Writing Practice

This week Balian all of a sudden decided that he wanted to practice writing his letters.  I have these dry-erase practice sheets that are amazing.  In the past, while Bella was working on her handwriting skills, Balian would scribble all over these things.  Well, this week, he decided that he actually wanted to try to trace the letters, and he really surprised me.

No, his grip on his marker isn't perfect, and we still have scribbles all over the rest of the page...

But he's only 2.5!  I wasn't planning on even introducing this for another 6 months!!  And he WANTS to do it!  So fun :)

He probably wants to do it, because Bella has been practicing her letters so much.  Bella has started asking "Mommy, how do you spell ________?"  Then I would tell her, and she would write it.

Here's some of her handiwork:

Now, mind you, I'm not waiting for her to write one letter before giving her the next.  When she asks how to write PopPop, I say "p-o-p...p-o-p" and leave it at that.  So, sometimes she misses a letter or two, but that's ok.  I'm amazed that she is able to remember 99% of the letters that I dictate.

Here's more writing practice on some of her artwork:

Oh, Bella

 This is Bella.  My curly, blond-headed, blue-eyed 4.5-year-old. 

She loves to sing, dance, and twirl. 

This was one of those moments I just had to catch.  "Mommy, take a picture of me dancing!"  There is something incredibly beautiful about it.  I look at this picture and I see time flashing before me.  When did she get to be a little girl?  When was the last time I just watched her, and took in her beauty - and relished every moment of it?  When was the last time I just sat there watching, thanking God for the beautiful girl that she is - full of life and expectation, vibrant and passionate?  Oh that we all would be so full of life!  Jesus said that He came to give us abundant life.  I have no doubt that this little girl will live that out.

I've never really known how to encourage Bella in artwork.  No matter how old she is, or how much she draws, I really haven't seen much improvement.  I have always complimented her, encouraged her, no matter what it looked like.  See below:  The big green thing is a stable...Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus are in there somewhere...not sure what the green sun looking things are...

But apparently drawing just isn't her forte, and play-dough is more up her ally.  It's not like we've never played with play-dough.  We have.  A lot.  But Lately, this girl has been amazing me with her creations.  The pictures below are true creations of Bella - with absolutely NO help from anyone.  Her thoughts, her hands, her work.  She just came and said "Mommy, look what I made!"  I looked, and I was amazed.  Snapshots soon followed. 

Butterfly and Flower.  Not that you couldn't tell.  I was not expecting this.

She made a person out of her rolling tool.  Kinda reminds me of a wooden clothespin person...only instead of fabric, we have play-dough.

This may be a little tricky, but it's a ladybug.  Complete with black spots, eyes, and exactly 6 little black legs.

I said "wow, Bella - you even gave the ladybug 6 legs!"  Her reply "Of course, mom, that's how many legs ladybugs have!"  I guess she learned it from observing ladybugs in nature?

And here's an activity that we did this week.  Matching words to pictures.  She has to read the word, then find the picture that matches, and place the word underneath the picture.  I helped her with the first word, just so that she knew what to do.  

The rest she did completely on her own, and she got every single one right.  Such a smart girl!

I've noticed that she definitely performs a lot better (and stays on task a lot longer) when she works independently, rather than me hovering over her.  So I try to let her do things completely on her own as much as possible.  Handwriting, activities like this.  With reading that's tough to do though, so she wants to give up quickly.  Any thoughts?

Oh, and one more thing about Bella.  She is the dress-up QUEEN!  Every time I turn around she is wearing something different.  (=clothes Everywhere, all day long)  She's always so creative - making a way to turn herself into any character.  Here is an example.  She is Ariel.  A red dress for hair, A blue shirt turned upside-down and tied on the side for a fin, and her swimsuit top (tucked under on the bottom) to make a bikini top.  I'm always amazed...and yet never quite prepared for what I'm about to see...

She is just so incredibly creative.  Imaginative.  Love it.

Love her.

Making a Masterpiece...

So my grandfather (who died almost a year ago) made this easel for my sister and I when we were little.  Yes, he made it.  Now, after many years of sitting in my parent's garage, it is being put to good use again!  I think it's a fabulous addition to our school room, and the kids think so too :)

I got this idea from Parent's Magazine.  I got some cheap 4oz baby bottles, filled them with paint, cut off the top of the nipple and put it in the bottle upside down and put the ring on.  Tada!  Re-sealable paint holders that take excess paint off of paintbrushes too!!  

Worked fabulously!

Pumpkin Painting

Painting the Pumpkins they got at Mainstay Farm :)

Finger Painting

Today Bella had some fun finger painting with food-coloring dyed cool whip. we haven't done this in a while, because she wasn't really "into" it last time. It's amazing what a difference a couple of months makes! She LOVED it this time...and focused a lot more on painting...and less on eating the cool whip :) She was actually kinda upset when we were finished painting. I'm not so sure if that was because she liked painting, or because I took away a really sweet snack...



And just for the record...yesterday was Neil's birthday. Neil, I tried to do a fun video with Bella to wish you a happy birthday, but she just would NOT co-operate. I suppose this icing-ish fun will have to do. But we do love you, and miss you, and can't wait to see you again! Hope you had a good day! (we'll celebrate mucho when you get home!!)