Tot School: It's COLD

This week we were NOT blessed with warm weather. It has been too cold to go outside...and cold in the house. Add in that Franklin is still cutting teeth...it's been a rough week.

We did get ONE nice day to play outside. So, that was the busy day for Tot School.

I made a sensory bin! My first one!

Contains: split peas (that we'd never eat), some brown rice (that we didn't like), cheap rigatoni dyed red, cookie cutters, ribbon, and a squishy pig. (The pig is way more fun to throw and never made it back)

I gave him a spoon and bowl and let him scoop.

He's good at it when he focuses.

We tried on the floor but that didn't work as well.

He liked fitting the cookie cutters into a bowl. (The fist is him telling me he needs to go potty)

It was also fun to line all of the cookie cutters on the edge of the table.

We also played with the Geo Sorter toy this week.

In one week he went from only being able to do one color to being able to do 4 with little difficulty...

We went outside ONE DAY.

But he wasn't tired or anything.

Mommy discovered an ant home at his feet *sigh*

Okay, I must give some information before sharing the next photos...

I hate bugs. HATE HATE HATE them. This applies to most of the bug community. Yes, I understand that many are harmless and even helpful. BUT THEY'RE GROSS!! I have a phobia when it comes to most bugs. (Like, freak out and run screaming kind of thing)

However, I'm also dedicated to my son learning. So, when there was a cricket in the yard and I saw that he was interested in it I went inside and got a yogurt container AND I CAUGHT THE THING.

That's right. There's a cricket in there.

Now, Franklin didn't care so much about observing it...he liked to dump it back and forth and hear it scrape on the foil as it tried to stand upright.

I let it go after a bit. 1) I don't want bugs in my house. 2) It seemed kind of mean to let my son beat it to death...

He may have tried to squish it with a rock...

I also have him making Valentines. No photos of that (it would ruin the surprise) He's fingerpainting and I'm going to cut out squares to send off as Valentines. Those photos will go up after V-day is over!

Oh, we got Franklin a doll (yes, a DOLL) because he's been so interested in the baby (and babies all over). We wanted him to have is own baby to take care of (and be able to carry)

He was super excited:

How does Jonathan spend Tot School?

My favorite photo of the week:

Franklin fell, Mommy couldn't get to him, so Daddy put Jonathan down quickly...and he never woke up.


Linking up:

Boys In Motion Link UP

It's Friday again (seriously? I spent all of Tuesday feeling like it was Friday.)

Here's my action shot for the week:

I chose this one because I'm EXCITED! The fist in the air is Franklin signing "potty" to me...He's almost 22mo and lately we've been getting 95% of our pees in the potty. He's been telling us when he needs to go!! Huge steps!

Head on over to Home With The Boys to see some more awesome photos.

You Are A Flower

It sounds kind of cheesy, right? "You're a flower." Now, don't click away. It's an analogy.

Flowers need sunshine, water, and earth to grow and thrive.

Jesus was heard to say, "whoever drinks the water I give will never be thirsty. The water I give will become a spring of water gushing up inside that person, giving eternal life." (John 4:14 NCV) Just like actual flowers need H2O to grow; you need the salvation found in Jesus to thrive and grow.

God has been referred to as "a sun and shield." (Psalm 84:11 NCV) Again, flowers cannot grow in the dark (photosynthesis requires sunlight) and YOU cannot grow in your spiritual life without God.

Here's where I don't have a direct Biblical Reference...you'll just have to go with me! Think of "earth/dirt" like the Bible; in the sense that it's the base for your spiritual self. If the dirt is too loose the flowers can't take root properly. Same thing if its too hard. You have to find the right consistency for growth.


Yeah, it's a little bit silly...but you'll remember it! (I had a teacher tell me once, "silly remembers" and she did lots of silly things to drill stuff into us)

Coming Up Next!!!

Upcoming subjects:

- My journey into creating: The House That Cleans Itself

- Weekly Tot School updates

- Monthly kid/baby updates

- Weekly recipe reviews

- My thoughts on my new Bible Study: Same Life, New Story (10 weeks long) Weekly updates.

If you have any suggestions please let me know!

Tot School!

Franklin is 21.5 months old.

This week I TRIED to keep him busy. I'm still getting the hang of having a toddler and a newborn. Here are some photos of our week. Stefan's mom was here so that helped a lot.

On the "shelf" toys. (We've allocated 3-5 toys to be "downstairs" toys every week or so. It keeps the living room from being wrecked)

There are actually 10 blocks downstairs...

This started out challenging but now he can put the shapes in with little trouble...sizes are a different story.

Assorted motion things. Airplane with wheels, truck, ball to throw around...

We were blessed with warm weather so we got lots of time outside!

He ran from the fence to the house and back again.

There's construction going on that we could see and hear. He was showing me.

We did a few inside chores (Stefan's mom helped us get up to date on laundry and unpacked a bit. Franklin helped.)

We also pulled out the ice to pour!

And when it was too cold to go outside (mornings were a bit chilly) we tried to get active inside. Mommy invented a game that involves throwing a soft ball at the stairs. That's it...a ball and the stairs. It was a huge hit.

We also tried to throw it at Mommy and the camera...

I visited the Target Dollar Spot yesterday and got some sensory bin stuff. I've been avoiding it because of the potential for a huge mess...but I'm being brave and jumping in.

This next week I plan on having more activities planned.

Boys in Motion Link Up

It's Friday again! I'm sharing my motion shot!

This is why vacuuming is a two person job!

Franklin has taken to CHASING the vacuum around. So yeah, one of us has to vacuum and the other one has to corral the kid.

Linked Up to Boys In Motion Friday!

Face Lift!

The blog FINALLY got a facelift!


Thoughts?

This is why we bought the house...

THERE'S A YARD! No, there's no grass yet (which is fine by Franklin as he loves to grab handfuls of dirt pour them on Mommy)

We spent 30mins outside in the warmer weather and sunshine yesterday. And you know what? He took a nap an hour later.

Sad Note: An ant got into his shirt and stung him repeatedly. He has three stings on his shoulder. Poor kid.

He spent most of the time running from the house to the fence...

...and back again.

He'd pretend to go inside and then rush back out.

No, not inside yet.

Every stumble is a chance to pick up rocks!

Like I've said before: My son is spirited. He has a ton of pent-up energy. Living in the apartment I kept noticing that around noon his behavior would go downhill and stay there until Daddy got home. I was disciplining him constantly and not seeing any improvement. So, instead of upping the discipline (like some parenting books will tell you to do) I reevaluated the situation. What did Daddy have that Mommy didn't? Well, Mommy was big and pregnant with horrible back pain and Daddy was getting down on the floor and wrestling or chasing Frankie through the living room...things Mommy wasn't physically able to do. We (Stefan and I) concluded that it was that pent-up energy that was causing the behavior problems. However, there wasn't much we could do in an apartment with nowhere to play outside! This yard is a huge blessing. We did the best we could with the previous small space, but having a big yard to just PLAY in has been amazing.

So, if you're noticing behavior issues in your toddler (especially your toddler BOY) evaluate how much space he has to play. Are you inside a lot? Maybe there's a lot of pent up energy causing the behavior problems. If you can't get outside try a really physical inside activity. Dance like crazy, run around, exercise, etc... I'm willing to bet if you try a different tactic you'll find more success.


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