Tot School: Green & Leaves

G is 19 Months Old
This weeks theme: Leaves, Fall & Green
(because it's just now starting to feel like fall here - and even then most the leaves are still green.)

It is getting more & more difficult to take pictures during tot school activities. As G is getting used to the routine of tot school, she likes me to be more involved. Coloring with her, doing the projects with her. Which is great, I love it. But if I stop for 2 seconds to take a picture things will start ending up on the ground. She's quick. But here is what I WAS able to capture this week.

Activities at Home

She received a new toy from one of her Grandma's. She loves this thing.

She's gotten pretty good at it too.

I don't usually let her take out her bucket of tot school 'toys' and just go buck wild. One day she insisted and this is the mess than ensued.

We put leaves on the tree, using this printable from 2 Teaching Mommies Leaves Unit.

We tried leaf rubbing, with some leaves we gathered earlier in the week during a walk.

But it just turned into a coloring session...

In fact, most things just turned into a coloring session. Hey, the girl knows what she likes!

The leaf & scarecrow sheets are ones we received during a previous visit to Excel by 5.

New Words

Me - Probably because her favorite book this week has been Incredible Me. (I love the book too!)

My personal favorite - 'Goooo Giants!'

Mommie's Favorite Photo

There's nothing spectacular about this shot, just my little girl's first time Trick or Treating...and she LOVED it. So much so, the next morning I had to explain we can only go door to door to get candy one night a year.

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Tot School: Halloween!!

This weeks Theme: Orange, Black & Pumpkins
G is 19 Months Old

This Week

G has been cuddly, cranky, whiny & all the other things that come along with 2 year molars cutting through. (Or trying to!) She hasn't been sleeping well - which means Mommy hasn't been sleeping well. This morning I woke up to my alarm & realized that she didn't wake up. I did the "full nights sleep" jig - something I haven't done for probably a year. I've also officially decided that watching your 1 year old have to deal with the pain & discomfort of cutting molars is worse than labor. That was over in 18 hours. This is taking FOREVER. Poor Munchkin.
This was pretty much my long explanation for - we didn't do a lot this week. I did take some activities out here & there and managed to get a few pictures, but we laid low this week. The TV was on much more often than usual, and G & I could be found snuggling under our blankets on the couch. But sometimes we all just need a week like that.

Excel by 5

We did go to Excel by 5, nothing takes your mind of teething like rooms full of fun things & other kids.

Stacking foam blocks in the 'Block Room'

 

Gluing felt pumpkins onto black felt in the 'Art Room'

(I also believe I had to utter the words - "Don't eat the glue stick")

Tot Activities at Home

Coloring the pumpkin orange.

Showing off her orange crayon

 

Playing with the felt Jack-O-Lantern

Picking up the monkeys & putting them back in their barrel using a strawberry huller

Last week I managed to add blue noodles (which turned out kind of greenish) to our red noodles; I just never managed a picture of her playing with them. This week I added some orange also.

Playing with her colorful noodles

I really need to come up with a better solution for managing this activity. She gets so into it I just let her be, but it always seems to end up like this....

I think I should invest in a sheet to put down for a much easier cleanup.

How She's Growing

G is showing much more desire to dress herself. She's been able to put her arms through her shirt, pull it down over her head or pull it off for sometime. Recently I began having her pull up & down her shorts or pants.

She pulled a pair of pants out of the laundry I was folding and tried to put them on by herself...

She is also very big on accessories right now. She must always have a necklace on. Just this week - after 19 months of trying - she likes to wear hats!

(Hopefully that means headbands won't be too far off, her hair is in that awkward stage of 'grow out' & the use of headbands would be great!)

This picture is awful blurry, but this is the first time she's EVER kept this hat on and her expression is adorable. I'm glad I got the picture, because she ran away yanking the hat off 2 seconds later.

Mommy's Favorite Shot This Week

I will never get tired of pictures of G with her Daddy. Never.

I wish you all a happy & safe Halloween. May you receive more treats than tricks.

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Tot School - Blue

Week 6 of Tot School.
G is 19 months old.

This week's theme was Blue and Water!

During our Excel by 5 visit this week G wanted to visit the block room, art room and the 0-2 room. We met up with a playgroup there and she played well - for the most part - I really don't like the pushing thing that starts to show up around this age. We're trying really hard to nip that.
I was pleasantly surprised that G went into the art room, pulled up a chair and actually was engaged with two "crafts". She colored and then we glued feathers on a Popsicle stick for hair and I drew her stick friend two eyes & a nose. Something silly & simple, I was just grabbing for anything she could do because at home she hasn't really been into any crafty things I've offered. She still likes to carry her stick friend around the house, now, almost a week later.

Now our tot activities at home!

First we gathered all the blue toys.

And we put them together in a pile

Here is photographic proof that she might be getting sick of me & my camera.

(I also think the face she's making makes her look like a little old lady.)

I mixed some water dyed blue with some oil and we had fun shaking & tipping the bottle upside down. Then G really wanted to drink it, so this activity didn't last too long.

Still enjoying the flashcards.

G is still entertained, endlessly, by the Melissa & Doug Rainbow Stacker.

Now we've found some other ways to use it.

Balancing the rings in her hands

We have another, less popular stacking toy. The middle rod does not like to stay in place. So I took it off of the other base and gave it to G to insert into the rings.  Having a new way to play with this toy kept her busy for quite awhile. It didn't take her long to figure out that she could use this new stick to pick them up if she held both ends so the ring didn't fall off.

Her toy of choice to "borrow" this week from Excel by 5 - a choice that was heavily influenced by her Mama - was Lakeshore's Fish & Learn Play set.

She really enjoyed this toy, so much so that there's a chance one could be under the Christmas tree with her name on it, in December.

Spending time in the art room at Excel by 5 must have been a turning point, because she was really into painting this week. I glued down some pictures of animals that live in water and she paint washed over them. (Of course, she found out it was much more fun to turn the cup of paint/water upside down and soak the entire paper blue...) 

I took blue objects we found earlier in the week, and hid a couple of them in the backyard. G had a lot of fun finding everything, and actually moved too fast for me to get many decent pictures.

We didn't really read any new & different books this week. Actually I couldn't find many blue/water books at the library on base. Their selection is still suffering 6 years after Katrina. I think I may find out if they take donations and go hunting around the local thrift shops. Of course, it doesn't really matter because G was obsessed with the same books as last week.

How She's Growing!

G has been trying sooo hard to jump. Occasionally she'll get both feet off the ground. But more often than not it turns into skipping around. It's cute either way.



We're getting a glimpse at the toddler independence. She doesn't like to be pushed on the swing anymore. She actually prefer that you sit next to her and swing with her. She also thinks she can pump her legs. She's not in focus for this picture, but it's the only one I've been able to get of her sticking her legs out to "pump".

No new words this week either. Though she's clearly speaking in sentences. We just have no idea what EXACTLY the words are. ;)

Mommy's Favorite Picture This Week

I am amazed at what a big girl she is becoming. This picture displays her to a tee right now. She is girl through & through. Likes to have a bow or clip in her hair and likes to dance. (Here's she's dancing to "I'm a Little Teapot".) Though usually she has to wear her white tutu while dancing.

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Tot School: Back in the Swing of Things

Week 4 of Tot School. G is 18 months.

This week was all about getting into a routine & working in some tot activities. To go from working at the office full time, to being home & working when I can, has taken some adjustments. I find myself much more tired than I was sitting at a desk all day, but I am really blessed to finally have the opportunity to be home with my little G.
There was no *real* theme this week. Just sticking with colors, shapes & identifying things around us.



 She's coloring in some shapes I drew on a piece of paper. It took a couple tries. She didn't want the crayons, or colored pencils. Only markers please!

 

Placing foam shapes in her stacking cups. I got these shapes at the $1 section at Target!

First introduction to the color flashcards I made. She had to have all of them face with the word up, so I made a game out of it. I'd flip them over real fast and as she flipped them back I'd say the color.

Then it was time to match shapes up with the flashcards. I matched the first couple with the same color. Here she is doing the same with green.

G's Grandma bought a Cedarmont Kids Toddler Action Songs CD/DVD set.
Here she's marching along to "The Ants go Marching"...

We tried our hand at apple stamping. It turned into a regular finger painting session.

As part of our new routine, we go to the library every week. Very few books came to Mississippi with us, so of course the library books are ones she loves to hear multiple times a day.
G's favorites this week have been: Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See, Curious George Goes to the Aquarium & Cock-a-Moo-Moo

New Words This Week: "M", "Outside"
And be still my heart I heard "thank you" & "yes please". Still not saying them every time they should be. However, to hear them come out of her mouth helps me to know she's listening. (For the time being, the sign for 'please' can go a long way in this house!)

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Tot School: Not so much

Week 3 of Tot School. G is 17 months.

This week was supposed to be blue week.

G & I even went through her toys & books and pulled out all the blue things.

I made sure to include Good Night Ocean and Good Night Lake. We have 2 trips planned in the next couple weeks - camping & visiting friends near the ocean.
But then our life got a little crazy. (You can read about our week on my other blog.)
We didn't get much further with blue week.

This week turned into enjoying family time & relaxing on our camping trip. G impressed me with all the things she could do that I had no clue she could.

Swinging on the big kid swing. She'll even pump her legs once or twice.

Drinking from a mug.

Looking like a camper who had just woken up to a morning brew of coffee.

We'll get back into the swing of things & blue week by the end of this coming week.



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Tot School: Red Week Continues!

This is our 2nd week of Tot School. G is almost 17 months old. (on Wednesday!)

Completely irrelevant to what we did this week, I am so glad that I chose to do colors first. With our busy-ness of moving, camping next weekend & going out of town Labor Day weekend this is such an easy "subject" to do on the go!

I dyed some pasta red.

G has had fun scooping the pasta out, pouring it into containers, dumping it back into the big bowl (or even on the floor). This has been a life saver during dinner prep too!

I know it looks like a measly amount, but just keep tuning in. I'm sure you'll be able to figure out what I'm doing after not too long.

We also finger painted. Homemade finger paint even. (Water+flour+food coloring = finger paint!)

It's edible too, just ask G, she tried it!

And very easy to clean up.

Even if you forget that some got on the edge of the high chair & it dried before you could wipe it off.

We continued to play with the red basket. During our last play time she liked to take everything out of the basket one by one, hold it up and wait for me to say "Red Block...Red Duplo...Red Elmo"

There are also some You Tube videos that we watch.
Only one or two a day, but she enjoys them a lot. To the point that she's asking to watch them A LOT. I don't need a You Tube addict on my hands, so I'll have to nip that in the butt.

We've been mostly watching these phonics, numbers & colors videos. I can even sing the butterfly color song now, all by myself. (Even at work, with no toddler in sight!)

My favorite right now is the 10 Little Numbers video. G has started counting along with it. In my opinion, there is nothing cuter than a beginner talker saying "phree".



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