Wee Wonderings: T at Two: favorites from the past year

In March T celebrated his third birthday. Despite the ups and downs that go along naturally with toddlerhood (or is it, just naturally with being human?!) we had all in all a lot of fun together. We sang. We read. We cooked. We colored. We explored. We went to the library. Traveled to the southwest desert and to the east coast. We went to an aquarium, were frequently at the zoo, and explored the local nature center at every opportunity. We visited with friends. It was a pretty good year.

I drew from a wide variety of sources. I used and finished up my copy of My Montessori House, continued working through Slow and Steady Get Me Ready, was inspired by many blogs, and also the Little Hands book series. We started out the first part of his year supplementing the hands-on Montessori activities with some letter of the week style activities. As the year progressed I moved on to simply doing interesting themes. Here are things we did together over the past 12 months. Looking back I think I'd have enjoyed a resource like Flowering Baby better than letter of the week since I was impressed by a friend's copy when I recently looked through it. Just would've been more to my taste. Although I did have fun finding my own resources. :) I wonder if I ever am blessed with another child how similar or different his or her 2 year old experience will be.

Age 2 Resources I Drew From:

 Bibles Used: The Rhyme Bible, The Big Picture Story Bible

Memory verses were based on Children Desiring God older toddler (love it! It's a nursery program that's actually a ministry, starting in infancy, with songs and prayer- praying scripture!- and Bible stories) and Great Commission Publications Sunday school memory work.

Exploration: Slow and Steady Get Me Ready, My Montessori House, ideas from online, and Playtime Rhymes*

Williamson Little Hands for activity ideas. These are terrific. They are simply loaded with fun ideas to explore and create, inside and out. Math Play, Mudworks, Fun with My Five Senses, Science Play, and Nature Play are all appropriate for 2 year olds. We had so much fun with them! They're easy to find too. I've checked them out from the library but seriously, in the end, had to buy them for myself. Just kept using them time and time again. Amazon, Barnes and Noble has them, but I also found them cheap on half.com. That's my favorite place for buying books on the cheap.

Music of the month-- Create a Pandora channel for:  folk music, jazz, Broadway, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, cello, piano, violin, etc. Also enjoyed Raffi, and Ella Jenkins CDs

Reading Themes: The first 26 weeks I chose activities and books based on a letter of the week with a corresponding number of the week (I didn't find all the tot box ideas on Confessions of a Homeschooler until later, but do like them and wish I'd tried some of them when I was doing letter of the week). I realized I'm not a big "do one letter each week" person and didn't continue with the curriculum once I made it through the preparatory level.

The rest of the year I simply chose a theme that lasted two weeks and read books about those themes, which included: Farm, Forest, God Made Me, Got Put Me in a Family, Loving My Neighbor, God Gives Us Homes, God Gives Us Food, Being Thankful, Transportation, Jesus is Born, Jobs, Feelings, Pets, Birds/Bugs/Butterflies, Water, Earth.

This is by no means an exhaustive list. A handful of books I recommend because we enjoyed it (*means already reviewed on Wee Wonderings):

Touch the Art: Make Van Gogh's Bed and Brush Mona Lisa's Hair
Mini Masters: Quiet Time with Cassatt
The Ants Go Marching by Dan Crisp
Orange Apple Pear Bear by Emily Gravett
Birds by Kevin Henkis
Letter Birds An ABC Bird Book by Pam Spremuli
Hush Little Baby by Sylvia Long
Brown Bear Brown Bear by Eric Carle
Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper
Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle
Where's Spot? by Eric Hill
Baby Baboon*
Down by the Station by Will Hillenbrand*
In My New Yellow Shirt by Eileen Spinelli*
The Little Auto by Lois Lenski*
I Howl, I Growl by Marcia Vaughn
Song and Dance Man 
Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown
Just Me by Marie Hall Etts
The Milk Makers by Gail Gibbons*
Have You Seen My Duckling* by Nancy Tufuri
Ten in the Den*
In The Small Small Pond*
Bear Snores On*
Who's in the Forest*
I Spy Colors in Art*
Ella Sarah Gets Dressed*
Good Night Feet*
All by Myself by Aliki*
Thank You For Me!*
Museum ABC by the Metropolitan Museum of Art*
Blueberries for Sal  by Robert McCloskey
Very Hungry Caterpillar
Strega Nona (this was a favorite of his) by Tomie dePaola
Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall
Growing Vegetable Soup
Pots and Pans by Anne Rockwell
Eat Your Peas Ivy Louise
Thanksgiving a the Tappletons by Eileen Spinelli
Thanksgiving is for Giving Thanks
T is for Turkey
The Little Airplane by Lois Lenski
Big Book of Things that Go by DK Publishers
Little Red Caboose by Marion Potter
Fire Engine Book by Tibor Gregoly
Wheels on the Bus by Raffi
Freight Train by Donald Crews (had to replace it, we read it so much!)
Mr Grumpy's Outing by John Burningham
Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems
---for Christmas I found illustrated versions of Christmas carols, like "Holly and the Ivy" "Friendly Beasts" "Silent Night" etc---
Day in the Life Of series by DK

Elizabeth Verdick books for feelings and behavior

Dog, Cat, and others by Matthew Van Fleet

Good Dog Carl by Alexandra Day

Rain by Peter Spier

The Magic School Bus at the Waterworks (read towards the end of the year)

The Magic School Bus Inside the Earth

Down by the Bay (Raffi)

Baby Baluga (Raffi)

Five Little Ducks (Raffi)

What Can You Do in the...series by Anna Grossnickle Hines (never reviewed, but check out many times)

Hands Can by Cheryl Willis Hudson (we so often talk about what they can't do. This is a very positive book!)

Wordless Wednesday: Birthday Boys

T and his cousin AW almost share a birthday- they are just a day under exactly 2 years apart. This month T turned 3 and AW turned 5. The extended family had a birthday party for the boys over the weekend. Each had their own candles, though they shared a cake. They had a blast!

Exercise for Cabin Fever part 2: Three Fun Indoor Toys

It's amazing how much fun a simple hula hoop can be. Even if you can't hula hoop yet. T has a blast jumping, tumbling, crawling, stepping, and rolling through it. "Move it higher, Mom!" he'll shout as I hold it. Doesn't matter if it's so high he can't actually jump through. In fact, sometimes it seems the challenge makes it all the more fun for him. The higher, the better. At just a few dollars and easily stored it's a great indoor toy for exercise.

T also loves climbing, bouncing, and rolling. I'd love to have the space for an indoor jungle gym. I don't. But I did remember one of my favorite toys to play on as a child. It also happens to be a favorite of T's when he visits his grandpa. An exercise ball.

 If you already have one, your child has probably already discovered it. I shopped around and bought a 60cm ball at Target (size medium). Part of me wishes I'd bought the 50cm, but another part of me is really glad I bought the medium ball. It's a fun challenge for T. Also, my husband really enjoys using it as well!

This item I found at a consignment shop one day.  It's a balance board by Guidecraft. In the store he loved it. When we brought it home he was much less interested. How disappointing!

Then one day he got it out again and this time started rocking it hard and fast. Soon he lost his balance. That seems to be key with this balance board. The harder you rock the thing, the harder it is to keep your balance. I love how either side can be used. T prefers to use the underside (with the blue as opposed to the solid red piece) as he says the top is "too slippery".  I store it upright so it doesn't take much space when not in use.

You see these boxes my father in law has at his place? I want something like that, maybe smaller, for T to jump on. They could be used as tables or storage when not out for exercise. Maybe I could find something like a step stool but a little higher to make do for now...hmm...

T Wants a Garden part 3: Planting Seeds to Sprout Indoors

A stormy noon in early March led to a lovely afternoon full of climbing trees and planting a few seeds. 

T watched in amazement as the pellets expanded.

He quickly realized as he knocked the "towers" down his hands were getting dirty!

 The fun part. Poking holes for seeds and placing the seeds in the holes. We planted some lettuce, spinach, and broccoli seeds.

Watering the newly planted seeds. We then carried the tray downstairs into my basement laundry room where it is sitting right now. Some seedlings have already sprouted.

Once we were done planting, T climbed some low branches of a tree for the first time ever. Sitting there with me holding him he kept exclaiming "it's so beautiful up here!" He was simply enthralled with the view.

 It's about time to plant some more seeds according to my book. We'll plan on buying more seeds this week.

Menu Plan Monday:Easy Busy Week (& recipe)

T is just finishing his afternoon nap.Definitely still needs them (even if he doesn't always like them). It's a great time of day for me too and I understand why Mom insisted on quiet time even when I was beyond napping age. Oh, the memories of cutting out and dressing my Tom Tierny paper dolls during rest time. I collected quite a few. Meanwhile I have a few minutes to blog this week's menu plan and link it up on Org Junkie!
Sunday: T is THREE!!! Birthday dinner per his request:
Macaroni and Cheese
Cherry Tomatoes
Spinach Nuggets* easy yummy recipe at bottom of post*
Ranch dip
Cupcakes and ice cream
Monday: leftovers
Tuesday:
BBQ Nuggets
Cole Slaw
Oranges
Wednesday :
Roast chicken
Cole Slaw
Bbq beans
Thursday:
BBQ beans
BBQ sandwiches
Apples & honey
Friday: pizza w friends
Saturday : w inlaws
Sunday: extended family bday dinner for T and his 2nd cousin A.W.
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