Blue Horse Week (21 Months)

Blue Horse... Really?  It is tough to find blue horses beyond this book... Some day this will be funny to him.  For now, it seems standard, ducks are yellow and horses are blue.

We played with some craft pom-poms for one of our tot school lessons this week.  He had a blue cup, a yellow cup and some blue and yellow pom-poms.  Initially he was not interested.  Then I started sorting them and he watched me sort and then fill the cups with the same colored pom-poms.  Naturally, he decided he did in fact want to play.  What happened next was funny... he took a yellow pom-pom and put it in the blue cup... and then put his hand over his mouth, gasped and then laughed... as if to say, "look mom the wrong color!" He thinks he is so funny... well, so do I :) After a few more minutes of play, Mr. Little Man decided throwing the pom-poms and rolling the cups was way more fun... so we threw and rolled together.

 

We started using our Tot School Notebook this week.  I used clear plastic sheets (like we used to put book reports in) and put printed coloring book-like pictures inside.  He uses white-board markers and when we finish, he can wipe it up and voila we can use it again another time... oh, and LM LOVES markers.

His Blue Horse (found on google images, not my original artwork).

Another tot school favorite, tooth picks and the foam block. We had travelled to his grandparents so this is an easy one to throw in a bag for TS on the go. He lost interest quickly this time, I think because he was so busy enjoying his grandparents... and their golf cart.

And what is a golf cart without a golf club!? LM played with his blue plastic golf driver outside... which is probably his favorite thing ever. Well, besides the golf cart.

 

We played with blue play dough and made little balls.  To then smash... "again" & "again" & "again"... 

I was given some classroom decor by a teacher friend who had used it in their classroom the previous year... it was BBBBWDYS themed and while originally I had no idea how I would use the big cardboard cutouts, I discovered the perfect use mid way through this week.  Similar to the "elf on a shelf" idea around Christmas time, I took the blue horse cut out and put him on the wall.  That morning after LM "made his bed" (aka throws all his stuffed animals into his crib), I walked with him into his playroom and asked him where was the blue horse.  After some looking around her found the horse and was really excited!  I cheered for him, he cheered for him... smiles all around and we had discovered a new favorite game.  Each day thereafter, I moved the horse to another spot, getting more and more "hidden" each day for him to wake up and find.  By Friday morning (day 7 of our TS week), LM ran in to find the horse all on his own before I even remembered about it.

 

We recently started teaching Mr. Little Man how to feed the dog.  He is loving this new task and in one week has already come a long way. Initially he would scoop until I said we were done and would only scoop a few pieces at a time. By the weeks end, LM knows we do 3 scoops and he fills each cup to the tippity-top.  He then methodically takes the cup puts it in the container, shuts the lid of the container, takes the bowl from mommy, lays it down for the dog and then we pet the dog on his back and we 'say' "good boy". He is almost like a mini robot and just loves routine!  I'm so proud of him and can't wait for the day he begins to understand the concept of time and makes the connection that, 'oh! we need to feed the dog!'

LM had little interest in our tot school lessons this week- in fact there were 3 lessons I didn't even include in the blog because, quite frankly, he gave them about 10 seconds of interest.  He has just started new school, a Montessori play group type 'school' (aka daycare) which is definitely stimulating him and keeping him busy and happy.  He is very tired by the days end and I think he just had too many other things going on that he couldn't or didn't want to focus.  Hoping Green Frog week will be more engaging.

Linking to:
http://www.artfulhomemaking.com/2013/08/my-blue-boat-before-five-in-row.html

http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.net/2013/08/tot-school-gathering-place-week-31/