Listed below are the objectives I am focusing on for the themed weeks. I have updated our objectives a second time because I felt like we were ready to focus on something new. I plan to continue to implement activities to practice and reinforce our previous objectives while putting more emphasis on our new objectives. Some of them won't necessarily be targeted with specific activities during our weeks, but I wanted to list them to help me remember to practice them continually. The highlighted objectives are ones Carter received exposure to during our theme this week:
- Continue to improve fine motor skills and drawing (specifically I'm looking for him to be able to copy a circle and a square as well as draw a person with 2-4 body parts).
- Understand same and different.
- Accurately tell stories as well as retell the story from a book.
- Use age appropriate scissors.
- Develop a better understanding of time (for example, be able to describe when things happen using morning, afternoon, night)
- Group objects based on a category (sort by defining feature).
- Count and understand what the numbers mean.
- As Carter would get dressed in the morning we would count the articles of clothing as he put them on. Then we started counting the clothes as he picked them out to see if he remembered to get everything. I would let him do it all by himself until he asked for help. He also like getting undressed by himself. If he couldn't get his feet out of his footie pajamas, he'd just walk around kicking his feet until them came off.
Taking his jammies off all by himself. 
Getting dressed all by himself. - We talked about and named each article of clothing. Then we counted how many of each we wore. He thought it was hilarious when we counted that we wear 2 socks and I asked him if we wear 2 shirts.
One of the many totally awesome outfits he picked out!
- To help him pick out his own clothes I would talk him through my clothing choices. I would check the weather and tell him whether it was hot or cold. Then I'd tell him what I was picking to wear and why. When he'd go to get dressed I'd tell him what the weather was like and ask him what he thought he should wear for the day.
Some of his outfits were more interesting than others. - I taught Carter the names for each piece of clothing in Spanish. He loved repeating the words back to me. His favorite was zapatos. Each time we said it he would scream it out.
- I created a sensory bin with stuff I found around the house and then picked up some buttons in the clearance bin at Wal-Mart. The base of his sensory bin was buttons and then I added ribbon, shoe laces, ties my mom made for decorations at his 1st birthday party which I have saved, and some scraps of fabric I had from random craft projects. He enjoyed scooping up and pouring buttons as well as stringing buttons on the shoe laces. Elise liked rubbing her hands on the fabric and grabbing buttons so it was a win-win.
- At the end of the week when we were ready to put the sensory bin away I had Carter help me. We played with the shoelaces and practiced tying them which was mostly me showing him how I tie a shoe. Then he helped me sort the buttons into shapes, numbers, black and white round, and other color round. He got confused with the numbers on occasion wanting to put them with shapes even though he knew they weren't a shape. Otherwise he did really well. He also wanted me to have a large button that was the mommy button and he took a small button which was the baby button and we played and made up stories.
- We used socks to make patterns. I set the socks out in a blue/grey pattern. When I would set a sock down I would point to each sock, saying the color of each and ask him what color came next. He didn't totally understand what a pattern was but he was able to tell me which color came next.
When we were done he ran and jumped over the line of socks. - After making patterns with the socks I put them back in bundles and we played sock toss. I put a basket out and he tossed the pairs of socks into the basket one at a time. We counted the pairs of socks he made into the basket as he shot.
- After reading Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed I got out the naked mole rat dressing game and let Carter play with it like a paper doll. He was much more interested in the underwear this time around than he was last time. He loved dressing the naked mole rat just as much as he had before. An exciting twist for him was finding the naked mole rats during our trip to the zoo.
Dressing Wilbur, the naked mole rat. 
Checking out the naked mole rats at the zoo. - As part of the Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed package you can print free online here, there is a socks memory game. We used the game to match and to sort. First Carter went through and matched the socks that were alike which was harder for him than I expected because they were all black and white. Then we went through and sorted them into 3 piles: one for stripes, one for dots, and one for other decorations. He did really well with that which impressed me.
Pairing the socks up. 
Sorting into like piles. - After I washed a load of his and Elise's clothes I sorted their clothes into 2 different baskets. Then we took Carter's basket into his room and he helped me sort the clothes into separate baskets for shirts, shorts, and jammies. Before sorting we talked about how the items were alike and how they were different. We just made a pile of socks and undies on the floor. As he sorted I would ask him questions such as "How can you tell that's a shirt?" Once all the clothes were sorted we counted them as I folded and put them away.
- My parents bought Carter a really cute little bear puzzle where you can choose different shirts, shoes, and faces for the bear. Carter enjoyed mixing and matching the pieces to make different outfits and emotions. It was a fun version of playing with a paper doll.
- I pulled out the sari I bought when I went to India. I told Carter what it was. We had read Mama's Saris prior to me getting it out so he understood what it was. He wanted to wear it. I told him normally women wear them but he could wear it if he wanted. I was rusty on how to put it on so I watched a video on youtube. It was a bit challenging since he's so small but he didn't want to wear it for long so it didn't need to be just right. When he took it off we used it to make a fort with our laundry baskets.
- We talked about daytime and nighttime. Then we talked about what we wear during the daytime and what we wear during the night. We also looked at clothes worn in different countries, by different cultures. We talked about how the different kinds of clothing were the same and how they were different.
- After reading I Am Invited to a Party we pretended we were going to the beach, a fancy party, or bed and I asked Carter what he would wear. Then I laid out some different clothes and asked him what he would wear if certain things were going on.
Pointing out what he would wear to go swimming.
- To practice with buttons and snaps I got out the Quiet Book my mom made me when I was a kid. Carter really enjoyed putting things on buttons, snapping things, and even using a zipper.
- I pulled out my old pair of running shoes and a sock that is missing it's mate to use as stamps. Carter used the shoe and the sock to paint with. He really liked the design the sole of the shoe made when pressed on the paper.
- Carter and I tried out a new cookie dough recipe I found here. I liked it because it required no chilling. I ended up quartering the recipe because I've been doing a great job losing weight and didn't want a bunch of cookies in the house. I free handed with a knife to create a man, I am so not artistic but Carter is 2.5 so he knows no difference! Then I asked Carter what clothes his man was going to need. He suggested undies, a shirt, pants, shoes, and a hat so I made all of those shapes with the knife. After they were baked and cooled Carter dressed the man using the clothes. He cracked me up because he couldn't figure out how to get the pants to stay on top of the undies so he just put the undies down by the man's shoes.
He wanted to try cutting the dough when I was finished so he cut some shapes. 
Dressing his cookie man. 
Trying to figure out where he should put the undies.
- After sorting and putting away his laundry we used the laundry baskets and my sari to make a fort. Then Carter came up with a game where he got inside one laundry basket and had me set one on top to make a dog kennel. He's much better at playing make believe than I am!
Carter playing doggy in the laundry baskets. - I put together a basket of random fun clothes Carter has like a cape, crown, party hat, and fireman raincoat. Then we played dress up. Carter loved wearing the crown and cape while telling me he was the king. The party hat was also a favorite.
- I found a couple songs online and forgot to add the websites into this post before I wrote them down so I don't remember where I found them. They were both really cute. The first one I sang as Carter got dressed multiple times and he loved it.
This is the way we get dressed in the morning, dressed in the morning, dressed in the morning.
This is the way we get dressed so early in the morning.
This is the way we put on our shirt, put on our shirt, put on our shirt.
This is the way we put on our shirt so early in the morning.
The song continues on with each article of clothing the child puts on.
Sung to the tune of "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes"
Hat, sweater, pants, and shoes.
Pants and shoes.
Hat, sweater, pants, and shoes.
Pants and shoes.
And belt and scarf and underwear.
Hat, sweater, pants, and shoes.
Pants and shoes.
- Before all of our outings Carter picked out his outfit. I know it's a stretch, but I'm calling that our field trip.
- Every-Day Dress-Up by Selina Alko
- Hueys in the New Sweater by Oliver Jeffers
- Clothes Around the World by Clare Lewis
- Layla's Head Scarf by Miriam Cohen
- New Socks by Bob Shea
- Socks On! by Leen Van Durme
- Clothes by Liesbet Slegers
- Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons by Eric Litwin
- All By Myself by Aliki
- Hello Shoes! by Joan W. Blos
- Blue Hat, Green Hat by Sandra Boynton
- Ella Sarah Gets Dressed by Margaret Chodos-Irvine
- Shoe Baby by Joyce Dunbar
- Baby Shoes by Dashka Slater
- Froggy Gets Dressed by Jonathan London
- Mama's Saris by Pooja Makhijani
- New Shoes, Red Shoes by Susan Rollings
- Do You Have a Hat? by Eileen Spinelli
- Suki's Kimono by Chieri Uegaki
- Vegetables in Underwear by Jared Chapman
- Animals in Underwear ABC by Todd Parr
- Fox in Socks by Dr. Seuss
- I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen- Carter liked this one, but it creeped me out.
- I Am Invited to a Party by Mo Willems
- Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed by Mo Willems
- Ducks Don't Wear Socks by John Nedwidek
- Whose Hat Is That? by Anita Bijsterbosch
- Whose Hat? by Margaret Miller
- Red Hat by Lita Judge
- Pete the Cat I Love My White Shoes by Eric Litwin
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