A Hug for a Friend

When I was a toddler I only had my sisters and cousins as playmates.  I never was awarded the privilege of growing up in an environment with other kids to play with.  Not to say either one is right or wrong, better or worse, but when I look at these two little ones, I can't help but think that there is something good about this place they are spending their first years.

We cleaned out part of the Sunroom this weekend and I put this little table in there so they could practice climbing and jumping.  Seeing the world from another vantage point is just an added bonus. Scamp and Little Man were both drawn to it immediately, together.  They spent a lot of time looking out the window, jabbering to each other, and...

Lots & Lots of HUGGING!!!

We didn't just hug today... we played outside.  The weather is amazing and we had lots of fun just playing in the dirt, climbing, swinging and running free.  I introduced the letter Dd today, the color GREEN, and the Diamond shape.  Laura Numeroff wrote a new book, If You Give A Dog A Donut and I so wish we had that today.  We talked about Dogs and had Donuts for Snack... YUM!!

Friends...

I was cooking lunch today and heard lots of giggling coming from the Living Room. 

This is what I found....

They all climbed up on the couch and proceeded to laugh, giggle, wiggle, make funny faces, sing songs, take socks off, bang heads, (and yest that is Scamp trying to take Sprouts barrette) and enjoy just being with each other!!!  To cute!!!

It's Been Awhile...

It's been awhile since I have last been here. I couldn't believe so much time had passed. We have been busy, busy this past week. My camera is on it's last leg, it has been dropped, submerged, kicked, and now taken apart. Thankfully, I got it to work again. I was worried it would be stuck on movie forever. After a little fiddle here and a tweak there, I was able to get it to take and download photos again!! Yeah. I will cross my fingers it will last until I can save up some money to invest in another one :)

What have we been doing?? Well....

We have been learning to play ball!!

Playing in the water table is always fun!!

And educational... Roo is practicing her pouring skills!!!

Little Man is practicing Squeezing water from his cloth... he had a lot of fun with that one, especially when he took it to the table and left a trail of water (lots of water) behind him. I think we need a little more practice ;)

The girls LOVED cleaning the toys.

We made pumpkin puppets for our 5 Little Pumpkins song

Little Man used roll-on paint to decorate his Fall Tree


I don't think Lil Bit knew which she liked better, the roll-on paint or the Do-A-Dot paint... as long as it got on her hands she was a very happy girl :)

We even got to do a little baking. We have been trying to bake every Monday morning, this way we have some yummy snacks to nibble on during the week. My husband enjoys it a lot!!!

We did so much more... like painting, playing outside, dancing to music, pretending to be leaves and apples falling from trees, we even practiced kicking the ball outside in the yard. If I were to get it all on my camera I would never put it down. Yet, I forget sometimes all the little stuff and never get photos of us rolling on the floor playing get your belly, or sitting reading books, doing finger songs, or getting ready for breakfast, lunch or snack. There are so many little moments during the day I wish I could capture, because sometimes it's the things we adults think of as mundane, repetitive or insignificant that mean the most to a child.

Forming Friendship over the Soil Tub

While talking about the letter Zz and the Zoo kept us busy today, it was the tub of soil, tiny dinosaurs, buckets and shovels that was a favorite for another day. While there is a bit of soil on the floor, on a constant basis, it's not to bad. I thought with Little Man and 2 toddlers that the mess would be a whole lot worse. Yet, it hasn't been to bad. It has given each child a wonderful sense of freedom and independence when they are able to get the mini broom and dust pan out and sweep the dirt off the floor. Even Little Man tries, although he usually ends up trying to eat the broom, so we have to watch him carefully :)

These three little ones are learning to work together each day. It is hard work for them to maneuver through this part of growing up. Sharing is really, really hard. Today was an interesting day. I watched as Little Miss M and Sprout did the sharing dance all day. It was a lot of testing, pushing the limits, and "tattling." Yet, in the end, both of them worked through it and were actually playing wonderfully together, as well as with Little Man.

Having a small home child care gives me the opportunity to work with each child individually, as well as in a small group. I am able to give words to situations, model correct behavior, praise positive outcomes and help them work things out when tempers get a little ruffled. With only 5 children at any given time, I will see almost everything and I can help them work through it. The good and the bad :)

A New Year

Happy New Year to All!!!

Well, the story of my life... I can't find the wire to my camera!! I just can't seem to get a handle on those darn wires. We changed the living room around for the holidays, so hopefully they are in the couch somewhere.

Anytime we have a long break I like to take a week to review and readjust to our routines. So, we are exploring the theme Friendship. We read, The Rainbow Fish, by Marcus Pfister. I love the way the kids "get" that the Rainbow Fish was very lonely when he didn't share his scales. Then when he finally did share, he was happy. A great lesson for us to learn here at Child Care.

We then made our very own Rainbow Fish, where we took scrap booking paper and tore off pieces and then passed (shared) it to our friends to have a turn with it. They had a great time gluing, tearing, & sharing. It was great for our little ones too, the fine motor skills were great for them to practice. Tearing is a hard skill for a 2 yr old to learn, but when they do... watch out :)

We also read The Giving Tree, by Shel Silverstein. We talked about how the tree loved the boy so much and how she loved giving him the things he needed. We then talked about how the boy was able to give back his love to the tree when she was sad. The kids liked this book.

Nature walks, trips to the park and running around the block were among our favorite outside activities this week. My yard has been a little muddy due to the weather, so we got our outside time other ways. The baby loved going down the slide with the kids, but trying to eat the mulch was another favorite activity of his.

So far our week is going great. Getting back into routines is always hard, but as the week goes by we are remembering the rules and routines.

Community Trick-or-Treat

We really love our town, especially at Halloween. Each year all the stores and businesses buy loads of candy and have a community trick-or-treat on the main street. They buy lots of candy on their own and deck themselves and/or their store fronts out in decorations... this year we saw some mad scientist, a ghoulish monster, and a hippie mayor with a decked out VW bus. Can it get any better than that?? We had a really good time, and all but one of the kids could make it. We had siblings, friends, Moms & Dads... what a great time.

My little Fireman

Always a Princess!!

See... what can I tell ya... the things they do for the kids!!!

Friends!!

Old Friends!!

Seeing friends we don't get to see every day.

Hey, I ain't monkeying around here.... where's my candy!!!

Group Shot

I love living in such a wonderful community!!!