How to Eat Lunch...Toddler-Style

Miss L is 22 months old. She loves to eat. Man, does she love to eat. She also loves to feed herself. I tend to let her. I do make the exception when it's stuff like yogurt. This is the end result of her lunch today. It was chicken & pasta with some sort of sauce on it. Oh, I should say that her mom provides lunch for her.

Don't you just love chubby little toddler hands?

More Preschool Fun

Our letter this week was "B." We decided to glue some beans on our "B" picture. J loved this. He also did very well with it.


After we were all done with our regular school, I let J paint. He was absolutely thrilled. Can't you tell? For those that know me IRL (in real life), you know that I am not big on messes. In fact, it's HARD for me to let the kids do messy things. I'm working on it. Really I am. Photo proof....


Okay, so why the photo of his paint palette? I was VERY impressed by it that's why! This summer took a three day art class with Barry Stebbing from How Great Thou Art. One thing that Mr. Stebbing really stresses is having a clean palette. The children were shown each day how to correctly mix their paint colors in order to keep their palettes clean.


J did not participate in the class. The class is for those five & up and I really didn't think J could sit through a two and a half hour class. However, Mr. Stebbing thought I should attempt the class with J so we did the first day. I'd like to say Mr. Stebbing was right & J was an avid student. However, J was J & while he did sit well that first day, a lot of the information was presented too fast & moved too quickly for him to follow. I did most of his work for him so I opted not to continue the next two days with him.

Having said that, as I mentioned earlier, Mr. Stebbing did show the children each day how to correctly mix colors. I tried to find a video of it, but couldn't find anyone who does it like Mr. Stebbing. So I'm going to try to describe it.

Each child was given a paper plate for a palette & the basic primary colors (red, blue, green, yellow) & white for mixing. To mix a color - let's say we are doing light green. You would take your brush & pull a blob of green off to the side. You would then (without cleaning your brush) take a dab of white & start mixing in to the new blob of green. If you do this correctly, you can have all of your color variations off of your main color without disturbing your main color.

Now go back & check out J's paint palette.

He told me he was going to "mix" colors. He drew out blobs of it & did mix. While he didn't do it as cleanly as someone older, I was still very impressed by this. The art class we took? That was back in July which is at least three "four year old" years I think. ;-)

Tot Time

It was an unusual day here today. I had a MOPS Steering Team committee meeting this morning and yes, I took all the kids with me. Traveling with five kids is a bit different for me but we all did well. The meeting ran over by a half hour & ALL the kids were tired and hungry.

Miss L fell asleep on the way home after the meeting and I mean she was OUT! We tried waking her up & she was just totally conked out. Miss H though was all smiles & giggles & J playing peek-a-boo with her kept her wide awake.

I parked under our big maple tree in front of our trailer with tons of shade and all the windows down & left Miss L right in the truck. She slept for an hour in there. I fed the rest of the kiddos & kept looking out my kitchen window. She hadn't been awake long when I went to get her.

At this point it's close to 1pm and Miss H STILL hasn't slept and I know there is no way Miss L is going to sleep again for me. I ended up putting the pack-n-play in my bedroom. It did fit! I turned the fan on and settled Miss H down. It took her about a half an hour before she finally fell asleep.

I no longer had my "gate" of the pack-n-play to keep Miss L close. I figured it was a good time to try some "tot school." There are some really awesome ideas over at these two blogs... 1+1+1=1 (Tot School) and No Time for Flash Cards. I highly recommend checking them out if you have any little "tots" running around your house. I'm even planning to use some of the ideas for J & he'd be the first to tell you he is not a tot!

I will be using those resources to set up some sort of "school" time for at least Miss L if not Miss H. I know they would enjoy the structured play time.

Here are my attempts at winging it with Miss L though....

A bowl full of Cheerios & three measuring cups on the blanket in the living room. She did great keeping it all on the blanket for at least 15 minutes. She thoroughly enjoyed sampling her measuring medium. Even N had to get in on the fun of it all & show Miss L how to pour & measure. She was very cute to watch as she figured this all out. She really did a great job with it.

Once the Cheerios began migrating off the blanket & Miss L was trying to see what would happen when she stomped on them (I can only handle so much mess! LOL) I cleaned those up & handed her some poker chips. These were part of an activity bag swap item for counting. I didn't bother with the numbered index cards at this point but I gave her a new bowl with the chips & let her put them in & out of the bowl. This kept her occupied for at least another 10-15 minutes.

Getting her attention long enough to have her look up at me was tough! In fact, I think I actually touched her leg for this photo!

Finally the chips were loosing their appeal (and starting to fly around my living room - she has a great arm!) so she helped me pick those up (really!) and I pulled out this "big deck" of playing cards. I think this may have been her favorite (but the Cheerios would be a very close second). She spent at least 20 minutes checking this over & trying hard to get them back in to their container. She couldn't quite get them to line up just right but I think given the chance to play with them again, it wouldn't take her long.

All in all my impromptu "tot time" kept Miss L occupied long enough for Miss H to get in an hour nap. I also was shown just how much Miss L can do & what she enjoys learning. I'll definitely be trying to fit in some "tot time" this fall when we start back to school. Messes here we come!

Planting Spring

Spring is slowly coming to Maine, but I figured we could use a little boost. I've had the dirt & seeds for quite a few weeks. I had B pull out some flower pots from under the sink. The blue one he is using & the purple one J is using were ones B had made in daycare eons ago. I have marigolds planted in yet a third I have from those days.

They had a great time planting some oregano seeds. Now they are waiting to see some green sprouts. Not yet though.

Measuring for Fun

Sometimes I hear myself talking to other homeschool moms with little kids & think, "hmm, good idea, I need to do that!" Sad isn't it.

Today I realized I was telling J way too often, "Quiet down" or "Go play" or sometime else similar. It's hard when you are four & so want to be loud or do "school" as well.

So finally today I pulled out some beans, bowls, & measuring cups & let him have at. This is so not like me. After all, what if I get beans all over the floor??? Sad isn't it. ::shrugs::


I have to say though, that it was not messy & J had a great time! He played quite happily for a good thirty minutes. It was long enough for N to finish up & be able to go play with J. In fact, N thought J was having way too much fun & joined in! Of course, that is when it did start to get messy & I made them pick up. ::grin::

Making More Messes

I'm continuing in my "let-the-kids-make-a-mess" mode & trying to be a bit more accommodating. N received this really cute "Paint-By-Number" mini-set for Christmas. It's a child's version. He's been asking for a few days to try it out so I finally pulled it out & got him set up. He kept at it for quite some time & did rather well, although it was a bit much to try to finish in one sitting.


B was THRILLED with what the mail brought to him today. He received a gift certificate to Lego.com (his FAVORITE website) for Christmas. I also told him if he finished his math book by the end of the semester I'd let him pick a set on me. His order arrived in the mail today & he spent the afternoon putting them all together.

Making a Mess

I started attending a MOPS group this fall at our church. I'm really enjoying another way to meet more moms in the area. During one meeting it came up during our discussion time how much I do not like it when my kids get messy. I have since discovered I'm not alone in this affliction, but there you have it. The thought of messy clean-up does me in every time.

Finger painting? Absolutely not! Play dough? Oh please no! Seriously though, I realize this is a correct defect in myself & I'm actually trying to work on it. Kids need to get messy to learn. I know this! I encourage it highly in others. I just have a hard time doing as I say.

So, there are a couple moms holding me accountable. I have to let my kids start exploring things more, making messes, and having fun with it all! I can't get uptight about it, well, at least I'm trying not too. The messes last for such a small amount of time. The memories will last forever. Right?

In that theme, when J approached me & asked if he could "cut" I said, "Sure!" I even had a big smile on my face at the time. I even have to publicly admit that this was the first time EVER I had let him use scissors all by himself. He was actually quite funny & was determined to do it "all by myself." He would keep coming to me to have me help with his finger placement, but he had a fabulous time just cutting up a piece of scrap paper. I only had some confetti to sweep up when I was done. It wasn't so bad. Really.