ANOTHER LOW KEY WEEK

~Punkin is 36 months old.~

Punkin spent a lot of time "playing" with Firecracker again this week. She still continues to adore her.

One day when I set Firecracker on the couch, Punkin went and got her doll and set it next to Firecracker and said, "Here. You can play with my baby." Well, at least for now, she's willing to share.

TOT TRAYS

We actually did our calendar time and tot trays quite a bit this week! Punkin really was into the tot trays since I finally changed them out this week.

Sticking golf tees into styrofoam and then balancing marbles on the tops. We've done this a lot before, and she seems to enjoy it more each time.

Lite Brite....She would put in lots of lights and then pretend to blow out the "candles."

Punkin got this Leapfrog Scribble and Write for her birthday, and she loves it. She really is pretty good at making the letters using the ABC setting.

This is just a silly little pegboard that I got for a dime at a garage sale a long time ago. She just loves putting the pegs in and out of the holes.

Connect Four. Simple and easy and fun!

She enjoyed using this mini bowling set I got at Dollar Tree awhile back.

And Hi-Ho-Cherrio. She still isn't really interested in playing it the way it is supposed to be played, though.

WE DID SCHOOLTIME.....ONE DAY

Punkin got a new Kumon cutting book for her birthday. She loved it and did a great job!

Then, she asked for pretty paper to cut, so I got out some scraps of construction paper and let her just go at it.

All of a sudden, she declared, "Mommy, look! I made K, M, M." Then, she turned to Daddy and said, "Daddy, I made your name in cutting. See? K,M,M spells Daddy!" Okay, so she is a bit off on her spelling, but..... :)

We did a few pages from a free Highlights magazine sample I got in the mail. She loved this page where she had to find the correct puzzle piece sticker to put on the page. Then, we found all the things on the page that started with the letter P.

Another page was a hidden picture hunt. She used a marker to circle all the hidden objects in the picture.

We also worked on this magnetic word spelling book.

OTHER FUN

Punkin got this Play Doh cake making set for her birthday as well. We spent a lot of time one day making cakes, cupcakes, cookies, ice cream cones, etc.

We made it through another week. I'm looking forward to starting the second lesson in Carisa's powerpoints next week. To see what other tots were up to this week, visit 1+1+1=1.

BIRTHDAY EDITION

It was another low key week around here as we geared up for Punkin's 3rd birthday and continued to adjust to a new baby and no sleep! But once again, we did do our new calendar time and powerpoints a couple days, and she continued to play with her same old tot trays (which I did get around to finally switching out at the end of the week.) Our formal "schooltime" is what is lacking these days as that takes more prep on my part and is supposed to happen in the afternoon after naps, which now tends to be Firecracker's fussy time. But we'll get back to it....someday!

Punkin is still a fan of puzzles. This one is one of the ones in her tot trays.

Punkin loves the new powerpoint shows we do on the computer. And she is good at pushing the button to make the show advance.

We have also done Starfall a lot this week. We always started with L since it went along with the powerpoint shows. Each time it came to this game part of the show, she would pick out the letter that didn't belong and say, "That [k] is not an L! Silly [k]!"

And she continues to read lots of books.

Punkin made lots of pictures for Grandma this week.

I am impressed with how well she does now at putting these 25 piece puzzles together. We have done this one a lot, so she is getting pretty good at remembering where the pieces go.

Punkin wanted a strawberry birthday cake for her birthday. So, this is what I came up with, using a heart shaped pan. It was also made out of strawberry cake mix and strawberry frosting.

Her "party" was pretty low-key, too, with just our families. But she didn't seem to mind.

All she kept talking about the weeks before her birthday were candles, balloons, party hats, and of course a strawberry cake. So, that's what we had.

I can't believe my "baby" is three years old. Wow. Where did the time go? Can I brag on her here for a second? I have been slowly introducing sight words to her, but we hadn't done anything for a few weeks due to baby sister being born. When I got out her words the other day to go over them again, she spouted all 7 of them off to me with no problem (see, on, up, and, sun, cat, dog). I have to say that as a former first grade teacher, it excites me to pieces to see her learning words so easily at this age. :)

To see what other tots were up to this week, you can visit 1+1+1=1.

WEEK 2 WITH BABY SIS

~Punkin is 35 months old.~

We are pretty much in survival mode around here these days. I am dealing with some strong baby blues at the moment, and Punkin is really seeing how far she can stretch the limits now that Mommy is often occupied with a new baby. But, because I am one who needs structure and routine in my day, we have made an effort to try and do at least a few of our normal activities at least a few days this week.

Before Firecracker was born, I had put together a bag of "tot school" stuff that was all ready to go and I could just go and pick out an activity. That has helped. Also, I had restructured our morning calendar / circle time routine to make it geared more towards a 3 year old / preschool than what we were doing. I also purchased Carisa's members only powerpoints, and we have started the first lesson on that. (I love that it takes little prep on my part and Punkin still loves it.) Our new calendar time follows the same lessons as in her powerpoints, and I am really enjoying doing some different things with Punkin. We didn't finish our letter themes before Firecracker was born like I had planned, but since Punkin really knows her letters and sounds so well, we were really just using the letters as a springboard for other fun activities related to that theme. So, I decided to just stop where we were at and start fresh. All that being said, we got to do 3 days of our new calendar time routine and powerpoint lessons this week, which thrilled me. (I didn't take pictures yet of our new board or doing our new work...maybe someday soon I'll get to that.)

Okay, on to a few pictures of a few things we did that I actually captured on the camera.

Punkin spent a lot of time this week cuddling with Firecracker and holding her and talking to her. In spite of the fact that she is testing us with her behavior, she truly does ADORE her baby sister.

She spent lots of time reading books by herself and with Grandma and Grandpa.

She is fascinated by her flashcards lately, and spent one morning lining them up, finding her favorite pictures, and pretending to make "words."

She also did some tot trays that I haven't had time to change in awhile. But she still enjoys them. Her favorites are the puzzle ones right now.

We actually got out the paints and did some star cookie cutter prints.

Then, she wanted to just free paint.

We made a sign for Daddy's birthday.

And she is really into singing and performing lately. She found this old cardboard tube and walked around the house using it as her microphone, singing any and every song she could think of.

Punkin also has enjoyed dressing up in her princess dresses and turning on the radio to dance to the music. She calls herself the "Ballerina Girl."

Well, that's all. We'll see how it goes next week..... In the meantime, hop on over to 1+1+1=1 to find out what other tots have been up to lately.

SHE'S HERE

Our new little miracle (we'll call her Firecracker on this blog) arrived last week, and we are so much in love! A bit sleep deprived, and still trying to get accustomed to having a toddler AND a newborn, and adjusting to a new routine....but overall doing well.

Tot School has obviously been pretty much nonexistent, but Punkin has still managed to have some fun things going on the last few weeks.

Fourth of July Parade with her cousins.

Our town's festival....riding the carousel with Daddy.

Getting to snuggle and read lots of books with Daddy.

Playing outside in her pool. She does this daily, and can spend hours out in the water!

Making Fourth of July dipped strawberries. (Strawberries dipped in white chocolate and then dipped in blue sugar.) She could really do this all by herself, and was proud of her treats when she was done.

Punkin adores her baby sister and also enjoys reading her books! :)

To see what other tots were up to this past week, visit 1+1+1=1.