You lookin' at me?

At lunch today, my little fishie (almost 1 year-old son) snatched up a fist full of chopped broccoli and smooshed it into his mouth with vigor. He then proceeded to take those green spotted, slimy hands and rub his eyes. So then those green broccoli sprinkles dotted his brow and it reminded me... kids often don't know what others see on their faces. They often just have a feeling (i.e. getting sleepy)... and express it. We are the ones who have the pleasure (or burden) to interpret what our child is communicating.

A crafty shrink activity that my nanny thought of is to get a hand mirror and show the baby or child what we see on their face. At first, it could be fun to do when their face is naturally messy with food. Show them the hand mirror and comment on what you both see (if they are verbal, ask them to comment). In this case "I see you have green brocolli on your eyebrow where you wiped your eye." Then, take a wet paper towel and wipe it off to show messy vs. clean, and say "I see you don't have any more green on your face. What else do we see?" Then show happy face vs. angry face. Sad face vs. surprised face.

And let me know how it goes...