Tot School is back!

I am happy to announce that we started Tot School back up this week! During the past few weeks, I have let Brennan watch way more DVDs that I ever thought I would before I became a mom. He doesn't always just sit down and watch, but he had gotten to where he always wanted the TV on the background. I knew we needed to make a change, so this weekend I sat down and planned out a full week of Tot School activities. I even actually looked through all the activities I had pinned on Pinterest!

I'll do a full Tot School post over the weekend, but wanted to give you a little preview of our day yesterday. Again I realized what a big difference it makes to have fun activities like these pre-planned. It definitely got our week off to a great start!

We did a color/shape/number run. I can't remember where I first found this idea, but it was HUGE hit. When I first read it, she suggested to play outside so kids can run around. It's still a little cool in the mornings here, so we played inside. To get started, Sunday night I cut out seven large shapes (square, rectangle, triangle, heart, diamond, circle, and moon). Each shape was on a different colored sheet of cardstock. I only had seven different colors or I would've done more. I also numbered the shapes 1-7. By having colors, numbers, and shapes we were able to play many different variations of the game.

I taped the pieces around the living room and first shouted out a color. B ran to that color and brought it back to me. After we did all seven, he immediately asked for more. So I hung them up in different spots and called out a shape. After that time he wanted more, so we did it again with me calling out numbers. No matter which he was looking for (color, shape, number) as he was bringing it me, I'd ask him about the other two attributes on that particular sheet. It was great review and got lots of energy out. Brennan did not want to stop playing. We kept going by laying them on the floor. We even taped them up in the hallway so he had even farther to run to find them. We will definitely be doing this again! Check out these smiles! He was loving it!

Yesterday we also did a Mega-Blocks patterning activity. Since Brennan did the color/shape/number run for so long, we ended up just discussing patterns over lunch. You can see the table set up. As he ate, I formed simple ABABAB patterns for him. He seemed to catch on. It's certainly something we will keep working on because he was making a few mistakes, but now that I've introduced this activity, I think he'll be more excited for it next time.

I had one more activity planned and we didn't get to it yesterday. Thankfully B took a good nap and then we walked down to a neighborhood playground to play for a little bit before dinner. After dinner we had to do the color/shape/number run again. Seriously, the kid is obsessed with that game. I think I need to hide them so we can try something different today.

Come back this weekend to see our full Tot School post!

Just a Few Pictures

I wanted to share some iPhone photos that my mom and dad haven't seen since they aren't on Facebook.

After story time on Wednesday we went to our favorite playground. B had a
blast on the swing!

This shot makes me laugh because we have a picture of my sister just like this;
waiting to be wiped.

I just can't get over how big he looks in his pic! This was our weekly
trip to the aquarium.

After the aquarium, we went next door to see the ducks!

B's new sandbox is almost done! He played in it last night. It was super windy
so he needed a jacket. Ready for warmer weather!

Happy Sunday

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The Lorax

I took Brennan to his first movie at the theater today. I knew I wanted to try to take him either this spring or summer and when I saw that The Lorax was still in theaters, I decided to go ahead and give it a try. He's really into movies at home, although he doesn't sit still for very long to watch them. Unfortunately, our local theaters don't have matinees during the week, so we had to drive about 30 minutes to a new theater, but it was totally worth it. It was right next to a Panera, so we had a lunch date there first. Then we headed to the theater. Lunch went a little faster than I expected, so we arrived at the movie earlier than I had planned. I was hoping to miss the previews so B wouldn't have to sit any longer than necessary, but it still worked out fine.
The theater in Lisbon was super nice. Brennan's ticket was free and we were the only people watching The Lorax. That's one reason I wanted to see a matinee because if it wasn't crowded, I was going to let B walk around the front some if he needed to get up. The theater had stadium seating, which was perfect. There were about five rows on the floor, then a big open area before starting the stadium seating. We sat in the first stadium seats which was nice because it was open for B to walk right in front of us, but we weren't in the very very front seats. I brought B's portable high chair, bought some popcorn, and we were ready to go. He was good boy and even went to the potty for me before the movie started. He really seemed to like it. Since we were there for the previews, some of those were really loud. He kept saying, "All done. Bye bye." But once the movie started he was happy. He ate a ton of junk food, but stayed in his seat for 1.5 hours. When the movie was almost over he wanted to sit in my lap, so I moved him there, but then he wanted to get down. I just let him and he went back and forth between sitting on the bottom step of the aisle and walking around the front. Definitely a successful first theater experience.
I had to document it of course, so here are some iPhone pics!

Sitting on the bottom step once he started to get antsy.

Walking around a little - with his Ring Pop!

Headin' home!

Oh and movie was cute! I liked it too!

Language Explosion

I am so happy that last week brought a language explosion for Brennan. I can only imagine what the weeks ahead hold! For the longest time, Brennan has only spoken in single syllables. To get him to say a multi-syllabic word, you'd have to have him repeat each syllable one at time. That's no longer the case. He is now saying many 2-syllable words, a few 3-syallable ones, and putting words together to make phrases. Check out the video. It was taken early last week, so he can do even more now, but it gives you a little idea of what he can do now. My favorite so far was yesterday at church when he said, "I wuv you". Nothing better than hearing that!


Here are some pictures from last week!

Piggy back ride! He was screaming, "Weeee!" the whole time!

Got these Mickey paint swatches at Home Depot - great color matching game!

This kid LOVES school buses. We have several that park in our neighborhood, so we walked
down the street to see one. Made his day!

We had such nice weather last week! We took some friends with us to the aquarium!

He still loves a good snuggle with Momma! Makes my day!

We had a picnic lunch on Friday using his new picnic table; he was a little excited!

Happy Sunday

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112th Submarine Birthday Ball

Kyle and I attended the Suball Saturday night. Val and Kathryn were kind enough to entertain B for us so we could go out. We didn't take many pictures, but here are a few of us all dressed up!