"Tot School" Catch Up

I didn't do a Tot School post the last two Fridays as I was busy planning Brennan's Olaf party. Now that the party is behind us, I wanted to catch you up on some of the activities we've done during the last two weeks. I didn't get a ton of pictures, but here are few of the things I did manage to capture. None are that "tot schoolish" but we had fun nonetheless.

Bryce has been showing more and more interest in looking at books instead of simply pulling them off the shelves. :)

We had several snow days during the last two weeks and it has been bitterly cold for so long. I wanted to do something new with Brennan to make staying at home again a little more fun and decided to pull out vinegar (with food coloring) and baking soda. I made him a 2nd tray of it because he was having so much fun.

I pulled out our hand-me-down tunnels and both boys had fun with them. 

I put the shapes from Bryce's hippo toy on one end of the tunnel and had Brennan start at the other end and find the shape I was asking for. It was a super simple task for him, but he was laughing the whole time.

Brennan asked to play "Noah Says" after he played it at AWANA. It's the same as Simon Says, but you ask like different animals. 

They don't also play nicely together, so this was great to see.

Tot School - 13 months / Almost 4 years

I didn't do as much with Tot School this week. Brennan had two snow days this week and it just got me all off schedule. Bryce started the week off with a bad diaper rash (due to teething I think) and today he hasn't been feeling very good and is running a high fever. But I did want to share with you the few activities I did manage to get pictures of. I just mixed the Brennan and Bryce pictures together this week.

I tried to give him a bath at the peak of his diaper rash and it was so painful for him. I quickly got him out and let him snuggle with me on the couch just in his towel. I love these pictures that Kyle took. You wouldn't know he was miserable looking at these.

Both boys had fun playing our Red Rover game. It's too complicated for Bryce, but he had fun watching. I've mentioned this game before on the blog and I highly recommend it. We bought it for Brennan as his gift after Bryce was born. The dog calls out a color, shape, or letter and you have to feed him that matching bone. It's super cute.

Bryce practiced with his stacking rings this week. This is another Melissa and Doug toy. We have a store at our local mall called Education Works. It's a teacher store and has toys in it too. I think most the toys are overpriced, but I go in each time we are there and search for things that are marked 50% off. That's how I got these rings for Bryce for Christmas. I like that they are soft and each ring either rattles or makes a crinkly noise. I also like that the middle stick shows what color comes next.

Brennan had fun finger painting. It had been awhile since painted. We also made a special gift for Auntie Lala so Bryce even got in on the painting action this week. No picture of that though since I was too busy trying to keep paint from getting everywhere.

Brennan has been giving me a hard time lately about practicing writing his name. He was doing really well at it several months ago, but lately not so much. I let him use chalk in the basement this week and he busted out his name with no help from me. Even making it into a pattern. He's such a smart boy!

I pulled out a box full cars for Bryce to play with. He's cute because he'll say "Vrooom vrooom" while he pushes them around. He didn't play with them long though. He was more interested in cleaning them up. He's a little OCD like that! :)

Bryce didn't sit still long enough for me to even get a good picture of him being a one-man-band.

Back to the stacking rings again, but this time he was putting golf balls into the holes.

Brennan turns 4 on Tuesday. He got an early birthday present from some friends at church; Uno Attack. To say he was excited would be an understatement. He just opened this gift this morning and we've already played a bunch of times!

And just one more picture showing the beautiful snow Monday morning. We got more on Tuesday night and are possibly getting more on Sunday. I'm beyond tired of it, but Monday's snow was so pretty.

Thanks for checking out our week. You can see lots more ideas on Carisa's blog!

Tot School - 12.5 Months

We had a sitter on Thursday night while Kyle and I were at worship team practice for church and when we got home she said, "This was the first time Bryce really played and interacted with me." It was neat to hear that in the half hour or so that he was awake with the babysitter, she could see how much interactive he's becoming.

He's getting ever so close to walking and can crawl super fast, so I was really impressed with how long some of these activities held his interest this week; meaning he sat still for an extending period of time. None of these toys are brand new, but some of them are new for Bryce to explore or I added a new element to change something old up a bit. I hope you enjoy a peek into our week!

When Brennan was Bryce's age, he loved putting things into things. I cut an opening in the top of an empty Puffs container and gave Bryce the Dominoes and he was entertained for a long time. He's gone back to this activity almost every single day.

This big box of Mega Blocks has been in the coat closet for over a year now I think, so I brought it out and both boys enjoyed playing with them this week. Bryce is really good at pulling blocks apart and was able to get a few together. Playing with them also gives me a chance to talk to him about colors and numbers because we will count the "bumps" on each block.

I like this little wooden blocks more than the boys do I think. They are just really beautiful blocks and so sturdy. I pointed out letters to Bryce and he had fun knocking over the towers I built. Brennan helped me put them in ABC order.

This kid got his seventh tooth this week and is a drooling mess. But I gosh I love him.

We did some reading this week too. My mom ordered each a boy a magazine subscription from Highlights. Bryce gets the "Hello" books and Brennan gets a "High Five" magazine each month.

This push toy has gotten lots of use this week. Brennan didn't walk until he was 19 months old and I'm actually shocked Bryce isn't walking yet, but I think he's getting pretty close.

"Mom, I'm stuck!"

Melissa and Doug make some of my absolute favorite toys. A friend of ours had this cookie set and I had to get it for Brennan a few months back. I pulled it out for Bryce this week and he really liked it. He was pretty good at putting the cookies onto the cookie sheet. Pulling the cookies back off is good fine motor practice because that velcro is pretty sticky. Once I showed him the tube the cookies are stored in, he was all about putting them back in there. I love the sequence of shots showing him trying to get the cookie in and then having success. 

Here are just a few shots of big brother. He asked to bring his golfing toy upstairs this week, so we've been playing a lot. This kid LOVES mini-golf! He's got pretty good form too.

And here are a few pictures of us playing "Crazy Bones". He got this game when he and Daddy had to stop by Honda one day. They are so sweet to kids there and he won this from the claw machine. It has the same premise as Beer Pong I guess in that you try to bounce the little plastic pieces into a box (or in our case bowls). If you look closely at the first two shots, there are pieces bouncing up in the air. The first one is hard to see because it's black and blends in with the bottom of the couch. The 2nd one is orange and it's just barely off the floor, but you can see its shadow. We save games like this one for after Bryce is napping since they have such small pieces.

You can always check out Carisa's blog for more great Tot School ideas!