Wordless Wednesday

Following through - Sensory table and art

The weekend that I posted my new resolution was to start incorporating more preschool inspired activities around our house - I dusted off Sully's Ikea table that was shoved under a mountain of crap, and promptly placed it in its new home - our kitchen.

That little blue table has been a wonderful daily reminder of what I hope to achieve each week for my son, and for myself.

Not wanting to spend $60 bucks on a standing sensory table, I headed to target and found a storage bin for $2 bucks that fits perfectly on his little table. The first week I put some old fish gravel we still had in the bucket and filled it up with water tinted with blue and green food coloring. I went and hunted out the plastic sea animals from last Christmas and threw them in. He really loved it and was there at his table all afternoon. It led into so much actual conversation about marine life and mammals and what do different sea creature eat - what plankton is, what the difference is between a seal and a sea lion and on and on and on. He even pulled out some Sea Creature books he had to read later that afternoon.

The following week I found two bags of pinto beans I never got around to using for soup, so I dumped the beans in the bucket with some measuring cups and funnels - and again, throughout the week he would go to the table and play in the bucket instead of asking for the computer.

This week in the table is rice (again that I had just sitting in my cupboard for the LONGEST time) and little mini lizards he convinced me months ago to buy him from Target's dollar bins. We've spent the past two days counting the lizards, talking about their colors, what other habitats lizards live in etc. He has been really interested in what food they eat. Since he's also been equally interested in reading words and the phonetic sounds of letters, we combined the two. I wrote on a piece of paper taped above the table "The lizards are eating ..." Underneath that sentence on a different piece of colored construction paper I wrote down all his ideas and put them under the sentence. "Bugs" "Rice" "Food" "The Dinosaur" and "Grass" are some of the words that made it up.

He even has recognized that the plural of lizards is different than the singular lizard by asking why the "S" was on lizards, and why it wasn't just "lizard". He's now been playing baby lizards and daddy Dinosaur with Rex from A Toy Story. Last night Shaun even made the comment "I forget sometimes how simple stuff can actually be to keep him so busy."

So true, so true.

This week for art I busted out some black poster board from the garage (don't ask, I use to be a teacher. I have the oddest stuff on hand.) I found some cars and trucks that would make different tracks and gave him some paint. Painting with the trucks turned into painting the truck, which turned into painting with our hands, then washing the trucks. The previous week we worked on cutting construction paper with kid scissors and using stickers. The two things Sully ALWAYS has access to at his level are books, and his crayon/marker/scissor bucket and paper. But we made a point to work on using the dexterity in his fingers and fine motor skills with cutting lines, tracing and the stickers.

I've been using stuff solely from my house the past 3 weeks, but I finally cracked and bought some stuff from the Oriental Trading Company and Lakeshore today (magnifying glasses, tongs, translucent blocks, tempura liquid water colors, magnetic wands, work station trays, magnet rings, a wood shape set, modge podge, translucent color paddles, dinosaur skeletons and sun ray art paper - all to incorporate with stuff I already have. )I'm so stoked and geeked to use the stuff! And it makes me even happier that he's having such a great time too.

I'm hoping this weekend I'll have some time to turn one of our shelve units in the garage into a preschool supply area, so stuff can stopped being shoved in every free space around my house.

Overall, its been so much fun. I'm having such a great time just listening to him and observing his little wheels turn. Hopefully this weekend I'll get to the DIY light box!

Spoiled

Thank you Great Aunt Jeanie

for my new jeans, cool shoes -

but especially for my new Kings hockey jersey!

My little hockey star

He got a hold of Daddy's new skating helmet and almost done blew his mind when he saw it and put it on. He's obsessed, and I say that in the nicest way possible.

This kid dreams of hockey, literally.

He plays hockey at the park.

At home with his mini NHL net set.

On the xbox with his dad.

On his Papa's phone.

Wears any shirt that has anything to do with hockey on it.

Owns 4 jerseys, 7 sticks, two goalie sticks and 3 nets.

He chooses hockey on TV over cartoons, every time.

What kid do you know at 2 who asks to watch the sports station to catch recaps? Seriously.

He screams at the NHL channel like a pro.

His dream is to own a real mouth guard like the pros.

He requests to take trips down to the ice rink to watch the big boys play.

He constantly talks about when he gets to take skating lessons when he turns 3.

He knows the King players and numbers.

He pretends his rain boots are ice skates.

His favorite position to play is goalie.

He owns a mini air hockey table.

Gatorade drink is the shizz now. I've actually kept the mini Gatorade bottles to fill with water because he insists he drink "hockey water".

He puts himself in the penalty box for fighting. (Our couch.)

Its the first thing he asks to do when he wakes up, and is the last thing we're peeling him away from kicking and screaming at night.

He's even requested a hockey birthday party.

I love this kid, like seriously. Now practice so you can score yourself a hockey scholarship!

Backing it up - Christmas

I've tried to start this post only to hit backspace more times than I care to count. For the most part, I just kind of want to forget Christmas 2011. But its part of our family history now, and regardless of how any of us feel about it, it feels wrong to not document it for Sully either.

It wasn't the same, this was painfully obviously. But we still did what we could to make the best of it. We spent New years Eve with Shaun's mom celebrating "Christmas Eve" at dinner and later at her house to exchange gifts.

We headed home and set up goodies for Santa and left out carrots for his reindeer. The following morning my family headed over for Christmas breakfast and gifts. We did our annual Christmas funny gift exchange. This year Dad got a Jesus Barbie (from Sam), Brandon pulled a Twilight board game (from Shaun), Shaun received a Armadillo Can Holder (from Dad), Mom got a shattered glass ball for her car (from Brandon who lost his original "Chair in a Pocket" gift), Sam picked a calendar of bearded men (from me) and I got a Snuggie (from my mom - jokes on you, I love it). Sully, as usual, was spoiled beyond and above what he needed. Sully's favorite gift though was a Buzz Lightyear life size action figure.

By the end of the morning my living room looked like somebody had come in a slaughtered Santa's workshop! (The gifts below under the tree were just OUR gifts for everyone. My parents brought over THREE TUBS of gifts. I know, they're insane.)

(The night before Shaun was to leave for Texas, we let Sully pick one gift from under the tree to open. He was so happy to get his Bumbalebee Transformer from Mommy & Daddy. It helped to keep him distracted while Daddy was gone for a week.)

2012

Resolutions for 2012.

I got's them.

I could rattle off a list of the things I need to get better at doing this year by the bucket loads - like actually getting thank you cards out on time, for once. Or finally losing the weight I gained *cough* almost 2 years ago when I was pregnant. I could talk about my wish to travel to someplace I haven't been this year, my desire to learn the play the ukulele legitimately or finally kick my fear of toilet snakes (they are real people!) I could make the promise right now that I WILL take Sully bowling this year, that we will make more time for family camping trips and that I'll start going to bed earlier and stop surviving on 5 hours of sleep. How I promise this is the year we finish painting the house and finally decide on a color for our master bedroom, that I'll get better about seeing friends ... being on time ... breathing more ...

The list goes on

and on

and

on.

But the one I'm most excited about this year is this. My BIG resolution this year is to incorporate two purposefully planned preschool curriculum activities in our home, per week, and document it, on here, so I can hold myself accountable ... or look totally stupid as I fail trying.

I've spent the past couple weeks reading up on Waldorf and Montessori inspired teaching curriculum's - and needless to say, I feel inspired. Not so much to do their thing, but to bring back my own. I need doing this like I need a hole in my head, especially since he goes to school three days a week - learns a lot and loves it ... after that whole crying through the entire morning thing. Then he loves it.

I juggle working and a family just like everybody else. I have a never ending stack of laundry in my house and dishes that never seem to stop mating with each other and breeding more little dishes every time I turn my back. I struggle to get us all out the door on time in the mornings, dinner on the table at a reasonable hour or an adult conversation in with my husband every now and again that doesn't involve yelling over a screaming half naked toddler wielding a hockey stick throughout our house. I live for the day I don't pass out on my couch at 9:30 PM on a Friday. It would be so, so completely easy to just power down and throw on a movie for him every night while I go around looking for where I left my sanity ... but I don't want that. Not for me. Not for him. I want those days to be the exception, not the rule in our house. I know that there will come a day where he'll want nothing to do with me - a place where friends and sports and girls and sleeping override the coolness of parents. I guess I figure I'll just go hunting for my sanity then.

I don't want to be a back seat parent to his learning. And I guess my point is this: I don't have a lot of free time. If I am capable of pulling this off, then anybody is.

I'm not looking to break my bank, but I also don't have the kind of resources readily available like I use to when I taught. I am looking for thrifty, inexpensive ways to incorporate NEW learning centers/activities for us. Everything I plan on doing will be done at/in/around our house. So, here I go ... throwing up a Hail Mary and ...

Coming Soon ...

A DIY light table to be used for future art and science projects

Science: Ocean animals

Art: Truck paint

Sully lately

Long over due my little man to let you know everything you've been up to lately!

You're not a fan of eggs.

You sleep talk a lot.

You love helping at self checkouts.

You say "Huh?" a lot, and it kind of drives me crazy. I hate it.

You always start laughing when you fake cry because you suck at it.

You know all your shapes, even what a hexagon is! You once corrected me when I said something was a circle and you told me that it was in fact a oval. I didn't even know you knew what a oval was!

You're an observer. You pick up things extremely quick.

You're sensitive.

You get jealous around other babies. Having a sibling should be real interesting when the time comes.

You like Adele, Amy Whinehouse, Jack Johnson, The Jackson 5, Edward Sharpe, Zac Brown Band, Creedence Clearwater and Passion Pit to name a few bands. Clearly your taste in music is as eclectic as your daddy and my own.

You know all your colors.

You think coffee milk in regular milk heated up is coffee. I wonder sometimes what our neighbors think when you yell "Mom! I need my coffee!"

You think you know Kung Fu,

One of your favorite places to go is the SB Zoo. You insist they have zebras and we just have never found them. They don't.

I'm pretty sure you think our second home is Target.

You have a dimple under your eye that comes out when you smile. Its my favorite.

Your hair grows like your Daddy's, fast.

You're extremely tall for your age. People usually think you're a late 3 or 4 year old.

You laugh, a lot.

You try to make jokes when you're in trouble.

You think the 1989 Mario Bros. show is "cool". I don't have the heart to tell you. You do The Mario and it makes me crack up. I hope one day its your signature move on the dance floor. Do The Mario, do The Mario.

You take to music and pick up songs FAST. You remember a song after hearing it maybe only a couple times. You've started singing songs to yourself a lot (Something I do too.)

You live for hockey. You'd play it all day if we would let you. You play it with daddy on the xbox, with your hockey set in the house or outside, at the park, air hockey, on our phones, on the TV. You can name a good amount of players. Your favorite players are Jack Johnson and Anze Kopitar. You even know the players numbers and live in your hockey jerseys. All you talk about is taking skating lessons when you turn 3 and the ice rink daddy takes you to to watch the big kids play. ("I take skating lesson when I turn 3, so I can play like the big boys!")

You still sleep in our bedroom. You still use a paci. You still only sit on the potty when you want to. They are all works in progress. We're learning there is no such thing as making/bribing you to do something that you don't want to do. You're hard-headed like that.

Your favorite shoes are your converse stars or your rain boots.

You love hats.

Your favorite color is purple (Like the Kings. What a surprise!)

Your favorite food is beans and rice and pot roast with potatoes. You also love cheese.

Your favorite vegetables are carrots.

Your favorite fruits are bananas, apples, blueberries, avocados & strawberries.

You have a minor allergy to peanut butter and possibly nuts in general.

You can turn on, load, and navigate yourself around a laptop and phone. You know exactly where to go to get into the games or videos. You also like going through the picture folders.

You're funny and you know it. You have the comedic timing and sarcasm like an adult. We're in trouble.

You don't high five, you bump fists.

You don't cry when you get hurt usually. You're pretty tough. We always know you really are hurt when the tears come.

You like washing dishes.

You clench your fists when you sleep, something you've done since you were born.

You like putting soft things in your ears. We have no idea why.

The first thing you do at home or your grandparents house is take off your pants. It doesn't matter how long we're staying. The pants come off.

You love camping.

You love cars and trains.

You aren't scared of the dark.

You can write the number 11.

You can count to 30

You like to hug, kiss and hang on people when you get tired.

You can spell your name.

You prefer to be called Sullivan over Sully when asked or given the option.

You love to read. You have a handful of books that you can recite back to us.

You're pretty great about saying please and thank you.

You don't have a whole lot of interest in art right now, although you've started to get into drawing "faces".

You hate things on your hands IE: dirt, paint, chalk, sand, markers or anything sticky.

You're fascinated with chap stick.

Your favorite toy this Christmas was the Buzz Lightyear life size action figure your daddy got you.

You're pretty good at puzzles.

You're sassy most of the time, but extremely sweet when you want to be.

You like to cuddle, hold my hand and give hugs for no reason. You're definitely a Mama's Boy still and I'm totally okay with that.

The only blankets you'll sleep with have to be the fuzzy kind.

You're obsessed with making angry, silly faces and your eyebrows these days.

You like playing baseball and football. You're pretty good at catching.

You're shy.

You're very polite to other people, usually.

You give the best hugs.

You wear a size 9 shoe, a 3T-4T shirt and 3T long pants.

You weigh about 36-38 lbs. Every time you start to gain weight you immediately go through a growing spurt. I'm not sure how tall you are these days, but its more than half of your Yaya's total height. You're tall.

You love your daddy. You lay on his chest when you watch hockey together. He's also your personally jungle gym which I'm sure is going to require some PT down the line.

I let you dress yourself when you want. Like the night we picked up your daddy from the airport and you wore thermal animal pj leggings, a orange shirt, a football hoodie, your Kings jersey on top with a striped hat and frog rain boots. Or the time we went to Target and you were in brown plaid shorts with a striped shirt, two different colored socks, your lime green crocs and dragon hat. One time you wore lime green and orange shorts with a suspender shirt, your fedora hat and monster vans. I think its adorable. It reminds me of your Yaya.

You like having sleepovers at your Nini and Papa's house.

You love their dog Snickers more.

Yaya and B's dog Cash ate a gingerbread train you made. Its been a month later and you still relive that day.

People always comment on how helpful you are.

You have my eyes and your daddy's wide smile.

You like preschool even though the mornings are still a little rough.

You have natural rhythm and love instruments. You tap your foot to a beat. Its pretty awesome to see, especially coming from a musical background.

You like spicy food, especially salsa.

You're not very patient. You get frustrated easily.

You hate band-aids.

The only diaper brand you'll wear is Luvs. You freak out if we try to put anything else on you.

You don't like pull ups. You once came home in a princess pull up from school because you're awesome mom forgot your diapers that day, and ever since then, you've refused to wear pull ups at home. I'm pretty sure the pink "underwear" emotionally scarred you. You were so embarrassed that day!

You sing and dance and watch yourself in the mirror.

You're dramatic.

More than one person has said we need to get you into acting. You're very animated.

You've been to the movie theatre 3 times - Kung Fu Panda 2, Cars 2 and Puss in Boots. You did great every time.

You love dogs. You aren't scared of them at all. You like all animals but you really love dogs. You call Murphy Lu "Woo-wie". It's totally adorable.

You like sucking on lemons. We don't let you do it a lot though.

You're sour face is hilarious. You say "Its sour!" with a face anytime you don't want to eat something, even when its impossible for it to be sour.

You surprise us and keep us on our toes everyday!

Some funny things you've said in the past couple months ...

• Sleep talking: "No! I'm not funny!" (Raspberries the air and crashes out cold back onto pillow)

• Sleep talking: "Hey, don't sell me the cheese!"

• Sleep talking "I'm having a hockey dream."

• (Humming Fox sports tune) "Kings hockey, brought to you by, Jack-In-The-Box."

• "I can't eat dinner, I HAVE to do this!" (Gets down from table and proceeds to karate kick the air)

• "I can't do it, I'm sick. (Me - "You're not sick.") Well then I'm too little!"

• "Mom, just drive. (Me- "I can't, there is a car ahead of us.") Well then just crash into him."

• "Have you seen my harmon-ka? (Daddy - "Your what?") MY HARMON-KA! MY HARMON-KA! It goes, wooooot." (Me - "You mean your harmonica?") "YES! I said Harmon-ka."

• (At a restaurant and clearly crabby/agitated) "I said I wanted a burger damn it! I mean darn-it. I said darn-it."

• "Wait, we can't go. I didn't see any cows. (Us - "Cows?) Yeh, cows. They say moo. I didn't see them at the farm. (Us - "Sully we're at the Farmers Market, not The Farm.") Oh. No cows? I don't see no cows today then."

• "I'm looking for money in your purse. (Me - "Why?) I need money for my pig! My pig bank. Do you have dollars?"

At the park with Mommy and Yaya, playing what else ...

hockey!