Tot School-Monkeys

Lots of fun with the Monkey Theme this week. We were even able to go to the San Francisco Zoo yesterday and see some in person.


We started off the week by playing Feeding Monkeys (great
fine motor game), looking for monkeys in a container of rice,
and rolling a die (Dollar Store) and placing the same number
of bananas in the basket


Placing monkey erasers (Dollar Store) onto squares to practice
one-to-one correspondence (paper from Confessions of a
Homeschooler) and sorting monkey cards by color from the
card game 5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed (I have lost
the instructions on how to play the card game, not board game.
If you know how to play, can you send me an email? Thanks!)

Hattie's friend Liam came over, and after we read the book,
"Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed," the kids made
headbands with monkey ears and jumped on pretend beds.
Hattie liked "bumping" her head the best

The kids then colored a picture of a
monkey (DLTK Kids) and glued it to
construction paper where they had stamped
on it using bananas (top right) For snack,
monkey bread of course! (bottom right)


Pretending to be a polar bear at the San Francisco Zoo

After we watched these bears hug, I mentioned to her that
the mama and baby bear were snuggling. She stopped me
and started to snuggle with me saying, "Awww, mama and
big kid snuggling."

L to R: I made a keyring zoo book created by All About the Journey.
We would look through the booklet and read the facts about each animal.
Amazingly, Celie fell asleep. A picture of Hattie holding a snake
(you know that's a fake snake, right?) and when we got home,
since she did not have any accidents while we were at the zoo,
she earned a zoo sticker sheet (Dollar Store). Even though I took
pictures of lots of monkeys, for some reason I didn't include
them in this post. Ha!

Tot School-Zoo Theme Week 1

Zoo theme this month. This week we focused on the concepts: spots, stripes and solids. Just today she pointed to her shirt and said, "Look Mommy. Hattie's shirt has stripes."


Playing with zoo animals, she made a cage for them, sorting
the animals by spots, stripes or solids (and yes, she is still
wearing her Christmas pajamas)

Hattie's friend Liam came over this week. They pretended
to be zookeepers and "caught" all of the animals that had
escaped their cages. Patterns of the animals and zookeeper's
hat from Kids Soup.

H and L put spots on a giraffe, and stripes on a zebra (string
wrapped around a can and dipped in black paint). Patterns
from Kids Soup.

Four Years

Four wonderful years...

Tot School-Summer Theme

Since I have been slacking on taking pictures of our activities, I decided just to do one post to show the highlights of this past month. Hopefully I'll do better this month with our Zoo theme.


Ice cream cone (childcareland.com), making watermelon using red and
green paint and paper plates, eating ice cream with Liam



Sorting colored shells (dyed pasta) into muffin tins, eating
a "beach" snack (vanilla pudding dyed blue with crumbled
graham cracker topping and a Swedish fish), sandcastles
(made out of toilet paper rolls and covered with sand) and
playing in the sand table.

I forgot to take photos of them having a picnic in the backyard
and of the felt food I made. That was a favorite of hers.


Click on the link to see other ideas

Carmel

I love that it takes us a little over an hour to drive to Carmel. Quick trip to the beach for a picnic and fun in the sun. Celie loves the sand, but doesn't care for the water. Hattie loves both. She found lots of shells and wanted to take all of them home :)

Muffin Tin Monday-Summer Theme Wrap up

So this week we are finishing our Summer theme. The first week of July we focused on Independence Day, then onto watermelon and ice cream, then picnics, and this week we are learning about the beach. The tin is an accumulation of all of the various weeks.



L to R: ice cream, watermelon-shaped pb & j, raisins (ants
picnic theme), couscous (sand) with chocolate shell (beach
theme), star-shaped watermelon and pasta shells (with
Parmesan of course!)


When she discovered the shell in the "sand"


Click on link to see more ideas

10 Months and A Father's Day Photo

Whoa! 10 months already? But I haven't even started planning her birthday party yet! I feel so behind.
At 10 months
She:
-says 3 words: hi, bye, uh oh
-uses 9 signs: up, more, milk, sleep, dog, diaper, baby, eat and tickle
-is learning the signs for car, cracker and water
-sleeps from 6pm-6am
-still has 3 naps a day, but I think it will be turning into 2 naps soon
-likes to eat black beans, mozzarella and couscous
-screams (with excitement) whenever Hattie wakes up from a nap
-crawls everywhere but doesn't want to pull herself up
-drinks from a sippy cup and loves water
-loves Cameron
-follows the commands: clap hands, jump, cough and kiss baby
-is starting to point
-can pick up pieces of food and feed herself (we needed to practice this a lot)
-has greenish-blue eyes


I forgot to share my favorite photo from Father's Day this year.

35

Yesterday I turned the big 3-5. I have to admit, I do feel a bit different. I didn't think I would. I feel "wiser." Ha! Must be all of the new grey hair I've been getting lately. Randy took the day off and I was able to spend some time by myself
(2 hours in Target without kids=bliss) and time with the family. The best part of yesterday? Hattie earned her Thomas the Train pillow. I won't tell you how she earned it (to spare the squeamish out there), but those who know what that means, let's just say I was glad to get him off of the TV :)

Muffin Tin Monday-Independence Day

An Independence Day themed MTM.



Star-shaped pb&j sandwich, strawberries, mozzarella
cheese, blueberries, yogurt coated cookies from Trader Joe's


A few photos of the girls on the 4th




I can't believe this is my 2-year old.
She looks so much older here. Sigh.

9 Month Stats

Celie had her 9-month appointment last week. All is well and she is very healthy. She weighs 17lbs. 1 oz. and is 26 inches. Two photos comparing Hattie and Celie. Do you think they look alike?

Muffin Tin Monday-Ocean

It's been a couple of weeks since I last participated in MTM. They are taking a break from the themes this summer, so I will be joining in here and there.



We are finishing our ocean theme this week, so we have an ocean themed tin.


Seahorse-shaped pb&j sandwich, Swedish fish candy, whale-shaped
cheese on top of oyster crackers, whale-shaped crackers, octopus
made out of a hot dog (her first hot dog) and blue jell-o (ocean)

Her first taste of jell-o. I think she likes it :)

Tot School-Ocean (2)

Another week of learning about the ocean. Not many photos this week as I forgot to take pictures of some of the activities AND we have been potty training. Very successful on the potty training journey. Only 4 accidents and 14 successes! Hope it continues to go well this week.
On Saturday we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Very cool to see her so excited and pointing out sea animals she recognized. We had a great a time there.
Tot School







Colored an ocean scene Kids Soup



Used bingo markers for the dots Kids Soup




Stamped numbers into sand




Ate a snack with her friend Liam. Snack-crackers, blue
cream cheese and Goldfish crackers



Highlights from our trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium
Click on photo to enlarge

Watch for Muffin Tin Monday tomorrow.

Tot School-Ocean

Every month, I introduce a new theme to Hattie. I base reading, math, concepts (both thematic and non), motor and art skills on it. This month we are learning about the ocean. I decided to start taking pictures and linking up her "lessons" to the site http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.blogspot.com. It also gives me an opportunity to see what activities other parents are doing with their toddlers. Here are a few things Hattie did last week. Click on the Tot School button to learn more about it.







Fishing with her pole and sea creatures

Hattie invited her friend Liam over join in on the fun.
Here they are snacking on octopus popsicles-apple juice
and gummy worms as the legs

Hattie and Liam showing off their creations-octopus made
out of toilet paper tubes and octopus made out of tiny tot
hand prints

Hattie learning one-to-one correspondence using whale
erasers (Dollar Store) and Goldfish crackers. Also, a little
taste of a cracker as a reward for all of her hard work :)
Number page from confessionsofahomeschooler.com and
fish bowl from kidssoup.com

9 Months and A New Hat

Celie is on the move! She just started to crawl, and she is loving it! It is time to rearrange some furniture and start putting gates back up.
At 9 months,
She:
-can crawl
-can pull herself up onto her knees in her crib only
-has 8 teeth
-imitates us when we clap, scream, cough or laugh
-growls...a lot
-scrunches her nose and breathes through it quickly (hard to explain, but way cute)
-still sucks her thumb
-still sleeps from 6pm-6am (though the last few nights she has been waking up at 5:30)
-looks around for Hattie
-occasionally signs milk, more and sleep, but always signs eat
-likes to eat peas, broccoli, squash, mangoes
-does not like sweet potatoes or green beans
-is still very easy going
and for this photo, it was the best one out of many. She was moving the entire time and this one was the least blurry.
The second photo is of her today with her new hat. A little big, but it keeps the sun away.

Garden Theme

In May, we learned about plants, flowers and gardens. Hattie planted several types of seeds, made lots of flower, veggie and fruit art projects, and tasted some new veggies and fruits. This month we are learning about oceans, and I hope to upload our projects weekly.

A Tasty Flamingo

*Background info* I always have a bag of dried mangoes from Costco at home. It is a favorite snack of ours.
Hattie and I were watching tv, Mama Mirabel I think-a cartoon about animals.
H: Mommy, that's a mingo
Me: Yes, that's a FLAmingo
H: (with a bewildered look on her face) Mommy, I eat mingos?
Me: (with a straight face) No, you eat mangoes.

I Take So Many Pictures...

that I take pictures of other people taking pictures of other people.


I still haven't even shared Easter or Christmas photos. Eek!

Congratulations Aunt Karen!

Auntie Karen passed the bar! We are so proud of you.

Congrats!

Muffin Tin Monday-Peter Rabbit's Garden (no theme)

No theme this month for MTM, so I decided to wrap up our garden theme with this idea I used from Gourmet Mom on the Go-Peter Rabbit's Mixed up Garden. The card says:
"Peter Rabbit’s seeds got all mixed up this year and now he doesn’t know what has grown in his lovely garden! Will you help him eat his yummy treats and figure out what they are? Help Peter by digging in each hole, nibbling the food, and deciding what it is. Use your taste, smell, and sight to figure out this mystery! Good luck!"

When Hattie tore through the paper, she found grapes, carrots (which surprisingly she ate), bananas, apples, a flower-shaped sandwich and a cupcake with a flower on top. OK, so those things aren't necessarily things one might find in a garden (not ours at least), but close enough. She even tried feeding a carrot to her rabbit.