I recently hosted my first two weeks of preschool. Ezra and four of his friends (two girls and two boys) are in a group that meet once a week for two hours every Tuesday. Each mom takes two weeks in a row in the rotation talking about a specific letter of the alphabet. In Primary, I teach the four-turning-five-year-old children, so I felt acquainted with the required number of fun activities, wiggle songs, and simple lesson material this age group can handle. But, I quickly discovered that there is a big difference between children who are four turning five and children who are three turning four. My first week was crazy; there was an excessive amount of (happy) screaming, running, jumping, hugging, talking and a small amount of defined learning moments. My second week I added twice as many songs, activities, and more outside play, and it was still chaotic, but mostly controlled chaos. I think Ezra enjoys preschool. He is always so shy when I drop him off, and it takes him a bit to warm up, but he always comes home with interesting art projects, stories to share, and a smile.
Ezra is learning to dress himself now, and his wardrobe choices are becoming somewhat predictable. If the laundry allows it, Ezra wears one of his four race car shirts, swim trunks, and snow boots. Bear in hand, he is ready for the day. Adorable.
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| Preschool friends working in the vegetable garden. Muddy, but fun for all. |
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| Letter G: goo-goo goggles and ghosts (dress-up/Halloween theme) |
The photo posted above reflects what I hope is a new leaf in the Ezra-Maren relationship. This kind of sit and smile
next to each other stuff has been a long time coming. We talk about loving each other every day, and it would appear that some of our talk is sinking in for Ezra. He is trying harder to trade not take toys. He kindly gifted one of his lesser stuffed animals to Maren, and has yet to take it back. He will sometimes spontaneously hug Maren, or hold her hand, or say resolutely, "Maren, I
love you." Ezra seems to think that little sister is actually an interesting playmate, especially now that she can walk. Here is a little hooray for sibling love.
Maren is 14.5 months, and she is on the fast track in personality development. She is a confident walker now, and is supremely happy about that accomplishment. When she is pleased she purses her lips and makes whistling noises or babbles to herself. When she is displeased she has an impressive operatic tongue trill cry. She loves hugs and kisses. If she wants a kiss, she seals her lips, leans in, and makes a little "mmmmm" sound. I love it! She has several stuffed animal friends that she prefers to snuggle with when she sleeps; "the friends" (a kangaroo, a bunny, and a monkey) are always in the queue for kisses at bedtime too. I have discovered that if she is mildly irritated or on the verge of a tantrum, if I offer her a hug, she will often forget her troubles and give me snuggles instead. She has figured out the word "more", which she pronounces with elongated effort (mmmmoooorrrrr...."), and uses it appropriately at mealtimes. Her favorite word right now is "D!", which is used often and loudly when she needs a drink. She can say doggy, and barks like a dog, and knows that a cow says "moooooo!" We, unfortunately, have a number of spiders in our house, and she LOVES to point at them and try to touch them, calling out "Buddy! Buddy!" (buggy.) Maren loves to carry purses and little balls, and Matchbox cars. She has been highly influenced by her big brothers love of moving vehicles, and, if Ezra is willing, she will play cars with him--with her own "vroom-ing" sounds and all. Her teeth are a matter of particular interest. She has had just two teeth on the bottom since May. Earlier this month, her first set of molars came in, and this week her first top tooth
finally came in. (As a basis for comparison, at this same age, Ezra probably had eight teeth and his first molar set.)
Halloween is still a low-key holiday at our house. Ezra and Maren don't have a lot of expectations, and twelve houses is more than enough to make the treat bag heavy for little people. The weather has been amazing this October, and Halloween night was no exception. Ezra, who wanted nothing more than to a be shark, was a little shy for the first few houses, but was boldly declaring "Trick or treat!" by the end of our rounds. Maren seemed to sense the pattern of things too, and anticipated every new door that opened--not for candy--but for dogs. As luck would have it, the portion of the street we chose to visit was full of dogs of all sorts, including a large German shepherd in ballerina tu-tu. Dallin dressed up as a soggy bottom boy complete with long gray beard, straw hat, suspenders, bare feet, and mandolin. He passed out candy and strummed little folksy tunes on the front porch while Ezra, Maren, and I went trick-or-treating.
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| Miss Pumpkin and Shark boy, the Halloween candy helped them sit! |
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| Happy Halloween from Mommy Owl and kids! |
Hooray for Hat, created by Brian Won, is an all-together different kind of book. It's light and lovely approach has a straightforward message: friends are wonderful! This is a such a great read-aloud book, too, with opportunity to use different voices for the various characters. And, of course, the illustrations are engaging. I'll be honest, I usually do judge a book by its cover, and this one caught my eye. Ezra was especially fond of this one too; we read it again and again.
This board book series for baby-2 years is hilarious. Leslie Patricelli is a genius at communicating a concept with minimal words (usually just one or two words a page) and the antics of a happy bald baby. This is one of those books that makes the entire family giggle. Her books are happy, frank, and great fun. Some of her other book titles include: Quiet Loud, Yummy Yucky, No No Yes Yes, Toot, and Huggy Kissy. If you need a little comic relief,--baby style--check these out. I think they are delightful.
This book is, without a doubt, Ezra's all-time favorite. We have checked it out from the library on at least four different occasions. He requests it as a read-aloud every night we have it on loan. He has parts of the text memorized, and uses the story line in his imaginative play. If you have a little boy, chances are, he will adore this story. I love it too. In fact, I am a huge fan of anything that Tom Lichtenheld does. In this book he is just the illustrator, but he has written and illustrated many others for children. His style of writing and illustrating, is, in my humble opinion, a winning combination of wit, creativity, and passion. I think this man loves his job. Some of my other favorite Tom Lichtenheld books are: Cloudette, Duck! Rabbit!, Yes Day, and Bridget's Beret (...to name a few....he has an impressive collection...his creativity runneth over).
