Greetings from Florida

Hello Summer?

I am not sure if words can explain how darn hot it is outside between 11:30 am and 7:00 pm around here. Let's just say going to the park is a tough job....but someone's gotta do it, right? Graham and Parker really do not like to be harbored from getting their "play" on. They enjoy parks, Gymboree, splash pads, The Science Center, The Zoo, The BackYard, aka Twin Wonderland, and any other groovy place we can come up with. However going to the park is sometimes a really tough job. It gets crazy hot here in Ye Ole Winter Park,. Florida. I am pretty sure it gets crazy hot anywhere in Florida. But holy cow it is like a cruel and unusual form of punishment for all Floridians.

I feel like I need to trot on down to The Sharper Image store and buy about a dozen personal cooling systems...or something, despite the fact that I would end up looking like a complete dweeb and/or some sort of alien tagged for future government experiments/testing. Then again if me and my Twins were wearing them, we would definitely look like some sort of tagged or radio controlled aliens, or something of the sort.

I am not sure how many of the personal cooling systems that Sharper Image sells but this guy looks like a total douche in his..... right? Well, I think he looks like a douche. Maybe it is a nice investment for the weary and overheated.....  So, do you take the chance of looking like an alien or someone's pet? Oh well, maybe I will go buy one and wear a scarf over it. That would be just fabulous I am sure.  Oh better yet I can wear one around each of my body parts and then I can be really special. ;)

Some cute pics from the park.

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3 = talk talk talk talk talk

So the theme with Graham and Parker lately is talking. They have really taken off with full sentences. Sometimes I am wondering how they come up with some of what they say.

They will be 3 in April. I am happy they are pretty much on track with most things. I have always been a bit worried because they were born 8 weeks early. Parker is still really small but the pediatrician says he is fine.
Graham is pretty much the size of the average almost 3 year old.

We spend a lot of time with our playgroup. I think it helps a lot.

We have been working on pronouncing words correctly, colors, shapes, counting, songs, signing, all the good stuff. We spend time at the Zoo and Science Center regularly. We also spend lots of time going to the park and other great places like library storytime & craft (on a break from storytime right now though). It is tough to fit in all of the cool places we go to!!

They are doing well socializing and learning. They enjoy seeing their friends. We also are in a weekly home preschool group. They know their friends by name and talk about them when we are at home. They like to talk about the places we go. They ask to go to the places they like best like The Zoo, The Science Center, Certain Parks, they ask to see certain friends or if certain friends will be meeting them for a playdate that day. It's cute!  Graham is still more academically advanced. Parker is still athletically advanced. Parker's latest thing is doing head stands and then multiple somersaults in a row. He LOVES the head stands. He sort of does hand stands too. He loves to hang upside down at the park. They still enjoy Gymboree too!!  They ask about Gymboree on the days we are not going to our class. They love it!!  Graham is still really into reading books. He looks at books a lot all day still. He likes to talk out loud while going through his books. He also likes me to read to him...or any family member.

For our home preschool class we work on learning through play. It has been tough to really get things going the right way but it seems we are on a great path now. I think we finally have a way to get all of the kids interacting involved, and enjoying!  I will try and take some pics of our home preschooling soon.

Still working on all of the details of their 3rd birthday party. Should be lots of fun!!

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HOLY SCHNIKES

I HAD A LONG DAY!
I really feel like today was played out three times at once. Wowsers!

I felt like I had three full time jobs that were mega demanding all at one time all day today.

My 10 year old had her friend over, my 12 year old was sick, my 14 year old was really annoyed by my 10 year old and her friend. One of my twins is sick and the other is annoyed that his twin is sick and not as playful.  I had a full day of kids, housekeeping, playdate organizing, home pre-school organizing,  a billion phone calls, a lot of typing, vacuuming, swiffering, cooking, wiping, entertaining, nurturing, etc etc etc etc.
Everyone and everything was 50x more demanding than usual today!

I can say I am very happy things are calm and it is bed time. Thank goodness.
Later on I will have to amuse myself by watching the new episode of the monstrosity that is Toddlers & Tiaras. what a trainwreck!!

So I bet you might be wondering about the home preschool, right?
A few friends and I that are in a playgroup together have started a home preschool group. We have 19 of us in the group and have spit the groups into a couple of groups.
We are doing a more natural learning type of preschooling. Lots of fun, no pressure or drilling with flash cards, and most of all...great mini projects and field trips!
We have chosen several books, each of us bought one and we are creating 2-weeks-at-a-time lesson plans. We actually start next week! We will do our "schooling" one day per week in a big community room at one of the local libraries. It is free!! We just had to reserve in advance. Then on another day each week we will be going to a local library storytime and craft hour. The other days will be play dates and field trips, depending on the week..with one day per week being a big group day where we meet with the other half of our home preschool group. We want to go with learning through play. Not pressure and drilling and crazy expectations. We wish not to rob our toddlers of toddlerhood....children of childhood etc.

The philosophy........
Children pursue life, and in doing so, pursue knowledge



All of the children in the group were born in 2008 or 2009.

Our first 2 weeks theme is blue. All of our lessons those 2 weeks will revolve around the color blue in some way. Including the snacks, They will be BLUE!

We plan to let them go at their own pace, not to pressure or make them feel like they are in school but to add some smart structure to their daily playdates. We usually hold playdates 5 days a week.



The books we purchased and are working from are:

1.  The Encyclopedia of Infant and Toddler Activities: Written by Teachers for Teachers
2. Gymboree - The Parent's Guide to Play (Gymboree Play & Music)
3. The Preschool Calendar
4. The Complete Resource Book for Preschoolers: An Early Childhood Curriculum With Over 2000 Activities and Ideas
5. The Complete Daily Curriculum for Early Childhood: Over 1200 Easy Activities to Support Multiple Intelligences and Learning Styles
6. Montessori Play And Learn: A Parent's Guide to Purposeful Play from Two to Six
   
   
   
    
Field Trip ideas so far:  Zoo, art museum, feeding ducks, pumpkin patch, strawberry patch, grocery store. Have them find 3 items each and add to cart, cupcake decorating at one of our houses, splash pad, park to collect leaves, stones, sticks, etc...make a nature day, park to play but add some light learning with the play wish us luck!

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OK I can not hold out any longer!!!

I found a super cool toy for toddlers!!! Pop on Pals! They are AWESOME!!!

I am thrilled I did not make my 2.5 year old twins wait until Christmas to open these.

They love them and they are really fun to play with. I imagine them as a combination of paper dolls, Mr. Potato head, Barbie, and some action figures.....all rolled into one and done in a cool toddler friendly style. OK so these pop on pals come in a variety of animals, girls, and boys. They have these clothing or costume pieces that they snap in to. So neat!! They are for ages 2+

You lay a piece of their "clothing" on the floor or table and sit the person or animal inside of it and push down..they snap down and snap into their clothign or costime! It is really easy to do. I think they might even be good for 1 year olds to at least start out getting them hang of them.

 I am really impressed by these toys. I bought a plastic storage box with a lid so we can keep all the pieces together. Actually I am planning to buy a few more plastic storage boxes with lids to store other toys that have a lot of pieces. I don't like toys with missing parts. I really like to keep the toys with their parts whenever I can for them.

They can mix and match the costumes/clothing with each animal, boy, or girl so it makes it a lot of silly dress up fun too!  The only thing that does not work with the animals is the party hats. They seem to only sit well on the girls or boys head and stay. That is slightly frustrating for my twins but they do not dwell on it. I must say I might have to go buy another bird though. That one is their favorite. They both LOVE birds though and have since before their were even a year old. They ahve a fascination with all kinds of birds. :)

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Foam Mats for Playing on

OK so as much as I like the standard alphabet and numbers foam mats for serving their purpose of a safe place for babies to crawl, they just are a huge pain in the rump.For one they do not always fit into each other and I hear, although my twins do not do this... a lot of moms have issues with them coming up easily and catching their babies chewing on the foam pieces. YUCK! Also they are NOT that thick. They bubble up and get these parts where it is all poofed up and coming apart from them sliding when you walk or crawl across them.I was constantly reshaping the foam mat we have, we have 2 sets of them because we have ours boxed in by 2 superyard XT play yards to make a nice play area. I tried them with and without the edges/borders. Every time one of us gets in there we had to be ultra careful not to scooch around or the foam mat would get all messed up. So I was having to take out all the toys and redo the mat at least 2 times per week. Let me just tell you how annoying that was.I also did not think it was enough padding when they topple over while sitting, crawling, trying to stand etc. It really was not at all.

SO a while back I saw a set of the alphabet/numbers/shapes floor mats at onestepahead.com I pondered what the difference in them and the ones I had would be. Well after careful through, research, and consideration I said OK and bought them. I bought 2 sets of the alphabet plus a set of the shapes. I plan to go back and buy a set of the numbers as well in the near future. HOLY cow they ROCK!!!!! They are SO THICK!! They are very sturdy, you can feel the difference and see the difference right off the bat. The colors are way more vibrant and the quality is 10x what the other ones are. Plus they ARE recommended for birth and up where as the other ones are for 3 years and up.They seriously are not kidding at one step ahead when they say it is the most thickest foam mat you can get. It is amazing. So much cushion and padding. So very durable for walking, scooching, and crawling on. I am 100% satisfied with this mat and we just got them this week!!I highly recommend getting them!I use another set of foam mats under our jumperoos for nice padding on their feet as well, the old kind. I think I may just upgrade there too and get a set of the ones from one step ahead to go under our jumperoos as well. The One Step Ahead foam mats

One Step Ahead Baby - Interlocking Foam Puzzle Mats

The other ones I was using Amazon.com: Alphabet 'N Number Foam Puzzle PlayMat: Toys & Games

                                                          

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