Christmas 2011

Giggles

We are going through names of body parts with Blueberry. I ask her where her elbow is, she sticks her arm out straight, looks at it and says "uh oh!" with furrowed brow. There is a pause, she bends her arm then she goes "heh, there it is!"

Homeschool: Preschool

These are some of the activities we did last week:

-- Reading: Abbie's Book of Shapes, Cookie's Book of Numbers, Muppet Nursery Rhymes ABCs, Curious George's First Words at the Zoo and First Words at the Farm.

-- Coloring with washable markers, Frog and bee pictures. We spelled her name many times.

-- Traced shapes. www.preschoolmath.info

-- Apple Color Matching File Folder Game

-- Shape Matching File Folder Game (made my own)

-- Colored Halloween Pumpkin and Cat pictures to decorate the front window.

-- We sang and danced to children's songs

-- Did patterns with Nonna with the chalk outside. Nonna makes patterns and Blueberry continues them.

-- Playing blocks with Daddy is becoming a daily routine. They talk about the letters and colors on the blocks.

-- Health: We incorporated fluoride-free toothpaste in the pre-bed routine. Blueberry loves brushing her teeth every night and yells "yay!" as we run down the hall to the bathroom when I say it is time to brush our teeth.

-- C is for Caterpillar with the numbers 1-9

Homeschool Log: Preschool

We are starting a new nap schedule today so I was trying to keep her busy so I could put her down later today. For the last week or two Blueberry has been able to go down at her usual nap time but refusing to take an afternoon nap, indicating that she might be transitioning to one nap. However, the first nap is not lasting her until bedtime, so we end up putting her down earlier which makes her a very early riser (before the sun). SOooooo.... We're trying the noon nap. I kept her up until after lunch then she slept for three hours and it worked out perfect. We are truly blessed with how well she sleeps and how easy her needs are to read.

-- We colored fish pictures. She loves "ish"!

-- Butterfly Numbers Practice. I have this printed out, laminated and on a ring like a flip book. She doesn't trace them yet, but we flip through them and I sing through the numbers 1-10, then backwards like a song we heard on Sesame Street. She asked me to repeat this many times, then she wanted to flip the book for me to sing. It was a fun game.

-- I wrote the Alphabet on paper with a crayon as I sang the Alphabet song. She wanted me to repeat the song many times. We went through it once where she repeated the letter back to me after I said it. She is starting to recognize some letters, though not consistently.

-- Sang the Stegosaurus song. She has been favoring the dinosaur toys in the last few days.

-- When we played with blocks I pointed out the letters.

-- I let her watercolor paint while I washed dishes.

Daddy Time

Homeschool Log: Preschool

-- Apple Color Matching File Folder Game. Blueberry did this three times, asking to do it "more", and her matching was more precise each time. There are several shades of each color and I was impressed by her distinction between shades. We talked about the names of the colors but she did not need my help differentiating. I did not tell her it was wrong if she put green on the wrong shade of green, for instance. She would correct herself if she put it on not-quite-the-right color.

--We made a Fall Tree by gluing leaf shapes on a

construction paper tree. I drew lines for the tree trunk and cut the top part out of green construction paper. The leaf cutouts were using a leaf-shaped punch from the craft store. Blueberry learned the word "leaf" and "tree" and I told her that in the fall the leaves fall off the tree like we see outside. Blueberry glued some leaves on individually and then we put a lot of glue all over the tree and ground and let her sprinkle the leaves on the paper. We shook off the ones that didn't stick and then sprinkled them on again. She loved doing this over and over.

Homeschool Log: Library Day

Today our big thing was going to the Library. Didn't make it to story time because it has been moved inconveniently to her regular nap time. They have drastically cut library hours this fall and it is amazing that we can make it there at all. I'm not really sure if she has the attention span for story time, but one of these days we will try it out.

Blueberry was not very interested in the books today, but we went and she saw many other children reading while we were there. I think the exposure is something meaningful. There is a dollhouse and some blocks in the children's area that I let her play with for a while. She pointed to many things and either said their name or asked me what they were. She said "book" a lot, there was a big stuffed Flounder (from the Little Mermaid) and she said "fish" and gave it a "hug". She often says "hug" when she gives one. There was a Mother Goose riding a Goose hanging from the ceiling and she pointed to it and said "duck" and I said "it is like a duck, only it is a goose" and she repeated "goose". There was a giant bee and she ran up to it and pointed and said "yellow" and I confirmed that it was yellow and told her it was a bee.

I think she had a great time. On the way out I picked up the books I had reserved (great system for busy moms) and we checked out.

Homeschool Log: Preschool

1) We are doing B is for Butterfly these two weeks. This is a construction paper butterfly. I cut out the shapes and she glues them on her butterfly. We talk about the colors and shapes that we are gluing on. We have white circles, yellow squares, purple hearts and blue triangles.

2) Great Grandpa John and Great Grandma Judy sent Rachel some

Fall stickers so I gave her some cardstock and let her put the stickers on each card however she wanted. We talked about the name of each picture as she put it on the card. There were many different animals, fall vegetables, sunflowers, leaves and acorns. She is good at and likes to repeat words after me. She picks them up really fast.

Homeschool Log: Preschool

1) Reading: A Very Hungry Caterpillar, Big Bird's Book of ABCs, Abby's Book of Shapes, Goodnight Baby

2) Watercolor Painting: We talked about each color as she painted on the paper. She pointed to her painting and said "balloon", so I guess she was painting balloons. She points them out at the store or wherever we go.

3) ABC Song: We have animal ABC cards up on the wall around the room, individually framed. Every day we go around the room and sing "A is for Alligator, B is for Butterfly..." through the whole alphabet to the tune of the alphabet song. She loves to do this over and over.

Homeschool Log: Preschool

My Blueberry Muffin is 19 months and showing a lot of interest in learning. I am starting some preschool activities with her and she loves them. We have been doing them informally up until now, but as of today I will be doing at least two planned activities, as well as other unplanned ones (sometimes initiated by her). I may not list the things we do every day, like reading books and singing, but I will sometimes.

1) We did the shapes sorter ball together today many times. The one we have has different colored shapes (Granimals Brand) so we can talk about shapes and colors at the same time. This is an activity she has been able to do for a few months, but she doesn't seem to get tired of it. She is able to find the place each shape goes on her own now.

2) Farm Life Folder Game from LawTeeDah We matched baby animals to their mammas and did the farm picture puzzles. We talked about what sounds the different animals make and about the animal names. We sang "Old Mac Donald"

Watercolor

Blueberry has been showing interest in many of the projects that I do with the daycare children. Here is her first watercoloring experience.

Blueberry's First Year Video

I have been working on this for a year. This is the public edited version. Family and friends may request a DVD copy of this video with additional footage from me.

Words and More Words

The pediatrician says Blueberry has the vocabulary of a 2 1/2 year old and she is only 1 1/2. We started with signs and she still uses some of them with the corresponding word, but she definitely prefers talking. It is evident that using signs has not held her back in language development.

Here are her current words: (further down are her current phrases)

More

All Done

Walk

"manana" for banana

"che che" for chair/sit (this is actually an Italian term she learned from Nonna)

uh-oh

hug

oopsy

Hi

Bye-Bye (also says "bye-bye" at nighttime when we say goodnight)

Mamma

Dadda

Nonna

"guck" for duck

"goggie" for doggie

Bear

Book

Block

"co-co" for color (to color with crayons)

"cracka" for cracker (she also calls Cookie Monster "cracka")

"reish" for rice

"juish" for juice

"mak" for milk

"atsa" for outside (want to go outside)

Up

Down

Help

"ap-eh" for open

"cos" or "c-c" for close

on

"oph" for off

"pease" for please

"ta kaa" for thank you

"ta kum" which seems like a combination of thank you and you're welcome

"wea kaa" for you're welcome

eggs

cheese

"appa" for apple

eyes

head

hat

"shz" for shoes

"irt" for shirt

"ats" for pants

"ish" for fish

No

Yes

"kay" for OK

backpack

Dora (the explorer, cartoon)

"appo" for apple

boat

"cuck" for stuck

open

Abby (Abby Cadabby from Sesame Street)

Elmo

Snack

"bay bun" for belly button and bunny rabbit

babies (all babies and children)

"oks" for socks

"ats" for pants

Birdie (for the birds and also for Big Bird on Sesame Street)

nose

ears

head

eyes (she also calls sunglasses "eyes")

neck

"brrr" for cold

"shh shh" for hot

bubbles

park

"oange" for orange

"pu-po" for purple

red

"ewow" for yellow

blue

black

Nom nom (for foods that she likes: eggs, ricemeal, noodles)

back (put it back)

ball

open

"op" for hop

brush (teeth and hair)

rock

GG (for great grandma Voyla, that is what the cousins call her)

bath

again

monkey

plum

"rasch" for Ranch dressing

"atma" or "am-ma" for oatmeal (we switched to rice meal because of allergy but we still call it oatmeal)

look (for "look at this")

hurt

ouch

"ork" for fork

Current Phrases:

More Please

"I wan more please"

"bess you" for bless you

"de dez" for there it is

that one

"ada one" for other one

"mon" for come on

"a wa wa wa book" for I'm reading a book

"a-un-no" for I don't know

One of Rachel's favorite videos. She calls her "Abbys" with an "S" because we read "Abby's book of Shapes" a lot and she thinks that the "S" is part of her name.

Sunset Beach

For out 5th anniversary we went to the coast to Sunset Beach. Blueberry did not appreciate the sand. She thought it was icky and stayed on the blanket the whole time. Luckily there was a grassy picnic area.

All Done!

Hovering Toddler

Nana's Visit

Baby Oasis

We created a nice little oasis in the back yard so we can go outside during the summer but stay cool too.

Murder at the Nir Cantina

We have some awesome geeky friends who love to host murder mystery parties. This party's theme was Star Wars/sci-fi. It was set in the Nir Cantina, a space outpost. Each of us had assigned characters and races. David was a Divek (feline-humanoid) spaceship mechanic and I was an android crew member of a spaceship.

Patch I sewed for David's costume hat

The Four Daves

Galen, Android Crew member

Inspiration for the body paint HERE.

Cell phone parts

Feline Humanoid

Birthday Dave

Edit: If you want to get this game or any other murder mystery game, check out playingwithmurder.com for Murder at the Nir Cantina and more!

Nonna's Birthday

Balloons and Dancing

Cousins from Denmark

We were happy to be able to visit with GG's cousins from Denmark. They were passing through Grants Pass so we had a big barbecue with the Sleadds and Raynors.

First Steps

Blueberry learned the sign "outside"

We have been using a sign that is like turning a door knob in space in front of you to mean "outside". Blueberry likes to go outside for walks in the morning and she has started telling us that after breakfast she wants to go outside because that is her routine.

We have been using a sign for "drink" that is holding your hand in a "C" shape and bringing it to your mouth like a cup. Blueberry hasn't been able to do that yet, but instead she uses the sign for "eat" and then does a loud exhale like you make when you drink something refreshing "ahhh". This means "drink" to her.

Learning "up" and "down"

Nonna has been watching Blueberry while I do work at the house so she doesn't miss me too much. Blueberry was watching Mommy go up and down the ladder so we told her "Mommy is going up the ladder" and "Mommy is going down the ladder" with signs for "up" and "down". She would say "uhh" and do a sign for "up" and say "daa" with the sign for "down". The sings really help us interpret what she is trying to say.