Today was Elisabeth’s first lesson in sitting still. She struggled at first, but finally settled down when Aaron gave her a quiet toy to look at. I’ve decided that every day or at least every weekday I will have her sit with me on the couch (or wherever) while I read to the older children (normally I would have let her play or I would have put her down for a nap first). For the first week or so (depending on how quickly she learns) I will set the timer for five minutes. The next week I will set the timer for 10 minutes, and the next 15 minutes, and so on until we have worked up to an hour. I don’t really think it will take a whole week for each time frame, but I’ve decided to start there and then let her set the pace.

Today, she struggled for a while and then once she had something in her hands she sat for another 30 minutes until I had finished reading. (Five minutes was the length of time I had decided on that I would force her to sit with me so had she struggled after the timer went off I would have let her down.)

I’ve decided that I don’t mind if she looks at a book or holds a toy (noiseless) while we read because eventually she will be taking “notes” in church so having her do something similar now doesn’t bother me.

I’ll let you know how she progresses.