Just For Laughs

Olivia's teacher takes pictures using her ipad and then will send them a few at the end of each week.

I opened this beauty the other day...

and laughed until I cried!!!

The look on the other kids face is pretty funny too.

We tried to ask Olivia what was going on in the picture, but she didn't really give much info.  She cracks me up!!

The Season's First Snow

I had heard rumors that we might be getting some snow, but I honestly didn't think too much of it. It seemed early for a first snow, and we all know how the media likes to blow things out of proportion.  So when we woke up yesterday morning to inches of white stuff and more coming down, we were pleasantly surprised.  (The "we" that didn't have to leave the house that is!)

Out our front window around 7 AM

Olivia was super excited and chose to wear her snowman shirt in hopes of building a snowman with Boppa later!  (Please excuse her face--she thinks she's funny.  And all of the toys on the floor. And the fact that Anna and Elsa are in the microwave.) :)

I took this picture of our back yard and sent it to a friend in Texas.

Olivia plopped down and wanted me to take a picture of her. She said "This is called 'me and the snow'".  Of course they were all coming out pretty dark, so I had to edit it a bit.

We had the babysitting kids here for part of the day, so we waited for Michael to get home before going out.  We knew it was going to be getting dark, so I spent 20 minutes getting myself ready, Olivia bundled and Logan bundled.

My friend Laurie had given us some hand me down snow pants and coat from her bosses.  We actually have two sets.  This one is a size 12 month, so a little big on Logan but not too bad.  I tried the boots on him, but they were about 3 sizes too big so I just put a bunch of socks on him.

He wasn't sure what to think.

It was bitterly cold, so he and I were out less than 5 minutes. Just enough to snap a few pictures.

Michael and Olivia were trying to roll the snow to make a snowman.  Unfortunately, it wasn't packing snow.

Michael tried to use the lid from our sandbox to see if they could sled down the little hill, but that was a no go too.

Logan and I went in and got into warm and comfy clothes!

They had moved to the front so that Michael could shovel the sidewalk.  How cute is this little guy?!

Then they moved to the back again, so we sat at the sliding glass doors to watch.

Michael showed Olivia how to make a snow angel. Then that was pretty much the end of their playing.  Olivia's cheeks were red, her nose was running, and it was time to eat dinner.

No snowman this time, but she still had a great time for the half hour that she was out!  I'm sure there will be plenty of opportunities for snowman building this winter.

Finger Foods and Fun Facts

Logan has been feeding himself puff and (coconut) yogurt melts for a while now.

But since turning 9 months, we have added in a few more options!

So far he has had black beans, pasta (with puree on it), mandarin oranges, peas, and carrots.

He does really well at feeding himself, and seems to prefer it over eating purees.

In other news...

He got his FIFTH tooth last week.  He's also getting better and better at pulling himself up.  He can get to his knees easily.  He has gotten himself fully up a few times, but he's not as great at that yet.  It won't be long, though.

Our little guy is growing up! :)

Textured Acorn Art

Another throw back to my days with Little Man...  His preschool teachers had been talking about how they were using different textures in their art projects and how that was good for the kids. So I took that little tidbit home, and we made this textured squirrel using dry oatmeal.

You can find that post in it's entirety here.

I decided to take that idea and turn it into a different type of fall textured craft--an acorn.

I gave her the little dobbers AND showed her how to use them, but she insisted on using it like a paint brush.

After she was done, I cut it out and we glued it onto a yellow piece of paper.

Then I put glue on the top and gave her a plate of dry oatmeal.  She started putting them on ONE PIECE AT A TIME!

I told her she could put clumps on, but... well... you know. :)

 After doing about ten pieces one at a time, she decided that she was getting too much glue on her hands.  So she started doing clumps, but even her clumps were dainty.

The finished product!

Sensory Bottles (Again!)

Now that Logan can get around, he entertains himself pretty well.  However, between the hours of 4 and 5 he starts to get a little needy.  I think he is missing his afternoon bottle, but I know he doesn't need to eat.   So I end up playing with him as much as possible to distract him.

While I was digging around our supply closet for some coloring supplies for Olivia, I decided to pull out the tote of sensory water bottles for Logan.

(Of course my camera battery died just as we sat down, so please excuse the crappy cell phone pics!)

He spent a lot of time chewing on this bottle.

I would shake some of the ones that made noise.  He was only mildly amused. :)

Olivia was almost two when I made these, so the ones with water in them were fun.  They are a little heavy for him, so I did them for him.  He especially liked the one with glitter and sequins.

and then Olivia decided to join us. :)

Here is the original post from Olivia playing with them, and what is in each bottle.

Houdini? Or Boy Genius?

Logan has been able to hold his bottle by himself for months now.  We usually just give it to him (or he snatches it out of our hands!), and he feeds himself.

That's not really all that abnormal.  What is strange, is that he can somehow get the entire nipple/top off of the bottle.  The first time I thought it was a fluke.  Like maybe I didn't tighten it enough.  However, this has now happened a total of FIVE TIMES!

I took a picture, because some people thought I meant he was popping the nipple out.  No.  He is totally unscrewing the top somehow.  Luckily it is always after the bottle is empty.  But still!

Then last week he was in the kitchen with me while I was making dinner. There weren't any toys in there, so I gave him his teething tablet bottle to shake.  It's small and has a child proof cap.  I walked in the living room to help Olivia with something, and I came back a minute later and he had the cap in his mouth. The bottle had rolled over to the dishwasher, and there were a few tablets spread on the floor.  WHAT THE HECK!?!  At least they were homeopathic tablets, so if he had eaten any (which he didn't) it wouldn't have been bad.  I won't be giving him any more bottles to play with!

Then yesterday he was wanting my water jug.  He can't drink out of a straw yet, so he just ends up playing with the straw and drooling all over the place.  I didn't want drool all in my water, so I gave him another cup that was handy instead. It was empty and he was just playing with the straw.

I look down and he has the straw THAT HAS A STOPPER ON IT out of the cup!!!

This kid....

He and Olivia are a lot alike as babies, but this area is NOT one of them.  She seriously does not open her own bedroom door--STILL.  I guess they are just genius in their own ways. ;)

Calendar Time

Olivia became interested in the days of the week about 9 months ago.  Since Michael was working from home he'd say things to her like, "It's Friday!" or "It's the weekend".  That led to her being interested because she knew that the weekend meant he was off of work.

From there, we took that interest and taught her the days of the week song.  (I can't remember if I posted the video of her singing that on here, or just on Facebook?!?)

After months of talking about the days, I thought I would go ahead and do calendar time with her at home.  I knew she was going to get it twice a week at preschool, but following through at home would be good as well.

So I bought a calendar from the teacher store and laminated all of the pieces.  I put it on the back of the door that leads to the unfinished part of our basement.  That way it isn't an eye sore, but is right in our family room where we spend a lot of time.

It's been up for months, but I haven't been terribly consistent with it.  Michael is actually better at it than me sometimes.

It has a wheel to spin for the weather.

Of course, I already had the pointer from my teaching days.

and it's good practice for number recognition

It also has a "today is, yesterday was, tomorrow will be" piece that can be moved.

And since she has learned the Pledge of Allegiance at school, we just go ahead and reinforce that too.

All the extra supplies are stored in a thirty-one organizer that I have.

I also laminated a few extra animal pieces that match the set.  Eventually I can add those in for extension activities.