I just wanted chocolate, I got a teaching opportunity

I have found M&M candies to be such a great learning/teaching tool for Toben.  I have used this fantastic snack in a few different situations and I am always pleasantly surprised with the outcome it has on my son.  This will be the first of a small series of posts I will write about this tasty snack. 


(Warning:  Parents that insist on doing things by the books need not read... because my M&M post may go against the Rules that you cling to for raising your children and most likely upset or offend.  But hey, its my blog, moreover, my son is doing just fine!)

Yesterday, I had a hankering for some chocolate.  I was in luck  A small Ziplock bag full of M&Ms had been out on the kitchen table for nearly two weeks.  I retrieved the delicious goodness and returned to Toben and Fiona playing in the living room.  


I put a hand full down and Toben asked me what my favorite color was...I said, "blue." and "Can I have a blue M&M, please?"  He handed me one and it hardly satisfied my desire, so I instantly requested three more blue M&Ms.  Much to my surprise, he scooped up some M&Ms into his hand, and dumped the contents into my hand.  Yes, three blue M&Ms. Alright Toben!  We played like this for a while.


So, to recap and expand.  


1.  I left chocolate in my sons reach for two weeks and he did not sneak it. Turns out, if you do not set limits on food a child will never become sneaky or greedy with it.  As shown by him giving me the M&Ms before he had any at all. 


We've all heard that mom with good intentions say, "Just one cookie" or the dad say, "Only a hand full of M&Ms and no more!"  I would suggest allowing the child to eat what he or she wants, from the beginning, and you will be surprised when they only eat one or two cookies and stop after 7 M&Ms.  They are satisfied and have no need to sneak the snack the next time the parent has left the room.  I hate making generalized go to rules, however, I would suggest not placing boundaries on your kid's food intake.(Perhaps I will write a comprehensive post on this topic later)   


2.  Not only does he know blue he knows many colors (more than 10). And he can differentiate between light and dark colors to boot.  


3.  He can count.  M&Ms are a fun way to support and motivate counting. He counts to over ten regularly.(Sometimes counting to 20...thank you also to 'Hide n Seek') 


4.  Putting it together, is a big developmental step for a two year old. He counts to three blue M&Ms among all the colors available.  He does it silently in his head.  


Back to the story.  
I tell him to eat two yellow, he does.  Can I have four green?  I get them.  Can I have five orange?  I get them.  This goes on for a while.  I am super impressed.  
Then I ask for three yellow.  I get four.  I say, "Do I have three yellow?"  He silently points to all four one at a time and then says, "no."  "Well I only need three," I say.  He instantly removes one and looks at me.  "Are you sure I have three now?"  He gives me this look like, 'duh Mom I just took one away from four; of course you have three.'  He quickly says, "yeah."


When he had enough M&M counting/eating fun, he went to get a toy car.  Before he started playing, he turned to me and said, "Mommy, you eat the rest," and commenced pushing his car and zoomed into the next room.  Yay, SUGAR!!!


(P.S. Just last month, I was telling Zach that I was concerned that Toben didn't have much interest in talking numbers with me.  In contrast he always wants ABC books read, sings the alphabet song, plays with the alphabet magnets, or just points out letters as we do things through the day.  I was worried because when I would talk numbers to him or count, he didn't seem too interested.  Looks like it was going in his brain despite the seeming lack of interest.)