Tot School

Nathan is 27 months old.

Hello everyone! I hope you are all enjoying your week!!! This has been quite a different week for us! We've been on the go quite a bit, we've all been super tired, and I've been on a cleaning kick and up really really late at night. All of those things have made tot school a bit more challenging this week, but we did have some good times!

We worked a lot this week on big and little letters, which ones belong together, and their sounds. We spent so much time traveling in the car this week and I think Nathan watched the Leap Frog Letter Factory at least 10 times this week. Thankfully, it's a fabulous teacher! :) We worked on this puzzle which he has been able to do independently for about 9 months, but we focused on the big/vs little letters and their sounds.

Then using our Melissa and Doug letters and the letters from the puzzle book, I spread it all out on the table before him. I held up a big a and asked him to find the little a and put it next to my big a. Same with B-I. Then I asked him to match the puzzle big/little piece to the big little letters already on the board. He loved it!!!
Color sort game with 45 random objects. This is using the digger coloring pages from one of Carissa's tot books.
Nathan and I role played with these little people toys. These were mine as a baby... they're almost 30 years old and other than all the choking hazards, you'd never know it! :)

This shape tanagram set is going to have to be retired from our tot school as it's just too easy for him. It took him less than 4 minutes to complete all 5 of these puzzles without an ounce of help
He loves these word puzzles and has done them so many times this week. He's doing really well identifying the little letters and although he's not sounding out words, he's starting to identify the letter sounds as he builds the word.

First big floor puzzle, which he loved!

We planted some seeds this week and we're hoping they will grow! (i'm not sure why this is underlined and I can't get it to quit!)

Learning about sink vs float

GROUP TOT SCHOOL!! We were so happy to all be back together again! Baby Kaylie (colton's sister) joined us for the first time too.

Today's activities were a huge color sort using the digger coloring pages and a tray of random colored objects for each kiddo... challenge here, they all were putting their individual pieces onto shared colored diggers so they had to work together and help each other out. Another activity was matching shapes to their shadows. I gave each kiddo 5-6 black outlines and then held up each shape one by one and asked, who has this shape. They all helped each other realize who had them. We also focused a lot on counting and then numbers 1-5. We cut numbers and a corresponding amount of shapes out of Jello jigglers and then ate them. Our last activity was where I asked each kiddo to pick a number between 1 and 5. Then I held up a variety of different number cards from different sets and carious pictures with certain amounts of items on them and asked the kids to identify the number/count the objects and figure out which one of them had that number.
Super fun tot school and so great to spend so much time with all of our buddies!!!

Celebrating Mom's birthday

On Monday of this week, Nathan and I headed out of town to meet my mom and 12 of her friends for lunch to celebrate her brithday. We ate at PF Changs and it was soooo yummy. It was so great to get to know mom's friends better (a few of them I know, but some I'd never met). They are all so sweet and hysterical to be around! So many of them knew about my high risk pregnancy and prayer for Nathan and I's health during pregnancy/delivery... so many of those women have stood around us fervently praying for us and it was a treat to meet them in person. Nathan loved seeing Yaya and has asked for her non stop since then. He was an angel during the 2 hour lunch. It was a blessing to celebrate another wonderful year of my mom's life with her! I love you momma!!!

Snuggles for the animals

When Nathan is especially fond of something, like these plastic animals, he can often be found hugging them or snuggling them close to his neck. It's so sweet! I don't ever want to forget the way he does this.

I love you little man!

Wordless Wednesday

27 months

This little guy turned 27 months old today. Yes, I'm one of those weird mommies who knows how many months old her toddler is... with a little help from google, I also know he's a little over 117 weeks old or 821 days. :) He stands around 36 inches tall and weighs around 28 pounds. This little guy is my second favorite person on this earth and he's only second to his daddy. Nathan is passionate about life, learning, loving, and memorizing! He's incredibly demonstrative when it comes to his feelings and he's quite opinionated too. He'll tell you exactly what he'd like, what he did, what he wishes he did, or how he really needs something. He'll talk your ear off if you let him. He has an incredible vocabulary and speaks with ease. He still doesn't pronounce "th" "tr" "cr" or "sn" sound at the beginning of words but we still are amazed with how easy he is to understand, even if you don't know him.

Nathan loves to be with family and friends, but also thrives on alone or one on one time. He's a huge fan of balls, cars, books, small things he can hold dear, his hats, blankies, bear pillows, and anything snuggly soft. His current favorite shows on tv are UmiZoomi, Word World, and Wonder Pets. He's scared of most people in costume when you can tell they are supposed to be a person... like kids wearing silly hats or masks. He's fine with things like the Chic fil a cow. He memorizes anything he's heard more than once and generalizes what he learns to all kinds of settings.

He knows all of his letters and numbers and shapes and many of the letter sounds. He loves to spell different words he sees (reading the letters out) and is fantastic at spotting stop signs and reminding me to come to a complete stop. He's also quite good at reminding others of the rules... "izzy it is not kind to push our friends." "mommy you should chew and swallow your food before talking. it's not polite to talk with your mouth full." "we can yell outside and at the circus but not inside."
He'll eat almost anything, except for macaroni and cheese and mashed potatoes, although he will try any food at least once. He loves raw veggies, fruits, hummus, pizza, chicken nuggets, and suckers. He is very sensitive to any candy or sugary food and is a "danger to himself and others" when he eats the slightest amount of chocolate. It sounds like a joke, but it's truthful. He gets to have one sucker or tiny shortbread cookie each day... right after his nap and that doesn't seem to ramp him up too much. He drinks water and skim milk almost exclusively. On rare occasions he gets a bit of lemonade or gatorade and even more rarely a sip of coffee (which he loves).

Nathan initiated potty training this past weekend and we're following his lead. He's doing remarkably well keeping underwear dry when prompted to go potty! He gets a jelly bean (when he remembers) when he actually goes on the potty.

We've started swim lessons again and this kiddo amazes me!!! He can jump (well belly flop) off the side, and while underwater, turn 180 degrees and start kicking back to the wall. Often he's able to reach the wall and pull up. He can hold his breath underwater for 10-15 seconds. He's able to hold his breath and go down to the bottom of the pool to get a diving ring as long as someone guides him down. He then pops back up to the surface. He can swim at least 25 feet if not more simply by holding onto a noodle. He has no fear of going under, jumping in, or leaping out of your arms. He has an excellent attention span in the water and listens so well to his teacher.

Nathan is a creature of habit. He thrives on routine and loves familiarity. While he's incredibly go with the flow, there are certain things he likes in order, especially in his room. He's become a fantastic cleaner upper and does it without prompting in his room and sometimes in the playroom. He MUST have his sound on, at least 2 blankies, a cup of water, 1-2 bear pillows, and 1-2 items in his hands in order to go to bed. He usually holds cars, balls, or plastic animals. He knows that we do some things in a certain order during the day and I'll hear him say things like, "when we get to naynay's house, we're not going to bed. we're going to eat lunch first. then we'll take a nap."

His favorite toys are puzzles, trains, marble "racers", automoblox, balls, and those tiny plastic animals. He also adores books and loves to be read to. He's especially into paperback books these days. His favorite color is brown, although yellow comes in a close second.

Nathan has a healthy fear of strangers and is easily overwhelmed in large groups of people. He warms up quickly when reassured and close to a trusted adult. With kids in person, he knows no strangers or difference of age, race, ability.

He's been attending preschool 2 days a week since October and really enjoys it. The transition out of my arms continues to be tough for him, but in the last 2 weeks we've been talking about Psalm 118:24, "This is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it" and Philippians 4:4, "rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice." He knows both verses and songs to go with each. We talk often about being thankful for the day the Lord has given us and rejoicing in the fun things He's provided for us (you know, like preschool, loving teachers, great toys, music class, etc). This has been very comforting and effective with Nathan.

Nathan is one of the most strong-willed children I've ever met. Seriously. I'm learning as a parent to embrace this God given personality trait and parent him along side that, not in spite of it. It's often a challenge to think in the ways of a strong willed tot, but we're doing well and Nathan continues to be an absolute joy to be around. He's near perfect in public, except when he's not, and then he's really not! :) Hee Hee! Nathan loves to help and has been completing 4 chores a day (feeding Bailey, putting his laundry in the hamper, helping mommy with one thing and daddy with one thing). He loves the sense of responsibility and is very diligent with these chores.

Nathan drinks out of a big boy cup at most every meal and does remarkably well with a cup. :)

He loves to be hugged, snuggled, reassured, given clear boundaries and expectations, to build piles of couch cushions and jump in them, to help, to be a nakeeeee baby, to wear tall tower socks, to be wiped off with cloth wipes instead of disposable ones, to brush and floss his teeth, to swim, to rough house with daddy and mommy, to play with friends, to get in a hot tub, to eat with a fork or spoon, to not wear a bib, to have fun, to run and squeal and feel free.

Happy 27 month birthday my little man!

potty update

this afternoon, nathan declared he wanted to wear underwear please! he's not worn it since saturday, but has peed in the potty when asked. he kept it dry all evening (3 hours) and peed and pooped on the potty! i know you guys don't really care all that much about the bowel habits of my kiddo, but since this blog serves as a memory book for us, I just have to post the details! nathan also requested to wear underwear to bed... and since his diapers weigh 10 pounds in the morning, the answer to that was, "when your diapers are wet and have no poopy then you can wear underwear to bed." I think we're officially potty training and I have no idea how we got here!

update2/22 830 pm: from his bed he is begging to go pee pee... "mommy daddy come quick. i really gotta go pee pee. i gotta lota poopie in there. help, i need to get to the potty." and our dilemma began... does he really have to go? do we reward him for sensing that he had to go if he really does? will he be up all night asking to pee? oh my goodness. so I go in there and talk to him about being truthful and ask, do you really need to go pee pee? "yes mommy. i am truthful. i do need to go pee pee and poopie too." off we go to the potty and yes he peed, and pooted a few times. indeed he was honest. then he said... "mommy i can keep my diaper dry. may i please wear underwear to bed?" so on went the huggies overnight diaper and on top of that? yep, some car undies. some battles i will fight, others i will relinquish to the tot.

update 2/23: no word about underwear this morning, but after lunch was a different story. he wore undies and stayed dry with several prompted trips to the potty. after nap he wore underwear to a playdate and again stayed dry with prompted trips to the potty. he pees 99% of the time we go. :) tonight he lasted through dinner with dry undies too. he did have a little accident while snuggling on the couch with daddy... but it's totally understandable to focus solely on daddy (and diego) instead of having to pee. :) he definatley knows what to do on the potty and has shown he can "hold it" but doesn't yet associate the feeling of having to pee with needing to ask to pee. any suggestions there? we're working on it!

Sunday afternoon at the park

In NC, we're not used to having so much snow and cold yucky weather. If the temp is 49+ and sunny, we're outside. This past Sunday afternoon, we did just that! We headed to a park with the Rouse's and enjoyed 2 solid hours of fun (complete with pizza for dinner). Are these two best buddies not precious???

There was plenty of ball throwing, sand playing, dog fetching, kite trying to fly fun... along with some squealing, I'm gonna get you fun... and some flip flop wearing, base running, baby wearing fun...and what sunny day with tots could ever be complete with out some shadow chasing? Yep, our afternoon was packed with memorable activities!

Our family even climbed 4 feet up in a tree for a family photo op! I'll climb a tree any day, especially for a photo against that beautiful night sky!

At the playground, more delight ensued. There was more babywearing, some sleeping, and sliding by all (including Bailey and baby Piper). Chad got in on the climbing action and Tim gave shoulder rides to the kiddos.

Once our family was done in the tree, of couse you know we had to make the most of the kiddo photo op... given these adorable subjects, filled with love for one another, wouldn't you have made the most of it?

Nathan even got to take Bailey for a "walk" on her leash. I think this might have been the first time he held the leash handle and "walked" her (with a lot of help from daddy of course).

Thank you Jesus for the brief warm weather on Sunday!

It felt sooooo good to be outside in the fresh air!

Playing in the mud

Check out this post on Bethany's blog of Nathan and Izzy playing in the mud about a mouth ago. It's hilarious. If you can't get the video to play, open the blog in internet explorer instead of firefox. :) You'll get a good laugh out of this.

http://rouseadventures.blogspot.com/2010/02/playing-in-mud.html

Tot School

Nathan is 26.5 months old

This might have been one of my favorite weeks of tot school! I know I always start by saying it was fun, but this week was incredibly fun! I love watching Nathan learn and I think that's why it always feels like such a joy to teach him! :)

I'll start and end with my favorite pics...

Playing with pull back cars is essential to a boy's life... playing with the cars while wearing a giraffe diaper just makes me smile!

Beads from a thrift store, 4 dowels and a flower arranging block and my kiddo was in heaven! I handed him a box of beads, empty dowels, and let him go. He immediately sorted them by color as he stacked them.

When he got to the purple ones, we talked about the difference in a circle and a half circle. He loved making the circles with the two halves and putting them on the dowel two at a time.

I first saw this idea last summer over at Chasing Cheerios and 8 months later, I finally get around to it! :) Procrastination at it's finest! Matching balloon textures was a huge hit with Nathan. The "fillers" I used were playdoh, baby powder (and boy was that a mess), dried beans, and beads.

Sequencing from little to big. He did much better with this than I'd even imagined!

Letters Letters everywhere! Nathan knows all of his letters but we're beginning to work on the sounds the letters make. This leap frog toy left our fridge long ago (thanks to the 26 pieces being strewn about my kitchen floor) but I recently brought it back out for the fun of learning the sounds.

painting an "L" which Nathan insisted be painted upside down... "that L is really a 7 mommy".

L is most definately for Linny from the Wonder Pets.

Of course, that means M is for Ming Ming. Next, Nathan astounded me by saying "where is T for Tuck?" Of course, Tuck had not yet been printed. Way to go mommy!

Making an M with tissue paper squares.

playing boggle jr... a little bit challenging for him but in a good way! fabulous for working on little letters and matching.

Building... what boys life is complete without this?

Numbers and counting...

Learning to order the letters in his name without a template

Play-doh - why didn't I think to invent this stuff?

Puzzles Puzzles everywhere!

I cut out pictures of thomas trains that Nathan has and then laid them out on the table and asked him to find the correct train and match to the picture... piece of cake, but so much fun!

Same concept here, only with his animals.

This was a huge art week for us!!! There was much painting and coloring in the Wilson household!!!

Nathan painting his first face... independently.

He made this snowman while Chad and I were doing dishes and proudly announced from the other side of the room that he'd painted a snowman. Sure enough there are three circles, each increasing in size! Can I tell you how proud I was... first a face, then a snowman!

Then he topped all that drawing off with 2 pictures of rainbows. I was astounded that he has this ability! Of course, it will go down in the baby book!

Practicing circles

Fingerprints and lessons of how special we are to God...

He loves to trace his hand... and have it traced (mommy's trace blue... naynay's trace red)

I haven't posted a "what's on your tot's plate" lately, but this is an example of an every day lunch when we're home...raw broccoli, raw bell peppers, celery, apples and blueberries, black olives, kids greek yogurt and hummus... complete with some wheat thins. He eats better than I do... way better.

I'll leave you with my two favorites from this week.

To join other moms and link up your tot school post, click here to view 1+1+1=1.