Tot School

Tessa is 27 months old

Here's what we've been up to the past couple of weeks:

Lots of swimming, although the pool as gotten down to 90 degrees... Tessa and I prefer 95 :)

Her robe keeps her warm afterwards.

Speaking of pools, we have watched the transformation happening in my parent's backyard as well.  She enjoyed being so close to the big machines and "helping" by spraying down the pool.

Another big truck that she looks forward to (twice weekly) is the trash truck.  

Trying to get away from he sippy/straw cups, we created a water station in our wine rack.  Included are a few cups and (although not seen) a rag to clean up spills.  It was a mess the first few days because she would always overflow her cup.  Now she fills it 1/3-1/2 full, drinks it all and replaces her cup.  Here she is washing her cup as well.

Another indication that her sensitive period of order is in full swing, I came out one morning to find her lining all her stickers up on the window.  At her table I have a bin of stickers, and an empty bin to put the trash in.  I has worked out really well.

Art has continued to have the same result - finger paining.  I was surprised how pretty her watercolor turned out though!

We visited the SeaLife aquarium.

And it finally has cooled down the past few days!  One early morning we walked down to the pond at the front of the subdivision to feed the ducks... only to find catfish instead. 

We had a fun nature walk after feeding the fish.  Tessa wanted to search for spiders.  I was so happy when we walked for 45+ minutes exploring nature.  Since it was so early in the morning the wildlife was really active.

Looking at rabbit poop and playing with sticks. 

Labor Day weekend we went hiking near the Salt River Canyon.  Tessa had such a great time and didn't take a nap all day.  She waked in the water, played in the mud, held fish and enjoyed nature.  That evening when we got back home and I was putting her to bed she said to me - "I want to go back there again, but not today" and quickly fell asleep.  (more of our hike to come)

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Tot School

Tessa is 27 months old

A lot of things to post this week, since it has been two three weeks since my last Tot school post.  Things have been a little crazy for T Bear.  Since our nanny is out on maternity leave and Grandma Linda could stay for only part of her time off, Tessa had to go to an in home daycare for the past two weeks, and she hated it.  She would cry and beg us not to leave her.  And it didn't get better with each time she went, it only got worse.  It wasn't that the daycare was bad in any way, it was a change.  And for a toddler that has oatmeal for breakfast, then yogurt for a snack etc... every day, change was NOT good.  Luckily she only went a total of 6 days (and I know if she went longer it would get better) but our nanny returns this week :)  And we will be happy to have our happy Tessa back!

Onto the week - 

We played grocery store a lot.  She picked the oatmeal out every time.

A tray I put together:  both sorting and fine motor.  I had two of each coins in the dish if she wanted to sort them (which she never did) but she loved to put them in the piggy bank and then start all over again. This has created a money monster of her, as any change she sees lying about is "MY MONEY!" (Sorry Papa)

We have the first cylinder block from Montessori Outlet.  She is good at it.  Too good.  I think it is time to pick up the second.

We found a lot of activities to do with her hands these past few weeks, and I could see her mood change instantly.  She had a hard time with this activity because she couldn't/wouldn't press down hard enough to really juice the orange, but she loved going thru the motions none the less. (and the juice was good!)

She also prepared the muffins for dinner with my parents one night.  I will ask her to put her apron on (a free pattern from Sew Liberated) when we are cooking, and she usually has to remind me to put MY apron on, too.  How easily I forgot that she is learning from me.

We did get a good rain this past week and we were happily playing in it until it started to thunder.  Her face in the picture is actually shock of the loud noise.  She refused to come back outside and look at the rainbow when it was all over.

More outdoor activities included staying on the line with her tricycle and going on nature walks, where she insists on picking up a seed pod for each person.

The glitter glue sticks are her new favorite art medium.  While she was doing it for the first time, she remembered she had seen a bug on he ground earlier.  She proceeded to find it again, pick it up and bedazzle it.  

We tried to make crayons as well.  Tried.  First mistake - I bought cheap crayons.  Second mistake - why did I think Tessa could participate in an activity that involved a large knife to cut up said cheap crayons (nothing happened, she was just bored)  Third mistake - I ruined the silicone molds.  IF I do this project again I will be using cupcake liners.  The cheap crayons came out dull and brittle.  They made a huge mess if you tried to use them (on your hands, on the table, on the floor).  They went in the trash.

Our Play-Doh kit came with these scissors.  They are much easier to use than her real scissors!

Hammering golf tees into Styrofoam.

Hammering nails into wood (I started them all).  My parents cut a few trees down in preparation for a pool in their back yard, and I asked my Dad to cut up some of the larger pieces to make stacking blocks. She loves them!

We took advantage of the open backyard before the pool people start to dig and played in the mud!  She didn't know what to do at first and was concerned that her hands were getting dirty.  Thirty minutes later she looked like this:

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Tot School

Tessa is 26 months old

We had fun with a lot of practical life activities this week:

Consequence of coloring with crayon on the window?  You get to clean it up (although she did not see this as much as a punishment, but fun, which is fine with me).  I think this week I am going to get together a cleaning bucket that she has access to.

We also had a lot of fun with art this week.  I picked up some crayola slick sticks which worked much better than crayons, although they are not washable, so we wore one of Daddy's old shirts.

I also made sidewalk paint and let her go to town.  It did stain the sidewalk blue for a few days, but you can't tell now (thank goodness)

We also tried print making again, which turned out how all our painting projects do - finger painting.  We cleaned up in the water table outside, which she loved!

Working on stirring instant pudding to use later on that afternoon to paint with.  This was T's first two step project.  We made it before lunch and used it after her nap that afternoon.  She has not had pudding before, so I was curious to see how long it would take before she realized that you could actually eat it.  Just like any project, it turned into finger painting and then it went in the mouth.  

Fun new toy of the week were some rocks we picked up at Kartchner's Cavern, which included Hematite, which is magnetic.  They have a very strong magnetic pull, and she performs "magic tricks" all day for us by lining them up and attracting them to each other.  The first time she played with them she went thru all the other rocks to see if they were "magic" too.  This was a great introduction to magnets.

Book of the week:  All the World by Liz Garton Scanion and Maria Frazee

We actually picked this book up from the library in Kauai, but I keep on forgetting to share it.  The world are calming and the pictures are beautiful!

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Tot School

Tessa is 25 Months Old

We visited our local farm on their last day until fall, and since it was 1000 degrees out, we pretty much had the whole thing to ourselves.  We even got a free train ride.  Their train conductor, Jacque, was retiring that day.  We were her first (and maybe only) train ride that day.  When we got back to the station, we had Tessa jump off the train, run up to Jacque and give her a big hug.  It was pretty sweet for everyone.

At home, Tessa has been working on cleaning: sweeping and wiping off the tables.  She also enjoys spinning her baby around until they fall on the ground.  And loving on her.  She will put her baby to sleep over and over again.  It's funny how she picks up on phrases that I say to her, and they sound so sweet in her little girl voice.

We worked on the letter C for the past two weeks, and while doing he shapes, she kept on making this face.  I thought she was confused, so I went over the lesson again.  Finally she said "no mama, do like this" - making the face and pointed to the persian cat.  Ha ha.

We did squeeze bottle painting this week as well, which went okay.  I think I needed to add more thickener to the paint, since it was pretty runny, but Tessa had a good time, both making the art and cleaning up.

Coloring and more collage

And we finally made it down to the Children's Museum of Phoenix.  Oh my.  Too much fun.  They are so many things that I would love to DIY at home.  (Maybe not the three-story indoor jungle gym... but I can dream)

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Tot School

Tessa is 25 months old

Lots of learning has been going on during the past month with all of our travels.  Also, a lot of changes have been taking place in the past month as well with T.

"Yes Mama" has been replaced by "My Do It!"

The change happened overnight it seems, and it has been a steep learning curve, but we're doing better this week.

Toddler friendly activities has been my lifesaver!

 Paper collage

 Garden Sensory Bin

 Outside fun with water balloons and the water table

Working on the color yellow and the letter B

Indoor fun!  (It was 119 the other day)

Learning to cut up fruit.  Painting rocks, and running thru pom poms (she that it was the funniest thing... kids are weird)

Working on our vocabulary words, gluing and coloring all in one.