Week three is over and so is September! This week turned out differently than I expected. We shuffled activities around, skipped others, and enjoyed unexpected amusements. I'm realizing more and more how much I'm savoring the time that I have with my preschooler here at home. I love that days can be flexible and still provide the kind of stimulation that I'm hoping to be able to give my children.
Monday went mostly as planned. Our sunny forecast turned out to be a rainy morning, so we had fun with our friends indoors instead of out. We didn't do any nature collecting since we didn't want to get soaking wet when we were so far away from home. Soon though!
Making dinner for our neighbors on Tuesday was a bit challenging, but not for the reasons I expected. We decided to make some Chicken Parmesan so Noah helped me place the raw chicken into the egg mixture and coat it then with bread crumbs. This went pretty well for a time. Then, somehow he thought that it would be a good idea to taste the breadcrumbs from his fingers. I suddenly realized that raw chicken + raw eggs + tasty fingers = one very unsanitary combination. Thankfully, by the time he started wanting to insist on tasting his fingers, we were mostly done so we did a quick hand washing.
Tuesday was also a lot of fun with some unexpected blessings. One of our highlights was our cardboard box "car" that was made from our Costco box. I strung a pipe cleaner around the handle of the box and into a paper plate to make a steering wheel. This car kept both my boys entertained for an entire afternoon. I wished I had had two boxes from Costco, but we later made do with the laundry basket. I love watching Noah's imagination soar as he fantasizes about buses in the road or the horn on the "steering wheel".
To add to all the fun, we also tried to do our week's craft on Tuesday instead of Wednesday as originally planned. We invited a friend over to make our Cheerio necklaces, but instead it became a snack time. The kids liked the idea of making necklaces, but they just weren't really into the work that it would take to do it. I think Noah only got about 2 or 3 Cheerios on his (and this was with help from mom), and his friend got maybe a dozen. Noah ate them off super fast. Only mom was dedicated enough to finish hers, which Zach later much appreciated.
Even still on Tuesday (yes, it was a big day!), we went to the Pajama-rama family storytime at the local library. We got the boys into their pajamas, and Noah enjoyed the songs and stories that the library hosted featuring the letter "D". He even got a "Dd" stamp on his hand which he was very excited about. Unfortunately, Zach didn't enjoy it to the same extent so mommy and he wandered around the library while we waited for Daddy and brother to finish. It was a good bonding time for Daddy and Noah since they don't always get to go to events like this together.
Wednesday we improvised and went to the indoor playground. Noah also took a super long nap which made mama very happy since he had taken only two in the last nine days or so. We also got to go pick up Grandma H who will be staying with us for a few days.
Thursday was preschool. He's still really enjoying it.
Friday, we enjoyed making our apple-pumpkin muffins. Noah is getting better at pouring ingredients into the bowl without making a mess. We have a lot less flour on the floor and more in the dough! He's always so proud of his accomplishments, and loves being "bigger" when he gets on the stool to help. He told daddy, "Look Daddy, I'm bigger like you!" He mimics what we say when we explain things to him, and even tell me "Good job, Mommy" when I do something he thinks worth mentioning (cutting the apples, for example). He is more engaged with baking than anything else I've seen him do (except for maybe listening to music or reading a book with mommy or daddy).
We also had an unexpected craft on Friday. We had gone to the Dollar Tree with Grandma and found some pom poms for future crafts. Noah was very excited about the pom poms so we decided to try to make balloons on paper with them. I couldn't believe that our spontaneous craft project turned out better than our planned one! It was much more age appropriate, and he stayed engrossed with it for quite some time. Even Zach got into the act by playing with the markers and pom poms. (He quickly discovered that pom poms do not taste very good....) Here are some pictures of our time.
Our Successes This Week
Well, there you have it. Happy October everyone!
Monday went mostly as planned. Our sunny forecast turned out to be a rainy morning, so we had fun with our friends indoors instead of out. We didn't do any nature collecting since we didn't want to get soaking wet when we were so far away from home. Soon though!
Making dinner for our neighbors on Tuesday was a bit challenging, but not for the reasons I expected. We decided to make some Chicken Parmesan so Noah helped me place the raw chicken into the egg mixture and coat it then with bread crumbs. This went pretty well for a time. Then, somehow he thought that it would be a good idea to taste the breadcrumbs from his fingers. I suddenly realized that raw chicken + raw eggs + tasty fingers = one very unsanitary combination. Thankfully, by the time he started wanting to insist on tasting his fingers, we were mostly done so we did a quick hand washing.
Tuesday was also a lot of fun with some unexpected blessings. One of our highlights was our cardboard box "car" that was made from our Costco box. I strung a pipe cleaner around the handle of the box and into a paper plate to make a steering wheel. This car kept both my boys entertained for an entire afternoon. I wished I had had two boxes from Costco, but we later made do with the laundry basket. I love watching Noah's imagination soar as he fantasizes about buses in the road or the horn on the "steering wheel".
 |
| Moments before the box became a car. |
 |
| Showing off the steering wheel. |
Even still on Tuesday (yes, it was a big day!), we went to the Pajama-rama family storytime at the local library. We got the boys into their pajamas, and Noah enjoyed the songs and stories that the library hosted featuring the letter "D". He even got a "Dd" stamp on his hand which he was very excited about. Unfortunately, Zach didn't enjoy it to the same extent so mommy and he wandered around the library while we waited for Daddy and brother to finish. It was a good bonding time for Daddy and Noah since they don't always get to go to events like this together.
Wednesday we improvised and went to the indoor playground. Noah also took a super long nap which made mama very happy since he had taken only two in the last nine days or so. We also got to go pick up Grandma H who will be staying with us for a few days.
Thursday was preschool. He's still really enjoying it.
Friday, we enjoyed making our apple-pumpkin muffins. Noah is getting better at pouring ingredients into the bowl without making a mess. We have a lot less flour on the floor and more in the dough! He's always so proud of his accomplishments, and loves being "bigger" when he gets on the stool to help. He told daddy, "Look Daddy, I'm bigger like you!" He mimics what we say when we explain things to him, and even tell me "Good job, Mommy" when I do something he thinks worth mentioning (cutting the apples, for example). He is more engaged with baking than anything else I've seen him do (except for maybe listening to music or reading a book with mommy or daddy).
We also had an unexpected craft on Friday. We had gone to the Dollar Tree with Grandma and found some pom poms for future crafts. Noah was very excited about the pom poms so we decided to try to make balloons on paper with them. I couldn't believe that our spontaneous craft project turned out better than our planned one! It was much more age appropriate, and he stayed engrossed with it for quite some time. Even Zach got into the act by playing with the markers and pom poms. (He quickly discovered that pom poms do not taste very good....) Here are some pictures of our time.
Our Successes This Week
- Being spontaneous. The craft time and the "car"dboard box. The car, especially, was so simple to do, and the boys just loved spending time in it. Plus, it was free!
- Fingerplays! Both the boys are crazy about "The Itsy Bitsy Spider." Instead of the traditional fingerplay for this one, we have the "spider" (mama's fingers) climb up the "waterspout" (child's back or tummy). The "rain" then washes down their backs or tummys before reascending back up. They think the tickling song is hilarious and request it often. (If you want a good laugh yourself, check out the Wikipedia article about the Itsy Bitsy Spider. So literal!)
- The joy of baking. =)
What Could Have Gone Better
- The Cheerio necklaces were a fun idea, but my not-quite-three-year-old is not yet ready for that kind of fine motor skills. Or lacking that, the patience to complete such a task. I definitely need to rethink how this craft thing needs to go.
- Not putting raw eggs and chicken in our mouths! Yuck!
What I Learned
- I need to find more age-appropriate crafts for my two-year old to do. I keep thinking that he is ready to do more than he is really capable to do. Instead of looking at Preschool Art by Maryann Kohl, I should probably focus more on the book, First Art: Experiences for Toddlers and Twos. It may even give me ideas that I can include Zach in. I'm also looking more at homeschool blogs that give craft examples that I'm hoping to implement in the future.
- I need to learn more fingerplays. There is only so long that mama can handle "Patty Cake, Patty Cake" and "Itsy Bitsy Spider" before she goes a bit loopy. The boys, on the other hand, are fascinated by the repetition and could listen to it all day long.
Well, there you have it. Happy October everyone!
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