Pushing through - Week 8

For some reason this week has been a struggle for us all. Its seems that I am suffering from a lack of motivation. Luckily my little tot has pushed through and has been asking for his school activities on his own. I guess this is a good sign that Austin likes what we are doing and is now used to our schedule.


Last week we had our first school date with my friend Jessica and her Daughter Maddie. They are going to be starting Tot School soon and wanted to get an idea what we do. Of course putting two toddlers in a house with lots of toys usually equals craziness and this was no exception. Austin just refers to Maddie as "girl" when I ask him about her and was a little thrown off with someone playing with his toys. All in all it was a good time and although not much school work got done, Jessica and I got to visit and both tots got to play and interact with each other.


Earlier this week Austin made his Papa a picture since he is recovering from a surgery. Austin really liked this. Unfortunately it turned into a big brown mess but Papa loved it. 

Austin has been using his imagination a lot lately. I think my favorite activity is to sit and watch him play. It is amazing how kids play when they think no one is watching. This is Austin playing car with his chairs. He lined them up, pretended to buckle his seat belt and even put stuff in the seats. 

We also worked with the dropper again although Austin decided to use a spoon instead. 

Austin's love for gluing is growing and he enjoys the responsibility of doing it himself. Today we glued cotton down for Clouds. Austin did Awesome and gets the whole concept now of putting the glue down, placing the item on the glue, pressing it down, and actually leaving it on the paper. 

We did a lot of other activities this week. While I was getting lunch together, I gave Austin his Melissa and Doug safari puzzle. When I looked over to check on him, he had the whole thing done. Of course I made a huge deal and he got embarrassed and that was the end of puzzle time. 

Austin has been asking for his "dot dot" markers a lot. Whenever he asks I let him use them. It makes me so happy that he is liking our activities and starting to communicate what he wants to do. 

Austin and our little one have been getting up extremely early lately. Today I was feeding our little guy and laughing because he kept dozing off while eating. Little did I know that right in front of me, Austin had also fell asleep in his chair with his snack in hand. He ended up sleeping 3 1/2 hours. 

Back to Business

In a world where your 6 month old is teething and refuses to sleep and your toddler has learned the meaning and power of the word NO, there is little time for organization and structure in the day. The game plan... survive the day with as few meltdowns by you, the baby and the toddler as possible. My strategy... expect the worst and anything else that happens will be a welcomed surprise. 


As you can tell things have been quite hectic around here. Last week John had a break from school so little was accomplished in terms of school. On Monday we were welcomed with a huge amount of snow, so it was another day off for daddy. I was determined to regain control of the house and get things back to "normal" whatever that is. 


I am determined to start being more prepared for school. Easier said then done with an infant who is determined to sleep no more then 20 min. at a time during the day. 


Week 7
Letter C
Color Yellow
Verse: Children obey your parents in the Lord; for this is right. Ephesians 6:1


We began by going over our verse. I can't think of a better verse for a toddler. 

We followed that with our letter C and dot markers. 

I attempted my firs file folder game. It came out pretty good. I will have to redo it later on when I have time but it worked well. This is where the proud mama steps in.. Austin did AWESOME! I was not even expecting him to want to touch it. I showed him how to do it first and he took over completing the whole thing. Here I thought the whole time he did not get the concept of matching. Boy was I wrong. Not only does he get it but he flew through it more then once and just to be sure I did it again today he and he did it on his own. 

This week we are also working on using a cup with Austin. He is getting the concept but my baby loves to pour and this is not limited to water play as we learned this morning when a cup of cold milk got poured on our precious little one who was innocently playing in the living room. For now the cup practice will be limited to the kitchen table under high supervision. 

Last night in attempts to be prepares, I stayed up late and planned and prepped several activities. I thought they would last me longer then one day but Austin wanted to do them all so we did. 


We made out caterpillar C which turned out really cute. This is where i learned just how observant toddlers really are. In the middle of the project, Austin grabbed the glue and started gluing himself! He knew just what to do by watching me. I didn't even realize after that Austin had created a pattern on the caterpillar. I let him pick each color to glue on. I am sure it wasn't intentional but it sure does look nice! After the C was done, Austin still wanted to glue so I gave him a piece of paper and he used the leftover circles or "balls" as he insisted. It may not look like much but he did it 100% on his own. I was at the counter gluing on the eyes and pipe cleaners for the caterpillar. I was so proud. 

Another project Austin did was make a corn on the cob. I used bubble wrap and had him paint it yellow, then i glued the husk on. 

Our last project (yes we did a lot today but Austin loves projects) was a popcorn C. This was not a huge success. I guess anything with food and toddler, doesn't go as planned. Austin glued one piece down then kept insisting on eating it. Whenever he is really determined about something, he will sign and say the word almost in a way to say " I really mean it so I am going to say it two way". For every piece I glues on, he ate about 5. 

Austin signing and saying "Eat"

Austin giving me a cheesy smile after each piece he ate. 

We wrapped up our very productive Tot school day with counting. I go this piggy bank at a mom 2 mom sale for $2.00. It an awesome toy. It comes with large coins in different colors and sizes. It also has two settings for music and counting. 

And not to forget our little one who suffered a cold shower of milk this morning. He recovered nicely and even proved he was ready for "Baby School"