Sorting and Matching Shells and Rocks

A few days ago O brought me 2 conch shells, and she said "niney (tiny)" as she handed me the smaller one and "big" as she handed me the big one. I told her that was a great idea for a montessori work. I gathered several shells and rocks that were big and tiny and put them in a basket together. I showed O how to put the big shells and rock in one basket and the tiny ones in the other basket. She caught right on and enjoyed this sorting work.
After she finished sorting the shells and rocks, I showed O how to match the big shells/rock with the tiny shells. She matched them quickly and then she was "done." (she loves to announce when she is "done!")

My Little Tree Hugger

We went to a nearby county park today, and O had lots of new learning experiences.
She was excited when I suggest that she hug the tree. She hugged each tree several times.
O didn't hesitate to walk across the Tree Top Canopy Bridge. I was a little nervous!
Checking out turtle shells and skulls in the Environmental Discovery Center.
Elliott was very impressed with microscope.
O's hand

I Have So Many Plans...

I have soooo very many things that I've had planned for O that we have just not gotten to do lately. I've been so busy with getting our house and yard ready for our family reunion (that we held here last Sunday), and then with finishing up my school year at work, that many of our activities have been put on hold. This summer I plan to do LOTS more painting with O. I've been seriously slack about letting her paint, and I feel lots of guilt over this. I'm also working on a fabric matching work for her, and I plan to make the red rods, sandpaper touch boards, and a listening matching work in the near future. There's just so much to do that I can't think clearly enough to decide what to do first!

Sometimes She Just Amazes Me!

O sat next to me on the floor looking at all of her new books, while I was cleaning them. She picked up Oh Where, Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone? by Iza Trapani, opened it, pointed to the 1st illustration and said "teapot." My mom and I looked closely and didn't see a teapot, so we were a little confused. Then I suddenly realized what she meant...Iza Trapani also illustrated one of O's FAVORITE books, I'm a Little Teapot. Somehow she recognized the similarities between the illustrations and associated the 2 books together. Wow!

Today O and my mom read Marcos Counts by Tomie dePaola. When they were reading the book, O pointed to the word mama and said "mama!" Like I said...she amazes me!!!

Yippeeee, Skippy!

Tomorrow is my last day of work for the school year! I only work one day per week (occasionally 2), but I'm still excited about being finished for the school year. O and I will have a whole extra day to have preschool, do arts and crafts, play on the beach, bake, work in the garden, etc. Although I have to admit that I do really like my job, and I'll probably miss it just a little bit :) I do lots of different things as a School Psychologist, but my job consist primarily of evaluating children who are suspected of having learning disablities, observing children who have been referred to the Autism Team for a possible evaluation (this is one of my favorite parts of the job since my interest in autism is what led me into the field of school psychology in the 1st place), and developing behavior plans for children. We'll also miss our weekly visits by Guh-guh, but I'm sure we'll see lots of her this summer!

Thrifty Thursday

I hit the jackpot today!!! I bought 43 hardback children's books for 49 cents each (18 of these books were the Sweet Pickle books that I loved when I was a child. I was super excited to see them, and now I have several that I've never even read. I hope O will love them as much as I did!), 8 softcover children's books for 25 cents each, 2 loaves of Nature's Own Whole Wheat bread for 1.50, and a small caddy container for 50 cents. Total spent was around 25 dollars. That's much more than I ever spend at the thrift store, but I bought some GREAT books. I don't feel too bad about spending so much since the thrift store benefits people with disabilities.

What Are You Thinking?

I ask O this question every few days. Here are a couple of her recent responses:



Me: What are you thinking about?

O: bedt (standard response when she's not quite sure what to say)

Me: What are you REALLY thinking about?

O: Duggie (aka Guh-guh who is my mom)

Me: Oh, Okay



O heard me ask her cousin, Marg, this question. Marg said that she was thinking about fairies. Ever since then, O is always thinking about fairies, too.



Me: What are you thinking about?

O: Fayees (while grinning and looking very pleased with herself)

Me: What are you thinking about fairies?

O: Fayees, Margie, Fayees

Me: Oh, Okay

Homemade Apple Chips

When I saw Megret's post about making homemade apple chips, I knew we had to try it. O loves apples, and this is a perfect way to enjoy them. Luckily, Elliott was able to find organic apples at the grocery store near his office. I didn't have the nutmeg or cloves (and I didn't think to ask him to get them from the store), so I mixed cinnamon and sugar and put it in the empty cinnamon container for O to sprinkle on the apples. She loved it!

Here is the recipe from Megret's blog:

APPLE CHIPS

makes 25-50 chips, depending on slice thickness and size of apple
1-1/2 T. sugar

1 t. cinnamon

pinch cloves

pinch nutmeg

1 large crisp apple (Braeburn or Granny Smith)
Preheat oven to 200 degrees, then line a baking sheet with parchment paper.


I also didn't have parchment paper, so I just coated the pan with olive oil

Working in the Garden

O and I worked in the garden this morning. She was excited to use her new gardening tools, so she was just "ike mama." I can't believe how much our squash, tomato, and pepper plants have grown this week!

Trying to Catch Minnows

We didn't have much luck, but we had LOTS of fun and got VERY wet!

Baking Bread

O and I baked bread this morning. Although, really we just put the ingredients in the bread machine and pressed start. It was lots of fun and very messy. O loved pouring the ingredients into the container. Unfortunately, her aim was a little off, so we had flour everywhere. She also liked mixing everything together, and she even snuck a few bites. Yuck! We made honey oatmeal bread, which is my favorite bread machine bread. Its delicious! Here is the recipe:

INGREDIENTS
1 1/4 cups water
3 cups bread flour (we used 1.5 cups of bread flour and 1.5 cups of whole wheat flour)
2 tablespoons honey
1 1/2 tablespoons dry milk powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup quick cooking oats
2 tablespoons margarine
1 tablespoon active dry yeast

DIRECTIONS
Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select White Bread setting, and Start.

Learning to Climb Stairs

O's cousin, Marg, loves to teach her how to do things, especially gross motor skills. Marg's mom (my sister) is a pediatric physical therapist, and Marg is often her "assistant" when she is treating patients. With each step, Marg said "like this." O loves this special attention from Marg, and she now says "ike this" every times she goes up and down these stairs.

Check Out Our Grape Tomato Plants!

We can't believe how tall our grape tomatoes plants have grown! I'm not sure if you can tell from the pictures, but these plants are taller than Elliott (and he's 5'11"). They are COVERED with green tomatoes that we can't wait to eat! They are planted in an earth box (thanks, G & G!), and they are about 2 feet taller than our traditionally planted tomatoes. We're definitely planting EVERYTHING in earth boxes next year! O loves to help pour the water in the earth box spout.


O and Ell love to bounce on the joggling board on our deck. I think this may be my new favorite picture of the 2 of them!

O's Beach

O is in love with her beach. The lake is especially high this year, so we brought in 3 truckloads of sand to make a beach. We need to bring in a 4th, but I am REALLY dreading shoveling another truckload of sand. Its backbreaking work, and I was sore for a week after shoveling the last load. Luckily, Elliott shoveled the 1st 2 when we were out of town :) Despite the hard work, we are so glad that we decided to make beach for O. She LOVES it! She writes her name in the sand, rakes the sand, builds sandcastles, makes sand pies, etc. It freaks me out daily to live this close to the water with a toddler, but having a beach in our front yard is definitely a highlight of living on the water.

Feeding the Geese

O and I had a great time throwing bread to the geese this morning. It was a good lesson on the importance of being quiet since they swam away every time she was loud. I'd remind her to be quiet, and they'd come back.