Tot school!

(Nathan is 33 months old)

Last week was a crazy week for us, but we did enjoy some fun and some tot school activities!  On Monday, Labor Day, we headed to an animal farm and had a blast.  It was so much fun to do something like this with Chad!  The weather was beautiful and cool and we were so thankful!  So, how does this adventure qualify for tot school?  Well, lots of ways!
-emu have 3 toes, ostriches have 2 toes
-zebras have upper and lower teeth and shouldn’t be hand fed
-how to hold your hand flat so that you don’t get nibbled
-animal names and how they like to be fed (dropping food in their mouth, eating out of a bucket, eating out of your hand, etc).

-baby zebras grow fast and nurse for a long time
-animals with beaks are often scary to feed but if you dare, feed directly out of your bucket, not your hand!
-llamas spit (thanks Tim for learning this one for us!)

-baby pot bellied pigs are super cute
-rhinos love the water and weigh a lot
-tongues come in all shades of colors

-each giraffe has a different pattern of spots, just like zebras stripes are all different
-sheep can grow really long curly horns
-camels only have bottom teeth and reallllly like to be hand fed!
  
There were so many fun things to learn!!!  We all enjoyed feeding the giraffes (especially the baby one in a different area – although I didn’t get pictures).  It was really neat to look closely at their different markings, the bumps on their noses, their eye lashes, and the wrinkles on their faces.  How cool that God made us all different… even the animals!

Nathan loved sitting this way while we rode the wagon around the huge sanctuary.  He could see everything and didn’t have to try to see around all the tall adults.  He was always ready to stop and feed the animals and was most often found with one hand on the rail and one hand in the feed bucket.  :)

Feeding the camels was probably the funniest part of the day.  These three were so boisterous about getting food and they constantly had their mouths open and their lower jaws through the fence.  They were also realllllly slobbery!
 

They reminded us of the three stooges.

We’ve been to Lazy 5 Ranch a number of times and each time we go, it’s a new adventure.  Each time, Nathan has a new favorite, and has developed more confidence in feeding the animals.  This trip, the only animals he was slightly hesitant to feed were the emu and I DON’T BLAME HIM!  They are super scary to me!  You can click on the 2 pictures below to see our last two Lazy 5 adventures. 
                              
             September 15, 2009                                                                      April 28, 2009
 
It was a lovely day, and full of so much fun and learning!

Also this week, Nathan started back to preschool and is really enjoying his classmates and all the activities.  They have a free art center where all kinds of art supplies are easily at their disposal and Nathan loves this!  He’s also worked on cutting, gluing, lacing, stacking, writing, academics, sharing, communicating with peers, music, and all kinds of social opportunities!
In our more formal tot school at home, although I got no pictures, we continued to talk about the metamorphosis of frogs and even let our frogs and tadpoles go this week!  We worked on holding up the fingers to display 1-5, days of the week, months of the year, counting by 10s to 100, counting to 20 by ones, drawing and writing, cutting, building, stacking, jumping, hopping, skipping, galloping.  Nathan also spent a great deal of time outside.  He loves to ride bikes and scooters and is quite good at it!  He loves to ride his “big boy bike” – a 2 wheel with training wheels and is really good at slowing down and breaking when needed.  He also loves to ride the big kids razor scooters.  He has a small 3 wheel one, but he does much better on the 2 wheel kind and we’re looking for bargains for one of those!  He’s also a fan of riding his trike.  We’ve been working on sounding out words and have been reading the BOB books.  Nathan loves all books and everyday we read many different books.  Nathan you are such a joy!!!
  
Are you doing tot school?  Interested in tot school?  Check out Carissa’s blog for more info!

Apples!!!!

Over the holiday weekend, we had an awesome family trip to a local apple orchard.  It will go down as one of the greatest family outings!  The weather was beautiful with a cool breeze from time to time, the sun was out, sky was blue, and we were almost in the foothills so the scenery was beautiful!  The pictures pretty much speak for themselves, but I will say it was an amazing time for Chad and Nathan.  How amazing to share such an experience with your son… to find apple trees, pick apples straight from the trees, then for Chad to polish (aka clean) the apples and show Nathan the transformation from muted color to brilliant shades of red and green.  Oh it was just a wonderful day!

       

This is one of those photos that I’ll always treasure.

Out of the mouth of Nathan

Over the weekend, Nathan had some trouble with allergies, so we were giving him benadryl. Well, they didn't have the liquid so I got the off brand meltaway tabs... they look like purple smarties. Chad informed Nathan they were not candy, rather it was medicine called "diphenhydramine". Nathan started calling it by the actual name "diphenhydramine" and not "benadryl" or "medicine".

Tonight, he told Chad he needed to poopie on the potty and that he was telling the truth (it's a common stall tactic of Nathan's). The next thing I hear out of Nathan's mouth is this - imagine super excited voice and small pint sized toddler-

"I realllllly do have to go poopie daddy! I will put some poopie in the potty and then I will get to have a jelly bean and then some diphenhydramine and then a star sticker!"

WHAT??? Benadryl is now classified with candy? Oh no! What have we done!!!

First Day of School!

Well, this week, school started back for my little man.  In typical proud mama fashion, I attempted to take the very necessary “first day of school pics” of Nathan.  Last year’s first day pic looks a little different than this year…

He’s growing up so fast!  I can’t believe how much he’s changed in a year!  Holding 3 beloved race cars in his hand, he was happy to pose for one picture.  One is certainly not enough though!

So, like my friend Shelby did with her kiddo, I begged, pleaded, and bribed, and I got what was coming to me…

Hmmm… how about standing over here?  Another serious, grown up boy look, but oh my goodness is he cute!

Of the 4 I snapped by the bushes, I think the one on the bottom right might be my favorite! :)

Since that photo op was such a success (heehee!), my buddy Bethany and I planned to meet up at school for some pics of Nathan and Izzy together.  We’d hoped to grab several other friends too and get a group shot, but the first morning of school is crazy enough without trying to coordinate group photo shots of toddlers.  We were thrilled to catch these mostly unscripted tender moments between Izzy and Nathan.  He was delighted to see her at school and he quickly gave her one of his cars…that’s love… when you’re 2.5 and you share your favorite car with your bestest buddy… no conditions, no reservations, just elation to share a simple joy.  Man I can learn a lot from that moment!  These two are so funny… much like twins… and hysterical to watch.  They can get into trouble together faster than lightening.  They egg each other on into further mischief and push each others buttons with ease.  Yet, they share a unique relationship for 2’s.  They care deeply for one another and have spent so much time together over their short little lives and fall right in step with one another when they are together.  I can’t wait to see how their friendship grows, changes, matures, and deepens over the decades to come. :)

  

So sweet, this little Izzy!  Man I could eat her up!

  

Oh goodness you two!  You are both such a mess and bring such joy to my life!  Happy 1st day of school you two!  Go get ‘em!

Wordless Wednesday

Oh yeah, I turned 30!

I turned 30 a few weeks ago and begged Chad to not plan anything crazy.  He respected my desire to keep it simple and the day before my birthday, we (Chad, Nathan, my mom, and me) went to one of my favorite restaurants (The Loop) and then went bowling.  The bowling was hysterical and there are pics of that, but I have yet to get them off Chad’s phone.   I had a wonderful night and thought it had come to an end when Chad walked in with a lit match and this little cake singing to me.  (Knowing I’m not a cake girl, he’d also gotten some chocolate peanut butter ice-cream for later.)  So, I blew out the match and he handed me the cake!  No fork, just the cake.  So, what else would you expect out of me?  I dug in… face first.  We all howled with laughter.  Then mom dug in, then Chad.  It was so funny to watch the 3 of us grown adults smashing our faces in this cake!  Thank you baby for the fun evening, for celebrating my bday Katie style, and for the childlike laughter!The next night, my actual birthday, mom and I went to the opening night of a consignment sale!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY to me!

That weekend, my dad came down and joined us for a few days.  There were many trips to the pool, lots of playing, diaper making, and spending time as a family.  Chad invited our cul-de-sac neighbors over  one night and we grilled out, ate ice cream cake, and played corn hole long into the night.  We are truly blessed by AMAZING neighbors and a wonderful family!  It was a great way to celebrate 30 years of life!

Ribbit!

Saturday we realized that our biggest tadpole had grown front legs overnight!  He also developed the ability to climb glass and plastic so we had to make sure the lid was on our container!  Nathan was so excited to see the tadpole grow up to be a frog!  He still had his tail on Saturday too!

We moved the 4 remaining tadpoles to a bigger container and put just the frog in the bug catcher because we learned that once they become frogs, they need to eat bugs, not just lettuce.  Then we went out bug hunting.  Fun.  We ended up feeding him a smashed tiny spider and some smashed fruit flies.  He hasn’t touched them yet.  See his tail?

Check out the difference in the two photos below.  They are taken about 30 hours apart!  Same little guy, same lighting.  As of today 9/5, he’s lost his almost all of his tail, formed a frog shaped body and turned green all in a day!  We’ve moved him into a bigger container with more rocks and will set him free soon. 

  

I suppose tomorrow we’ll have to name him.  :)

  

Another awesome park day!

    

 

  

I love parks!