We started our morning with a Level 5 Play and Learn class at Gymboree. We visited the ‘Animals at the Zoo’ again, but instead of a book at the beginning, we looked at pictures of animals that we might see there. Both Shawn and Abby loved finding hidden bananas that were scattered around the room. (They’ve gotten very good at returning Gymboree toys to their proper baskets, even if it’s not intentionally part of the activity.) They also had fun swinging across the monkey bars, calling out, “Ooo-oo! Ahh-ah!” as they went. Abby likes to hang from one, let go, grab the next with both hands, let go, and repeat until she gets all the way across. Shawn likes to move one hand at a time from one to the other, and needs just a little help to support his weight. They really were little monkeys today!
When class was over, we played around for a few minutes, but when the babies’ class was ready to start, we took a break in my car. I played a CD of Dr. Seuss stories and read a few Thomas the Train stories while we snacked and enjoyed the sunshine. I’m sure there won’t be too many more weeks that we can do this before it gets too cold to hang out in the car!
An hour later, we came back inside for Family Music. We studied country and folk music again. Shawn and Abby helped pick animals for Old MacDonald, duck and horse respectively. They love their maracas and drums! They even got to do Bah-Bah’s into the toy microphone today, which we haven’t had time to do in a long time. They got very excited when their turns came around. It’s amazing to watch these two in music class. They participate and follow directions extremely well. Shawn gave a maraca to a three month old who was in her car seat while her mom and older brother participated in class – he gently placed it in her hand and made sure it didn’t fall out while she tried to grab it. Abby wants to help everyone around get their instruments back to the teacher or basket when it’s time to clean up. They can so incredibly sweet and considerate!
After class, we made our weekly trip to the Schaumburg Farmers’ Market. But, to our dismay, there were no crepes! I’m not sure if the crepe stand closed early due to the wind (up to 40 mph gusts) or if they weren’t there at all, but , oh, the calamity! Hopefully, they’re not done for the season, the market is still open until the end of the month. We made the best of our visit and visited the apple orchard stand for some cider (and a free apple cider donut sample), the olives and hummus man for black bean and chipotle hummus, garlic hummus, and black olives (and free olive samples), a farmer for potatoes (which Abby and Shawn helped me pick, but I must have left the bag somewhere at the market because I didn’t have them when we got home!), and a fruit farmer for apple butter (and free samples of various types of apples and cranberries – pucker!) Without our crepe snack, it didn’t feel like our visit was complete, but as we were going back to the car, the vendors were shutting down.
When it was time for naps, I guess Abby didn’t think it was quite time yet. She didn’t object to going down, but she certainly wasn’t ready for sleeping. She talked and sang to herself from about 1:15 – 2:30! After listening to her for a while, I remembered to grab my SmartPen and I recorded her! I slid the pen under her door and captured her saying things like, “How about… How about…Mr. Sun? No! How about.. let’s sing B-I-N-G-O!” I could pick out a few lines from Old MacDonald, Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, and Bingo… but eventually (around 2:30 of the recording), she settled down and finally went to sleep.
Showing posts with label share. Show all posts
Showing posts with label share. Show all posts
Friday, October 14, 2011
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
This morning, Shawn asked me, “See Daydo (Diego)? Play with Daydo’s (Diego’s) toys?” Yup! It’s Spanish Class today! Once we got to Language Stars, it took Shawn a little while to warm up, but he was chiming in before long. Abby made an attempt to say, “Me llamo Abby (My name is Abby),” but could only get out “Me… Abby!” Even when we’d prompt her for the missing word, she’d skip it and go straight to “Abby!” She knew exactly what was going on and what we were doing though. Both of them were fully participated in the Buenos Dias / Good Morning song, including giving two big thumbs up when we say, “¡Muy bien! (Very well!)”
This unit is about naming body parts. We focused on la cabeza (head), el brazo (arm), and la pierna (leg) today. We gave a teddy bear a bath, naming his parts including los manos (hands) and los pies (feet). While he got clean, we sang En la tina/In the Bathtub.
Our project involved making funny faces on a piece of paper by gluing los ojos (eyes), las orejas (ears), la nariz (nose), and la boca (mouth), which were all a review, onto the frame of a face and coloring el pelo (the hair). Diego worked with Shawn while I helped Abby. When we were done, Diego confessed, “Mine is not as cute as you!” Now, I am absolutely certain that he meant, “The funny face project that Shawn and I made with cockeyed features did not turn out as well as the one that Abby and you made.” …But, I like the way his broken English version sounded better!
At lunch the kids really wanted to share their food!
While both kids napped in the afternoon, a neighbor pulled out of his driveway and hit both his garbage can and his recycling cart that were still on his curb from this morning. He didn’t stop to take them inside or even to move them out of the way. He just left them toppled over half-way into the street. I guess he must have been late for work or something! It would’ve been kind of funny, except for the fact that Baron jolted into guard dog mode and all of the commotion woke up Abby, somehow Shawn amazingly slept through it all. Baron calmed down pretty quickly, but Abby, who was scared out of her wits, needed a little help catching her breath and relaxing in order to go back to sleep again. (Thanks a lot, Frank!) About 15 minutes after she fell back to sleep, there was a delivery to the house next door. The delivery truck’s door made more racket which woke Abby up. Luckily, this time she wasn’t frightened. She just thought Daddy was here to pick her up. When I didn’t go in to get her, she simply drifted off… again. Poor kid.
It has been a GORGEOUS day!! It’s only 45F, but the sun is dazzling, the sky is bright blue, and the big, puffy clouds remain to be giant, floating cotton balls and haven’t turned gray or threatening… so far. (Rain is in the forecast in the next day or so). Even though it is still pretty chilly in the shade, which includes half of our house at any given point in the day, I opened the windows and doors to let in the fresh air. On the sunny side of our house, it was actually a little warmer outside than inside! I did close the windows in the kids’ rooms at naptime, since the breeze cooled down the rooms considerably. Besides, the landscaping crew was out and about today, so closing the windows at naptime helped muffle any noise they might make as they go by. (It wasn’t enough to block out Frank’s garbage can collision or the clatter from the delivery truck though!)
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