October 30, 2010

Don't turn around

Not even for a second.
I've had many chances to learn this lesson in the last 3 1/2 years of being a mother, but Eli is going to make sure I really get it down pat. The other morning we were all sitting at the table eating breakfast, Eli was in his bumbo on the table and he reached down, grabbed Alison's spoon full of cheerios and flung them all around the kitchen. I should have learned then-don't leave a bowl close to Eli. But I didn't. Lunch today was a typical lunch hour. I was trying to feed Eli while fixing Alison lunch and get a few bites of something myself. I turned around to get something for Alison and looked back to find Eli feeding himself some squash. He's at the stage where if he sees you eating something, he has to have it. Forget baby food, he wants the real thing. But he still has a very sensitive tummy, so I'm having a hard time coming up with "real", soft things for him to eat. He loves the little baby puffs and gets excited when he hears the container of them shake. I say give it a week and he'll be feeding himself.

October 29, 2010

I'm so proud my little man's sitting skills...I just can't get enough. I was taking some pictures of him the other day when Ben commented that he remembers a picture of himself in a similar outfit as a baby. So we pulled it up to compare.

Ben at about 6 to 7 months

I'm not sure Eli really looks like either one of us, but we do know that he is one super cute kid.

Alison has loved dressing up as Minnie Mouse this year.

She was invited to a ballet class and all of the kids dressed up
She acted exactly like I expected her to, the same way she does in all new, unfamiliar situations. She turns into this super shy kid and when asked to participate she gets a big frown on her face. She even shed some tears as they pranced across the room. This was only her second experience with dance, so I just kept reminding her that it was fun and she could just watch the other girls learn ballet. Ironically, when we got home, she kept saying, "I had the most fun EVER at Maddie's ballet class!" I may never understand this kid, but I'm thankful she wasn't traumatized.

Last night we went to the Y's fall festival.

There's not much to say about the event. It was past the kids' bedtime and not exciting in the least bit, but I think Ben's super cute in the this picture, so I had to post it.

October 26, 2010

Galloping goats!

Did you know galloping goats are super funny? Eli sure thinks they are.
We started 'G' week for school and Alison was pretending to be a galloping goat eating grain, gummy bears, gumballs and drinking green tea.
This is the first time he's laughed out loud at something other than being tickled. Notice his sitting skills? Within a week he learned to sit all by himself. I wonder if he'll catch on to crawling just as fast.

October 22, 2010

A week at school

It's letter F week at Shear Preschool and I thought I'd give you a glimpse of what school looks like for us. I'm hoping to blog weekly about school so I can keep track of what we've done, what she's learned and maybe get some ideas/feedback. Also, when it comes time for little Eli to learn all this stuff I'll already have it set.

We started off the week with family fun day and ate french fries at Five Guys. We also went to see the fish at Bass Pro, which Alison was not excited about (her fear for animals is growing by the day).

Our "normal" school day looks like this: breakfast, school time, Y, play alone time, lunch, reading time, nap, school time, play outside or computer time, show, dinner, family time, bath, bed. Monday's and Friday's she has story time, Tuesday's and Thursday's she has art class and Saturday's we're taking a mommy/daughter ballet class. In the morning school session we talk about what day it is and sing our 'days of the week' song.
Then we go over our memory verses, sight words and states. Occasionally I'll throw in some math at this point, but really Alison's just interested in the chocolate candy we use so I don't do it every day. She's got 1+1=2 and 2+1=3 down and can count to 20.
Then we spend some time working on writing. She practices tracing the letter and then does an activity of letter recognition.

The salt box is tactile tool I use to work on learning to write. I've actually found it's really helped her drawing skills in general.
Then we usually work out of our curriculum 'Before Five in a Row' which reads one book a week and works through activities that go with the book. I also add books that go with our theme for our reading time.

In the afternoon we read a bible story, do some workbook pages, color and play some games.

Along with the curriculum, we have a letter of the week. Alison knows all of the letters, can recognize them and knows their sounds. We're working on writing them and spelling simple words.

This week:
We worked on our cutting and pasting skills while making a poster for our new verse: Psalm 1:6 "For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish."
(Alison insists on writing her name on everything she does, except she hasn't quite got the concept that the letters need to go in order. She knows her name is spelled A.L.I.S.O.N, but the letters will be written all over the page instead of in a line in one spot.)
She water colored and upper and lower case 'F',
made fruit faces,

and finger painted.
We read Hattie and the Fox and The Fox Went Out on a Chilly Night (which happens to be a song that daddy sang for us) and made a 'F' fox craft, while learning how to spell fox.
Eli wore his fox shirt and Alison wore a flower shirt.


We read How Many Fish, worked on counting and made a 'F' fish craft.We read The Flag We Love, learned the Pledge of Allegiance and had fun waving flags in the air (Alison thought they were fun to cheer with and made up many flag chants)


The flag activity is actually a great example of why I love the homeschooling concept. While planning F week, I thought she would love an emphasis on flowers and had several flower themed things planned. However, while at the library she discovered the flag bag and asked to get it. I was surprised at her interest but I was able to adjust my plans and encourage her love for learning about this topic. We talked about flags everyday and just had flower shaped sandwiches one day.

We also read a book about seasons and met some friends at a pumpkin patch to enjoy a fall day.

Our other F books were Franklin and his Friend, Fancy Nancy and the Fabulous Fashion Boutique, My Five Book, The Reason for a Flower, The Farmer in the Dell and Fat Cat on a Mat. The "shows" designated for this week were 'High Five', 'Sesame Street's Firefly Fun', 'Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue' and 'Dora's Fairytale Adventure'. Our bible story was Jesus feeding the five thousand.

October 21, 2010

He's drooling on me!



The kids have been super cute together lately. Alison just loves on Eli. She sits and talks to him and tries to play with him. This morning she made him "coffee and eggs" and helped him pretend eat them. If he's fussing, she'll go stroke his head and tell him, "It's okay, Mommy will be right here" and she'll get him a toy or a binky.

Last night Alison and I were reading, Ben was cleaning up the kitchen and Eli...well, he was having his own little party. He just cracks me up! Alison never jumped in the exersaucer like he does, but he thinks it's pretty funny.


This morning we were on the way to the Y when Alison asked, "Mommy, is Eliot going to scare all the kids away again?" These are the moments that make me LOVE being a mommy. Last week Alison started art classes at the Y, so Eli goes into the child watch while I work out. One day when we picked him up he was the only kid in there and I jokingly said to him, "Did you scare all of the other kids away?" Little ears hear everything you say!

October 16, 2010

I don't know who's kid this is...

but you better get ready to catch him!


Seriously, though. I really don't know who this kid is. Eli turned 6 months on Monday and instantly was someone completely different. Last night he slept 11 hours straight, and 14 hours total. By 8:30 this morning I was going in his room every few minutes to make sure he was still breathing. He was and I guess his little body finally figured out the sleep thing. The night before he slept 8 hours, ate and then slept another 5. All I can say is, PRAISE THE LORD!!! Within the last couple of days he's gotten pretty good at sitting up by himself and saying "mmm" every time he takes a bite of food.
He still never stops moving. We're excited about him learning to crawl, but I'm a little nervous I'm not going to be able to keep up with this little monkey.

October 12, 2010

6 months...

and this is his new favorite thing to do.

You know when he discovered it? On the airplane, traveling home from Grandma's. He also laughs now when he hears someone else laughing (so please excuse the fake laughing in the video...mommy's will do anything for a laugh). The drool dripping from his chin is now a staple and he's working hard on learning to sit up on his own. His legs are still in constant motion and we're anxiously awaiting the day he takes off and chases his sister around the house.