Daddy time

Daddy does Q's evening routine--bath, books, and bedtime. I have to brag on him a little bit.

He is so good about encouraging Q to be independent and he practices this with her while they get ready for bathtime. While she's in the bath he is great about giving her all his attention. They "chat," he practices different skills she is learning such as counting or letters or kicking her feet in the water or blowing bubbles. She learns so much from Daddy during bathtime. After bath, he lays on her bed with her to cuddle and reads her 3-4 books. I always tell him he could be in a how-to video of how to read to your baby because he stops and provides opportunities for her to interact as he reads and always makes books interesting to her. After books he sits with her for just a minute or two to get her settled, and then leaves her to fall into dreamland.

I love that he makes the most out of the time he has with our little one every night, even though it's not that much time. I know this is a struggle all working parents face, and I am proud that he has found his groove and made time with her a priority. He's used the routine activities that must be done every night to teach her, love on her, and show her she's important to him.

Way to go, Daddy!

Mirror, Mirror, on the wall....

I added a mirror to the playroom this week. It's a 11X14 framed mirror I got at the dollar store. I glued pretty ribbon on the back and hung it at Q's eye level so she can check out how cool she looks in her dress-up clothes!

It looks much nicer than this picture shows....it's hard work to get a photo of a mirror, I've learned!

She has a nicer mirror done the same way in her bedroom, and that's where she combs her hair and looks at how cool she looks with "bows" in her hair. She calls any hair accessory a bow!

GLUE!

I introduced Q to glue this week. I like to use both gluestick and bottled liquid glue with toddlers and preschoolers.
Initially I teach gluing by hand-over-hand demonstration. I put the gluestick in Q's hand and use my hand over hers to guide her. I say aloud what I am doing. I also teach her to turn the gluestick down so the glue is "hiding" after each use, and to turn it up so the glue is "peeking" (barely visable over the top) when she's ready to use the glue. This helps prevent glue from being twisted all the way up and mashed onto the paper. I cut up tissue pieces and we glued them onto a paper flower cutout.

After using the gluestick, we got out bottled glue. I asked Q where she wanted to put the buttons (one by one). She pointed, I squeezed "a dot-not a lot", and she stuck down the buttons onto this butterfly cutout.
Sidenote--I always keep a small, moist sponge nearby when doing art projects. It worked great for wiping glue off her fingers between buttons and also off the table.

Typically in Early Childhood settings the rule of thumb is to display children's artwork at their eye level. However, because I didn't want Q to pick off the buttons and eat them, I taped these out of her reach in the playroom.

Shoe organization

Love this---great way to teach toddlers and preschoolers how to match their shoes and keep them organized. A small shoe rack or shelf and some clothespins are all you need. Teach the child to clip matching shoes together (you may have to help with the clothespin for a while).

I am thinking this would also be a great tool for clipping pajama tops and bottoms, sock matches, etc. together. Including children in laundry time teaches great practical life skills as well as early math skills (one-to-one correspondance, matching, odds/evens, counting, size, etc.)

I think one problem we have as parents is that we have "too much" of everything. For some reason I think my daughter needs 10 pairs of pajamas and 8 pairs of shoes and a gazillion socks. Paring down to a small number that the child can have control over and keep neat is a much better method, developmentally. This challenges me to put up a few of the pj pairs and even some of the shoes until we need them, and just keep out the most-used so that Q can take more control over her belongings.

I also love the low stool next to the shoe bench. A pretty rug, overturned flowerpot or bucket, or even a folded up blanket would serve the same purpose and provide a sense of boundary for children when they are putting on shoes or taking them off.

Proverbs 2 activity

Proverbs 2 says:

3and if you call out for insight
and cry aloud for understanding,

⁴ and if you look for it as for silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure,

⁵ then you will understand the fear of the LORD
and find the knowledge of God.

I want my daughter to think of God's words of insight and understanding to be as valuable as silver and treasures! So--for today--a treasure hunt!

I got out a little basket and a handful of nickels (because they are silver....you could use quarters, pieces of paper colored silver, plastic lids spray-painted silver, whatever!)

I went outside and "hid" the coins. (For a 19-month old that means pretty much laying them down in plain sight....so hide them according to the ability of your child).

I brought her outside and simply explained that God wants us to think of his words as very, very important, like treasures we search everywhere for! I asked her if she wanted to look for treasures, and of course she did! I gave her the little basket and helped her find the first coin, then encouraged her to find more on her own.

You can decide whether the child/ren will keep the treasure or simply play the game, and then return them to the basket to play again later. I think it's important to return to the game whenever you can to keep reinforcing the concept of God's word as a treasure he wants us to search for.

With older kids, you can talk about some ways we can "Search."

Now, the honest part....Q did great finding the first couple coins. Then she figured out it was fun to drop them through the holes in the little table. Then it was even more fun to put them on the dog's back and watch her shake them off. Then, it would really get Mommy worked up if she put them in her mouth, little stinker.

Well, I started the game way too close to bedtime and she was not in a cooperative mood....so I tried redirecting her a couple of times. When that failed, I joined in dropping the coins through the table holes, and then some holes in our patio chair. When the coins went in her mouth, it was time to stop. So I was a little frustrated that the game didn't go exactly how I'd planned, but we'll give it a try again soon. This is life with a toddler...or any age child, for that matter....But the basket of nickels is sitting on our counter, waiting for another go-round at a treasure hunt!

Muffin-Tin Crayon Fun

Today we were both feeling a little under the weather and allergies are keeping us indoors. So....what would make us feel better?
Of course, an ART project!

We got out the chunky heart crayons I made in February. I was reminded how great they are for little toddler hands. She had so much fun rubbing them against the paper in different ways to make different marks. She also wanted me to write some letters--she dictates the names of family members and I write their first initial. I am starting out teaching Q the letter sounds and not the names, as the sounds are what she will need to know, and the names will come later on. So she says, "P-P-Papa!" and I write a P.

I like to tape the paper down so it doesn't move all over the place. My toddlers when I taught preschool learned how to operate the tape around the time they turned 2 years old and they would tape down their own papers! I will teach Q soon......

These chunky crayons could be made in any muffin tin. They'd be a great birthday gift for a toddler, too!!!!!

Proverbs 1

My church is reading through the book of Proverbs, 1 chapter a day, in a quest to grow in wisdom. I love this endeavor, and the teacher in me couldn't resist the challenge of coming up with a quick lesson from each chapter for my little one's participation.

Proverbs was actually written for the young, so it has fabulous truths that I want my daughter to impress upon her heart. Many of these won't be applicable for several more years, but I've been encouraged to pray some specific prayers for her as I read through the chapters. I'll share a few of these as I post each chapter's lesson.

Chapter 1 has a great verse that says:

⁸ Listen, my son, to your father's instruction
and do not forsake your mother's teaching.

⁹ They will be a crown to grace your head
and a chain to adorn your neck.

So today's lesson--talk about what these verses mean, at a level my little one understands. For my 19 month-old this means simply explaining that God wants us to listen to the words of Mommy and Daddy and obey them. God says these words are as important as a crown. Obviously older children can go more into depth with the comparision between parental obedience and a crown.

After chatting, it's time to make a crown! We used pink paper, glued on jewels (I put the glue dots and kiddos applied the jewels), a construction paper oval (found in my embellishment box), and some pearl strands sticking off the top that I happened to have on hand. We just went through my craft things and chose items that would be pretty on a crown.

We wrote the verse (in simplified form) at the bottom of the crown:
"I listen to my Mommy and Daddy's words. They are a crown on my head!"

We had a friend over today that made a crown with us, and here's her creation:



Another extension would be to string beads on a string to make a "chain around the neck" to also fit with the verse.