Aaron in the house!
We just got back from a rich and fun vacation with family (always expansive for Joaquin), Team Joaquin is officially down to only mama and papa, and to kick-start this new era without volunteers in our child’s life, Aaron DeLand is in the house!
Favorite Moments from Day 1
Complex Imitation
On the second day, Aaron focused on giving Joaquin lots of opportunities to practice complex imitation (i.e. imitating a series of actions as opposed to a single one). Kiki spontaneously and consistently imitates single actions, so we wanted to find his edge when presented with a sequence of them. The film making motivation and game gives us a great opportunity to model and invite him to do several takes as we give him feedback and slow him down to perceive and practice more detail.
Space Yoga—Beautiful Imitation
I don’t think that Joaquin is very motivated to do yoga (I may be wrong), but on their third day together, Aaron packaged yoga moves as their “space training”, a very important part of their game agenda today. It was lovely to see Kiki following Aaron’s movements so well, so attentive… I thought of Christy, of course.
The Final Gem
I love you!
, Joaquin blurts out to Aaron as he leaves our house to head back home. Sweet little boy! And thank you Aaron for three days of laughs and play.