A little bit of this...a tid-bit of that...
First, there is Balian.
He can count to...well, I can't keep count.
He recognizes numbers up to 20 or so.
He can count with 1-to-1 correlation.
So I gave him a project that I gave Bella only a year or so ago...and he did it perfectly!
I initially had to show him/explain to him what I wanted him to do, but once that was over, he had no problem putting his number flashcards in order from 1-10 (they were mixed up), then using counters and putting the correct number of counters under each number.
The next day, he did it again, completely on his own, without me having to re-explain what he needed to do.
Yes, my son hates wearing pants...
Balian also had a birthday. We decided to do a fun family day trip rather than a party. We celebrated by going to downtown Grapevine and taking a ride on the Tarantula train. It's an old vintage steam-engine that is still running.
Balian loves trains. The entire first half (30 min.) of the train ride, he had a huge smile on his face and just kept saying over and over "This is SO FUN!", with a HUGE grin on his face.
My sister still needs to send me pictures that I took on her camera.
Balian's gift from Neil and I was a sand table. We wanted to give him something for all 3 kids to play together...outside! A sand table was perfect. Neil was hesitant at first, but once the kids started playing in it, he said that it was worth the work to build it. (which only took a couple of hours.) Neil got instructions online, but made it taller than the instructions said. I think we figured out that the grand total for making this baby (including the sand and the plastic bin) was about $40.
All 3 kids have been playing in it almost non-stop. We had to pull up a stool so Isaiah could play, but he doesn't mind...and he loves every minute of his sandy fun.
I made Bella a sewing basket. She has loved to practice sewing with yarn, a plastic needle, and no-slip shelf liner in an embroidery hoop. She has started to attempt sewing buttons. I think she's ready to step it up to some cross-stitching fabric, a needlepoint needle (blunt and metal), and embroidery thread, so she can really work on sewing those buttons.
While Bella was sewing, Isaiah had fun putting pipe-cleaners into the holes of a Parmesan container. A fabulous activity to encourage fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination.
Today, our Science lesson was learning about wind.
We made sailboats from food storage containers, paper, straws, and a bit of tape.
Easier said than done.
Then we filled up the big cooler with water...and sailed away.
Bella wanted her 2 Belles to experience sailing as well.
She blew at the sailboat and saw what wind does to sailboats.
We can't see the wind, but we can hear it and feel it, and we can see the affects of it with swaying trees, huge waves, and the like.
After our Science lesson the kids all had fun playing in the water...and getting drenched from head to toe. Literally.
The joys of being a child! :)
And Bella is wearing an up-cycled dress I made. Check it out in the post below.
And Bella is wearing an up-cycled dress I made. Check it out in the post below.
