Blogcation???

For the past past week or two, I haven't been blogging much.  I seem to have been in another world.  And honestly, I'm not sure I can tell you where.  I think my brain has been so obsessed with Sprout's 2nd birthday, can't believe she's going to be 2 next week.  My parent's visit (yea!).  Our crazy mixed up life.  Keeping up with Sprout and just trying to keep up with life in general.

I had all of these ideas and objectives about what I wanted to do over the past few weeks, and I feel like I have accomplished very little.  Even with Sprout, I have had ideas as to what I wanted to do with her, and for the most part it just hasn't happened.

The other day, while I was doing laundry, Sprout came into the laundry room (where her supplies are stored) and pulled out the paint and a tray to put it in.  It was almost time for bed, so I told her that we would paint the next day and put the paint on the counter.  Then next morning, she was sitting next to me on the couch, while I was talking on the phone.  I looked at her to find that she had opened the paint, and had a little in the tray (thankfully not all over my couch).  Man, did I feel oblivious!!!  I got her set up at her easel with the paint she picked out.  As she painted, I thought about the fact that this wasn't an activity I picked for a tot tray, or an art project I planned out, but that my daughter was having a great time.  Isn't that what it's all about???

The other thing we've been doing a lot recently is Preschool Time Online.  Sprout really enjoys this as she works on letters, numbers, shapes, computer skills, etc with all of her Disney friends.  I love watching her as gets something.  It amazes me how she picks up on the things.  She pointed at the letters on The B Book  and said "B-O-O-K."  I know she didn't really spell a word, but I loved listening!!

We've also been trying to get outside, but with the crazy hot weather we have here, it hasn't been much.

Though this isn't a typical Tot School week for us, I am going to link up with Tot School, as this is what we have been up to recently.  I will try to do a post of the other activities we've done when I have a chance.

What's going on with Tot School??? and life in general

You may have noticed over the past few weeks, well maybe the past month we have been slacking on Tot School.  This is definitely my fault.  We went to visit my parents, and I've had a tough time getting back into the "swing of things."  Part of this is I am trying to focus on so many things right now, that I haven't really had a chance to work on the curriculum I was creating for Sprout.

(We are now going to pause for a Blogger identification break.)

I haven't mentioned any of this before, but I'm feeling the need to share, so bear with me.  In December JGD lost his job.  So we've been coping with the fact that our originally 2 income household, which dropped to 1 when Sprout was born is now.... um.... in trouble...  JGD has been working very hard to find a job, and I have been working very hard to figure out how I can help.  I've decided that I will be opening an Etsy shop where I will sell crocheted products.  Here are some of the blankets I have made.

I am currently working on a basket weave pattern for Sprout and I will upload pictures of that when I'm done.  I think my plan for right now is to load pictures of the blankets I have completed and make them to order.  Based on my time right now, I think this is best way.  If you have any suggestion I would love to hear them. 

In addition to that, I am working on creating and sticking to a budget.  This has included couponing and meal planning.  I am currently, really into one man's story of living on $1 a day.  He has shown me that if he can find food and other products to donate while living on $1 a day, then I can get some products to donate to the local shelters and food banks.

I am also trying to decide if I can work from home, and what I can do that will fit into our lifestyle.  It's important to me that anything I take on not interfere with my time with Sprout.

I will say that on the plus side of this JGD has finally been given the push to really pursue the career that he has wanted since graduating college and receiving his Masters.  This will probably mean a move for us, which I wouldn't mind (I think) as it would probably move us closer to my family.  I'd love to be in driving distance to my parents and brother.  I feel very far removed from them down here.  Especially, considering that JGD isn't all that close to his family, who does live here.

Anyway... thanks for listening to my babble...

(Now back to our regularly schedule program.)

I think I've decided to use established "curriculums" and enhance them when I can.  Several months ago I downloaded ABC Home Preschool - Age 2.  So that is what we'll be using, with addition and enhancements from other areas.  It is a 9 month program, but I may extend it seeing as how we are starting in June.  We'll see how Sprout does as we go along.

The first month is working on A, B and C and 0, 1, 2 and 3, transportation, and general good health practices.  I will continue to give a guideline of these activities on the side.

Tot School - If you give a Tot a book...

Sprout is 22 months old

This week we focused on Laura Numeroff's books, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and If You Give a Pig a Pancake Big Book.  These are two of my favorite books for little ones.  As we were reading these, I kept thinking about all the activities we will be able to do for these when Sprout gets older.  I love how the same book can be applied to kids of different ages, and they all get something different out of it.  I know that it will be great in the future.

Tot Trays

This Tot Trays we did this week were:

• If You Give a... File Folder Game
• Playdough
• Stickers 

Again, this week there were more activities out, but Sprout wasn't all that interest.  Ironically, she had been trying to get at her Tot Trays whenever we walked past that room, but when it was actually time she decided she would rather be doing other things.

Like...

I guess it's time to actually put this in the garage and not just out of the family room.

But she did play with her new file folder game a little.  I think mommy liked it a lot more than she did.

Of course, she loved playing with stickers again.  This seems to have become a new favorite.

I was shocked when she pulled out the playdough this week and actually wanted to use it.  Usually, this one just sits on the shelf and she ignores it for the week.

She also thought it was fun when I was showing her how to roll the playdough into snakes and balls.  This is what she did with the balls.  I thought it was pretty creative.

Projects

This week I thought we would make pancakes and cookies to go along with our books.  One morning I thought we would make pancakes, and asked Sprout to help.  She decided it was more fun carrying on with her current activity.

But she did enjoy eating them.

I spent the rest of the week trying to find the time to make cookies.  As it turned out we made them one night toward the end of the week after dinner.  I'm sorry I don't have any pictures of the actual process, as I was a little too hands on.  Here is Sprout checking out the cookies in the over making sure everything is okay.

And of course she loved eating these too.  JGD took these pictures, as I was trying to make sure that my couch didn't get smudged.  (I know using her chair at the table would have been a good idea, but for the amount of time it took her to eat the cookie, it would have been more time getting in and out!)

We also made a pig and a mouse to go along with our books this week.  (These should be our stART craft for the week, but so far I haven't gotten around to the separate post).

For the pig, I cut out a red circle (I didn't have any pink construction paper, and Sprout picked red) for the head and a smaller circle for the snout.  Then I cut out a couple ears and gave Sprout the googly eyes.


I was so impressed with where she placed everything.

Until... the ears.  This is when I had the "bad mommy moment" of taking them off and asking her to put them on again.  And sure enough she put them back in the same spot.  "So there, Mommy!"

When we made the mouse, we used a sheet that I had printed off a while ago from First School.  We just did the head.  Somehow, I accidentally printed off two.  So I cut one out myself, and let Sprout work on one.

These scissors are still tough for Sprout to use.  I think I'm going to get her these (Melissa & Doug Educational Toy ChildSafe Scissor Set) instead.


I glued the pink part of the ear on to the grey to make it a little more toddler friendly.  Sprout did the rest.

And even though I didn't get a picture before she dismantled the whole thing, it looked a lot like her pig!

Practical Play

We decided to take a family field trip to a local landscaping place that also have a U-Pick it area.  This was a lot of fun for us.  (Well, so I heard, JGD took Sprout, while I picked some things for dinner.)

We were greeted by:

 

and

 

Then we found

Then it was time to go pick some food.  They had:

Red Chard

Strawberries

Chives

Kohlrabi

Bell peppers

We also picked some spinach, but that's not that interesting to look at.  They had eggplants, blueberries, onions, lettuce, and a whole bunch more.  And this is the end of the season for us!  (Backwards, I know!)


Sprout's Books
I've been meaning to put these in a post for a couple weeks.  These have become Sprout's go to books.


She loves her Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Look and Find book.  She is now at the point where she understands what she is supposed to do and will point to the object/character in the box and then find them in the picture!



She also loves her Little Einsteins Animal Alphabet book.  "Eo!"  She loves look at this book.  She is getting really into letters (even though we haven't really worked with them), so she loves looking through this book. 




This week she got a set of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse mini board books in a carrying box, and loves her "Gickey" books.  She carries them all over the house.  I think she likes taking them out and putting them back in more than reading them right now, but she does let us read them every once in a while.

Next Week

Next week is kind of up in the air right now, as I have just realized it is going to be a really crazy week or two.  We'll see what we can get done.

Hope you all had a great week!  To see what other Tots were up to this week go to 1+1+1=1.  

To see what other stART projects people did this week.  Go to A Mommy's Adventure.