A Fun Language Experience Activity

I've wanted to start writing letters (with O dictating) to our family and friends for a while, but I've never gotten past the thinking stages...until yesterday. I realized that email was much more doable :) I created an email account for O, and she dictated letters to her daddy and grandaddy (we'll write "real" letters,too...eventually). I prompted her with questions and helped her decide how to say things, but it was basically her own words (and occasionally things didn't make sense to me, but that was ok...it just makes it more fun and unique). O has enjoyed receiving letters back, and I'm sure this will be a fun weekly (if not daily!) activity.

As an added bonus to this activity, I plan to print the letters that O sends and the letters she receives and bind them into a book. This will be a wonderful keepsake for her to have. I keep a journal of letters to O and Ema, but I've always wanted Elliott (and O's grandparents) to do something similar. I've never been able to get them started on a journal for her, but I think this will be the answer. Both girls will have wonderful keepsakes of their early letters and their family members' letters to them :)

A GREAT Deal on Children's Books

I recently ordered this set of 12 hardback children's books from Weekly Reader for O and Ema. It's such a great deal that I couldn't resist! I was won over by each book coming with a cd of the story. We had a great time listening to 3 of the stories while traveling to my mom's house (How I Became a Pirate is my favorite!), and I hope that O will also like listening to the stories as she goes to sleep at night.

The books included are:

•Corduroy Lost and Found
•Curious George Goes to a Costume Party
•Do Your ABC's Little Brown Bear
•Henry's Show and Tell
•How I Became a Pirate
•The Little Engine That Could Goes on a Class Trip
•Mirette on the High Wire
•Raggedy Ann's Wishing Pebble
•Tops & Bottoms
•What Grandmas Can't Do
plus 2 bonus books

They only cost 24.95 plus shipping! I thought there must be some catch to this, but there doesn't seem to be :)

Halloween Tweezer Transfer Activity

O REALLY enjoyed this Halloween tweezer transfer activity. She picked up one porcupine ball at a time with the tweezers and placed each one in the dish. She was very focused and purposeful in her actions :) The porcupine balls came from the Halloween section at Wal-Mart, and the dish came from the craft section at Wal-Mart.

Pregnancy and Infant Loss Rememberance Day

Today is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Rememberance Day...remembering our baby who would have been 5 months old this month.

Glowing Monsters & Jack O' Lantern

Here's an easy handmade Halloween decoration for you! Head over to Not So Idle Hands for directions and to download the faces. These were easy to make even with a baby in one arm (although I made most of them while she was napping!). Have fun!

Floor Time

I realized that all of my posts have been about O lately, and I really should include Ema a little more :) We've started having floor time in her room in the mornings, and we are all enjoying it. O is a little Mother Hen, and she LOVES her baby sister. She loves it if I need the room for a minute, and she always assures me that she will babysit while I'm gone. "Baby Sister" loves O, and she especially loves it when O sings to her. She even cooed at O a few days ago when O was singing to her. It doesn't get any better than that!!!

I will eventually post pics of Ema's semi-Montessori bedroom. You can see the floor mirrors in this picture. It appears that Ema is looking at herself in the mirror, but I don't think she can really see them at all. I need to lower them. She was laughing in this picture. I love that she has started smiling, cooing, and laughing.

Edit to Add: Several people have commented that they are surprised that I use "Ema's" name...don't worry! Her name is NOT Ema :) I didn't want to use 2 initials because I find it annoying when I read something and EVERYONE is called an initial. "Ema" is our baby's blog name...it's a play on her "real" name :)

Halloween Sensory Tub

The idea for a Halloween sensory tub came from No Time For Flashcards. I love this idea, and it was so simple to put together (I love it when I see an idea on a blog, and it is something I can do immediately with little effort!). For our Halloween sensory tub, we used dried black beans, plastic spiders, bats, skeletons, and scorpions (from the dollar store), orange pom-poms, orange beads, googly eyes, orange pipe cleaners, and orange feathers. We added in a scoop, cups, tunnels, and tongs for even more fun!

A Felt Jack O'Lantern Game

I LOVE to make felt scenes and games! This felt jack o'lantern game was inspired by the felt scarecrow game at Let's Explore. You spin the spinner to decorate your pumpkin. There are all kinds of fun and crazy combinations...bunny ears, witches hat, blue hair, green tongue, bear ears, etc. O was THRILLED when she saw the set. We haven't played the game yet, but O has had a great time deorating the "mama and daddy" pumpkins. I guess I need to make 2 small pumpkins, so she can have "O and Ema" pumpkins, too :)

Our Miniature Pumpkin Family

I love this Halloween Countdown activity from The Wonder Years and decided that O and I would give it a try. It quickly turned into a completely different activity :) After we made one mini jack o'lantern, O decided that we needed a baby pumpkin and a cat pumpkin. Then, since we had a mama, baby, and cat, we HAD to have a daddy pumpkin and an O pumpkin. We ended up forgetting about using the toothpicks for a countdown and just had fun making our miniature pumpkin family.

We have LOTS of Halloween centerpieces, and there are more to come! I may have to move a few things to the mantel :)

Halloween Ghost Tree

O and I made a Halloween ghost tree this morning. We put a cotton ball in a tissue, and wrapped orange yarn around the cotton ball. We then drew a face on the tissue, and tied each ghost to a branch. We used to make ghost trees when I was a child, but we put lollipops in the tissues. I'm sure O would have liked that version better :)

Sorting Spiders

O sorted these Halloween spiders by color using chopsticks. The first time she tried it, she said "I don't like this because it's hard for me." (She usually does not like to use tongs or chopsticks). She asked if we could do "hand over hand" to sort the spiders. She did MUCH better with the chopsticks today, and she REALLY enjoyed the activity. I hope that she'll finally start to enjoy using chopsticks and tongs now :)

A Different Spin on Decorating a Pumpkin

O was excited about today's Halloween activity...decorating the back of our carved pumpkin with plastic noses, eyes, mouths, ears, etc. I bought the set of parts after Halloween last year. The pieces are very similar to Mr. Potato Head parts which would work just as well. We're planning on buying several more smaller pumpkins and finding all of our Mr. Potato Head parts to make an interesting family of pumpkins :)

A Gingerbread Haunted House

We had a lot of messy fun decorating this Halloween Gingerbread House. I bought the kit last year after Halloween, and I love that the house was already put together! All we had to do was mix up the icing by adding water and decorate with the candy provided. This was fun and messy!

O had fun decorating the house, but she REALLY had fun mixing the orange and black icing together and smearing it all over her hands :)

Carving a Pumpkin

Monday's Halloween activity was carving a pumpkin. We used a pattern and tools from a set that I bought last year after Halloween (for about 75 cents). O chose a cat pattern, and the pumpkin turned out really nice. Elliott roasted the pumpkin seeds with garlic, and they were delicious!

Proud Daddy

We LOVE the baby wrap!!! It was much easier to figure out than I expected. After a few tries, I realized that it's easy and wonderful! E slept in the wrap for 3 hours while we were at a festival yesterday...O had her 1st dance performance, and she did a wonderful job! Elliott tried the wrap today, and E slept for around 2 hours while I ran errands. Hooray! I have a feeling I may be wearing this wrap (and baby!) nonstop for the next few months :) Miss E does NOT like to be put down. She's definitely an arm baby!