Preschool Week 4, day 4

Day four.
Oliver had a snack on this morning, which was unusual. We don't do snacks early in the day, but for some reason (maybe an early breakfast) I let him have some raisins. I let him play with his food later, by putting them on the number 2. He really enjoyed that :).
To start the day though, after our routine things, Oliver worked on the letters Aa with felt.
Today he did excellent! He could tell he got it right took, and when I praised him he just beamed! A little confidence went a long way with him. I could tell his confidence carried through everything that morning.

We moved onto counting afterwards, and like I mentioned earlier, his confidence was high today! After counting 0-5 with the ladybugs (and matching leaves) he wanted to try to keep going and made it ALL the way to 12. This is a tough thing to do, with all the matching and I was so proud of him! He initiated it and did great!

That wrapped up our school time for the morning. Later in the day (at my favorite time of day, the cranky hour) I made this play sand. I had seen a pin with this recipe on it before and I forgot about it. The actual pin calls for baby oil, which I didn't have, and 8 cups of flour, which I was pretty sure I didn't have. I was also afraid of failure (um, has anyone else experienced failed pins before?) so I thought I'd make a small mix using what I did have. 

I used regular canola oil mixed into flour. And for the exact ratio, I just started small, maybe a couple cups of flour to oh, 1/4 cup oil? I mixed in oil as I went until I felt like it was a good "sand" consistency. Basically when it was still coming apart but could hold when I squeezed it together. I then added more flour and oil, since as it turns out I had more flour than I thought. I try not to bake with all purpose flour in general because it's just not good for you (we use whole wheat) but every once in a while I do use it for sweets. And it's very handy to have on hand for crafty projects. 

Did Oliver like it?

It was such a hit! He loved it! He did want me to sit and play with him which was in between cooking for me, but it was highly successful and highly messy. But it wiped/vacuumed right up. Aleksandr really, really wanted to participate. Looking up at both me and Oliver sitting at the table he couldn't handle being alone on the ground. Poor guy. So I held him while he dug his hands in. And surprisingly he didn't eat it. I think he remembered the sand at Charleston. He LOVED it and sat and played contentedly for quite a while on the beach. After a few mouthfuls of it, he gave up eating it and really just played. I think he may have thought this was similar. So successful pin for both boys! Now this is something worth doing again!

Play Sand

5 cups all purpose flour

1 cup canola oil (or less, just slowly add in)

Mix up, slowly adding in oil until the texture is "sandy" (falls apart, but will still be moldable when you squeeze it). Dump in a big pan and watch your three year old explore, dig, pour and generally make a big, fun mess!

a little flour, 18 months

Our little Oliver turned 18 months old today- wow we now have a little year and a half year old. Halfway to 2!
Some favorite things that he has started doing this past month: peek a boo has been a game he's enjoyed for a long time but he just started doing it himself. He'll put his little hands over his eyes and hold them there...until we come move them. He'll laugh as we say "peek a boo!" it's so darn funny because he doesn't quite get the part that he needs to move his hands!
He's also started touching our faces when he says our names. He'll say, "mama" and reach up and touch my cheek. He started doing this when my parents came to visit us. My mom asked him where grandma was and he reached up and touched her face. How sweet that memory is! Thanks for giving that gift to your grandma Oliver!
He has also started talking to himself more and laughing too. I'll hear him gabbering away with his toys then he'll chuckle and gabber some more. It's so funny to hear him and wonder what in the world is going through his head.
He has also started to outgrow his second nap. I am so thankful we scheduled him early on to have a sleep, eat, play pattern as it really seemed to teach him what to expect. He goes to bed without any problem, as well as naps. However I am thinking it's time to start putting him on just one nap a day. He will take a morning nap and quite often here lately when I put him down for his afternoon nap he'll talk and talk and talk, take his socks off, throw them out of the crib, talk, turn on his sleep sheep- cry if it's on the whale noises (not sure why but he hates that sound, he prefers the rain), I'll go in and turn it off, lay him down and finally towards the end of nap time, he'll fall asleep. In which case I usually have to wake him up if it's getting close to dinner time. So I think we will be converting to one long nap.
We are also working on some training sessions with Oliver. Teaching him to be still and quiet throughout the day, to teach him to listen. He's been doing great with these 5 minute training sessions and has learned to sit still quietly- usually sucking his thumb.
We've also been working on shapes, counting, and colors for the past couple months. This month (actually 17 months) he finally recognized the four shapes I was teaching him. It was an exciting realization to me to see that he really knew what each shape was. After months of nothing (which was okay, I don't pressure him to learn, we have fun) he just suddenly knew them. It was encouraging to me to see that the time we spend looking at letters, numbers, shapes and colors is now starting to click in his mind.
He has also really started to mimic us- a lot. He has learned animal sounds: sheep, dog, cat, lion, gorilla, monkey, cow, horse, rooster (this one is hilarious and sounds like 'goodle-oodle-oo), and a duck.
There is never a dull moment here in our house!

oliver is 18 months and loves peek a boo!

But moving right along here... today was just like any other day. I treasure each day at home with this little guy. Even if he follows me around when I need to be in the kitchen. I decided that I would give him something new to explore while I baked bread.
Our kitchen has laminate flour so I had Oliver sit down and plopped a bowl with some flour in it right in front of him.
He poked one little finger in it and looked up at me and grinned. This new texture was pretty exciting and I could see his little mind taking it in. He was cautious to play with it, almost expecting me to say no, don't touch. But I encouraged him to touch it, and gave him a spoon to swirl it around.
Oh my.
What a fun thing this was!
The next thing I knew he had dumped it on the ground and was happily playing in it, as well as tapping the spoon on the bowl.
The belly laughing! I didn't expect him to be as thrilled as he was, and it was so much fun to watch him laugh at the joy of flour.
I ran to get the camera so I could take some pictures for Jonah. I am so glad I did. I treasure these shots- you can see the gleam in his eyes from it all.
What a fun little boy we have!