Chicks, Ducks, and Wheels on the Bus!

It was week four of the library’s Drop-In Story time.  Ms. Nancy’s theme this time was “Chicks and Ducks.”  We read:

The Chick and the Duckling by Mirra Ginsburg
“A chick and a duckling hatch at the same time.  The chick can imitate the duckling except when the duckling goes swimming.”

Just Ducky by Kathy Mallat
“A lonely little duckling looks into the pond and sees its reflection.  The duckling thinks that it has found a new friend.”

Peep! by Kevin Luthardt
“A duckling follows a boy home.  The boy is sad when the duckling is ready to be reunited with other birds of the wild.”

Wee Little Chick by Lauren Thompson
“Other farm animals comment on the tiny size of the little chick.  Little chick is proud of everything that it can do.”

We sang and danced to:

FiveLittle Ducks from Raffi in Concert with the Riseand Shine Band

  And, we recited a few poems:

Baby Duckling
One baby duckling, he’s brand new.
Here comes another.  That makes two.
Wait, here’s another.  That makes three.
Three baby ducklings waddling across the floor.
They meet a little friend, and that makes four.
Four baby ducklings, watch how they dive.
At last they see their mother.  That makes five.

When a Yellow Duck
When a yellow duck walks down the street (hold up hand)
Quack! goes his bill (open and close thumb and fingers)
Waddle! go his feet (waddle hands back and forth)
He comes to a puddle and with a bound (pretend to jump into a puddle)
In goes the yellow duck and he swims around. (pretend to swim)

The Little Chick
This little chick heard a loud horn (hold up index finger)
This little chick ate all the corn (hold up middle finger)
This little chick saw a big ball (hold up ring finger)
This little chick said, “Please don’t fall!” (hold up little finger)
But this little chick said, “Peep, peep, peep!” (hold up thumb and wiggle it)
Please be quiet, I’m trying to sleep!” (wiggle thumb)

Each time we saw a picture or read about a chick, Shawn and I would whisper, “Just like the chicks at Oma and Opa’s house!”  Maybe next time we visit they’ll have some chicks for Shawn to see up close.  (He and Abby got very good at quacking and cheeping and peeping during story time today!)

At the end of naptime, I could hear Abby chatting to herself for a little while.  At one point, I think she was trying to sing Ring Around the Rosie! I also heard her say, “Abby awake!”  Before I went to get her out of bed, there were strange rustling noises in Shawn’s room.  Here is what happened when I went to check them out:

In case you need an interpreter, Shawn’s phrases included:

“Momma, go see Abby?”

“It’s really bright.”

“Let’s go find out!”

“Ready? Watch!”

“Shawn opened the door.”

“I have a good nap, Abby.”

I guess it’s time to go play some more!

After Abby went home, Shawn and I took Baron for a walk.  (Or did Baron and I take Shawn to the park?)  Shawn loves climbing on the playground equipment, but he prefers one particular corner…

Never knew that playground equipment could double as a performance stage, eh?

A Very Musical Day

Music class focused on Rock ‘n Roll today, specifically the band Queen.  (We did include a few spring time and rain songs, too.)  A few of Queen’s songs that we played were We Will Rock You! (we worked on the short, short, long rhythm), I Want It All (we played bells to a steady beat, then fast, and then stopped), and Under Pressure played in the background while the kids explored the box of instruments.  Abby wasn't quite sure what she wanted in class today.  She switched back and forth from running around the room to wanting to be picked up.  But, when the microphone came out, she lead the way in the Ba-Ba activity!

Shawn fell asleep on the way home, so I left him in the car seat while Abby and I had lunch.  I had a little down time between the time that I put Abby down for her nap and when Shawn woke up.  When he woke up, he happily announced, “I want to play with Abby!”  But, since she was still napping, I explained that he could play with her in a little while.  It was a nice treat to have some one-on-one time with both kids today.

Abby’s really starting to expand her vocabulary and language skills.  She makes me smile now that she’s saying, “I funny!” She’s even learned that she’s much more likely to get what she wants if she asks politely.  So, she’s trying very hard to remember to say, “May I have ___ please?”  (Her polite smile afterwards is the icing on the cake.)  She really made me giggle when she said, "May I have poo-poo please?"  (I'm pretty sure she was trying to tell me something, rather than ask for something...)

It was definitely a good day between Abby and Shawn.  Shawn confirmed it while he was getting ready for bed.  I’m just glad my camera wasn’t far away - and that he didn’t get camera shy!

… His growing repertoire includes love song serenades as well as action-packed ditties with tricky foot work...
American Idol's got nothing on this budding vocalist!
Now appearing in his world début... SHAWN!

Oma:  Next up: add a word and do Abby Road.
Great songs; better than Am Idol, fur sur

Me:  LOL - I'm trying to get some of his other songs caught on camera, but sometimes he gets camera shy. "Abby, Abby" had a verse about "Shawn, Shawn," but when the camera came out, he forgot the words! ;)

Oma: LOL. I understand completely.

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!)”

Good Morning (track 1, Around the World with Language Stars) Good morning friends, How are you? Very well! (2x) Hello friends, (3x) How are you? Very well! We’re well! We’re well! We’re well, well, well! (2x)

Buenos días (track 1, Around the World with Language Stars) Buenos días amigos, ¿Cómo están? ¡Muy bien! (2x) Buenos días amigos, (3x) ¿Cómo están? ¡Muy bien! ¡Estamos bien, estamos bien, Estamos bien, bien, bien! (2x)

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.

In The Bathtub (to the tune of “This Old Man”) In the bathtub I wash My arms and my hands My legs, face and hair Now I am clean.

En la tina (To the tune of “This Old Man”) En la tina yo me lavo Mis brazos y mis manos Mis piernas, mi cara y mi pelo Ahora ya estoy limpio.

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!)

Word of the Day: Loquacious

Shawn interrupted our lunch today with, “Ah-ehm, ah-ehm, ah-ehm! (tapping his throat) Tengo, tengo, tengo sed!” ( I am, I am, I am thirsty!) It took me a moment to figure out what was going on and that he wasn’t just speaking in jibberish before I realized he was trying to sing part of a song we do at Language Stars before water is served during snack time. Sure enough, I’d forgotten to give him his sippy cup. Always full of surprises…

We went to Open Gym at Gymboree and saw some old friends, who we haven’t seen in a while. Abby was excited to play with a few girls a little older than her. Shawn joined a game of basketball with a little boy who exclaimed, “Slam dunk!” each time his ball went through the hoop. Before I knew it, Shawn was calling out, “Slam dunk!” each time he threw the ball - into the basketball hoop or elsewhere. (I’m not sure I would’ve been able to interpret what he was trying to say if I hadn’t seen the story unfold, but since I knew the context, it was pretty funny!)

We didn’t stay at Open Gym the whole allotted time because Abby was giving me the impression that she was getting tired. She’d find a ball and then sit on my lap to watch the other children playing. If she lost her grip on her ball and it rolled away, she’d get up to retrieve it, but otherwise she was content to sit and watch, sometimes even leaning her head back on me. That was my cue that it was time to go.

Moments after pulling out of the Gymboree parking lot, we saw a semi-truck with the silhouette of a horse in its logo. Abby was very excited to see the horse and gave out an energized, “Neigh! Neigh! Neigh!” And, for the entire 18.1 miles and 40+ minutes it took us to get home (I stopped at an ATM along the way), Abby impersonated an extremely loquacious pony. (Loquacious – good word, eh?) I’m not sure what happened to Sleepy Abby that I saw back at Gymboree, but we must have left her behind! This Abby’s rhythmic repetition was so mind-numbing that it actually put Shawn to sleep!

When we got home, I parked in the garage and left Shawn in his car seat to nap. (With the rocky sleep he’s been having lately, there was no sense in disrupting him.) On the other hand, Abby was no longer interested in sleeping. So, she put Blue Baby Doll in time out (I wonder what she did!), had a leisurely snack, and then I put her in the Pack & Play. She talked to herself for a good 30 minutes (including a few versus of No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed!") before finally drifting off. In fact, Shawn woke from his nap before Abby did, which NEVER happens. I even texted Bill that Abby was still sleeping, so he decided to keep working until I let him know that she was up. When she finally did wake up, Shawn joined me to get her out of bed. He rushed up to the side of her Pack & Play and asked, “Abby, have a good nap, Abby?” and she answered with a wholehearted, “Yeah!” I would say so!

A Triangle, Momma!

We all got to sleep in until 8:00 am today.  That was nice.  (Ahh, gone are the days when 8:00 was still getting up early!)  Shawn (and I) slept much better last night.  My cold/allergies are still giving me a hard time, but at least Shawn let me sleep for more than an hour stretch at a time!

While he was playing, he decided to put his potty seat on toilet, pull up the stool, and sit down – all by himself!  I wasn’t even in the bathroom with him!  His diaper was on and pants were still up, but I was very impressed!

It’s official – Shawn knows his shapes.  Raj was at an orthodontics class, so Shawn and I had dinner on our own at the kitchen table.  All of a sudden, Shawn started pointing at the back door exclaiming, “Triangle, Momma!  Triangle!”  I tried to correct him and explain that the back door was actually a rectangle, but he wouldn’t have it, “No, Momma!  Triangle, Momma!  Triangle!”  still insistently pointing at the back door.  I saw the reflection of our light fixture in the glass of the back door, “This?  This is a circle, Shawn, not a triangle.”  Getting very impatient with my apparent lack of knowledge about shapes, “NO! NO, Momma!  NO!  There’s a triangle, Momma!” 

Sure enough. 

I finally saw it. 

There clinging to the screen door was a moth, whose wings were in the shape of… a triangle.  When I finally pointed to it and asked if that was what he had seen, Shawn had an enormous, satisfied grin from ear to ear, “See, Momma?  See it?  A triangle!” 

We watched the moth dance in the light on the sliding glass door until it found another light to visit.  But, even after it was gone, Shawn continued to look for the triangle on the window, which he now knows is called "a moth."

T is for Tanner, Trucks, Tunes, Toys, and Teddy Bear

It was a rough night last night.  We didn’t sleep much.  Shawn and I slept in a little, but he still woke up on his own in time for our swimming lesson.  Again Raj suggested we skip class and sleep in, but with both of us awake in time, it didn’t make much sense.  We didn’t get to the pool early enough to get in before class started, like we normally have been, but we got there just as they were taking attendance.

I wasn’t very impressed with the swimming lesson today.  We had a lot of play time (a.k.a. down time)!  The water was cold – 83F water, 85F air, which sounds warm enough, but kids’ lips were blue, chins were chattering, and limbs were shivering.  A few of us asked if temperature could be turned up, but management said no because lap swimmers complain it’s too warm to do their exercises.  So, I guess our babes will get hypothermia instead – sure, that’s reasonable!  Grrr….

Tanner’s mom asked me if we were going to sign up for the next session of classes, but I haven’t been very impressed by this one, so I don’t think so.  The only real benefit that I’ve seen from these lessons is it’s at a set time each week, which actually gets us to do it.  If we don’t have an activity scheduled and on the calendar, then we’re not likely to do it, whether it’s something in the community or a playdate.  So, saying that we can just go to the pool this summer sounds great and logical, but if we don’t actually plan it, it’s not likely to happen.  Maybe I’ll look for swimming lessons through a different group, like the park district, and see if we get anything more out of it.

When Shawn woke up from his nap, Raj and I heard him talking to himself – something about a truck and a house.  We opened the door to find him sitting in his rocking chair, reading The Little House, “I’m reading stories in the rocking chair all by MY self!”  What a character.

Shawn has been very vocal today.  He sang Baa, Baa Black Sheep while playing with his farm.  Throughout the day, he sang many other songs, some real and others made up (or perhaps medleys of a few real ones).  He can now fill in the missing words when we sing I’ve Been Working on the Railroad, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, A Tisket, A Tasket, Frere Jaques (in English though), Humpty Dumpty, You are My Sunshine, Merrily We Roll Along, and a few others, which escape me at the moment.

Shawn’s also getting very quick at putting together his chunky puzzles.  I may need to see if there are any new ones available on Freecycle.  He never really showed much interest in the puzzles before, other than playing with the pieces individually.  I think he’s learned a little from Abby, because she loves doing puzzles and is very fast to put them together. 

Surprise!  Shawn knows the letter T.  He’s been pointing it out in different contexts all day:  on Dadda’s flavored water bottles, in his books, on the computer “buttons”… I’m not sure where this came from, but I guess we should run with it!

While Shawn was playing for a little while before going to bed, he pulled out a teddy bear and an empty plastic box that’s made to hold wipes.  He proceeded to tell us that Teddy Bear’s diaper was dirty and he needed to change it!  He laid Teddy Bear on the ground, pulled out pretend wipes from the box, lifted the bear’s legs, and told us that he was cleaning up Teddy Bear.  Raj and I just watched and giggled.  I love his imagination.

April Fools!

Hmm… was that today?  No jokes or pranks or anything exciting happened.  I’m quite okay with that!  Maybe when the kids get older, it could be fun to do something for April Fools, but I don’t think they’d really understand it yet.  Again, I’m fine with that!

In the morning, Abby, Shawn, and I went to a Mothers & More  Toddler/Preschool Playgroup at one of the moms’ houses.  As we were getting ready to head over there, I caught Abby and Shawn on camera demonstrating their fantastic climbing ability.  When did they get so independent?

After the playgroup, we went to Gymboree for Family Gym.  There was a farm theme, which was pretty cute.  The kids pretended to be pigs and roll in ‘mud’ as they rolled down ramps and they put ‘hay in the cows’ troughs’ by putting scarves inside an inner-tube.  There were lots of activities, including a story, that Shawn and Abby really got into.  Of course, Abby’s favorite was riding the rocking horse and shouting, “Neigh!  Neigh!  Neigh!”

It was a busy day!  Full of excitement and (as my sister, Jennifer, would call it) adventures.  Unfortunately, Shawn wouldn’t unwind enough for a nap while Abby slept, but wasn’t acting cranky either, so he and I played quietly on our own.  However, after she went home and I explained that we couldn’t play with her anymore and that we needed to go to the grocery store, Shawn got very upset and demanded, “I want to play with Abby!  No grocery store!”  Then, he quickly fell asleep in the car on the way to Target.  Of course!  I was sure he’d wake up while I was getting him out of his car seat, but, luckily, he even stayed asleep while I did some quick shopping.  The cashier, who gushed when she saw him sleeping on my shoulder, asked if he’d stay asleep now for the night.  Doubtful, though with our jam-packed day, it’s possible!  Minutes later, as we were leaving the store, his little head popped up and he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.  I thought he might go back to sleep in the car, since he’d only napped for about an hour (and his usual naps have been between 2-3 hours lately), but no such luck.  Curse that check-out clerk!  He stayed fairly quiet on the drive home and even was subdued while he played and I made dinner… until Dadda came home.  Then life was exciting again!  Just as I was hoping to get him ready for an early bed time - naturally!  I still managed to get him to bed a little early, but not as much as I had hoped.  It turns out that it didn’t really matter… it was a rough night and neither of us slept much as a result.

Hmmm... is this Shawn's prank for April Fools Day?  I am not amused.