Tot School - 15 . 5 Months

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Memorial Day weekend! We had great weather this past week, which meant we spent a lot more time outside than inside. I'll share some of our fun outside at the end of the post.

Tot School wasn't super exciting this week, but I am happy to say that I think I might start doing a 'Tot Tray' for Brennan! We didn't use a tray this week, but our first Tot School activity was such a hit that B wanted to use it each day. It just sat out in the living room and he continually showed interest in it. So most of my pictures are of the same activity being used on multiple days. 

It started off on Monday morning in the basement. I gave him some popsicle sticks and a little plastic organizing bin. He liked poking the sticks through the little slots, but didn't like that they didn't fit all the way down.

The next day I gave him a different plastic bin, so the sticks could fit all the way down. I also gave him an empty 20 oz. soda bottle and an empty paper towel roll. I just sat back and watched what he would do with those materials. I thought it was so cute that he used the popsicle sticks with each item with no coaching from me.

Here he is using the same materials again!

We also got out a 'new to us' toy this week!

Here are some pics from our time spent outside on Friday. Daddy was off work, so he got to come to the playground this time! That also meant he was able to snap some better pictures.

Check out those leg rolls!!!

Make sure you head over to Carisa's blog to see everyone else's Tot School fun!

Five Question Friday

I am linking up for the first time with Mama M for Five Question Friday. My friend Val has linked up a couple of times now, so I thought it was time for me to join in too!

Do you apologize to your kids?

Brennan is only 15 months old, but I have apologized to him before. There are times when I've lost my temper with him and then apologized. When I was teaching I would also apologize to my students if I lost my temper with them. Thankfully kids are very forgiving people! 

What color are your nails right now?

They aren't painted at all. I rarely paint my nails any color other than clear. For some reason, after I finished nursing Brennan in January, I have started biting my nails. I used to bite my nails all the time, but then broke that nasty habit. I'm still taking prenatal vitamins, so I don't know why I am biting them again all of a sudden. :(

When you were growing up, how difficult was it for you to stay home from school sick? (As in, did you have to vomit or just say "I don't feel good".)

I'd have to be pretty sick to stay home from school, but that was more because of me and not my parents. I LOVED school. I was am a huge dork and wanted to be there. I specifically remember my whole family being sick with a stomach bug when I was in fourth grade and I had to miss a whole week of school. Bummer! I had perfect attendance in high school until the end of my senior year when I got a stomach bug again and had no choice but to stay home!

When is the last time you bought a new comforter for your bed?

Gotta love the blog. I couldn't remember the answer to this question for sure, but thought I had blogged about it and sure enough I went back and found it! We bought our current comforter just over a year ago. It was considered my Mother's Day present last May. We bought it at Crate and Barrel. It was more expensive than comforters I've bought in the past, but I really liked it. I still do. It just has a lot of snags in it now from our crazy cats. Between our dog, two cats, and now a baby it makes me not want to own anything nice for a long time!

Favorite website(s)?

I check SO many blogs every day, so they all rank up there. I am now loving this damnyouautocorrect.com site that Mama M shared. I have had a few funny things happen with auto correct, but oh my gosh, that site is HILARIOUS! I spend most of my time on the computer on facebook, so I guess that's a favorite too. 

 Thanks so much for stopping by! 

Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!

My May Favorite!

I have mentioned here before that since getting my iPhone, I feel like I've been taking fewer pictures with our good camera. The iPhone camera is just so darn handy. I'm so glad I did use our Nikon to get some good shots of B this month though.

I shared several photos I took of Brennan outside on a sunny day earlier this month. Today, I am using my favorite from that photo session to link up with Courtney!

WILW

If you're visiting for the first time from Jamie's blog, welcome to Calton Corner! I am so excited to finally be linking up with y'all! You can learn a little more about me here.

Today I am loving...

1. ...my sweet hubby who came home from work last night, cooked us a steak dinner, and then mowed the lawn. He's pretty awesome! Oh and he took the trash out too!

2. ...the fact that the next three days are supposed to be sunny! FINALLY!

3. ...days like today when it is perfect weather to take the little guy to the playground!

4. ...being able to wear capris today! Again, so excited for warmer temps!

5. ...both finalists on American Idol! I love Lauren and Scotty! They have been my two favorite since the beginning! I have always been a little partial to Scotty and his deep, Josh Turner-like voice, but I think Lauren might've sealed the deal with her final song last night. Either way, I think they will both be very successful!

6. ...that we are going to practice some new songs tomorrow night at our church's praise team practice! I am excited to add some new ones to the mix! I am especially excited to work on this one:


7. ...the movie Secretariat! I can't believe it took us SO long to watch it! Since Brennan was born, we don't go see many movies and just have to wait for them to come to Netfilx! I knew being from Kentucky, the movie would hold a special place in our hearts, but we both LOVED it even more than I expected! The best movie either of us have seen in a long time!

8. ...that I haven't had a Coke in a week! That may not seem like a big deal to you, but it is to me!

Thanks again for stopping by!

What are you loving today?

Physical Therapy Eval

For those of you who read yesterday's post, you know that at B's 15-month check up, the doctor suggested he start doing some physical therapy. She didn't seem concerned that B isn't walking yet, but she did think he should start working on strengthening his core muscles since he has never crawled, pulled to standing, and can't get to a sitting position from lying down.

Today was his first session. The facility is only about a 6 minute drive from the house, so that's really nice. I had to fill out some paperwork upon our arrival today, but it didn't take long for Ms. Jen to come get us. She led us to a room that looked a lot like I expected. It had a large mat on the floor, several large exercise balls, a trampoline, some large building blocks, and a table with toys. I just helped B walked around while she talked to me a little and got a history about him.

She tried to get him to cruise along the table by coaxing him with a toy, but he wouldn't do that. He also showed how he won't crawl, but just rolls over from his belly to his back instead of trying very hard. He can almost pull himself to standing if he really wants to. Once he is standing up (while holding onto something stable) he can stay there with only one hand on the object.

The main thing the therapist wants him to work on is what is called "rotations". Basically they are the movements necessary to transition from one position to another: lying to sitting, sitting to lying, sitting to crawling/standing. While sitting I can work with B on getting him to lean over to the side far enough to end up in a crawling position. The same is true for getting him to stand. He needs to rotate and get his knees under him instead of just trying to go straight up to his feet.

We are going to go back and see her once a week for eights weeks and see how much progress Brennan has made. She said she can tell he has motivation to move because he gets so frustrated when he can't.

Overall it was a fun experience. Thankfully our next appointments are a little bit earlier than today's. He was getting pretty tired by the end of it. I think it'll be good for B and before long, he'll probably be tearing through the house!

Tot School - 15 Months

It was rainy here most of the week, so it was important for me to find some engaging activities to keep B entertained. Check out what we did!

Sometimes the best ideas just come to you out of the blue! I gave Brennan an empty milk gallon and he LOVED playing with it. He treats everything like it's a drum so he beat on it. He also liked knocking it over (another favorite activity of his). It was great for sliding back and forth between the two of us too!

I cannot wait to try water play with spice containers like they did here, but I don't have any empty spice containers yet. (I have been tempted to empty one into another container, but haven't done that). I decided to just let B play with the spice containers while I watched him like a hawk. I don't think he'd be able to open them, but you never know. He loved shaking them and beating them together!

Isn't that face awesome?!?!

Then, with no prompting from me, he starting stacking them! I was so proud of him. Two weeks ago he showed very little interest in stacking. I was hootin' and hollerin' because I was so excited he was stacking them! So glad I still had the camera close by to capture this series of shots!

I grabbed another spice container and he tried to add it to the top, but with three it was a little too high for him to do it alone while sitting!

I borrowed Carisa's idea and pulled out a cookie sheet this week. I stuck his blue and green Leapfrog Phonics letters to it and had him show me the "B". He can pick out the "B" every time and I love it!

I tried to get him to help me sort the letters by color, but he had no idea. I guess the exposure is still good for him.

I then made a pattern with the letters and again had him find the "B."

Had to capture a picture of B watching The Wiggles. It's his favorite!

Brennan really enjoys playing outside now and doesn't understand why we can't go out when it is pouring down rain. I didn't want to get wet, but didn't mind if he did, so we did some water play again this week. This time I spread towels on the kitchen floor and let him have at it!

While exploring around our guest bedroom, Brennan showed interest in a jar with spools that sits on a shelf and an idea was born! I let him pull them out and stack them. I also would like to try to have him thread them, but I think that will have to wait until he's a little older.

He also played with the little abacus also from the guest room.

And got to fill in for our neighborhood crossing guard! :)

Unfortunately B had a pretty nasty cold during the middle of the week and we spent a lot of time like this:

By Saturday he was feeling much better and we went to Touch-a-Truck with Amanda and Parker! It was a little boy's heaven on earth!

Brennan had is 15-month check-up this past week too. The doctor recommended we start some physical therapy with him to work on his core strength. He isn't walking yet on his own, but also has never crawled, can't get to a seated position from lying down, and has never pulled himself to standing. I take him for his initial PT evaluation on Monday morning. I am actually looking forward to it. Please pray it goes well and is more fun than work for our little guy!

Make sure you head over to Carisa's blog for more great Tot School ideas!