Experiences

This post will be very picture heavy... but here are some of the activities Dax and I have done over the past couple weeks...

1: Lots and lots of pretend play. Over the past couple weeks he has turned a corner in really participating in some pretend play. He talks to babies, his cars talk to each other, and he is now doing cooperative play with Daniel and I. He is still working on this skill because he definitely gets frustrated at least once a day because we're not doing what his little mind is wanting us to do. He's thinking a lot faster than he can communicate with us.... so we're working on using our words. It's a whole new world for him.

  2. Lots of ramps and block play!  My very favorite thing to do with kids for sure. They just learn so many skills through ramps and blocks and I'm seeing it everyday at home. The problems solving he is having to do is unreal, and he's been testing different things to see how they "roll" down (the second image is him trying to roll a square block). We're big into rolling cars, marbles, and his little wooden balls.  His pretend play is also really coming out in his block building too. He's bringing his animals into play, his cars into play, and even acting out his favorite story (the three little pigs) with them.

 

3. Art is still one of our favorite things to do! I set up an experience for him using paint and his basket of natural materials I leave on his table for him. He started just painting with his brush but quickly picked a rock out of the basket, painted it, and then used it to make a mark on his page. He did this with a few different rocks and it was awesome to watch! Each rock made a different print... it was super cool to see him make a print, look at the rock, touch the rock, and try to figure out what exactly was going on. He's like the epitome of a sensory learner so painting his hands is still a favorite thing to do. I also threw in a little aluminum foil and canvas for him to paint on this week to mix things up :)

 

4. Cooking! Daxton loves helping and is always pretending to cook so I thought I would let him help me make pizza for dinner last night! He absolutely loved it. I wrote a recipe for us to follow.... so we read the directions, followed them step by step, and he helped with every detail of making the pizza.

 

 5. Letters! We are still running full speed with letters! He is learning them so fast! He can now spell his name when you ask him, knows quite a few letters, is pointing them out in books, and is now running his fingers along the words in books while he pretends to read (!!!).  I ordered these great Montessori books online and we've been using the letter one a lot! It's really cool because it introduces each letter by the sound that it makes and the letters inside are tactile so they can trace the letters with their fingers and learn the feel for it. We've been talking about the lines and curves of each letter and I think it's helping a lot . The second image is something I made him last week to learn his name. Within 2 days of playing with this he had his name down. He loves this!

 

And the next photos include a project we did yesterday. We collected rocks, took them in and washed them (Dax poured the soap and scrubbed each rock), and then I painted letters on them with acrylic paint (apparently you can also do this with sharpie but decided to go with paint). I did a set with all capital letters and a set with all lower case letters. Then I got a couple empty egg cartons (yes I keep "trash" like egg cartons laying around the house) and printed a letter on each slot.  He'll be able to use these as a matching activity s well as just a hands on movable alphabet that he can explore with. I love these!

The 52 Project

 My biggest purpose in this blog is to document Daxton as he grows. I use it as a sort of "baby book" with intentions of one day printing pages and sticking them in a binder for him.

I also know that I do really well with set deadlines/plans/goals.

So with those two ideas in mind.... I decided to join the 52 project at a blog I read, Che' and Fidel.

With this project I'll capture a single photo of Daxton a week.... an expression, detail, moment, etc that I want to remember.

So by the end of the year... I'll have 52 wonderful pictures of moments I want to remember to make a scrapbook of.  I'm starting on the fourth week in so today I'll post my first 3 pictures from previous weeks... and then this weeks pictures.

1/52

Double chins and remote control cars for the first time

 

2/52

Curious chunky fingers

3/52

Choo choo trains and monkey jammies

4/52

 

 Tiny sunglasses, scarves, and froggy hats. 

He got told at Chic'fil'a, "that kids awesome!!" by a 7ish year old boy

My TV Doctor

Today's Thursday!!! Which means I'm linking up with Medicine: A Love Story!!!  Today's question
is....

"Which fictional doctor is your significant other most like?"

I was super excited when I saw this question because while my husband hates them, I'm a super big sucker for doctor TV shows. So I quickly ran through my entire list of doctors from my ridiculously long list of doctor TV shows to come up with the perfect fit for my hubby....

but it was tougher than I thought. 

Then I went on to read this question out loud to myself in deep thought and from the other room I hear this response..

"McSteeeeeamy!" 

He doesn't think highly of himself or anything ;)

I couldn't narrow it down to just one.... so I have aspects of three different doctors that if somehow they had a love child... it would come out to be my husband.

Doctor #1. Dr. David Sawyer (The New Normal): 

 Before I start with the similarities, I start with the one major difference... Dr. Sawyer is obviously gay.... where my husband is obviously not. But other than that one minor factor (my husband is loooving me for this one I'm sure) they have quite a bit in common. Both are overthinkers (for sure), both love their family (definitely), both love football (maybe a little too much), and both love a nice adult beverage every now and then.

Doctor #2. Dr. Cooper Freedman (Private Practice): 

 Side note I am super super sad that Tuesday was the last episode and I may start the show over from the beginning on netflix. Alright so Dr. Cooper Freedman and my hubby..... both are extremely passionate about their job, both have huge hearts, both love their family and taking care of their family, and while both are serious when they need to be, they are also pretty goofy and funny as well.

And Doctor #3. Dr. Jackson Avery (Greys Anatomy): 

 First things first... they're both surgeons. Next they both hard working, driven, and eager and don't let what other think or say stand in the way of what they want to do. Both are competitive, confident, stubborn, and like to give the people around them a hard time. But the biggest comparison is.... drum roll..... their dreamy blue eyes, amazing smile,  and the size of crush this woman has on them (did that make up for the Dr. Sawyer comparison babe?)

Matthew 6:34

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34

This is going to be the motto of my life for the next 4-5 months that's for sure.

Our calender is quickly filling up with award dinners, match day activities, commencements, graduations, etc...

And then there's Valentines Day, birthdays, and graduation gifts... 

And don't forget things like our lease ending at our current house in April, not getting to close on a house (in who knows where) until late May/June, packing our entire house, finding a storage unit, changing addresses and accounts to a completely new state....

oh, and there's this little person that depends on me 24/7 to take care of him and teach him... can't forget that...

also the fact that Daniel is getting ready to start a rural rotation where he'll be gone M-F.... leaving just me and said little person....

 

and last but not least... the stress that the "unknown" has on me... a person who likes to have a set plan all.the.time.

So if we're ever chitchatting between now and the end of May... or you just feel like sending me a sweet message, comment, or email.... please remind me to enjoy the process as well. To take each moment day by day. And to not worry about tomorrow. Thanks friends

Take that Mom

Dax gave me a big fat slap in the face this past week. Not literally a "slap in the face" (which I may not put it past him) but instead a slap that put me back in my place and reminded me of the things I was taught in collage.

Our boy.... who can count to 20, tell you every shape possible, remember things you told him once 3 months ago (he seriously does this... must be his fathers son), explores nature, and can question and reason with the best of them still does not know his colors. Two. Two colors is all he knows. Orange & Purple. Really? What kid learns orange and purple before all other colors?  Daniel thinks he's color blind.... but that's another post. I think he's stubborn. We shall see.

But starting out this week I was ready! I was ready to tackle colors head on. We were going to learn those colors and have fun doing it!  We did puzzles with colors on them...

we painted and talked about the colors...

and I even swiped come color chips from walmart and played a "drive your car to this color" game...

which he enjoyed.... but could only get orange and purple. 

But then he slapped me in the face real hard. There's a show on Netflix that he likes called "Super Why" about letters and this week he got really into it and it hit me. 

Stop with the colors... he's not interested.... his window right now is letters!

I was quickly reminded that you have to let children lead their own learning. This is something my classrooms revolved around.... but getting wrapped up in the day to day business at home I forgot to do it with my little boy.  So now we're exploring letters full speed! I saturated the house with letters and am pointing out environmental print even more to him. I wrote letters on his dry erase board, put the letter magnets for his name on the door, and changed his table around in the living room to look like this...

He is pointing letters out everywhere now and is naming a few letters and making the sounds for some as well. All in just 5 days. Because he wanted to learn those skills right now. Right this very minute. Not because I wanted him to or because he "should know those by now".  We went to the store today and he got so excited when he saw "yetters" (mind you he still cant say his L sound) on the outside of the building. When he's playing independently he is pointing out letters to himself. He even created this game tonight on his own....

(pick a letter and let the train run over it while saying, "watch out letter N! The train is coming!")

And it's amazing. The amount he has grown in just 5 days with his early literacy skills is unreal. We'll keep going with letters as long as he wants and see where it takes us....

one day we'll learn colors.... just not right now.