Piano

Last night DH got out a book that he bought for DS1. It has a 23 note keyboard (14 white, 9 black) and each page has a song with the notes color and number coded to the keys. They played several songs together with DS1 playing and DH singing the words. The rhythm wasn't anywhere close to right, but at this point that doesn't matter. DS1 liked the book and keyboard so much that he not only played it in the car, but took it into daycare to share with his friends.

This article, No Greater Joy: Homeschool Kid - When the Music Starts makes me wish we still had our old upright piano. We do have an almost full-size electronic keyboard that the boys have seen and played with, but a real piano would be nice, too.

Patterns

In our church's nursery, two small coat racks with colored baskets were recently mounted on opposite walls. The baskets are red, blue, yellow and green. Yesterday, I was watching the kids because our regular caregiver was absent. From across the room, I saw DS1 standing by one rack. He looked across the room at the other rack, then back at the close one, then at the far one again. Then he rearranged the baskets so the colors matched from north to south. They had been the same from left to right but he intentionally made them match from one end of the room to the other. I was very intrigued and impressed.

Not long after that, DS2, who had counted them several times (1, 2, 3, 4, walk across the room to the other rack, 5, 6, 7, 8) put them back in the left to right sequence as the rack on the opposite wall. I'm not sure which impressed me more.

Ordinal Numbers, Calendar Knowledge, and Night Adventures

Yesterday was quite a day for me witnessing things that DS1 knows. We have a large wall calendar hanging in the bathroom (because that's where we will see it every morning and every night). As I was sitting, and he was standing facing the calendar, he said, "Tomorrow is March third." Impressed, I said, "Yes, it is." Then he proceeded to tell me that March fourth comes next, then March fifth. He asked what was after that, so I told him "sixth" and "seventh". Then he observed that March has 31 days, followed by "Just like January." Whoa!

At dinner, DS1 pointed out the chimney on the house illustrated on his placement and stated that it was different than our house. I told him that we did have a chimney, and that after we all finished eating and cleaning up we could go look at it. Then I said that since it was dark we would need to wait until morning. He suggested that we use the "new big flashlight." So after dinner we got our jackets, I pointed out the fireplace in the living room (that is nonfunctional and well hidden by the couch and storage), and we went exploring outside. We looked at trees (the "acorn tree" and the pine tree) and the ground, and we determined that although the flashlight doesn't shine clear up to the moon it does shine to the houses across the street. Then he found the chimney on top of the roof.

While we were exploring, our neighbor came out; she and I chatted some, then she invited us in to see her living room in the process of being remodeled. When we got inside, DS1 took his jacket off and politely asked when she hangs up her coat. She said she just tosses it on the couch, so that what he did, too! LOL! He looked around her living room while she and I chatted some more, then he asked me if he could go upstairs. I said, "no", that we needed to go home so Daddy wouldn't worry, but our neighbor said, "sure", so I relented and off he went to look for the cat. He came back down just a minute or two later, put on his coat the first time I asked, then we both said good-bye, went back outside, shown the flashlight on the chimney then the car, then went into the house. It was awesome!

Dot To Dot

DS1's daycare teacher sometimes sends home suggestions for activities that go along with a letter of the week. She calls it "homework" which bugs me, but I just ignore that part now.

This week is D and one of the suggestions was doing some Dot To Dots and bringing them in. I drew a boy; it ended up with 47 dots so I did a simpler one with 18. DS1 wanted to do the one with lots of dots first, so he did! Then he did the other one, too. Without any help in counting, finding the dots, or drawing. I am extremely impressed with how well his fine motor skills have progressed recently. Wow!

Silly Stories

My oh my it has been a long time since I blogged here! Oh well.

Last night, while reading our 2 bedtime stories, one of which is the current favorite, Froggy's Sleepover, DS1 wanted Daddy to call Max "Froggy" and to call Froggy "Max". The boys usually giggle and laugh at this book a lot anyway because of the sound effects, but switchin names makes them even sillier. DS1 also requested that Froggy's mom and dad be switched, specifically that the mom be called "Father," not "Dad." The "huggy" and "toothbrush" also traded names, as did "pillow fight" and "tell scary stories".

I'm not sure where this came from or what it means, but DS1 is starting to like to pretend to be other people more. He likes me to be the pretend Daddy and he will switch names with his brother. I'm sure this is some cognitive developmental milestone, and it's fun, too.

Helping at the ballpark

Yesterday we went to a baseball game. While DS2 and I found seats in our regular area, DH and DS1 bought dinner. As they came back, DH carried a tray with 2 drinks & 3 fries, and DS1 carried a tray with 3 hamburgers and a hotdog. He looked like such a big boy! A nice lady seated on the first row tried to help him ("let me take that for you", said very nicely), but he said, "I can carry it myself." And he did! One hamburger slid off, so she picked it up and put it back on the stack for him. He climbed up about 10 steps carrying the tray, after having carried it up a long steep ramp. I told him "thank you" and that I was very proud of him for helping Daddy bring supper.

Choices

Last night DS1 wanted to sleep in his underwear and shorts. He usually wears a "pull-up" to bed instead of underwear so we can all sleep better. I told him that after he "went potty" aside: (I tried to use "toliet" instead "potty" but 9 hours a day of "potty" beat 3 hours of "toilet". Now DS2 says "potty", too.) he could wear underwear if he would sleep in his bed (instead of on the floor) and that he couldn't have any more water to drink. Those were acceptable conditions (at first) so DH put an extra mattress pad and sheet on the bed (so fresh sheets would be available if needed after an accident). DH read DS1 the two stories he picked out while we had some upbeat music playing. When it was time to change to "nighttime music" and get in bed, DS1 decided that he wanted to sleep on the floor. We reminded him that the choice to have underwear meant he had to sleep on his bed, so he changed into a pull-up so he could lay on the floor to do go sleep instead.

I wonder about this... laying on the floor to go to sleep is more desirable than wearing underwear to bed. Hmmmm. What's driving him? I want to pay closer attention.

counting in Spanish

On the way to daycare, DS1 likes to count the bridges we go over. This morning he started counting them in Spanish: una, dos, dos (oops). There is a lot of time between bridge 2 & 3, so I said 'tres' and then he said 'tres'.

Five Green and Speckled Frogs

A couple of nights ago, DS1 wanted to sing some songs after we had turned the light off at bedtime. I sang one to him, but then he asked for another one that I didn't know. So I asked him to sing it for us, to teach us. And he did! It was Five Green and Speckled Frogs, and it has 5 verses, counting down from 5 to 1. DS1 repeated a little bit because sometimes he didn't remember which number verse he had just finished, so I think he actually sang about 7 verses. We were so impressed that he remembered such complex verses. Here are the lyrics:

Five green and speckled frogs sat on a speckled log, eating some most delicious bugs (yum yum), one jumped into the pool, where it was nice and cool, then there were four green and speckled frogs (ribbit ribbit).

Repeat, counting down to "no" (for zero).

Best Friend & other things

• Sunday DS1 told me "You're my best friend in the world." I practically melted with happiness.


• Yesterday I drove home a different way, to see a house that is for sale. This morning I drove the same way, in reverse. He said, "Mommy's driving silly. This is how we came home yesterday."


• He knows that he daycare class is going to see Goldilocks and the Three Bears later this week. They have been talking about it since last week. On Friday he asked me to tell him the story on our way home. Today, while doing puzzles at the library, he said "I'm going to go see that," and pointed to the Goldilocks puzzle that another child was doing.


• One day early last week he wanted to drive home from daycare, so I told him that he had to be 16 to drive. He has mentioned it at least 3 times while getting in or out of the car, and also told Daddy at dinner, that "when I am older than 16 I can drive my car".


• Tonight he wanted to be a "pretend baby" and lay in his brother's crib and play with the toy piano that is in the crib. So I let him for a while, as long as he stayed laying down.


• He can type his full name on the computer, but does still have to ask how his middle name is spelled.

Mothering Magazine Article: Let The Healing Begin

Mothering Magazine Article: Let The Healing Begin -- Okay, this made me cry it's so loving. I find it difficult to teach boundaries in a loving way when I'm sleep deprived, which is quite often right now. I want my sons to explore and be excited and loving and honest, but I also want them to stop when I ask or tell them to.

Pockets

Last night DH discovered that it is time for us to start checking DS1's pants pockets when we do laundry. At church on Sunday the pastor passed out rocks. Although DS1 insists that they are "stones". Anyway, the two that came home with him are clean now. He's growing up, and I'm excited!

Transition to Preschool

Yesterday DH and I had a parent-teacher conference with DS1's "Toddler" teacher and the "Preschool" teacher at daycare. Since his birthday is this coming Sunday (turning 3!), he will "transition" next week, spending a little more time each day in the new room. There are 2 or 3 kids in the room that have moved up within the past month, so at least he will have a few friends that he knows.

We were impressed by the classroom and the playground. The room does look more like a "classroom", but that's primarily because the teacher does so many more specific "hands-on" activities. They still get "free play" time, inside and outside. The room has a loft, 2 computers, a book corner, an aquarium, 2 toilet rooms (that used to have doors), and direct access to the HUGE playground. The playground has some bigger equipment for climbing, swings, slides, a house, a sandbox, a trike path, and lots more running around space.

The only down side that I forsee is that the preschool teacher works 9 months a year. She takes mid-May through mid-August off. So DS1 will be with her only 2-3 weeks before she is gone for 3 months. The lead teaching assistant will take over for the summer. She is quite competent, but I wish the main teacher worked a 12 month contract with a week off here and there, instead of the whole summer off. But, since she is the one with the most seniority (been there since the center opened, less a couple of years elsewhere), it's probably the only way to keep her on staff.

We really think DS1 will like his new groups of "big kid" friends and the teachers & class activities. They eat both breakfast and lunch about 30 minutes later than his current class, but that should be okay since they get snacks. Also, naps are 60-90 minutes instead of up to 2 hours. We were warned that he might be exhausted and go to sleep early, especially at first. (Okay with us!)

Toileting

Well, we didn't have to use diapers on the next Monday after my previous post was written. It did take some convincing Friday evening to get him to wear underwear, but he did, and it went fine. He woke up (and woke me up) do go potty during the night. The next night he had an accident. The next time he woke up again.

Then he kept having night accidents, sometimes two a night. A few nights before going on vacation we switched to "pull-ups" at night. We are all sleeping better, he is doing great during the day, and sometimes the pull-up seems dry in the morning.

What You Should Expect of Your Child - The Natural Child Project

What You Should Expect of Your Child - The Natural Child Project