Tot School

This week was a slow tot school week. I spent a couple days feeling out of it with a massive sinus headache and generally felt yucky this week.

We spent a little more time on the letter "L" this week.

I made Jillian some "L" subject matching cards (somehow I didn't get a picture of her matching these up). They're just like the "K" cards I made two weeks ago, but with "L" subjects. Funny, she loved the "K" cards, but the "L" cards weren't such a big hit.

What I really wanted to do was take a leaf walk this week, but between me feeling bad and the C-O-L-D temperatures we had, it just didn't happen.

We did read a lot of books, though.

Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert


Leaves! Leaves! Leaves! by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace (I want to remember this one for when Jillian is older - it seemed educational-fun!)


Leaves by David Ezra Stein


Lizard's Guest by George Shannon (I liked this one, too)


The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein (I know, not an "L" book, but I couldn't resist and Jillian LOVED it!)


Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown (another non-"L" book that Jillian picked out herself; entirely too long for a two year old!)


Later in the week, we got a shipment from Omaha Steaks from my parents, and the best part of that is...the dry ice! Daddy loves doing experiments with it for Jillian and she loves it too!

Here she is playing with the bubbles it makes when dropped into a cup of dish soap and warm water.

Then she loved it when she'd get the bubbles on her hands and clap - the gas escaped from the bubbles when they popped so it looked like they were smoking when she clapped!

And finally we got some good outdoor time today after 6" of snow fell Saturday!

I'm looking forward to moving on to "M" week next week and hope to get as much accomplished as I have on my list! Head on over to 1+1+1=1 to see what some other tot-schooling moms are up to with their little ones!

Snow Day!

We called today a snow day and did some serious playing! Our last substantial snow was apparently too much for my little one to really enjoy (over 20"), so this snowfall at 6" was just perfect for her to enjoy!

She got to try out her new snowsuit that my mom picked up for her at a consignment store. Which, by the way, I love, because the legs zip all the way down, so getting the legs around her snow boots is a cinch! And I got to try out one of the new pairs of waterproof boots I got for Christmas; my feet stayed warm and dry the whole time!


She did lots of walking and rolling around in the snow. Though she would lay down and didn't quite get the concept of moving her arms and legs to make actual snow angels.


I took Jillian for a walk to the tot lot near our house and she had tons of fun sliding down the slide in the snow!



I tried my hand at the black & white setting on my camera, too.



On the way back to the house, I let Jillian try an icicle. This was a HUGE hit!



After we came inside, we had a warm bath, donuts for lunch, and then made peanut butter cookies after nap time. What a fun snow day!

Tot School

I feel like we didn't get much Tot School-ing done this week, but maybe we accomplished more than I thought.

Since Monday was a holiday, we got to spend some time with friends we don't see as often as we'd like! On Tuesday we hosted a get together of our moms group and Jillian got to hang and play with six of her toddler friends. Then on Wednesday we made up our My Gym class from Monday.

We didn't really tackle any Tot School activities (except for reading together) until later in the week.

Our focus this week was the letter "L", so we did a lamb craft from DLTK's site. Have I mentioned that I just LOVE this site? Jillian is still struggling with gluing things; she dislikes the permanence of it since whatever it is we're gluing seems to make an interesting toy for her.

We also colored a ladybug red. We were going to focus on the color red this week also, but after Jillian demanded "purple" while coloring her Lion & Lamb page as well as her L-l template, that went out the window. I was just thrilled that she asked for a color by name!

Then I tried letting Jillian use kitchen tongs to transfer corks from one container into others of varying shapes and sizes. These were just too big for her to handle, so she ended up just playing with the corks and the containers.

She got to try out her new tools when she helped Daddy fix the chair that broke last weekend.

And lastly, Jilly spent some time playing the piano this evening. She even sang along briefly!

From the library this week:
"Lazy Lion" by Mwenye Hadithi (I thought this one was cute)


"Mama, Do You Love Me?" by Barbara M. Joosse


"The Grouchy Ladybug" by Eric Carle


"The Lion's Share" by Matthew McElligott (this was a good book too, dealing with math)


"The Little Lame Prince" by Rosemary Wells (a bit long for Jillian to sit through)
(I couldn't find an image of the version we have)

I was a little disappointed with our books this week. I'm usually impressed by most of our selections, but only two of last week's books really captured both Jillian's and my attention for the entire book.

As usual, every night this week we read her Sesame Street Alphabet "L" book. She has taken to requesting her letter book before bed every night and calls all letters, "E".

We had a couple other things I wanted to get to over the week that we didn't, so I think we're going to do another "L" week.

To see what other moms are doing with their tots, head over to 1+1+1=1!!

Self-Imposed Time Outs

The other evening I was cooking dinner and Jillian, as usual, was whining and wanting to play in the kitchen. For those of you who don't know, our kitchen is only semi-childproofed due to the fact that we only have like four cabinets and no low drawers. So we keep a baby gate up at the entrance to our kitchen. Occasionally, it's easier to let Jillian come in while I'm cooking dinner before Daddy gets home and let her play, but only while I'm in there with her.

But sometimes, she just doesn't listen. Imagine that - a two year old that doesn't listen. So I have to oust her from the kitchen and close the gate again.

The other evenings was one of these times. After being ousted, she stood at the gate whining and wailing about it. I asked her if she needed to go upstairs to her room to cry. She promptly took her crying self up to her room and settled herself down. And I was like, seriously?

Since then we've had several such incidents, where if she starts acting up, I'll ask her if she needs to go up to her room to cry. And she does. And then comes back down all settled and tells us that she cried.

I can't believe she does it, but I love that she does! It helps her get away and settle herself down without us having to listen to her drama. Score!!

Rosetta Stone for Toddlerese?

Seriously. I have no clue what my toddler is saying half the time. Today, we were in her room changing her diaper. She starts pointing at the wall saying "da-da" repeatedly. Now I'm no genius, but I know that the wall has nothing to do with Daddy. It does however, have crayon marks on, from said toddler. So I try "dirty?". She keeps on with "da-da". Finally, I figure it out: SHADOW! She's pointing to my shadow on the wall!!

Good heavens. When will someone make some translation software for these little ones?!?

Today's Big Hits

This morning we hosted our mommies group and the little ones for some play time.

The biggest hit of the day was the Flower Shop which houses Jillian's Little People Doll House.

Jilly & Jocelyn

Brooks

Jack

Jilly & Cadence

Jilly & Andreas

Amedeo was a bit of a rebel, not getting in on the Flower Shop fun.

Another big hit, the Elmo guitar.



And we can always count on the horse for some smiles.


Jillian did at one point try to horde some of her stuffed animals.

And she had only two brief tantrum-like moments.


Jillian (and all the toddlers) did really well sharing with one another and fun was had by all.

Tot School

This week we did a few more activities than last and are just about back to "normal" with our Tot School activities. This week we focused on the letter "K" and the color "blue".

Jillian colored her letter K-k template with blue crayons.

I made some small matching cards for Jillian with things starting with "K". These were her favorites this week, and while we didn't turn them over and play an actual matching game, she had fun putting the same images next to one another.

We collected blue things from her play area and put them in a blue bin. She was really not into this, but I like the idea and may keep trying with her.

Jillian got to do some painting earlier this week at our moms group get together.


We checked out some great "K" books from the library this week, too:

I Love You, Blue Kangaroo by Emma Chichester Clark


Kangaroos Have Joeys by Phillipa-Alys Browne

What Do You Do With a Kangaroo? by Mercer Mayer


What Shall We Do, Blue Kangaroo? by Emma Chichester Clark


Then it was time to celebrate Jillian's 2nd birthday! Not thinking about the letter "k" connection at all, we got Jillian a play kitchen. She has really enjoyed playing with it!


And we finally got some decent weather this week, so we met up with some friends at a playground and Jillian got some good outdoor time, too!


Check out some more great Tot School posts at 1+1+1=1!!