Week 18 - Music Appreciation

~Bug is 19.5 months old~

We jumped into music appreciation this week with all of Bugs musical toys. He can now identify each of his items by name but we are still working on matching them to the identification cards.

The xylophone was used to make music but also to learn colors.

Make a beautiful noise is certainly what he did with the maracas. It was hard trying to get a picture of him with them because he kept running around shaking them. I think that he enjoyed them the most.

We worked hard on his tracing this week. He is getting much better at trying to connect the objects on his letters but still loves to color like crazy.

We took some time to play Baby Einstein First Instruments. The concept is still a little lost on Bug but he really liked listening to the different instruments.

Mom’s favorite this week:

The weather has been pretty nice here lately so we took a walk and gathered leaves.

Check out what other tots are doing with their moms here

Week 17 - Motor Skills

~Bug is 19 months old~

This week started with the sickies but that didn’t keep Bug from learning. Matter of fact, he didn’t want to leave his classroom on several occasions. Our Tot Trays are working out wonderfully and really helps keep me organized.

We added a threading activity this week with pipe cleaner and pasta. Bug really enjoyed putting the pasta on the pipe cleaner and then taking it off. He preferred it when we both did one and would show me how when I ‘forgot.’

Bug has gotten very good at putting the rings on the correct way although he insists that the orange one always goes on top. He’s also gotten very good at these nuts and bolts from the Target $1 bin. (I love that place) 

Bug wanted to do a lot of reading in his bean bag chair this week. Sometimes he lets me read to him and other times he prefers to read to himself. I was able to get this extra shot of something that he must have found really awesome in that little book of his.

Putting shapes or objects of any sort is one of his favorite activities. He has gotten very good at using this cookie jar he got for Christmas. He has mastered the round, square and triangle cookies. The star he can get with a little concentration but the heart is still a work in progress.

We had a few warm hours one day so we took advantage and went outside. We picked up leaves and swept the sidewalk. Bug even turned the landing of his slide into an activity as he pushed the leaves through the holes. I forgot to bring my camera with me so this is the only shot that I got from our fun but it is my favorite for the week.

Looking forward to what the future holds… so until then.

Check out what other tots are doing with their moms here

Week 16 - Introducing Tot Trays

~Bug is 19 months old~

Happy New Year! This is our first week back since before Christmas and it was lots of fun. We finally introduced the Tot Tray concept and it went over pretty well. Bug was not overwhelmed with all of his Tot School toys being on the same shelf and actually helped pick some up before moving on to the next tray.

                                                                      

So here are this week’s Tot Trays:

            Top left            Color Sorting
            Top Middle       Using tongs with pom poms
            Top Right        Stacker Pegs
            Bottom Left      Nesting Bowls
            Bottom Middle Dot Painting
            Bottom Right  Shape Sorting Cube

The most exciting thing for me was the stacker pegs. I’ve wanted to add these to our collection for a while and Bug got them for Christmas. The look on his face was priceless as he discovered that he could stand them up in the holes and then pull them back out again. He did this several times just laughing the whole time.

Bug loves playing with his shape sorters. He has gotten really good with the squares and circles but still needs a little work with the stars and other odd shapes. One of his Christmas gifts was this little work bench that he can hammer shapes through. He prefers to just push them instead of using the hammer.

  

Dot painting was another big hit. He loves making marks on the paper. It make take a little longer before he gets the dots where they are supposed to be (mom did the ones you see) but he seems more eager to work on the paper now instead of just making colors.

Bug always has access to his Leapfrog doghouse and has taken a liking to the letter L. He wants everyone to see him put the letter into the doghouse and will push the button and then laugh along as it tells him about the letter.

My favorite image from our time off is this one where Bug is running away from daddy as if he will never be caught.

 Excited about what next week holds. So until then...

Check out what other tots are doing with their moms here