Daddy Time Friday

There is a fun blog hop I'm joining up to created by a fellow blogger and Tot School mom, Patricia. Come join in the fun over at My Tot Learning Time where we get to thank our hubbies and share a little of what daddy is doing with our kids each week.

Playing Harmonica

























































Daddy bought a set of harmonicas that J just loves to play. He does pretty well too! Here are daddy and J both playing their harmonica together.


Washing Machine Basketball

























































This is a fun little game that daddy created. He opens up our washing machine door and the goal is for J to throw the ball and make a basket in the washing machine. Daddy loves playing guard and blocking him from getting the ball in!


I LOVE This Picture















I was lucky to snap this picture at just the right time! J was walking up the stairs and daddy was peeking over the rail at him.

Thank you daddy, for working so hard all week and yet still making time for precious moments with your family. We Love You!!

Thanks for visiting!

Tiny Talk Tuesday

**J is 33 months old**

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Tiny Talk Tuesday is a way to share the fun and interesting things our kids are saying. I love joining up for this blog carnival at Not Before 7. Click her button above to see what kind of Tiny Talk has been overhead in the homes of others!
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J has really taken more of an interest in shapes lately. He is definitely more focused on them which is neat to see. Out of the blue one day he said, "Mommy, my nose is a triangle!" I said, "Well yes, your nose is shaped like a triangle." Then he said, My head is a square and my feet are diamonds." I said, "Who taught you this?" He said, "Me!" :)


One evening, J said "Look at me, I'm snoozing." He had found his Nuk, grabbed his blankie and was laying on the floor. Then he said, "I'm dreaming." I said, "What are you dreaming about?" He said, "I'm dreaming about mini golf." I wasn't sure I heard him right so I said, "Did you say you're dreaming about mini-golf?" He said, "Yes!" This is funny. We drive past a mini-golf place often during the week and he sees the giraffes and other animals and every time we drive past he says he wants to go mini golfing (we've never been yet). I told him we will wait until it opens in the spring when there's no snow left. Then we can play mini golf. So now he's "dreaming" about it!

That's all I captured over the past week. Thanks for your visit!

We Love to Learn Through Play and Tot School

I love being a stay-at-home mom and feel so blessed to do so. I also love taking pictures of all the things we are doing. Instead of doing separate Tot School and Play-Time posts, I decided to combine them since it's all part of learning. Some of our time is geared toward open creative play, and some of our time is geared toward intentional learning activities. All of it is about having fun while learning.

**J is 33 months old**

Come over to play at the Childhood 101 We Play link up:

**J is 33 months old*

Favorite pics from an afternoon at the zoo

























































The first pic you can actually see us in the reflection. I'm so glad I had his backpack with me! (We used our credit card miles to buy that; it's a backpack that goes up to 50 lbs and I just love it.) We have been itching to go to the zoo for a while now. Just had to wait for a week where it actually warmed up. Funny though, it was a ghost town! There were maybe two sets of parents with a kid or two and then a handful of adults I saw the entire time we were there. We had some freezing rain/sleet/snow so it was hard pack and you couldn't have strollers or wagons so it made the place deserted. We spent over an hour going to all the different exhibits and taking our time. It is such a blessing that our zoo is free.


First visit to the dentist - WENT GREAT

























































We recently changed dentists after our hygienist left. It's a long story, but now she's at a new practice and we switched over and I couldn't be happier! We found this dentist just in time for J to start dental visits. So I got my teeth done on a day they have childcare. YES! My dentist has childcare! It was actually one-on-one time because no one else was there. I was so content as I sat getting my teeth done and could hear J laughing and enjoying play and learn time. Then he had his turn in the chair and I just could not believe how well he did. They counted his teeth, used a tooth brush for his first "cleaning" and then gave a little flouride treatment. You could see how relaxed he was in the pictures! Then the best part, the dentist made him a balloon animal! He even popped the first one which had all of us laughing, then he made another one. J was ecstatic. He can't wait to go back and doesn't understand yet what waiting for 6 months will be like. He asked every day for several days after that to go play at the dentist's office.


Just LOVES Chalk Boards - draws an EGG














This was J's drawing of an egg at the dentist's office. He really loves chalk boards and we may have to invest in one. He loves erasing the whole board and then drawing and then erasing again. This was the first time he drew something that you could recognize as the actual object! So great to see this little steps in learning.


Coloring Page for Wild Animal Baby














In a lot of the things I do with J, my "nature lover" comes out. From the time I was a kid to now, I have always loved anything to do with animals. I "liked" the National Wildlife Federation's site on Facebook and found they have a magazine for kids called Wild Animal Baby. They just made it a TV show too. We don't need the cost of a subscription, but you can find fun things online like this coloring page. Here's the link: Wild Animal Baby Explorers .


Running off with the Letters




























This was just sheer goofiness that I was lucky enough to get a picture of. We have a floor alphabet mat and J decided it would be fun to run around with a couple of the letters. He was so funny when he put his little face in the middle of the O and was running around with it in his teeth. Just cuteness. (We're doing potty training sessions so you'll see he doesn't have pants on in a lot of our pictures.)

Animal Matching Craft (from Pal Zone)

























































During our Pal Zone time this week (a local play group we attend), we read a book with a variety of animals in the story (for the life of me I can't remember the name!) Then the craft part was to match up the animal pictures and glue them together. We had to go to the dentist so we ended up doing this craft at home. J is getting pretty good using a glue stick and remembering which side to put the glue on. He added in a couple of his animal stickers too.


Letter Tracing Activity, the Letter "L"




























I tried a writing/tracing activity a few months ago, but J didn't really get into it so this week I though I'd try again. I found this letter L print out from Carisa's PreSchool corner (Raising Rock Stars) at the 1+1+1equals1 blog. This went really well. J had a lot of fun using his new Dora markers (this was from our prize bag he got to pick for going in the potty). It was hard for him to just trace a line since he's so used to the coloring motion. The more I coached him, the better he got. We'll be working on that as she has several more letters on the blog you can print out. It was a great start!












































I found a great activity for color matching at Confessions of a Homeschooler. I can't tell you how long ago I printed this out (months) and I finally finished cutting out all the little paint brushes and their jars. I used contact paper to "laminate" them since we don't have a laminating machine and used an old file folder. We had fun with this and J liked to call out the colors as he put them in the jars. He had to work a little sometimes to get them in the jar so there was a little bit of fine motor work going on too. I just like how cute the little jars look with the matching brushes in them.


Playing Harmonica














I love engaging in almost anything musical with J. His dad got a set of harmonicas and it's so fun to play together. He was downstairs with daddy and called me down. "Mommy, play harmonica with me!" So I gladly joined in. I will post more pictures of this on my "Daddy Time Friday" post I hope to put up next Friday 3/11.


Count and Match Pegboard
























































We got out a few games we hadn't played with in a while and this was one of them. J loves lining up the peg shapes by color. He made a lot of neat designs. Then he knocked them all off the board and started over again. He liked calling out the shape as he put it in the board. The last picture he called his "shape train".
I never get tired of seeing him in his fireman helmet and especially love how he still wears it backwards. He seems to like it that way even when we tell him it's backwards.


Swiper Pancakes - try not to laugh!















I have to laugh at this one. I was on the Nick Jr website and found a Swiper sandwich idea. Swiper is a character from Dora. They made a PB & J Swiper but I made mine out of pancakes. I also used chocolate syrup for the eyes and mask instead of jelly and blueberries and as you can see it made quite a mess. The fun part is that J liked it! He knew it was Swiper so that was fun. Here's a link if you want to make one: Swiper Peanut Butter and Jelly.


Backyardigan Bath Sponge Craft

























































J has been enjoying Backyardigans through the DVDs at the library. We also like their coloring pages on Nick Jr. Something fun I found on that site was bath sponges. I happened to have three of the color sponges I needed and this was easy to make. The link is at Nick Jr. You download the traceable characters, trace them onto the sponge and then cut them out. I told J that I was making him a surprise and he couldn't wait to see. After they were all done, he played with them right away getting daddy in the fun. We haven't even taken them into the bath yet. He just loves to play with them around the house.

Scuffy the Tugboat




























It was hard to get a good picture, but I captured a couple that show J's new Scuffy toy. I got a Golden Book that had the Scuffy story in it and J really enjoyed it. I was able to find a little toy online and he's played with it nonstop. He sleeps with it too. You can read the background info on my What We're Reading post.


Check out what others are doing at The Play Academy, Nurture Store blog:

That was our week! Thanks for visiting!

What My Child is Reading

One of J's favorite activities is reading books and I absolutely love cuddling him on my lap and reading. I like to link up to What My Child Is Reading blog link-up. Not only is it a great way to record the wonderful books we've read, but I've found so many new good book ideas by visiting each week. Click on the button below to see what others have been reading!

Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown
This is another chapter book we're trying out. We finished our first one (The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary) and for whatever reason J just hasn't been interested in starting the next one (Runaway Ralph). So we went and picked out a new one, Flat Stanley. I haven't seen J enamored with a book as much as this one. He wants to take it everywhere. When we get out of the car, he asks to read it while I carry him. He gets sad if we forget to bring it with us. So far, the story has been fun too.



Germs are Not for Sharing by Elizabeth Verdick
Lately, we've been focusing on germs more since we've started potty training (washing hands) and went to our first dentist visit. This book is great for teaching what to do when you cough or sneeze and when we need to wash our hands. It's a good introduction to what germs are and how some germs can make us sick.



The Great Cheese Chase by Holly Hobbie (A Toot and Puddle story)
We are having so much fun with the Toot and Puddle stories. Since J liked the first one so much, we found this one to read next. I like using a French accent while I read it, as the book takes them on a trip to France. Puddle is in search of The Chateau du Fromage (the house of cheese). Another great book.


Little Golden Book Classics: three best-loved tales (Tootle, The Happy Man and His Dump Truck, Scuffy the Tugboat)
I saw Scuffy the Tugboat on another mom's blog in the book blog hop. (Sorry, I can't remember where!) This book actually has three golden books in one and they are all great stories. J was especially fond of Scuffy the Tugboat. Tootle is a cute little story about a train that has to learn to stay on the rails. He loves wandering off to visit things like flowers in the meadow. The Happy Man and his Dump Truck is a cute tale about a man that gives rides to the farm animals. J's favorite though was Scuffy. It's the story of a little tug boat who just thinks he's destined for big things. He ends up feeling overwhelmed when he finally makes it beyond the river and into the sea. He realizes it's just too big. His little boy ends up finding him and takes him home. He finds he's most happy being a tug boat in the bath tub with his little boy. J also loves reading this one to himself. He'll say "chugga chugga puff chug!" while reading Tootle. We found an itty bitty Scuffy book and toy online that he carries around with him now.



The Potty Train by David Hochman
We're reading a lot of "potty" related books right now as we've started potty training "sessions" with J (using the book Potty Training Boys the Easy Way). This book has great pictures and is really cute. The boy wears a conductor hat and overalls and he rides the train with various animals that join him on the "potty train". I have to admit my favorite part of the book was saying "Chugga chugga poo poo!" with J throughout the book.



Roo's New Babysitter by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld
(Amazon didn't have a picture of the book; just the set of My First Winnie the Pooh books)
We've been reading this one for a few weeks now. J continues to pick it out for his naps or nighttime story. This Winnie the Pooh book is about little Roo having Pooh as a babysitter. They have a few adventures like picking apples for dinner and Roo taking a wonderful bubble bath. Roo does a good job helping Pooh learn to baby sit! Pooh learns there's not much "sitting" involved.



Spring Showers by Samantha Brooke (A Yo Gabba Gabba story)
I have to admit I didn't like Yo Gabba Gabba when we visited my sister and saw it on Nick Jr. I kept turning the channel. The characters just looked so goofy and I didn't really know much about the show. Then we found a Nick Jr. DVD that had 5 stories on it, one of them was Yo Gabba Gabba. Well, J just loves it. There is a lot of singing and dancing, some counting and drawing. A whole variety of things. This book is a nice story of how the characters have fun playing outside in the rain.



Wilson and the Ice Cream Fair (Chuggington) by Mara Conlon
I am glad we found these new train stories about the trains that live in Chuggington. Unlike Thomas the Train stories where the trains seem like grumpy old men (as another mom put it), these train stories are really upbeat. They teach good lessons too like how to solve problems and work together and honor our responsibilities. In this story, Wilson gets so excited learning how the ice cream is made that he forgets he ends up not being able to get the ice cream cars to the fair in time. By asking his friend Frostini for help, he is able to finish his job well.




Thanks for visiting!


Here are links to a couple other fun book reading link ups:

New Recipes Posted

I have some new recipes on my other blog Tracey's Kitchen. See below for details.

Just My Mac-N-Cheese


Fancy Mac-N-Cheese


February recipes:
Spinach and Mushroom Egg Strata
Sweet Potato Tray Baked Chicken
Papa's Hungarian Goulash
Simple Mexican Rice