80s Girl

I got a free sample of some stevia sweetened raspberry drink mix in the mail. I mixed it up according to the instructions, took a big swig, and made a face because it tasted like rat poison.

Hannah asked sympathetically, "It's a little bit gnarly?"

I burst out laughing and told Hannah that yes, it was gnarly to the max.

Smart Cookie

Jack is really into pushing all the buttons on the computer and wireless router, and pulling out all of the cords around the house. When I see him cruising toward one of these forbidden items, I shake my head and say, "no, don't touch" firmly.

Now when Jack is about to touch something he's not supposed to he looks over at me and starts shaking his head "no" with a big grin. Then he usually tries to touch it anyway.

At least we don't have to wonder if he understands that he's breaking the rules!

Planning Ahead

Hannah went and stood in our closet, put her hands on her hips, and asked, "Now what in the WORLD am I going to wear for my birthday?"

Her birthday is not until January, but it's good to get out in front of big decisions like that. She settled on my green beaded BCBG dress. Unless she has a major growth spurt in the next few months, I might have to take it up a little bit.

Jackaboy

Hannah's nickname for Jack is "Jackaboy." She came up with that herself. I think it originated in her former penchant for classifying everything as a boy or a girl. Maybe "Jack is a boy" became "Jackaboy" in her mind? Remember how one of the reasons I wanted to shorten Jack's name to Jack instead of Josh was because I didn't want him to go by "Josh Boy"? Somehow it's cute when Hannah calls him Jackaboy though.
Here is Jack prepping for his new endeavor: climbing the stairs. So far he can only make it up to the second step, but he is determined and focused so maybe he'll be heading all the way up (eek) soon.

Side note, and yes, I'm still fascinated by this: the kids are wearing essentially the same size clothes now. Jack's summer clothes are size 24 month (and fit him well, with not too much room to grow) and Hannah's summer clothes are size 2T. Is that crazy or what????

Youthful Exuberance

Hannah enjoys having a chat with us, which usually involves a lot of grand gestures, fake laughing, and discussions of things she has done or plans to do or has observed Jack or her toys doing. It is hilarious and entertaining. Today I snapped a picture of her regaling me with a detailed account of how she sorted her new counting bears (thank you Cacky!) and how it's very difficult to keep Jackaboy from finding and eating those bears, so she, Hannah, must come to their rescue or they will be lost forever.

How do you like her exuberant hairstyle? The tiny pony tails are the only way to keep those hairclips in, and I really like the hairclips. I wish I had a better picture of the shirt, which has a giraffe on it. Hannah likes the giraffe a lot. Today on our walk she was talking to it, and I laughed so hard when she said, "Hey dere, little giraffe, there is a SHIRT on you!"

The Kids' Week in Books, No. 16

"Sven's Bridge" by Anita Lobel is a delightful story about a bridge-keeper, Sven, and the bridge that serves his village but gets in the way of the king's boat. The illustrations in this book are wonderful, and the story is interesting. Sven's good attitude and servant's heart come through without being preachy, as are the negative effects of having temper tantrums.





Yorkshire veterinarian Dr. Herriot comes across a touching story about an old cow's devotion to her master in "Blossom Comes Home." The illustrations in the volume are detailed and well done, and the story is engrossing. There is a lot of text on each page, but Hannah sat in rapt attention and hung on every word to see what would happen to Blossom. Hannah is quite fond of cows.

Our Sleeping Seeds

I forgot to take pictures, but today after our walk and trip to the playground, Hannah and I worked in the garden. She is very excited about the garden, due to several books we have out about gardens. We had one mishap when Hannah picked the flower off of a daffodil, and another when she picked a lily bulb out of the ground, but for the most part she did well. I used my weeding spade and she used a stick to poke around and we got all the weeks out of the vegetable garden and both backyard flower beds. Then we turned the dirt over a bit, and finally we planted some seeds. A while ago I reviewed the book "A Seed Is Sleepy" and while we planted our seeds we talked about that book. We planted one 10 cent packet of green beans, and one 10 cent packet of zucchini, and then three huge packets of various types of zinnias. Hannah was concerned to see each seed sufficiently covered with dirt for a "blanklette" (that's how she says "blanket"). Finally, we watered the beds with the spray hose and went inside. So now our seeds are sleeping and we hope they wake up only after all danger of frost has passed!

That's My Boy

For a while now Josh was sure Jack was saying "Mama" but I was unconvinced. This morning, however, when Jack woke up, I heard him call from his crib, "Mama! Mama!" and then several times thereafter he called for me saying "Mama." What a good boy!

Jack pulled himself up for the first time today. and had fun playing with the MegaBlocks Hannah thoughtfully put on the chair for him!

What's in a Name?

Hannah has interesting names for her toys. Her doll Emily was named when I was a little girl, and Almanzo was a suggestion from me, because we were reading "Farmer Boy" out loud at the time and Almanzo is of course the name of the farmer boy in the book. Nowadays though Hannah is naming her own toys.

The tiger in the picture above is named "Lion." At first I thought Hannah was getting confused about the tiger. I asked her what kind of animal he was and she said, "he's a tiger." When I asked her what his name was she said, "His name's Lion." Of course.

My aunt Catherine gave Hannah a little felt basket that looks like a chicken. Hannah immediately named it "Ernie" for some reason.

Hannah's Little People doll house is populated by "Lady" and "Phoneman" and "Baby-in-a-manger-bed." Seriously, that is what she calls the baby. Every time.

Sometimes toys get named after characters in books. I've already told the story of how Hannah's cat is named "Mog" after the children's book. Lately we've been reading Lynley Dodd's animal books so the dogs in our neighborhood that we see every day on our walks are called (by Hannah anyway) "Hairy MacLary" or "Muffin McLay" or "Bitzer Maloney" etc.

The Kids' Week In Books, No. 14 and 15

"The Story of Little Babaji" is a new edition of Helen Bannerman's "The Story of Little Black Sambo" written in 1899. This edition apparently gave the little boy and his parents Indian names because the story was clearly set in India where Bannerman lived for 30 years. I'm not familiar with the original, but the Babaji version is great. Fred Marcellino's illustrations are great. Hannah loves tigers (don't we all?) and thinks it's funny when the tigers steal Babaji's fine clothes and umbrella.

"Lily's Garden" by Deborah Kogan Ray gives a month by month story of what is going on in a little girl's garden in Maine. Beginning in January, when Lily's grandparents move to California, Lily keeps them informed as she prepares her seeds and soil, takes in different harvests, has a farm stand, preserves food with her mother, and looks forward to seeing her grandparents again for Christmas in December. In addition to the story, every two page spread has an inset with a fun activity to try related to that month, or some additional information. For example, February's pages tell how to make maple syrup (assuming you have the 40 gallons of sap that it takes to make one gallon of syrup!), and how to make maple leaf candy out of maple syrup. This is a great book for showing the rhythm of the seasons and learning about growing things.

"We're Riding on a Caravan: An Adventure on the Silk Road" by Laurie Krebs and Helen Cann describes the adventures of a family who drives a caravan through China. The illustrations are colorful and detailed, and the rhyming text is informative without being overwhelming. In case you want to know more about the Silk Road or caravans, there is a section at the back of the book with additional information. I can see how that would be great for an older child, but for now we just stick to the actual story.

Favorite Foods

This morning I put some pieces of banana on Jack's highchair tray and moved on to fix Hannah's breakfast. When he finished eating his banana, Jack thumped his tray and yelled "NANA! NANA!" I took this to mean he wanted more, and when I gave him more he said, "nana" in satisfaction.

So now everyone is called "Dada" and he names his truck and his favorite food. What a boy!

Jack Speaks His Mind

Lately Jack has been saying "Da Da" a lot. It is not exclusively applied to Josh. Apparently Hannah and I are also named Dada for now.

Today, Jack was playing with his dump truck (pictured above) and I took it from him to try to turn the sound off since Hannah was supposed to be napping. As I took the truck, Jack looked bereft and said, "Chra! Chra!" Later, I held the truck up to him and said, "Look Jack, here is your truck" and again he said "Chra! Chra!"

"Chra" sort of looks funny spelled out that way, but what Jack says sounds like the beginning of the word "truck" but with more of a "ch" than a "t" start, if that makes sense.

Hannah's Happenings

This morning Hannah is carrying around the Little People farmer from her Fisher Price farm. His name is Almanzo. She made him pretend breakfast using her cooking toys, and when I asked her what she had cooked for Almanzo she replied, "Chicken and lollipops and broccoli cake." I'm sure Almanzo was thrilled.

Next she decided Almanzo needed some education so she put him in her chair and gave him Circle Time by telling him about letters and making drawings with her crayons to tell him about colors. "Yook Owmazzo, diss is orange. You yike orange? OK! Good boy!" She made some tiny marks to simulate writing and told him it was his name, and carefully sounded it out for him as she moved her finger under the writing - "owwwwww-maaaaaa-zzzooooooo."

Satisfied with his progress, Hannah bestowed a sticker on Almanzo and put him down for a nap in her bed. Doubtless he was worn out by the morning's excitement.

Happy Sunday

As we are uncharacteristically ready early today (perhaps because we're on a good schedule now?) I decided to take a few pictures of the kids. Hannah is wearing her Easter dress from last year. I know it looks like Jack must be sitting on something to make him the same height as Hannah, but no, he's really that big. Her legs are longer, but they are both wearing size 18 month sweaters in this picture!

Let us pause and gaze at our navels...

Jack thinks, "I wonder what Hannah would do if I grabbed that sticker from out of her hands? I'm going to find out!"

"Circle Time" Update

I think I read about the concept of "Circle Time" first on the Preschoolers and Peace website (which has recently changed, and I just realized that is why it hasn't been popping up on my Bloglines lately, and I think she hasn't changed over all of her archives yet because the Circle Time category is much shorter than it used to be...). The concept is to have a group time for things like singing and learning together.

I started this year with a tentative plan for how Circle Time might look with Hannah, but it has sort of evolved over the past three months. Hannah really likes Circle Time and asks for it if I forget about it. Here is what we do (this whole thing takes 5-15 minutes, depending on what else we have going on that day, and her level of interest):

• Hannah sits at her little desk and looks at her calendar. I ask her what month it is, she answers, I ask her what year it is, she answers. I tell her what day of the week it is, and then we say the days of the week together. I always laugh to myself when she says "Saturday" because she says "Satur-iddle-durdle-erdle-day" because she never remembers where to stop with the "urd" part of the word! We make a diagonal line through the day on the calendar so she gets the point of moving through a month.
• Sometimes we talk about the weather. But that gets boring because around here it's usually the same weather day to day, so I often skip this part.
  
• We leave two letters up per week, rotating out one old one and adding one new one every Monday. I have the uppercase and lowercase of each taped on the wall above her desk in the playroom so she can see them all day. She tells me what the letters are and what the main sound is that they make (this week it's "Big M, little m, m says 'mmmm'; Big N, little n, n says 'nnnnn'"). Sometimes if she's in the mood I will ask her to think of words that start with that sound.
  
• Some days we do colors and shapes by me drawing shapes in different colors while she identifies them, or by her telling me what color and shape she'd like me to draw. She gets frustrated when she tries to draw them, "diss is NOT RIGHT! Mama do it instead!" - so yeah, we need to work on this budding perfectionism problem, I wonder where she got that? We tend to talk about colors and shapes a lot during the day in the course of doing other things, so I don't do colors and shapes during Circle Time unless she specifically asks for it.
  
• Sometimes Hannah wants me to write her name for her, and then she pretends to write things too. I encourage her to start from the left and go to the right, but I figure that is enough at this point.
  
• We do questions and answers from the Children's Catechism. She has memorized the first 10 questions now. Many include grand hand and arm motions, most of her own invention.
  
• We work on a memory Bible verse.
  
• If she wants more Circle Time, we sing some Psalms and hymns.

I know that looks like a lot, but it's never longer than 15 minutes max, and more often it's much shorter.

Jack doesn't participate much at this point, but he does watch Hannah and listen avidly.

Here is an unrelated picture of Hannah being goofy. She actually asked me to take her picture by saying, "OK, you take a piksher, and I'll be cute!"

Mama's Helper

When I vacuum, I hold the cord in one hand to keep from running over it. I think it's funny that Hannah follows along behind me with her toy vacuum, holding more of the real vacuum cord so she can be just like Mama!

I'm trying to encourage her desire to be a helper while she still thinks cleaning is fun! I give her a little cloth and let her scrub at the baseboards while I clean, or I let her carry the broom downstairs for me, or ask her to pick all of her plastic plates out of the dishwasher when we are unloading it. She's finally getting to the point when sometimes the "helping" actually IS helping! And soon she will be big enough to push the Dyson herself. :)

The Kids' Week In Books, No. 13

I checked "Stories from the Opera" by Shahrukh Hussain out from the library because the book is illustrated by James Mayhew, who illustrated the Katie books we like. I was initially afraid that the book would be above Hannah's level, but because there is an illustration on every page and the stories are short, Hannah enjoys it. The book contains simple overview type stories of famous operas, including The Magic Flute, The Flying Dutchman, and so on. I think this book would be a good tool if you're teaching kids about opera, but even if you're not teaching opera (and we're not) it's a pretty book with good stories.

Well What Do You Know?

Jack has gotten really adept at moving around with his own strange invented method of sitting, rolling, lunging, scooting, and hitching himself sideways.

In fact, he had gotten so adept that we almost didn't notice he is officially also doing a traditional crawl in there too. Josh noticed it last night, and we couldn't figure out if he's been doing it mixed in with his normal moving routine longer, but we decided to make the call.

So. Crawling at long last. Now we must keep an even more vigilant eye on the staircase, since Hannah broke the baby gate!