Grace had a great time pushing toy cars, trains, trucks, and buses through different colors of paint to create wheel prints! Grace especially enjoyed pushing the vehicles "very, very fast, fast" and then "sooooo slow." I hung the wheel prints on our living room wall and Grace can't wait to show Daddy her fun painting when he gets home from work this evening! 
It's another rainy day here in Maine so Grace spent most of the morning playing with her activity bags. One of Grace's favorite bags is the one seen here. Maddy cut out the faces of our family members (and Ella too!) and put them on magnetic paper. The magnets stick to a cookie sheet. This morning Grace worked on matching the printed names of our family members to their picture. Grace can identify and read the printed names Ella, Uncle Adam, and Grace from a long list of words! When I extend the first sound of the other names (e.g., "Which one says Mmmm-mommy?") Grace can identify the printed name from a choice of three choices. Once Grace identified the printed name, she placed it under the correct picture.
I was able to take a close up picture of Gracie girl's sparkly blue eyes as she intently watched several birds eating from our bird feeder this morning.
Grace had great fun painting with marbles this morning. We taped a piece of paper onto a tray and dipped marbles into blue, green, and yellow paint. Grace then placed the marbles on the paper and moved and shook the tray around in order to roll the painted marbles around. The result is this marble painting masterpiece! :)
Grace and I look really look forward to her music group each week. The music group emphasizes actual music experiences through fun and playful activities. The program also strongly encourages musical activities at home within the context of daily life, which is perfect for us because music is & always has been such a huge part of our life with Grace. At the end of every group the children are encouraged to play the instrument that the instructor used throughout the music group. Here, Grace was thrilled to play the keyboard where she had a great time experimenting with the many different sounds the keyboard could produce!
Grace has been able to identify items that are the same for several months now. I knew Grace really had this concept down last week when she kept handing me identical objects from around our house while saying, "same." Today, I targeted the concept of different with Grace. I set up a row of bears, one of which was a different color from the others. After demonstrating "different" for Grace one time, she easily picked up this concept. Grace then set up her own rows of bears and pointed out to me which one was different. This became a fun and entertaining game for Grace. I'll have to work on targeting additional attributes with Grace such as size, sound, and smell differences!
I thought it would be fun each day to incorporate calendar time into Grace's morning routine. Grace gets to sit on a very special bear rug during calendar time, which takes place on the back of our porch door. Each morning we review what month it is and spell out the letters and their sounds. Grace then finds the number of the date from a choice of three numbers and places it on the calendar. Next, we sing a song about the days of the week ~ Grace knows them all! After the calendar work, Grace looks out the window to identify the weather and chooses a weather card to place at the bottom of the door. Finally, Grace chooses a character that is dressed appropriately for the type of weather we are having. Today it is warm and sunny so Grace chose a boy who was wearing sunglasses, shorts, and a t-shirt. Calendar time is such a fun way for Grace to learn so many concepts. We are having a great time with this each morning!
Grace turned twenty months old today!
Grace has been learning about tactile concepts and today I targeted "sticky." I thought it would be fun for Grace to make contact paper collages. This morning Grace made two collages ~ a tissue paper collage and a nature collage. Grace enjoyed tearing different colors of tissue paper sheets into smaller pieces. Grace then sorted them by color into bowls. I put a large piece of contact paper, with the sticky side up, onto Grace's tray. Grace placed different colored pieces of the tissue paper onto the sticky contact paper to create a collage. Later, Grace & I went on a nature walk and gathered different leaves, pine needles, grass, clovers, and a flower so that Grace could create a nature collage. I added another piece of contact paper on top of Grace's work and we hung the collages in our kitchen window. They look beautiful!
Maddy made this absolutely adorable paper doll set for Grace. She handmade each dress out of fabric and ribbon, laminated them, and added magnets on the back of each one so that the dresses would stick to the doll. Grace had great fun choosing dresses for her paper doll (Mommy did too...shhh!). Grace also did a wonderful job finding each dress that I described using a variety of adjectives. Thank you, Maddy, for this very cute activity. We love it!
Sadly, Maddy & Poppy left for Vermont this morning. Thank you, Maddy & Poppy, for another wonderful visit. Grace has been talking about you both nonstop since you left. She is reliving all of the special times she spent with you this week! We miss you.
After Grace's nap this afternoon we tried this fun craft project. This involved cutting cardstock into quarters and some washable tempera paint that we thinned with water and stirred with sticks. We then put the paint on the cardstock paper and Grace blew it to create splatter. After they dried, we created pictures out of the designs. This was something new for Grace and she loved blowing the paint!
Grace had a great time pushing toy cars, trains, trucks, and buses through different colors of paint to create wheel prints! Grace especially enjoyed pushing the vehicles "very, very fast, fast" and then "sooooo slow." I hung the wheel prints on our living room wall and Grace can't wait to show Daddy her fun painting when he gets home from work this evening! 
Grace found the last of the dandelion flowers. Grace's favorite color is yellow and she is the best dandelion flower finder! 
Grace and Ella enjoyed finding bugs in the grass. We spotted a very large black beetle, several daddy long leg spiders, ladybugs, and ants. 
Grace had fun walking and splashing through all of the rain puddles!
It's another rainy day here in Maine so Grace spent most of the morning playing with her activity bags. One of Grace's favorite bags is the one seen here. Maddy cut out the faces of our family members (and Ella too!) and put them on magnetic paper. The magnets stick to a cookie sheet. This morning Grace worked on matching the printed names of our family members to their picture. Grace can identify and read the printed names Ella, Uncle Adam, and Grace from a long list of words! When I extend the first sound of the other names (e.g., "Which one says Mmmm-mommy?") Grace can identify the printed name from a choice of three choices. Once Grace identified the printed name, she placed it under the correct picture.
Grace couldn't have been any more excited to sing and dance to the beat of the drums. Grace and Daddy even joined in on a traditional Native American dance!
As always, Grace enjoyed all of the animals at the Wildlife Park. Below, Grace takes a peek over the fence at the beautiful peacocks. Grace makes a perfect peacock sound and surprisingly the peacocks are the loudest animals at the park. You can hear them from miles away! 
Grace takes a little time off from looking at all of the animals to give Mommy and Ella some of her very best Eskimo kisses!
Grace and I layed on our living room floor looking at books together for a long time. Grace enjoyed showing me all of the jungle animals in one of her books. Looking at books with Grace is always a special time for me ~ it is one of my very favorite things!
Playdough time is always lots of fun too! We made imprints of letters, numbers, and shapes.
One of Grace's favorite things right now is her magnetic sea animal puzzle. She does an amazing job using the magnetic fishing pole to "catch" the fish. We'll have to take Grace fishing on our lake soon.
Grace ended our great pajama morning playing with an activity bag. Grace enjoyed matching and sorting small tiles into a container with separate compartments.
I was able to take a close up picture of Gracie girl's sparkly blue eyes as she intently watched several birds eating from our bird feeder this morning.
Grace had great fun painting with marbles this morning. We taped a piece of paper onto a tray and dipped marbles into blue, green, and yellow paint. Grace then placed the marbles on the paper and moved and shook the tray around in order to roll the painted marbles around. The result is this marble painting masterpiece! :)
Grace and I look really look forward to her music group each week. The music group emphasizes actual music experiences through fun and playful activities. The program also strongly encourages musical activities at home within the context of daily life, which is perfect for us because music is & always has been such a huge part of our life with Grace. At the end of every group the children are encouraged to play the instrument that the instructor used throughout the music group. Here, Grace was thrilled to play the keyboard where she had a great time experimenting with the many different sounds the keyboard could produce!
Grace has been able to identify items that are the same for several months now. I knew Grace really had this concept down last week when she kept handing me identical objects from around our house while saying, "same." Today, I targeted the concept of different with Grace. I set up a row of bears, one of which was a different color from the others. After demonstrating "different" for Grace one time, she easily picked up this concept. Grace then set up her own rows of bears and pointed out to me which one was different. This became a fun and entertaining game for Grace. I'll have to work on targeting additional attributes with Grace such as size, sound, and smell differences!
I thought it would be fun each day to incorporate calendar time into Grace's morning routine. Grace gets to sit on a very special bear rug during calendar time, which takes place on the back of our porch door. Each morning we review what month it is and spell out the letters and their sounds. Grace then finds the number of the date from a choice of three numbers and places it on the calendar. Next, we sing a song about the days of the week ~ Grace knows them all! After the calendar work, Grace looks out the window to identify the weather and chooses a weather card to place at the bottom of the door. Finally, Grace chooses a character that is dressed appropriately for the type of weather we are having. Today it is warm and sunny so Grace chose a boy who was wearing sunglasses, shorts, and a t-shirt. Calendar time is such a fun way for Grace to learn so many concepts. We are having a great time with this each morning!
Grace turned twenty months old today!
Grace has been learning about tactile concepts and today I targeted "sticky." I thought it would be fun for Grace to make contact paper collages. This morning Grace made two collages ~ a tissue paper collage and a nature collage. Grace enjoyed tearing different colors of tissue paper sheets into smaller pieces. Grace then sorted them by color into bowls. I put a large piece of contact paper, with the sticky side up, onto Grace's tray. Grace placed different colored pieces of the tissue paper onto the sticky contact paper to create a collage. Later, Grace & I went on a nature walk and gathered different leaves, pine needles, grass, clovers, and a flower so that Grace could create a nature collage. I added another piece of contact paper on top of Grace's work and we hung the collages in our kitchen window. They look beautiful!
Maddy made this absolutely adorable paper doll set for Grace. She handmade each dress out of fabric and ribbon, laminated them, and added magnets on the back of each one so that the dresses would stick to the doll. Grace had great fun choosing dresses for her paper doll (Mommy did too...shhh!). Grace also did a wonderful job finding each dress that I described using a variety of adjectives. Thank you, Maddy, for this very cute activity. We love it!
Sadly, Maddy & Poppy left for Vermont this morning. Thank you, Maddy & Poppy, for another wonderful visit. Grace has been talking about you both nonstop since you left. She is reliving all of the special times she spent with you this week! We miss you.
Today Grace set her butterflies free! These are the butterflies that Grace had as tiny caterpillars at Maddy and Poppy's house. Grace opened the butterfly habitat and the five Painted Ladies fluttered gently out. One butterfly landed in a patch of grass and Grace sat and watched it for almost ten minutes. The others flew up into the air. Grace stood for the longest time saying, "goodbye butterflies." As we ate dinner on the porch we saw one of Grace's butterflies fly by. It was amazing! 
Grace and Maddy built a fairy house in Grace's yard. They gathered flowers, sticks, rocks, leaves, bark, and moss to create a sweet little home that any fairy would love to live in. 
After Grace's nap this afternoon we tried this fun craft project. This involved cutting cardstock into quarters and some washable tempera paint that we thinned with water and stirred with sticks. We then put the paint on the cardstock paper and Grace blew it to create splatter. After they dried, we created pictures out of the designs. This was something new for Grace and she loved blowing the paint!
