Portia, thank you, thank you, thank you! You have some really creative ideas in that list that I will definitely leverage (as well as your pipe joints idea from another thread a few weeks ago)!
I also am truly grateful for you commiseration with the exhaustion. It's such a fun age, and I wake up every morning excited for the new day, but the fatigue is cumulative and compounded by the fact that:
A) I'm doing another grad degree part-time for fun,
B) DS is a co-sleeper who still wakes about 2-3 times per night to nurse, and
C) We live in a 900sqft condo in the heart of a big city, so we're always right on top of each other at home
So thank you for validating that the great privilege and joy of parenting these sorts of children doesn't come without a parental cost. Up until recently, even DH and family were skeptical of my claims that parenting DS is exhausting. I'm a high energy person, but DS definitely outpaces his slightly less extroverted mother.
Idea-wise, we are definitely on the same wavelength because I had Scrabble in mind, but was trying to devise an ability-appropriate hack for DS. You have the elegant solution I needed.
I also particularly like how your suggestions are multi-sensory...music, tastings, experimenting with pigments...these will satisfy DS' inquisitive mind and provide a nice variety. He's a soulful, imaginative child with a mechanical bent. We have a void in our schedule because our music class has recessed for the summer, and that was a source of real enjoyment for us both, so those ideas will inject a bit of creativity into our days again.
The chemistry/Presidents type knowledge might be a bit early for DS yet, but I can see him warming to that sort of more detailed information in a few months.
He's fascinated by categorizing dinosaurs, so we do a lot of excavation in our sandbox, visit the dinosaurs at the museum, etc. The extent of his information isn't too broad yet-- just name, diet, special features, and biped/quadruped for maybe 50-60 dinosaurs. We haven't really touched on geography or time period, though he's starting to take some interest in geography now.
Aviation might be an easy sell, as we'll be visiting my parents (my father is a retired fighter pilot) in a few weeks. Grandpa would be happy to talk shop with a new audience.
Your elements tree could easily become a paleontogy exhibit at home, or a display of various tools and vehicles. Come to think of it, I may be putting too much focus on creating media for DS' use, with the end as the goal rather than the process. Giving DS ownership of the project would help foster a bit more self-reliance, I think. Hmm...time for me to shift from leader to facilitator.
Thanks again, Portia.
