Tot School Update

Michaela is 19 months old

I've mentioned this in my confession this week, but Tot School was very sporadic. We worked on activities at different points throughout the day. Once Corbin is here and we have more of a routine, I plan on having a specific time for "school" everyday. For now we are just going to enjoy playing together everyday.

We've had these blocks since Christmas, but this is the first time she has really enjoyed playing with them.

Thankfully, she enjoys cleaning up after herself. The top of the bucket has a shape sorter so she got to clean and learn at the same time!

Puzzles are always a favorite

You might remember these from your childhood. It's a towel that expands once you put it in water. Daddy loves doing water activities with Michaela.

She's watching the towel get bigger.

We went to the park for awhile one day. I love the warm weather! Unfortunately, this park did not have a slide. I thought all parks had a slide. Michaela was pretty bummed about not sliding but she soon forgot.

I was in the midst of moving Michaela's clothes out of the nursery so that we could move Corbin in and Michaela desperately needed something to do.

I thought this would be a great opportunity to work on her transferring skills. This kept her attention for about 10 minutes.

Check out this blog for other ideas from Tot Schools.

Mommy Confession Monday

Ok, so here goes nothing.

1. Michaela watched entirely too much TV this week. I believe she watched at least 30 minutes a day and sometimes up to 2 hours (not consecutive). I'm just really feeling that last weeks of pregnancy and I let that get the best of me. Oh well, at least it was "educational" TV. ;)

2. We really didn't do any planned activities. Like I said, the last weeks of pregnancy can be tiring, especially when you obsess about having an organized, clean house before the new baby comes. Most of our activities were sporadic but she still loved them anyway. The important thing is that we still spent time together, even if it wasn't on the calendar.

3. We've started talking about Potty Training. Michaela will now tell me when she has to go "poo-poo". I sat her on the toilet and like always, she didn't really need to go. I tried to explain that maybe she should grunt to help her poopie come out. Unfortunately, it only helped a fart come out. She looked at me wide eyed and exclaimed, "I farted!" then threw her head back and laughed. I have to confess I thought that was hilarious. For some reason we tend to think of bodily functions as funny, not rude. We might need to work on this for public outings though.

Alas, we are not perfect around here!

Mommy Confession Monday

Have you ever felt that the other Mom's in "blog land" are perfect? Of course, we all know that no one else is perfect and they don't have it all together but sometimes it seems that things go so smoothly in their home. Their children always do activities just as planned, they have clean clothes and fixed hair, and Mom has made a meal completely from scratch. We all know that this is not the case. No one wants another other mom to feel inadequate. Most of us blog to encourage one another and share great ideas, not to brag about how great we are.

This is why I'm going to start a new weekly post: Mommy Confession Monday. This can be a time that we confess things to each other that didn't go as planned during the week. We can also share funny stories about children. Or maybe we can be serious and confess an area we need to work on. It may help to have some type of accountability in our struggles to raise children to love God. These are just a few ideas because I'm sure there are many, many things that happen each week that keep us humble.

I pray this weekly post will help to show us that no one else is perfect and has it all together. God made each of us differently so we will all have different strengths and weaknesses. Now let's have fun laughing as we confess together.

Getting Ready for Tot School

I have been bit by the Nesting Bug...bad. I think a lot of it started while reading 1+1+1=1. I had this sense of urgency to get things organized before the new baby comes. I haven't really been doing a lot of "formal" school activities with Michaela during this pregnancy. I think part of the reason is that I haven't had a designated area for her supplies. I think it would be so much easier to plan if everything was organized.

I decided to take a couple cabinets in the kitchen that were not being utilized efficiently at all! Look at what a mess they were:

Before

After

Before
After
Ah...Organized Bliss

Daddy was also an angel this weekend. He watched Michaela while I got to enjoy 3 hours of shopping all by myself. It was a much needed break. I picked up a few more supplies for school.

I found these pails at Target in the Dollar Spot.

These are a great, inexpensive tool for sorting activities.

New Blog that I absolutely LOVE!

I was going through a friend's blog roll and I stumbled across a new blog that I absolutely love. 1+1+1=1.blogspot.com is a great site for helping to teach your toddlers. I really like the learning style of Montessori, but I have had difficulties finding activities that are geared toward children under the age of 3. While this website is not technically a Montessori based site, she believes in the idea and is very similar. There are tons of pictures, she writes very well (which is not my strong suite at all!) and is very clear with instructions.

The best thing about this site is the fact that she is very down to earth. After reading some blogs about teaching children I feel completely incompetant. It seems like the Moms never have a glich in the schedule or if you do something contrary to their beliefs you are wrong. I don't believe you will feel that way about 1+1+1=1. If you are looking for ideas in educational play for your tot, this site is awesome!

Sleeping in the Big Girl Bed

Corbin, our second child, is due to be here in about 5 weeks. We have set up Michaela's new room but we have a slight problem. She has toys, a organized closet and a "big girl" bed-that she refuses to sleep in! I have tried to get her to take a nap in here but she cries and gets right back up. After every failed attempt, I wait about a week before I try again.

I wanted Michaela to be in her room before Corbin arrived so she wouldn't feel like he was taking her room. That is clearly not going to happen. I would like to try to get her to at least take naps in here so she can work toward sleeping in her bed all night. Thankfully, he will sleep in the bassinet in our room for a few more months so I don't have to have this situation fixed this month.

Do you have any tips or suggestions on getting your little one to transition to the big bed? She is almost 20 months old right now.

Cleaning your Microwave

I hate to clean the microwave! It always takes a long time and too much elbow grease. I have found the solution:
If you steam the microwave before you clean it everything comes off with just a few wipes. To do this heat a small bowl of water on high for 5 minutes. After the 5 minutes you should be able to wipe away all of the food that has accumulated on the inside. The steam from the water loosens up all of the particles.
This works for me!