Teach Your Toddler To Put On His Coat

Thanks to this video, my son now knows how... becoming more independent by the minute!

Star Garland

Our theme this week is stars so this morning my son and I spent a little over an hour making this construction paper star garland.  After I hand-cut each one, he taped them (with a little help from me) to the string of yarn and chose where to hang it.  I wanted to put it over a window but he insisted this was a much better location.  Standing back, I had to agree.

Library Haul

We have a pretty great library system in our city.  There are eight locations throughout, and a website that makes it super easy to place holds on nearly anything, (I've ran into the situation where items are unavailable only a handful of times) and monitor your checkouts and account.  Two of the locations are within walking/riding distance from where we live, so we can conveniently visit at least two to three times a week.  We usually go on Wednesdays and Fridays, and will sometimes hit the Fall Storytime on Saturdays.

There are special events such as movie showings, interactive plays, and magic shows.  And just this last week the holiday program was released, full of seasonal activities to attend throughout the next two months. 

You could say this is my favorite place to go and be on a regular basis.  I told my husband the other day that when we pick up all the holds I've placed each week, to me it feels like Christmas.  He looked at me like I was nuts.

Nonetheless, my son and I can't wait to get started on these new books and dvds over the weekend...

Swim Lessons

Last night we had our second session of swim lessons.  Having arrived early I was hoping the extra time my son had to watch others in the pool would encourage him a little more to get in.  We sat on the bleachers and observed the junior high swimmers do laps, he cheered and laughed when we got splashed, and I spent a few minutes giving a pep talk.  By the time his class arrived he was still in his street clothes, and no matter of convincing from me was going to change that.  Ten minutes into class he was finally ready to put on his swim shorts...

...but then happily sat back watching while munching a bag full of goldfish.  Ten more minutes and he was nearly persuaded to get in by one of the little girls in class.  She took his hand and talked sweetly to him, and he followed her all the way to the edge of the pool... but it was a no sell.  I had to give her props for getting him as far as she did; once he reached the edge, she jumped in and he ran back to mommy.  By this time, class was up.  Ahh well, maybe next time.

...although he did manage to dip his toes in for a moment.

Rainy Day Rainbow

Our theme for preschool this week was rainbows. Yesterday was drizzly and overcast all day outside, so it turned out to be the perfect day for an indoor art project. I had a book of construction paper on hand and nearly all the necessary colors in it (although no indigo, and we had to improvise for violet with purple crayon) and helped Lars cut out the arches. He handled the glue stick with excellent precision, blowing through the whole thing by the time we finished. He really enjoyed this and is already pretty great with his colors, only confusing blue and green a few times. But those can be tricky! So far this has been one of his favorite themes of the week; he isn't ready to return any of the recommended library books that we've been reading all week.

Learning Letters

A little over five weeks ago I began a pre-school curriculum at home with my son.  Each week features a new theme and covers one letter and one number, along with shapes and colors being introduced bi-weekly.  There is always one special activity involving the theme, usually an art project or game.  I'm also working on including outings that tie in with the theme each week, such as visiting a pet store for kittens or the zoo during jungle week.  There is a reading list included as well, with sometimes up to ten different books that we get at our library and read throughout the week.  Occasionally I will find movies that fit the theme and we will watch those together.  So far he is enjoying the experience and responding with great interest.  We generally spend about an hour each morning covering the material for that day, and continue to include examples of it throughout our day.  This is all sort of a prelude to our decision of whether or not to continue to home school when he reaches elementary age.   I've always enjoyed teaching and am enjoying this experience beyond what I ever imagined I would.  Next month we'll be adding swimming lessons.