Before Five in A Row: The Little Rabbit

by Meghan // April 27, 2013 // Comments off

You can find all the printables we used this week at Homeschool Creations.

We had a great week this week! We really rowed The Little Rabbit for two weeks, like we did the other books we have done. We really enjoy taking our time. =) The great thing is, this is all for fun for us at this age, so there is NO need to hurry.

Lexie really enjoyed doing our activities for The Little Rabbit; later in the week when I told her it was time for activities, her table in the living room suddenly looked like this:

That’s how much she enjoys it! At the beginning of the week, we began with the tracing sheets.

tracing the word “rabbit”

(I showed her how to trace on the first one, then she did the rest)

so serious!

We do the tracing sheets for fine motor practice. At 2.5 years old, I don’t expect anything we are doing to be perfect. But I do expect her to try, and always do her best. Here is my favorite activity we do with each book:

Beginning letter sounds. She got the ALL this time. I was really impressed; I said I don’t expect the things we are doing to be perfect or correct … but that’s kinda not true. I do expect the things she has already mastered to be done correctly, or close to it since I know she can. We all have moments we forget things, or confuse things. (especially me!) Anyhow, she got all the beginning letter sounds correctly on the capital sheet, and on the lower case I think she confused the letters b and d. I have a picture, but I can’t find it anywhere… I may have lost it when I moved it from the phone to the computer.

This is the matching game… the printables come with several different pictures from the book, some have the name under them, some do not. They have different activities to go along with each set. We don’t always use the sheets for their main purpose, simply because she may not be ready for that skill. But we do use them, even if it is just for identifying the letter, etc.

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This was a sorting sheet. I cut the squares, she glued them in place, either under “flowers” or “animals.” We talked about each one along the way, and where/if they were in the story.

This activity was labeling the parts of a turtle. So, I was really proud of this- I had cut each part out, and laid them out neatly. Then I touched each one and read aloud what it said. SO like, I would say “head” and point to the word head. Then, we looked at the turtle and I asked her what part of the body I was pointing to. She replied with the correct answer… but then I asked which label we needed and SHE ALWAYS CHOSE THE CORRECT ONE! And after she picked it up, she would say, “/h/ /h/ This one says “head!” Shut. up. I was so proud of her. Some she remembered from me pointing to them, but she identified the ones she didn’t remember by sounding out the first letter and matching it to the body part with the same beginning letter sound.

We also practiced cutting this week. She got scissors in her spring basket, so we decided to put them to some (more) use. While getting my B.S.E in early childhood education, we were taught you always put the pencil, crayon, scissors, etc in front of the center of the child’s body. This way they can grab the object with the hand they prefer to use, versus you putting it in their right or left hand, when that may not be the one they are naturally inclined to use. Lexie is still on showing a hand dominance. Looking at the pages above, you may think she is obviously right handed. But often times she uses her left hand for things, and gets a much better result than when she uses her right. The pictures below are from her cutting paper using her left hand. When she used her right, she couldn’t quite get the feel of opening and closing the scissors, and her cuts were short and choppy. When she used her left, this was the result:

I tried to get a picture of her mouth (but couldn’t) When she opened the scissors, she opened her mouth as wide as she could, too. Very cute.

Usually by 2 or 3 children start showing signs of hand dominance. I am still unsure which Lexie will use. When handing her a crayon or scissors, I always put them either on the table in front of her, or hand them to her at the center of her body. Sometimes I even have her put her hands by her side, then take the object from me, to see which she will use. Sometimes she uses her right, sometimes her left… and sometimes she will grab something with her right, but then move it to her left. So we will see. Handedness is an important part of formal writing, which isn’t a stage we are remotely close to. But before a child can be expected to write correctly, or neatly (which is required in kindergarten in public school), they need to have established consistent handedness. We have quite sometime before she has to be ready for all that.

The book itself was a wonderful little book about a girl who gets a pet rabbit. She names her buttercup. Buttercup has seven baby bunnies (which are oh. so. cute) and the little girl names them after the days of the week. Lexie and I thought this was very creative- we love the days of the week and months of the year! What’s different about the book, is it’s all done in real photographs instead of hand or computer illustration. For a little over $2 brand new on Amazon, it is a good addition to your library, we definitely recommend it!

Light Table Fun and Magna Tiles

by Meghan // April 23, 2013 // Comments off

Well, there was a big day in our house a few weeks ago. It took J.Tom several nights, and a couple of weekends to complete, but he built the kids (well, just Lexie for now…) a light table! I had seen them over at Play At Home Mom. We used several of her tips for building your own light table, found on her site here.

For months I drooled over the light table and all the fun activities it provided. I couldn’t wait for JTom to get some free time to make her one. As you probably know, we try to keep the house free of toys that don’t encourage learning or using the imagination. The light table was a definite YES item! It is awesome. A light table can be used to learn about shadow, light, contrast, color, size, shape, and many sensory activities can be done using it. So, after much hard work and me splurging on a few things to use with the table, here it is

The box, with hardwire outlet for lights

J.Tom working

laying out the lights. He lined the bottom inside of the table with foil to reflect more light

the table top, upside down. The bottom is hinged, so the bulbs can be changed
(for when they go out AND to black lights! FUN!)

Building with Magnatiles- GREAT investment!

Let’s line them up!

“I will build you a house mommy!”

Her church and coins

The transparent Magna Tiles are a must have, whether you have a light table or not! They really are so much fun, but I think they are one of those things- either a kid has the personality that loves them, or they could care less. I would (but probably shouldn’t) say that most boys are going to love them, and some girls may not be very interested in them. Lexie happens to really enjoy playing with them; she has a huge imagination, can focus on one thing for quite some time, and loves to build. They are a learning tool (which is the only reason I was okay with spending so much money on them) I was going to put away and only pull out at certain times, but she enjoys them so much, we keep them out at all times! J.Tom and I both play with them at least once a day with her. And we all share with Max; at 7.5 months old he is learning about shapes too! =)

Right now, Amazon has the 100 piece set for 20 free shipping! I really wish when I’d bought her 38 piece set that they’d had this deal! Apparently, they sell very quickly, and since they are such a hot item, the price sky rockets when you purchase from anyone other than Valtech (through Amazon) because they aren’t always available through them (yes… I did that much research on them before I purchased haha). I paid $50 for the 38 piece set, and would have gotten the 100 piece for $120 if it had been offered at the time; you really need more than 38 pieces to construct really fun, elaborate shapes and “buildings.”

Valtech, the company that makes and sells Magna-Tiles , is also having a promotion through Amazon right now. When you buy the 100 piece set above, you get the Magna Tiles Manipulative Guide free! Just be sure to follow the instructions on how to get it. Rather than show the Guide as “free” and $0 in your cart, it will take a few dollars off everything in your cart until it totals $10 off (which is the cost of the book). The book is a great resource, because there are so many ways to use and create with the Magna-Tiles, you couldn’t possibly think of them all. So the guide helps you be even more creative and intentional during learning.

When you make a purchase following the links in this post, I earn a small amount of money back on your purchase (sometimes only pennies); but this is much appreciated and helps support this blog.

I got the counters (little transparent circles) here.

She enjoys using these with the Magna Tiles. She sorts them by color, puts them inside the boxes and buildings she makes, etc.

I plan on doing many more posts on our fun with the light table. So stay tuned! Also, what kind of fun would you like to see using the light table?

Max Baby Summary: Week 31

by Meghan // April 18, 2013 // Comments off

Max has been very clingy this week. His second tooth is here, and he is chewing like crazy with his side gums, so I am wondering if he is getting more teeth?! But I’m not sure. For the most part this last week was good. Minus the screaming. Oh my! The screaming. And it isn’t screaming like, “Oh, I’m mad so I’m screaming.” Or “feed me now!” (though he does that sometimes while I get a bottle ready.) No, it is just screaming. For FUN. A high pitched “Wheeee!” sounding scream. He was doing this while we ate lunch the other day. Lexie leaned over, put her hand on my forearm and said, “Mama. I do not like that sound.” Oh sweet girl, neither do I! Hopefully he will grow out of it before long.

He is signing milk all the time now. While I make his bottle, that little hand is just going to town signing for “milk.” It’s so sweet. He has been eating okay, but not great. Since the first tooth broke through he has good days and bad; he usually is only taking 4-5ounces, but will finish the rest mixed into cereal. However, because his new meds are working for his reflux, he is able to eat lots of real foods he couldn’t eat before, and now protests plain oatmeal! The boy wants real food. haha So we have been doing lots of avacado, carrots, peas, green beans, pears, apples and blueberries, etc.

His sleep has been better this past week, with only a few short naps. This weekend he had *perfect* sleep. All. Weekend. Long. It was amazing, really. I also found the activity table; it was hidden in the garage. We started using it this past weekend, and he did really well. For a baby who doesn’t seem the least bit interested in crawling or moving around at all, really, he stood up on his own for a long time playing at the table. He hasn’t mastered the art of bending his legs when he falls; so rather than fall onto his bottom … he just topples over like a stiff log. haha He doesn’t think it’s very funny, and usually gets really scared when it happens, so I try to avoid it… but the boy needs to learn how to fall onto his booty. So we are working on bending his knees and bouncing while standing, but those feet are firmly planted; I just don’t think he’s ready for all that yet really.

Considering Mister has been having such good sleep as of late, it is fitting that Lexie has been a little hit or miss. A few weeks ago, she went from not wanting to go to bed at night (read: saying she is tired, wanting to sleep, but also wanting us to pat her or rock her, which we don’t do because she has always gone right to sleep) to sleeping in her rocking chair. For some strange reason she has decided she wants to fall asleep in her rocking chair; and despite our attempts at keeping her in the bed, she gets up. But we have been going in and putting her back in the bed. The craziest part about all of this is she has been NAPPING. Consistently. For an entire week! I think this is partially because she is done teething. All her two year molars are in, and now she is back to eating and sleeping well. We considered taking the rocking chair out of the room, but I think we will just wait and see how long this phase lasts. Maybe she is just ready for a big bed… I am not sure. The 2.5 year mark usually is a developmental milestone for children when you generally see added clinginess, sleep disruptions, and new fears develop. She is definitely more clingy to both JTom and me, and has mentioned being afraid a few different story characters were going to “get me.” We have reassured her nothing is going to get her; she doesn’t mention this at bed time or anything, just sometimes while playing alone in her room.

Moni, Shelby, and Lilly watching us play doll house

Her imagination is wild! We still have engines that are beyond wearing out their welcome. haha I think I tell them things 200 times a day. “Will you tell me engines what I am eating? Will you tell my engines they need to sleep at nap time? Will you tell my engines they need to stay on the swing set and leave Scarlet alone?…..” Oh my. Then, the other night we had dinosaurs. On the ceiling. The engines go everywhere with us; she even includes them in her stories during stretching at gymnastics. They really like the museum. As long as I don’t have to feed them, I guess they can stay. 😉

Right now, Lexie is really into reading her devotional and Bible. I mean … like they are attached at her hip. As a matter of fact, the devotional is falling apart, and she can read every day, word for word, from January until today. Not kidding. That’s what we read for every nap and bedtime. It is her favorite. She is now acting like a little Mama to Max and her dolls. When Max cries she says, “Oh! Let me go see what is wrong to Max. Max, what is wrong to you? Tell me why.” haha I am not sure why she says “to” instead of “what,” but I’m sure she will figure it out soon enough. Her new favorite words are “fantastic!” and “earlier.” Hearing her say earlier is hilarious.

chewing on a pear

dyeing Easter eggs … a week late =/

painting her fingernails

We visited a church this past Sunday. It was really nice; it reminded me of my church growing up, which was a Full Gospel church. This is a non denominational church, it is small but has many young families. I am excited to maybe visit it again this coming Sunday. J.Tom was raised Presbyterian, so it is different than he is used to. But I actually felt like I was in church. For the past 5 years in Hot Springs I just didn’t get what I needed from our church; provided I didn’t give much back to them in way of serving. I never felt like it was home. The sermons were more like the new school way of thinking-motivational sermons or get people involved in serving the church, but let’s not talk about sin, salvation, the devil, or how to grow in Christ. That’s how I felt, anyway. The church we visited Sunday had an amazing sermon, though a little long, and a great worship service. Lexie walked into children’s church like she owned the place. haha She enjoyed herself (although she was supposed to be in the nursery since she isn’t 3 yet..) I don’t know if we will visit a different church this week or try this one again. We will just pray about it and see. We just hope to find a church that gives us what we both need, and that we can be a serve as well.

How did you find your church home? Is it one you grew up in or one you found after marriage, college, children…?

Beans, Beans

by Meghan // April 12, 2013 // Comments off

With Spring in the air, Lexie has bee learning all about plants and how they grow. So, we decided to plant some beans! I wanted her to see how the beans change from a seed to a plant, but didn’t really want to do the baggie thing. SO I did a little googling, and I I found this great idea over at The Imagination Tree. (People like to make fun of my glass jar obsession …) But she used a glass jar and cotton balls to grow beans! Genius! The best part is, it is easy, not messy, and Lexie could do it all on her own.

So I grabbed ~~one of my many jars~~ a jar, and gave her the cotton balls.

She put them in the jar..

Then she added the beans to the side of the jar, so we could see them.

Next we watered the beans. And this is what we have a few weeks later!

The great big bean didn’t do anything for a week, then one morning it had started growing!
It is going at a slower pace than the other.

This one is really taking off, and is probably ready to be planted. I am not sure why it took them 2 weeks to grow this much? They are in an east facing window, so maybe that is why?

Lexie loves telling everyone about her beans, and checking on them every day. She does so good not to touch them, but likes to pick up the jar and stare. =) This was a very fun project for her, and for me!

Hopefully this week/end we are going to get our herb seeds planted!

Our first Before Five in a Row Activities

by Meghan // April 11, 2013 // Comments off

A few weeks ago we began our fun journey with Before Five in a Row. The first story we did was, “Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear?” We bought it from Amazon; you can get it here.

Jesse Bear’s bathtub and rubber ducky counting game

I found a ton of printables online for many of the books. I really like Homeschool Creations. She has a TON of great resources on her sites. Some of the activities are too old for Lexie, like writing her name, or retelling the story. But what I did was asked her how to spell her name, and I wrote it for her. Then she could trace it if she wanted to. I also had her retell the story, and wrote it down for her… She liked all the activities, and every day wanted to know what we were doing next! She doesn’t like to draw pictures, I’m not sure why? She likes to color, but she rarely will just “draw pictures” of things. I know she has the imagination to do it, she doesn’t want to. So I don’t push it. But what she LOVES to do, is just color/scribble on a piece of paper, make marks, etc. then tell me “look, i made a ‘blank.'” Usually it is the letter V, O, I, L, or a number like 7. And she is right, whatever it is looks exactly like what she drew. Maybe a love for drawing will come later.

Lexie now knows all her letter sounds. She still confuses G with J, U and Y … and that’s about it. She likes to walk around while playing and say a letter, then the sound and a bunch of words she knows that have that beginning letter sound. So her conversation (with herself) may sound like this, “B is for /b/, /b/, Bubby. or ball. Or bounce. Or banana. Or bean.” And she will do that with lots of letters. She is definitely going to be my early reader, but I really don’t want her to start too early. Research has shown that early readers don’t progress any faster than a later or “on time” reader. So really, good readers all end up on the same level by the age of 8 or 9. Whether she reads at 4, or 6 doesn’t matter to me, as long as she gets a good, solid foundation she will progress at whatever rate she is developmentally ready for.

Here are some of the activities we rowed for our Jesse Bear week.

This was beginning sounds, and the first sheet we did. Notice how BIG and uncontrolled her circles are on this page, compared to the next page. I gave her “shirt” since it is actually a blend sound /sh/ and chair, since it is also a blend. Towards the end she just wanted to circle all the letters. haha

She was to circle the ending sound. I said the word and the sound like “bear. /r/ /r//” Then she circle what sound she heard at the end. I gave her “rose” because the E is silent

We really enjoyed our first BFIAR book and activities. She LOVES doing them, and I have to distract her when I run out of planned activities for the day, because she just wants to keep doing them. =) She has such a love for learning, and has no idea we are doing “pre-preschool.” I wish I had taken more pictures, and this week I will! We are actually spending more like two weeks on each book, because some days we don’t get to the activities. Some weeks we only do 3-4 days a week, and I don’t like to jump from book to book each week, especially if she is really enjoying it. She likes to read books until she has them memorized, so we take our time with each one. Next we are doing “The Little Bunny.”

Our Learning Room and Routine

by Meghan // April 10, 2013 // Comments off

I’ve really been trying to wait to do this post, because there are a few more things I have on my to do list for this room. But, after uploading some of the pictures, I just can’t wait anymore! I will just do an updated post when I finish my other projects.

As you know we are planning to homeschool for preschool. We have started Before Five in a Row, just for fun to get her introduced to doing some learning activities. I will post what our “learning routine” consists of below. JTom has been just as excited as me to get our room put together. He is all about us learning at home, and having fun. He is amazing and just as excited as I am about teaching Lexie. He has supported me in getting the materials I want/need for the kids, and our learning room. My kids really enjoy learning and I’m considering sending them to www.littlethinkerscenter.com, a place my friend recommended to me. My mom has been a school teacher for 20+ years, and has TONS of great material. I’m so excited she will be retiring in the next few years, and we will get lots of wonderful learning tools then. She has already started helping us on our journey with some reading rods, patterning blocks, etc. Next time I go to Memphis we are going to go through all the older resources she doesn’t use anymore. I can’t wait!

“playing” with the reading rods

Lexie loves playing with these. She connects them, sorts them, reads the letters, says their sound, etc. I don’t really direct her play with the manipulatives. If she asks me to play, which she always does, then I will. But I follow her lead.

making a heart with her blocks

This is our room! Well, part of it. Across from all this is her “pretend play” area. It isn’t completey finished yet, and some things have changes since this picture. The gray filing cabinet came from JTom’s old work; we bought it from them for like $25, I think. It holds all the children’s books that I rotate out. Lexie has been really improving her reading recently so I’m needing to replace easier books with some that are longer. She is a creative child so the main thing that draws her to a book is the one with the best Children’s book illustrations. I have to bear this in mind whenever I’m browsing for new books because I want them to be informative while also being engaging with the pictures. The big cabinet is a china cabinet given to me by my grandmother, it was her mother’s. It holds my teaching books that I find useful, and thematic units that my classmates and I did in college, some of our art supplies, and our BFIAR books I don’t want Lexie reading yet (because I want them to be a surprise when we start them).
In the bottom are my empty binders, folders, and other supplies, along with coloring books. We LOVE doing calendar; it’s our favorite part of the day. The calendar is this one, it came from Amazon and was one of her Christmas gifts. Hanging on the calendar is our ABC bible verses; we do a new one each week. The posters came in a big tote full of thematic units given to me by a friend. The bottom one is an ABC chart, which we do the letter sounds song to. The top is a number chart that goes to 20. Lexie can (usually) successfully count to 16 on her own. The poster to the far right is a diagram of how a bean grows, with pictures of different plants and their seeds. We are currently talking about spring and how plants grow, so this fit perfectly with that.

The rug was for our old house, but not used. Choosing a rug can be quite a difficult task, but we certainly made the right choice. If you’re looking for a new rug but want a few tips before you buy one, visit https://info.bazaarvelvet.com/rug-design-guide-how-to-choose-a-luxury-rug. I have since cleaned it and it works great for our “circle time.” Max usually plays on the quilt while we do calendar, then we read together.

My favorite part of the room (right now) is probably the BIG table! Yes, I know! I love it. I found it on craigslist; the ad had been up for a while and I just knew it was already sold. When I emailed her, she said it wasn’t and to make her an offer! So I did. $40 and a trip to Lincoln later, we have a huge learning table and 4 chairs! It is great for the felt board (as you can see), manipulatives, coloring, puzzles, playing pretend, etc. It is just perfect for Lexie. Lexie likes to pretend it is her eating table after she cooks a delicious meal in her kitchen.

After we get the bathroom put in (not any time soon) and we have access to a sink, we will put a plastic office floor cover under the table and use it for painting and messy play. But with no sink down there, it doesn’t make sense right now. So we do that stuff upstairs.

Here are some more pictures:

I really want to get two of these Closet Maid Cubicles for all our manipulatives, puzzles, and other learning materials. I would pull the table out a bit and put them behind it, but horizontally so Lexie and Max can reach everything.

They also have these awesome drawers that go in them:

I would put a few of the green ones scattered throughout the shelves. All of this isn’t in my budget right now, but in due time. =)

Guest bed area

Pretend play area

On top of the cabinet is our laminator (woo hoo!), the cricut, our weekly binder and our BFIAR journaling binder. In the cabinet are puzzles, manipulatives, small blocks, and lacing cards.

I would like to eventually put everything that’s inside that cabinet on the closet maid cubicles, and put some of my supplies like laminating sheets, cricut cartridges, papers, etc in the cabinet. I have childproof locks for it so it would be off limits for little hands. The big chair doesn’t look in place where it’s at, but it’s perfect for all three of us to cuddle up and read in.
I also want to add one of these in the natural color to hold the books we are currently enjoying:

I am in the process of making something that is very special to our family for the walls. I began my journey as a stay at home mom because I felt truly called by the Lord; I truly felt it was my responsibility as my babies’ mama to raise them, and God just put it in my hear that is where I needed to be. I feel the exact same way about our time spent learning together. Maybe even more so now, than I ever did before. It’s just amazing to be with her when she learns something new, or makes a connection of two different things we have learned, read, or talked about.

A few weeks ago we talked about how God gives us gifts. I asked her an example of a gift God had given us, and she said, “Baby Max! From you belly!” (then proceeded to squish my ~~muffin top~~ belly. Then today it was pouring down rain and sleeting (Yes, in April!) on our way to gymnastics and she said “Rain is a present.” Puzzled, I replied, “a present?” She said, “From God! Thank you God, for the rain,” in the absolute most precious, melt your heart voice. It’s just one way God is working more in my life, to be a leader in hers. I love it, and although it is hard, and many days I feel like a failure, it’s a conversation like this one that reassures me if we keep doing what God is calling us to do, our mistakes will not outweigh the positive imprints we are making each day. So, all that to say, that what I am working on is definitely going to be my favorite part of the room, and a special part.

As we update, rearrange, and organize the room some more, I will do a post. =)

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In the meantime, here is what out “learning routine” looks like.

After breakfast and a few chores, we head downstairs for what Lexie calls, “calendar and activities!” We begin with our Bible verse and a prayer.

I have this http://keepingitpersonal.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/31-Biblical-Virtues-InfoGraphic_8.5×11.pdf which I found over at Raising Godly Children, laminated and hanging next to our calendar. I also have one in my Bible. We pray, then do our ABC Bible verse for the week. Next we sing the days of the week song, months of the year song, and do our calendar. Calendar includes the weather and season; eventually it will include a place value chart like this one. I too is on our wish list.

I plan on adding a few pocket charts for sight words, Bible verses, pictures, and other things we are learning about. The great things about pocket charts is you can change out whatever you need to, and it is always there for the children’s reference when they need it.

Anyway, after calendar we do the number chart, ABC chart, and talk about the seed diagram (which I will change out for something else when we are done talking about spring and seeds growing). Then it is time for reading! Lexie’s second favorite part… she gets to choose if she sits in the floor, in my lap, or if we all snuggle in the big chair. She really likes to sit in the floor with Max. I let her play with the blocks or hold something in her hands. It helps her sit still and she soaks in every word. The second time we read a book, she can fill in random words all throughout. We read our BFIAR book for the week, and a 2 other books that go with what we have been learning about. So this week it is “The Little Rabbit,” “The Tiny Seed,” and “Ping Pong Pig.”

Then she practices her gymnastics (mainly to get the wiggles out for the rest of our morning …) This includes tip toeing, walking backwards, forward rolls, hopping, skipping, galloping, bear walking, kicking, walking on her heels, cartwheels, frog hopping, walking side ways, running, back bends, bridges, hand stands on the wall, etc. After that she gets a sticker, picks a special toy or book if she wants, and it is time for independent play! Whew, you tired yet? 😉

(in there somewhere, Max goes down at 8:50 for nap- sometimes we are done with “learning time,” sometimes we put him down and go back downstairs to finish.)

She does independent play in her room for 45min-1hr. During that time I pay bills, prep dinner if it’s a crockpot night, do laundry or other chores, take a shower … just whatever needs to be done that morning.

So, we don’t do her BFIAR activities until the afternoon, usually. Sometimes we may do a few things before gymnastics practice, but usually we do it after nap (so between 2-3pm). This isn’t ideal, but for now it’s what works. I can usually do a few things with her, then she has a game or coloring she can do quietly on her own. This is time that I pick up, do something with dinner, play with Max one on one, etc. Lately we have been doing some Bible reading from our family Bible; it was given to J.Tom and I when we got married by my Granny and Grandpa (thank you!). It has been in it’s box in the China cabinet for a long time. We each had our own Bible that we made notes in, etc. Now I am so excited to share our family Bible with the kids! Lexie really likes reading from it. I haven’t found just the perfect place in our day to do this on a daily basis. I would really like to do it at breakfast and then one other time in the day… we are just going to play around with it and see.

And that’s it! That is how we use our learning area and play room! We don’t do that every single day, probably 3-4 times a week. But I can tell you, our day (Lexie’s behavior) is MUCH better when we start off with this routine. I guess it gives her brain the stimulation it needs, her the attention she needs, and the fun she needs at the beginning of the day. On days we don’t do it, she is like a little wild animal all day. She definitely enjoys the play, learning, and structure of it all. And I feel very blessed to be part of it. =)

Max Baby Summary: 29/30 weeks

by Meghan // April 9, 2013 // Comments off

Wow, I know. I’m behind… Max is now 7 months old/31 weeks. This is the update for his last (month) week, which was 30weeks old/the week he turned 7 months.

We have two teeth! The first one was his bottom center right, and it came in about a week ago. 3 days later the left tooth came through. The left one seems to really be bothering him today; he’s been pulling on his ears and chewing his fingers … but of course he hurts himself now when he chews them because there are teeth in there! Haha! It won’t be long before we will have to make a dentist appointment for him; he’s growing up so fast. I want to make sure that for his first dentist visit, we go somewhere who offer Children’s Dentistry as at least that way they know how to properly treat young children so that they are used to going to the dentist and not scared, (like I am). My friend takes her children to this Dentist in Sarasota, which is where they live, and they are supposed to be very good in treating children. So, I think I may look for a dentist local to us that offers a similar service so that his first visit is a good one.

He is sitting up all the time by himself (that actually started about a month ago). He is much more balanced. I noticed when Lexie was his age, in the middle of April she was pulling up on things and turning herself around while sitting. I’m wondering if it is harder for him because we have carpet now? Lexie had hardwood floors to spin on. If Max were sitting on hardwood floors, then everytime he leans over or reaches for something he would realize, ‘Hey, I can move!” haha I may get the foam ABC mat out that Lexie used and put it down instead of the quilt they play on.. But I’m not sure how well it will work on carpet.

He is babbling a LOT! Lexie taught him to say “dadadadadada” a few weeks ago. I’ve been working with him to say “dada” when JTom comes home or is holding him. Two days ago, the boy looked at his daddy and said, “dada,” then when JTom didn’t say anything back Max said, “dada,” until his daddy replied. Then he just beamed! JTom was very proud. =) So we are pretty well convinced he knows JTom is DaDa. He has a few other babble sounds he makes and is so proud of himself. Max is also signing for milk. He signs it when he is waiting for me to make his bottle, when I sign it to him, while he is drinking his bottle… so next we are going to do “more” and “please.”

He is wearing 12 month clothes (he has a few 9mo that he can wear). About 5 days ago, he woke up and had a head full of hair?! Prior to that he had a “mohawk.” Then 2 days ago he woke up with lighter hair! It’s crazy how babies literally change over night! His eyes … well I am going to let you decide from the pictures. I really don’t know. The centers look light green, but overall they’re just really blue.

Max’s 6 month dr apt went well. He started a new medicine, I think it is prilosec for babies. They compound it at the pharmacy. The taste is terrible so he has a hard time swallowing it (even with added flavoring) but it has helped tremendously! He went from barely eating and taking bottles to eating a LOT more! I think he has gained 5 lbs in the last 3 weeks. haha He has been eating peas, green beans, carrots, apples, apples w blueberries, and avacado with no problems. Bananas constipated him for a day or so, so he hasn’t had them anymore. But there have been no problems with anything else as far as reflux goes! What a blessing and answered prayer.

His sleep has finally gotten a little better for naps, and here is what his routine looks like:
6:45/7:15 wake
7:00/7:15 up, medicine, eat
7:45 independent play in pack n play
8:00/8:15 go downstairs to do calendar and activities with Lexie
8:50 wind down for nap
8:55-9 asleep (usually a 1hr10min-1.5hr nap)
10:15-10:45 wake up
11:00/11:15 eat, play
12:30-1:00 down for nap; we do 12:30 if he was SUPER tired from a short first nap, but 1:00 if not
2:00-3:00 wake up; time depends on what time he went down for second nap. (Usually a 1hr10min-1.5hr nap)
3:00 eat, play
sometimes he takes a cat nap (he is in the process of dropping this nap)
Ideally, his dinner is 6:00, bedtime is 7pm
On days he doesn’t get good sleep (usually if naps are interrupted it’s with a poopy diaper, or we go to the library for story time…) then we do bedtime an hour early, so asleep at 6pm. That helps his catch up on sleep, and keeps him from getting in an over tired cycle which can take weeks for a small child to get out of.

Lexie is doing great. She still enjoys gymnastics, and has all her “imaginary” friends. We read Goldilocks and the Three Bears, along with Billy Goats Gruff and the Three Little Pigs recently … now everything is a “daddy fill in the blank” “mommy fill in the blank,” or a “baby/Lexie fill in the blank.” Obviously this goes according to size of said object. =)

reading

She started letting me wash her hair in the kitchen sink, so hair washing and bath time are no longer a fight. She was doing great, and then about 4(?) or so weeks ago, it became an absolute screaming, tearful battle to get her in the tub so I could wash her hair. She doesn’t like teh water to get in her ears or eyes. Of course we did EVERYTHING to prevent this, but when
she is screaming and moving around, it becomes impossible to keep the water only on her hair …. After I convinced her the kitchen sink would be fun, and that my Memaw washed my hair in the kitchen sink, she was okay with it. =)

Two weekends ago, Spring hit Nebraska. Although this coming week is supposed to be stormy and cold, the last two weeks have been warm and sunny. We don’t do the Easter Bunny, so Lexie got a spring basket with some new learning toys and a few necessities. We gave her a Thomas the Engine (electric) toothbrush, some new PJs, new dry erase markers for her dry erase board, a pair of fiskar kid’s scissors, and some accessories for her light table. (The light table is a whole other post! Look for it later this week or next!)

She also got her first real kite! In Nebraska it is very windy, and out where we live used to be cornfields, so there are no big trees around the house, they are all a street over at the park and school. So it’s the perfect place to fly a kite. She had so much fun!

In many of the pictures I am posting, the grass was just barely turning green, now it is all green and trees have started budding and blooming(?). Our garden season is off from the south by about a month, so we don’t need to get anything in the ground for a few more weeks, at the latest May 1st.

JTom has been traveling some with work. He went to Milan, Italy last week. He brought back three bottles of Italian wine and some parmesean cheese. I still haven’t tasted the Italian wine, but I am sure it will be great. The cheese … well it’s good! =) In Italy they put (very expensive) balsamic vinegar on a little piece (like a cube) or parmesean cheese and eat it. So when we went to Grand Island last weekend we got some of the good, “gourmet” (though no expensive…) balsamic vinegar and tried it on the cheese. YUM! New favorite snack, for sure.
He brought back some “monies from Italy” for Lexie and she was beyond pleased. haha I got a beautiful rosary, and the wine.

Turkey season in Nebraska has opened, so JTom may be hunting Saturday. He joined a hunting lease here, that covers hunting land all over Nebraska, and in other states as well. I told him if he brings home meat so I don’t have to buy nasty store meat, it will be worth it. He said “it’s called hunting, not killing. I can’t promise I will bring anything home.” So, we will see if we end up w a turkey in the freezer. =)

We have started planning our garden. We know we are going to get in tomatoes and maybe a few other things. We have to get the fence done soon, hopefully in the next few weeks. All of the pictures below are from March, so they are actually a few weeks old, or older. You will notice Max’s hair isn’t very thick. Look at his hair and fat rolls in the next posts with pictures! It’s crazy how quickly they change.

reading to Bubby

Mister Bear playing in the bath

reading her Bible to Max

I love to be upside down

new outfit

playing outside in the dirt

Happy Bear

Angel Baby

just minding my own business…..

Until now ….

picnic outside

happy bear

Mister outside in the exersaucer

Hi Mama- look at me!

Sensory and Exploration Fun: Water Beads!

by Meghan // March 25, 2013 // Comments off

So … in the blogging world of preschool, home school, and public school there are these marvelous little things called “water beads.” They are non toxic and meant to be used in flower arrangements. But, lo and behold, they make fabulous fun for children. (and mamas… and probably daddies and grandparents too.) You can get them relatively cheap, these are like the ones we use:

I wasn’t sure what or how to do them… So I sorta winged it. The water beads start out like this:

Ours came in a plastic bag. That little bag, which you can only partially see, can take an entire gallon of water! I used maybe a fourth a gallon of water on ours, and you will see how big they became…

I started out by letting her touch the hard plastic beads. We talked about what they felt like, and compared them to other things in the kitchen.

Then we added water! I asked her what she thought would happen if we added water. She said “oh, I don’t know?” So, of course, we added water to see what would happen!

After we added the water, we let them sit a while. The above picture was probably after a few hours…

At this point I let her touch them and see if they seemed different. Of course they were, they were no longer tiny and hard, they were bigger and squishier!

Not so sure…

“OK, I’m getting the hang of it, these aren’t so bad!”

At this stage, the beads were not yet expanded all the way, so they felt like they had little edges all over them, like a squishy golf ball.

Later that afternoon:

Here’s where the real fun begins! This is after 4-5 hours. The beads have absorbed most of the water, but are still slippery to the touch. When I asked if we should check on our beads, she said “oh yes!” First, I asked what they felt like now, were they bigger or smaller than before, etc. Then I asked her where all the water went … she replied “Oh! It’s in the beads!!! The water is in the beads!” She was SO excited.

I gave her some measuring/prep bowls, a strainer and let her go to town.

She seriously had so much fun! Here she was lining them up.

oooh- big mess!

She decided she needed to put her feet in, “Can I put my feet in? Oooh, what does it feel like?” —yes>

Later that afternoon, Piglet needed to take a dive in the water beads.

Then, by her suggestion, we needed to add water!

Have to try a piece of ice

yum!

oooh, let’s put our feet in the water beads with the ice!

Scooping, pouring, do it again!

I’m not kidding when I say she did this for hours. These are a great learning tool, and of course it’s just fun for kids.

Just FYI: these cannot go down the drain or in the washing machine! They can hold SO much water and will clog your drains.**

To dry them out, spread them out on a cookie sheet (or something similar) where they have plenty of room for the moisture to evaporate. Then put them in a bag to reuse them! The instructions that came with ours say they can be reused for up to two years.

JTom is building Lexie a light table soon (hopefully by Easter)- Woo hoo! And these are going to be SO much fun on it!

Sensory and Exploration Fun: Oobleck

by Meghan // March 23, 2013 // Comments off

Oobleck, or Ooblick is a lot of fun. We have done it before, but Lexie was much smaller and it wasn’t very successful. I believe the idea came from a Dr. Seuss book. We did it when I worked at an early learning program in AR. It was so much fun, even the teachers looked forward to the days we did Oobleck.

Here is the recipe we used in case you would like to try it:
1 part water
1.5-2 parts cornstarch

Yep. That’s it! I lean towards the bit more water side of things, I think it makes the sensory part more appealing and easier for little hands. It is actually a good therapy for increasing muscle strength in hands for people of any age. When you grab oobleck, you can ball it up into a thick, almost powdery …. something. I’m not sure how to describe it! But when you let it lay open on your hand it becomes a liquid Hrm. Ok, I don’t know how to explain what it is, so we will show you. This was by far Lexie’s favorite “at-ivity” yet!