Showing posts with label children's books. Show all posts
Another Wonderful Day
Fast Monday. 9pm already and onto Tuesday. Tomorrow, dance class for both of these babies. A first for my son. I'm so not sure how he will like it so I have yet to purchase his dance shoes. Drew says this first experience at dance will be his last. He joked but no, not really. With baseball training complete, there aren't very many options for sports, not yet. Not until the Summer programs begin.
Pre-K graduation in less than 2 weeks and I, as a volunteer, have taken on the task of hemming graduation gowns. Yikes! YouTube has great how-to's and for that I am grateful. Five down. It's going to be a busy week.
Saving Sea Turtles by James Spotila
Tonight we read another page out of Bijou's sea turtle book. There are very few photos in this 240 page book. I try to ease them into the reading, try to get their attention with the graphic descriptions. We discussed egg poaching, oil spills and the word "species".
Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Creatures
All the while, Kade held onto his pocked-size Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs. I swear it is an extension of his arm; so small yet plentiful. A new dinosaur at every page flip.
Bijou surprised all of us. Following her U.S. Presidents flashcards, she sang all 44 presidents in order, even got Cleveland's non-successive terms. We recorded her and inside, I am kinda jealous that I didn't get to teach her the Presidents. She learned this is at school and she & her friends sing it during playtime. I shouldn't be jealous, I know. But I am.
We also did flash cards, brushing up on the three and four letter words. There are a few "big" words that they know: telephone, pumpkin and umbrella. And since Kade bit off a piece of a flashcard, they always know the word "elephant".
I found our Japanese translation book, perused that and practiced the colors: pinku, murasaki, aka ... Kade laughed when we practiced the numbers. He said "ichi" rhymed with "chee chee".
I also found Kade's wooden alphabet board, his from when he was 2. I remember his small fingers on the wooden squares, placing them in their alphabet space.
Home Sweet Home
Home. And it's all ours.
Love reaching home. I can definitely do without the mess and the clutter but that's just a matter of time. Remodeling is underway and we'll have our home back to normal soon.
Tonight Kade was really into gorillas so we looked at pictures of them in their Children's Encyclopedia and then watched a few videos on youtube. At bedtime we read The Magic Tea Kettle, How Do Dinosaurs Count to Ten? and a fav poem The Ways of Living Things. We read this poem while in Japan. Bee still knows it by heart.
Neither of them ever cease to amaze me.
The Hours Flew
Love the snowy, cloudy landscape on these NY mornings. The Schunumunk rests; warming beneath clouds wrapped tightly around its peak. We speed over the terrain every morning and, topping the mountain, have the Hudson spread out and slightly catching hints of sunlight in its choppy waves.
Today Tuesday was a day of much progress, much headway in establishing procedure. Lunch time was my volunteer hour at daycare. The benefits are two-fold, namely the additional time I am alloted to spend with my son.
The hours flew.
At the gym I sped through my 1-mile warm up. Paid for it later during strength training. Once home, once full, once replenished we hung out. B & K took turns taking random photos around the house. B got her dance shoes ready for tomorrow and both rushed through pajama changing and tooth brushing. We read:
Japanese Children's Favorite Stories
Cinco de Mouse-O (¡Viva Mexico!)
Doctor De Soto
Snow, Yoga & Angry Birds!
Angry Birds!!
Full day of work, training, volunteering and the gym. Ran a quick 1 mile to warm up for yoga at 1730. Stretching can be so awesome, really. It was a beginners class, I wonder just how much intense the advanced can be. Tomorrow I get to challenge myself to a round of intense calisthenics. So glad I finally found a new gym partner.
Tonight Kade perused his collection of dinosaur books, flipping through his Dino Encyclopedia asking us the names of each. His three all-time favs (because he refuses to pick just one): 1. cheetahs; 2. trains; and 3. dinosaurs. Bijou was content to re-read a few favs. Olivia and Her Ducklings and Everywhere Babies. Kade's curiosity and attention to detail are amazing for his young age and Bijou is recognizing and memorizing more words. She can read Go Dog, Go! by Dr. Seuss and is moving on to more challenging books. As for Drew & I ... we play Angry Birds and sip home brew.
Dinosaurs, Fairies & Volcanos
(Almost) all day in the confines of briefs, training, etc. and for lunch we treated ourselves to sushi. Once a month we allow ourselves to dine-out for lunch.
No green beer or corned beef hash this go 'round. Next year we'll actually dine-out for a St. Patrick's Day dinner w/ the kids and I already have a restaurant in mind. First and foremost on the day's agenda was getting our remodeling plans in order. So far, so good but still I'm not sure we'll have it all complete before Easter.
Best to deal with a less than optimistic outlook was to delve headfirst into the wonderful world of home. My children & I made a bird house and filled it with grass, leaves, twigs and fake flowers yanked off a bouquet display.
Once inside we worked on their day planners, decorated the cover, put stickers on all the holidays including birthdays, and wrote in the things they wanted to do.
Right before he went from dinosaurs to trains, Drew read "Dinosaur Days" by Joyce Milton.
Bijou really loved her planner. She wrote her name in it, her address and wrote our names on our birth dates. My thinking was that this just might be her intro to creating and sticking to plans and schedules. Might help, certainly can't hurt.
She flipped through that and through her fairy book, "If You See A Fairy Ring". Yup, Drew read that one too.
We discussed a few more things; briefly discussed hieroglyphics, Egyptians and the pyramids. Kade put his hand over a pyramid and made explosive sounds saying that it was a volcano. Ha! I never thought of that before but yeah he's right. Children's minds are always right.
