Thomas' New House

Thomas signed on his house Monday.  He rented a U-Haul and we moved him in yesterday.  His house isn't quite together even though all of his stuff is there.  During the week my mom came and stayed at our house while going to Thomas' house to work during the day.  They painted the rooms, cleaned, and did yard work.  Then Friday night my dad came out and they all worked late at the house while Ty and I headed home with Carter.  It turned out they decided to rip the carpet up since there was hardwood floor underneath.  Right now most of his furniture is in the living room while they finish ripping up the rest of the carpet.  The floor in his room is ready and looks great, but the other room they ripped carpet up in had linoleum on top of the hardwood, under the carpet.  The floor is really sticky and Thomas is using some heavy duty, horrible smelling stuff to clean it.

The front of his house which looks much better weeded and with mulch surrounding the bushes!

The floor in his bedroom.

Carter supervising while Thomas pulled up carpet.

Thomas applying the nasty stuff!

Yesterday Carter played in the back yard with grammy and the dogs while I helped unload the U-Haul.  Shortly after we had it unloaded it was time for Carter's nap so he and I headed home.  When we went back to the house I brought his swimming pool and we played in a shaded area in the backyard.  Carter loves playing with cups, filling them and pouring them out, so I grabbed an empty Gatorade bottle.  He had a blast watching the bubbles when he put it under water to fill it and was pouring the bottle out into a bucket we had used to fill the pool.  Then he poured some on my legs and I yelled, "Oooooh, that's cold!" playing with him which he thought was hilarious.  So he alternated between pouring water on me and pouring water on Uncie Jeremy.  He had a blast!  When he lost interest I filled the bottle and told him I was going to get him while chasing him.  He ran and I sprayed water on him while he laughed hysterically.  It was quite a bit of fun.  Eventually we went inside to play with some Hot Wheels cars Uncie Jeremy and Uncie Tommy bought him at the store.  We built ramps and he drove them on the furniture.  For dinner we decided on Pizza Hut which Thomas ordered online.  Our order got screwed up and wasn't ready when we went to pick it up so they put the order in at the store and we ended up getting it for free, score!

Trying out the U-Haul ramp.

Jeremy bringing Quinn back after she escaped.

Carter loved sitting on Thomas' window sill.

Today Thomas was using the horrible smelling chemical on the floor and I didn't want Carter to be exposed to the fumes so we played outside the whole time we were there.  When we first arrived I took Carter and Quinn on a walk.  There were no sidewalks so we walked in the street and Carter was extremely good about walking all the way to the side on the shoulder area.  He would take off running and Quinn and I would have to run to catch up.  The boy loves to run and laughed the whole time he did it!  Carter was even really good about holding my hand when we crossed intersections and hopping up into yards when cars were coming.  When we were headed back to Thomas' house Carter saw Jeremy in the yard and got excited.  He screamed "UNGY!" and started to run across the street on his own.  I grabbed his hand, we checked for cars, and then crossed the street.  When we got back we again filled the pool and this time one of Carter's favorite things was to put cars on my leg and let go using my leg as a ramp into the pool.  He enjoyed watching his Uncie Jeremy weed eat and mooched Gatorade from him.  We headed out for lunch and then Carter and I came home for his nap.  He's napping now and we'll head back over for some more fun after that!

Playing with cars in the pool.

Using my leg as a ramp into the pool.

Begging for Gatorade.

 

Summer Reading List

Read last year's summer reading list here.  Looking back at last year's post Carter was so tiny and sweet!  It's amazing that he's gone from just barely sitting on his own, mostly just looking at pictures, and sometimes touching the pages of touch and feel books to full on sitting on his own (or walking with a book for that matter), turning the pages, pointing at animals on the pages and making their sound or saying their name, and pretending to read by saying words as he turns the pages.  It makes me so happy to see him entering the early early stages of beginning reading!  The need to learn and do of babies, toddlers, and young children never ceases to amaze me!

 

 

Baby's First Laugh by Beverly Blacksheep, Carter LOVED this book!  It was a board book so he was able to turn the pages easily and we didn't have that issue of wanting to rip the pages like he does with paper books.  The words were written in both English and Navajo.  I read it to him in English first and he was pretty indifferent to the book although he did like pointing to the baby on the pages and exclaiming "Baby!".  But then I read it to him (the best I could) in Navajo and he loved it!  He would turn and stare at me as I read the words, smile, and laugh.  In a way I felt like he was laughing at my sorry attempt to read in Navajo, but I know it was really that he loved hearing a different language.  I read and speak to him in Spanish frequently, but that's the only other language he's heard on a regular basis.  He sure enjoyed hearing Navajo which makes me think I need to do a better job of exposing him to other languages, especially because at his age he is such a sponge for language!

Rain! by Linda Ashman, This little book features a little boy who rejoices in the rain and an older man who is grumpy about the rain.  I love that the book shows it's not what happens to you, but how you react to what happens to you.  It would be a great book to pull out when your child or class is being grumpy about something.  Even kids sometimes need a reminder to not let one bad thing ruin their day.  It was also a fun book to read on a rainy day.  Carter and I went out and splashed in puddles after we read the book.  This would be a great buddy book with "A Good Day" by Kevin Henkes.

Andrew Drew and Drew by Barney Saltzberg, Carter loved the flaps of this book that opened to reveal more of the picture.  I love the idea of talking through the book with kids and having them guess what the picture will be before opening the flap to discover the full picture.  It would also be a good book to read at the beginning of the year in kindergarten or first grade to discuss with students how pictures can inspire stories.

One Two That's My Shoe! by Alison Murray, This was another one that Carter absolutely loved.  The cover had a dog on it and he picked the book out at the library exclaiming "doggy!"  While reading the book he would excitedly point at the doggy and say "doggy" and then he'd point at the chicks and chickens and say "bird!"  It was so cute.  The book was a great counting book with each number page having that number of an object on it.  It would be great for a younger child to try to figure out what on the page represented that number and count them to see if they were correct.  It would also be a great book to read and then read the rhyme "1, 2, Buckle My Shoe" and have children discuss how they are alike and different.

Art by Patrick McDonnell, I loved the idea of using this book to talk about different kinds of lines and pictures you can make.  It shows lines, zig zags, squiggles, dots, etc.  When Carter's a little older I'd like to read him this book and have some paper and markers available next to us so he could try each of the different things as we read.  The book also deals mostly with primary colors until toward the end when some of the colors get mixed together.  It would be a great resource to use when talking about primary and secondary colors.  I could show Carter the mixed colors and say "Oh my goodness, what happened?"  Then we could even try it with finger paint or water colors.  At the end of the book it says "A picture is worth a thousand words" and then you turn to a full 2-page picture.  It would be great to stop here and allow older children (I'm thinking of my first grade students or even a bit younger or older) write a story about the picture or even just turn and talk to share out what they notice in the picture and what story they think the picture is showing.  Carter also enjoyed this book and would point at the dog that was on a few pages and exclaim, "doggy!"

Ribbit! by Rodrigo Folgueira, This book was so cute.  It is a great book to read and then discuss how to make friends.  The pig in the book goes to the pond and says "ribbit" in an attempt to make friends.  Then the pig gets up in a tree and says "tweet" to make friends.  It would be good to discuss how the pig should've been him/herself to make friends and how the other animals shouldn't have judged the pig.  It would be a great read aloud at the beginning of the year which would lead to a discussion and then creation of a student led anchor chart on how to make or be a friend.

Red Sled by Lita Judge, Carter absolutely loved this book.  He would laugh so hard each time we read it and would carry it to us to read.  The pictures were beautiful and there were lots of animals.  Each page had just a few words which kept Carter's attention span.  All of the words were sounds which he also loved.  Since the only words were sound words it would be a great book for beginning readers who can't read words yet or are working on reading the pictures.  Children could tell the story by reading the pictures.  It would also be a good book to practice inferring.  Children could infer what would happen after the book ends. 

Diggers Go by Steve Light, This book had 3 of Carter's favorite things: noise words, diggers, and board book pages he can turn easily.  He enjoyed reading this book to me as well as me reading it to him.  He would even copy some of the sounds after I read them.

Tumford the Terrible by Nancy Tillman and Tumford's Rude Noises by Nancy Tillman, Carter picked both of these books out during one trip to the library.  Tumford the Terrible was displayed on top of a shelf.  He immediately spied it, yelled "kitty", and pointed at it until I got it down for him.  He had to have that kitty book!  Later he pulled Tumford's Rude Noises off a shelf.  I'm not a big fan of her other books I've read, so I was pleasantly surprised with these books.  They were both books that could be used to start a conversation with children about appropriate behavior.  In Tumford the Terrible, he doesn't like to apologize and in Tumford's Rude Noises, I bet you could guess, he makes rude noises!  They would both be great beginning of the year books to read in the classroom and then revisit when needed.  I hope she writes more Tumford books because they were adorable.  Carter got so excited spying the "kitty" on each page and even spied him when he was hiding in a sack and you could barely see his ears!

Pottytime Chickies by Janee Trasler, This book will be great to read with Carter before potty training.  It would be good to simply just spark his interest in the potty.  It could also be used later to remind him what the potty is for.  I thought it was a cute book and they even had a free song download that went with the book.   

Dog Wants to Play by Christine McDonell, Carter loved this book!  He would grab the book and bring it to me saying, "Doggy!"  The doggy tried to play with various different animals.  I made the noise of each of the animals when they were on the page and Carter would laugh.

My Very First Book of Motion by Eric Carle, This was another one Carter loved.  The book pages were 2 separate flaps to turn.  The top half showed an animal and the bottom half had a word for a kind of movement.  Carter loved turning the flaps and I could see him really liking to match the movement word to the animal that moves that way in the future.

Strawberries are Red by Petr Horacek, This book was so cute and had fun flaps/pages for Carter to turn.  I liked that it showed different colors of fruits and I also liked that the colors were put in the same order as the rainbow.  It would be a cute book to use when teaching Carter about colors.

Looking Like Me by Walter Dean Myers, In math we talk a lot about different names for numbers.  We introduce name collection boxes by making name collection boxes for ourselves listing different names we go by.  This book would be a great one to read before hand as the author lists all the different things he is.  It would also be a good mentor text for writing not just during a poetry unit, but also at the beginning of the year when getting students to think of themselves as writers.

Play by Elizabeth Verdick & Marjorie Lisovskis, Carter loved this book and wanted to read it over and over.  It was one of those books that once we finished, he passed it back to me to read again.  I loved the actual photographs of babies.  I also loved that each page was interactive in that I could make the noise or movement along with the baby in the picture and Carter could as well.  I went back and added this book to our list of books to read about babies because it's a great way to remind Carter of ways we can play with babies.

123 Zoo by Puck, Carter loved this book just as much as the other book we've read by Puck, 123 Beach.  It was another one that he handed to me right after we finished reading it so I could read it again.  I love that the pages are so simple and really focus on the correspondence between a number and a set of objects that the number represents, such an important foundational skill in math to understand that 3 means a set of 3 objects, etc.  I also like that the simple pages leave the book up for us to discuss and interpret in many different ways and we never read the book the exact same way.

Mommy, Look What I Can Do! by Mack, This was another book we finished reading and Carter immediately picked back up.  I liked that it was a combination of photographs and cartoon illustrations.  It gives a perfect opportunity to discuss fiction vs nonfiction along with their features.  Carter loved the book because it was a lift the flap book.  On the outside of the flap the baby animal was just sitting.  Once you lifted the flap the baby animal was showing off it's skill.  The book was so cute!

Color Zoo by Lois Ehlert and Color Farm by Lois Ehlert,  I'm lumping these two books together because they are extremely similar and we couldn't decide which one we liked better.  I picked the books up for our color weekly learning theme and was pleasantly surprised that they were great shape books.  Carter loved grabbing onto the cut out shapes to turn the pages and I had to read quickly!  I also loved that at the end of the book it showed each of the animals' whole bodies.  The books would be great to put in a geometry math tub.  Students could attempt to re-create the animals using pattern blocks, pattern block templates, or by free handing shapes.  I got really excited thinking of the possibilities and wished I read the books before! 

My favorite children's book authors as a first grade teacher were Mo Willems, Kevin Henkes, and Eric Carle.  I still love them and enjoy reading Mo Willems and Eric Carle to Carter, although Kevin Henkes' books are a bit long and involved for Carter.  Now I have my favorite early childhood authors from reading books with Carter.  I've always enjoyed Nancy Tafuri and Lois Ehlert and they are definitely my favorite authors to read to Carter.  I also enjoy Sandra Boynton books, but who doesn't?!  It's so much fun to learn and discover a whole new genre of children's books now that I'm focused on toddler/pre-school level!

Random Updates and Thoughts

On Monday Thomas closed on his house.  My mom came down on Tuesday to help clean and paint the house throughout the week.  My dad will come for the weekend and we will all work together to move him into his new home.  Our house has been really full this week.  Like usual we have Ty, me, Carter, Skippy, and Harper.  Then you add in Thomas staying in Carter's big boy room with his belongings overflowing the room and the bathroom, his dog staying at our house, and now my mom on our futon.  There definitely isn't a dull moment that's for sure.  I'm excited for Thomas to move into his house and I'm sure he can't wait to have room to spread out and not find Carter's toys mixed in with all of his stuff.  One day at work his shoe felt funny so he pulled it off and found a puzzle piece in it.  With so many people it's been difficult to keep the house tidy and picked up.  Little Jake Man is over being sick and will be coming tomorrow.  I've definitely got a lot of straightening up to do before he arrives!

Jeremy has been going over in the evenings to help paint as well and we've been seeing him every day.  He started his last semester of community college and will graduate with an associate's degree.  It sounds like he's taking a couple of really interesting courses right now.  His neighbors have a garden and some of their food has grown over into Jeremy's yard.  As a thank you for being cool with the overgrowth they gave him some of their fresh goods.  He shared them with us and they are delicious!  My mom suggested having BLTs for lunch since we had fresh tomatoes and it was the tastiest thing I've had in a long time!  I typically am not a big bacon fan, but with that amazing tomato on there, it was fabulous!

Carter has been saying uncie for both Jeremy and Thomas for quite a while.  We've tried getting him to say it for Paul as well by showing him pictures, but he's not doing it.  I think it will take seeing him in person.  Sometimes he even says Uncie Tommy or Uncie Dimmy.  It is so adorable.  My mom has been anxious for him to pick up something to call her and he just hadn't.  All the sudden this trip he's started calling her "ma".  I am very distinctly mama or mommy and she is an obvious "ma".  I don't know if it's because I call her mom or if it is a shortened version of grandma, but she is loving that he now calls her by name! 

Today at the park Carter made friends with a 17 month old boy who had sharks on his shirt.  Carter was all about the sharks on his shirt and kept pointing at them.  It was hilarious.  One part of the playground equipment has holes and I like to put my face up by the holes and say "boo" to Carter.  He thinks it's hilarious and I alternate between a tall and low hole and he has to search for me.  The other little boy also thought it was funny and started putting his face up by the hole to peek back at me.  Carter got upset because he wanted to play the game and the other little boy was in his way.  I was so proud of him because he didn't hit the boy, he just found a different hole and got me to peek through there.  It was obvious Carter was really frustrated, but he didn't hit.  It made me even more confident that Carter doesn't hit because he's mad or isn't getting his way.  I honestly think it's an attention thing.  After that whole situation passed Carter sat down next to the boy, looked directly into his face and started talking gibberish.  They sat and talked to each other for quite a while and it was the cutest thing!

Enjoying a pear.

Carter was so tired at naptime he fell asleep while we were rocking!

Wordless Wednesday

Enjoying some outside time with Thomas' dog, Quinn.

Hugging the Raggedy Andy his Great Grandma Shupe made for his daddy when he was little.  He loves to get it and cuddle it before going down for a nap.

Reading in the wagon on our way to the library.

Accepting the challenge of a giant piece of watermelon!

Quinn got really excited to go for a walk and took off pulling really hard so I let go and she and Harper pulled Carter in the wagon up our hill!:

After our long run on Saturday, Carter wanted to play at the splash pad.

 I let Carter give Harper my yogurt container to lick out and then he decided to feed her:

Pant leg pulled up at the aquarium!

Pushing the button so the shark's nose lights up where they sense electricity.

Checking out bull sharks at the aquarium.

Carter really enjoys the shark tunnel at the aquarium.

Playing the guitar.

Trying out daddy's shoes.

My haircut, thanks to Leina, for those of you asking to see it.

Our friends gave us this table and chairs.  The first thing Carter did was take the tablet over and set it down on the table!

Riding in the swing big boy style!

He pulled down a picture to give his daddy a kiss before naptime.

He took Grammy a book and then climbed in her lap so she'd read it to him.

Very carefully carrying his book to the car so he could read some more!

Enjoying a new splash pad we hadn't visited before.

He stood working up courage for quite a while before he ran through the arch with water spraying out!

Drinking juice from leftover fruit straight from the bowl!

Our Second Summer

Today is the first day of school for the school district I worked in the past 4 years.  When I woke up this morning I felt the first day of school excitement thinking about everything that was going on with my old co-workers and previous students.  I also felt excitement because the first day of school marked the start of Carter and my second summer.  Rather than waking up early, packing Carter off to daycare, and crying all the way to work (like last year) I slept in until 7:00 am and headed out for a run with Carter and Harper.  The first day of school last year was especially emotional for me because Carter broke out the Sunday before school started and it turned out he had Fifth Disease.  Since it was the first day of school I was forced to send him off to daycare not feeling up to par.  I am so thankful that is something I will never again have to do!

He's been practicing climbing into his car seat, getting there!

After our morning run we came home so I could shower and we could eat a morning snack.  Then we headed out to the splash pad for some good ol summer time fun!  Carter made friends with a couple of girls who were continuously filling a water bottle and pouring it into a bowl in the playground equipment.  He didn't say much to them and they didn't say a whole lot to him, he just stood and watched.  He loves to observe.  Little mister had a blast playing in the water and I laughed so hard watching him and felt so full and happy getting the chance to spend more time with him! 

Watching the girls refill their water bottle.  They were pouring the water into the bowl shown above.

 

Watching for water to come out.

Getting sprayed in the face!

 

Lunchtime came and I was really hungry although Carter wasn't showing much interest in leaving.  I talked him into walking to the car with me and changed him back into his dry clothes.  We headed straight for Tropical Smoothie for their $5 flatbread and smoothie Tuesday deal.  I treated Carter to a special lunch date with a birthday gift card I'd received from his Papa and Gigi.  Normally we share a flatbread and a smoothie, but I was really hungry so I got Carter his own.  He ended up only eating half of his flatbread so I ate the other half.  I went out on a limb and ordered him a Totally Green smoothie with cucumber, spinach, kale, kiwi, and green apple.  I tasted it and it was drinkable but I definitely couldn't drink an entire one by myself.  Carter sucked it down like he thought it was delicious.  While eating we saw Jake's mom and talked to her.  Jake was supposed to come to our house today, but came down with Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease over the weekend.  She said his fever finally broke last night so we may see him on Friday.  During our lunch date Carter was really hamming it up, making faces at me and even squinting his eyes to make me laugh.  There was no where I'd rather have been than with my boy.

Enjoying his chicken pesto flatbread.

Going to town on his mostly vegetable smoothie.

We got home in time for me to read Carter a couple books and rock him for a bit before putting him down for a nap.  Once he was asleep I flipped through facebook for a couple of minutes to make sure he was asleep so I wouldn't wake him leaving the room.  My newsfeed was filled with first day of school pictures of past students and teacher statuses excited for the first day.  Seeing my sweet previous students all dressed up and smiling for their first day of school made me a bit emotional, but even then I didn't wish to be back at it.  I just wished I could peek into their new classrooms to see them for a bit.  One of the hardest things as a teacher is letting go.  You put your heart and soul into teaching a group of students.  Not just teaching them skills and objectives, but how to be kind and contributing members of society.  You teach them how to resolve conflicts, to accept the differences of others, and to care about others and the world around them.  You begin to love each child as you see them grow and become amazing people.  Then at the end of the year you send them on to someone else.  You are somehow supposed to cut your heart strings and watch them walk away.  I was always so excited for the first day of school, but typically spent the first portion of the school year missing my previous students.  I swear every year I came home and told Ty, this class just isn't special like my group last year.  I miss my old students and want them back.  I'm never going to love these kids like last year.  Then Ty was laughing at the end of the year when I was crying about my group of students moving on.  It was a vicious cycle and I felt like it never got easier, I just learned to accept it the longer I taught.  Today would have been my 7th first day of school as a teacher and my 24th first day of school since kindergarten, but instead of packing my bag and lunch and pulling into a school parking lot I was doing something much better.  I was playing with my son, enjoying lunch with him, snuggling him, and watching him sleep.  Our second summer is just beginning and I couldn't be happier!