Monkey See, Monkey Do!

This week was filled with loads of new experiences for my little tot! Her enthusiasm for all the new things I present to her is heart warming and the best encouragement! I am finding too that a lot of what I am doing with Piper are things that Taitum can now attempt too! Not only is this nice in terms of reducing my planning time but I so love these times when they are learning side by side, sharing the same experiences and teaching one another! Often I watch them copy each others actions during a particular activity and the giggles and laughter that ensues makes me so glad they get to take this learning journey together!

While Piper was painting her rectangle this week, I decided to give Taitum another try with fingerpainting. Times before this mostly meant sitting and eating handfuls of paint! For this reason, I have hesitated from attempting this with her very often. But this time, I think she got it! She spread the paint around with her fingers and then seeing that her sister was using a paintbrush she insisted on using one too! Did she put the paint in her mouth? You bet! But at least there was more painting than eating going on this time around!

Later that day, Tait joined in with the shaving cream play.She enjoyed this as well! This was made obvious by the fact that she was covered in the stuff by the end of our playtime! Nothing a trip to the kitchen sink couldn't fix though! :)

Taitum played some hockey with Daddy and Piper...

Clothed herself in all kinds of winter gear from the winter dress up basket....

And played with playdough for the first time ever! She was majorly excited about this endevour! This was one morning when Piper was away so the babe and I had some wonderful one-on-one time. After reading a post at The Artful Parent: Playdough - With Tools or Without?, I decided to just give her the playdough to explore. This proved very successful! She squished her fingers in it, pulled it apart, flattened in with her hand and was overjoyed when I made her balls or 'worms'!

I later pulled out a heart shaped cookie cutter to show her but she was much more interested in putting little pieces of playdough in it than using it to cut out shapes! Oh how I love the ingenuity of this little girl!

Taitum and I have also been spending a lot of time doing puzzles like this one. Not only is she learning to put the pieces in the right spot but she has also been working on learning the animal sounds. She still insists that a dog says, "Meow!" but she will tell me what a cow, duck and sheep says! We've also been reading the book Moo, Baa, La La La! which both girls love and is a fun way to work on animal sounds!

Outdoors she watched us use the cookie cutters in the snow but wasn't very capable of manipulating them herself with her mittened hands! She watched and sucked on a hockey stick instead!

She was very pleased to sit and relax in her snowfort!

And was thrilled with this little slope in our driveway! The girls would take turns getting in the sled and I'd pull them down! It went pretty fast but these 2 seem to have need for speed!

The only problem was the turn taking. Taitum didn't see any need for Piper to have a turn and so would wail as she waited for Pipe to get done! This is the difficult part of learning but an important lesson! I stayed cheerful and kept repeating the words, "Piper's turn! Oh! Now its Tait's turn!"

Taitum's newest accomplishment this week was trying to get herself dressed when it was time to go outside! Obviously, she didn't quite succeed but the attempt was adorable nonetheless! If anything, I have to say the fact that she hears and understands what I ask of them and trys to obey is a huge success in itself! She is also responding when I ask them to clean up.  It amazes me what she is able to understand and do already!

This weeks challenge - Taitum now wants to do EVERYTHING that Piper is doing! You may have noticed from Piper's Preschool Corner post that there are 2 of each craft...Tait now recognizes when we are getting ready to do a craft and will not be left out! Yup, its definitely a bad case of 'monkey see, monkey do'! I really don't mind but this week it has meant scrambling to pull things together so she can join us! Also, it means a lot of assistance from me since, as I've said before, she wants to taste it all and some of these crafts are a bit too advanced for her age! I'm thinking I may have to come up with corresponding crafts for Tait that are a bit more toddler friendly so she can easily join us from now on!

Thats all for this week! Be sure and check out all the Tot School ideas from other parents out there by clicking on the button below!

A Fun Valentine Idea!

Here is a great idea I came across at Granola Mom 4 God: Loveys! (She got the idea from Muthering Heights' February Love Challenge for Moms) This is what it entails:

This week, delight your child by serving them their favorite treat in place of a normal snack. As they savor the treat, regale your little one with a “surprise” story about their life in which they were a surprise treat for you, such as the day you found out you were pregnant, your birth story, something they did as a baby, etc.  Watch their excitement as they receive this surprise…and marvel at your spontaneous display of love!

I think this is a fabulous idea and one I plan on implementing next week as it is our Valentine week! I think I'll plan a lovey for each morning or afternoon snack since I know Piper loves to hear stories about memories I have of her and Taitum!

I just thought I'd share it with all you Moms out there who might be interested in doing something special too!

Another Saturday night...

...and I ain't got nobody!

Couldn't help myself.  Had to finish the song :)

Today, I expected to wake up to 3 inches of snow.  Not so much.  But I was thankful.  Because our pantry needed stocking, less we all shovel spoonfuls of VegAll straight from the can into our hungry little mouths.  I'd probably be the only one shoveling, since I highly doubt my boys would subject themselves to such torture.  I, on the other hand, don't so much mind an occasional corn, potato, carrot, pea combo.

Anyway,  I finally made it to the grocery and dinner tonight was a little more than canned vegetables.  Instead it was an avocado and some organic burrito that was a buy one, get one kinda deal.  In my normal state of shopping, I'd never buy a pre-packaged burrito.  Well, maybe.  But not often.  However, in my we- have-no-kitchen state of shopping, prepackaged burritos were starting to sound a lot better than another bowl of cereal.  Or another Michelina's meal.  Or another turkey sandwich. 

But we are making progress.  I feel bad even saying "we." B is all over this kitchen thing, between being a stay-at-home dad by day and student by night.  I saunter into the kitchen as the Project Manager every now and then, and call out a Good job, honey!  or Wow!  Look at you screw in those outlet covers!  but I'm little more than the sideline cheerleader.  He's totally deserving of all the back-patting.

B spent part of the week painting the ceiling {who knew that ceiling paint turns from pink to white?!  I didn't!  I thought it was the coolest thing!}, and today he painted the walls.  Despite the fact that I dreamt the other night that I hated the paint color we picked out {it ended up being a disgusting hunter green in my dream}, I'm absolutely smitten with Metro Mist and its cool, soothing tones.  Due to night lighting, I couldn't snap a good shot, but the contrast between the white door frame and the wall helps a bit. 

I'm still shooting for our March 1st deadline, and {hopefully} and impending overnight snow storm on Sunday will produce a snow day and allow me help B install the floor.  {This going to school for 2 weeks straight with not one measly little snow day is for the birds!  Come on, Mother Nature, it's winter!}

Since our house is 12 kinds of chaotic right now, much of our life is crammed into our living room.  I spent all of naptime there today, hunched over the kitchen table, which is home to, well, everything right now.  It's collecting everything from tax documents (sending them off on Monday!  woo!), coupon clippings, Becks' Valentines, and week old newspapers are hiding beneath.  We do anything but actually eat there.  It's all part of the process, right? 

Welp, I'm off to lesson plan for the coming week - 100 Days, Valentines, and President's.  Cah-razy.  Dear God, please let it snow.  Several inches feet...

Happy Saturday!!! 

New TpT Activity!

Okay, so I know I said I wouldn't be doing teacher stuff here anymore, but I might still advertise for my TpT site here :)

I  just uploaded a Mystery Box Activity to Teachers Pay Teachers.  Check it out!

You can see more details at The Inspired Apple!

Goodbye January, Hello February!

This week we finished up our winter unit, celebrated Groundhog Day (here's hoping he's right and spring is coming early!) and began a new letter! To top it off, we got to spend a fair amount of time outside which was such a blessing to all 3 of us! Its amazing what some fresh air can do for a person!

We spent some time working on this letter recognition activity from Itsy Bitsy Learners Winter Fun Mini Pack. I really wanted to see what letters Piper could easily identify so I'd say a letter and when she found it she'd place a snowflake on it! She actually really enjoyed the challenge and I was surprised at how many letters she knew! I'm using the assessment sheets from 1+1+1=1 to keep track of what each of the girls are learning. This is more for my sake so I can more easily decide what needs to be worked on next but I think keeping records of the kids' work is probably a good habit to get into!

I got this printable from Musings of Me Snow Unit and asked Piper to draw a snowman for me. Isn't he cute?! I absolutely love Piper's drawings! Its only been recently that she has started drawing things that actually look like what she intends it to be!

I also put together a winter dress up basket for the girls. They had so much fun with this and it was great practice for them learning how to get their snow gear on all by themselves! Piper especially loved all the different hats she found in the basket!

If you're a Canadian, you can't have a winter unit without at least one whole day devoted to hockey, so that's just what we did! (Won't Boppa be proud!) For starters we read Z is for Zamboni: A Hockey Alphabet and sang The Hockey Song!

Next, we made a shaving cream rink on cookie sheets and tinfoil. Although I gave the girls little people to skate around on their 'rink', they were way more interested in pushing their hands through the shaving cream! Sensory activities such as this are always a huge hit!

Then they painted and glittered a skate!

Finally, they had their own hockey game! Only Piper would play hockey in a dress! Daddy took over this activity and they had a fantastic time together!

On Groundhog Day, we made these adorable little groundhogs! They are glued to a popsicle stick so you can make them pop in and out of their burrow!

That evening we had some shadow play fun so the girls could see just what we were talking about when we mentioned the groundhog seeing his shadow!

With a new month beginning, we also painted a new shape for our shape wall - a rectangle!

And began a new letter theme - V! Piper is improving so much with her cutting skills! With the 'V' pictures, she not only cut them out but also trimmed around them before glueing them on! Her Koopy Scissors have been so helpful in learning this skill!

Piper LOVES her Do a dot markers! So any activity involving them is thoroughly enjoyed by her! Both this do-a-dot sheet and the 'V' cut and collage from the previous picture can be found at the Homeschool Creations Alphabet Printables page!

I started something new and challenging with Piper this week, too - reading a novel together! We are going to read one chapter of Little House Big Woods each day. I wasn't sure how this would go over with her but she seemed to quite enjoy it! She had lots of questions about what was happening which was wonderful! Plus there are a few pictures placed sporadically throughout the book and they seemed to be enough for her!

We were so happy to get outside this week! One day, we took cookie cutters outside to make prints in the snow!

Neighbors!

I also dug forts for the girls out on our deck! They loved just sitting in their houses, in their snow chairs! Then when we went for a walk Piper insisted on pulling Tait. It was so cute to hear them gigling at each other! Here's a little video of them - if you listen closely you can hear Tait giggling away!

Its been a full and satisfying week! We are now looking forward to piles of Valentine fun planned for next week!

Love, Mommy

Dearest Tripp, 

How can I possibly find the words to tell you how much I love you?  You are now 20 months old.  I often look at your pictures and it literally takes my breath away how beautiful you are.  And looking back through your pictures, I remember thinking how sad I was for you and how bad I thought you had it then.  But comparing your struggles then to your struggles now, I know that this is a battle that will only get harder for us.  Harder for you, because this awful disease is taking over your body… keeping you from being a normal little boy, causing you so much pain, and holding you back from a life that you deserve.  And harder for me, because this awful disease is consuming my precious little boy.  Each day when I look into your eyes, I feel so guilty.  Not because I think that it’s my fault that you are suffering, but I feel guilty because I am healthy.  I have perfect eyesight, I have healthy skin, I have my fingernails and toenails, and I can breathe easily without having to struggle for every breath I take.  These are so many things that so many of us take for granted every single day.

I look at you all the time.  You don’t see me staring because you are usually sleeping, or have your eyes closed. But when I look at you, it’s such a crazy, overwhelming feeling.  I want so bad to be able to throw you up in the air, or take you out and show you off to the world, and mostly to be able to see you running around destroying the house like a little tornado.  But instead, I see the little boy that I brought into this world… laying with his eyes closed and suffering with each bath, diaper change, and suction.  Why should a baby have to suffer the way that you do?  But you know what else I see when I look at you?  I see a hero.  My hero.  A little boy who gets up each morning in excruciating pain, who is frustrated and irritable- but never gives up.  He fights with each bandage change, each suction, and each breath.  And when you feel good and finally get the chance to smile and show your personality, you light up my life beyond belief.  Even at your very young age, you are setting a true example of what life is really about.  I know that you have already touched so many lives and I can only hope that you will continue to touch lives for a very long time. 

There are very few people who actually see the struggles that you face day to day.  Some can pretend to understand, but even as your Mommy... I know that even I cannot fully understand the pain and suffering that you have to endure.  No one ever will.  All we can do is learn from you... and be better people because of you.  Because there are not many living beings who could be in your position and still fighting for their life.  Your little body is so frail.  You are supposed to be running and jumping around, but instead your naked little body looks like you're still about 8 months old.  But you are so innocent.  You have no idea that you are the most special child I know.  Your little smile... it radiates the room and everyone in it.  

I am SO proud to call myself your Mommy.  I am forever a better person because of you. The struggles that we face together each day are so bittersweet.  But I wouldn’t trade a single second of all the joys and the sorrows that we have shared- because we've shared them side by side.

I love you baby boy. 

 Just thought you should know that. 

Love,  

Mommy

I Luv Chocolate Cake :)

So pumped for the weekend.  Almost as pumped as I am about this deliciousness that my sweet husband brought me home tonight. 

 I mean, I thought it was enough to bring me 2 12-packs of Diet Coke home without being asked.  And now this?  I love that man.

It really not all that fun to be oven-less.  I have been talking about chocolate cake for 2 weeks now, so a warm chocolate fudge cake from Frisch's is pretty much heaven tonight.

In other news, Becks and I went to Target last night. {Who? Me?  Go to Target?  Stop the world.} 

There was an unannounced snowstorm and we had to brave the blizzard to get to the car.  You would think someone who watches the weather like I watch the latest Jersey Shore episode would be aware of an impending snow storm, but I did not.  So, I was super surprised {and grateful} for an hour delay this morning.  Naturally, they called to inform me about 3 minutes into my shower.  Figures.

My weekend is yet to be determined.  I like it like that.  Happy Thursday, y'all.  I'm off to watch the latest drama at the shores.  It's tee shirt tiiiiiiiiime!!!!!

And don't forget to check out my new teacher blog at The Inspired Apple!