Although I've told everyone my plans for baby time I thought I would make it official.I like that I am still able to connect one on one with my parents and hope that this never changes. With baby girl due on Aug. 8th we will close those first 2 wks as you all know.After that Ms Camila and Ms Marta (a registered kindergarten teacher) will be assisting Ms Jenell until my return after labor day.Ms Jenell has many fun activities planned and will of course start our fall lessons as usual(this year we will actually have a curriculum plan for parents) and Ms Camila and Ms Marta are always creative and highly attentive to the childrens needs. Ms Marta is a mother of 2 with an adoptive child on the way and Ms Camila is a grandmother to 7 (as well as having a huge part in raising yours truly!). I am sure I won't be missed (ok I hope just a little).Thank you everyone for your enormous amount of support thru my pregnancy, I couldn't ask for a stronger and more exceptional family of parents-I love you all!
As you all know our favorite spring time activitie was the metamorphis of our caterpillars into painted lady butterflies. Now with Summer full on we are enjoying many other back yard favorites. We like to think that the other occassional painted ladies flying thru the yard are our friends coming back to visit. We get the daily monarch butterfly that flies low and gets a huge response of shrieks and giggles.Many different types of beetles and odd flying bugs that make for long conversations on life and why we respect it, as well as BABY BIRDS! Yes, just this morning we were blessed with the rare opportunity to watch a mommy oriole feed not just one but 2 of her babies .The children were fascinated! Nature supplies us with so many learning tools.
Another favorite summer activity is BUBBLES. Not many activities bring such joy to me as hearing the histerical laughter that catching bubbles bring. We blow for almost an hour it seems and the laughter never ends.And if I have to put an academic term to all of this fun we call it SCIENCE. Theres nothing more inspirational to me than the imagination of a child! Our basketball goal standing lone in the middle of the yard may seem uninspiring and unused to the grown up eye,but contrare! Not only is it home to our family of worms but when turned over on it's side also makes for a ship, a bus, a mountain, and one of our favorite story subjects-Dinosaur Train-All aboard!
Wow! What a surprise we got on Monday morning.Kevin Scott(Judah's Dad)had not only raked and cleaned our playground but also added new sand to our sand box! Ms Jenell and I can't thank you enough Kevin! It looks amazing! Thank you Thank you Thank you and much love!
Although you all have already met her I want to officially welcome Autumn to our family.She will only be with us until June but has fit in like a missing puzzle piece(girls bring such peace).She has joined my ranks of brave nature loving girls who aren't afraid to befriend a earth worm! Welcome Autumn we are so glad your here.
Spring time brings on so many fun lessons and conversations! I'm sure everyone has noticed the tiny little green worms seemingly floating thru the air. We are keeping a close eyes on these interesting creatures . We have discovered that if we leave them alone they will actually climb up the silk threads that they are attached to at surprising speeds! There are also inch worms inching along that are different from our climbing friends. Unlike their climbing cousins they have a set of legs in front and legs in back and look something like a tiny camel when they move-fascinating!
Also we can't forget our soft fuzzy caterpillar friends who seem to just drop out of the trees-What screeches and screams they bring on! We had two beautiful butterfly visitors ,one huge and yellow the other shiny black.It's so much fun to watch how high they fly.Last but not least our cold slimy earth worm friends,Autumn our brave and fearless girl makes one a personal pet every day! Parents notice or homemade caterpillars attached to our flowers inside.Keep a close eye on them for in the next week or so they will dissapear into caccoons!Guess what happens next-yep,they will become beautiful butterflies! Word of the season(no it's not yuck) METAMORPHIS! As a mother of three different personalities there is something I have noticed we as parents do that I thought I would share with you. The past 13 years as a parent(almost 14) Ifind myself trying to "DISCUSS" issues with my children. Actually I should talk past tense because it's something I tried when they were toddlers and preschoolers.We all want our children to be fair and diplomatic.We want them to be nice to others and to always consider others feelings. So we find ourselves explaining to the them -why,why,why. All they hear is blah,blah blah! Trust me on this one parents,once you get past that third or fourth word you've lost their interest. With our boys if it's not planes,trains,and automobiles,monsters,pirates and ruling kingdoms you loose them at hello!Our girls want to hear what a good job they are doing telling us what to do or how pretty their hair looks. When it comes to behavior-they just don't want to hear about it much less talk about it! My solution for things we're not happy with them doing is this-brag on them when they are doing what we want them to do,toddlers and preschoolers LOVE praise and when we're not happy keep our words short, sweet and to the point.
Always adress a matter right away-if you wait til later they may not remember details of what happened.We can say things like"I'm not happy with..." or "I don't think you would want that done to you".Whatever you choose to say try and keep under ten words and always follow up on you consequences-believe me they are keeping tabs on the things you let slip! They want to know that you are in control(even though they show opposite)and will always love you no matter what.I'm famous in my house for saying "I'm not your friend I'm your Mother! We would like to thank Casey,Dayne and Aydens mom,for the wonderful new riding toys! Dilla,Juda and Finley are very happy with them.Judah got a new fire truck, Dilla has his own personal push around and Finley our hot rod girl got her own car as well! I would also like to say how proud I am of our "big girls and boys" for recognizing that the new stuff is "baby toys", good job everyone! And thanks again Casey.
I almost forgot to mention our rainbow catcher.It's the CD and old credit card pieces you see hanging in the window.Everyday between 10 and 11 oclock we watch as the CD catches the sun! This makes a beautiful rainbow (yes, we also know it as a prism)on the wall. We even have a rainbow song that teaches us "all the colors that we know,are up in the rainbow".Parents this a great way to put those old scratched up cds to work.All you need is a window that gets sun light,some string and thumb tacks.Nature does the rest!
After a seemingly long and nasty winter spring is just around the corner.We said goodbye to Mr. Snowman and our winter wonderland-I know everyone thought he was left over from Christmas! We are now talking about flowers and everyones favorite-BUGS. We found our first worms today,they live UNDER us,and listened to the different chirps birds make,they live OVER us. We cut and pasted our beautiful spring flowers and plan on planting some of our own this year! We will also learn about METAMORPHOSIS! Big word for smart little people,and will talk about caterpillars,cacoons,and butterflies(my favorite bug). We will order our caterpillars soon, watch them spin cacoons and then wait for them to METAMORPHIS into butterflies.This is one of the preschoolers favorite spring activities besides bubbles of course! So lots to talk about with your children parents. Also weather-wind,rain(why we need it),and everyones favorite -sunshine! SOOO Happy Springtime everyone!
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