye-bye. It has just been so fun to watch her learn and grow over this past year! Geneva weighs 18 lb. 6 oz. (10th percentile), and is 29.8 inches long (75th percentile).

Walking

Family portrait on Father's Day

Daddy and daughter

Cute baby

Mid-scoot. It's hard to get a true smile picture, but I think I caught one here!

Birthday presents! She does have some more toys from a garage sale that I have yet to clean... but I made that doll! Maybe I'll write a blog post on that sometime.

Playing with some new toys. That green ball is in mid-air, being tossed to the side because she was done with it.

Riding in a wagon at a birthday party! She loved it, even though you can't tell from this picture

Walking at the park. She also loves to scoot at the park, which means she gets bark all over her legs.

Geneva now stands when she wakes up from her naps. She won't make any noise, she'll just stand there waiting and watching the door until I happen to check on her.

Waving bye bye!

Reading books.

Making cute faces

At the beach! She shrieked at first, but she ended up liking the water.

Well, I think this will be the last of the month posts. I'll still post lots of pictures of Geneva (because she's the most exciting thing in our life), but I'll try to talk about other things too! Feel free to comment so I feel validated with the effort :)

Birthday Party!

We had a little party for Geneva yesterday and it was great fun! Here are some pictures to prove it.

Pre-party backyard

Kids mask-making and bubbles.
Birthday sign (made by sis-in-law) that will probably be at every birthday party.

I got an idea from a blog to print out oversized pictures of the birthday girl! Fun, easy, cheap ($1.65) decorations!

Another 18x24 print. As soon as we put these up in the kitchen, Geneva kept pointing to them. It seemed like she was saying, "Hey! That's me!"

The food

The table

Birthday girl!

This is the only picture I took during the party (except cake pics, of course).

Geneva and her cake. I wasn't actually too surprised that she didn't get messy. She's just our dainty little girl.

Birthday song, Dad blowing out the candle, and a taste of frosting.

Geneva eating her cake like a lady. She just used a pincer grasp to eat little bits of cake. Ladies don't get messy.