Tot School: Unstructured!

Our princess is currently 25 months old.

I had every intention of skipping Tot School last week, out of pure laziness.  Then the princess woke up Thursday morning at 5:15 with a cough and runny nose.  Nothing but Tot School would console her.  So we did 2 days of it - totally unstructured.  It was great! 

We have a drawer in our living room where I keep all her Tot School activities.  I opened the drawer for her, and she selected the things she wanted to do this week.  The puzzles on the left are from COAH, and she has always loved thm but still gets upset when they don't line up properly.  The one on the right is from Home Grown Hearts.  This was a challenge for her, because the umbrellas and rain drops are not color coded.  She got confused over whether she was supposed to match colors or letters and needed a lot of guidance.

Left:  I have always loved this paintbrush matching, but she has never been a fan until Thursday!  Right:  I let her attempt to use scissors for the first time.  I don't have any safety scissors yet though, so she tried out my scrapbooking scissors.  Ha!  Way too big for a 2 year-old's hands.  :)

Left:  I finally made some pom poms into magnets and let her play with this page from COAH.  Big hit!  Right:  She always loves playing with pom poms, and she was naming colors as she shoved them into the box.

Left:  We finished up her "B" page that flopped the first time around when we tried to glue on bubble wrap.  This time we went for simple butterfly stickers.  Much easier.  Right:  The princess is getting independent.  She has to do this herself nearly everytime we eat. 

She's going to be a good big sister.  :)  We have been talking about babies a lot lately, and she had me wrap up her dollbaby, then she gave her a bear and carried her around the house.  What a sweet little momma.  :)

This week we are learning the letter C!

Tot School: A is for apple

Our princess is 25 months old.

I had a blast finding fun "A" activities this week!  I found a few new website resources.  This cute "A is for Acorn" page was perfect for my little Elmo lover!  I found this at Coloring-Crafts, and they have a variety of free pages from which to choose.

I found DLTK's site, which has mini-books you can print out for each letter of the alphabet, as well as books for many other themes.  I printed out the "A" book in black and white (though color is an option) and let the princess color each page.  We read this book on a daily basis, and she LOVED it.

I used many of COAH's A is for apple ideas, including the apple uppercase/lowercase matching game, apple color puzzles, apple lacing card, and an A worksheet.  For the A worksheet, I did a google image search for "apple clipart" and printed out some apples to paste in place.

I definitely overestimated her skill level
and made these apple color puzzles
too difficult for her.

She did great matching capital and
lowercase As.  Not a favorite of hers though.

 

Pasting apples on her A worksheet
Apple was a new word this week.



I love her face of concentration as she skips
over several holes.  :)  She did great at this - her
first lacing activity.





She also put together this "Aa" page, featuring ant, acorn, alligator, arm, apple, airplane, and her 4 "A" cousins.  I think this is both of our favorite weekly activity.  She loves the pasting and the new pictures, and I love hearing her attempt new words!

We are having so much fun in Tot School.  I really enjoy doing this with her.  I know that she is not really absorbing everything we are doing, but we are laying some ground work.  And it's fun for both of us.  :)

Tot School: H is for Hippo

Our princess is 25 months old.

This week in Tot School, we worked on the letter H.  We did some of COAH's H is for Hippo activities, and we made some pages for the princess' ABC book.  I wanted to do the letter H this week so we could do some heart activities for Valentine's Day as well.

She is really enjoying using the glue stick.  She is also getting really good at it!  Her "H" page featured a heart, hippo, hand, hot dog, hat, hammer, horse, helicopter, hula hoop, and her 2 "H" cousins.  Hippo was a new word for her this week, but she did not grasp the letter "H".  We will have to return to this at a later time.

She absolutely LOVES this ABC puzzle from 1+1+1-1.  She asks for it almost daily.  The heart puzzle is also from 1+1+1=1, and this is still a challenge for her.  She is not a big fan, and I think it's because everything is the same color.  That makes it a bit more difficult.

 

I cut out these hippo size sorting cards from COAH's H is for Hippo, and I wanted her to line them up by size.  I realized this would be a difficult concept.  Look what she did on her own though!  She stacked them by size.  What a little smartie.  Notice the red one on the right?  She got finished and held that one up, saying "uh-oh".  :)  I realize I'm her mom and I'm going to be impressed with most of the things she does, but I thought this was great.

In honor of Muffin Tin Monday, I served her Valentine's dinner in a heart-shaped ice cube tray.  :)  She ate a lot of pinto beans that evening - something she has not eaten in awhile!

 We did COAH's letter H activity and put foam heart stickers on the letter.  Again, I know I'm her mom...but she had only verbal guidance and put all her stickers ON the letter H...not around it.

 And we made COAH's hippo picture.  So cute!  Again...crazy Mom was impressed that the all pieces were placed correctly with only verbal guidance!  Note:  The eyes and nostrils were already in place.  She's not THAT good.  :)

 

What week would be complete without coloring with markers?!  Of course that's a hippo picture, and his ears are heart-shaped.  He-he, love it!

Finally, our princess is getting to be such a GIRL!  I love this little outfit that someone from church bought her.  She loves the tutu and just twirls and twirls when I put it on her.  Crazy girl!

Tot School: B is for Butterfly

Our little princess is currently 25 months old.

We worked on the letter B this week.  I used some ideas from 1+1+1=1 as well as COAH.  I decided to begin an ABC book with the princess and just focus on one letter a week.  As 1+1+1=1 mentioned, her son Krash was most familiar with the letter B, and that is why she began with that letter.  The same is true for the princess.  We made a "B" page, which included doing some crayon coloring, pasting, and lots of vocabulary work.  We included pictures of things she is familiar with, as well as things I want her to become familiar with.  My brilliant idea was to put pictures of her cousins and friends on the pages as well, so this week featured 3 cousins and a little friend.  As a result, she has been talking about her buddy "Buh-buh" a LOT this week.

 



I let her use markers for the first time this week.  She had a blast coloring her "B is for butterfly" pages.  The one on the left is from COAH, and I created the one on the right, because I really wanted an up and down page for her ABC book.  (Like the Napoleon Dynamite magnets?  Ha ha!)

She also colored a Valentine's card for Daddy and really enjoyed attempting to put the caps back on the markers.  I am not posting pictures of the card, because I do not want to ruin the surprise!

The princess also did a "B" page from COAH and used a glue stick to attach bubble wrap!  I thought this was a brilliant idea of mine, until about 2 hours later when the bubbles were extremely easy to pull off.  Now we have a plain B page.  :)

 



The princess enjoyed doing her ABC puzzle from 1+1+1=1 with Daddy.   

 

And we practiced pouring and working on the meaning of "PRETEND" in the bathtub.  :)

This was a fun week.  We also began potty training this week!  We are still in the learning process, but she now knows when she is wet (and does not like it), and she comes to me when she has to go to the bathroom.  We are making progress!

Especially Thankful

As a nurse, I have often daydreamed about being the hero in unplanned scenarios.  For example, a stranger collapses in the grocery store and I immediately begin CPR, saving their life.  I have often wondered how I would respond to an emergency with my own child.  In my mental rehearsals, I am always calm and collected.  It's funny how things happen differently in real life.

My husband came home for lunch today, and he and the princess were playing in the kitchen.  I was at the sink, so I could see my husband but not my daughter.  I heard two thunks, followed by the most painful cry I have ever heard from my little girl.  I came around the corner to give her a kiss as she snuggled up with her daddy.  She had hit her head on the cupboards and then fallen and hit it again on the floor.

My husband was cradling my daughter in his arms, and she looked like she was going to scream...but she never did.  I heard him tell her "breathe", and then she went limp in his arms.  Her eyes were open and fixed on the ceiling, and my perfect RN reaction was to scream "Sarah!  Sarah!" repeatedly.  In the midst of my hysterics, I did pick up the phone and dial 911.  However, the little princess rejuvenated before I had the chance to tell the operator I needed an ambulance.  Instead, I told her I was calling my doctor, and they had us take the princess to the ER.

She had a CT scan done (which was traumatic for baby and Mommy...so glad Daddy was there for us), and it showed no bleed or mass.  We are just supposed to watch her especially closely for the next 48 hours.

I am especially thankful for my little girl tonight.  Things could have turned out much differently.  We are so fortunate to have this little one in our lives.  I thank God for the safety He showed to our family today.  And I thank Him for the reminder that life is a gift.


Snuggling with Daddy at the ER



Snuggling in the ER