Pumpkin fun

We had some fun pumpkin activities leading up to Halloween.  There is so much cool stuff out there, just a "click and print" away.  

I made this number/counting activity for Gemma to work on.  The pieces of green construction paper were the "pumpkin patches" (and each had a number on it, 1-9) and she used a package of foam pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns I found on sale at the craft store.  The exercise in number recognition was very good for her.

These number/counting cards I printed on orange construction paper.

Life-cycle of a pumpkin sequencing cards.

Some pumpkin books we enjoyed:
Pumpkin Harvest
Pumpkin Fever
I Like Pumpkins
Pumpkin Day, Pumpkin Night
Corduroy's Halloween (As an aside...we've checked out several Corduroy lift-the-flap books and they've all been very sweet.  This one was moving along just fine with your traditional Fall/Halloween storyline, and then we got to the trick-or-treating page and it said "Trick or Treat for UNICEF."  I kid you not.  It was very odd, and I'm still trying to figure out how exactly that fit with the rest of the story...)

I particularly liked this jack-o-lantern coloring sheet.  Apparently you can color it online, but I just printed it out for Gemma.

 We had a really fun trip to the pumpkin patch!!

Gemma wanted to paint a face on her pumpkin, so we set to work only to find out that yellow acrylic paint doesn't work so well on pumpkins.  I was a little bummed but it didn't seem to phase her, I think she said, "Mommy, this is going to be the best pumpkin, EVER," about fifteen times.  It was really sweet.

 HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Monthly update - October 2011

Gemma Grace - 3 years, 9 months

• oh Gemma Gemma Gemma, I love you but sometimes you make me want to lose my mind.  Your strong, obstinate will, your stubbornness, your mind of your own...I know these will serve you well one day but right now they are about to push me over the edge.
• She's really starting to enjoy playing with other kids at the park and in the neighborhood.  She even played outdoors at the neighbor's (while we were outside in our yard) by herself for about 20 minutes one evening, which was a big step for her.  
• she really enjoys playing with our duplo blocks.  a lot.
• she loves figuring out what letter words start with.  dozens of words a day.  she also likes signing words and letters.
• she likes gluing a lot.
• she is really enjoying her art class at the local Art Museum.  It is a super neat program.
• she and Kolbe have both been enjoying Story Time at the library.  Have I mentioned how much I love the library?!
• when they get along, she and Kolbe are really becoming very good playmates

Kolbe James - 21 months

• I already blogged about where we are with the potty, you can read about it here if you missed that post.  Basically, we are back in dipes for the most part but he still has a definite interest in the potty and goes on the potty typically several times a day.  Just not as much as he used to.  I'm just kind of letting him take the lead on this.  Since letting go is so easy for me (HA!)
• he is finally starting to say more words and repeat things.  little by little.
• Kolbe has developed a huge attachment to his blankie which he calls "ball-ball", his binkie which he calls "deendee", and an old doll of Gemma's that he calls "baaaabeeeeeeeeee". When he's ready for his nap or bed, he will run back to his room yelling, "ball-ball, deendee, ball-ball, deendee, baaaabeeeeeee".  It's cute, but I had kind of hoped we could avoid the huge attachment to things.  (We're still working on getting rid of the binkie with Gemma.)  He drags the baby doll around a good portion of the day as well, and is a good little daddy. 
• He is very good at puzzles and matching.  We have this vehicles matching puzzle and he can do it correctly all by himself.  If he puts a piece in the wrong slot (every piece fits in every slot), he will look at it funny, take it out and put it where it belongs.
• He night-weaned on his own a couple weeks ago, but now he is back to nursing during the night, usually just once towards morning though, so it works.  He still wakes up at least once during the night and then sleeps with us.  Some nights are better than others.  I'd like to get him staying all night in his own nroom at some point soon, but to do that we're going to need a bed in which Aaron or I could lie down with him.  The converted-crib toddler-bed + bedrail just isn't quite big enough for an adult.  ;-D
• He has started saying "Daddy" and it is about the sweetest thing you've ever heard.  He even says it when we drive past daddy's office, which is very cute. 
• He is just the height that I can rest my hand on his head while he's walking.  I don't know why, but I love doing this. 
• He loves his little baby cousin so much, it is cute watching him with a baby. 

"F" week

We had lots of FUN "F" week activities.  One of our stories was Fletcher and the Falling Leaves, and Gemma did a Fall leaf craft to go along with the story.  She really enjoyed both the craft and the story.

For religion we talked about Our Lady of Fatima and colored paper plate 'dancing' suns.  If you color on both sides and then hold them up to a window that's back-lit with sun and "dance" them, it makes for a cool effect.

We enjoyed some crisp fall weather in our hoodies!

We were able to visit another Church and take a picture with a statue of St. Francis of Assisi, our saint of the week.

"F" is for fishing and fall leaves!

Some of our favorite books were:

The Song of Francis (this is just a wonderful little story, but of course you just can't go wrong with Tomie dePaola)

May I Bring a Friend? (this is such a great book)

Who Loves the Fall?

Fidgety Fish and Friends

A Frog in a Bog (Wilson is probably in my top 10 favorite children's authors) 

Frances Frog's Forever Friend (I've been able to get this series through ILL, YAY!)

Small successes XLIII

It's been awhile since I linked up with Small Successes - and this post has been a work-in-progress in my drafts since the first of the month - so I figured it was time again.  Not that there have been any extraordinary accomplishments around here, but it's still fun to share the "small" stuff.

1. I got our digital photos and my documents from the past quarter backed up.  Always nice to have that peace of mind in case something goes haywire.

2. The house got a really good cleaning after they finished installing our windows and staining the woodwork.  There is nothing like a renovation project to mess up your house.  And your sanity.  Wow, I'm glad that's over.

3.  Finally figured out how to download video from our camcorder to the laptop!  Look for more videos on the blog here in the new future, this is fun!!

4.  Broke down and bought a Magic Eraser sponge and WOW, our tub hasn't been so clean since ever.  I mean it, it's cleaner than when we bought the house!! (Ew.) What is in those things that makes them work so well?!  Maybe I don't want to know...

5.  We've had a really good week around here so far.  It seems lately we've been in a funk (namely with Gemma's behavior), and things - while certainly not anywhere close to perfect - have been going better this week overall.  It makes me happy.

6.  We have been soaking up the time outdoors.  I shudder to think how we are going to fill that time here in a couple months (or less) when it's too cold to go out.  Somehow we always survive.  I think...

7.  I've planned some fun "pumpkin" activities for the kids for Halloween late this week and next, and I've been staying on top of our home school preschool planning. 

Head on over to Chocolate For Your Brain to share more successes!

Our "bottles and lids" tub

I've mentioned before how much I enjoyed Teaching Montessori in the Home: The Preschool Years.  So many practical ideas for fun and educational activities to share with your preschooler, using minimal and simple supplies and items commonly found around the home.  One of the latest activities I have done for the children is a bottles and lids tub.  I had thought about doing this before, and even saved a few bottles, but then they all got tossed in the recycling eventually.  For whatever reason a couple weeks ago it was like the perfect storm, we emptied six bottles and jars within a few days time so I decided to go for it.  This was such a simple thing to put together, and the kids really enjoy it, especially Kolbe.  They both enjoy finding the correct sized lid for each bottle.  Gemma can take the lids on and off herself and Kolbe is getting there.  They both like putting random items (buttons, small toys...) in the jars and then shaking them to make different sounds.

Video test - squeaky Kolbe

I finally (finally!) after three years (!!!!) bothered to try and figure out how to transfer video from our digital camcorder to the laptop.  Well, really I'm only a year behind, as I've only had this laptop for a little over a year, and I never would have attempted it on the dinosaur, errrr, laptop I had before.  I'm still having trouble figuring out how to burn these off on a DVD...  I'm trying to avoid using my camera software as it is kind of a pain, but I may need to break down and install it if I want to make DVD's.  I don't know.  It seems like it should be pretty straightforward but it's not working.  Technology!!!  At least we can watch them on the computer though.  And honestly, the way technology is going, I think we're probably better off just having all our videos stored on an external hard drive that we could USB to a TV or something.  But for now, they are on the laptop and to me that is great progress. 

SOOOO, how does one decide which video to post on one's blog, when one has several hundred clips at one's disposal?  I decided to just go with this cute one of Kolbe sleeping as a newborn, because it reminded me of my friend Erin and her brand new baby, George.  He's a squeaker too.  Don't feel like you have to watch the whole thing!  I am learning that shorter is better with videos of the kids.  Now that I know what an easy process this is I'll try to get some cute videos to post here on a regular basis.  But for now, without further ado, here is tiny baby Kolbe squeaking away in his sleep!  (By the way, he still does this.  Only louder.)

"E" week

Our craft for the week was this fun Elephant craft!  Gemma was able to do everything by herself except the cutting, which I did. 

We visited Church to learn more about our saint of the week, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton.  Here are the kids sitting with Mother Seton.

I know I haven't mentioned much about the Alphabet Path, but we are certainly enjoying several aspects of it.  It took a couple weeks, but now Gemma really looks forward to our Flower Fairy story before naptime on Mondays, and then after naps we look up pictures of the flower online and she paints her fairy from her Flower Fairies Alphabet Coloring Book.  There are so many great suggestions on the Alphabet Path website as well, it is one of my regular "go to" resources when looking for ideas.

Some of our favorite books during "E" week were:

Green Eggs and Ham

The Odd Egg

My E Soundbox (we get a book from this series each week)

The Early Bird (we are really starting to like Richard Scarry around here)

The Happy Egg

Elephant in the Bathtub

A few more snapshots from our week...

Gemma had her first real dental appointment where they counted and cleaned her teeth.  She and daddy went together, and from what I hear she did a great job (albeit having to lay on Aaron's lap while they looked in her mouth because she didn't want to sit by herself).  Here she is showing off her pearly whites and coloring in the new coloring book I got her as a "big girl prize".

I came across this Balls! book online and checked it out from the library.  It's pretty cool and Kolbe thought it was great.  I went ahead and purchased a copy for him for Christmas or birthday...I can see it being a source of enjoyment and education about all things sports for him for years to come! Maybe someday he'll even learn to look at it right-side-up!  ;-D

Potty conflict - advice please!!!

You know this is primarily a "mom blog" when there is a whole post dedicated entirely to potty.  Ahhhhh, I'm hoping by blogging about this I can quit stressing and over-analyzing it...

So as I mentioned about a month-and-a-half ago, Kolbe seemed to be taking the fast-track to potty-learning and it was super exciting.  And then it was kind of super-annoying because he wanted to go all. the. time. Ahh, "the grass is always greener..."  Well, I believe the novelty of the whole potty-experience has worn off.  He's not nearly so excited about going on the potty chair anymore and he often just doesn't.  Or he gets really mad if I try to put him on.  He has better days and worse days for sure, but for the most part he doesn't tell me he has too go nearly as much as he was, and he often goes in his pants.  Sometimes he'll let me know, sometimes it appears to completely not even phase him.  Here's the part where I'm really conflicted on what to do.  I have him in cotton trainers with a nylon cover and his messes always stay contained.  I never have to change his pants, he's not making messes on the floor... So what to do?  I really don't want to put him back in diapers because I just feel like that sends an odd message to him, plus I'm kind of glad to be done with diapers (temporarily anyways).  But now we are essentially treating the underwear as a diaper, which kind of sends a weird message too I think.  Oh, he still goes in the potty upon waking in the morning most days, and then some days he does pretty well between the times that he tells me (which seem few and far between anymore) and the times that I'll catch him at the right time and he'll sit down and go upon request.  And often I will catch him starting to poop and then we'll put him on the potty and he'll do most of his "business" there.  But he has kind of quit telling me (sometimes it seems like he'll tell others more than me!) when he has to go and overall the whole thing just has me baffled and frustrated.  Gemma potty-learned between 2 and 2.5 and there was really no looking back for her.  She decided she wanted to wear underpants and off she went.  Good to go.  Not so simple with my Kolbe boy.  So here I sit, stressing about something that really probably isn't all that stressful in the grand scheme of things, and over-analyzing every possible aspect of the situation in my already tired and over-worked brain.  And now, I open the floor for suggestions and advice...

Book Review: What your doctor may not tell you about Children's Vaccinations

What your doctor may not tell you about Children's Vaccinations by Stephanie Cave, M.D. was an interesting read.  I will say up front that if you are looking for well-documented, unbiased information about vaccines and the diseases they are meant to prevent, this probably is not your book.  A better book for that in my opinion is Sears' Vaccine Book which is actually being re-released late this month with updated information on all the current mandated and recommended shots and the diseases they are meant to prevent.  But I digress.  

Cave's book was published 10 years ago, which makes a lot of the information pretty dated and somewhat non-applicable for a parent wanting to make a decision today about today's vaccines.  That aside, she seemed to really have an agenda for blaming vaccines on the plethora of brain and autoimmune conditions that plague so many of our children today.  I certainly don't disagree with her argument - I personally feel that there is a plausible link there, somewhere, between the increased number of vaccines given (often in multiple dosings) to very young children today and the steep rise in cases of autism, ADHD, learning disabilities, developmental delays, etc. that we are seeing currently. I just thought some of her evidence was anecdotal and a little questionable at times.  The book was well-cited from a number of "credible" sources like the Lancet, the World Health Organization, the CDC etc., but there were also many sources that could be considered "less credible" by a critic, and the book was interspersed with a lot of examples from her own practice as well that I just thought would have been better left out.  I think they undermined her credibility, even if they were true and valid.  Plus, as I read there were various things I thought just sounded odd or incorrect and ran them by my husband (who has a medical background) and they just didn't quite add up.  

Her statistics about vaccine injury though were very sobering (and all of these were well-sourced, VAERS documented cases) and the reiteration of the shady dealings and conflict of interest that goes on between big pharma and the government to put vaccine mandates in place angered me, as it has for some time now (but not always, mind you...)  I learned a lot about why people blame conditions - namely autism - on vaccines and I definitely feel more informed having read this.  It is a terrible injustice to us and our children that drug companies and the government are so willing and eager to completely write the idea off without doing adequate research on the matter. And I could rant longer about that but won't.  Bottom line, if you are looking for a book to aid you in becoming better informed to make the right vaccine choices for your children, I would look elsewhere.  If you feel sufficiently informed on the subject and would like more information on some of the more "controversial" aspects of the vaccine debate, this book provides some very interesting insights.

And on a related note, I recently requested from inter-library loan and began reading Vaccine Epidemic: How Corporate Greed, Biased Science, and Coercive Government Threaten Our Human Rights, Our Health, and Our Children (published in 2011) and it has already proven to be absolutely riveting - approaching the vaccine debate from a refreshingly logical, no-nonsense point of view through numerous well-sourced essays, studies and reports written by a number of authors with varying backgrounds.  It focuses namely on legality, parental rights and human rights issues when it comes to strictly enforced vaccine mandates without the opportunity for (true) free and informed consent.  After reading the introduction and bouncing around to several chapters I decided to purchase this book for myself.  It is that poignant.  And it boasts recommendations and praise from people like the former director of the National Institutes of Health and current health editor of U.S. News and World Report; the former vice chair for the Advisory Commission on Childhood Vaccines; retired military personnel; and a practicing M.D. and former U.S. Congressman.  It presents information in a way that even the staunchest advocate for the current AAP recommended vaccine schedule (read: state mandates) would have trouble refuting intelligently due to its pragmatic approach.  But that's all I'm going to say for now.  I do need to actually read the rest of the book...  You can read more customer reviews of this book by clicking here.

Tails

Here are the kids running around the living room like wild banshees with their "tails" (our playsilks).  I never cease to be amazed at the many creative ways they find to play with these simple pieces of material.

"D" week

I am really enjoying our weekly books, as is Gemma and even Kolbe is beginning to enjoy "big kid" books more.  It is so nice having some rhyme and reason for the books we check out at the library.  We keep a handful of ones that Gemma picks out in the basket in her room to read at nap and bedtime and such, but our letter ones go on the fireplace to enjoy throughout the week and specifically during circle time.  There are so many good books out there.  For kids and adults alike.  So many good books.  I heart books. Some of our favorite "D" week books were:

Make Way for Ducklings

How do you Count a Dozen Ducklings

Dilly Dog's Dizzy Dancing

Curious George's Dinosaur Discovery

If you give a Dog a Donut

Duck at the Door

Webster J. Duck

Harry the Dirty Dog

Daniel and the Lions

So many ducks!!  We did a fun duck craft.

Our verse of the week was "Do to others whatever you would have them do to you." which was very good for Gemma to learn (and hopefully remember).  We also had a fun song to help us learn the verse from our Bible CD set that is similar to this one.  Here are the kids playing the maraca I made while we sang one day.  I need to make another one so they don't fight over it.  ;-D

For religion we read the story of Daniel and the Lions and painted this picture.

We also celebrated the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary (October 7). I printed off a coloring picture of the rosary and Gemma used small stickers for the Hail Mary beads and large stickers for the Our Father beads.  She had a lot of fun with this and did a very good job.

And a few more snapshots from our week:

Gemma in what she calls her "party dress" - a patriotic tutu and her dress-up apron.  She is serving cupcakes.

Playing with beans.

Enjoying time with cousins!!

One of our many walks to the park!  We are loving Fall!!!

Hi guys!

We had some special visitors a couple weeks ago.  They are also faithful readers of our blog, so I just had to give them a shout-out.  WE LOVE YOU Uncle Tommy and Aunt Lorrie!!!!  It was so great to see you!

It happened in California...

Today California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law AB499 which will allow children as young as 12 years old to be vaccinated without parental knowledge or consent. This currently applies to the Gardasil (HPV) and Hepatitis B vaccines (both STD's), but will expand to include ANY new STD vaccine that is brought to market in the future.  This means that boys and girls as young as 12 can be alone in their doctor's office, or pulled into the nurse's office at school, be offered a vaccine and told that if they don't get it they can get sick and die, the child will be given the shot and parents may never know about it.  Read more here.

The passage of this law should strike fear in the heart of every parent across our nation, because it sets a terrible precedent for the (lack of) protection of parental rights when it comes to informed consent to medical treatment of our children.  I know the topic of vaccines tends to polarize people, but - the whole vaccine debate aside - this law completely and utterly usurps parental rights, plain and simple.  It takes a decision that belongs to parents and parents alone and puts in the hands of a school-aged minor and a doctor or nurse, likely with an agenda that opposes the morals and values with which your child has been raised.

It happened in California.  Where will it happen next?

You can visit NVIC for more information on parental rights and informed consent when it comes to vaccine mandates.

"C" week

We were having our windows stained and varnished during "C" week, so things were a bit disjointed.  We still enjoyed some fun activities though, just at odd times.

Our favorite books of the week:

Corky Cub's Crazy Caps  (I like the Animal Antics series - Gemma does too - and am disappointed our library doesn't have all the books.)

The Carrot Seed

Corduroy Goes to School (Lift-the-flap books are the BEST!)

Carrot Soup

Cluck O'Clock (I really like this book a bunch.  It is soooo cute.  And it rhymes, always a bonus!)

Charlie Needs a Cloak

Color Dance

We read The Very Hungry Caterpillar and made caterpillars.  Gemma wanted to name them, which I thought was odd.  She never names anything.  Her baby is "baby".  Her bunny is "bunny".  You get the idea.  She did get creative with her fish a few months back.  Their names are Daddy, Mommy, Gemma and Kolbe.  Yeah.  So anyways, I was like, "OK, go ahead and name them."  So she gets a pen and asks for me to write their names down on papers for them.  The names (she made one for Kolbe too,not pictured)... "Doggy Raboon" and "Doggy Racastle".  Seriously?!  Where on EARTH does she get this stuff?!!

We did a color mixing activity.  We had talked about colors already some throughout the week (I made a primary/secondary colors graphic organizer to hang in the kitchen) and they also talked about colors at her art class.  She seemed to get it more than she did the last time we had "played with" colors.

She painted a cardboard cross and colored a picture of the crucified Lord to put on the cross, and we talked about the difference between a cross and a crucifix.

We also celebrated the feast of the Guardian angels by making angel cookies like we did last year.  It is fun to see these traditions begin to develop in our family.

I continue to fine-tune our weekly school/Circle Time routine as I observe our needs and Gemma's (and Kolbe's) capabilities.  Here is the latest version.