I'm Featured on the Crafty Crow!

The magnetic photos that I made for O before a road trip were featured on this very cool blog! Check it out if you get a chance.

Cleaning the Floor

I ordered this adjustable floor and carpet sweeper from Montessori n Such recently, and O is becoming a good little sweeper. She's also pretending to vacuum with her IKEA push toy. I love to see her clean the house!

The Banging Wall

The idea for a banging wall came from here. I've been thinking about this for a while, and its a relief to have finally made it. We still have a few more pieces to add, but there plenty of things to bang on! The best thing about it is that all of the materials were just hanging out in our garage, so it was free and we cleaned out the garage a little bit:) We've had a great time making "music" so far, and I can't wait for O's cousins to come play on it this weekend at our yearly family reunion :) I hope our neighbors won't mind the noise!

Don't Buy This Sand Box!

O was given a Play Wonder sandbox from Target for her 1st birthday, and we have been very happy with it for the past 10 months. 2 days ago we decided to move it to a different place in the yard. When we picked it up we saw that it had been infested with hungry termites. They did a terrible amount of damage, and if we had not picked up the sand box and seen the damage, they probably would have destroyed it beyond repair within the next few months or so. Luckily, we discovered the damage, and hopefully we've put a stop to it. We'll see!

Yep, She's Still Backwards

At 22 months old and about 26 pounds, O's car seat is STILL in the rear facing position. We've recieved lots of disbelieving looks and raised eyebrows over this, but Elliott and I both feel strongly that rear facing is the safest position. I've always planned on keeping O rear facing until she reached the maximum height and weight for her car seat, and Elliott was finally convinced after watching this video. I was excited to read in Parents magazine that the recommendation is changing to encourage parents to keep their children rear facing for as long as possible instead of turning them forwards at 1 year or 22 pounds. Yay! We aren't neurotically overprotective parents after all (well, maybe just a little bit!).

O's Earthworm

O found her 1st earthworm on Saturday morning while Elliott and I were laying sod in the front yard. She was VERY impressed and spent lots of time calling for more earthworms. She eventually figured out that earthworms don't come when they are called! We were surprised and pleased that she wasn't scared of the earthworm, and I think she would have carried it around all day if we'd let her.

Our Visit to a Local Montessori School

I found out that we have a Montessori school about 20 minutes from our house when O was about 3 months old, and I immediately called and put her on the waiting list. The lady at the school said that they were full for that year, but she would be on the list for the next year. There was a shocked silence when I told her that O was only 3 months old, and I wanted her on the list for 2009! She said she would create a list for 2009, and O would be the 1st one on it. I'm sure she thought I was a little crazy :) Last Tuesday I saw an ad in the paper stating that the Montessori school was having an open house for parents and children ages 3,4, and 5. I wasn't sure if we should go since O is not yet 2, but I called and left a message. The preacher (the school is run by an Episcopal Church) called Sunday morning and told us to come. Elliott and I were excited and a little nervous. We were VERY impressed with the school. The teacher and the preacher were very friendly, and I loved how everything was set up. It was great to see all of the Montessori materials "in real life" instead of just on the internet (I'm definitely planning on getting the sandpaper letters and metal insets very soon). O was shy at 1st, but then she was a little overstimulated and was into everything. I was a little nervous because she was grabbing everything, and I was afraid she would break something. I was also surprised because she is not normally like that at all. However, it was an unfamiliar environment, and her nap was cut short since we had to wake her up to go to the open house. O loved the live turtles and gerbil best of all. Good thing we have a lake FULL of turtles for her to love and observe (sadly we never found tadpoles, but we'll try again next year). The school currently has 10 students ages 3 to 6, and they will take up to 18 students. O MIGHT go to this school when she is 3, but I am not sure since its a 5 day a week program. We do not want her to go 5 days a week when she is 3. The teacher said they may work with me on setting it up for her to go just 3 days a week, but I'm thinking that I would like for her to start with just 2 days. I'm also hesitant about sending her because we are both loving homeschooling so much. I can't stand the thought of that ending. However, I know it will be good for her to go to a "real school" for a couple of years and make friends. She'll also have access to a lot of materials that we don't have at home. Then she'll be back home when she's 6 for more Montessori Homeschooling.

Over/Under

O constantly reminds me how the simplest things can be the most fun learning experiences. Our neighbors keep their pedal boat tied to a tree, and we have spent LOTS of time going over and under the rope. O definitely knows the conceps of over and under now!



Going under the rope

Now TRYING to go over the rope...she usually needs a little help to get over it!

Learning to Sweep

O wasn't very excited about learning to sweep at first :)


But she got over her hesitation fairly quickly. She doesn't normally dress up so much to hang around the house, but our neighbor, Erb (Irv), is in town, and he was wearing a blue shirt today, so O HAD to wear "boo like Erb." She's quite a fan of "Erb" and his wife, "Bahb."

Are You Planning on Turning Your Blog into a Book?

I am!!! I 1st started blogging when I was pregnant with O, and my other blog is a VERY detailed account of O's daily life. My intention from the very beginning was to somehow turn it into a book. In fact, that was the primary reason that I even started blogging. I love to take pictures and document O's life, and it so much easier to do that on a blog instead of in a traditional scrapbook. I've made several photo books using Snapfish and My Publisher, but both of these methods require lots of time and uploading of photos. Imagine my excitement when a highschool friend started her own company, Scrapbook Blogger, which slurps your blog and makes a book for you! I've already uploaded most of my 1st blog and some of Chasing Cheerios. After trying Blurb (and finding it very complicated and time consuming for this time strapped mama), I was amazed with how simple Scrapbook Blogger is. Its also EXTREMELY affordable. Its much less expensive than traditional scrapbooking, and I believe its cheaper than Snapfish and My Publisher (although I haven't actually calculated it on paper). O LOVES to look at photo albums each night, so I really can't wait until we have books of the blogs to read with her. I'm also excited to have the blogs turned into books because I think it will be a great memento for O when she has children of her own. I hope that she'll see the different activities that I've done with her and try them with her own children. Check out this interview with Ashley, founder of Scrapbook Blogger, at More Than Just a Mom.

So I Checked My Site Meter Tonight...

and I thought it was broken. My blog had 485 visits today!!! What! That's just crazy. I was sure it was broken or that I was reading it wrong, so I decided to check the referrals. The vast majority of the hits are coming from this link http://www.buzzfeed.com/peggy/scanimation Cool! If you haven't seen this book, you REALLY should check it out. Its truly amazing! We haven't read it since I posted about it in February, but I need to see if our local library will order it for us. It would be even better if one of O's grandparents bought it for her birthday... hint, hint :)

Phonics Pouch - m

My mom introduced the m phonics pouch to O yesterday, and we also did the work today. She seemed to enjoy it. I was a little hesitant to introduce her to phonics since she is so young, but she's shown such an interest in sounds and letters that I decided to give it a try. We'll stick with m for a while, then we'll try either a or t.

Sewing Block

I ordered this sewing block from Montessori N' Such, and O really loves it. This morning she said she was going to "sew like Duggie" (my mom). She's been watching my mom sew the knots on her I Spy quilt for the past month or so, so she's ready to sew by herself.

Counting in Spanish

O surprised us a few days ago by counting in Spanish. I used to count in Spanish with her everytime we counted in English, but I stopped once she started counting independently (about 6 months ago) because I was afraid she would get confused. While we were camping, I was reading her a book and decided to count in Spanish to see what she would say. I said "uno," then she said "dos, tres, cuatro." I almost fell over! All those months of counting in Spanish and listening to Spanish cds paid off :)

Thrifty Thursday

Today was a slow day for the thrift store! O and I have been out of town since Friday morning (we just got back home last night), so I didn't have time to find things to donate, and I only bought 1 book (49 cents). It was a board book that O is probably too old for, but I really liked it, so I couldn't resist.