Monday, July 30, 2012

Playgroup, Week 2

Don't know why this didn't post a few weeks ago--oops!

 Day two of preschool went even more smoothly than day one. I think I have a good preschool rhythm figured out--although we'll see how it goes next week. Our final activity of the day was stations for pouring and transferring water and sand. It was a hit with all four boys and kept them engaged for 20-30 minutes!

More stations than boys was key to a success activity

Josiah's sponge and water station

Using a garlic press to squeeze water out of sponges

Sponges are interesting!

Funneling sand

Saturday, July 28, 2012

My baby is 15 months!

Updates have fallen by the wayside for my poor second born. So here's an overly detailed one!



Josiah is a fabulous crawler. :) He is not highly motivated to walk, but he's getting closer. He now stands independently for a couple of seconds at a time. He's not particularly interested in having us help him walk by holding his hands. Crawling works just fine for him, and when he needs to use his hands to carry something, he just scoots on his bottom instead.

 

Josiah likes to chat. This week's newest word--in an effort to learn Very Useful Nouns--is "chrysalis." (Our caterpillars just entered their chrysalises on Wednesday.)



Other words:
--Mama
--Dada
--Hi
--Bye
--Uh-oh

Noises:
--Quack
--Choo-choo
--Vroom
--and the occasional baa, moo, or woof

What this kid is really good at is phrases, which makes it a little harder to identify when something crosses over from conversational babble to inarticulate phrases. But some things he says are: "There they are!" "Here you go." "Look at that!" "One, two, threeee!" "Where'd he go?" "There it is!"



He loves reading stories and has strong opinions about which book to read. During our breakfast and lunch reading times, he makes gleeful noises when the proper book is chosen, but will cry through disapproved books (and then be all smiles again for a "good" book). Some current favorite good books: "Hairy McClarey and Zachary Quack," "Over at the Castle," "Moo, Baa, La La La," and really any books with trains.



Josiah likes parks (particularly slides), watching birds, going places, playing with trains and trucks, painting, putting things in, his beloved blanket, his grandpa, the ocean, and standing on the step-ladder to help me in the kitchen. When he hears me in the kitchen, he quickly crawls into the kitchen and starts trying to drag out the ladder.

 

He's an independent eater--no help wanted! He loves yogurt, cheese, rice, and all fruits, grapes, strawberries, and blueberries are especially loved. Vegetables rank low on his list of foods and meats are tolerable, but not loved.