More backyard fun!

You didn't think I was going to leave for Disney world and not have things ready to post while we were gone did you?  I have to document this little guys adventures for my own memory keeping and the last time we were out of town, I received this email from a friend...

 "I am in need of a post on Wilson Ramblings OR I WILL NEED A DETOX PROGRAM!!!! 

 I am in WITHDRAWAL!!!!!  hahahahaha.... "

  

Thank you Bethany for that email!  I love knowing that someone other than me, and my folks, reads the chronicles or our lives!  So, Bethany, this is for you my friend!  And for Izzy who will be shouting "NAY NAY" I'm sure!

Nathan loves the water, no surprise. He's just discovered the hose however and these pics document his first interactions with the hose.  :)  He's also mimicking our actions, and yes, those of Bailey too.  There are a few funny pictures in here!

Filling up the pool - I asked him to keep the water in the pool, but you know how it goes, they are toddlers and exploring their world is what they do.  The water sounded different, looked different, and felt different when he sprayed it in different places, so I let him have his fun.

Yep, he doused himself and loved it!

Who do you think he learned this from?  He's going in for a drink... with his tongue!

I love the water droplets falling off of his mouth here!

Putting his finger in the hole was funny to watch because it sprayed all over and he loved it.

Drinking from the hose - this is a classic summertime picture don't you think?

Ahhhhh!

Happy summer days to you all!

Today's Top Two

Blowing bubbles in the pool! So proud of our little fish!
Stop and smell the... hydrangeas?

Tot School

Nathan is currently 18 months old

This week of tot school was tons of fun, as usual!  I bring you my favorite pic of the week first!

Nathan found his float and brought it to me asking to go to the pool.  He then proceeded to stand on it saying feet in!  I suppose this would fall under self dressing?  We'll work on taking off the packaging and blowing it up next week!

We spent a lot of time outside this week, and a good majority of it was in his little pool.  Nathan did tons of filling and pouring with his little watering can...

We also got out the sidewalk chalk and I drew shapes and letters on the ground and asked Nathan to find them and do something on them.  For example, "can you find the circle and jump in it?"  or "can you find the Y and sit on it?"  This was tons of fun to watch and gave him some practice with two step instructions.

As with crayons, Nathan likes to bite and eat the chalk.  I think this is to get attention, but it really heats me up because he knows this is a no-no.  

After explaining to him that we eat food, not chalk, he proceeds to do this (pictured below)... saying "apple, nay nay bite".

Kiddo, you crack me up!

We learned more about bugs this week as some ants came on to the patio.  I found myself again explaining that we can pick up some kinds of bugs like caterpillars and crickets, but not ants and definitely not spiders.

Lots of gross motor this week... climbing

steering

oooh! He spotted an airplane which he loves to do!

Then he waved bye bye to the people in the airplane.  Too sweet!

Back to gross motor, he spent lots of time doing this kind of climbing (without much success)

and he's learning to sit in a big boy swing!

We found circles in our yard, some here on the playhouse, 

and others here on the covers to some part of our sprinkler system.

Inside, Nathan loved playing with his farm animals.  He likes to make the animal sounds and is finally naming them by name AND sound.

I'm trying to teach Nathan that it's just as fun to build a tower as it is to knock it down! :)  He's learning to build it high and then crash the tower.

Speaking of stacking, while we were at a Memorial Day cookout at Bethany's, Nathan did a little tot school on his own.  He got out the peg board and pegs and started stacking.  :)

As usual, there were plenty of puzzles this week.  I love the way he squats to do a puzzle.  :)

I continue to be amazed at his accuracy with this one.  He loves to put the shapes in and has just discovered the hands of the clock.

This was new for this week's tot school.  We've had these cards since he was itty bitty and he knows what most all of them are when asked.  I incorporated it into tot school by laying down three and asking him to "touch the...".  He really got into this.  When I laid one down I knew he didn't know, I saved it for last and he used process of elimination and guessed correctly.  Kiddo's got some great problem solving skills!

As usual, putting the crayons in the box is just as fun as drawing with them.  Smiley over at McTot seems to enjoy the same activity!  Check out this little guy!  He's a cutie!

Drawing and naming our colors.  It never ceases to amaze me that when asked what color something is, Nathan often answers incorrectly.  When he spots something and names it's color without prompting, he usually answers correctly.  Hmmm.

Straws on the dowel - soon we'll work on copying a pattern.  Does anyone know how old they are when they can grasp the pattern concept?

Here's a new one!  This started because I often keep a ponytail holder on my wrist to put up my hair.  Now, Nathan thinks he should wear one too.  So, I turned it in to a tot school activity and he got to put 5 on his wrist.  It's a fun activity and is challenging for those fingers!

Working on buckles, in and out.

Nathan has amazed me in the last week or so with his books.  He loves books and always has and we read multiple times throughout the day, especially before nap and bed.  Those times, he's sleepy and has a paci in his mouth and doesn't say much with me.  Turns out he's been soaking up what we've been reading and spit a ton of it back at me the other day while sitting and reading to himself.  Turns out he and daddy do a lot more talking when they read than I knew about... Nathan knows the words to so many of his books.  Chad pulls out his paci during story time to encourage him to say the words.  Amazing.  Absolutely amazing man I married!  Just tonight, they read me "Moo, Baa, LaLaLa" by Sandra Boynton.  Chad reads the book and stops for Nathan to make the noises.  He even knows that three singing pigs say "la la la" as opposed to just the pig who makes a regualr pig sound.  You should hear his rhino snort!  :)  Too funny!  Way to go Tot School Daddy!

Reaching for another one, of course.

"Yes, mom, of course I knew that the lion hangs his towel on the wall, didn't you?"  

My tot turned to that page in the book and pointed to the lion and said, "lion, wall" referring to the lion hanging his towel up on the wall.  Again, way to go daddy!  For real, you're the greatest!

I hope you guys are finding this as fun as we are!  Please join us mommies and post your tot school adventures and link up on Carissa's blog - which you can get to here!  See you next week!