Our Birthday Weekend

Friday was my birthday. We had a bit of a rough evening on Thursday night, read more here, which transferred over to Friday morning in the form of a doctor's appointment for Miss Elise. As I went to the bathroom one last time before walking out the door, Elise walked up to me with something in her mouth. I fished it out as usual, but this time it was accompanied by blood and I realized she had found a small shard of glass somewhere and shoved it in her mouth. I immediately panicked thinking she may have found more than just that one piece and swallowed the other which could now be ripping apart the inside of her intestines. I knew that she usually just walks around with things in her mouth and it is rare for her to actually swallow non-food items, but the possibility of something so terrible was terrifying. I had the doctor check her mouth and throat and there was no sign that she had swallowed any glass as the doctor didn't see any cuts. When we got home later I searched through the cabinet she was playing in and found a candle holder with a chip in it the exact size of what I fished out of her mouth (I saved it in my pocket for that exact reason). The candle holder also had some wax drips on it which made sense with what I had thought to be dried hot glue or something that had been in her mouth along with the glass. So our morning wasn't off to the greatest start but finding out she hadn't actually swallowed glass was a relief!

Elise at the doctor's office.

After our doctor's appointment we stopped at a playground next to the trails for a run and then to play afterward. Elise fell asleep on our run so I walked loops around the playground so she could get some extra sleep as Carter played. When she woke up, I got her out to play and we discovered the other family there playing had brought along a tiny kitten so young it wasn't weaned yet. Carter loved petting it and Elise liked looking at it and yelling "Kiki" or "Ca!!!" When we were ready to head home we stopped by a cupcake place to get a treat since it was my birthday and all. Carter excitedly told the woman working that it was his mommy's birthday and everyone in the store enjoyed that. Carter picked out a pink sprinkle cupcake and I picked out a birthday cupcake. I shared bites of my cupcake with Elise. Carter gave me a present as we were buckling into our car seats to head home, he told me he had to potty and couldn't hold it until we got home so we hauled it back into the store and he wizzed up a storm! I was so proud of him! He still doesn't tell me he has to go very often so every time he does, I get so excited! At home Carter requested a picnic outside but the mosquitoes in our backyard are so terrible we can't really spend any time out there so we headed out front to eat. Elise spilled most of her food on the ground and tried to eat it which was a mess, but Carter enjoyed himself. So it was almost worth it.

Carter woke up from his nap really fussy and looking terrible. I felt his forehead and thought he seemed hot so I took his temp and it was just a little over 99 degrees. But I could just tell he didn't feel very good so I let him watch the end of Lion King (he'd been watching a little bit of it at night for days) while I vacuumed the house. While he was watching tv he said he was starting to feel better but when it was over he said he wasn't feeling good again. It seemed suspicious that he suddenly didn't feel good when his movie ended, but looking at his face he just looked sick. So I went ahead and let him pick out a show to watch since he'd only had about 15 minutes left of Lion King. My parents arrived as he was watching his show and he popped up super excited to see them. Then Ty got home and Jeremy and Thomas headed over. Carter was still fussy and didn't seem like he felt up to par but I didn't think he was super sick or anything. We planned to go out to eat for my birthday and Carter started crying, saying he didn't want to go anywhere and that he wanted to stay home. That seemed strange for him as he normally loves being out and about so I was about to suggest we just pick food up and bring it home when Ty jumped in and said it was my birthday so we were going out. I picked Pei Wei and after ordering we realized there wasn't anywhere to sit inside with enough chairs for all of us, so we headed outside. Carter started crying that it was too hot and I reached over to feel his head and he was so freaking hot. I felt terrible having him outside when I knew he had a low grade temperature so it was decided I would take Carter in to eat at a two person table we'd seen and everyone else would stay outside. We were picking up all of our food and getting ready to move inside when Carter started throwing up. And when I say throwing up, it was projectile vomit across the table and onto my mom and dad. I quickly picked him up and he threw up probably 5 more times, all down my side, in my hair, on Ty, and on the ground multiple times. My focus was getting Carter somewhere cooler and getting him home so I took off with him to the car. I sent Ty to get him Sprite since he already had a drink but had picked something else and then everyone else packed our food up so we could go home. It wasn't until we got home that I started to feel terrible for the worker who was going to have to clean up all that puke. At least it was outside, I guess. When we got home Carter and I showered while everyone else ate and then I made him oatmeal and we sat in the living room to eat while he watched a show. I opened presents with Carter in my lap but the mood was definitely killed after the puking incident. We waited to do cake until Carter was in bed because I didn't want him to see it and want some because I knew it would upset his tummy. Ty got me an ice cream cake from Freddy's and it was delicious!

Wet hair due to the shower.

Dad and Jeremy share a birthday, January 30th. On their birthday Jeremy was just being weaned off pentobarbital and could blink his eyes and look around but that was about it, read about his birthday here. Mom's birthday is January 20th and he was still in a coma for her birthday. It was really hard on all of us to have those holidays without Jeremy there and especially hard to attempt a celebration for dad without Jeremy there. We took cupcakes and balloons up to Jeremy's hospital room and took dad out for dinner but other than the fact that Jeremy had survived to another birthday we weren't up for much celebrating. So we decided we'd celebrate their half birthdays in July which put dad and Jeremy's half birthday the day after mine which was really neat. I found a 1/2 candle at Target and bought it, saving it for this past weekend. Cheesecake Factory had half price cheesecake on the 29th and 30th to celebrate National Cheesecake Day so we decided to partake as Jeremy loves their cheesecake and the rest of us do too! He requested Andolini's pizza for dinner which he and dad picked up while Ty, mom, and I picked up the cheesecake. It was a little tricky getting their candles to fit on a slice of cheesecake but we made it work and then they all blew out the 1/2 candle together. We got him presents and then one of our sweet friends sent a card for dad and Jeremy with a Braum's gift card inside. It was a nice celebration and it was amazing thinking back over the past 6 months and how far Jeremy has come. I was teary eyed remembering how we had all felt on his actual birthday. There was so much joy that he had survived to another birthday and so much hope for what his future would look like, but also a lot of fear for what things would look like as he came out of the coma. We knew there was a possibility he could have a full recovery but we also knew there was a possibility he could have very little brain function left. We are grateful every day that today looks the way it does!

Dad, Jeremy, and mom with their cheesecake.

Blowing out the 1/2 candle.

Birthday buddies!

Weekly Learning Theme: Opposites

Opposites was a learning theme I had been kicking around for a while. I knew it was a concept Carter needed exposure to and we had talked about opposites on occasion when working on other things. I just wasn't sure how much fun it would be so I kept picking other themes over it. Finally I came to a point where I wanted a shorter theme that I could fit into a single week and decided on opposites. I was pleasantly surprised by how much fun this learning theme was. I think what made it so much fun was how much Carter enjoyed it. He was so proud to understand what opposites were and would randomly point out opposites or tell me opposites as we were going about our day. The themes I enjoy the most are the ones that Carter really gets into and soaks up. This was definitely one that he whole heartedly enjoyed! And what was even better was that all the activities were so darn simple and most of our learning came from just pointing things out and talking about them as we were doing other things!

Starting this week I'm adding a section to our learning themes. Carter is now old enough that he can play games on the computer and the tablet or my phone with minimal help. I think it is very important with the growing use of technology that Carter becomes proficient with using various forms of technology as likely the job he will have when he grows up will be something related to technology that may not even exist yet. It's crazy to think, but true! So from now on I will be including some form of technology in his learning theme, most likely games. I would like to switch up using the computer and the tablet or phone as I feel it is important for him to be able to navigate both devices. We have touch screen computers at home and the library has computers with a mouse, so I'd also like to utilize both kinds of computers so he is proficient with either kind. I feel most will be going to touch screens but have a feeling schools will still have mouses when he starts school as it seems to be the cheaper option.

Listed below are the objectives I am focusing on for the themed weeks.  I have revised our objectives to really hone in and focus on specific skills Carter will need to master before kindergarten and are appropriate to his age and development right now. 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.  I'm also adding in a section for Elise now that she is a year old. I don't considers her bullet points objectives, they are experiences I want to make sure to expose her to frequently. Her experiences are listed below Carter as bullet points rather than numbers. 

The highlighted objectives below are ones Carter received exposure to during our theme this week:

1. Begin to organize and focus on writing. (Dictate stories, plan out a story, draw pictures and scribbles to create a book).
2. Understand same and different.
3. Accurately tell stories as well as retell the story from a book. 
4. Use age appropriate scissors.  (I'm moving on to looking for a thumb and forefinger grasp with writing tools and holding scissors appropriately)
5. Develop a better understanding of time (for example, be able to describe when things happen using morning, afternoon, night)
6. Group objects based on a category (sort by defining feature).
7. Count with one-to-one correspondence, begin to identify numerals, being to use ordinal numbers (first, second, last).

Experiences Elise was exposed to during our theme this week are highlighted below:

• Pretend play/Imitate the behaviors of others.
• Begin to identify and point at body parts. (Right now I just want to say body parts aloud to her frequently and point them out on myself)
• Group based on simple characteristics. (This is something I will do while talking aloud and allowing her to feel objects)
• Fill and empty containers.
• Begin to hold writing tools and scribble spontaneously.
• Identify sounds around her. (Point out sounds and ask her what is making the sound).

Activities/Movement:

• I used the same sensory bin from our farm animal week with rice in the bottom. The first day I separated the bin into two sections and added the words big and small (written out using our bath letters). I helped Carter segment the words into sounds and we talked about what letter was at the beginning of the word big and what letter was at the beginning of the word small. I had him find each word by identifying the letter it started with. Then I had him sort his farm animals into the two sections based on whether they were big or small. As he sorted we talked about how big and small are different from each other and they are opposites because they are as different as can be. When he was finished sorting he counted how many items he had on each side and we placed the number (again from our bath toys set) on that side of the sensory bin to show how many we had. We followed the same procedure each day using different opposites. Throughout the week we sorted these opposites: big and small, tall and short, heavy and light, loud and quiet, as well as soft and hard. When we sorted based on soft and hard, I did it with Carter and then again later with Elise. I'd have her feel each item and then tell her whether it was soft or hard and show her which side of the sensory bin to place it in. I was impressed how many times she actually put the item in the sensory bin. Although toward the end she just started throwing them on the floor. Carter was very concerned by that and would pick each item up, tell her no, it goes here, and put it where it belonged. When we sorted loud and quitet, Carter sorted his musical instruments. That may have been his favorite! It was funny how much he enjoyed sorting when it meant he got to do it into a sensory bin and then could play with the items in the sensory bin when he was done. I also loved that toward the end of the week he would ask me what we were sorting based on and when I told him, he'd start segmenting the words into the sounds so he could figure out which letter the words started with to see if he could figure out which side of the bin said which word without help.
  

  

  Sorting animals into his sensory bin based on whether they were big or small.

  

  Elise checking in to see what big brother was up to.

Carter sorting tall and short.

Elise wanted to help.

We counted how many items we had on each side and added the number to show how many there were.

Elise feeling items to see if they are hard or soft.

Sorting heavy and light.

Adding numbers after counting how many objects we had on each side.

Sorting his instruments based on noise level.

• We have so much fun with sensory bins that I couldn't help but make another one for our week on opposites. I made a black and white sensory bin and loved the stark contrast of the opposing colors. For the base there were black beans on one side and white rice on the other. Then on top of the black beans I put white toys and on top of the white rice I put black toys. I somewhat expected for the rice and beans to immediately get all mixed up and was prepared for that, but Carter did a great job of keeping them separate, I was shocked! It wasn't until I was watching a friend's kids and forgot to hide the sensory bin that everything got mixed up. It was okay though because the kids had just as much fun with the rice and beans mixed together. As we played with the sensory bin we talked a lot about empty and full. We would fill a container and then dump it out, saying it was empty.
  
  

Elise getting in on the action.

 

• Carter put together a puzzle with the opposites up and down as well as over and under. Before he put the puzzle together we talked about the pictures and that they were opposites.

Discussing the pictures.

• I put hot water in a bowl and cold water in a different bowl. I had Carter compare the two bowls of water, telling me how they were alike and how they were different. Then I had him focus on the temperature of the water and he realized they were opposites: hot and cold. When we were done talking about the water I gave Carter some toys and an extra container so he could play with the water. That got Elise's attention and she wanted to play too. Carter loves pouring water back and forth between bowls. Elise's favorite is squeezing water out of sponges.

Checking the temperature of the water.

Playing with the water.

• I made an obstacle course so we could practice opposites and discuss them as we played. I had Carter go under and over chairs, in and out of a tunnel, to the right and to the left of pillows. Then he ran down the hall, touched the wall, turned around, and did it again. It was a lot of fun. We did it over and over. He wanted me to do it too but I was too wide to fit under the chairs and had to roll to my side and scoot under which was too much work to do more than once. Elise liked getting in the tunnel to play and Carter said, "Sissy's in the tunnel and I'm out! We are opposites!" Elise liked lifting the blanket up to look out so we'd talk about how the blanket was up and then it was down. It was a lot of fun!

  

  Carter doing the obstacle course.

  

  Elise running over to get in on the action.

  

  Elise playing in the tunnel as Carter drove through.

 

• Many times throughout the week we played what we called Up and Down. I would ask Carter to show me different ways to get up and he would jump up, stand up, etc. Then I'd ask him to show me different ways to get down and he would sit down, fall down, etc. We'd also talk about how up and down are opposites.

• We went on a walk and I'd give Carter directions as we walked. I'd do one direction and then the opposite right after. I said things like jump up, plop down, walk fast, walk slow, go left, go right, walk forward, walk backward, stop, and go. We also played a short game of Red Light, Green Light which was fun. Carter would randomly yell red light or green light at me after that and even did it one day while we were in the pool.
  

  

  Going fast on our walk.

  

  Touching the wall to the left.

• I found and printed some opposites cards online. Now that I'm looking for them to link here I can't find them. I thought I pinned them, but I guess I didn't. First I pulled them out and Carter matched the opposites with each other. Then we played memory with the cards, matching the opposites to each other which added an element of difficulty to the game. Elise saw us playing and wanted to get up on my lap. While she was sitting there she reached over and turned over two cards just like she'd seen us do, it was so cute! The craziest part was that she happened to make a match!
  

  

  Matching the opposites.

  

  Playing memory.

  

  Elise getting in on the action.

• Much to Carter's delight we played with items in the bathtub to see if they would sink or if they would float. It was one of his favorite games when we were learning about water so he loved doing it again. His favorite thing to do is to predict whether an item will sink or float and then try it out. It was neat to see how much better he was at predicting this time around than last time since he had that background knowledge and exposure to what items typically sink and which ones float from our water learning theme. He had actually pointed out long before we did this activity that sink and float were opposites which impressed me.
  

  

  Trying out all kinds of toys to see if they would sink or float.

• At the end of the week we wrote a book of opposites. Carter told me a pair of opposites to write down. Then he decided what he wanted drawn on each page to show that word. He decided he didn't want to do any of the drawing, he wanted me to draw. But then he came up with the idea of tracing his hand and turning it into different animals which ended up being really neat. Then for giraffe, he wanted me to trace my hand so it would look bigger than a zebra. I didn't include the cover of the book in our pictures below because I wanted the opposites to be next to each other and we drew one word on each page and just put the opposites on adjoining pages.
  
  

Craft:

• Carter and Elise each made a hand print on a piece of paper with finger paint. Then I told Carter their prints were opposites and asked him how. He said his handprint was big and Elise's was little. Then he wanted to make his footprint so we also did their footprints. We labeled them big and small that time to use different wording.
  
  
• We talked about how day and night are opposites. Then I asked Carter what he sees in the sky during the day and what he sees during the night. We looked through our cookie cutters and chose a moon, some stars, and some shapes to represent a sun and some clouds. Then Carter used finger paint to put a sun and clouds on blue construction paper for day and the moon and stars on black construction paper for night.
  

  

  Making a day painting.

  

  Making a night painting.

  
• Since black and white are opposites, Carter painted with white paint on black paper and then with black paint on white paper. Then he asked me what color black and white would make when they are mixed. I gave him a little bit of each color so he could mix them and see what color it made. He was excited to see it was gray.

  

  Painting on black paper with white paint.

  

  Painting on white paper with black paint.

  

  Mixing black and white paint and seeing it made gray.

Special Snack:

• To taste some opposites, I put a little bit of sugar and a little bit of salt on a plate. I showed Carter how to lick his finger and stick it in the pile to pick up a taste of each. He liked the sugar but wasn't too fond of the salt. I asked him how each tasted and he said the sugar was sweet and the salt was sour. Then I reminded him that those tastes are opposites.
  

  

  Trying some salt and sugar.

  

  His face after tasting the sugar.

• To taste opposites some more, I had Carter try some items that are sour and some that are sweet. He tried lime juice, a grape, lemon juice, and a banana. I gave him a sweet after each of the sours to get the taste out of his mouth because he really didn't like the sour. He tried lemon juice first and hated it. He didn't seem to mind the lime juice quite as much but that could be because he was more prepared for what it would taste like. I asked him to compare the sweet taste to the sour taste and he said he liked the sweet but the sour was disgusting.
  

  

  His reaction to trying lemon juice.

  

  Enjoying a banana.

  

  His reaction to lime juice.

  

  Enjoying a grape.

• One morning Carter was cold and requested some hot chocolate so I topped it with whipped cream. Then I asked him to compare the temperature of the foods. He said the hot chocolate was hot and the whipped cream was cold. We talked about how hot and cold are opposites because they are so very different.
  

  

  Enjoying the whipped cream he scooped out of his hot chocolate.

Make Believe:

• We enjoyed pretending to be loud and quiet animals. Carter picked to be otters as our quiet animal and then cats as our loud animal. As otters we just quietly pretended to float in water. As cats we crawled around meowing and playing with toys.

Songs:

• We sang a little song I used to use in my classroom. I don't remember where it originally came from, I just picked it up at some point and would sing it on occasion when students were sitting on the carpet as a little check in to get them to think about what their body should be doing to help them listen. Carter would do the movements with me and I would make sure to really emphasize open and close for Elise and show her my hands as I opened and closed them.

Open and close them (open and close your hands)

Do a little clap.

Open and close them,

Put them in your lap.

 

Carter really liked it when I would trade out lap for other body parts. So I'd say "Put them on your _____" instead. I would really emphasize the name of the body part and show Elise where my hands were.

• Carter really enjoyed listening to a song about opposites on Youtube. After he listened to it, he kept coming up with different things that were opposites but weren't listed in the song. My favorite was there and not there! He cracks me up.

Technology:

• I found a free trial for a game on the computer where you matched opposites together here. It was good practice for Carter because he had to choose the opposite that matched with the one on top and then he had to use the mouse rather than the touch screen to drag it into place. The touch screen didn't work and he is so used to using it so it was good to practice.
  
  

Field Trip/Interactive Experience:

• We made a trip to the Children's Museum and used the opportunity to talk a lot about opposites. There's a big slide made of tape and we talked about how we went up the tunnel and then down the slide. Carter was quick to point out that up and down are opposites. Then we talked about how we put balls in the hole of the air tub and they came out the tube in a different place. Carter pointed out that in and out are opposites. It was fun to use what he had learned and apply it to situations around us.

  

  Watching the scarves come out the top of the tube.

  

  Elise putting a ball inside the hole.

• We went to a trampoline park and as we played we discussed opposites. We talked about how we were jumping up and then falling down. It was a lot of fun! It was one of Carter's favorite outings.

  

  All falls down!

Books:

• Big Little by Leslie Patricelli
• Odd One Out Big and Small by Guido Van Genechten
• Opposites by Keith Plechaty
• First Sizes by Rob Walker
• Which Is Different? by Rookie Toddler
• Big Hugs, Little Hugs by Felicia Bond
• My Very First Look at Opposites by Christiane Gunzi
• Quiet Loud by Leslie Patricelli
• I Know A Lot! by Stephen Krensky
• Hippopposites by Janik Coat
• Vegetables in Underwear by Jared Chapman
• Big and Little Things That Go by Rookie Toddler
• My Dog, My Cat by Ashlee Fletcher
• You and Me: We're Opposites by Harriet Ziefert
• Blue and Square by Herve Tullet
• No Matter What by Emma Dodd
• Hide-and-Peek by Rookie Toddler
• Opposites with Polar Animals by Melanie Watt
• Winnie-the-Pooh Opposites by A.A. Milne
• Dot by Patricia Intriago
• Little White Fish Has a Party by Guido Van Genechten
• Just the Opposite: Wet and Dry by Sharon Gordon
• Black Cat, White Cat by Silvia Borando
• Tall and Short by Jonathan Litton
• Where Is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox
• Short and Tall: An Animal Book of Opposites by Nathan Olson
• My Book of Opposites by Brita Teckentrup
• Richard Scarry's First Little Learners Shapes and Opposites by Richard Scarry
• What the Sun Sees/What the Moon Sees by Nancy Tafuri
• One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss
• Magic Opposites by Boxer Books
• White on Black by Tana Hoban
• Pocket Piggies Opposites! by Richard Austin
• The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss
• Elephant and Mouse by Jellycat Books