Tot School - 16 . 5 Months

Yet again it's Sunday and I find myself with very little to show of our Tot School this week. I think I'm in the summer mindset and just want to be outside and running around as much as possible.

Ok. Time for a little rambling...

I am very thankful that Brennan is such a good sleeper. Most days he doesn't get up until at least 8, sometimes even later. I like to get out of the house in the morning with him (it helps break up the day) and we usually try to leave around 9:30. Our morning time is usually spent letting B play in his room a little as he continues to wake up, getting B dressed for the day, and B eating breakfast (I try to get ready and eat before he's up). Honestly by that time it is usually already close to 9:30 and time to head out somewhere.

I like to be back home by 11 to feed B lunch. After lunch we usually do have a few more minutes of playtime before he goes down for his nap at 12. Naptime usually lasts until about 3:30ish and hopefully by then Daddy might be home and we can all play together before dinner. 

In other words, I am having a hard time fitting Tot School into our schedule. Writing it down like I did makes it seem like there is more time available than I feel like there is during the day. I think my difficulty also has to do with the fact that I have not been planning out any activities ahead of time. I also feel like all my Tot School ideas are the same for someone B's age. I have tons of things bookmarked or pinned to my Pinterest that will be great for when he's older, but not a lot for right now. 

I think I just need to keep the purpose of Tot School in mind. As Carisa says,

Tot School isn't really school at all!  Don't let the name confuse you!  Tot School is basically a focused time each day on the tot in your family.

I do certainly spend lots of time focusing on the little guy and I can tell he's learning a lot from what we do together.

I apologize for my rambling and my lack of Tot School lately. But here are some pictures of what we were up to during the past week. I hope you enjoy!

The hose brings this little guy SO much joy!

Brennan continues to excel at cruising, but hasn't take any more steps since he took his first three last Monday. We work daily on his gross motor skills here at home and he attends PT once a week.

These star boxes were perfect for doing a quick nesting activity.

And we also smiled a lot this week! Loving this happy face!

Hope you had a wonderful weekend! Make sure you head over here to see more Tot School ideas.

Five Question Friday

Thanks for stopping by for Five Question Friday!

{What is your current favorite tv show?}

l have three favorites right now: The Voice, So You Think You Can Dance, and The Bachelorette. (Addicted to reality TV much?!?!?!)

On The Voice I am really liking Javier Colon. Plus he's from CT, so I like him even more! I also like Dia Frampton. I am really hoping one of them wins. 

I think my favorite on SYTYCD is Melanie.

Did you see her statue dance with Marko?!?!

Every season I say I'm not going to watch The Bachelor(ette) anymore, but every season I end up getting sucked back in again. I don't know what it is. My favorite on The Bachelorette is JP. He's a hottie, but also seems sweet.

{What's the worst haircut you ever got?}

I'm not really sure. All my pictures from when I was younger are at my parents' house in KY. My senior year of high school I decided to go really short and took this picture of Martina McBride to my hairstylist for inspiration:

At times I liked that haircut, but other times I didn't.

{What was something you did as a child that you thought you were so cool for doing?}

Hmm....

• I had super tall teased bangs
• I tight-rolled my jeans
• I tied up my shirt on one side; even had a little plastic tool that helped hold it there
• I wore overalls with only one strap hooked 
• I went through a cussing phase when I was in middle school - that was SUPER cool - ;-)

{Do you have any GREAT frugal family fun tips?}

You can click here for 100 free things to do with your kids this summer. Brennan and I have been hitting up our local library a lot. They have a small children's play area there and giant stuffed giraffe that he loves. They also have a great selection of children's DVDs. We just checked out two Elmo movies yesterday. Libraries often have passes for other local fun too. For example, our library has a free pass for the local children's museum. 

{Would you drive across country if you had the money to fly?}

I am very thankful that Brennan has always been a great traveler, but a cross-country trip with a 16-month-old doesn't sound like much fun. The longest trip he has done so far was a 10-hour road trip. The nice thing about driving is that you can stop anytime you need to. Obviously if you're on the plane, you're stuck there until it lands no matter what happens. No I'm not sure what is better with a baby.

I am definitely interested in doing a cross-country road trip some day. Have you ever seen the movie Elizabethtown? It's a pretty quirky movie, but some of it was filmed in KY, so I'm partial to it. Anyways, Kirsten Dunst's character makes this awesome road trip scrapbook/map for Orlando Bloom's character. It tells him to stop at certain locations along the way and it has a soundtrack to go along with it. I'm doing a terrible job of explaining it, but I want someone to do that for me!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Gotta add a few pics of the little guy for the fam, or I get in trouble!

WILW

Hope you're having a wonderful Wednesday! I'm linking up with Jamie again for What I'm Loving Wednesday!

{one}

I'm loving that I got a haircut. I've been wanting to get it chopped again for awhile now, but it's hard to do when you have a baby. I'm not picky at all about my hairstylist, so when Kyle ended up coming home from work earlier on Friday, I just ran over to Cost Cutters and got a $15 haircut. Just a little bob. Same as always, but it makes me happy.

{two}

Kyle has been having some easy days at work and coming home early. It's always a nice surprise, although yesterday he caught me napping. Ooops! I guess I am loving naps too!

{three}

It's officially summer! I am loving our weather lately. Highs in the mid-upper 70s. Pretty amazing!

Fun in the water hose!

{four}

Since the weather has been nice, we've been able to hit up our local Splash Pad a few times. It's hard for me to get pictures of Brennan enjoying it because I have to be right in there with him helping him walk. He has NO fear. He LOVES the water. I did manage to snap this picture of him starting to dry off and enjoying some fruit snacks.

{five}

The most exciting news for the week is that my non-crawling, non-walking sixteen-month-old took his first three steps on Monday. We were at his weekly physical therapy appointment and at the very end, Ms. Jen wanted to see if he would walk to me. Sure enough he stood up from sitting on her lap and walked the short distance to me. No steps since then, but it's exciting (and scary) knowing he'll be a walker before too much longer!

Poor quality, but I just love this one. He looks like a big boy!

{six}

I do not have a green thumb. AT ALL. All of our landscaping has been done by the hubby. I love pretty flowers, but just don't like the upkeep. However, a local greenhouse was a having a 50% sale this past weekend and I decided I wanted to go check out their hanging plants. They have HUGE plants there! They're expensive, but for half-off, I thought it might be worth it. We went to check it out (there's amazing ice cream there too!) and ended up buying two plants. Let's see how long I can keep them alive!

{seven}

I am not much of a reader. Growing up I loved reading. I still love reading, I just don't make time to do it. As a kid and teenager, I loved fiction books. The only books I find myself reading now are marriage and parenting books. Before Brennan was born, I read Babywise. I became a fan from the beginning and have been reading books in that series since. I just bought Toddlerwise this week and I am excited to start reading it. I also bought Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood. I am looking forward to reading both books and to discussing them with Kyle, so we can be on the same page about discipline and other parenting issues.

{eight}

I am loving the Silhouette! Well I am loving the thought of owning one! I want need one of these machines! My birthday is coming up. Hint, hint!!!

{nine}

Of course I am loving these handsome guys!

What are YOU loving today? Head over to Jamie's blog and link up!

Tot School - 16 Months

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

It's been awhile since we've linked up for Tot School. This past week still wasn't very exciting, but I thought I would show the few things I did manage to capture. 

Brennan still loves transferring things. He moved blocks from one basket into several smaller baskets.

His ABSOLUTELY favorite activity is shaking things. He always makes the same face when doing it. Such an intense look!

On Tuesday morning, Brennan spent over an hour playing with a couple sets of markers and a box. I'm not sure why that stuff held his interest so long, but it was pretty amazing! I apologize for the poor quality of the photos. I snapped them with the iPhone since the good camera was upstairs.

He liked taking the markers out of their box.

He also liked putting them back in.

I like these next three shots because he got distracted by the dog running around.

And then these next two crack me up!

He put all the markers in upside, except the blue one
(see it under his left index finger?)

But he quickly realized that blue one looked different
and took it out, flipped it over, and put it back in. Too funny!

He also liked throwing the markers into a big empty box.

One of his other favorite activities? Reading! This particular morning, he must've had me read over 20 books before we ever left his room for the morning. I wanted to snap a pic of him surrounded by all the books.

Brennan is making some gross motor progress too. I put a video of him cruising along the couch here. Here are some pictures of him doing it another time. 

Hope you had a great weekend! Thanks for stopping by!