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.




Sunday, June 24, 2012

First Day of Playgroup

Last week we had our first day of preschool. It was a happy little group of boys! It's just one day a week for four hours--I think this will be a good fit for the next year. Summer has more comings and goings, but come fall, it'll be a group of five little boys ages 3 to 3 1/2 (Elijah will be the oldest). As an added plus, it keeps me accountable to put together activities that Elijah and I can repeat/explore further throughout the week.

Painting an ocean
I tried homemade watercolors for the first time for this activity--it ending up drying funny 
Block building made with S

Free play: cooking!
They all played so well together

Examining sea shells

Just for the summer, Elijah is also attending a weekly playgroup co-op of all girls (we rotate hosting/teaching responsibilities)--we're going for the gender segregated approach apparently. I'm excited for more same-age playmate time for Elijah.

Saturday, June 23, 2012

To the Park

Tricycling is great!

We've been loving the pleasant evening daylight. It's nice to be able to get the boys up from naptime and still have plenty of time to head to the park. Elijah has recently been interested in his tricycle and scooter. He is so slow, but thinks it is lots of fun!

Look, no hands!

Concentrating

We made it to the park!


Josiah loves going to parks. He has mastered stairs and bridges, so he likes his loop of climbing the stairs, crossing the bridges (he carefully scoots on his bottom for the downward slope, and then crawls away), and going down the slide. He'll do it over and over again.


Digging is also fun.

If only Josiah could walk, I think his toddle pace would match Elijah's triking pace. But since the sidewalks aren't great for crawling, he gets to explore the flowers while we wait for Elijah to catch up, giving up plenty of time to stop and smell the flowers.


Friday, June 1, 2012

Memorial Day Outing

For Memorial Day, we decided to try out the new expo line and head to the Natural History Museum. This meant that we got to take three trains, which is always a popular decision around here. Elijah struggled with the real, but not alive concept--a bit tricky for a three year old. But he was fascinated by the dioramas and dinosaur bones.

The Butterfly Pavilion was Josiah's favorite activity--there were tons of beautiful butterflies flitting around as well as some caterpillars and chrysalises to observe.
A Monarch

Zebra Longwings




Josiah watched birds while eating lunch

Dinosaurs!

My family with the T-Rex family: adult, juvenile, and baby

All tired out; once he was done with the museum, he just wanted to snuggle with his blanket in the wrap--like a little koala

Waiting for the train to take us home

Monday, May 28, 2012

Memorial Day Weekend: Heritage Park


On Saturday, we headed to Heritage Park. The park has a beautiful island containing a small replica of a Revolutionary War town. You are greeted by a Paul Revere statue right before you go through a covered bridge over the Charleston River to cross over to the island.


There were tons of turtles and lots of water fowl, including a couple of families of ducklings.


They had play structures coming in and out of brick buildings--above is Elijah sliding out of the church. 

 
We had fun exploring it!




Thursday, May 3, 2012

Children's Museum

Back in March, we got the chance to go to the local children's museum with the mom's group at church. Elijah had lots of riding the carousel and the bus, playing fire engines, and watching the electric train.






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