Learning in the Dragon's Lair

Out With The Old

2011-01-03T16:48:00.000-08:00

and in with the new. Our blog is moving. Please join us at

Learning in the Woolly Dragon's Lair

I haven't gotten around to posting there yet, hopefully soon.

Tot School Advent Calendar

2010-12-05T19:41:00.000-08:00

Xander is 22 months old.

We didn't do any real Tot School activities this week. We did read a lot of books, played with Playdoh, and colored (a lot, he's really into coloring now). I had made an advent countdown and each day we've been doing an activity. So far we've:

Read a Christmas book with Grandma
Made a paper chain.
Read a Christmas book with Daddy
Made Christmas trees decorated with paper dots.

The book Ryan read him was A Wish for Wings that Work by Berkley Breathed. Our copy has a note written in it from Ryan to me, it was a gift for our 2nd Christmas together. At this age Xander didn't really enjoy the book, maybe next year. Our Christmas tree craft isn't actually tree shape yet, the glue had to dry last night and we've been busy running errands all day today. Today's activity is to watch Daddy's favorite Christmas movie with him (A Nightmare Before Christmas by Tim Burton).

Xander is becoming much more talkative lately. His favorite word is "car" and now that he sits facing forward in the car (he got a new car seat last week) he spends trips pointing out all the cars. He also lines up his toys and has them have conversations. After I hung the paper chain (lazily flinging it over our leaf garland that has been hanging in the living room for since last year!) he sat underneath it and had Mozart and Shaggy Dog (2 of his stuffies) have a conversation (still mostly just babbling) about the chain. I love this new talking Xander! He's even said "Momma" a few times, just melts my heart.

He's also started saying the second syllable of apple, instead of just aaa. Of course, he's calling a tomato apple but so did European botanists when they first saw them. He just loves tomatoes, eating a whole one just like an apple.

That was our week, to see what other tots are doing visit Tot School. Thanks for stopping by.

Paper Chain

2010-12-02T15:05:00.000-08:00

Today's countdown activity was to make a paper chain. I cut construction paper into strips with the plan being that Xander and I would decorate them and then make them into a chain. I should have just had Xander draw on sheets of paper and then cut that into strips-- would have been much easier, it was really hard for Xander to draw on the tiny strip!

I thought it would be fun for Xander to try pastels today--- big mistake. He totally lost interest in making the chain and was much more fascinated with trying to remove the pastels from their box and then put them back in, over and over. We did get a small paper chain made and I now have tons of paper strips ready for some other craft!

The last two photos are Xander having a fit because I told him that the stapler was "no touch" and the next one was taken a few seconds later, showing how fast he gets over being upset. He has lots and lots of tantrums but they're almost always very short lived. Oh my, I just noticed that the photos show the destruction in the living room. It was all clean a few hours ago! I wish I could just wriggle my nose and "poof" have a clean house like on Bewitched!

Our Advent Calendar

2010-12-01T16:36:00.000-08:00

I wanted to make a countdown activity for Xander so that the holiday season is full of fun things to do and not just focused on the presents on the 25th. That isn't really a problem now, this is only Xander's 2nd Christmas, but this is something I want to do as a tradition every year-- plus it's a fun way to make sure I get through my to do list with him this month!

We actually have a cloth wall hanging advent calendar that has ornaments in each pocket that you can hang on the tree but using that involves a) getting the ornaments out before December 1st and b) having a tree. While I do want to get the ornaments out this weekend and hang some of our holiday gear I am not an early tree person. I have a total phobia of the tree getting too dry and burning down the house. We put the tree up mid month and I almost always take it down the day after Christmas.

I've seen lots of beautiful countdown crafts around the web, I think my favorite was some lovely sewn mittens that hold notes but seeing as it was November 30th and I hadn't sewn them that wasn't going to happen this year. :D Then I saw the perfect easy countdown for us on By Sun and Candlelight. She used foam trees and tacked them to a bulletin board, I'm not comfortable having the pushpins around Xander so I thought I'd add magnets to the back and put them on the fridge. I couldn't find any foam trees but I did find a package of snowflakes-- perfect! I numbered the fronts, attached self-adhesive magnets to the back, and wrote our holiday activity on the back. I'm actually going to be writing the activities the night before so that I know what our plans for the day are and make sure that we have the supplies.

Our first activity was read a Christmas book with Grandma. Xander was really excited to be held up to the fridge to take down the snowflake, less excited to hand it to Grandma to read the back! He'd start to hand it to her and then pull away. Finally she got him to let her read it.

They read the Christmas Cat by Efner Tudor Holmes and illustrated by Tasha Tudor, I was given this book one Christmas when I was a child and have always loved it.

In the second photo he is pointing out the owl in the illustrations, still loves owls! After my Mom finished reading him this book he ran over to get Go Away, Big Green Monster! for her to read. We still have it checked out from the library and he has asked to be read it every single day!

I just love their expressions as they are telling the monster to "Go Away!"

Our activity tomorrow is to make a paper chain. I'm going to cut the paper into strips tonight and then have Xander draw and maybe paint some of them before we staple them into loops and make a chain to decorate the living room and then later the tree. To get ideas for your own holiday activity list visit The Activity Mom and Confessions of a Homeschooler. There are a lot of crafts on my want to do list, I'll have to sort through them and see which Xander would most likely want to do. Other things on the list are

decorate the tree
make an easy gingerbread house (I remember making one using graham crackers as a little kid)
Skype with Grandma and Grandpa Williams (and maybe some aunts & uncles & cousins too)
have hot chocolate with marshmallows-- I really want to try this with Xander but we'll have to call it something other than hot or he'll just refuse to try it and keep blowing on it even once its all cold!
make cut out cookies and decorate them
maybe go see the Zoolights
watch some of the older stop motion Christmas movies
watch (the animated) and read the How the Grinch stole Christmas

and many, many more activities. Really need to thin the list. But now I have to finish this as Xander has become bored with his activity of writing on a white board and then washing it up.

Tot School Snow!

2010-11-28T22:51:00.000-08:00

Xander is 22 months old.

We had a snow week! This was Xander's first real snow. It snowed the year he was born, and then again a little snow last year, but this week we had real snow and Xander was old enough to go out in it. I know that in other parts of the country the few inches we got is nothing, but here in western Washington that amount of snow shuts everything down. We just don't have the snow plows and sand trucks to keep the roads clear and lets face it, no one here can drive in the snow! So Ryan was home from work and we all went out and played in the snow.

We don't have a snowsuit for Xander so we put plastic bags over his legs and then a pair of Ryan's socks over those to help make him more waterproof. Oh, and a pair of Xander's socks for mittens-- where do you find mittens his size?

Xander was rather puzzled by the snow but really liked it when Ryan threw snowballs to our dog McCoy.

Notice that Poppy Seed stayed at the edge of the house where there was no snow--- she doesn't like it. Neither do our chickens, they refused to come out of the coop until the last day when the snow was melting away.

Other than fun in the snow we had a lazy week here, he mainly read and drew and played with his toys. To see what other tots are doing visit Tot School. Thanks for stopping by.

Tot School Green Monsters

2010-11-21T21:58:00.000-08:00

Xander is 22 months old.

This week we were working with monsters and the color green. Our theme was built around the book Go Away, Big Green Monster! by Ed Emberley.

This is a GREAT book! Xander just loves it, and it was just what I was looking for to reinforce the names of the parts of the face. After reading the book we colored monster faces printed out from the author's website.

I cut out the faces and then glued them onto lunch bags to make puppets. We've played with them throughout the week. One is now missing the hair since Xander decided to tear it all off while saying "broke" each time-- yippee a new word!

To learn about the color green and just to have fun we participated in Muffin Tin Monday and had a green lunch.

Xander loves GRAPES!

Monday evening Xander helped me make some short-cut pumpkin cookies. If this were a decade ago I would call these "muffin top" cookies, because they were soft and tasted like a yummy muffin, but that term has a whole different unappetizing meaning nowadays. They were very easy to make, and called for ingredients you can keep in your pantry, and tasted very yummy but they did get a sticky texture the next day so I recommend making them when you have enough people to go through them quickly. Xander really liked these cookies and he's a VERY picky eater so that's really saying something.

Eating while totally fascinated watching Mickey and the Beanstalk on YouTube.

I printed out and laminated (yep, FINALLY used my laminator!) the Happy Monsters Tot Pack from 1+1+1=1. There is a puzzle, pattern matching, size sequencing, shape recognition, and counting cards (I think I listed everything). Most of the cards can be used in several different ways. Xander is really not ready for most of this stuff, which meant that a lot of it wasn't used this week but that this Tot Pack will be useful for a long time to come.

The puzzle interested him but it was a little to difficult for him at this point. He does NOT like it when I try to show him how things match. He did enjoy talking about the shapes and counting the monsters eyes but his favorite thing was the size sequencing monsters (which I strangely have NO photos of!). This was really the first time we talked about size this way and at first he didn't seem to understand but by the end of the week he did seem to be figuring it out. What he really loved was playing with these monsters! I printed out a book using text from Learning and Teaching with Preschoolers and a web ap to print out a stapleless book. In the space under the text I used colored pens to write the number (matching the colors to the colors of the size sequencing monsters -- if I'd done this on purpose I'd have done the largest monsters color first and then gone down in size but it was purely coincidental that the colors matched). He loved it when I read our book of the Five Little Monsters and acted out the parts with the laminated monsters. We did this over and over.

He also really loved the Shape Monster book that I made him. I saw it on Motherhood Moments. Xander really loves it when I said, "munch, munch, munch". For some reason he found that really funny.

But the best part of this entire weeks theme has been the velcro Big Green Monster face I made for him. I printed out the face and laminated it, then cut it all up and used self adhesive velcro (that my Mom stopped and got for me since I kept FORGETTING it!-- thank you Mom!) to attach the different parts of the monsters face. It was Xander's first experience with velcro but once he got the hang of it he loved playing with this face.

We were going to finish up our Green Monster week with green soup and monster cupcakes. The yummy (but very healthy tasting) vegetable soup was made and the cupcakes made but never decorated because Xander fell asleep before dinner last night and was out for the whole evening. 2 vaccinations in 2 days had just worn the poor guy out. He has since eaten cupcakes but I never did get around to making them into monsters, sort of ran out of oomph.

This week we also got out our Thanksgiving Kit from Time for Tots. And by "got out" I mean EVERYTHING! Xander didn't just do some of the activities, he opened every single bag and played with everything all over my office. I spent a long time this morning collecting everything and getting it packed back together. He had a lot of fun. We also made our Thanksgiving cards for the grandparents and great grandparents using a printout from Color with Leo.

We had a lot of fun this week, thanks for stopping by! To see what other tots are doing stop by Tot School.

Strider Bike Giveaway

2010-11-16T14:13:00.000-08:00

One of the things we've looked at getting for Xander (possibly for his 2nd birthday but more likely in the spring) is a Strider Running Bike. They look like such a great way to learn how to balance and prepare for bike riding. Right now The Simple Things is hosting a giveaway for a Strider bike. Go on over and enter to win.

Muffin Tin Monday

2010-11-15T13:29:00.000-08:00

This week for Tot School our theme is based on the book Go Away, Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley. We're doing activities with monsters and with the color green. I was planning on doing a green lunch but I don't have a 6 section muffin pan. Then at the store they had these free (with purchase of Jello) holiday Jello molds and they even had them in green! Perfect size for toddler servings! I realize that traditionally holiday molds wouldn't go with a monster theme but I'm telling you the giant Santa head (no body!) was rather monstrous!

Xander was very happy to find out that there were grapes for lunch. Along with the grapes we had steamed broccoli, steamed asparagus, spinach tortilla wrap with baby spinach, ham, and cheese, and for dessert there was pistachio pudding. Xander ate grapes, broccoli, and pudding. I didn't expect him to try the wrap but I hoped he'd try the asparagus because I think he'll really like it.

To see what is in other family's muffin tins visit Muffin Tin Mom. Thanks for stopping by.

Toy Giveaway at the Taffy Pull

2010-11-14T20:57:00.000-08:00

I know, short notice, but My Life on the Taffy Pull is having a toy give away. It ends tonight so hurry on over there for your chance to win.

Tot School

2010-11-14T15:00:00.000-08:00

Xander 22 months old.

I said last week that we didn't make any Tot School plans because Ryan was hopefully taking vacation days and we might be busy doing stuff. Well, he took vacation and sick days because he got hit with a tummy bug, so we didn't go out and do anything (it was rainy most of the time anyways) but we did have a lot of fun staying in.

This week:

Xander read a lot of books and had a lot of books read to him.
We set up his train track for him (he can play with it anytime but he isn't able to make the track do a figure 8 on his own) a couple of days.
He drew lots of pictures with both crayon and pen (before he didn't like using the crayons).
He played with Playdoh and I don't think he tried to eat any this time.
He went for a long walk with Ryan.
He worked on his number puzzle several times and his shape puzzle too.
While doing the shape puzzle he said "door" for the first time pointing at the door in the puzzle and then our front door!
He has become MUCH more cooperative about diaper changes! Instead of running and hiding and throwing tantrums most of the time this week he has come over and sat down in front of us for the diaper change!
He watched the entire Toy Story 3 movie though he didn't get emotionally invested in it, unlike his Mom who sobbed when the toys weren't loved anymore.


Here he is saying "car" and when he finished this puzzle he said "door" for the first time. (the yellow around his mouth is from a pen-- he's still not so great about remembering pen goes on paper ONLY!)


Xander reading one of his library books (I'm not sure why he put the happy face stickers in his hair).

Here's some video of him reading that book to himself (Duck in the Truck by Jez Alborough). He's saying, "a car" over and over. I was holding my webcam as far as the cord would allow to film him reading in his little corner of my office.

To see what other tots are doing please visit Tot School. Thanks for stopping by.

Tot School No, Stop, Not That!

2010-11-07T18:04:00.000-08:00

Xander is 21 months old.

As I said in last weeks post I didn't have anything planned for this week, which meant not much got done. Or at least not much in the way of planned activities. We colored, read books, and played a lot. Xander has defeated the locks on our baby gates, Ryan added a new one to the area where my computer is but Xander quickly figured out how that lock works too. So I've been trying to make my "office" area more Xander friendly. I've set up a little corner for him with his chair and a little stool as a table, a book case for his library books. The problem is this is my office area and crafting area, I have all these little plastic drawer units and Xander keeps emptying them. I thought he'd learn to stick to one drawer and the others were off limits (he's done real good with the dvd shelf we moved back into the living room) but that hasn't happened. So it's been a week of constant "no" this and "no" that and I'd really like to move on from this but unfortunately our house didn't miraculously grow more storage so I'm just going to have to wait it out until Xander can learn--- my head might explode before then though.

I read this great blog post this week about seeing everything that's happening instead of just what you're looking for (in this case Xander's annoying behavior), so I am trying to be aware of the good things Xander does. Which is hard when you're trying to write a blog post and have a killer head ache and he keeps trying to get in the drawer with the paints and you keep saying no and his response is to scream at the top of his lungs. Deep breath!

Some really cute Xander things:

He now has two Tummy Tickler juice bottles, Toby the Tram and Thomas the Tank Engine. He's been playing with the bottles-- bashing them into each other, making them race, having them "talk" to each other. It's very cute.

One of the words he says now is "clock", unfortunately the L sound is missing and scales at the grocery store are round with numbers all around. Picture a crowded bulk food aisle and a toddler pointing and screeching "cock, cock". (pause while we wait for my sister to pick herself up off the floor where she has fallen overcome with laughter) I kept saying to him (loudly), "it sure does look like a clock but it's a scale!".

He also likes to say "car" now and wants to stop and point at every single one. Which makes walking through parking lots a very slow activity.

The other day he was tired and cranky so I told him to get in his bed and go night-night and HE DID!

He's pretty good about putting things back where they belong-- when he feels like it. Most the time he just leaves a wake of destruction in his path but sometimes he surprises me by putting the books back on the shelf or a toy in it's place.

The other day he put some of his stuffed animals on the shelf and then would walk past them and wave and say bye-bye to them.

Didn't actually plan for this coming week, sorta on purpose as Ryan has extra days off so depending on the weather we might be going places or doing stuff around the property. Some upcoming theme ideas are going to be about Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? and I want to do something with the parts of the face. He used to be really good about pointing to the correct part but now he calls everything "eye" so I'd like to work on that. Any book or activity suggestions? (Other than Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes cause he doesn't seem to like that book right now.)

So that's what we're up to, check what other tots are doing by visiting Tot School.

Oh yeah, another great thing about Xander at this age is you can gift shop for him and he is clueless! He sat on my lap as I purchased train stuff off of ebay and he'd be excited at seeing a train he recognized but it won't spoil his Christmas and Birthday. I also got him the cutest outfit for Christmas day-- corduroy pants with a matching red sweater with a train on it and this adorable super hero pajama set (with cape) for his birthday--- he was right there while I bought them and didn't notice a thing! I'm pretty sure that won't be the case next year!

Tot School Pumpkins

2010-11-01T14:40:00.000-07:00

Xander is 21 months old.

We've had a couple weeks of a really nasty cold. I'd like to say that we still got a lot accomplished and worked on activities that I had planned but that would be a lie. We lay around and watched a lot of tv and went through boxes of tissue! We did make pumpkin cards to send, which I didn't get a photo of, read a lot of pumpkin books, which I didn't take photos of. Sigh. Of the pumpkin books we checked out of the library my favorites were Too Many Pumpkins by Linda White and Pumpkin Jack by Will Hubbell.

We didn't make the pumpkin calzones that I'd planned for dinner one night but we did have pumpkin pie (though Xander now doesn't like it and refused to even taste it!) and we also had baked apple mini-doughnuts which Xander does like to eat.

We enjoyed the pie even if Xander won't try it.

A big change in Xander's drawing, he now covers the entire piece of paper and turns it over to draw more. One evening Ryan was working at the table with his laptop and Xander was drawing next to him and he covered 6 pages front and back and spent about half an hour drawing. His drawings are still just squiggly lines, no actual shapes, but before he'd only draw in one little area (I'd rotate the paper so he'd cover the whole sheet) and he'd want to stop after only a short time. This was a big change.

On Halloween Xander and Ryan made jack o' lanterns and Xander got to wear his new costume/pajamas (we didn't go out). He loves his new pj's, they really glow in the dark! And he loved the plastic jack o' lantern that was supposed to hold treats for our visitors (we only had one!) so I ended up putting the candies in a paper bag so Xander could play with the pumpkin.

Didn't get around to planning anything for this coming week or ordering any books from the library (I even made our menu and shopping list in the car on the way to the grocery store yesterday) so I'm not sure what this first week of November will bring. And on that gloomy note (sorry, this cold really just wiped me out and has left me in a gloomy mood- must feel better and get cheerful!) check out what other tots have been doing by visiting Tot School.

Tot School Autumn Leaves

2010-10-17T13:19:00.000-07:00

Xander is 21 months old.

This week started off with a visit from Ryan's folks and a trip to the zoo. We really had a fun time at the zoo, this time we didn't bring the stroller and Xander did really well walking everywhere. Took a few spills towards the end when he was getting tired. All that walking wore him out, he was sound asleep before we left the parking lot to drive home!

We were focusing on leaves this week. I had placed some books on hold from the library about leaves and then Ryan surprised us with some chicken books (he's the manager of a library).

Of the books about leaves my favorite was Leaves by David Ezra Stein. The illustrations in Fletcher and the Falling Leaves by Julia Rawlinson are lovely but the story was too long to hold Xander's interest, maybe next year. I also really enjoyed Leaf Man by Lois Elhert but Xander did not get the leaf pictures at all. His favorite book about leaves was Fall Leaves by Don L. Curry, he really liked the actions and I'm thinking about using our leftover tissue paper leaves (from last weeks art project) to recreate some of the actions, the huge mess I can foresee is making me pause though. Actual leaf play in our yard is NOT going to happen, we have dogs and free range chickens and ewww, I'll stick with tissue paper leaves. I'm sure our small flock helped to make the Big Chickens books by Leslie Helakoski such a huge hit with Xander but I think even non-chicken owning kids would love these, they were great fun to read.

Speaking of our chickens, helping to carry their food is one of Xander's chores. It is very hard for him to carry the big container of chicken feed but he is so proud doing it. He also likes to toss them their cracked corn in the yard or dry cereal out our slider door. Next year I am hoping to fence the chickens away from the house, especially the patio and glass door but for now they love to come visit us (if only they were potty trained!). Xander and the chickens sat down for a snack one day, both eating cheerios-- just on opposite sides of the glass door.

Our order from Time for Tots came at the end of last week (very fast!) and one night I pulled out some of the activities to play with Xander. I ordered the Thanksgiving Kit and quite a few of the activities fit our leaf week just perfect.

Xander still can't work tongs but that doesn't stop him from trying.

He was not happy when Mommy suggested he use his fingers to transfer the leaves.

Playing with the leaf letters that spell his name.

They made Xander very excited!

Matching the small objects to the big pictures.

The apple made Xander very happy.

And then very confused, can I eat it?

Little apple!

Goes on BIG apple!

Corn, I picked ears of corn at Grandma and Grandpa's!

Absolutely no number understanding at this point but he thinks the glass beads are neat!

Very unhappy when Mommy said it was quitting time!

While doing the sorting with the big laminated apple Xander started saying apple, well, all he says is aaaa but he's been consistent about aaaa for apple all week now.

We also baked leaf cookies this week. I cheated and bought the refrigerated sugar cookie dough and totally spaced buying colored sugar to sprinkle on top. Xander didn't quite grasp the concept of cutting out the cookies-- he'd just smack the cookie cutter down in the same area over and over so I had to be quick to grab out the cookies once he'd cut them. The cookies turned out yummy even without frosting or sprinkles and I'd include a photo of us eating them but they were gone before I thought of that. (what, don't you bake in just your undies?)

21 months has been a time of talking and eating, he's really improved in both. He's tried to say quite a few new words and his willingness to eat seems to be improving every day! Unfortunately it is also been a time of conquering baby gates--- nothing can hold the Xander Bear back.

That was our fun week, unfortunately it is ending with a sick weekend as we're all coming down with a cold (aaachooo!). To see what other tots are doing visit Tot School.

At The Zoo

2010-10-11T20:03:00.000-07:00

We went to the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium today with Ryan's parents. It was another wonderful trip there. It was very empty early on a Monday morning (holiday too), we pretty much had the little kids play area to ourselves. Ryan and Xander climbed on the play structures and took many trips down the slide. Ryan even lifted Xander onto the slide partway up so he could go down by himself, his first time.

The aquarium sections are amazing, Xander loved watching the fish swim by. We went into the ocean discovery center where you can touch animals from tide pools and they had a craft to make otter puppets (we didn't do that). Xander was very unsure about touching the sea creatures but he did it with Daddy's help.

We loved seeing all the animals, we got to watch them feed the walruses-- Xander got scared by their sounds. I think my favorite part was when we looked at the owls and Xander kept saying "whoo, whoo", very sweet. Xander's favorite animal to see this time were the crows, he just loved pointing them out. Favorite zoo photos:

Love Bite

Tiny Cub, Big Yawn

Grandma and Grandpa Williams, Ryan and Xander (shouldn't of had them facing the sun!)

Magnetic Jack-O'-Lantern

2010-10-11T06:18:00.000-07:00

I mentioned in the last Tot School Post that I made a magnetic Jack-O'-Lantern for Xander and then I didn't include any photos! I followed the directions on Disney Family Fun site. I'm thinking of making a magnetic Christmas tree-- or maybe just a regular paper tree taped onto the fridge and magnetic ornaments. Larger ornaments that he can't put in his mouth. That's been the problem with the Jack-O'-Lantern, so now we just have a decorative pumpkin but it is still very festive and it was an easy project.

Tot School Mr. Potato Head

2010-10-10T14:35:00.000-07:00

Xander is 21 months

This week we played a lot with the Halloween Mr. Potato Head. Xander saw him in the store and we couldn't resist. I am amazed at how much Xander loves playing with him. And taking those parts off and getting them back into the holes really works his small motor skills! We're also reinforcing vocabulary of body parts while playing with it. That was my educational spiel for what really is a fun toy!

On Wednesday my Mom came over and we made apple strudel with apples that Xander and Ryan had picked from our orchard. Xander helped roll out the puff pastry, put the apple mixture on it, and then coat the roll with egg. His help was quite limited but he did try. He however did not try any of the strudel, not even one bite. He would eat the apple by itself.

While my Mom was here we did an art project with Xander. We were making autumn trees by painting our arm and hand to make a print for the trunk and branches, then tearing up tissue paper, and gluing it on to make leaves. At first it seemed like this whole project was going to be a bust but eventually it worked out. First I got the paint ready but when I went to paint Xander's arm he completely freaked out. After I painted Grandma's arm he was okay with it but we weren't able to make to great a print as he wouldn't keep his arm still.

While the paint was drying we got out orange, red, and yellow tissue paper and tore up little pieces to make the leaves. I was sure Xander would love this part as he loves to tear paper but he wouldn't help at all. Then when we went to glue the leaves on I was sure Xander would want to help squeeze the glue but nope, he didn't want anything to do with it. So Mom and I worked on ours while he watched and then we asked him what colors he wanted where on his and he wasn't really participating.

Momma, Xander, and Grandma Housley's handprint trees.

So I was feeling that this project was pretty much a bust. Then later that evening Xander climbed up into a chair and was playing around with the paper leaves and I asked if he wanted to make a tree. He nodded his head yes (not talking) and thankfully I had made to prints of his arm earlier in the day so we just had to do the glue and leaves. He helped squeeze the glue out and he wasn't interested in scrunching up the tissue paper to make the leaves but he had fun throwing them on the paper and banging it down. Well, he had fun UNTIL he got glue on his hands and the tissue paper stuck to him and then he had a meltdown but we did finish the project.

Xander's Autumn Tree 2010

Another craft I did this week was to make a magnetic pumpkin with magnetic face pieces to make jack-o'-lantern. I got the idea from Disney's Family Fun. So this would be a great project for a slightly older kid, Xander had fun with it but he isn't well behaved with the smaller magnetic pieces so now we just have a pumpkin decoration on our front door (conveniently metal so magnets work on it!). I think I'll make a magnet Christmas tree with decorations too-- maybe as an advent tree. If you do a project like this use thin paper so the magnets work better and for the shapes that are going on the other magnetic sheet make them small, if they are too big they weigh too much and don't stick very well.

We had a great week and can't wait for next week, Grandma and Grandpa Williams are here for a visit and we're off to the zoo! To see what other tots are doing visit 1+1+1=1.

Tot School

2010-10-03T15:40:00.000-07:00

Xander is 20 months 3 weeks old.

Like always there was a lot of reading going on this week. Xander is no longer limited to board books! So far we've only had one tiny little tear when he turned a page to fast but other than that he's been really good with the books. He's really happy to "read" the new books but when someone reads the books to him he loses interest before the end on most books, so I am learning to read partway and stop and then pick it up later and remind him of the story and then start where we left off. While he still isn't a talker he has started talking out loud while reading the stories to himself--- no recognizable words but it's a start!


He loves to look at the Tootle golden book because of the train!

We worked on puzzles this week. Xander really enjoys putting them together and taking them apart! This photo is deceptive cause it makes it look like he's really doing the puzzle-- he's not there yet. This puzzle is too hard for him to do on his own so we worked on it together, I'd show him where the piece went and he'd hook the pieces together. (Target had a whole bunch of puzzles in their Dollar bins!)

Xander is practicing his eating with a spoon. While we were going down the cereal aisle at the store he grabbed onto a box of chocolate Cheerios, can't blame him-- they're pretty yummy!

He also tried some fruit cocktail and really liked that, except for the grapes. Another new thing is that he makes this cute expression and wrinkles his nose (this isn't the best shot but it's all I've got right now and I want to remember when he started doing it!).

Xander crosses his feet in the high chair, so precious!

We played with his wood blocks this week, he stacked some but mostly he lined them up and shoved them around like trains. He also played with his train, building long curvy tracks.

I'm pretty sure that the best part of the week for Xander was when Daddy taught him how to climb a ladder! First we started out with the ladder low and when he mastered that we raised it up high. It was really hard for him, the rungs are so far apart, but that just made him so proud when he was able to climb it!

After his ladder climbing lesson we had a vaccination appointment, 2 shots and one weigh in later (21 lb. 3 oz.) we picked up my Mom and we all went out to lunch. After lunch Mom and I tried to do a quick trip into Michael's for some crafting supplies, which included some foam letter stickers and meant that we spent the evening with: Xander Man!


Touching the X's together ads to his super powers!

Michael's also had cute Halloween books including a Curious George book that Xander has really enjoyed reading (thank you Grandma!) and pipe cleaners. I wanted to use the pipe cleaners on a lacing card I was making but I cannot find my hole punch! Instead I showed Xander how to put the pipe cleaner through the hole on the handle of his scoop. It took a lot of concentration!

We had a fun week, to see what other tot's are doing visit Tot School.

New "School" Year

2010-09-27T17:50:00.000-07:00

When Ryan and I first got together we talked about what we wanted from life, how we wanted to raise our kids, etc... all the things young couples talk about. We decided that we wanted to homeschool our kids (not knowing that it would take us over 16 years to get pregnant!). Xander is only 20 months old now-- so we are years away from officially homeschooling, but we are casually doing Tot School and busy learning about homeschooling, thinking about how we want things to go, and what we want Xander to learn.

One of the things I've decided about how I want our homeschooling to go (all subject to change as real life happens) is that I want us to school year round-- with a flexible schedule and plenty of nice vacation breaks. At first I really wanted to start our official school year in January. My weeks start with Sunday and the year starts with January, it just makes sense to me. It also works well with Xander's birthday in January. Then, while reading my local homeschool mailing list and seeing all the different workshops and co-ops that were offered, and reading all the different blog posts of people planning for the "new" school year, I decided there is some sense in following a typical school year schedule. Still schooling year round but starting in September. A big bonus with that schedule is that the end of the year wrap up won't be during the busy holiday season!

At first I was thinking we would start the week after Labor Day weekend, just like I remembered from childhood. Then I realized that I would like to plan an annual camping trip in September-- after Labor Day-- when the camp grounds are going to be less crowded (once Xander was older). So I decided that we were going to start our annual first day of school on the Autumnal Equinox (or to be more accurate and not Northern Hemisphere biased, the September Equinox), I really like the idea of following the earth's schedule.

To begin our new year of Tot School we started with a yummy morning snack of mini Drumsticks (Xander needs to gain weight and is a supremely picky eater so anything with fat and calories that he'll eat we'll feed him!).


Bad hair day? What do you mean Momma?

After our snack we did some finger painting.

After finger painting there was bath time and then a first day of school photo shoot.

Later Xander had fun reading with his Tag Junior.

He really loves "reading" his Tag Junior books and he is learning from them.

After lunch we had a treat of Scandinavian Almond Cake (recipe from a Hannah Swensen mystery), which was a big surprise. Not only did he taste it he actually ate a good bit of his slice, very amazing for my picky boy.

Next we colored, or that was the plan. I printed out some fall coloring pages but Xander was much more interested in playing with the clipboard instead of coloring.

After that we made a fort and played until all his energy was exhausted and finally he napped on the couch.

It was a good first day!

To see what is happening in other Tot Schools visit 1+1+1=1.

Splish Splash

2010-07-11T16:45:00.000-07:00

We got a small wading pool today. We've only filled it a little bit, just enough for Xander to walk around in and splash. At first he wondered what the heck Daddy had put it in the back yard.

Then Ryan tried to convince him to get into the pool.

He wasn't too sure about this.

But then he figured out that he could splash!

Hey, this pool is fun!

I'm sure we'll be spending a lot of time in the pool this summer!

Tot School Post #15

2010-05-02T14:57:00.000-07:00

(Xander is 15 months)

We're still working on the letter B this week, and still haven't made one. Rather, we started it but it didn't work out so we'll try again next week. Things we did accomplish, for starters we finger painted for the first time.

What Xander really liked about finger painting was rubbing the paint all over his hands. Putting the paint on the paper didn't really interest him. He was having a great time until he rubbed his eye, he was fine but paint in the eye freaks Mommy out and ends all the fun!

Later in the week were my doomed activities with cotton balls. I had set up a transferring activity using a tea bag squeezer as tongs to move the balls with. Unfortunately Xander couldn't squeeze the tongs so that didn't work out, then I thought he could paint the letter B using cotton balls but he wasn't too interested and refused to keep the paint to the paper so I had to take it away, then I tried showing him how to glue the cotton balls to the paper but he wasn't the least bit interested. As I said, the day was doomed.

We had better luck later in the week when we played with Playdoh. Xander received some new stacking cups from my aunt and they have symbols on the bottom so I was using them to press shapes into the Playdoh. Xander thought that was pretty neat. He wouldn't stamp them himself but liked looking at the shapes and poking at the Playdoh. He also had fun tearing the dough apart and putting it into different cups.

I think Xander's favorite activity of the week was eating his first ice cream cone. Ryan brought home a box of mini drumsticks and Xander LOVED it!

We've got a nice morning routine down where we get Xander a bowl of dry Cheerios when he wakes up and he sits in his chair and nibbles on those a bit. Then he starts bringing me book after book to read, it's really cute. He has also started eating more solid foods and he has started wanting to feed himself. That's great with the banana (he is so cute stabbing each slice with the fork), but it is so messy with his oatmeal. He doesn't have the spoon feeding down right, keeps flipping the spoon upside down when it gets to his mouth so most the food goes down his front. I'm torn between wanting to let him practice and wanting him to get fed and not make a mess.

That was our week, thanks for stopping by. Please drop in at Tot School to see what other tots are doing.

Tot School Post #14

2010-04-25T18:21:00.000-07:00

(Xander is 15 months)

This week we were going to be doing B is for ... but I am going to end up spreading out B over two weeks. It wasn't a good week for us. We started off with B is for belly ache and baby and ended the week with B is for bleeding (hope this isn't TMI). Xander had a upset tummy and I was nauseated at the start of the week which meant we didn't do much Tot School. By the end of the week Xander was feeling better but I had started cramping and was feeling down because I was sure I was going to miscarry again (I miscarried at 6 weeks last December). We ended up spending most of Saturday in the hospital, not because my miscarriage was life threatening, but I needed a Rhogam shot (I'm Rh-) and of course the OB's office is closed on the weekend. For some reason I thought we could just go to the emergency room and get the shot but of course they don't work that way, they want to run all sorts of tests which took hours and that only could tell us that yes, I had miscarried. It was a very long day!

Xander finding fun (and things to get in to) in the hospital.

Anyway, we started off the week with tantrums. We finally got compost for our garden bed, so Ryan mixed it in and started planting seeds. First he had to put up a fence to keep the dogs out of the bed. Why the tantrums? Our garden bed was Xander's digging hole and mud wallow, he was NOT HAPPY when the fence went up!

We got out the Playdoh again, all Xander wanted to do was put it into the tub and take it out again, over and over.

I was inspired by the butterflies I saw on Hart 2 Hart, but instead of making large butterflies I made small ones to use on Thank You cards for the grandparents. Xander scribbled on the paper and then I did the cutting of the ovals and gluing them onto a card. Then I mailed the cards and kicked myself later in the day when I realized I hadn't taken any photos of the finished cards!!! Here is Xander drawing on the paper (it's some Origami paper I had, I thought it made pretty butterfly wings).

We also did a coloring page for Earth Day! This was Xander's first time with a printout like this.

B is for Blue Balloon! I had put a "blue balloon" on the shopping list last week. Xander was so happy to get it. He just loves balloons!

I've been trying to do some color sorting with Xander. He doesn't know his colors at all. Right now I am just focusing on two, red and blue. I'm taking pieces of felt and putting them on the floor and gathering different red and blue toys and putting them on the matching felt piece. I'm trying to get Xander to help me find the correct color toys but for now this is all me, I'm hoping he'll catch on. Here Xander is sitting by his blue toys, he's all in blue too which was NOT planned. I'm pretty sure that was his 4th outfit of the day (I told you he had an upset tummy this week! Ick! Lol, this picture shows that I was trying to bulk up his diapers to catch everything, poor little guy.)

"This toy looks tasty."

"I am so done with this activity!"

Xander got some Earth Day gifts from his paternal Grandparents. He had fun opening the package.

He really liked all his gifts but what he liked most was the piece of yarn. It was so cute. He played with it all afternoon.

My favorite photo of the week. We stopped to grab a bite to eat at McDonald's. Xander has been trying more solid foods so I went ahead and got him a Happy Meal, thinking he might eat the chicken nuggets. Wouldn't even taste them (made the dogs very happy!) but he LOVES the toy he got. It is a little cell phone. We've had lots of phone calls this week. Here he is calling Daddy to tell him that he ate a peanut butter and honey sandwich!

That was our week. We'll Be Back with more B activities next week, thanks for stopping by. Please check out what other tots are doing by visiting Tot School.

Printers, laminators?

2010-04-20T13:13:00.000-07:00

So I am thinking about getting a color printer and laminator, anyone have any recomendations or warnings on brands? For the printer I think I'd want one where I can refill the individual color ink cartridges rather than have to change out all the colors at once-- that seems so wasteful.

I've never had or used a laminator, do most of you use pouch or roll laminators? Hot or cold? I had no idea there were so many choices, and yikes, the prices go sky high!

Tot School Post #13

2010-04-19T10:11:00.000-07:00

(Xander is 15 months)

We started off our week by playing with Playdoh.

I brought some of his wooden blocks to squish the dough with but what Xander enjoyed doing was sticking his fingers into the dough making little indentations all over.

Then he started tearing the dough into little pieces, it was really cute the concentration this took.

Later we worked on transferring with spoons. I set up a container full of popcorn kernels, a spoon, and an ice cube tray. I actually set up two, I worked alongside him.

This was really hard for Xander and very messy (pocorn everywhere!) but he was so proud when he got a spoonfull into the tray!

This is something he really needs to work on so we'll be doing it again and again, but I've learned he has to be the right mood. We tried it again later in the week when he was tired and all he wanted to do was dump the popcorn all over.

I decided it was time to start doing a letter of the week. At first I wasn't really to sure about this, I'm not really sure that he's getting much from it. It's really hard to know what he is understanding and what he isn't since he doesn't talk and only does a few signs. But after we were done I was so glad we'd done it. I don't think he has clue what A is, and he probably doesn't really understand what an apple is-- he's played with ones but he refuses to eat applesauce so I can't really make a connection there. However, he was so PROUD when I hung this on the fridge, he goes over and looks at it. So cute!

So, we started out at the beginning of the alphabet with A is for apple. I wrote an A on a page and then let Xander decorate it. He had fun scribbling and is working on taking caps off the pens.

All done drawing Mommy!

When he was done I cut the letter out, and the apple and leaf, and glued them to a sheet of paper and hung it on the fridge for everyone to see.

Xander had been done drawing but was intrigued by the cutting and glueing. I don't have any kid scissors yet and even if I did I really don't think he'd be able to cut but he could try glueing. Unfortunately all I had was a bottle of glue and he couldn't squeeze it hard enough to get glue out so I put down glue drops on the paper and showed him how to put the paper on top (I had cut up his leftover scribbles).

He kind of freaked when the paper stuck to his hand cause he had glue on it. I wiped down his hands and we continued.

He kept wanting to pull the pieces of paper back up.

But eventually we got all the pieces of paper glued down and we hung Xander's first collage on the fridge. He really does love looking at it. We also bought some glue sticks so next time he can do the glueing part too.

We had several sunny days this week which meant we were out exploring. One day we went to the back of our orchard and I sketched while Xander collected rocks. He just loves ROCKS!

Friday it was warm enough that I thought he'd enjoy playing with water. So I set him up in his dirt area with digging tools and a bowl of water. Hmm, water and dirt becomes what? MUD!!!! First he had a blast splashing the water in the bowl.

Then he dumped the water all over himself and the ground and made mud.

Mud boy!!!

Saturday was a day of confinement for Xander. He was pretty much in my lap, in the highchair, or in his playpen the whole day. Why? Cause Ryan was building a new home for our chicks. They were quickly outgrowing their cardboard box. Ryan would take breaks and let Xander come explore the tools and wood but for most of the afternoon he was just watching. Toward the end of the week he had really gotten interested in watching the little chicks in their box and now he can see them so much better. Plus they have room to really move around now. This is Xander looking at the chicks in half of their new home (we ran out of staples), the other half is finished so now they have a huge amount of space.

That was our week, thank you for stopping by. To see what others did visit Tot School.

Tot School Post #12

2010-04-11T07:40:00.000-07:00

(Xander is 15 months)

We spent a lot of time this week playing with his new sorting eggs, he isn't sorting them yet but loves taking the shell off and making them squeak. Xander got a lot of new books for Easter and we've read them all over and over again. He's started to get books and bring them to us to read. He will also go get a book if we ask him to, very cute.

Several of his new books and books we had checked out from the library have chicks in them, which is perfect timing cause we have chicks!

They are so cute. Cute but messy, and that heat lamp is HOT! I am so glad they are in Ryan's study and not next to my desk.

Of course our dogs are much more interested in them than Xander is. The other day I brought Xander into the room to look at them and pet them after I had cleaned their box and was getting ready to put them back. He did glance at them but didn't want to pet them, nope, unrolling the paper towel roll and ripping it up was so much more interesting!

We've had a weird week weather wise, hail, snowflakes, rain, and some sunshine. During those brief bits of sun we try to get outside. Friday we walked to the back of the property and Xander explored rocks and grass. While digging he decided the dirt looked tasty and put a whole handful in his mouth! He looked so shocked that it didn't taste good. I used his shirt to wipe it off his tongue and felt so bad that I hadn't brought water with us. We came back inside and he got to gnaw on his Easter bunny some more to get rid of that dirt taste.

Saturday we had hazy sunshine, so out we went. Earlier in the week I'd let Xander play with a bowl of water and little cups inside and he loved it so I thought I'd let him do that outside too. I set him up in a dirt patch with a bowl full of water, some containers, and a spoon, while I mowed the lawn nearby (a push mower so no danger to him). He had a blast! First he made stone soup, then he dumped the muddy water all over himself, he sorted his rocks, moving them from the bowl to a smaller container, and when he'd get bored with the rocks he'd take a walk on the grass. Just lots of messy fun.

Looking for rocks.

Adding dandelions and grass to his bowl of rocks.

Then he climbed up onto my chair. First time he's ever been able to do that. He was so proud of himself. He'd get down and climb back up over and over. So happy that he'd learned a new skill (while giving Mommy a heart attack as I stood there trying to prevent him from falling or toppling the chair over!).

That was our week, thanks for stopping by. To see what other tot's are up to visit Tot School.

Tot School Post #11

2010-04-08T21:01:00.000-07:00

(Xander is 14 months)

Sorry about getting this posted so late. We had a fun Easter week. We started off the week with story time at the library. Each time Xander seems to get more comfortable with it. His favorite part is always the free play afterwards. He and another boy, Liam, are always "fighting" over the same two car toys (where you push down on the driver and the car zooms across the floor). It's really cute watching them interact.

I bought Xander some markers to draw with, they were much easier for him than the crayons. Xander seems to enjoy this but only for a short time. I was able to get him to make enough scribbles that I could cut up into eggs and make Easter cards for all his grandparents and great grand parents.

Wednesday we took a short walk outside. The ground was wet but Xander had fun splashing in puddles and was fascinated by a pinwheel in one of our planters. It was so cute watching him turn it round and round. I spied a garter snake in the grass and showed it to him. Unfortunately instead of a science lesson we got a life and death lesson, Poppy Seed saw me pointing and dashed over and killed the poor snake.

When we came back in I decided to let Xander play with Snag, a giant teddy bear that was first my sister's and then mine (she gave him to me nearly 30 years ago). I wanted to send a photo of them together to my sister to cheer her up as she undergoes chemo. Xander thought that the bear bigger than he is, was neat.

We worked with our bean bin again. This time I buried some of the rocks Xander has collected along with a few toys in the beans. He had fun getting those out and then covering them again. He also scooped the beans into a smaller container this time.

I started seperating the spilled beans into two piles, grouping them by color. Xander watched for awhile and then seemed to get upset that I was messing with his beans and came over and destroyed my neat piles.

On Saturday we went to the cider mill for their Easter egg hunt. We walked around and saw all the animals first. This time Xander actually walked, didn't care that there were hordes of people there who could step on him or spill their hot drinks on him. He wanted to walk, everywhere! This time he was really interested in all of the animals, and enjoyed petting a baby bunny and getting licked by a goat. I wasn't sure if Xander would understand what to do at the egg hunt but he caught on right away and had fun finding the eggs and putting them in the basket.

I had planned on dyeing our eggs when we got home from the egg hunt but we were all so tired that we put it off until Easter morning and did our Easter late Sunday afternoon. Let me just say that dyeing eggs with a 14 month old is insane but he had a lot of fun. Here he is waiting for me to get the eggs and dye set up (he stole my headband and insisted on wearing it), very excited.

He only used those spoons to splash the dye around, preferring to use his hands to put the eggs in and out of the dye.

Miraculously the eggs survived the dyeing, but some got cracked during the egg hunt because Xander tended to bang them while picking them up. We quickly learned to grab them from him as soon as he found them. He had fun finding the eggs and his Easter baskets, or at least most of them. About 3/4 of the way through he found the new ball his grandparents sent him and then it was all over. All he wanted to do was play with the ball. It was really cute. After a while we were able to lure him away to the last basket but we gathered the last few eggs for him. He did like all his presents, not just the ball. In fact the sorting eggs I got him have been a big hit. He's not really sorting them yet but loves playing with them.

And then came the wonder of gnawing on his first chocolate bunny and the huge tantrum when Mommy decided he'd had enough and took it away.

So that was our Easter week. We had fun and hope everyone else did too. To see what other families are doing in Tot School go here.

Easter Cards

2010-03-30T20:28:00.000-07:00

When we went shopping last weekend we picked up some markers for Xander. I was nervous about using them but when Crayola says washable they mean it, cleaned up no problem. It was much easier for Xander to make scribbles with the markers than with the crayons we'd been using.

Hey, these markers are neat!

Of course what he liked best about the markers were the caps!

The caps just fascinated him! (The ink washed right off his hands.)

I used his scribbles (crayon and marker ones) to make eggs and then cut some "grass" and glued them to blank cards to make Easter cards for all the grandparents and great-grandparents. Xander's first official "craft".

Book Share Monday

2010-03-29T13:31:00.000-07:00

Just back from story time at the library and we checked out this cute board book. Bear Wants More by Karma Wilson, illustrated by Jane Chapman.

I hadn't realized until I went to Amazon to get the picture that this was part of a series, I can't wait to read the others. This book is about Bear who has just woken up and is very hungry. He eats but he still wants more. The story really reminded me of my son Xander who isn't the least bit interested in eating until he is STARVING and then if you dare pause while feeding him he screams. If Xander were talking I'm sure he would be screaming "I want MORE!"

The illustrations are adorable, I just love the forest animals, especially mole and badger. Very cutely drawn. Combined with the lyrical text (with a nice use of vocabulary building words) this book is a hit here.

When springtime comes, in his warm winter den a bear wakes up very hungry and thin! He waddles outside and roots all around. He digs and he paws fresh shoots from the ground.

Tot School Post #10

2010-03-28T15:37:00.000-07:00

( Xander is 14 months)

We had a really great week and hope everyone else did too! We enjoyed the sunny spring weather at the beginnng of the week with another trip up to our orchard. More tree trimming for me and hole digging for Xander.

He wasn't as willing to just sit in one place digging this time, so we played some fetch with the ball, went around exploring the orchard (which means I didn't get that much work done, only one tree worked on. But as Ryan said, "that's one more tree than if I hadn't gone out at all"). Xander was also was doing the cutest thing, he'd crawl from dandelion to dandelion and pluck it and tear it all apart. He seemed fascinated by them.

We played with his sensory tub aka bean bin. He had fun scooping up the beans and pouring them all over himself and the floor. By the end of tub time he had started holding his "scoop" by the handle! He really loved working with this. We will definitely be doing this more often.

On Thursday I tried reorganizing Xander's shelves. I got some smaller cardboard boxes to hold his board books facing forward. I thought that he could take out one box at a time and flip through his books, seeing the covers. That way he wouldn't have to completely empty his shelves to choose a book. Yeah, that didn't work out. He just pulled out the boxes and then dumped them all over the floor--- all at the same time. Sigh. He did then do some problem solving on his own. He wanted to reach some blocks I had put on the top of the book case (spelling out his name). So he flipped over the largest cardboard box and used it as a step stool. I quickly grabbed the camera and got a few photos before taking away all the boxes.

On Friday we had our screening to see if Xander needed to get therapy for his lack of talking. The Family Resources Coordinator came to our home and filled out an extensive questionaire. The sections about his fine and gross motor skills he did just fine but when it came to communication he was definitely scoring way below his age level. The next stage is to have an evaluation by therapist at the local school district. I was so completely stressed about this and it was really all for nothing. The coordinator was very helpful and friendly and easy to talk to and I feel very relieved that we've started the process.

On Saturday I got out Xander's color and shapes puzzle by Infantino. This was his first time playing with it. At first he was handing me the pieces to put together the little puzzles. Then he would take them apart and put them back in the tub. Then dump the tub out and put them back in again. By the 3rd time of dumping them out he didn't want me putting the puzzles together, it was obvious he was saying "no, Mommy, my toy". He just enjoyed putting them in the tub and dumping them out (and also using the tub as a drum!).

I thought it was a really good first experience with them. I can't wait until he is actually putting together the puzzles. I was really impressed with the sturdieness of the puzzle pieces. Xander couldn't bend them at all and the picture is completely part of the cardboard not something he can pull off. I think now that I'll be ordering more of their puzzles. The only thing I didn't like was the puzzle piece on the outside of the tub. It's great for shopping to show you how big the puzzle pieces are, but it frustrated Xander that he couldn't put it in the tub easily like all the others and it's going to be a pain to cut off the carry cord. (I was not asked to review this or compensated in any way, just sharing a product I liked.)

That was our week, to see what other families are doing visit Tot School.

Wordless Wednesday: Goofy Boy

2010-03-24T13:07:00.000-07:00

To see more visit Wordless Wednesday.

Beans!

2010-03-24T12:59:00.000-07:00

This morning Xander had fun playing with his sensory tub. I've filled it with dried black turtle beans and small white beans, I thought they made a nice color contrast. (Just don't use red kidney beans as they can be poisonous dry.) I didn't hide anything in the tub, just gave him different containers to scoop with or put beans into. I sat right with him supervising so that he didn't eat any beans, thankfully he only tried once.

At first he was holding the scoop with his whole hand around the bowl part, it wasn't very effective.

He really loved just running his hands through the beans, it was cute. He also enjoyed scooping them up and dumping them on himself. Making a mess is fun!

One of the items I gave him to play with is the base for a chick feeder. We are getting chicks soon and I had already bought the feeder and it was sitting on my desk. I thought the little holes would be fun to pour beans into.

But all he wanted to do with the feeder is wear it as a hat! Such a goofy boy!

What I wanted Xander to do was pour the beans into different containers, what he really enjoyed doing was pouring the beans on himself and into the big tub (he actually dumped the entire tub 3 different times!!). I let him do what he wanted, he was having such a blast. I played with him but I did it my way, scooping up beans and pouring them into a different container. I did it over and over, showing him how I held the scoop by the handle. He never really showed any interest in scooping the beans into a different container but by the end he was holding the scoop by it's handle! I definitely had a moment of mommy pride when I saw that!

It was a lot of fun and well worth the mess. Next time I will vacuum the carpet first though, we now have a lot of dog hair in the sensory tub. Thankfully Poppy Seed and McCoy are black and white so the hairs go with the beans color scheme. Xander says I like this Mom!

Tot School Post #9

2010-03-22T15:18:00.000-07:00

(Xander is 14 months)

Yikes, my last Tot School post was almost a month ago! We had a great week after that post and I was all excited to post about it but then I was really busy and put it off and then there was the horrible hospital lab and doctor visit days and then we all got sick, etc. etc. etc. (if you're anything like me you now see Yul Brynner dancing around singing the song from the King and I). The blood draw itself was horrible but it was good, most of Xander's iron counts were up. He still needs to take an iron supplement but we can go 3 months before testing his blood again. At the doctors we talked about Xander's lack of talking and we've decided to have him screened for delays. While my head knows that him not talking is not my fault, and that there may not even be a problem, and if there is a problem it is not caused by me; my heart feels otherwise. I am having a major "I'm failing as a Mommy" time. It probably doesn't help that during this same time period we've all been sick and cranky and not sleeping well cause we're sick which makes us even more cranky. This negativity is one of the reasons I haven't posted but then not posting was making me feel even more blue so I am forcing myself to post!

So, let's post about the positives! Xander is eating more and more solid foods. Unfortunately, what he really, really likes are cookies (Annie's Bunny Grahams). It's really cute how much he loves his bunny cookies and milk. He also snagged some french fries off Ryan's plate last night and really liked them too. Health food! Since he needs to gain weight and most of what he eats is vegetables I am not too concerned but I do wish he'd like to eat other solid foods.

We've tried drawing several more times and he has actually started to scribble on the paper. I had this great idea to have him scribble on colored paper and then I'd cut out egg shapes to make Easter cards for the Grandparents so now he won't scribble at all and has in fact started eating the crayons.

I made a sensory tub full of beans and gave him some scoops to play with. He did try eating the beans so I have to watch him like a hawk but he really enjoyed it. I plan on letting him play with it again today but this time I will spread a sheet out first-- those little beans like to escape!

We keep having the occasional wonderful sunny day and we take advantage of it by going out and exploring our property. At the beginning of the month our cherry tree bloomed and we had a nice walk up to look at the blossoms. And last Saturday Xander worked on digging holes while I trimmed branches in our orchard. He really likes to dig holes and explore rocks.

Aside from the not so fun field trips to the hospital lab and doctor's office (though he loved walking around the hospital --the gift shop had BALLOONS! and he was entranced by the fish tank at our pediatrician's office), we also had a fun story time at the library and we had another great trip to the Cider Mill. This time we went with my Mom, and Xander was in a much better mood (it wasn't his nap time and he wasn't suffering a horrid diaper rash), but he was still a little overwhelmed by the animals.

"Momma are you sure this fence will keep them away?" It didn't help that right after this the goat on the far right stole the entire bag of oats (the lunchbag in my mom's hands in the photo) away from my mom and swallowed it whole! Greedy doe!

Here's the doe trying to swallow the whole bag! It just can't be good for her. We had fun and can't wait to go back again.

The munchkin woke up from his nap so that's all I can post for now. Check out what other tot's are doing at Tot School. Thanks for stopping by.

Edited to add: Thought some of you might be interested in watching this web cam. It is in a barn owl nest box. So far there is one owlet hatched. Really neat!

Book Share Monday

2010-03-22T13:05:00.000-07:00

This is my first time participating in Book Share Monday hosted by Serendipity Homeschool but I am really excited to share this book. It's Spring by Samantha Berger and Pamela Chanko, illustrated by Melissa Sweet.

It's the story of the animals spreading the news that spring was here.

"In April the robin began to sing to tell the rabbit it was spring. The rabbit hopped and thumped his feet to tell the deer the air smelled sweet."

It has nice rhyming text and bright cheerful illustrations. It is a lovely book that I have enjoyed reading to Xander (age 14 months).

Sigh, lost my comments.

2010-03-20T12:56:00.000-07:00

Connected this blog to Disqus and somehow managed to lose all my previous comments. Oh well. Though as I was typing this I got an email saying that the disqus bot posted a comment on the site, I'm not seeing any comment nor is there one for me to moderate but maybe they will eventually show up. Hopefully it is working for new comments. All in all this was me procrastinating instead of writing a real post and now Xander is waking up from his nap so no time to post now.

Tot School Post #8

2010-02-28T15:42:00.000-08:00

(Xander is 13 months)

We had a fun and exciting week. Sunday we had beautiful weather, sunny and warm. We all went out and worked in the garden. This is our first year here (we bought our first home last August) so there is a lot of work to do to get our garden ready. Ryan dug a bed for our garlic in the fall and now we are working on turning the area where the previous owners had a pool into a garden bed. We set up a blanket for Xander to sit on while we worked. Of course he didn't stay on it but crawled around exploring the grass, eating leaves and finding rocks.

Eventually he couldn't resist the lure of dirt anymore and had to crawl over to help Daddy.

He had fun playing in the dirt, finding rocks (and licking them!). Here he is ring of dirt around his mouth waving (!!!!) for the camera, too cute.

On Monday we went to story time at the library. It was Xander's 2nd time going. There were about 7 babies there, Xander was the oldest but not the biggest! He still looked rather nonplussed during the directed part of the program but really enjoyed the free play time. Yet again he was greedy taking a toy away from another but he wasn't pushy and seemed to enjoy being around the other babies.

After story time we went to Lattin's Country Cider Mill and Farm. We bought some bags of grain and walked around feeding the animals. Or rather, Ryan carried Xander around pointing out the animals to him, while I fed them. It was fun and I can't wait to go back.

On Wednesday I got the crayons out again and while I decorated the cardboard box Xander has been playing with he played with the crayons. He still mainly banged them on the box but he did actually make a few scribble marks.

What he really enjoyed was trying to put them back into their box.

Then he discovered that a crayon fits inside the hole on the wooden ball that goes on top of his stacking ring toy.

Taadaa!

And I guess that made the crayons look tasty because then he wanted to eat them which led to me saying, "not for eating" and him dissolving into tears.

After some comforting with his Soggy Guy (also known as gross disgusting little doll he likes to suck on)

he was happy once more. Did you know it is really hard to hold the camera and take a photo of yourself?

On Friday we had a wonderful visit with my sister-in-law, her husband, and their daughter. They are going to be moving west in the next year or so and were looking around Washington and Oregon. We sure hope they settle around here! This was Xander's 2nd time being around his cousin Sophie. She is 1 year and 2 months older than him. Last time they saw each other he wasn't even crawling, just scooting on his back. He just loved following her around our place. Here they are playing with Xander's mixing bowls and wooden spoons.

We really had a wonderful visit and Sophie completely wore Xander out, he slept in until 8 the next morning!

Yesterday my Mom came over to visit. While she and I played Scrabble, Xander played with Play-Doh. And this time he really did play with it. He mushed it, and tore it into pieces. He really had fun with it and took it pretty well when I told him it "was not for eating".

All in all we had a fun week. Looking forward to next week and hopefully some more sunshine. Thanks for stopping by, see what other families are doing by checking out Tot School.

Wordless Wednesday: Tada!

2010-02-24T15:49:00.000-08:00

For more visit Wordless Wednesday.

Tot School Post #6 and #7

2010-02-23T12:01:00.000-08:00

(Xander is 13 months)

Wow, has it really been 2 weeks since I posted? It's been 2 weeks of sickness here, first me and then Ryan. Thankfully the most Xander ever got was a little bit stuffy.

Because Xander started climbing over the tubs we were using as a barricade we had to hurry up and make the kitchen safe for him. Ryan used more of our old futon frame (so glad we saved it) to build another wooden gate in our hallway, he rehung all the kitchen cabinet doors (most are still not painted, only primed), put on cabinet locks, and installed a safety latch on the oven. Now the kitchen is open to Xander. We still need to fix the laundry room door, right now it doesn't close, so we are putting the pack-n-play in front of the doorway.

Xander loves having all this space to explore and play in. I am finding it difficult to cook while he is underfoot so I've been putting him in the playpen when I'm in the kitchen. I can't wait until he can be "helpful" in there. I read another Tot School post (sorry, don't remember who) that showed a little one helping unload the dishwasher. Right now Xander immediately tries to climb into the dishwasher when I open it and telling him no at this point doesn't lead to any understanding, just tears.

Xander worked on his ring stacking skills.

And he has played for hours in that cardboard box. He has used it as a place to sit in, transferred his wooden blocks to it, thrown balls into it. Lots of fun!

I got out his block puzzle for him to work with (it's cardboard with glued on paper pictures, he'd eat it if left unattended!). He had fun playing with the blocks but wasn't the least bit interested in trying to match the pictures. Every time I tried to do it he took the blocks away from me!

"My block's Mommy!"

A big breakthrough during the last two weeks is that he is eating more than just purees!!! We discovered that he likes toast.

This is a big deal, usually he gags on anything solid but he has done really well with the toast. Wouldn't even try the scrambled eggs. Not even a taste. He likes my homemade wheat bread but didn't like the sourdough bread I make. He also grabbed one of the single serving toddler meals by Gerber that you take the lid off and nuke it. It was pretty much a spaghetti-o's meal. I was sure he wouldn't eat it, much too solid for him but he grabbed it off the shelf and held onto it the whole shopping trip so we bought it and tried it and he ate nearly the whole thing! Really hope this continues, I am so sick of pureeing everything!

Last week on Ryan's day off the sun was actually shining so we walked to our little neighborhood park. Xander got to go in the swing for the first time. He was not impressed. Nor did he care for the merry-go-round or slide. He did find a rock in the grass and that made him happy, he carried it home, chattering away to it in the stroller.

"I don't like this Daddy!"

"Look, I found a rock! Can we go home now?"

That's what we've been up to for the last two weeks (along with a lot of sniffling and sneezing!). Find out what other families are doing by visiting Tot School. Thanks for stopping by.

Felt Toy Giveaway

2010-02-09T16:58:00.000-08:00

Quirky Momma is having a giveaway of felt toys from the Etsy shop Evgie. Evgie has cute felted letter and number kits made from eco friendly felt made from 100% post consumer plastic! Go visit Quirky Momma's Giveaway and sign up for the giveaway.

Tot School Post #5

2010-02-09T14:43:00.000-08:00

(Xander is 12 months)

We started off the week by going to story time at a local library. This was Xander's first story time. It was a Book Babies Infant Lapsit and is aimed for ages birth to 12 months. Technically Xander was too old for it but I am glad we chose this one. He hasn't been around many other kids and the infant lapsit tends to have about 8 to 12 kids each week (this was the first of the season and there were only 3 kids), the next age range up has over 20 kids in it! I want Xander to feel a little more comfortable with the whole story time set up and being around other kids before we go into a large group of toddlers.

He was really cute and just looked totally clueless as the librarian sang songs and we clapped and sang along. But when she brought out toys he got really interested. First she brought out some "shaker" instruments for us to shake to a song. We have some at home and he really loves them so he got into that. After the story time they just leave out toys and the kids can play. It was only one other mom and her 10 month old there playing and it was so cute watching them play-- not exactly together but in the same spot. Xander was a wee bit greedy and kept taking the other boy's toys, a case of the grass is greener. It was quite funny to watch. They were very careful not to actually interact, it was like they were trying to ignore each other and yet play with the exact same toy.

On Tuesday we actually had sunshine! It was so lovely out, really felt like springtime. I moved our pack-n-play out onto the porch so Xander could enjoy the weather while I got some work done in the yard.

He really enjoyed watching me work and kept pointing at things and making little happy screeches.

Wednesday we again played with crayons. I was so clever, I taped the paper down so he couldn't throw it on the floor or eat it. I gave him pink and red crayons, hoping for some scribbles I could make into a Valentines card. Yeah, so clever, he peeled off the tape and tried eating that instead. Sigh. Even though he still doesn't actually do any scribbling at all he really does enjoy playing with the crayons, and then throwing them down at the dogs.

After crayon fun we played with Play-Doh. I made the dough into a long snake and he tore it into pieces and tried to put it back into the tub. He really likes putting things into containers so this occupied him for awhile.

After he got bored with putting the dough back into the tub, he then tried getting the lid back on the tub.

As you can see in the photo he couldn't get his fingers out of the way to put the lid on so this was very frustrating to him and finally led to a meltdown. After that we played with the cute knitted finger puppets you see in the basket (and for some reason I took NO photos of this!). He isn't interested in actually putting them on his fingers but he loved transferring them from one basket to another. Until the basket looked tasty and so he started chewing on it and they got taken away. Which of course meant another meltdown. I am really looking forward to him getting past this. Not that he tantrums for long, in fact he gets over things really fast. But he literally throws himself to the floor, kicking and pounding the ground, screaming and crying when told "No". He's one year old, what are the terrible two's going to be like?

On Thursday my Mom came over for lunch and we had lots of fun just playing. On Friday I started feeling symptoms of the icky head cold that I am still suffering from. Thankfully Xander and Ryan haven't caught it, but I really didn't do much the rest of the week.

Big accomplishments this week were:

a.) Learning to WAVE! We have seen babies that start doing this when they're really little but not Xander. Well, this week something just clicked and he's started waving hello and bye. To us, to my Mom, to the dogs, to the tv (sigh, yes my baby watches the tv). It is so cute!

b.) Changing direction while walking. He has gotten really good at walking in the last week or so. Last week he could take about 6 steps before sitting down, now he's way past that. But what was really impressive was one evening this week he started off walking one direction and turned, without falling down or grabbing onto a piece of furniture, and walked another way! He still can't stand up without holding onto something, so once he's down he crawls to something to stand next to before standing up and walking again.

c.) Pulling himself onto the top of the storage tubs that we were using to blockade the entrance to the kitchen. First he was pushing them out of the way, so we loaded them with heavier things. That really frustrated him for a little bit until he decided what he couldn't move out of his way he would climb over. And the little munchkin did just that!

Which of course made our barricade worthless and meant Ryan spent all day Sunday hanging cupboard doors, building another gate in our hallway, and adding baby locks to the cabinets and stove. Which expanded Xander's territory even more but that is really for next weeks post.

Thanks for dropping by. Check out what other families are doing in Tot School.

Tot School Post #4

2010-02-01T17:37:00.000-08:00

(Xander is 12 months)

We started off the week watching Daddy build a baby gate. It goes along the side of one of the tables I use as my desk and then has an actual "gate" where it attaches to the wall. It keeps my computer, our woodstove, Poppy Seed and McCoy (our dogs) on one side and Xander on the other.

It expanded his "baby proof" domain (aka the living room), opening up a 3 feet by 2 feet area of hard flooring for Xander to play on. He has enjoyed playing on this new surface, testing to make sure the gate really was Xander proof, and of course throwing toys through it (over and over and over again!). He has also learned that he can bang on the front door and set the dogs off. Even though they can see that it is him banging and NOT someone at the door they still go crazy (not the brightest canines!). He finds this hilarious, I find it a little less hilarious after the millionth time of listening to the dogs freak out.

McCoy has adjusted to his new anti-child area just fine. Poppy Seed is a little less thrilled. She's fine as long as I'm in here at my computer but when I go into the living room she whines, a lot! Of course she doesn't like being in the living room because Xander chases her. I think she'd prefer that we lock him up and let her have the living room and us all to herself. Poor spoiled dog, life will be better once he's old enough to know how to treat you properly. Poppy Seed says "Xander is pretty neat, when he's sleeping!"

We had a pretty busy week and I never got around to any specific "tot" activities. Mainly we played, read books, repeat over and over. One night as he was fussing at me while I was making dinner I handed him the just emptied bread crumb container and went and got his Play-Doh tubs so he could move them from container to container. He really enjoyed this. It's funny how a little cardboard tube can make him so happy.

This kept him happy until I had finished cooking dinner. (We still have a plastic tub barricade on the kitchen side of the living room. Hopefully the cabinet doors will get painted and reinstalled soon and then his territory will expand even more.)

Check out what other families are doing, please visit Tot School.

Tot School Post #3

2010-01-25T16:15:00.000-08:00

(Xander is 12 months)

We started off with a wonderful Nature Crawl. Xander explored leaves, stones, and branches. Most importantly Ryan taught him that trees are for climbing. I love this photo of him looking up at his Daddy in the tree, he looks so amazed.

On Tuesday we played with Play-Doh for the first time. I discovered that I LOVE the smell of Play-Doh, it brings back happy childhood memories for me. Xander enjoyed touching it...

but what he really liked doing was trying to put it back in to it's tub. After I saw how much he enjoyed that, I gave him all the tubs and the tube they came in so he could try putting the tubs in the tube. It was difficult for him but he really enjoyed it.

On Wednesday we played with a pumpkin. He had enjoyed touching the large pumpkin we got at Halloween and I thought that now with him being older he'd get even more fun out of it. My in-laws had brought us some pie pumpkins and I needed to get them baked so it seemed like a perfect opportunity for fun.

He rolled it around, used it as a drum, tried to pick it up, and tried to taste it.

Then he became fascinated with the camera and I have a whole bunch of close up photos of his face, of a grabbing hand, there were quite a few "Not for babies!" which then led to this

Xander does not like being told "No!" A change of scenery was needed so we moved to the high chair to examine the inside of the pumpkin. This was less fun for him. The strings and seeds stuck to his fingers and he didn't seem to like it.

Until Mommy removed the nasty strings and seeds, then the pumpkin was pretty neat again. (Wow, this photo really make his Carotenosis noticeable. My little pumpkin has a pumpkin nose!)

Later in the week Xander practiced emptying his shelves again. He's quite good at this activity.

After I cleaned his shelves back up we worked on stacking rings. Still just working on getting them on the pole, not worrying about size order.

Only to be distracted by Poppy Seed, our female rat terrier, squeezing through our makeshift baby/dog barricade.

Which leads to our exciting building session and a proper gate but that was on Sunday, so it will be next weeks post. See what other tots and their families are doing by going here.

Nature Crawl

2010-01-20T14:58:00.000-08:00

Monday we actually had SUNSHINE!!! If you live in the Pacific Northwest you know how much we needed a break from gray overcast days. Such beautiful weather encouraged us to go outside and get some work done on our property. We had discovered several Scotch Broom bushes and wanted to cut them back. I also started pruning our fruit trees. While I was busy working Xander was busy exploring.

He examined leaves

and rocks, big and little,

and mossy branches trimmed from our sadly neglected fruit trees.

He watched in awe

as Daddy showed him how to climb a tree.

And after all that exercise and learning he crawled up into his chair and fell asleep.

Tot School Post #2

2010-01-17T14:56:00.000-08:00

(Xander is 12 months)

We started off the week working with our ring stacker. This was the first time he was able to get the rings on the pole. He was not actually doing them in size order but he got pretty good at putting them on and off the pole.

He was having fun stacking the rings until he noticed McCoy, then he decided it was much more fun to throw the rings down to him.

McCoy asks, "what did I do to deserve this?"

Later in the week we worked on clearing off shelves...

feeding ourselves oatmeal...

and we finished off the week with some more crayon play.

We also had lots of reading time, knocking down towers that Mommy built, a great 1 year well baby checkup, and two horrible blood draws (1 to check how his iron levels are doing-- no longer anemic but still low on iron stores and needs to stay on the supplement, the 2nd was to make sure his yellow tint is just due to love of veggies and not jaundice-- it's veggie love).

Oh, and he has started standing on his own for longer times but only when he's distracted. He loses it as soon as he notices he's not holding on to anything. He has also started climbing, or trying to climb on things. I'm not too happy about that since he doesn't seem to to have any fear of falling off things and I know that is an accident waiting to happen once he can climb onto the couch.

Be sure to visit Tot School to see what other families are doing this week.

Tot School Post #1 and Xander Turns 1!

2010-01-10T20:42:00.000-08:00

(Xander turned 1 year old this week!)

Our first week of Tot School was a great success. We started off on Tuesday with an introduction to crayons. Xander didn't actually scribble, he mainly examined them, pounded them on his tray, and put them inside the envelope. But he had a blast doing all that and he didn't eat either crayon or paper so I was very happy! And so was Xander!

On Wednesday we picked up some helium balloons at the store. He got to play with them a little in the cart but it wasn't until Thursday night that he really got to have fun with them. Once we handed them to him he wouldn't let go. (Almost outgrown his Halloween pajamas! I'll sure miss the cute little pumpkin butt.)

Friday was his first birthday! He had lots of practice in tearing paper and got to work on stacking blocks.

After presents, Xander got to work on his table manners. Happy to be fed his birthday dinner by Grandma (he still only eats purees, has a problem with textures).

Then horribly upset when he found out that he'd finished all the yummy chocolate pudding!

On Saturday we had nature studies and physical education: we went for a walk on our property. Sick of being carried around Xander walked up our hill with some help from Grandpa.

He got to feel fuzzy moss growing on a tree, saw a tiny frog that his uncle caught (and released), and found a small twig covered in lichens and dry moss (saved for our nature shelf).

All in all a busy week. We're looking forward to what learning adventures next week will bring. See what other families are doing by visiting Tot School

Off to a good start

2010-01-05T13:33:00.000-08:00

My plan was to start exposing Xander to new things and activities. I didn't plan on that happening quite so soon but after he finished his lunch today opportunity struck.

I noticed the pile of junk mail sitting next to us waiting to go in the recycling bin and suddenly remembered I had just seen a box of crayons. I searched them out and showed Xander how to scribble on the envelopes and then let him at it. I was sure he was going to try gnawing on the crayon or shredding and eating the envelope but amazingly NOTHING went into his mouth! He never did actually scribble but he banged the crayons onto the envelope then opened it up and put the crayons inside. He just had a blast playing with the crayons! We will definitely be doing this again soon.

(note to self, wipe food off Xander's face before taking photos!)

Getting Started

2010-01-05T11:35:00.000-08:00

In three days my baby will be turning one! Hard to believe, this year has just zipped on by. He's nowhere near school age, or even preschool age but I figured it was time for me to start planning. I've started reading the blogs of people who participate in Tot School and am amazed at what some of those tot's are accomplishing. The participants list their ages and none were 12 months, I think the youngest was 15 months, but even then it was hard for me to see Xander being ready to do some of those activities in just three months time. I had the dual anxieties of worrying that I wasn't doing enough with him so that he would be ready and worrying that he would have a leap in abilities and I wouldn't be the least bit prepared.

I don't want to push academics at this age, I really don't believe it's necessary. I do, however, want to be prepared to expose him to lots of activities. Tot School emphasizes that the activities you do with your child are supposed to be fun not forced. So, to deal with anxiety number one I plan on being more aware of exposing him to things, making sure I read to him several times every day, and seeing how he does when introduced to craft supplies, and other tot school things. Right now he puts everything in his mouth, chews board books, and will rip apart any paper he gets a hold of (catalogs, magazines, dh's brand new book!). Of course he's not going to learn how to properly handle these things if I don't expose him to them, my bad. It's just so much easier to only have him around things I know he can't destroy or choke on if I do something like blink. :D

To deal with anxiety number two I plan on preparing some activity trays (Montessori style), making up some file folder games, lapbooks, etc... First up are some felt hand puppets and a flannel board. Oh wait, actually first up is the little guys birthday! Got to go wrap gifts and clean the house before the relatives arrive.