A Lesson in Gentleness

The other night, after LBB was sound asleep and Dear Sweet Hubby was relaxing, I took a much needed Mommy's night out and went to (drumroll please...):

The dollar store.

Oh, yeah, this Mommy knows how to rock her quiet time. ;)

And at the dollar store, I bought tons of goodies for LBB's preschool and 3 snowflakes for our patio. (See, I spoiled myself, haha.) AND...I bought "Mexican Jumping Beans".

I thought there was an off chance that LBB might enjoy them. I thought right. Since introducing him to his little "caterpillars" (we make sure we avoid the term "bean" lest he thinks it is a nommy) he has shown a gentleness that is heart melting and adorable. He quietly whispers "shhhh" when he is telling them goodnight. He softly picks them up and places on the carpet, which he observes as soon as he lays on his belly and props himself up with his arms.

He makes sure the kitties stay away from them. He puts them softly back in their new home (a snack container), and hands them back to me to put up on the counter. It is really the sweetest thing, and a lesson that he was greatly in need of due to his extreme toddler tendencies. :) Who would've figured that for a dollar, I could find a sweet little treat for LBB to learn what it means to be gentle? Not me, that's for sure.

OH, and if you want to read up a bit on these cool little things, check out this article! I'm going to do some research so I can make sure these little guys live for a while.

Story+Art "The Very Busy Spider" by Eric Carle (Spider Craft)

Well, that's a pretty long title...but I wanted to make sure that it could be differentiated because we plan on doing some more crafts about this book this week!

Yesterday on our way to the zoo, I was talking with Dear Sweet Hubby about how I didn't think LBB was necessarily interested in focusing on a letter a week (in addition to a weekly theme.) And then I started talking about how he seemed much more interested in reading the same book over and over and over for a week, and it dawned on me...

Why don't I focus on one story and do a few projects throughout the week that tie into that story. Think story+art, along with a little learning (like a field trip that ties in), and voila...my hybrid of preschool for toddler. :) We are still going to do a weekly theme, but this replaces the major focusing on the alphabet...he's not even 2 yet, so we can postpone that (although we do still point letters out, of course.)

At the zoo, LBB fell in love with "The Very Busy Spider" by Eric Carle (and tried to get a little girl he met to read it to him...what a charmer.) So, of course, I bought it for him, because it is for his preschool, after all...sooooo, that makes it ok. ;)

We decided to do his first project with the book today. A sweet little Paper Towel tube spider. Read on for directions!

The materials we used: A paper towel tube, cut to about 1 1/2 inches. A piece of black construction paper, cut to a length to fit around the tube with a little bit of overlap. 8 pieces of construction paper (cut 1/2" by 3 1/4"), and two wiggly eyes. (Because what kind of spider is it if it doesn't have wiggly eyes.)

LBB had a blast trying to make a glue fountain. :) I put the construction paper around the tube for him, since he is so little...I used invisible tape because it was quicker.

Inspecting the glue bottle before starting his project. We started with a little glue on the end of one leg, and put the leg on the inside of the tube. LBB got about halfway through and decided he was done gluing, so I used tape on the rest and tape to reinforce. After all the legs are attached to the inside, I folded them at the edge of the tube so they sat nicely. This becomes the bottom.

Then, just add a little glue to the eyes (or use those fancy self adhesive ones if you have them...I'm beginning to think they would be worth the investment), and you have a cute little spider. :) LBB's favorite part of any project like this is always gluing the eyes on...it's quite adorable.

Preschool 2011 Weekly Wrap #1

To see this closer, just click the pic!

Good evening! I decided I'd post this tonight so I wouldn't have to try to do it tomorrow...my computer is archaic, and as a result, simple things like posting one blog post are like playing the lottery...sometimes, it is quick, sometimes it takes 30 minutes to just get the thing from jamming up. :) But, it's what we have, and for that I'm thankful.

Our first week went so well! Monday morning we woke up early (that is by LBB's choice, not Mommy's), got dressed, ate breakfast, and began our chores. LBB vacuumed behind me and prepared breakfast at his kitchen for Bearemy while I quickly got all the other chores done. I have to say, it was pretty nice to get such a headstart on the day, and we were ready for Bible Study by 7 am. We read the story of David and Goliath, and I had taken out a coloring page from his Veggie Tales coloring book, but LBB colored two green lines and then wanted nothing to do with it. He quickly went to work on his preschool work though and started practicing using his tweezers on his building block sets. The first day went by soooo well, and I couldn't be happier. LBB took his normal naps and meal breaks, but he did mostly preschool activities from 7 am until 6:30 pm...pretty impressive! He did play trains and whatnot in between, but I'm not interested in the least at making him sit...I completely understand that he is still very young, so we make sure that while we focus on certain activities throughout the day, we also make sure we listen to his cues. That is what is most important!

So, if you see that picture up there, it's a few highlights from the week...I'll just go in order from left to right and I think that will work. If the pic is small, just click on it...I think it is quicker to do a collage and saves you from scrolling through a post a mile long. :)

1. Good Morning first day of school! LBB quickly went to work in his kitchen...he definitely loved playing with the practical life aspect of it and made food for his Bearemy and me. So sweet. :) He is in love with that kitchen...did I mention we got it at Goodwill for $3.99. Score.
2. Sitting at his desk playing dino's. We did letter D for the week and seeing as how he is a dino nut, it fit well...I think moving forward we won't focus so much on the letter, but it does add a nice theme variation throughout the week. We'll focus more on letters in a few months and just touch on it lightly here and there.
3. Practicing pouring with some chocolate chips. LBB loves pouring work...and he could literally do it all day long. :) Cat #2 has ardently adopted the role of class pet and was very insistent on helping. And yes, I am the crazy mom who gave her kid chocolate chips to use for learning at 8 in the morning. And yes...he ate some, and I ate some. It was wonderful. :)
4. Music time. LBB was really getting into his "Abby" song that he sings for his PaPa and GiGi's puppy.
5. Going for our nature walk! We were on a mission to find some leaves for a project. The nature walk lasted about 4 minutes. Then he was off to have some self-initiated p.e. Haha.
6. And on our nature walk, LBB discovered his shadow! He waved to it and played with it. Then he discovered Mommy's shadow, which apparently required lots of pats on her head. :)
7. The leaf wreath we made with the few leaves we picked up. He also decorated the plate with some Do-A-Dots (love those things!) and a little bit of colored pencil. It now hangs proudly on his bedroom door. It really is the cutest wreath.
8. More pouring work, but this time with water. He did this activity almost everyday this week...he poured, he scooped, he splashed. He had fun!
9. Our aluminum foil art! We taped some sheets of foil onto the cabinet doors (one for each of us, or so I planned) and then armed LBB with some washable markers. He immediately took over all of the sheets, but he had a blast and it was definitely a nice change from coloring on regular paper. Not to mention, when all was said and done, he was able to match every markers cap correctly...all by himself. Dear Sweet Hubby and I were amazed!
10. Close up of our foil art.
11. For social studies, I used the outline of Delaware (it was originally supposed to be Denmark, but you know...the best laid plans of mice and men) and cut it out of cardboard. Then I attached it to some cardstock and let LBB cover the state with some salt dough. I remember being little and doing salt dough maps and loving it, and while I was older than he is, I knew he would still get a kick out of decorating it. And I was right! He loved it! He used his children's "knife" and spread it on. He dug his fingers down in the dough and pulled out a sticky hand. And he figured out how it acts like a stamp if you don't press down all the way. (Although, mental note, must find a better recipe for salt dough...)
12. Another salt dough map picture...
13. ...and the finished project. He did pretty good!
14. As a treat, I picked up some of those cookie dough squares at Aldi's tonight, and LBB and Dear Sweet Hubby went to work placing them on the pan...
15. ...LBB did a great job of putting them where we pointed, and then he discovered that he could stack them, so he dove right into that! He had so much fun stacking them...
16. ...and even more fun watching the stack fall and yelling "UHOH!"

So, there's our week in summary!!! There was so much more wonderful things that we did, so many more special moments, but I told myself that I didn't want to have my camera alongside at all times. :) The special moments are much more special if you take the time to enjoy them!

Well, have a good night! Thanks for stopping by!

Beginning Fall Decorating

I'm a tad behind in getting my Autumn decor up, and I think they are buried somewhere in the garage...so until my hubby goes on an expedition to find the bin, I decided to make a few things for around the house. I've been so inspired my all those cute little felt leaf garlands I've been seeing around the internet, and I decided to make one for our humble abode. It was soooo simple. In fact, so simple I was able to complete it in an evening with LBB by my side. :) I hung it across our IKEA expedit unit that is in the dining room...

...and I had left over garland. So, I stood there, looking around trying to decide what a good use for it would be. And then I looked up...at our new dining room lamp that is gorgeous (and completely free and installed for us...it's moments like this that I LOVE apartment living, haha.) Those beautiful wrought iron curves just screamed for a little autumn festiveness. So, I wrapped some of the garland around each curve of the lamp, and voila!

Dear Sweet Hubby came home and just loved it. :) I also made a garland for my bedroom, but haven't gotten a picture of that yet...I need to get our decor up so we can have our Annual Family Fall-ebration. :) I'll take more pics then. :)

What We've Learned This Week

Ah. Our first week of preschool is almost done, and it's been such a joy! I plan on doing a post of our activities we did soon, but I've got a moment to write a bit while LBB goes down for his morning nap.

We are taking an easy morning, but after LBB wakes up, it's time for puzzles, pouring, and a salt-dough activity.

This week has been an absolute thrill...I love being LBB's teacher. There are moments when I get a tad worn out and moments when I wonder if we're doing it right, but then there are even more moments when I realize that we are following our hearts, minds, and listening to God about this, so we can't go wrong. And just in the past 4 days, LBB has learned so much.

And so has Mommy...here are some of the things we learned:

• LBB is a kinesthetic learner, no doubts about it. I kind of had a hunch that he was before we started preschool, but now that I'm working with him daily, I'm really seeing that he learns in a very unique way.
• Sadly, library storytime is not a good match for kinesthetic toddler. More on that in an upcoming post...
• My little tot runs at the sight of a coloring page, but jumps at the chance to color a piece of aluminum foil taped to the cabinet door.
• LBB can now say wreath, leaf, bus, truck (although it sounds strangely similar to bus), mine, why, and siren (but it sounds like me-me...which is Mommy's version of a European police car...I can only blame myself), bye bye, hi, pillow, Mearemy (his version of his bear's name Bearemy) and NiNi (the nickname for his little fox GiGi got him). That's in addition to what he said before, so his language is really seeming to take off!
• He is also beginning to put two words together to make phrases. He has said big boat, my mama, and mama no. (As in "LBB, don't do that" and I hear back "Mama no.")
• He can say "Love YOU!" now! :) He used to say it on command, but now he says it in return on his own. And at night, when he is going to bed, he gives Bearemy and Nick hugs and kisses and says love you to them. So sweet.
• He is a pro at putting puzzles together. Just two weeks ago he had fun, but was challenged, when he worked on his jumbo peg, 3 piece Melissa & Doug puzzle. Now, he breezes through their chunky wooden puzzles with no problem. The other day I picked one up at the consignment shop (Melissa and Doug for $3? Yes, please!), and within 5 minutes in the car he had the puzzle figured out.
• Loves this Melissa and Doug Shape Sequence Sorting Set, and it getting quite good at it.
• And I've learned that a little routine goes a long way. Skip the routine, and I'm thrown off all day. We've made it a habit to have the house vacuumed, swept, mopped, dishes done, beds made, and us dressed by 7 am. And I've also learned that I have to shower before bed the night before...because if I don't get dressed right when I get up and am ready for the day (like today), the rest of the day feels lazy and unmotivated.

This has been such a wonderful week full of learning. I am going to do a post on Saturday and it will become our weekly wrap up, so there will be details in there on what we actually did. :) I just had to share a little bit of life, especially since I was blogging almost everyday. I don't want to get in the habit of pushing it aside again!

Art Caddy Tutorial

I've been drooling over this divine little treat from pottery barn kids. However, my wallet hasn't been.

image from potterybarnkids.com

So, the other night in bed I was forcing my very sleepy hubby to look through their newest catalog when I kept going on about how I want one of these. And then, my genius of a husband said, "Why don't you just make one? It'd be easy enough...just get and old toolbox and put dividers in it." Well, duh. Of course I'd thought of that...of course. ;)

And then, pure genius struck me. Sitting empty in LBB's cabinet in his room was this little gem I'd picked up at Goodwill months ago:

I paid 99 cents for it. And I said to Dear Sweet Hubby: "We can just use that little toy wooden toolbox in LBB's room!" And I got back a sleepy sounding "Yeah." So today I set about re-vamping the unused tool tote. I pulled two flaps off LBB's diaper box. Grabbed some BasicGrey scrapbook paper, and went to town. First I cut the cardboard into 3 strips...1 long one and two short ones that fit the short width of the box. I trimmed them down to the same height as the sides, and then trimmed some paper to size.
After wrapping the paper (and I'm sure you could use glue...but tape was next to me and I honestly didn't feel like going to get the glue. LBB was distracted long enough to give me time to do this, I didn't want to press my luck. Haha!), I cut two slits halfway in and halfway up the short pieces, and then cut two slits going halfway up the long piece. I spaced them 3" in from each side, leaving a 4" space in the middle. (I really hope that makes sense...)
Then I put the pieces together (think TinkerToy style), sharpened all the colored pencils I could find, rounded up some crayons and markers...and voila!!!!!
Our very own Art Caddy...and it only cost me about $3 (and that's figuring in the paper I already had on hand!)

Our Reading Basket-Week 1

I decided today that I wanted to do a weekly post of what books are in LBB's red reading basket. If you remember from the post I did showing his homeschool area, it's the little red basket in his reading area. Some weeks I will change them all out, some weeks just a few, and some weeks, maybe just one. It will all be based on what he reads, what he loves, and what I want him to explore a little more.

So, here's the first list!

The Alphabet Book---P.D. Eastman

Fifteen Animals---Sandra Boynton

Flutter Fly---Kaaren Pixton

Runaway Bunny---Maragaret Wise Brown

Not A Box---Antoinette Portis

Cat the Cat Who Is That---Mo Willems

The Pigeon Wants a Puppy---Mo Willems

There is a Bird on Your Head---Mo Willems

How Do Dinosaurs Clean Their Rooms?---Jane Yolen and Mark Teague

Little David Sings for the King---Crystal Bowman

Cars 2-Race Around the World---Susan Amerikaner

Tonka Tough Trucks-The Bulldozer---Nancy Parent

Caps for Sale---Esphyr Slobodkina

The Little Engine That Could---Watty Piper

Baby Bear Baby Bear What Do You See---Bill Martin Jr/Eric Carle

Panda Bear Panda Bear What Do You See---Bill Martin Jr/Eric Carle

Cat's Colors---Jane Cabrera

LBB's ABC Book (We made this on a photo book website...we took a picture of things in LBB's life that started with each letter of the alphabet...it turned out wonderfully!)

The Mixed Up Chameleon---Eric Carle

Animals, Animals---Eric Carle

Hooray for Fish---Lucy Cousins

What do you have in your little one's reading basket? Please share!