Balancing a Broom

We did it! After seeing this balancing broom trick on Pink and Green Mama, we decided to give it a try! After a few tries, the broom balanced perfectly. We left it up to surprise Guh-guh, and she WAS surprised!

Halloween Lacing Cards

Here's another fun activity to do with greeting cards! I cut the covers off the cards and punched holes around the edges with a hole puncher. Done! O had a great time lacing the cards :)

Back to Work

I went back to work on Thursday for the 1st time since Ema was born (I work one day per week as a School Psychologist). It was much harder to leave the girls than I expected. I woke Ema up to nurse her before we left for work, and I started crying as soon as I picked her up. She was so warm and cuddly, and she nuzzled her sweet face into my neck. The girls had a great day with Guh-guh, and I had a good day at work. I was so glad to come home to them. O and I read a chapter of Pippi Longstocking before cuddling and singing before she went to sleep, and Ema has spent the last 4 hours either nursing or sleeping on my chest. There's nothing better than mama's arms!

On a side note...Ema pooped in the potty today!!! O and Guh-guh took her to the potty and cued her and she pottied. My mom said that O was THRILLED!!! We love EC!

Halloween Number Sequencing

This activity was inspired by a similar activity on My Montessori Journey. O put the numbers in order from 1 to 12. She used the number line to help her since she is sometimes still unsure of her numbers (she couldn't remember what a 4 looked like today). She really enjoyed this work, and I plan on making the same activity using leaves (just like the one from Laura's blog) after Halloween. After she completed the sequencing activity, she pointed to each number as she counted in English and in Spanish.

Halloween Greeting Card Puzzles

I presented O with this tray of 4 greeting card puzzles, and she really enjoyed putting them together this morning. Elliott bought the cards from Dollar General (2 for a dollar), and I cut the front off of the cards and used my scrapbook paper cutter to cut them into puzzle pieces. This was a quick, inexpensive way to make holiday puzzles, and I'm planning to make a few for each holiday!

Our 1st EC Success!!!

We've have been cuing and watching Ema's potty signals since she was about 3 weeks old. Today I held her over the big potty for the 1st time. O and I cued her and she pee-peed! We were so proud :) O was especially excited! Click here to learn more about EC. I highly recommend this book if you are interested in using this method with your baby. We were lucky that our local library had a copy!

Paper Plate Pumpkin Craft

O had fun making a paper plate pumpkin this morning! The idea for this activity came from My Montessori Journey. I gave O a paper plate, strips of orange construction paper, a glue stick, scissors, and a green pipe cleaner. I told her she could use either side of the plate, and she chose to use the back. She also had the option of tearing or cutting the orange strips, and she chose to cut them. She really enjoyed cutting the paper and glueing the pieces to the plate to make her pumpkin. I made a hole in the top of the plate, and she threaded the pipe cleaner through the hole to make a stem that doubles as a hook for hanging. Quick, fun, and easy!

A Footprint Ghost Wreath

Last year we made footprint ghost cards, and this year we made a wreath. The idea for a wreath came from My Montessori Journey. Adding in Ema's footprint was a last minute decision, and I'm SO glad that we did. I LOVE this wreath, and I hope that it will be a lasting Halloween decoration for the next 30 years or so :) O was excited about making the wreath and was proud of her ghosts having only one eye each!

Another Halloween Puppet

I'm SO glad that I stocked up on these Martha Stewart puppet kits after Halloween last year. O LOVES making the puppets, and it's SO nice to have a quick and easy activity ready to go at any time :) She doesn't play with puppets that much after they are made, but she really enjoys the process of making them. We accidentally left her cat puppet at Guh-guh and Grandpa's house, and she was SO upset because she wanted to show it to her daddy :(

Lots of Unschooling this Weekend!

O is obsessed with all things medical, and she LOVES to play "first day" (first aid). We were on vacation this weekend with her grandparents, and she was thrilled to play "first day" with her grandaddy for hours and hours. Her grandaddy is a volunteer fire fighter who has a well stocked first aid kit. O had a great time "organizing" it, and she taught Ema all about gauze, blood stopper, sterile bandages, eye irrigation, thermal blankets, etc. I have to admit that I was a little surprised when O excitedly asked to play "heart compressions!" She often plays "broken leg, broken arm, and having a baby," but I'd never heard her ask to play heart compressions. Funny girl!

She is also VERY interested in learning about electricity, so she was thrilled to wake up on our first morning at the beach to find a bucket truck working on the power lines directly in front of our house.

There were lots of other fun learning experiences this weekend, but these were the highlights!

Playdough Storage Update

We've recently discovered that storing playdough in the metal IKEA containers is NOT a good idea, and I thought I should let everyone know... The playdough dried out on the edges, and the homemade chocolate playdough had some kind of strange chemical reaction with the container. It turned black in a couple of spots and seemed to burn a hole in the bottom of the container somehow. Very strange. I guess it's better to store playdough in plastic containers after all :(

Halloween Patterns

O was VERY excited to do this patterning activity. She said "I WANTED to do patterns!!!" when she saw it :) The idea came from my 5 year old niece, which is why O was so excited to do this work :) I cut strips of laminated contruction paper and put foam Halloween stickers on them to create a pattern. I left the last 1 or 2 spaces blank, and O filled in the correct sticker to complete the pattern. Next time we do this work, I'll provide O with a blank strip so she can create her own pattern after completing these patterns.

We're Going to be on the Rachael Ray Show...

on Monday! I was contacted by someone from the Rachael Ray Show a few months ago (when I was 37 weeks pregnant) about making a video of O and I making artwork using the salad spinner and food coloring. We had a lot of fun making the video, and it will be on the show on Monday. Watch it if you can!

Life Cycle of a Pumpkin

O enjoyed doing this life cycle of a pumpkin work this morning. I downloaded the pictures from Montessori for Everyone.

Halloween Playdough

O and I made Halloween playdough last week using this recipe. I'd forgotten how quick and easy it is to make playdough. We definitely need to do this more often!