CJ READ A BOOK!!!

Well, half a book anyway.  Mason and Eliza went down for a nap and CJ and I took out a book Rich bought him for when he starts to read, one that he has never heard or read before.  Cooking with the Cat in the Hat.  He read the first half of it to me!  I had to help him with the, and remind him how to sound out, but HE READ!!!  I am happy and proud beyond imagining, and I got a little teary after he finally went down for a nap.  He told me, "Mommy, reading is hard, but I really like it."  I told him that reading certainly is hard but it is such a wonderful thing.  He said, "I am so excited to read books all by myself Mommy, I can't wait!  I love reading!"  Melt my heart.  He was practically vibrating from joy and excitement every time he figured out a word.  How lucky am I?


In other news, Eliza has been in big girl underpants since Saturday.  She only is wearing diapers at nap and night.  It has been quite a week in our house!  So proud, and so weepy, and so happy all at the same time!  Eliza hasn't had any accidents since she started wearing underpants.  Just like her brother she just told me Saturday morning that she wanted to wear underpants.  We have been keeping her in dresses and nightgowns to make it easier on her, since all her cute little girl pants are not easy to get on and off herself.  Why do they think toddlers need skinny jeans anyway?  And why did my parents buy them?  But she is doing remarkably well, and I am so happy to be near the end of diapers.  Every day when she uses the potty, she says, "Mommy, I am so proud of myself!"  If only you could see the ecstatic little smile and her expressions.  She really is a character.  So this is a very happy week. 


Next week will be back to letter number and shape of the week.  This week is a book of tracing capital letters, more learning centers, making a number book using stickers, and a shape book.  We are doing review work, and using workbooks.  Next week I will be more prepared and less exhausted and sore.  I don't care if they watch TV all day tomorrow, Eliza is using the potty and CJ is reading!  Woohoo!

Reality Check

So I think the cold/flu has finally stopped kicking us in the teeth.  I am finally able to get through a whole day without coughing up a lung, or crying from being so tired and sore.  My neck still hurts, as I reinjured it in a coughing and sneezing fit, if you believe it.  The kids are finally able to spend most of a day without collapsing on the couch with a blanket.  These past few weeks really pointed out to me that I am not SuperWoman, and I can't do everything.  The uberclean house has become a disaster.  Meals were not well planned.  We watched way too much TV.  I just couldn't keep up with my normal pace.  We are all better, so back on track, but it it tough.  I want to get right back into it.  Unfortunately it is difficult to get right back into our routine completely so we are not starting a new letter number or shape this week.  We are spending a few days practicing tracing, reviewing letters and sounds, and just going over everything we have done so far.  Mostly because I have been unable to get together a weeks worth of schoolwork while feeling like I am going to pass out.  This week I will get everything back together, but in the meantime we are using all of our audio books, coloring books, and workbooks that people have given us.  We are reviewing all the colors, as we have finished them.  We are working on mixing colors, and what primary and secondary colors are.  We are spending a lot of time talking about all the animals we have studied, comparing and contrasting them, and seeing what we remember.  We even matched them up to their habitats on a world map!  I have letting the kids use the learning centers I made every day, since it is something they can do while I do dishes or fold laundry.  We sing a lot of songs, and listen to lots of music, read lots of books together, and we have been cooking together.  When we went to playgroup last week, the kids noticed a picture of the food pyramid, and they recognized it.  They were able to tell me all the food groups, and what foods belong to the groups.  I was so proud of all of them.  When I think about what the kids know, and what they say and do I am overwhelmed with joy and pride, and it really reinforces to me why I am doing what I am doing.  Some days I really think I made a bad choice, and I feel like a truck hit me, but then Eliza will tell me, "You know Mommy, my teddy bear is quite unlike a real bear."  And she will explain why!  CJ will sing the entire album of Here Comes Science and take the information and find real life examples of how he has learned from it.  The best thing though, is when they climb onto the couch with me while I am working and tell me how happy they are.  That is worth any bit of frustration or annoyance, worth any amount of work.  They are smart and happy, and I am so lucky to be able to be home with them.  Now that the weather is finally starting to normalize, and hopefully we won't be bombarded with a gigantic snow storm every few days, I am going to start planning some field trips.  I want to visit the Eric Carle Museum, the Dr. Seuss Museum, the Roger Williams Park Zoo again, Old Sturbridge Village, and several other places.  I want to get the kids outside and hiking this spring, as I miss it tons. 

On a completely unrelated note, we made quinoa and whole wheat spinach pasta last night, from scratch.  It was awesome!  I was so excited to try it, and everyone LOVED it!  Tonight is vegetarian night, and we are making white bean gratin, bruschetta, and leftover golden beets.  So looking forward to it!

Delirious Days

So Friday night we finally came down with the dreaded sickness.  I don't know if it the flu or a nasty nasty cold, but Eliza and I have been fighting high fevers for a few days.  I spent Saturday on the couch in and out of it, and today I held Eliza all day on the couch under a blanket.  Luckily CJ just has some minor sniffles, but Rich and I both have the lung racking cough that won't stop.  It feels like being stabbed in the chest and you get woozy a bit when you cough.  Yeah that kind of sickness.  Ick is all I have to say.  So our school for this week will entail reading books, watching our favorite movies, and learning what types of medicine work.  We will learn how much I can get done in the house when standing for more than 15 minutes makes me dizzy.  We will see how much soup we can all stand to eat, and hopefully we will learn how quickly we can all recover from this ickiness.  This has been such a rough winter.  Rich never NEVER gets sick and has been sick more this winter than he has in the past 15 years.  Unpleasant doesn't even begin to cover it.  I wish you all health and no more snow!

Teacher Going to School

Rich and I went to a training tonight.  Child care was provided, dinner was provided, but more importantly some amazing training.  It was all about the early learning guidelines in the state of Connecticut for infant and toddler care providers.  It gives family child care providers training and the ability to gain a child care license in the state.  I love learning and taking classes, and I especially love that it was offered with child care, and that both Rich and I were able to attend.  I would love to become licensed to provide home child care.  It is such a wonderful and satisfying occupation, and I already am trained as a teacher.  This would allow me to make more money doing what I love, and I could choose my hours.  Exactly what I am doing now, but I would be able to continue once Mason no longer needs care.  This training even includes 2 hours of at home coaching.  A professional early learning coach will come into our home and assist us in setting up the home and activities appropriately for the age group we are caring for.  I am so excited!  It was also great for Rich and I to allow someone else to watch the kids, since the only people who ever care for them are us, or my parents.  It was a great experience all around.  Looking forward to more learning opportunities.

Thank You Groundhog!

So Punxatawney Phil says Spring is around the corner, and I surely hope he is right, because darn it I need some sunshine.  It rained all day, and we spent another day stuck in the house.  We made a groundhog puppet that peeks out of his burrow.  We learned all about the groundhog aka woodchuck, and read some new Eric Carle books we picked up at Kohl's.  I really want to take the kids to the Eric Carle museum, but need to wait until no snowstorms are predicted, probably sometime in May.  CJ and Eliza adore all the Eric Carle books we have read together, and they have most of them memorized.  I think the museum would be a good experience for them.

So today we made a song to learn our phone number.  And all day they have been singing it.  We are also working on memorizing our entire address.  Tomorrow we will make up a song for Memere and Pepere's phone number.  We talked about why it is important to know our phone numbers and addresses, and we also found our street on a map.  We looked at a solar system map, world map, North America map, USA map, state map and town map.  We talked about directions and the compass rose.  Tomorrow is Chinese New Year so we will be making fortune cookies, and reading about the holiday.

It has been difficult to gauge progress, since our school schedule has been so erratic, but I really feel that our routine and lessons are benefiting all three kiddos.  Eliza and CJ use their bath toy alphabet to make words on the tub walls.  They are able to tell me all the sounds the letters make, and can count to 100.  They know even and odd numbers, vowels and consonants.  They speak like children twice their age.  Sometimes I forget they are only two and three, almost three and four.  Today I just spent some time watching them, and really looking at them.  I almost started to cry, because they are so smart, and sweet, and they are beautiful.  They were laying on the floor pointing out letters and numbers in a book, and holding hands.  They looked so grown up, and yet still so small.  They aren't babies anymore and it makes me a little sad.  I adore how precocious they are, and that I am able to have wonderful conversations with them, but I really miss being able to hold and rock them, and having them fall asleep on my shoulder.  They are becoming such independent little people, and while it amazes me and makes me proud and happy, I still want to do everything for them in a way.

Two days in a row, the kids have earned their gold medals, and Eliza has used the potty several times in the past two days.  She is so proud of herself, and of course we are even more proud.  I still need to figure out how to encourage her more.  We spent a lot of time today singing and dancing together, and they took a great nap.  While they slept I got the taxes finished and efiled.  It is things like this, that make me feel like the day was successful.  Makes me feel better knowing things like that are done.  Tomorrow is baking day, and mopping day.  Some days I wonder how I can get anything done, others it comes very easily.  Today, hard to get stuff done.  Last week I just kept accomplishing stuff, and it was no big deal.  This week it is tough just to keep up with the dishes.  Tomorrow will be better, I hope.  If the groundhog is right, at least we will have some sunshine soon.  Maybe that will help.

Snow Sucks

I am truly tired of the snow.  The next two days are looking like snow days AGAIN!!!  In addition to the 6 feet we already have on the ground.  It is really tough to keep a routine going when we keep having this strange winter.  I am afraid to sign the kids up for anything at the library because the snow is such a constant thing, I am never sure if we will be able to go or not.  Not only am I going stir crazy, but so are the kids.  They need to get out, and so do I.  Maybe in a few months when the snow starts to melt!

So our week started well, and the kids did great at school time today.  CJ and Eliza are having some difficulty following directions at other times of day though.  We are starting a new thing tomorrow.  If I don't have to yell at them in the morning about throwing food on the floor, or picking up their toys, or other things they know they should and shouldn't do, then they get a Backyardigans card I printed.  If they take their nap they get another one.  This is because CJ keeps getting into things he knows he is not supposed to when I think he is in his bed.  Today he went into the play room, woke Mason up and got Yahtzee and dumped it in his bed!  If they make it through dinner without me having to yell at them (and I was very clear and specific when discussing this with them, though I admit I am vague now) they get another card.  If they get 3 cards they get a gold medal, that Rich picked up at the store.  If they both get gold medals all week, then on Saturday we can make a special treat, or watch a special movie, or go someplace special.  I will let you know how this goes.

Our lessons this week are J, 10, crescent, gray, jerboa and javelina for animals, maps (continued from last week) and winter.  Wednesday we will learn about groundhogs, and Groundhog Day.  Later in the week we will learn a little about Chinese New Year, and maybe make fortune cookies.  Our craft Wednesday are these cute little groundhog puppets in a paper cup.  You use a popsicle stick to peek the groundhog out of his den and back in.  Friday our cooking project will be Jello Jigglers.  Tomorrow we will make some sort of cooking project, and clean the house.  CJ and Eliza love to help dust and vacuum, and they especially love to help cook.  They are always so excited to get their aprons and measuring cups out.  They love trying new foods, too.  Over the past couple of weeks we have made recipes from Greece, China, Japan, Morocco, India and Mexico.  Some things they liked, some they didn't, but they tried everything.  They are like that with school work too.  They almost always try to do things, even if they don't want to, or think they can't do it well.  They usually try, and do pretty well.  I realized today though, how soon we will be done with our letters.  Now I have to think of what we will do next!  We started our last color today.  Next week we will review colors, do the rainbow, and maybe mixing of colors.  I guess after we do our letters, we start on words and real reading.  As it is they are spelling words, sounding them out, and we point out letters and words wherever we are.  In the car tonight they were spelling Mason's name, as well as their own names.  Now we need to work more on tracing, coloring, and writing skills.  Mason does phenomenally well at coloring, often in the lines on a coloring book.  He holds the crayon perfectly and does slow careful coloring.  Unfortunately he is not consistent with recognizing his letters and numbers.  CJ and Eliza are great at knowing all their letters and numbers, but their prewriting skills leave a lot to be desired.  Mason is also far better at using scissors, but doesn't count items consistently or recognize all the shapes.  It is like he is completely opposite of CJ and Eliza, they have opposite skill sets.  Hopefully they will continue to model for each other.  Next goal though, is to get Eliza out of diapers.  I would love to be done with diapers except at nap and night.  Any suggestions?  CJ decided on his own that he was ready, no matter what we did, he resisted, until he decided it was time.  Eliza, not so much.  I am a little lost on what else to try.

I must say every day is an adventure in this house.  This is the best job I have ever had, albeit the most insane.  At least I can wear my slippers to work.  Off to get some sleep.

Update

Isn't it amazing how time gets away from you?  I realized it has been too long since I blogged at all.  Between snow days, cleaning, falling, healing, baking, and planning, things just sort of took over my time.  On the plus side my house hasn't been this continuously clean in a very long time.  We have been eating yummy healthful foods, and I have been completing and preparing lesson plans without being a slave to them.  I feel better than I have in a long time, at least about my accomplishments.  The fall on the ice certainly didn't make me feel better.  My neck still hurts a lot, especially by the end of the day.  I don't bounce like I used to.  But while resting on the couch, I have spent a lot of time over the past week looking at state requirements and district guidelines for preschool and kindergarten curriculum.  I am starting to integrate those topics into lesson plans over the next two months.  We have only one color left to do and that frees up a whole subject time to add in more social studies and science topics.  We are studying I, 9, pentagon, pink, iguanas, and maps this week.  I has been very interesting this week though.  Mason was home Monday and Tuesday, and the lessons on maps have been shortened from the original plans.  They are all three having some difficulty concentrating today, I am sure because they haven't seen each other in near a week.  It looks like tomorrow will be a snow day as well, so CJ Eliza and I will be making some finger paints and using some envelopes to paint on.  The envelopes were in a box in the basement and the residual moisture in the air was enough to seal them shut, so they will make perfect little canvasses for toddler fingers.  Upcoming our theme topics will be transportation, winter, weather, and health, not necessarily in that order.  I have found that CJ and Eliza respond so well to school even on the days Mason isn't here.  They are so disappointed if we don't do school.  It keeps their minds active, and keeps the routine, which makes for a better day for all of us.  They don't like having an entire day without some sort of structure.  They like knowing what is coming.  It is so wonderful to me to be able to see every day how they grow and learn, and to learn about them as we take this journey together.  Watching them learn and grow into amazing little people is probably the greatest gift I can imagine.  I love being the one who knows how they are learning and progressing, the one who can adapt lessons to work with their personalities and strengths, to teach them manners and moral responsibility.  Seriously the best job ever!  I really have never been so happy in my life as I am now, especially when the kitchen floor is clean!