Learning to Cut a Banana

O had her 1st lesson in cutting a banana today. She was excited about the banana which is one of her favorite food, and she preferred to just grab chunks of it and stuff it in her mouth. However, she did a pretty good job of cutting it with her knife, and she loved putting the pieces in our cereal bowls.

Velcro Board

O loves her velcro board that I made last night. She says, "off, off, off" the whole time she is pulling things off of it. She needed a little help because she wasn't holding the board down with one hand while pulling an object with the other hand, so she just couldn't get the objects off. I think this is going to be a fun activity for a while (I hope).

Art Activity

I'm trying to do more arts and crafts activities with O, and this was what we did on Friday. My boss gave me a glass Christmas platter with a raised scene, so we did a crayon rubbing of the scene. It would have turned out better if I had taped the paper to the platter, but we still had lots of fun, and O was very proud to show her art to her daddy when he got home from work.

She Loves to Cook and Clean!

O was so proud to help Elliott make cinnamon toast for breakfast this morning, and I was so proud of how he set things up to make it easy for her to be involved. Maybe he should be the Montessori homeschooling mommy!

O was so excited to try out her cousin, Margaret's iron and ironing board. I was shocked that she knew just what to do because we NEVER iron. My mom reminded me that O has probably seen us ironing fabric while we were making the quilt. Otherwise, she has never seen an iron in use!
We got O this kitchen set to use with her kitchen helper that her Guh-guh and Grandpa gave her for Christmas. Unfortunately, the kitchen helper is missing a few screws, and the company, Guidecraft, says it will be a few weeks before they can send them - Grrr! I'm sure that the kitchen helper is going to be wonderful once we can finally use it!

Spooning Activity

We're starting to do more Montessori type activities, and this was our first spooning exercise. I decided to use cheerios since I wouldn't have to worry about O choking on them. I was pretty sure that she would spend more time eating them than scooping them, and I was right. She was thrilled to put a big spoonful of cheerios in her mouth, but she also did a good job transferring them to the other bowl. Check out my new tray- I got it from the thrift store for a dollar, and I really like it. I think it will be perfect for our Montessori tray activities.

This poor, neglected blog

I have really neglected this blog lately, but I think I'll do better in the new year. We've only been home for just a few days at a time since December 1, so O's homeschool has been on hold. We've done lots of traveling, and O really enjoyed her 1st cruise. Since December 1 we've gone to Charleston, Columbia, St. Matthews, Orangeburg, Grand Cayman, Key West, Cozumel, Playa del Carmen, Florence, Lake City, Myrtle Beach, Garden City, Surfside, etc. O is one traveling baby!!! We have had a fantastic month of traveling and Christmas fun, but we are ready to get back into our routine. We have lots of new activities to add to our homeschool thanks to the generosity of our family and Santa Claus. I have lots of things that I'll be working on for O's homeschool, including: phonics pouches, 3 part cards and holders, velcro block and velcro toys, cardboard puzzles, etc. (I'm hoping that listing these things here will help me stay motivated to get them made.) Elliott bought me a laminator for Christmas which I am super excited about. You know you are a homeschooling mommy when all you want for Christmas are a few homeschooling books and a laminator!

Bubble Wrap Fun!

I think I need to get O some bubble wrap for Christmas! We had so much fun stomping on this sheet today. Who knew that something so simple could be so much fun?!!

Tree Blocks

One of my goals for Christmas is to make Tree Blocks for some of our favorite monkeys. We've gotten off to a good start, and hopefully they'll be finished in time for Christmas. I'll post the finished products in a few days (I hope!).

Making Caramel Popcorn

O, Elliott, and I have been making caramel popcorn for Ell to take to a few of his coworkers. O loves to help shake the popcorn in the bag! She's a great little helper!

Playsilks

I've been admiring the beautiful playsilks that I've seen in toy catalogs and online toy stores for a while, but I wasn't willing to pay 10 to 15 dollars for one, and I really liked the idea of making my own. I was excited when I found 100% silk scarves that are perfect for playsilks at Dharma Trading Company. I bought lots and lots of several different sized scarves, and my mom and I dyed them with kool-aid. We had lots of fun dyeing them, and they've turned out great so far. We have several more colors that we are going to try next week.

Ta-da!

We did it! We really did it! My mom and I finished O's I Spy quilt in time for Christmas. We still can't believe that its finished. I have to admit that my mom did the vast majority of the work towards the end. I did most of the cutting and ironing, and she did most of the sewing. We decided that I'm in the management position and she does the menial labor :) For the back of the quilt we used the curtains from mine and Melanie's room from when we were very little (they were made out of Holly Hobby sheets), and a Strawberry Shortcake sheet that I used when I was little. We are both in love with this quilt, and I'm sure O is going to love it, too. I can't wait to spend hours and hours labeling animals, objects, letters, colors, shapes, etc and eventually playing endless games of "I Spy." I'm already planning a matching quilt for the baby doll cradle that I'm trying to talk Ell into building for O's 2nd birthday.

This week's activity kit...

has not been a big hit. I made a bad choice, and its really not adaptable for toddlers (all the kits are for preschool age and older children, but most are adaptable). O gets excited and wants to open it and see everything, but there is really not much we can do. Its all about air, so it has a windsock, windchimes, and a tornado. I need to get 2 2-liter bottles so we can make a tornado because she would probably really like that. I didn't take a picture of it since I was so unimpressed with it. I also didn't get any books from the library this week since O has so many great new books from Sabrina. Thanks again, Sabrina!

Yoga for Toddlers

We started doing yoga with O this week, and it is so much fun. Its sleepy time yoga, so we do it before nap and at bedtime. Last night, O's daddy joined us, and she thought that was great. We are so glad that Aunt Bobby ordered this great book for the library, but I think we may have to get a copy for ourselves.

Homemade Christmas Gifts

I love making homemade gifts for Christmas, and I am getting off to a good start this year. I finished a counting book for O today, and Guh-guh and I made this pouch sling for O to carry her babies. We are planning on making a matching one for Marg. I couldn't believe how easy it was to make and how good it looked! What gifts are you making this Christmas? (I'm always looking for more good ideas!)

Color Matching

Guh-guh is enjoying teaching in O's homeschool, too! She came up with this creative way to teach colors. She turned an oversized medicine container into a color matching activity. She covered the doors with felt and put hairbands in them. O LOVES to wear the hairbands as bracelets, and we have all had lots of fun with this activity. Thanks, Guh-guh!