Weekly Learning Theme: Houses

The week of Carter's birthday party I knew I needed a learning theme that would be simple as I would be doing a lot of cleaning and last minute preparations for the party.  When I flipped through my plan book I thought the house theme would be perfect as many of the activities involved him watching me do household chores and then getting to help.  We started the theme and read lots of books, but as the week finished up I was way too busy with party prep to get in all the activities I had planned.  So I decided to continue the theme after Christmas and the new year.  

Listed below are the objectives I am focusing on for the themed weeks.  I have updated our objectives from the original ones we focused on because Carter mastered those skills.  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:

1. Takes turns in a simple game.
2. Understands the meaning of mine, his, hers.
3. Groups objects based on a category (sort by defining feature).  Since Carter was doing so well sorting by shape and color I already started having him sort by other features.
4. Strings beads or other objects.
5. Counts to 3 and understand what the numbers mean.  Carter can count to 3, but we're still working on understanding what each number means.

Activities/Movement:

• Carter watched me as I dusted the house.  Then he wanted a turn so I let him borrow my tools.  He enjoyed dusting so much that I ended up getting him out his own cloth to dust with.  His favorite thing to dust was Harper which was hilarious, but he also dusted the windowsill, his train table, and the entertainment center.

Dusting Harper

Dusting the train table.

• Carter always helps me pull laundry out of the dryer when he's around while I'm doing it.  He did that and then watched me fold and put it away.  After he'd watched for a while he helped me fold and put away the rest of the laundry.  I'm using "fold and put away" loosely here.  It was his version of folding, but he was proud.

Helping fold his laundry.

• For a while now when I sweep Carter wants to help.  I'll let him use the small broom that goes with our dust pan to help sweep the floor.  This week I helped him by holding the dust pan so he could sweep our pile into the dust pan.  The dust and debris went more or less everywhere except in the dust pan, but he was excited to try! I also let Carter help me vacuum the house.  He loved pushing the vacuum forward, but when we had to pull it back to ourselves he would lose interest and run off.  He also helped me mop the floor and even went and got the Bona while I was washing dishes so he could finish the floor.

Busy with the Bona!

• Another chore Carter likes to help with is getting clean dishes out of the dishwasher and putting them away.  I stand by the silverware drawer and he hands me silverware one at a time.  I'll tell him what he handed me: spoon, knife, or fork.  Sometimes I ask him to had me a specific piece of silverware.  Sometimes he does it and other times he just hands me whatever is closest to his hand.

 

• Carter and I built houses out of Lincoln Logs and then counted the houses together.  We started with one house and then built up to 3 houses.
• I wanted to let Carter help wash dishes, but I wanted to model for him and then let him do it on his own for the most part.  I hated to have him wash dishes and then rewash them later myself, especially if he saw me doing it and didn't feel successful.  I thought about what to do for a while and realized all his outdoor kitchen toys and supplies were in need of a clean.  They were just dirty from being outside all the time so they didn't need to be cleaned well enough to eat off of.  I filled the sink with soapy water, gave Carter a wash rag, showed him what to do, and let him take off with it.  It was so adorable to watch him do each step of washing just like I had done: scrubbing, rinsing, then putting it out to dry on the drying pad.  Carter enjoyed it so much he kept asking to do it again.  I'm going to let him wash all his bath toys the same way.

Scrubbing away at his dishes.

Rinsing after scrubbing.

Putting it over on the drying mat to dry.

• In our house we practiced the words my, his, and her by talking about rooms in the house and items within rooms.  When we were in Carter's room I would tell him it was his room and have him say, "My room" rather than his usual "Caca's room".  When we were in the nursery we talked about how it will be Elise's room and it is her room.  In Ty and my room we talked about how it was our room.  I showed Carter where daddy kept his things and where I kept my things.
• I planned to print a picture of a house and cut it apart into a puzzle, but when I searched for a house picture I found a house puzzle here.  I also found an example of how to make a house out of tangrams with a printable to place the tangrams on top of here.  For younger kids you would use the picture with lines to show what shape goes where and for older kids you would use the picture without lines to add difficulty because they'd have to figure out how to place the shapes.  
  
• While we were in different rooms I would tell Carter what room we were in.  Then I would ask him what were some things in the room.  He would point them out and tell them to me.  For example in the living room he pointed out TV and chair.  In the kitchen he pointed out toothbrush and potty chair.
• We played with Carter's Live, Laugh, and Learn Playhouse.  I'd ask him to point out parts of the house.  For example, I'd say "Carter show me where the mailbox is."  He'd point to it and then start playing with it.  We talked about the door, roof, mailbox, light switch, light, window, and door knob. 

• Carter always helps clean up his room and pick up his toys when we're done playing.  This week I got a bit more specific with it.  When he wanted to play with a new puzzle, we had to put the last puzzle away before we could get out a new one.  The same went with toys.  If he wanted to play with something new, he had to put what he was playing with last away.  It kept things from getting quite as messy before we straightened up.  We won't always do that, but it was good practice! 
• I printed pictures of 3 different houses: a brick house, a house made of wood, and a log house.  I showed each of the pictures to Carter and talked about what they were made of.  Then I had him sort the pictures into piles based on what they were made out of.  Once he was finished sorting we counted how many houses were in each pile.  After we counted them I asked him how many were in the pile and he responded back with the last number we had said while counting.  For an older child you could print pictures of different items that are found in specific rooms and have them sort the items into the rooms where they belong. 

Craft:

• I cut out shapes to make a shape house and then we talked about the shapes as Carter glued them together to make the house.  When we were finished he colored grass on his picture which meant he scribbled green all over the page!

Adding a triangle roof to his house.

He was fussing at me because he didn't want me to take his picture.

• I wanted to find coloring pages for different rooms in the house, have Carter color them, and then make the pages into a book with the names of each room written at the top of the page.  I found coloring pages here and printed them off.  Carter and I sat together to color the pages.  We worked on them a little bit at a time and then I stapled them together to make a book.  My thought for older children is that you could give them a blank room page and have them draw items you would see in that room on the page and then put them together into a book.  You could even go room to room and sit in the room to get ideas about items to add.  I found a printable coloring sheet here where you can even type out the name of the room to show at the top of the page.  It's been a theme lately that Carter doesn't want me to take pictures of him while he's coloring or crafting.  I respected his wishes and just took a picture of the cover of our book while he was coloring on a different page.

Special Snack:

• I broke a graham cracker to make a square and then cut a triangle out of cheese to make a house with a roof.  Then I cut a rectangle for the door and 2 squares for windows out of the cheese.  Carter looked at it and yelled, "House!" when he saw it.

Checking out his house snack. 

Make Believe:

• We went to the Children's Museum.  In one area they have large blocks for building and we built a house with the help of an older girl there who was very sweet with Carter.  We pretended some of the blocks were doors and opened them.  We pretended the holes were windows and played peek-a-boo through them.  Carter also enjoyed decorating the roof with scarves and cones.

Songs:

• I found an adorable finger play here.  It goes like this:

Here are the windows.

Here is the door.

Come on in, I'll show you more!

Here is the kitchen and living room too.

A bathroom, a bedroom, a room for you!

An attic and chimney and a roof above.

My house is a home and it's filled with love!

   
Field Trip/Interactive Experience:

• We went for a playdate at Landon's house and talked about the different rooms in the house.  Landon's brother even showed us his room and told us who the other rooms belonged to.

Books:

• The House in the Night by Susan Marie Swanson
• A House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carle 
• If I Built a House by Chris Van Dusen
• The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton
• A House Is a House for Me by Mary Ann Hoberman
• If All the Animals Came Inside by Eric Pinder
• Building Our House by Jonathan Bean
• Harry's Home by Caterine Anholt
• Hey, Mama Goose by Jan Breskin Zalben
• The House Across the Street by Jules Feiffer
• The House Book by Keith DuQuette
• I Know A Place by Karen Ackerman
• In A People House by Theo LeSieg
• Let's Go Home: The Wonderful Things About A House by Cynthia Rylant
• The Mitten by Jan Brett
• This Is My House by Richard Scarry
• A Very Special House by Ruth Krauss
• Whose House? by Barbara Seuling
• Wonderful Houses Around the World by Yoshio Komatsu- I loved this book and want to remember it for when I'm back in the classroom.  It would bring up so many wonders and teaching points!
• Building a House by Byron Barton
• Wake Up House!  Rooms Full of Poems by Dee Lillegard- I also really liked this one and would like to pick out a few of the more relevant poems to read over and over with Carter.
• My Very First Book of Animal Homes by Eric Carle    

Random Thoughts About Motherhood and Toddlers

One day I felt something hit me in the back while I was sitting on the toilet.  Then Carter said uh oh and I looked in the toilet bowl to see a decoration from the counter floating around in my urine.  I was so grossed out to put my hand down in the toilet bowl and fish it out.  Why is it that I am disgusted to put my hand down in my own pee, but I have no problem dunking my hand in the toilet bowl while cleaning out a diaper coated in Carter's poop sometimes even scraping poop off the diaper with my fingers?

Why do kids tattle on themselves?  Do they want to get caught or do they just want attention?  One day I walked into the kitchen to find Carter had pushed a chair up to the counter, rifled through the basket of Halloween candy, and was eating a Reese's cup.  I told him that was naughty and took him down after cleaning chocolate from his face.  Then later I heard the sound of the chair scooting across the floor and Carter yelled, "Uh oh, mommy!" as I walked down the hall.  I swear he just yelled to me so I could find him digging through the Halloween candy again.  What a silly boy!

Caught in the act!

I am reminded quite frequently how everything we do and say as parents is modeling behavior for Carter. I have my not so shining moments when I refer to the way Carter is dancing as "booty popping" to his Uncie and then all night long he's saying "boody boppin" and pointing at my phone for music. But then there are the moments where I smile and am proud of the example we are for him. In the tub one night Carter was playing with 2 rubber ducks, one he deemed mommy and the other daddy. He had them talking sweetly to each other and then made them kiss. I was reminded how our relationship models for Carter how to be a loving partner in a relationship.

Some days Carter isn't feeling up to par and is really clingy.  Those seem to always be the days when Harper is right up in my business walking around under my feet and tripping me up.  Then Ty gets home and I just can't handle another being up in my personal space.  I have to tell him I need like 5 minutes without anyone clinging to me or up in my business.  That's been a shock to me because physical touch is my love language.  And before staying at home my day consisted of 25 kids touching and hugging me daily.  I never would have guessed Ty would ever get home and I'd have to ask him for some uninterrupted no one in my personal space time.  Maybe it has to do with being pregnant and overheated and quicker to frustration, I don't know, but it is so out of character for me!

Then there are the moments when I am frustrated and think I just need a time out when Carter comes through and changes everything.  On a day of extreme everyone in my space all day long Harper tripped me and I fell over.  I clenched up trying to fall just right to protect my belly and pulled a muscle in my abdomen.  It was sore and I was laying there for a moment because I was annoyed.  Carter came running to me, patted my back, and said "Okay, mommy?"  It was exactly what I would have done had the same thing happened to him.  My kid somehow always makes things better.  Lucky for Harper too because I wanted to put my foot in her rear!

What is it with poop that it seems to cling to things?  I have found it in random places.  One time I changed Carter's diaper in a public restroom and as I was walking out I noticed poop on my purse.  After changing a poopy diaper at home I noticed a tiny, round piece of poop on my upper arm.  I was putting Carter in his crib as I noticed it and of course he reached up to touch my hair at just the right moment to where the poop fell down the sleeve of his shirt.  It's like a tiny insect clinging to life in the fresh air.

When is it no longer acceptable to have a video monitor in your child's room?  I love, love, love our video monitor.  It is probably my favorite baby item we got because I'm still using it and plan to continue using it.  Thanks to it I was able to be reassured Carter was still alive when he first transferred to his crib as an infant and now I can see what he's doing in his toddler bed.  I love being able to check and see if he's sitting up, playing with toys, or out of bed.  It's especially fun to watch and see how he puts himself to sleep which usually involves swinging one of his lovies around in the air.  We bought a second camera so we can have one in Elise's room and keep one in Carter's room.  That got me to wondering, how much longer will we get to use it?  We've gotten some serious use out of it already!  I was joking with Ty that we can use it to see if Carter's sneaking out the window when he's in high school.  Obviously that's too long to have a camera in your child's room, but it's hard to imagine ever letting it go.  I'm sure it will be like all other transitions have been.  One day I'll just know that it's time or we'll be forced to make a change due to the needs of a sibling.  But wouldn't it be nice to always be able to check in on your babies, no matter what their age?

Someone sent me a picture of this pretend text between a toddler and a cat.  I laughed so hard I had tears streaming down my face.  It is so Skippy's life!  Carter used to search for Skippy while walking on his tiptoes.  The only problem was that he would yell, "KITTY!" at the top of his lungs which totally cancelled out the fact that he was tiptoeing.  He's finally figured it out and now whispers as he moves from room to room on his tiptoes looking for Skippy.  He'll walk into a room and say, "No, kitty!  Kitty go?"  It's hysterical!

Does becoming a parent make everyone turn into a huge sap or is it just me?  One day I was watching Carter jump on his trampoline while laughing and smiling and having a blast.  I was so happy and fulfilled and was completely loving the moment I was in.  Then all the sudden I started thinking about how some day I'll be looking at Carter as an adult, remembering how much fun that exact moment we were having was, and wondering how time had gone by so quickly.  The thought of Carter not being this age anymore and living with us got me all choked up and I fought tears back into my eyes.  Maybe part of it is pregnancy hormones?!!?

Lessons Learned the Hard Way

Carter has gotten so sweet with his buddy Jake. When Jake doesn't come on a day he normally would Carter walks around the house saying, "Jakers?", hoping Jake will show up at any minute. When he's playing with cars he sweetly walks one over to Jake. It melts me. He'll carry Jake's sippy cup over to him saying, "Here ya go, Jakers." He waves to Jake when they are on opposite sides of the play house. He points next to him and asks for Jake to sit there. He tells Jake night night when he goes down for a nap and takes off running toward his room at the first sound of him waking. I love their relationship.

Beating the windows together.

Of course, Carter still has his moments where he takes a toy from Jake, but he's in that stage of development. It is to be expected. What drives me nuts is his mooching ways. He always finishes eating before Jake and then starts stealing food off Jake's tray. I put him in time out only to have him immediately back at Jake's tray sneaking food. I would knock it out of his hand telling him no so he wasn't rewarded with food for bad behavior. He wasn't swayed. I explained if he eats Jake's food, Jake won't have enough to eat and will be hungry. Blank stare. I'd get him distracted with something else only to have him lose interest after a while and go back to food stealing. Finally I told him , "If you take food off Jake's tray again I'm going to slap your hand." He reached his precious, little hand over and grabbed a piece of food. I slapped his hand, he dropped the food, looked at me in shock, and tears beaded up in his eyes. His smile turned into a frown and he started crying, reaching for me. It was terrible. I hugged Carter and told him I was sorry he took the food and not to do it again.

I will steal your food!

Once Carter was consoled I walked into the kitchen and began crying. It's one thing to disappoint Carter by not giving him something he wants and causing him to cry. It's a totally different thing to cause him physical pain. I stood there thinking a mile a minute with tears streaming down my face. I'm trying to teach Carter not to hit. I want him to learn that you solve problems through communicating, not by using force. And here I am doing just the opposite. He learns by example and I'm teaching him to solve his problems by hitting. 

Carter noticed me crying and rushed over saying, "Mommy okay?" I looked at my sweet child who learned to check on the well being of others through my modeling. I knelt down on the floor and told him I was okay, I just needed a hug. He quickly rushed over with his arms outstretched for a hug. When he let go he looked at me, said "Okay?", and shrugged his shoulders. I assured him I was okay as he rushed back to Jake's tray to snatch food. I followed him over, told him no and pried the food out of his hand. I decided it may take longer for him to learn this way, but it will be better for both of us. I can be a hard ass with discipline, just ask my old co-teacher. My method doesn't involve severe or physical (obviously in a school setting) punishments. I hold children accountable for their behavior and have high expectations. The consequence for the behavior is logical and related if at all possible. My favorite punishment is making children feel very guilty by discussing what they chose to do and explaining how disappointed I am with lots of "looks" and sad voices thrown in.  Carter isn't to the age where he can comprehend that quite yet, so I tried something else out. And I'm ashamed to even admit that I wouldn't have done it if I weren't pregnant.  I was overly frustrated due to my lack of patience that comes right before naptime when I'm physically exhausted.  I learned I'm not going to be the type of parent who can spank (although I have no problems with spanking, do what works!). Unfortunately that's a lesson I had to learn from experience. My first year of teaching I discovered children forgive me much quicker than I forgive myself. Obviously that was the case with Carter. He was already over it and in my arms moments later and here I am writing this weeks later still beating myself up over slapping his hand. You live and you learn.  Sometimes you just choose to do it the hard way!

Update:

I wrote this post about 2 months ago and have had so many posts I felt were more important to get up since then that it's been sitting in my drafts waiting and waiting to be published.  I figured I would add an update on the food stealing situation as it has improved dramatically.  After the awful hand slapping incident I went back to telling Carter "no" very sternly and knocking the food out of his hand so he wasn't reinforced for bad behavior by getting to eat the food.  After just a few days Carter figured it out.  Now if he takes food off Jake's tray and I tell him "no", he drops the food back onto his tray and walks away!  I'm so glad my less stern method of discipline was successful and I'm also glad that Carter is such a fast learner! 

Wordless Wednesday

Carter cuddling with Bobbie.

Jeremy was cuddling Benny so Carter wanted to cuddle Bobbie.

Laying on the ground because he didn't want to be in the bumpdate pictures.

Sharing the chair with Harper.

Helping me put up Valentine's Day decorations.

 

Quinn pretending to be human.

Harper and Skippy love each other and our new chair from Ty's parents.

Carter wanted to hold Bobbie and Quinn came when he called for Bobbie.

Enjoying sparkling cider to celebrate the new year.

 

My mom snuggling on the floor with Harper and Zuma.

Reading to his baby doll.

Working at his tool bench while daddy worked at his.

It was below freezing so we had the park to ourselves.

I swear, the cold does not affect this child!

Carter accidentally ran into Harper with his Duplo cart and apologized without prompting!

Two boys hard at work.

Sharing the chair.

He enjoys the challenge of walking in heels.

I've discovered Carter won't wear his gloves when it's cold, but he will wear mine.

Carter showing Jake where his eye is.

Jake checking it out.

 

Carter was desperate to eat his snack on the train table.

Pretending to eat a Duplo pear.

He loves wearing my gloves!

Drinking the "juice" from the green beans.  I buy the no added salt so I figure it's okay.

Our Children's Museum now has pipes that suck balls up.  Carter LOVES it!

Carter worked with an older girl to help build a house.

 

Week 27 Bumpdate

We actually remembered to take the pictures when we got home from running rather than after dinner and bath time!

 

January 6, 2015

Baby's Size: Baby is around 14.5 inches long and weighs almost 2 pounds.  Her lungs are still immature but could function with intervention if she were to be born this week.  Survival rate is up to 90% this week!  I'm feeling really good about that!

Weight Gain: When I first stepped on the scale this morning it said I'd gained 16 pounds.  I was so excited that I hadn't gained anything and even lost a pound, but I was skeptical.  So I stepped back on and it said I was up 19 pounds.  I was disappointed and got back on and it again said I'm up 19 pounds.  Darn!

Maternity Clothes: Still rocking out in those few longer non-maternity tops, thanks to my maternity tank tops.  Everything else is maternity all the way.  Although my running clothes are still just my regular running clothes.  I wear my tights below my belly and roll the waistband down so it doesn't press on any sore areas.  I have a couple underarmour tops that are nice and long and cover my entire belly.  It's also nice to run in yoga pants where I can pull the band up instead of folding it over.  That way I can get away with a shorter spandex top without exposing my belly.  I think I'll be able to make it through the winter with all my regular sized running clothes.

Sleep: Carter man is back to his regular 8pm-7am schedule, praise all things!  My sleep has been really good other than getting hot and throwing off all my covers only to wake up freezing!  I did that one night and in my half-asleep stupor reached over and pulled off Ty's extra blanket (he gets cold at night because I am so overheated and need a cooler temp to sleep) instead of grabbing our quilt like I thought I had.  Ty pulled it back and I tugged it back over to my side so he got up and found a different blanket to use, poor guy!  Ty says I snore really creepy almost like I'm drowning if I roll over to my back in my sleep.  Luckily I pretty much always sleep on my side wrapped around my body pillow.  For some reason I wake up at midnight every night.  I don't wake up because I have to go to the bathroom because I usually don't feel like I have to go, but I do anyway because I'm awake and a pregnant lady can always pee!  I've been skipping naps because I've felt like I didn't need them most days and wanted to get more done during naptime. 

Symptoms: I've hit the point where it's getting difficult to tie my shoes.  I also can't see past my belly in some situations.  Which is funny because I still don't feel super pregnant.  In my head I'm not that big and then I walk by a mirror and think holy sh#@t that's a huge belly!  As I was adding my link to my bumpdate from Carter's pregnancy I was thinking how huge I was then.  I laughed as I added this week's pictures because I look the same, I just don't feel that big.  I guess that's a good thing?!  My tailbone is still super sore and I wake up with sore hips some mornings.  Luckily my back hasn't been sore like it was with Carter.  Some days it was almost unbearable with him.  Sitting here I just realized I got out of my plank routine with the holidays and haven't done planks in weeks.  If I missed a day when I was pregnant with Carter I paid for it with back pain.  My lower pelvis has been sore lately though.  Carter took off running toward me and head butted me right where I'm sore and I cried.  It was so painful!  My gums bleed quite a bit when I floss.  I know pregnancy gingivitis is common, occurring in about 50% of women, but it still bugs me!  My belly button is still hanging in there.  The top half is even with my stomach and the bottom half is still tucked in.  I'm thinking it may hold out just like it did with Carter.  I'll keep you posted!

Running: My weekly mileage was 12 miles.  I had a few days where I just wasn't feeling it and stopped at 2 miles.  I'm really hoping keeping my mileage down will keep Elise in longer.  It's probably not the case, but I like to believe part of the reason Carter was premature was that I trained for and ran a half-marathon during the 3rd trimester.  I like to believe that because then it's something I have control over.  My plan is to continue to run, but keep my runs short (no longer than 5 miles) from here on out so Elise will stay put until at least 37 weeks.  It was around this time when I decided to go for the half-marathon and started bumping my long run up from 6 miles to eventually 12 miles when I was pregnant with Carter. 

Food Cravings: Nothing that I can think of.  My appetite is off and on.  Last week I was so hungry I ate 17 bone-in buffalo wings without realizing how many I ate.  Other days I feel like I could skip meals.  It's weird.

Food Aversions: Smoked stuff still grosses me out.  I had green beans and couldn't believe how disgusting they were.  Then my mom tried them and said it was because they were smoked.

Movement: She is still moving quite a bit, but now it seems like she's getting to be more on a schedule.  Before she moved anytime I sat down.  Now she is sleeping sometimes when I'm sitting down.  One day I felt movement a couple inches above my belly button!  Typically I feel her right around my belly button.  Sometimes I feel her down low, but those movements are typically not as strong.  I'm hoping that means she's already getting in a head down position and I'm mostly feeling her kicks.  I still get so distracted watching my belly to see her move.  I love when she has a big enough kick that I can see it out of my peripheral vision.

Best Moment of the Week: Starting the new year and knowing Elise will join our family in 2015 was so exciting.  Now that we've entered the year she will be born in, her arrival seems so much closer!  After this month we just have the months of February (Valentine's Day, my favorite) and March (yay, Spring Break)!

Currently Loving: Our play room!  It is such a functional space and I love playing in there with Carter.  Now we have so many different little play areas.  We play with Duplo in the nursery, Carter's room has tons of toys, he loves his train table and cars in the living room, and then his play room has the trampoline, markers, ball pit, cars, puzzles, and bikes.  It's so much fun to move from room to room.  Before we spent most of our time in the living room.  Carter also loves to run laps through the house using the big open space in the play room, going down the hall and into the nursery.  I was running laps with him yesterday and Harper joined in with us.  I'm also love, love, loving the nursery.  Once the dresser and ceiling were painted and we got all the pink and gray baskets and totes in the room I started to stress out.  It was just too much pink!  I'm not a huge pink fan, I like it but it's not one of my favorites.  I was hoping for the paint to be pink and most of the accents to be our teal/mint color.  We just couldn't find any teal baskets in a light enough shade.  They were all really dark and overpowering, so we went with pink.  I kept fretting that it was too much pink so my mom brought down the fabric we picked out for curtains and had my dad hang them so I could get a better feel for how things would look.  Man, did the fabric make a difference!  It really pulled in the teal and broke up the pinks of the ceiling and the dresser/baskets.  I loved it!  Then Ty disappeared into the garage for a while and re-appeared with elephant cutouts he made of wood.  Our plan is to paint them our teal/mint color which will also bring in more of that color which is my favorite color and I can't wait to have more of it around!             

Miss Anything: Nope!

What Big Brother is Up to This Week: On New Year's Eve we took Carter to a party at the aquarium.  He had a blast and ran circles with a group of girls for part of the time.  He also loved celebrating at home and said cheers every time he touched glasses with someone else.  He proclaimed New Year's day "Happy Day" and has since started saying that most days.  He'll even yell "happy day" after he does something he likes.  It's adorable!  One day we were sitting on the floor playing with puzzles.  My tailbone was getting sore so I told Carter I needed to get up because my back was sore and showed him where my back was sore.  He stood up, ran over, and started rubbing my back.  Then he went over to Ty and had him stand up so he could rub his back in the same place.  It was the sweetest!  My Week 27 Bumpdate with Carter.

Carter wasn't interested in the pictures this week and Harper couldn't even entice him.

 

 

 

How We Celebrated the New Year

My parents came on New Year's Eve to run our traditional Race into the New Year 5k. Last year Ty stayed home with Carter, read about last year's race here, so I stayed home this year.  My mom made delicious recipes using crescent rolls that she had been eyeing on Pinterest wanting to try.  We were all sitting around talking and enjoying the snacks before the race when one of my parents' big dogs, I'm talking 70+ pounds, accidentally stepped on the tea cup poodle they inherited from my grandparents.  There was lots of blood and quick moving by everyone.  Ty (thinking from the amount of blood that Benny was going to die) made me leave the room and the next thing I knew my dad, Jeremy, and Ty were rushing to the emergency vet.  Benny is a tough little guy.  He survived the incident and it turned out he had damaged soft tissue in his mouth and throat which caused all of the bleeding.  Needless to say he was very pampered the rest of the weekend.

Normally Benny doesn't let Ty hold him, but he did after his incident.

The race started at 11:45 and they arrived home from the vet around 11:30.  They all quickly changed into their race gear and rushed off.  They ran from their parked car to the race start and Jeremy, the first one there, started the race as they were turning off the chip timing so he received a chip time while my dad, Ty, and mom all only had their gun time to work with.  His chip time was almost 2 minutes faster than his gun time so everyone else probably started 3 minutes late.  According to my dad's Garmin the race was long at 3.4 miles.  That along with starting the race late led to much slower times than usual.  Even though they used gun time for awards, Jeremy still placed 1st in his age group!  Had they used chip time rather than gun time, he would have been the 3rd overall finisher.  Dad finished 4th in his age group and would have been at least 3rd if he'd started on time, but not having a chip time for him, we're not sure of his finishing time.  They all had fun and I was impressed they were even able to run after the Benny incident which left me feeling exhausted! 

After the race.  My mom made them all hats with reflective yarn.  Benny got to be in the picture because of his impact on the race.

I had planned to go to sleep when they left for the race, but the whole ordeal with Benny had me sick to my stomach and upset.  I wasn't the only one at the house upset as all the other dogs were worried and upset, pacing the house and smelling Benny's things.  I ended up staying up until almost 2:00 petting the dogs and calming them down.  Right as I was drifting off to sleep I heard the key turn in our front door and I jumped out of bed to check on Benny who they had picked up from the vet's on their way home from the race.  The little guy was a bit drugged up, but other than that was looking good.  I got to hear all about everyone's races and then we all headed for bed.

The next morning my mom got up with Carter so Ty and I could sleep in which was amazing!  I woke up around 9:00 and then woke Ty up around 10:00.  He came out dressed for the Polar Bear Plunge, announcing we all needed to be ready to leave within a few minutes.  We all started rushing around to get ready and made it to the race about 10 minutes before the start.  My dad and Ty did the race alone this year.  I ran with them last year, but decided against it this year since being submerged in freezing water wouldn't be a very good idea for sweet Elise.  Read about last year's race here.  The location of the race was changed due to construction and Ty and dad both felt the change was for the better.  Rather than a 2 mile race, it was only 1.5 miles.  The course was a half mile loop in between jumping into the same pool 3 times.  This year the race included a water slide.  Everyone ran a half mile and then entered the pool area to jump into the pool.  They then headed out on the same half mile loop and entered the pool area to climb a ladder and go down the water slide.  Then they were off on one more half mile loop before jumping in the pool and retrieving their medal off the bottom of the pool before exiting the pool and crossing the finish line.  After the race there was an indoor heated pool, saunas, and showers at the facility.  The temperature during the race was 28 degrees and there was a 90% chance of snow.  Unfortunately it was drizzling rain when we left for the race and the rain never turned into snow.  The entire time we were there before the race Carter was trying to get into the pool and pointed at the water slide exclaiming, "Play?!?!!!"  It was difficult to wrangle him because he was so determined to get wet!  Dad finished in the top 10 and Ty wasn't as far behind him as usual.  Carter laughed hysterically when he watched Ty jump into the pool on the last jump and dive under to pick up a medal.  Between that and his eagerness to get wet, I have a feeling he'll be just as crazy as his daddy and want to run the race when he's older.  Both Ty and my dad were talking about running the race again next year as we drove home.  I guess the Polar Bear Plunge might become a yearly tradition for us.  

Ty going through the pool the first time which they could actually wade through rather than swim.

I loved Ty's face after getting out of the pool the 2nd time.

Dad finishing with his medal.

Ty finishing with his medal and a beer.

Before we started running the Race into the New Year we always celebrated New Year's Eve by eating fondue for dinner.  Now with the race we have fondue on January 1st instead.  This year with all the trauma of Benny's incident and lack of sleep we postponed fondue until January 2nd.  We started the day off with New Year's hats left over from the race.  Carter ran around the house wearing one while yelling, "Happy Day!!!"  It was the absolute cutest!  Rather than traditional meat fondue, we had cheese fondue which Carter loved.  Each time he took a bite of something dipped in the cheese sauce he would proclaim, "Good!"  My favorite part of the entire day was cheering with Carter.  My mom brought champagne, wine, and sparking cider.  Carter, Jeremy, and I all enjoyed the sparkling cider while everyone else had one of the other choices.  We held out our glasses while saying "Cheers!" to welcome the new year.  Carter loved cheering and would randomly say "Cheers, mommy!" or "Cheers, Uncie J!" during the meal so we would clink glasses with him.  Each time he clinked our glass he would do it twice in a row.  Hearing the word cheers come out of his sweet little mouth was the best.  I am excited beyond words for what 2015 will bring to our family.  A new baby, this time a sweet little girl, and a more communicative and continually happy toddler.  Life doesn't get any better than that!

Wearing a New Year's hat and one of my race medals while running around the house.

Cheering with Oma and Opa.

Fall Reading List

Read last year's fall reading list here.  Looking back at that list there are a few books we ended up buying and are still favorites of Carter.  Of course I melt a little bit seeing the pictures because he was soooo tiny!  I remember taking the picture of him holding a book on his own for the first time and being so excited.  Now it's not unusual to walk into a room to find him sitting in a chair flipping through a book all by himself!  Sometimes he's even repeating the words that go along with the story due to continuous readings of the same books!  With our weekly learning themes we spent much of the fall reading books within the chosen theme.  I would get on the library website and request books I wanted on the topic the week before our theme began.  I was a little bummed we weren't finding as many of the stand out amazing books like we had before so I made sure to also pick up a few books unrelated to the theme each week.  It's neat that the books listed have switched from my favorite books to the books that Carter liked the most.  But of course I have to add my side notes and teaching ideas the books brought up!

Reading while I was cleaning.

Sometimes I even try to read to him only to have him tell me no because he wants to read to himself!

Our Top Reading Choices From This Fall:

• All Aboard! by Mary Lyn Ray, I picked this book up during our traveling weekly learning theme.  Carter absolutely loved it and would hand it back to me each time I closed the back cover when we finished reading it.  We read it so many times!  I loved that the book had lots of rhythm and sound words in it.  It would be a great book to read to a class when discussing how to add details to a story.  There were some sections of the book that I felt like I was singing to Carter because they had such nice rhythm.  I made sure to copy this book down so we could read it again during train week.
• Little Bear's Little Boat by Eve Bunting, This was another book Carter wanted to immediately read over and over again.  It was a very cute book and I loved the message it conveyed.  It would be a great book to read to a child when they are outgrowing their clothes and you are giving them away or to a younger sibling or when they are too big for a toy.  It could start the conversation and you could relay how they are like the bear in the story.  
• Duck and Goose Find a Pumpkin by Tad Hills, Carter loved reading this book and requested it often!  On each page one of the characters would ask if their pumpkin was in a certain place and the other would respond with "no".  Carter started responding to the questions with "no" while I was reading.  It was so cute!  I love books that can be interactive like the Pigeon books and Pete the Cat.  Carter loves to answer questions posed by the books, especially if the answer is no!
• I'm Fast! by Kate and Jim McMullan, When Carter spotted this book in our library bag he instantly reached for it and wanted to read it.  We read it 4 times in a row the first time we read it.  I loved it for the same reasons I loved All Aboard!, the sound words and rhythm to it.  Carter loved that the main characters were a train and a car!
• Row, Row, Row Your Boat by Jane Cabrera, This book was so cute and a fun change up to the song "Row, Row, Row Your Boat".  Carter loved it and we read it so many times!  He loved making the animal noises on each page and he also enjoyed that I sang the words.  He loves books that I sing to him! 
• Bears on Chairs by Shirley Parenteau, This book was so adorable Ty even mentioned how much he liked it.  It's rare for him to tell me he liked one of Carter's library books.  There are so many teaching points with this book: friendship, sharing, problem solving, colors, even and odd, addition, counting.  It's the kind of book I am always looking for, one that can be read over and over to teach multiple different lessons.  Those are the best mentor texts!   
• Walk the Dog: A Parade of Pooches from A to Z by Bob Barner, Carter loved this book so much that by the evening of the day we checked it out I was starting to get tired of reading it.  He would immediately flip back to the front upon finishing the book so we could read it again.  It was a very cute book though.  I think he enjoyed the repetition and all the different kinds of dogs.  I added the book to a list for when we do a weekly learning theme on the alphabet.
• Guess Who? by La Coccinella, This was another one Carter loved so much I started to get tired of it.  I think he loved that the mouths of each animal were cut out of the page so he could grab the page there to turn it.  He also liked saying the animal's name and making it's noise on each page.  It was a cute book and it was so much fun to listen to him make the noises!
• Whose Hat Is That? by Anita Bijsterbosch, I couldn't tell you how many times we read this book.  Carter loved it so much!  It was pretty cute and he loved that I would use different voices to read what each of the animals said.  It would be a great book for beginning readers as there is a lot of repetition and predictable animal noises.
• Sheila Rae's Peppermint Stick by Kevin Henkes, I'm mentioned before that Kevin Henkes is one of my favorite children's book authors.  His books have great messages and the mice he typically uses to illustrate them are adorable.  Plus, the way he writes includes so many great techniques to teach in an author as mentor study.  Surprisingly I had never read this gem before.  Mostly because it is a board book and I don't typically use board books in my classroom.  When I saw it in the board book section at the library I instantly grabbed it.  Carter loved it and asked for it multiple times.  It also had a great message about sharing which is timely for him as he will soon be a big brother!  It would be a great book to give to an older sibling when sending presents to a newborn.