Wesley's Tot School (27.5 months)

We had a fun week with many great activities. Letters and numbers continue to be big hits this week. We also had a lot of Halloween fun.

Wesley got out these fraction puzzles and enjoyed putting them together on multiple days. At first he used his hands, but then, "OH! I HAVE A GOOD IDEA!" (cue the pitter patter of feet running to his truck bin). He could pretty consistently identify which piece went into the whole/half/third/quarter section, but he would often turn the piece pointing out, or a more common  mistake was to have it on it's side...the dimension (laying flat) was the hardest part for him.

We went to our park and raked leaves on a couple of occasions. It was so fun! He really liked it when I'd make a big pile of leaves that he could then rake away. New meaning to the phrase "rake a pile of leaves".

Our friend Liz at Harpsichordian knitted legwarmers for Wes when he was a little guy, and a hat that fits him this season. When I told Wes that, he said he'd like to learn to knit, too. I saw this little weaving loom and picked it up for him. We enjoyed working together to pull the loops across. I imagine it will be a couple years at least before we can fully weave something, but it was good precision work.

And there was jack-o-lantern making...

Drawing the face

"scooping guts!"

Matching starting letters is now very easy and seems less exciting to him this week, so we have moved on to ending sounds.

After playing the ending sounds matching game a couple of days, Wesley's ability to hear the ending sound of words took a huge leap. At first it seemed like he didn't understand what I meant by ending sound, but after just a couple days he could hear words much better. 

I just choose random objects within reach and "magenta pick-up truck" delivered them on the ABC road to their ending sound, per the telephone request of Ankylosaurus (Anky for short) and Antelope (pictured below). This pic is of him delivering a bolt at the start of our play session when we were doing first sounds...

This puzzle was a hit this week and got a lot of play, though less as a puzzle and more as a prop for word building and "starts with" thought experiments...

He liked making words with the letters, and is starting to hear some word sounds that are not beginning or ending sounds if we say the word slowly.

I love how it's his little guy (Dark) who unloads the pick-up and returns the letters to their spots...

Brother Bear, looking at phonics blend cards...

Wesley became really excited about "Marker-y Time!". That basically means tracing worksheets in a page protector (so we can do them again). We haven't done tracing for awhile, and his motorskills have dramatically improved since we last did it. He can trace on letters and numbers so that they are recognizable. He loves this work.

I have a "Get Reading for Pre-K" binder I bought at Costco with a bunch of activities, which is great, because it would have been unlikely for me to be able to find and print all the stuff in there. Wes likes flipping through it and choosing a page.

I love it when Wesley serves me tea. Today he was more interested in filling up the sugar with water and pouring it into the teapot. It is challenging to pour from a container that has no spout, which I think is why he liked it as he's not as challenged as he once was by the teapot or creamer.

My mother-in-law brought back this amazing Van Gogh memory game for Wesley from a trip she took. It's a stunning game involving matching Van Gogh's paintings. Wesley was up for matching them, but didn't like the memory component of flipping them over. We may have started with too many pairs (too hard or confusing), or he may not have been interested at that time. I am sure he will be, though. I love this set!

We collected leaves to make a leaf identification book. They are pressing now. Wesley routinely asks "what's the name of this leaf" on walks, so we better study up.

We also did some pumpkin printables from the pumpkin pack at 1+1=1. He liked the letter maze best and asked to do more like it. (which I need to try and find). He followed the numbers from pumpkin to pumpkin, making sure not to mark any letters. He could identify letters vs. numbers, but I had to help him with the concept of a connected path. So we filled in gaps by my asking "is this a number? how about this one?", etc.

Visit the other great blogs at 1+1=1 for other Tot School fun...

Sabien's week

This week Sabien is improving his head control and tummytime abilities. He'll now face straight ahead during tummy time and try to lift his head. He still spends a fair amount of time just self-soothing, sucking his hand, but there is a marked increase in understanding how to lift his head, and trying to do so.

This week he also started sucking his thumb. He took a pacifier for about two weeks at about 2 months old, and then totally started refusing it. We'll see if he becomes a dedicated thumb sucker, or if it's just part of his new love of his hands.

Sabien continues to be a sweetheart. He's a flexible, happy little baby.

He's also huge. He is wearing some 9 month clothing now. He fits 3-6 month onsies, but pants and sleepers have to be 9 month. When we step on the scale it says something like 14.5 pounds. He's not even 3 months old. Wow.

And now for some highlights from this week...
Daddy time...

Sabien has a premier diaper deliver service. They send out either their large front loader or their mini loader to deliver diapers right on schedule. There is the occasional head crash or leg bonk, but for the most part, they are very helpful and reliable, and seem to be improving their customer service record...

When toddlers skip their nap, it sometimes happens at 3pm. I love how this looks like Sabien is totally photobombing this shot.

He loves watching his airplane. It's his favorite spot.

Sleeping as Wes rakes leaves on a morning walk

He often prefers to sit in his upright seat rather than his bouncy chair, though he'll still slump over frequently, especially when he gets tired. He often struggles to sit up when he's in his reclined seat, so we either help him sit or put him in his seat. He likes to sit and watch us and give us smiles.

This little piggy went to market...

and this...

"I'm adjusting his head" ?!?!

Tummy Time...

And sweet Grandma time...

Halloween...

Spider

With a Winged Viking and Lincecum

And the Giants won The World Series!!! I would just like to mention that they have won TheWorld Series BOTH years our children were born....coincidence? I dunno...

Halloween Time

This year has brought so much Halloween fun with our frequent trips to the pumpkin patch. The weekend before Halloween we carved our jack-o-lantern. Wes did not want to carve the pumpkin he had painted, so that left one family jack-o-lantern for carving, which worked out well.

First we drew the face. Wes said he wanted squiggly (his word) eyes, three teeth on top, two on bottom, and lots of noses. We stuck pretty much to his plan except the numerous noses, for which I ran out of carving space.

He loved scooping but had no interest in getting messy. He is in a phase of cleanliness right now. He scooped with his spoon for a long time, though.

He would take frequent rests in his green chair. Then he'd pop back up for more scooping.

I carved right on his squiggles for the eyes, and I love how it came out. The finished product...

Then came the costumes. Sabien somehow went without a costume until naptime on Halloween when I whip-stitched together his spider outfit. Wes wanted Sabien to be a spider and had helped select fabric at the store for his costume.

Wesley was so excited to be a unicorn. A yellow unicorn. With a red mane. He selected all of the components at the fabric store himself. Casey worked on the costume, and it turned out so great. However, Wes did not want to wear it. He said he'd wear it when we went trick-r-treating, but that didn't happen due to torrential downpour. This is evidence that he tried on part of the costume...

However, at our Halloween party (just our two families), Kaira was happy to wear it for a bit...

It was downpouring on Halloween evening, so we didn't venture out to houses. We had a great time eating take-out burritos and trying on wigs and wings and costumes at Brooke and Tim's house. She has an amazing collection, and it was really a fun evening of trying on various costumes.

I discovered just how different it feels to hang out as a blonde, or a red-head, or a grey-head...I liked the red-head best...

Bonus was that we didn't have to deal with the candy issue of trick-r-treating, which we were unsure about anyway. Wes didn't want to try on many costumes, so it wasn't just that he wasn't interested in the unicorn...however, he did wear a pair of wings for awhile, as did we all...

family portrait

A few days after Halloween, Wes tried on his unicorn hat for Uncle Jesse. He said he was excited for Halloween and trick-r-treating. I know he knew it was Halloween, and I am pretty sure he knows it's done, though there may be some confusion over the lack of trick-r-treating...

Unicorn with a Microphone