Guh-guh told O they could cook anything she wanted for lunch on Tuesday, and she chose to cook macaronni and cheese. I was shocked since we haven't even eaten macaronni and cheese since Thanksgiving. Although, maybe that's why she chose it...
Chasing Cheerios
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Little Cooker
Guh-guh told O they could cook anything she wanted for lunch on Tuesday, and she chose to cook macaronni and cheese. I was shocked since we haven't even eaten macaronni and cheese since Thanksgiving. Although, maybe that's why she chose it...
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Independent Artwork
O spends A LOT of time at her art shelf! She loves it, and I love that she is getting more and more creative everyday. She recently (within the last 2 weeks) started drawing faces. She calls them "a people." Here are a few of her recent creations :)
She said this is the bald headed man that she saw at the grocery store. He can't hear (he doesn't have any ears), he ate too much candy so he has lots of cavities and fillings, and he's a little grumpy :)
She made this collage while my mom and I were organizing. She said 2 girls are playing in the grass, 2 girls are swimming in the lake, and 3 girls are playing in the sand.
She glued the whole sheet of stickers to this collage. I asked if she wanted to take them off and place them on the paper, but she was not interested. I guess I should know not to question an artist's creative spirit :)
Another collage...she loves cutting pictures out of magazines, especially Pottery Barn Kids catalogs.
I was not very happy when I saw that she had cut up the suction cup thingy. She looked at like I was crazy when I questioned her about it and said "but mama I needed it for the man's eyes." Well, what was I thinking! She agreed to only cut things after asking. It's partly my fault since I told her she could take the suction cup thing to her art shelf. I just had no idea she'd use it in her art. I should've know better...
She said this is the bald headed man that she saw at the grocery store. He can't hear (he doesn't have any ears), he ate too much candy so he has lots of cavities and fillings, and he's a little grumpy :)
She made this collage while my mom and I were organizing. She said 2 girls are playing in the grass, 2 girls are swimming in the lake, and 3 girls are playing in the sand.
She glued the whole sheet of stickers to this collage. I asked if she wanted to take them off and place them on the paper, but she was not interested. I guess I should know not to question an artist's creative spirit :)
Another collage...she loves cutting pictures out of magazines, especially Pottery Barn Kids catalogs.
I was not very happy when I saw that she had cut up the suction cup thingy. She looked at like I was crazy when I questioned her about it and said "but mama I needed it for the man's eyes." Well, what was I thinking! She agreed to only cut things after asking. It's partly my fault since I told her she could take the suction cup thing to her art shelf. I just had no idea she'd use it in her art. I should've know better...
Monday, June 8, 2009
Seasons & Clothes Matching
I recently introduced seasons and clothes matching from Montessori for Everyone to O. I didn't give her all of the cards because I thought it would be a little overwhelming. She did very well and enjoyed the activity.
I put different colored stickers for each category on the backs of the cards to aid in self checking.
I put different colored stickers for each category on the backs of the cards to aid in self checking.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
A Fun Butterfly Craft
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Marrying Girl
Friday, June 5, 2009
Gardening
Lazy Days Skirts
I've wanted to make O a couple of skirts using this pattern for a LONG time, and I'm so happy that they are finished and she LOVES them! The skirts were easy for a beginning sewer like me to tackle. Although, I had my mom finish them since the ribbon directions confused me a little bit, and I really needed a nap :)
We appliqued a little monkey to a shirt to match her skirt and to complete her outfit.
We also thought it would be cute for Little Kicker and O to have matching outfits. O chose the monkeys for her shirt and Little Kicker's onesie.
Here's O's 2nd skirt.
We appliqued a little monkey to a shirt to match her skirt and to complete her outfit.
We also thought it would be cute for Little Kicker and O to have matching outfits. O chose the monkeys for her shirt and Little Kicker's onesie.
Here's O's 2nd skirt.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Answering Questions
My Circle Time post generated a lot of questions, and a reader suggested that I answer the questions in a post...good idea! I have a feeling that my answers may be a little disappointing... I'm starting with the easy ones first :)
1) I was just wondering if anyone else joins you for story time.
It's just O and I for circle time, so it's not an actual circle :) Sometimes Gracie (our cat) will sit with us for a while and sometimes a baby doll or 2 will participate, but it works out well to just have the 2 of us. Little Kicker will help make our circle complete in August :)
2)Where do you get these songs from?
The vast majority of the songs we used for circle time come from cds that I've borrowed from the library. They are simple songs that are sung to the tune of songs such as London Bridge is Falling Down, etc. I also have a book of Spanish songs that are sung to familiar tunes. For example, we sing "Hola means hello" to the tune of London Bridge, and we sing "Uno, dos, tres, amigos, cuatro, cinco, seis, amigos, siete, ocho, nueve, amigos, diez amigos son" to the tune of 10 Little Indians.
3) How do you plan to continue homeschool with O when Little Kicker arrives?
I have no idea! I am planning on doing a lot with O this summer so that we can take a few weeks or a month off from any planned activities without me feeling guilty about it :) I'm hoping that Little Kicker will love the wrap that my mom recently made for us (like a Moby wrap), and that she spend a lot of time in it while O and I do our homeschooling activities. We'll see...
4) What Spanish lessons do you use?
Boca Beth sent us a dvd, cd, coloring book, and puppets, and we use all of these (excluding the dvd) during circle time. (I'm planning on writing a review of Boca Beth's products after we've used them for a while). We also use Teach Them Spanish. I have several children's books that are bilingual and a few that are just in Spanish, and she chooses one to read each morning. I have several sets of spanish flash cards that my sister bought us from Sam's Club last year. Lastly, a friend recently sent me Flip Flop Spanish, so we'll try this out, too. I'm especially excited about the calendar component of Flip Flop Spanish as I think she's a little too young for the workbook right now.
5) I wanted to find out when/how you do your planning/prep for your days. Do you plan out your week or prep the night before?
This is a tough one because I just really don't have a good answer. I write LOTS of list of things that I want to do. Often, I forget to ever look at my lists, but they do help when I remember. For circle time, I have a bin full of circle time activites on our hearth (which is where we do circle time). I just grab activities from the bin as we go, so there is very little planning involved. I let O have some choice in our activites, although we always do Spanish.
I star LOTS of activities from other blogs on my google reader (I have more than 700 starred items!), and I've recently started going back and making lists from the starred items. I'm hoping that will help me organize my thoughts...
I plan to print blank calendars for June, July, and August and write in a mommy directed art activity, a science project, and a book with story stretchers on the calendar for each week. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow...
Most of the story stretcher ideas and science project ideas will come from library books that I checked out and took notes on. I've made lists of the activities...now I just need to find the lists :)
So... you can tell that I'm not that organized. I strive for organization, but I'm not there yet. I'm not sure if I really answered the question. I guess I really just decide what we are going to do about 10 minutes or so before we actually do it :) Although, I like the idea of planning the week ahead, so maybe I'll try that...
There were also lots of questions on the embroidered t-shirts posts, so I'll answer those questions here, too.
1) Where did you learn how to do it (embroidery)?
I bought a Klutz book on embroidery about 6 years ago to teach myself. It's is super easy to do! I am a pretty lazy embroiderer (is that a word?), so I typically only do the back stitch. Here is a tutorial that is better than any I could ever do :)
2)I'm curious about the EC process. Is O completely potty-trained, if so, how long did it take using the EC process?
O wears diapers at night, so she's not completely potty-trained. She wore panties for a few weeks, but then she decided she'd rather wear diapers. I'm letting her choose because I want her to do what makes her comfortable.
We started EC when O was 10 months old. Although, I'd never heard of EC and had no idea that such a thing even existed. We were just doing what came naturally to us. My sister started putting her daughter on the potty at about 10 or 11 months, so we decided to give it a try, too. O pooped the first time she ever sat on a potty. She just instinctively knew what to do. After that I probably only changed 3 or 4 poopy diapers. It was easy to read her signals, and she quickly learned to sign potty while saying an approximation of "potty." After I learned about EC, I briefly read about it on the internet, but did no research because we decided to just do what worked for us. We kept O in cloth diapers until she was about 15 or 16 months old. Then she started wearing panties, which made EC much easier. She had a couple of potties around the room, and she would crawl or toddle to them when she needed to go. She continued to wear cloth diapers when we were out and about, but she mostly wore panties at home from then on. She has been completely day time potty trained since she was about 19 months old, I think. Although, we did still put a diaper on her when she was in the car seat just in case we couldn't stop in time (until after she was 2). It's no fun to clean a car seat!
3) Did it take long for O to get the concept of using the potty at 10 months?
She immediately understood that she should poop in the potty. It took a little longer for her to start peeing in the potty.
I recently read Diaper Free Baby, and it convinced me to try EC from the beginning. It's a great book that makes SO much sense :) I highly recommend it if you are considering doing EC.
1) I was just wondering if anyone else joins you for story time.
It's just O and I for circle time, so it's not an actual circle :) Sometimes Gracie (our cat) will sit with us for a while and sometimes a baby doll or 2 will participate, but it works out well to just have the 2 of us. Little Kicker will help make our circle complete in August :)
2)Where do you get these songs from?
The vast majority of the songs we used for circle time come from cds that I've borrowed from the library. They are simple songs that are sung to the tune of songs such as London Bridge is Falling Down, etc. I also have a book of Spanish songs that are sung to familiar tunes. For example, we sing "Hola means hello" to the tune of London Bridge, and we sing "Uno, dos, tres, amigos, cuatro, cinco, seis, amigos, siete, ocho, nueve, amigos, diez amigos son" to the tune of 10 Little Indians.
3) How do you plan to continue homeschool with O when Little Kicker arrives?
I have no idea! I am planning on doing a lot with O this summer so that we can take a few weeks or a month off from any planned activities without me feeling guilty about it :) I'm hoping that Little Kicker will love the wrap that my mom recently made for us (like a Moby wrap), and that she spend a lot of time in it while O and I do our homeschooling activities. We'll see...
4) What Spanish lessons do you use?
Boca Beth sent us a dvd, cd, coloring book, and puppets, and we use all of these (excluding the dvd) during circle time. (I'm planning on writing a review of Boca Beth's products after we've used them for a while). We also use Teach Them Spanish. I have several children's books that are bilingual and a few that are just in Spanish, and she chooses one to read each morning. I have several sets of spanish flash cards that my sister bought us from Sam's Club last year. Lastly, a friend recently sent me Flip Flop Spanish, so we'll try this out, too. I'm especially excited about the calendar component of Flip Flop Spanish as I think she's a little too young for the workbook right now.
5) I wanted to find out when/how you do your planning/prep for your days. Do you plan out your week or prep the night before?
This is a tough one because I just really don't have a good answer. I write LOTS of list of things that I want to do. Often, I forget to ever look at my lists, but they do help when I remember. For circle time, I have a bin full of circle time activites on our hearth (which is where we do circle time). I just grab activities from the bin as we go, so there is very little planning involved. I let O have some choice in our activites, although we always do Spanish.
I star LOTS of activities from other blogs on my google reader (I have more than 700 starred items!), and I've recently started going back and making lists from the starred items. I'm hoping that will help me organize my thoughts...
I plan to print blank calendars for June, July, and August and write in a mommy directed art activity, a science project, and a book with story stretchers on the calendar for each week. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow...
Most of the story stretcher ideas and science project ideas will come from library books that I checked out and took notes on. I've made lists of the activities...now I just need to find the lists :)
So... you can tell that I'm not that organized. I strive for organization, but I'm not there yet. I'm not sure if I really answered the question. I guess I really just decide what we are going to do about 10 minutes or so before we actually do it :) Although, I like the idea of planning the week ahead, so maybe I'll try that...
There were also lots of questions on the embroidered t-shirts posts, so I'll answer those questions here, too.
1) Where did you learn how to do it (embroidery)?
I bought a Klutz book on embroidery about 6 years ago to teach myself. It's is super easy to do! I am a pretty lazy embroiderer (is that a word?), so I typically only do the back stitch. Here is a tutorial that is better than any I could ever do :)
2)I'm curious about the EC process. Is O completely potty-trained, if so, how long did it take using the EC process?
O wears diapers at night, so she's not completely potty-trained. She wore panties for a few weeks, but then she decided she'd rather wear diapers. I'm letting her choose because I want her to do what makes her comfortable.
We started EC when O was 10 months old. Although, I'd never heard of EC and had no idea that such a thing even existed. We were just doing what came naturally to us. My sister started putting her daughter on the potty at about 10 or 11 months, so we decided to give it a try, too. O pooped the first time she ever sat on a potty. She just instinctively knew what to do. After that I probably only changed 3 or 4 poopy diapers. It was easy to read her signals, and she quickly learned to sign potty while saying an approximation of "potty." After I learned about EC, I briefly read about it on the internet, but did no research because we decided to just do what worked for us. We kept O in cloth diapers until she was about 15 or 16 months old. Then she started wearing panties, which made EC much easier. She had a couple of potties around the room, and she would crawl or toddle to them when she needed to go. She continued to wear cloth diapers when we were out and about, but she mostly wore panties at home from then on. She has been completely day time potty trained since she was about 19 months old, I think. Although, we did still put a diaper on her when she was in the car seat just in case we couldn't stop in time (until after she was 2). It's no fun to clean a car seat!
3) Did it take long for O to get the concept of using the potty at 10 months?
She immediately understood that she should poop in the potty. It took a little longer for her to start peeing in the potty.
I recently read Diaper Free Baby, and it convinced me to try EC from the beginning. It's a great book that makes SO much sense :) I highly recommend it if you are considering doing EC.
Magical Mixtures- Library Activity Kit
This week's activity kit is called Magical Mixtures, and it's our favorite one so far!
We started by filling small plastic cups with water and dropping a fizzy color tablet into each one. Then we put a scoop of jelly crystals into the water and let it sit for an hour.
When we checked on the crystals after an hour, they had grown and absorbed most of the water. We examined them with a magnifying glass and compared their size to the size of the dry crystals.
Guh-guh and O mixed the crystals together to see if the colors would mix. They didn't :)
For our 2nd activity, we filled a ziploc bag halfway with water, and put 2 scoops of jelly crystals in the bag. After an hour, we checked on the crystals. They had grown trememendously, and O enjoyed exploring their texture.
The space sand in the kit is really cool! We poured a little bit into a bowl of water. We talked about the silvery layer between the sand and water. O enjoyed exploring the texture and seeing how the sand stays dry even while it's in the water :)
We started by filling small plastic cups with water and dropping a fizzy color tablet into each one. Then we put a scoop of jelly crystals into the water and let it sit for an hour.
When we checked on the crystals after an hour, they had grown and absorbed most of the water. We examined them with a magnifying glass and compared their size to the size of the dry crystals.
Guh-guh and O mixed the crystals together to see if the colors would mix. They didn't :)
For our 2nd activity, we filled a ziploc bag halfway with water, and put 2 scoops of jelly crystals in the bag. After an hour, we checked on the crystals. They had grown trememendously, and O enjoyed exploring their texture.
The space sand in the kit is really cool! We poured a little bit into a bowl of water. We talked about the silvery layer between the sand and water. O enjoyed exploring the texture and seeing how the sand stays dry even while it's in the water :)
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