Two weeks left

Mat only has two weeks of preschool left until summer "vacation" begins. We've been busier than ever and summer is just getting started. Mat will be doing a variety of camps this summer as well as some other fun adventures (Hawaii and Cape Cod). She's going to love it. 

Oliver is growing, growing, growing. Just this past week he began using the baby signs we've been teaching him. He pretty consistently signs "milk" and sometimes signs "diaper". He's 7 and 1/2 months old so he's signing really early for a baby. He just loves life and those around him. His laugh is contagious. 

Stranger Anxiety

A few weeks ago J and B hired a second nanny to work with Oliver twice a week so I could have some uninterrupted educational time with Matilda. This was a good idea in theory, but Oliver seemed to be terrified of her and cried pretty consistently whenever she came to work. The previous three times she worked I would pass him, asleep, over to her and get to work with Mat. When he would wake up he would be nearly inconsolable. This week I decided to wait until he woke up before passing him off. I realized that there was a pattern of him being sad when waking up somewhere different than he went to sleep (crib, carseat, etc). I'd be freaked out too if I fell asleep in my car with my friends and woke up alone in my bed. Sure enough, it worked. Oliver was completely content playing with the second nanny for the 2+ hours that she had him.

During this time, I was able to be completely focused on Mat. She ate a great snack of cantaloupe and mango with yogurt. We then did a sensory phonics lesson. Ill do my best to describe it.

Since Mat knows how to write her name, I decided to work on the -at word family. I printed out pictures and letters for the words cat, hat, rat, and bat. First i pulled a picture out of the envelope. It was a cat. I asked Mat what it was a picture of and then we sounded it out c-a-t, cat. Second I asked her what the first sound was that she heard in the word and she said "ca" and then I asked her what letter makes that sound. She replied c. Third I asked her to find the c from the three (a,t,c) letters laying in front of her. We repeated steps 2 and 3 for the a and t. Fourth we slowly said the letter sounds as I pointed to each letter, sounding out the word cat. The last step was her favorite. I had a cookie sheet with a thin film of raw red rice. We used our index fingers to write the word into the rice.

We did this "game" for 30 minutes. We worked on the 4 -at words and Mat. At the end, I gave her 10 minutes to play in the rice. We then moved outside to play in her sandbox. I continued to review out -at words in the sand and she built sand castles. It was a perfect mix.

This was a great week and I hope to have more uninterrupted lessons like this one.

County Farm Park

The forecast for today's weather couldn't have been more accurate. Sunny with a high of 79 was predicted and that's right about where we are at.

In lieu of the weather, I decided to pack a picnic lunch for after school. PB&J, applesauce, cheese and some other things filled out bellies at Washtenaw County Farm Park. This was our first time visiting this park and definitely not the last. The pavilions were shaded and clean. There was a bathroom (no changing table) and drinking fountain right there.

After lunch, and a bottle for Oliver, we played. Mat met a boy named Jack and played with him for a bit. When everyone was worn out and drenched with sweat, we headed home. Below are some pictures from our adventure.