Tot School Mr. Potato Head

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

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

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

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

(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.