"Want to go to Disneyland?"

Leo keeps asking to go to "Disneyland," so we spend the morning looking at pics from our trip -- to Leo's utter delight. We need to figure out a way to get this boy back to Mouse Land -- he's been asking for "Disneyland?" with increasing urgency.

My brother (the cheeky dude in the glasses) took the above shot-of-the-shot of us on the California Screamin' roller coaster. At the time Leo wasn't so pleased, but when he saw this pic this morning he pointed at it with extended index finger and said, "Again?" (Yay fine motor skills!)

Also Leo woke me up this morning via the repeated top-volume "ka-thunk ka-thunk ka-thunk ka-thunk" of a cheap plastic soccer ball being kicked and successfully, repeatedly returned to a wall at short range (though I'll admit to wishing he had chosen a location other than my echo-chamber bathroom). Our boy has some serious gross motor coordination and reflexes, we need to provide him with more outlets -- but in the meantime, any one who wants to hang out with Leo should now feel free (or even obligated) to kick a ball around for five, ten minutes. (Yay!)

In the meantime we have been watching this Star Tours video a lot -- that was Leo's favorite ride. Anyone have any other favorite YouTube Disney videos?



---- We have been so many clicks beyond busy that I don't even know what to write about that. But Leo is certainly in a good space, and that makes everyone happy here.

Leo App Review: Injini's Write My Name

Tracing letters and words.

It's been a while since Leo sat down with a brand new app and just took off with it, but that's what happened with Injini's new Write My Name handwriting practice app ($1.99). Yay! Leo deserves a fun, crisply designed, intuitive and customizable app to help support his reading and writing skills.

You're probably thinking that there are a lot of handwriting practice apps out there, and you're right -- but this one is different, this one is superior.

These photos and video are from the very first time Leo sat down with Write My Name. He was delighted -- he immediately plowed through word after word, animation after animation, letter sound after letter sound, reinforced learning opportunity after reinforce learning opportunity.

The official information about the app follows, but I also talked to the developers and was pleased to find out that they consulted with occupational therapists on the handwriting portion of the app, and tested it with children with fine motor delays:

What's unique about Write My Name? There is plenty of competition in the tracing app category but our features can make a significant impact for children who struggle to learn how to write.

• Create 36 custom name tags with your own pictures and recordings to personalize learning for your child
• Beautiful illustrations
• Animations upon completion of each letter or word
• Easy to navigate to promote independent learning
• Uppercase and lowercase alphabet
• 100+ common sight/Dolch words
• Records student progress as word cards and letters are completed
• Fingerpaint mode shows completed letters in child’s own handwriting
• Distraction-free: No advertisements or in-app purchases

In the same tradition as Injini Child Development Game Suite and My First AAC, Project Injini was inspired to create Write My Name to help children with special needs practice emerging writing skills in a fun and playful way. Mastering writing your own name is often an IEP goal but the other tracing apps in the app store don't make this activity easily accessible AND achievable. We had this particular activity in mind when we created Write My Name. 

I love the customizable name tags -- and I can't wait to see how pleased Leo will be when we help him fill out a bunch of these tags with the names and photos of his favorite people and things -- which will then let him practice writing the names of those items.

Create your own name tag...

...then click on your name tag to practice writing your own name!

Letter tracing option one: Fingerpaint! This lets us see
what Leo's letter tracing ability actually looks like.

Letter tracing option two: clean lines! These lines are automatic,
and dependent on tracing ability but not fine motor precision.

The following video shows Leo and Write My Name in action. He loved this app -- and I appreciate that it broke him out of the Speech With Milo: Prepositions app rut he'd been stuck in this week (we love the Milo series, but right now the Milo music is the soundtrack of my nightmares).

Again, it's been a while since I've been really impressed with an app. This one's more than worthy of you or your child's time, and your $1.99.

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Disclosure: we were gifted a copy of the app, but the opinion expressed here is my own. I only review apps worth reviewing.

Peanut Butter Toast

Leo's working hard at making his own meals, especially favorites like peanut butter toast. And I do mean working -- there are so many steps, and using tools like pot holders is not easy for a dude who is working on his fine motor control. But he's doing so well. Though once peanut butter starts getting on one's fingers, it's hard not to lick it off mid-task. And honestly, what peanut butter lover hasn't want to just stick the whole peanut butter-covered knife* in their mouth?

*it is a very dull spreading knife.