Tot School

Sorry, it's been SO long since I blogged anything! I have been busy with camp, and some other projects on my plate, and of course planning Tot School for the fall! So here is an update on what our family has been doing, with just a teeny bit of tot school thrown in! :)

We have been busy at camp as usual, we went to meals this week, and were able to swim in the pond one afternoon - I wore Natalie in the wrap, and it worked really well for us. I will definitely do it again! We visited the camp's snack shop (called the Bistro) one day this week, for only the second time this summer! It is only open in the afternoons, and if we have time to go out, we usually spend it at the pond. Anyhow, the first time we went was during youth camp, and one of the campers was playing Connect 4. Z thought it looked fun, but of course, the campers were using it. This week was family camp, and no one was using the game, so we 'played' with the Connect 4 game. We filled up the whole board with red and black, and then knocked them all out of the bottom, while we ate mozzarella sticks and off-brand Dippin' Dots, which Z also loved. :) It was great fun, and Z talked about it for two days, so this will be a great rainy day activity - we may even have to invest in our own Connect 4 game. :) And someday he may even learn the rules... :)

We were able to go to the Buffalo Zoo this week, which was great fun. We met a friend, Denise, who is from Columbus, but was on vacation in Buffalo, and it was so neat to see her & her hubby & cute little son Parker! :) Z loved all the animals, he talked a lot about the elephants. I didn't get many pictures, but here he is looking at a spectacled bear. :)

And he really loved riding the train. It only cost a dollar, and I think they went around 4 or 5 times - we'd do this again! :)

Our good friend Judy came over to hang out one day this week, and of course Z asked her to read to him. They also spent a lot of time doing puzzles together - Judy loved Z's new block farm animals puzzle (from Melissa & Doug). :)

We also played with bubbles that afternoon - here's Z using his bubble gun to make a HUGE pile of bubbles on the floor. Guess what we did the next morning? Mopped!!! :) The floor was still slippery the next day! This was after Z spilled a big bottle of bubble solution INTO my couch cushion! :(

I love when I find Z reading. :) One morning I was cutting a melon in the kitchen, and I looked over & found him like this. :) He is reading about David & Goliath in his Tiny Bear's Bible. :)

Zachary was swinging on this 'big' swing at the camp playground, when he pointed out that the swingset was shaped like an A. I was so proud, I had to snap a picture. :)


My grandma loves to send things to the kids, and she sent them each a pair of these sunglasses that go around their heads - here are Z's. :) She sent them each a cute hat, too, but I don't have pictures of those yet! (notice the tag is still on, the height of photo fashion). :)


As far as Tot School planning, I have everything cut & laminated that I want to use for letters, etc - so far! :) I'm sure I will do more as I go along! So here are some of the games that I have made, and I'm sure I'll share the rest during this fall's tot school season. :)

I made this cute paintbrush color matching game for Z, which I got here. I guess I already shared that I made this, but here's a picture of Z playing it. :)

I also made this bird matching game - the little squares are pieces of the bird pictures, and then the whole bird pictures are glued to the file folder - these pictures are really good quality, and this game is so fun! I found this one here.

Z's favorite part is taking the pieces out of the pocket & putting them back in. :) But looking at the birds is pretty fun, too. Although he informed me after playing the game a couple of times that he 'does not love ostriches because they are scary'. I agree that the ostrich (lower right) does have kind of a scary/weird look in his weird ostrichy eyes! :(

And this is a very similar animal matching game, which is really fun, too. I got this one here.

These games are just for fun, not necessarily to go along with anything specific. :)

My Two Tots

My absolute favorite part of parenting so far is watching my two sweethearts interact. They are so cute together. Z will often say things to Natalie like, "What'sa matter, honey?" or when she's talking, he'll say, "Yeah? Tell me more!" and Natalie thinks that Zachary is HILARIOUS. No matter what he does - running in circles, talking, spitting at her (that's her favorite thing), she laughs at him constantly, and I LOVE it. :) When she reaches for his face, Z says, "Be gentle, Nallie, gentle." He's heard that MANY times!!! :)

She is starting to scoot (only backwards so far, but she was up on her knees a couple of times today), and get into things, so we'll have to be more careful with books! Zachary is good about taking them away from her - he says, "NO, Nallie, you can't chew on books!" :) One day, they amused each other for about 15 minutes with this ball popper toy - Z was popping the balls out the top, and N was watching and laughing, of course. :) I didn't get a good picture at all, but it gives the idea at least. :)

My Tiny Tot

As I said, Natalie is really growing up! 7 1/2 months old now! :( Waaah! She will eat her baby food, if she has to...but she really likes the 'big girl' food she's been having - she loves the cereal puffs, and she also loves to chew up little pieces of graham crackers - here she is eating a piece of one. :) And of course she's still nursing like a champ, 4 or 5 times a day. :) She has four teeth now, but she's only bit me once while eating - so she's doing much better than her brother ever did!!! She has started saying, 'ma ma' along with her standard 'ba ba va va', but I don't think she knows what it means yet. :) I tell Z that 'ba va' means brother, though, and he thinks that's cool. :)

A friend of mine sent Natalie this adorable tutu, and I got to take some pictures of her in it this week! :) Here are a couple of the gorgeous shots I got! :)


As far as the Tot School planning, I am still working hard on it - I want to have it all ready before we start in a few weeks, but we'll see. :) I am working on cataloging my books at the Library Thing website. You can put in books & add tags, so when I do my weekly/monthly book baskets, I can search for certain tags & not forget about books that I have just because they get shoved back on a shelf or something- I'm really loving this project! :)

To see what others are doing for Tot School this week, check out 1+1+1=1!