Hands On Learning

Dax is at probably my absolute favorite stage of development. He is really using his imagination and taking initiative to learn all he can. You can just see the connections constantly being made in every activity he does.
I try to plan something for us at least every other day. Nothing big, but just a general idea of something for us to spend some time doing. Most of the time I know that I plan on doing an activity that day, but I don't actually know what I'm going to do until about 5 minutes before it happens. I try to watch Dax and see what he's interested in and engaged in that day and then go from there with our activity.
Here's an activity that we did a couple weeks ago that he just ran with and took it in directions I didn't expect him to.

 So the day before, we went on a nature walk in our back yard.... collecting leaves, bark, nuts... whatever we could find. I also had some great books on fall that I hadn't read yet with Dax. I picked through the leaves and found ones that I thought best showed the color changing process and put them in this little basket. We read the books and looked at the leaves that we had found. I fully expected him to just touch the leaves and feel them.... but to my surprise he decided to do this 110% on his own....

 My little stinker took the leaves and matched them to their picture in his book! I didn't touch these leaves at all, or even talk to him about it, and yet they are perfectly matched to the book (under each leaf is the picture that matches it!)

 After he was finished with the book and touching and feeling the leaves I spread glue out all over paper and let him make a nature collage with them. He loved it and was very proud of his work (which is now hanging up in our living room).

Here are a few other shots of things we've done this past week...

His block building is getting so creative and intricate. Up until the past week or two his block play consisted of stacking blocks as high as he could get it and then knocking it down. But now he is building "houses" that he works really hard on for several minutes at a time. And most of the time he tops his buildings with a triangle (just like a roof... precious huh?) Kids learn SO much through block play that this makes me really, really excited. I always stressed block play in my classes so I'm very satisfied that he's a fan too :)

Today we pulled out what was left from our nature walk. He learned so many new words and names and got to feel such new, different textures. He also collected all the rocks and lined them up and counted them without my involvement at all.

We were playing with his beads today and I was talking about the shapes. He then went on to classify each block by it's shape and made piles for each (again, completely on his own).

I'll be posting more often on things we're doing during our day. I know I love great, simple, and cheap ways to learn so hopefully you do too. And if you have any fun simple ideas I would love to hear them!

A Day in the Life

My new job as stay at home mom is going great. Dax and I have adjusted to all the changes and things are going so smoothly.... better than I ever thought they would. It's been almost a month now since I quit working and one of the best months ever.
As cheesy as it may sound, I feel more complete, satisfied, and most surprisingly, accomplished than I have ever felt before. Accomplished.... by staying at home with my boy. I knew I would be happier, less stressed, more satisfied, and like a better mom..... but this overwhelming feeling of accomplishment is what has taken me by surprise.
I had moments of feeling accomplished while teaching... that moment when the light bulb goes off for a kid, or when they tell you they love you, or when you know you've made a difference in their day. But this completely, 100%, overwhelming sense of accomplishment has never been felt until I started staying home.  This is what I'm meant to be doing at this moment in time. There's no doubt about it.

My first week of staying home I made a plan of attack... because think about it, how easy would it be to be to just sit my little butt on the couch all day in my pj's and relax.  I settled on a routine for Dax and I that would fit us and keep up both on track with life. Here's a peak at what our day is like...

Dax wakes up anywhere between 6-7am. We have a little bit of cuddle time on the couch and he usually wants a snack (a light breakfast... think granola bar or some dried cereal). After that he usually plays for a bit while I drink some coffee and finish waking up (it's a process that takes a little bit). Usually around 8am we have actual breakfast. After breakfast I start my chores. I am my most productive in the mornings so I decided I would devote most of my morning to my chores and all of the afternoon to Dax (of course if a teachable moment arises in the morning or if he wants me to sit and play with him or read a book I'll stop what I'm doing and do that). I searched all over pinterest for a cleaning schedule to use but ended up making my own..

This seriously has worked out great and is very helpful in giving me a goal/plan for each day. We also use morning time to go on walks a couple times a week around our neighborhood. Usually around 10:30 we'll go back to Daxton's room and read some books, sing songs, and do our yoga (I bought this book and we love it... Dax will bring it to me and ask to do it). Usually after this we go outside for about an hour until lunch. Around 12:30 or 1 Dax will lay down for nap. I use nap time as me time... time to sit, relax, blog, read (this was my hubby's great idea). The rest of the afternoon is devoted to Dax. We play, do art, wrestle, sing, dance, read.... basically whatever he wants to do. I've been making sure to do a planned project with him at least every other day. I believe kids learn most through play so I don't plan a whole lot... but I do want to provide some planned experiences for him.

Not my typical art project for him but couldn't pass up some Candy Corn foot print magnets. I ended up cutting these out, laminating them, and writing "Trick or treat, smell my feet" and them and making magnets.

Fall stickers

We made a road for his car

He is starting to get really creative with his buildings.  (I made the base for the house but he hunted down all the triangles and piled them on the top of it)

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

The title shows my secret love for David Bowie (don't judge)..... but it's so so fitting.

So since the last post (only a short month ago) our lives have been so busy, full of changes and new experiences. We'll start with the biggest change for us...

Shortly after my last post we made our decision public that I would be quitting my job teaching and start my new career as a stay at home mom. This was a decision that we had been talking about and planning for quite awhile. We knew that we would be questioned about our choice by some people, therefore didn't tell anyone until after I already had my notice in and the decision was made. Luckily most people have been very supportive... at least to our face. And that's all we're asking for. They don't have to like our decision (we don't expect for anyone other than us to see why this was so important for us) but we do want them to be supportive. It's the old saying, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all"  :)  We know 110% that this is the absolute best thing for our family at this time. We are entering a new chapter in our life where Daniel is going to be traveling every.single.week. until after Christmas. He'll be home for January but will again be gone for the entire month of February. After that we'll be moving come May for residency. Because of all this, we decided that it was very, very important for Dax to have one, stable, consistent caregiver for him at all times. We loved his daycare but it was just that... a daycare. And anyone that knows anything about daycares knows that teachers are in and out of rooms all the time. There's very little consistency and during a time of so much change at our house that's the one thing he really needs. So for the sake of Daxton's maximal social and emotional development, the decision of me staying home was an easy one. Another big factor for us was being able to take advantage of any time we can get as a family. Daniel's schedule is crazy, rarely consistent, and will be even more crazy when he starts traveling. We wanted to be able to take advantage of any time we can get as a family. He has days off here and there, hours off here and there throughout the week. If I was working and Dax as at school, we would miss out on a lot of time with Daniel. When he starts traveling for interviews me and Dax will be able to go with him to some; getting some quality family time in and getting a chance to see places that we might actually call home in a few months.
Final point is this.... yeah, we are going to be on a tight budget for 8-9 months, and yeah, we'll have some extra loan money to pay back. But that means nothing to us. Our family's well being and health are significantly more important to us, and that's all that matters.

And a brief note for all the other changes taking place for us lately and keeping us super busy! Dax has started soccer!!! It's a once a week parent/child class for 40 minutes. It's adorable. An our little man is so strange. Most people get their kids involved in these activities to interact with other kids.... but Dax needs work interacting with adults. He clams up and just doesn't function if adults, particularly young female adults (think teens and early 20s) talk to him. So for the first several weeks we would spend about half of the class on the bench watching before he would decide it was safe to play. But last week we had a break through and he played the entire time! WOOOHOOO!

This is what the first several weeks looks like. If we weren't sitting on the bench we were standing at the edge of the field, Dax frozen like a statue and us trying to encourage him to play.

The class is precious. They do the regular soccer things like running, kicking balls, making goals. But they also do games to help them follow instructions, talk about colors, and learn teamwork.

And the final thing that has been keeping us busy is interview season! Daniel has submitted his application to over 40 General Surgery residency programs across the country. The past few weeks have been full of scheduling and planning for interview travels. He is doing really good and has had a lot of offers so far. Our calendar though isn't doing so well. It's crazy full with travel plans. Daniel will be traveling every.single.week. through the end of December for interviews, with the exception of the week of Thanksgiving and Christmas (but we'll be traveling to OKC then). So needless to say, we've been busy scheduling flights, hotels, mapping out trips, researching cities & schools. The next several months is going to be crazy that's for sure.

Well that's our crazy life full of changes. I'm going to leave you with some pics of some great family time we've got to have since I've started staying home. Enjoy.... they're pretty cute.

Time fishing at the lake...

A trip to Frontier City with family...

Visiting the Cowboy Hall of Fame with family...

A tea party with my niece...

Visiting Meemaw and Pawpaw.

Two Years Old

I have so many things I'm wanting to blog about and fill you guys in on but I've been sick and now little man is sick so we haven't had much extra time.
But I wanted to make sure I got a Two Year Old update in on my little man before he changed too much (cause boy is he changing and growing fast!)

At two years old....
* Dax is 90% in height and weight. No concern about him being chunky because he's tall too. If his percentage in height was lower then we would be concerned about a 90% in weight... but he's just an all around big boy (he got mommy's height when she was little and daddy's weight)   :)
* He sleeps about 11 hours at night and takes a 2-3 hour nap during the day. He tells us when he's tired, we go through our bedtime routine, and he goes right to sleep on his own.
* Says 4 word sentences like it's nothing
* Knows most shapes (square, circle, oval, triangle, diamond, star, heart)
* Can count to 9 completely on his own.
* Loves to wash his hands.
* Loves the vacuum.
* Is starting to soak in everything daddy does and imitates him.
* He loves Eebee's Learning Adventures on Netflix
* Favorite foods are Pizza, cheese sandwich, veggie corn dogs, watermelon, strawberries, cheese, yogurt.
* Favorite snacks are "hop hops", pretzels, and "bars".
* The boy drinks water like it's going out of style.
* Favorite books are Dinosaur Diner, Noahs Ark Big Book, and Little Quacks Opposites.
* He loves bath time and likes to lay on his tummy and "swim".
* He loves sitting on the potty and reading his potty book but has only actually gone a few times.
* He loves writing with pencils, painting, and cutting with scissors.
* He loves to be outside.
* He is still a HUGE music boy. If there isn't music on he ask for it and can sing several of our favorite songs on the radio.
* His favorite kiddie song is Wheels on the Bus
* Speaking of buses, he loves school buses and gets really excited if he sees a real one on the road.
* He's not a fan of bugs.... he says "shewing bug" and wrinkles his face all up when he sees one :)
* He asks, "what's this" and "what you doing" all the time. I love it.
* He is starting to use "me" and "my" when talking about himself.
* He holds a pencil the right way and can draw a vertical line and circle.... sometimes a horizontal line.
* His best friends at school are Blake and Parker and he loves his old teacher "Miss Cupcake"  (a name he gave her randomly... her actual name is Kaitlyn).  He started in a new two year old class this week with a new teacher.
* He ADORES his cousins "CheyChey" and "Nainer". He lights up around them.
* He still is very attached to his "Nahnee"  (his blanket)  and as of Friday no longer has his binky!
* His feet are huge.... 7 extra wide.... that's right.... not just wide.... extra wide
* He knows how to unlock mommy's Ipod, slide the screen, start and work with Eebee App. all on his own.
* He doesn't have just one specific sort of toy he likes to play with (cars, trains, animals, etc).  His interest change from day to day. If someone asked me what three things Dax just loves I would say art, playing pretend, and books...... those things keep his attention the longest. Maybe he'll grow up to be analytical like his mommy & daddy :)

Two

In 11 short days our little man will be two..... and in 6 days we'll be celebrating that special day with our friends and family back in OKC!
I love planning parties, and decorating and all that hoopla.... so I've been a party planning machine for about a month now! Here are a few of the details from last years party... and here are the series of pictures from the actual party... 1, 2, and 3.
This year I wanted to have a birthday theme of something that he really enjoyed. Some possible ideas were cars, Yo Gabba Gabba, and construction.  I went to the party store for inspiration and while there figured out exactly what I wanted to do. They had some gorgeous teal, orange, yellow, and a bright green plates and napkins and such and I knew I def. wanted to use those and instantly decided on a "painting" theme for the party. This little boy LOVES to paint. I think he's going to be super creative as he gets a little older for sure. I would say it's safe to say that the "toys" that get used most in our house are markers, colored pencils, paint, and pens. He gives much more undivided attention to those items than cars or other toys for sure.
With that said.... here's a sneak peak at some of the major products for next weeks party!

The invites! Super cute and super cheap! Dax painted them so they're each different!

For the kids painting table. I'm not a big fan of the typical goody bag filled with sweets.... so we opted for something a little different!

I found this saying online so made my own little printable. They'll be throughout the party... and will find a permanent spot in his room afterwards!

I found some similar cupcake toppers online that you could buy but they were super expensive.... so I made my own :)

Our color inspiration!

Part of a banner...

Part of our center pieces!

Well that's your sneak peak!! And on a side note... anything that has paint on it Dax did himself :)   I'm super excited with how it's all coming together and I can't wait to show all of the details after the party!