stART Snow!

So JGD is off to Alaska for some sort of cold weather training.  Well, D has very little understanding of what the weather would be like in Alaska.  For the next couple days we will be talking and reading about snow to show D what it is like in colder environments.  Though it has definitely not been the typical Florida by any means.

While touring many of the other Muffin Tin Mom sites, I found this "project community."  In trying to teach D this week we have been reading books and doing projects to go with them.  Similarly to how I did things when I taught my 3 year old classroom and when I taught Kindergarten and First Grade.  I guess it has become ingrained in me.

This morning we read 2 books to go with our theme/art project.  D like Biscuit's Snowy Day by by Alyssa Satin Capucilli, Pat Schories, and Mary O'Keefe Young better than Snow by Philip.D. Eastman and Roy Mc Kie.

After reading our books we made a snowy scene using cotton balls and real glue.  Now this is the first time D has used real glue, so I was quite on top of her during this project.  I put a little glue on the cotton ball she held and then helped her to put the cotton ball on her hand.  This meant that we do have glue everywhere and no cotton balls stuck to anything other than paper. 

Because I was keeping so close to her I don't have any pictures of her actually doing the project, but I do have here is D trying to put glue (from a closed bottle) on a cotton ball.

Here is D's final project, which is now out of reach on the fridge!

Olympic Fever

We definitely have olympic fever!  JGD and I have always been fans of the olympics and now that D understands what is seeing a little more, she is getting into it with us right along with it.  Today's project was to make an olympic flag.  We talked about how we have flags to "represent" or show things about us.  In this case the flag is for the olympics and showing that everyone can get along.  If you don't know, I didn't until I did the research... the colors on the olympic flag are meant to show the colors that are found in every flag around the world.  And the five rings are meant to show the 5 continents of the world, and how they come together for the games. Not sure what she really understood, but it's a start, as is most of what we do everyday.

To make this project, I cut the circles out for the rings ahead of time (red, black, yellow, blue and green).

D was given a glue stick to use (her favorite new "tool") and she was happy to use it on the paper (and tried to use it everywhere else.  Then she placed the rings on the paper.  I then helped her to add more glue under the rings that needed it.

D's final touch to this project was to pull come of the rings back off again, and rip them.  This is what it looked like by bedtime.  Though I was thoroughly bummed, D was thrilled!

Happy President's Day

I am trying to work more with D at home.  It must be the teacher in me.  Today I thought we would focus on President's Day a little.  We read The Story of George Washington by Patricia Pingry and Stephanie McFetridge Britt.  It was definitely a little higher than our current comprehension, but it was a very simple discussion and explanation of Washington and his impact on our country.

I thought hard about a project D could do to go along with a book like this, and decided that we would make a cherry tree.  It was mentioned in the book we read, so it was a good way to introduce the story about the cherry tree and the concept of telling the truth.  We had an age appropriate talk about always telling Mommy and Daddy what is real.  Then we made our cherry tree.  I found the coloring page on First School Preschool Activities and Crafts.  The I cut strips of green tissue paper for leaves and smaller pieces of red tissue paper for cherries.

I thought I would help D by applying the glue stick for her, but once she saw me with the glue stick that became the highlight of the day.  It seemed like she actually understood how to use it.  But the real highlight of the glue stick was taking the top off and putting it back on.

D did a great job of placing the tissue paper on tree, especially the leaves. It appears as though the cherries fell out of the tree.  JGD said there is a basket there that we can't see.

D's final project!

Muffin Tin Monday - Errr Sunday

It's been forever since we last did an official muffin tin meal.  I thought that the color themes would be a great time to get back into it, as this is now what D is learning.  We are working on shapes and colors, as she seems to be doing pretty well with body parts and animals.

We did Muffin Tin Monday a day early this week.  This week's theme is Red, which I thought would be great to do on Valentine's Day. (Though we did nothing else.  That will probably be changing in the future.)  It was still a fun lunch to, especially in the heart muffin "tin" we have.

Going clockwise, starting in the upper right, D had strawberries, spaghetti with red sauce, red apples, grape tomatoes, more spaghetti and red pepper.

I knew that getting D to eat the spaghetti with all the fruits and veggies would be tough, but I though it was worth a shot.  Sure enough she polished on the strawberries almost as soon as I gave her her food.  Then the apples and grape tomatoes.  She ate a lot of the peppers, and then played with the spaghetti.  She ate some, and even tried to twirl it on her fork! 

Life goes on

Okay, so I've been lax in posting over the past 4 months, but I'm going to try to get back into it.  The past couple days have been a turning point/starting point for me.  I started running (sometimes with D) and started my week 2 training (I said I just started) and am proud of the progress I'm making.  I am using an App on my iPhone (Get Running) that helps me to integrate running into a lifestyle that never included it before.  It does start with workouts that mix walking and running, and ends with a steady 30 minute run. I hope I can stick with it!  My hope is to run my first 30 minute run on Miami Beach!


I am also very proud to be participating in Disney's Give a Day, Get a Disney Day program.  I have always been interested in doing whatever I can to help those around me who are in need, and have felt a little lost about it recently.  Gourmet Mom on the Go mentioned making cakes for Foster kids, and I thought this would be a great thing to try to get involved in.  However, I have had a hard time trying to figure out how to go about this.  Though I do love baking and have had a lot of fun making cakes.  I found Free Cakes for Kids, but it looked like the people in my area who are on the list are professionals, and I'm a little leery about being being contacted instead of having a contact.  


I have been looking for something else to do.  Disney's program gave me the chance to explore many of the programs in the area, but the problem with most of them is trying to find a way to do something with D.  Most programs want children 6 and over and I don't blame them seeing as how D can't really do that much to help.  Though she is great at making people smile!  But I did find Project Linus.  This is a great program that collects homemade blankets to give to anyone under 18 in need of one.  I have been crocheting since high school, and would love to be able to give my time to something like this.  So I have started making my blanket, and am loving it.  JGD is even planning on making one too (he is going to make a fleece, no sew blanket).  I'll keep you posted and try to post pictures along the way to show you.  I am making a blanket using yarn I had in the house from another project I had started years ago, but didn't finish.  It is going to be grey, and off white with black and green accents.

This is the yarn I will be using.  (The one to the far left is more forest green than this shows.)

These are my first 4 "natural" squares.  I have another 9 to go.

Muffin Tin Monday - Apples

The theme this week for Muffin Tin Monday is apples.  What a great theme, especially leading into Rosh Hashanah at the end of the week.  After a busy morning, I wasn't sure what D would eat, but thought we would give it a try.  

I was getting lunch ready and wanted to a take a picture of the "apple" shaped grilled cheddar and apple sandwich.  (I believe it is really a pumpkin cookie cutter, but hey... D doesn't know).  

Here is the completed muffin tin.  The top row starts with apple sticks, then apple cinnamon rice cakes, and apple chunks.  The bottom row is Applesauce Noodle Kugel and the grilled cheese sandwich.


D enjoyed her Kugel and did a great job eating.  Eventually, she decided that the food would taste better on her tray.

And of course a meal is not complete, if we're not wearing it.

We also read Dr. Seuss's Ten Apples Up on Top! to go with our apple lunch.  D thought the pictures were funny and enjoyed the story during lunch.

Swimming Day 1

Today was our first official swimming lesson.  We are getting lessons from Baby Otter Swim School.  So far I am very impressed by their classes.  They have a program to teach little ones how to get out of the pool if they fall in.  They took D into the pool and showed her how to kick her feet and then gently dunked her under the water.  Though not always happy D did a great job.  The also showed her how to swim to the stairs.  We were told that she did awesome.  She kicked her feet (and even tried using her arms, and maybe a little butterfly) to get over to the stairs.  I was really impressed.  Even though she wasn't thrilled by the whole experience D did everything she was asked to.  And even though her instructor was making her do things she didn't really want to D was comfortable enough to fall asleep on her.  So far so good.  


My only issue is their rule about diapers.  Which I do understand, but as a cloth diaper user, I have invested time and money into getting good quality reusable swim diapers.  Well they want 2 swim diapers and a bathing suit on D as she swims in the pool.  I normally just put a rash guard and swim diaper on D (or a gDiaper without the insert), and have had no problems.  Today she had on an iPlay swim diaper (which does retain water, not sure what I think about that) and then a My Pool Pal Swimster.  Then I bought her some boy swim trunks because her girly bottoms wouldn't fit over the 2 diapers.  I will have to get a pic of D in her swim diapers.