Raising All Kinds of Hale: August 2011

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Big Girl Bed

We converted Raegan's crib to a toddler bed about 2 weeks ago. I've been dreading it and putting it off for a while. She wasn't climbing out yet, but we know we have other transitions coming up (potty training and getting rid of the binky), and we had to start somewhere. Overall, she is doing really well. The biggest change is that she gets out of bed as soon as she wakes up in the mornings. I'm hardly chipper first thing in the morning, and I miss my slow waking. In the crib she would play and read for 20-30 minutes before yelling to get out. Most mornings I now wake up to her standing next to me, saying "You all done with your nap?!" One morning I woke up to her counting the moles on my arm. "One, two three, four. You have two moles." (more like 200). Some nights she goes right to sleep and some nights she stalls. Here are some of her stall tactics:

needs some milk and/or water
"cover you up"
"baby's cold... needs jammies downstairs... come down and get them... come right back up"
"need to be changed" - The first time she actually did, and the next time was a trick.
unplugs the night light and needs help plugging it back in

One day she quietly gathered her things and slept by the gate.

This is how I found her after her nap another day.

Playing with her Mrs. Potato Head while wearing the glasses.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Pinterest Projects

The wonderful thing about Pinterest is that there are a lot of DIY projects being shared. Instead pining away over things I can't afford, I have decided to make some things I saw and try new recipes. Here's the run down on what we've done so far. The first makeover is slowly happening in the kitchen.

dishes from Target
place mats from Target

Natural fiber place mats/chargers from World Market
utensil print

Honey Yogurt & Peanut Butter dip - I tried it with apples and really liked it. I bet it would be good with bananas and pears, too. It is a nice protein dip instead of a sugary, empty calorie dip.

Iced coffee - eh, not nearly as good as the picture made it look
1st ever pair of skinny jeans, unless you count middle school when we all rocked a tapered leg jean
Cinnamon Swirl Pancakes - thumbs up from the family, especially Ryan

Chicken Taquitos - wonderful and really close to Baja Fresh's version!! Next time I think I will double the recipe and freeze some.
Crock Pot Shredded Beef for Soft Tacos - delicious!
mattress freshener
toy organization - Ryan said, "I like it. It says "a kid lives here, but they don't run the place." Well said, my friend.

On Deck:

Homemade Drain Cleaner
DIY oatmeal packets
"You Are My I Love You" print
pantry organization (in progress, nothing fancy)

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Alligators All Around

We enjoyed a relaxing visit from Grandmommy and Pop recently. They drove out and stayed with us for a few days. Lots of delicious food and coffee was consumed by all. Raegan and Grandmommy read many books together. Raegan is getting really good at memorizing books very quickly. I bought her a set of 5 If You Give a... books at Costco (If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, etc.). By the night we got them she could already finish most of the sentences. She has also grown attached to the library books that are due next week. I'm not sure if she will like this concept of giving them back. Her favorites from our first batch are The Lady with the Alligator Purse and Hooray for Amanda and Her Alligator! This was our first Mo Willems book and I really enjoyed it.

We started our ABC project. So far we have done A and a. After the glue dried on the Alligator, she ripped all the pieces off : / She is funny with some of our new activities. Her main form of enjoyment with the Play-Doh is to immediately squish everything I make. Actually, she puts a belly button on it and then squishes it. It's like a compulsion - she just squeezes it like a stress ball and asks for another shape. And she's a color mixer, which is really hard for me. I'd like to start incorporating some time at her table with a learning activity, maybe 10 minutes at a time. I found some really neat ideas for her on Pinterest and plan to incorporate some of them into her day. She's not really into guided, structured time, so we'll see how this goes.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Little Learner

As I was browsing Pinterest I saw an idea for teaching the alphabet. Each letter, upper and lowercase, is transformed into an animal or object, e.g. "A" becomes an alligator. All of the letters and list of materials can be found at Totally Tots. I've started collecting materials and I've made a few letters out of craft foam. My loose plan is to introduce the letter, read a book that corresponds with the transformed letter, then have a quick craft time to transform the letter. Raegan doesn't sit still for very long for coloring or painting, so we will work fast. I am going to cut out the letter and all pieces needed, so all we need to do is glue everything together. I would lose her for sure if we tried to sit together and cut. (And I've already had to practically pin her down to take a pair of scissors out of her death grip). I'm putting the materials in a binder to keep everything together. I put a piece of card stock in a page protector. I'm putting the uppercase materials on one side and the lowercase on the other.

If you are interested in the project, I typed the alphabet in a Word document. The letters measure about 4-4 1/2 inches tall using Century Gothic, a basic sans serif font that is easy to cut out.

Click here to download a PDF template of the alphabet.

Materials

craft foam in a variety of colors (get extra black, white, and brown)
pipe cleaners (for several letters)
googly eyes (for most of the letters)
glue
scissors (and an Exacto knife is also helpful)
a few colorful feathers
small pack of sequins
yarn
wax paper
nude or brown pantyhose (one stinky old knee high from days of yore is plenty)

We got ourselves a library card at a really nice library here. I cannot believe I didn't already have one for this girl! She had fun sitting in all of the small chairs, randomly singing Happy Birthday very loudly, and she joined what I think was a tutoring session. Then she tried to scale a pipe and it was time to go. Our library etiquette needs some work. We are all set with our books for A and B. I got Amanda and her Alligator, The Lady with the Alligator Purse, and Apple Farmer Annie for "A" and "a." I just did a key word search in the online catalog from home for "alligator" and "apple" and read a few summaries to see if the book was age appropriate. Note to self: next time, write down the title and author's name at home and don't rely on your memory that will surely frazzle when you find your child mounting a pipe like a horse.

Yellow Gray