Tot School

Finally, a tot-school post!  I was very busy this month gathering ideas, cutting, laminating… and I was lazy and never wrote about any of it.  I put together this really fun math kit that includes counting, color matching, shape sorting, patterns, size sorting, and more! 

Some of the activities are still a little beyond what Ella is interested in right now, but I know that she’ll get there eventually.  I obviously don’t want to push her to do anything she doesn’t want to do—after all, the point of all of this is to be FUN! 

One of the activities that she likes to do is this counting game.  She puts the little gems into each box, and together, we count them!  I found this on Confessions of a Homeschooler’s blog.  She has printable sheets for numbers 1-10, but we only did 1-5. 

Ella used her crayon rocks several times over the past couple of weeks!  They’re so fun and come in a fun little pouch, which makes cleaning-up easy to do! 

We also did art with tape—I just ripped off several strips of each color and let her put them on the paper however she wanted.  The sticky feel makes it a fun challenge! 

She also painted a “pumpkin” this week!  (Did you notice the change in season?!  Or change in wardrobe?  It was 90 degrees last week, and today it was 50.  Gotta love crazy Ohio weather!)

And finally, today I put together this fun Fall-Themed sensory tub!  Ella was SO excited to play in it—she spent at least 30 minutes quietly playing, exploring, pouring, and dumping!  Included in this tub:

• black-eyed peas
• green split peas
• black beans
• silk leaves
• mini gourds and pumpkins
• an ice cream scoop
• measuring cups

I clearly need to do more sensory-type activities, as she LOVED doing this one!  I expect to get this tub out often! 

Catching up! (again…)

As a younger person, I never believed anyone who said things like, “Just wait until you get older!  Time flies!” or, “Wait until you have children.  They grow so fast!”  But it’s so completely true! 

I just uploaded several months’ worth of photos, and I can’t believe how much Ella has changed and grown. 

I saw this picture of her playing in the kitchen in July, and thought, “wow, she was still a baby then!” 

In August, she was starting to change.  She built her first block tower(s) by herself and was so proud of her work!  We went to Pittsburgh for Janna and Eric’s wedding and she screamed in the car the whole way there and the whole way back.  It was the longest I’ve ever been away from her in one day.  The wedding was gorgeous and so much fun! 

 

In September, I was able to put two tiny pigtails in her hair!  We went to the Pumpkin Festival and she slept on my back while we walked around. 

In October, she was finally walking!  She walked around the block as a ladybug on trick-or-treat night. 

 

In November, she decided that she liked Gram and Grandpa reading to her.  The Buckeyes beat Michigan and she proudly wore her OSU garb.  :)  We drove to Tennessee to see her other grandparents!  The car ride was stressful and long, but we made it there and back safely. 

December was crazy busy with Christmas with all kinds of family! 

 

  

And here we are, at the end of January!  I celebrated my birthday this month with friends and family, and had the best birthday ever!  We ate at Genji’s, our favorite Japanese Steakhouse.  Afterward, we ate cake and played on the wii and sang Karaoke.  A great time was had by all.  And since then, time has been steadily moving along! 

Catching up!

I have no excuses—I need to write more!  It’s been a busy, but fun month for us! 

I made my first 2 complete pairs of baby leg and arm warmers! 

After testing them on my tester, I have a small adjustment to make—but it won’t be a difficult or lengthy addition.  I really just need to find more time to make them.  I have another really cute pair of Halloween socks that are waiting to be made :)  

Last weekend, we went to the Barnesville Pumpkin Festival!  As always , we enjoyed seeing the gigantic pumpkins!  This year’s winner was 1503 pounds!!  Wow!  One thing I love about the pumpkin festival is that we go every year, so we can always compare photos.  Just for fun, here is last year’s picture next to this year’s:

Ella was on my back this year, and fell asleep!  Must have been comfy back there!  :) 

Hayley and Mike, and my parents were with us too: 

Talk about a giant pumpkin patch! 

And our little pumpkin, with her little pumpkin!

And then this was yesterday, when I put tiny little pig tails in for the first time!!  She doesn’t look like a baby anymore, but a toddler instead.  <3