Laundry helper

Buddy boy enjoys helping with the laundry. Sometimes he really gets in to his work. Here he is being a little silly while putting on his PJs. He can dress himself. Can and will are very different things.

Blast from the past

I saw this CD at the library and had to get it just for old time's sake. I remember listening to the record my parents had over and over again while marching around the alphabet in circles around the living room or pretending to be an elephant that lumbers slowly then runs and shakes the ground. The kids like it too. Buddy boy likes the colors song and of course the marching around the alphabet. This CD is great for our impromtu kitchen dances. What are your favorite kid CDs?

PVC update

We got more PVC pipe on Saturday in 2 and 3 foot lengths as well as a bag of 45 degree connectors. I was feeling limited by the form of the 90 angle. Although we did make right triangles. Sides 2-3-4 just like in geometry class.

long lost treasure

At Grammie and GrandDad's house we found some old treasures from Dad's childhood. He loved these books as a kid (and as an adult) and it looks like Buddy boy loves them as well. He looks for them in the morning and even sleeps with them at night. He loves to have them read to him and enjoys the pictures. He has an amazing amount of patience for these books. Maybe it is all of the pictures. Maybe it's the pirates.

I think these books are fun as well. They were written in the 1940's and you can tell that the world has changed a lot since then, especially when it comes to Captain Haddock's drinking so you may or may not like it for your kids. There are also historical things like the terminology for the British currency. Anyway, fun stuff found.

Buddy Boy the builder

Hooray for PVC pipe. I got this idea from a friend. I cut 3/4 inch pipe in to lengths of 2, 3, and 4 feet. I got a bag of T connectors, corner pieces, and a couple of cross pieces. It was a lot of fun.

Buddy boy called it a telescope/periscope, but we ended up using it like a talking tube. It worked great.

I really like the large scale of the building. It is like super sized tinker toys. I also like that he can put them together himself. This summer we can use this to build tents for shade and little play houses.

I think we need more pipe.

Haircut!

Before:

After:

I had been considering cutting baby girl's hair to give her bangs, just to get the hair out of her eyes. She pulls the clips out of her hair and then they disappear. Well, I did it. I'm not sure I love it. Maybe I'll let it grow out and just have a little pixie top knot that sticks straight up.

Snips and snails...

What is it about little boys and snails and dirt and sticks, sources of endless fascination. Buddy boy has recently taken to "racing" snails. The picks them off the flowers then examines the slime and the single foot. He will tell you all about snails now, how they make slime to walk on, and that they only have one foot, and carry their houses on their backs, and that the move "like this" (lots of head and shoulder movement up and down). It is pretty cute. He will pick up a couple and watch as they slowly slime their way back to the flower bed. It's the world's slowest race.

Wordful Wednesday - Learning to read

I don't remember much about learning to read other than it seemed to come pretty easily as I remember. My Mom may remember differently. I remember sitting in school going over words on flash cards as a class and being rather bored. When it came time to read the little books they sent home I didn't like it at all. The books were the classic Dick and Jane books. I thought the pictures were ugly and the stories were stupid. Nobody talked like that. The teacher had other books that she let one girl in the class read that had pretty pictures. Mom told me to ask for one of those books, but I never did. I still read, but I couldn't wait until I could read real books.

Later I remember devouring books by the light of my bedside lamp late into the night. One of my favorite books was a book of fairy tales at my Grandma's house called After the Sun Sets. My favorite book from the school library was called Peachtree Island. I read this over and over again. My favorite book from my other Grandma's library was Black Beauty. I was definitely one of those girls in love with horses at the time. Another book related favorite was when Dad would read Dr. Seuss books to us. He would ask us to bring them home from the Bookmobile so that we could all read them together.

Now as my boy is starting to recognize words I try to have books around that interest him, no ugly pictures or stupid stories. I'm not in any hurry for him to read, after all he is only 3, but I encourage him when I can by answering all of his "What word say?" questions and spelling things out for him. It is fun to watch him learn.


More Wordful Wednesday here

Baby names

For all of my friends and family members who are having babies this summer, I found a baby name website through another blog. It will even create a personalized name logo that you can have printed on all sorts of things from mugs to onesies. If this doesn't help, try this one, the famous (or infamous) Mormon name generator. Good luck!

Kids gallery

I made a chain of paper clips to hang Buddy Boy's art work in his room. I hung the ends with cup hooks and let it drape across the wall. It is an ever changing gallery. He doesn't do much art at pre-school. I think he is more interested in playing than in art. At home he likes to use the paper cutter to make strips and circles and glue it all together. Sometimes the glue dries before he tears it apart, sometimes not.