C - Day

Our C Day was a big hit - Little Miss is still talking about it! First we started by making cookies in our pajamas.

Then we colored a card for Auntie Carrie that had a cat on it.

Next we got the card and some of our fresh cookies and carrots ready to drop of at Auntie Carrie's work.

When we got home we played a new game - this is the part she won't stop talking about, and we play it almost daily now. Coins in a Cup. Set the cups up, stand back and try to toss the coins in. This is the day she learned about President Abraham Lincoln as well - she mistook him for a historic religious leader of our church, it was pretty cute.

Then we played with sidewalk chalk and colored everything we could think of that started with the letter c...cat, camel, circle, our neighbor Carmen...

This next activity wasn't on the list - but it worked out great. Little Miss wanted to do puzzles and she chose her cat puzzle. Perfect. Oh, did I mention she wore a cat shirt all day?

And after nap time, we wrapped up our C day by coloring and gluing cotton balls on a letter C page.
Phew! What a fun day! Have any other great letter C activities you want to share? Please comment!

Weekend Flood

Friday morning we woke up to a flood in our basement apartment...I know, what were we thinking living in a basement!? Well, never again. However, our little water incident has got me thinking more about emergency preparedness...so get ready. In the next few weeks I will be amping up our preparedness and blogging about it.

Anything about emergency preparedness you're interested in or a pro at and would like to share? Let me know!

Orange Day

I am way behind on posting my preschool lessons - we did orange day more than a week ago. Little Miss is loving these "days" and is starting to declare that it's a "heart day" or a "white day" or a "bike day" all on her own. Whatever she is into that day.

I am a believer in letting the child lead the way in learning - if you can follow their current interests and tie in learning activities and opportunities the lessons are more likely to stick in their memory since it was their idea, them leading the way. But back to orange day...

We dressed in orange, of course - and Little Miss wore her orange sunglasses and played her orange recorder while we ran errands.

We also cut out anything orange we could find in a magazine and she practiced her glue stick skills to make a collage. Not too long ago she thought the glue stick was lipstick...so I figured it was time to teach her what it really was before she glued her lips together.

I needed to run errands - and since we seem to run short on time daily and I'm a multitasker, why not do our lesson on the go? So we hunted for orange things in the grocery store while I picked up our food for the week.

We bought the orange carrots and the orange to have with our lunch - which also included orange mac n' cheese.

We finished off our orange day with a coloring page - she loves to color! It's all she wants to do anymore. And she also had to show me that zoe on her panties was orange...

Any other great ideas to add to orange day? Please share!!

Baby #2 is...

...a boy!! We're thrilled. It was so fun to take Little Miss to the ultrasound with us. She was a little wiggly, but really loved seeing things she could identify - like these cute feet...

Love his little nose and lips...now I just have to figure out boys...now would be the time to give me little boy advice - anything random you would like to pass on?

B - Day

I kept our B day pretty low-key due to a lack of time. I'd rather get a little learning in then not do it because I'm stressing out over how extravagant it is or isn't.

Little Miss and I started out by coloring a B picture - barn, boy, bucket...then we made a list of all the b words we could think of on the back of our picture. We also read a lot of books, played with balls outside, and blew bubbles.

Everywhere we went we pointed out b things - bike, blue house, etc. We also ate b foods for snacks - bananas, bread & butter, etc. She always tells me "B is for Grandma Bobbie!" - so of course we saw Grandma Bobbie on our B day.

Some other b foods to eat: bacon, beans, brocolli, brussel sprouts, beef, baklava, barbecue chicken, banana cream pie, berries, bell peppers, bagels, brownies.

If we'd had more time we definitely would have gone on a bus ride - one of Little Miss's favorite things to do.

Losing a Pet

About a year ago we got Little Miss a pet fish - which she logically named fishy. He was a betta and like all fish, not very hands on interactive. Soon the newness wore off and fishy was really just taking up space and another thing I had to clean on a weekly basis. Little Miss only really paid attention to him when I mentioned him.

Last Saturday morning rolled around and my husband came to inform me that we lost a member of the family - poor fishy got sick and passed on. I asked him to take Little Miss out with him to throw away garbage and recycling while I did the dirty deed of flushing fishy down the porcelain throne.

I'm thinking at 2 years and 4 months she can be spared this part of it...not to mention I didn't want her to have weird feelings about the potty and back-step on her nearly perfect potty training record.

I got rid of all fishy evidence and we waited...waited for her to notice so we could explain. I didn't want to over-dramatize anything by sitting her down for a "talk" about fishy...

Our chance soon came. A friend was over and asked where fishy was...luckily I'd had time to think through what I would say, what would make sense to Little Miss. It went something like this...

"Fishy got sick and went to heaven to live with Jesus. Now he's all better."

We are very religious and talk about heaven and Jesus often at our house. Little Miss also knows that some of her great grandparents are in heaven with Jesus and although we can't see them, they can see us - so I knew this logic would make sense to her.

Since then she has only asked for fishy a few times and I just explain to her again that "fishy was sick and went to heaven - now he's all better and happy with Jesus". She has accepted it quite well.

She even told me that we could sing him songs and that Jesus would take him to the doctor.

Have you had to explain the loss of a pet to your little one? Or the loss of a loved one? How did you do it? How did you help your child cope and understand?

Red Day

My favorite color is red, and usually when I ask Little Miss - she'll say red is hers too. So we had a red day. First - we both dressed in red and read Little Red Riding Hood.


Then we went on a red hunt..."We're going on a red hunt, we're going to find red. We're not scared...what a beautiful day!" Just like the chant in the book We're Going On A Bear Hunt. Little Miss loved this game. Apparently the only color I know how to decorate with is red (like I said, it's my fav, don't judge me...) so we had no trouble finding red around the house!


After finding a ladybug shaped rock outside, washing and drying it - we painted with red. Little Miss loves painting and after her ladybug rock was finished asked for a piece of paper...

While our ladybug rocks dried we ate some red snacks - craisins, red vines, red juice, and a healthy red shake made with frozen strawberry puree, fresh banana and yogurt.


Then it was off to campus - I had a class to attend, so Grandma took her on a red hunt around campus - they found a book about red, a red apple, red fire hydrants, red painted curbs, red stop signs, and lots of college kids to dote on her. Which of course, she loved.

We finished our red day by coloring a page about red things before nap time.

Having a color day is a great opportunity to reinforce the known, or introduce new concepts to younger children, and help your child be more aware of her surroundings. Painting and coloring were also great activities to help those fine motor skills develop.