Tot School

E is 24 months old.

I am rather picture-less this week. It seems my memory card in my camera is full, so I didn't get a lot of shots of the things we did this week. I have also been battling some pretty severe back pain, so most of the activities I had planned did not end up happening! But the life of a toddler is always pretty exciting, and E found her own things to explore this week.

E received a wood train set for her birthday a few weeks ago, and has been having a lot of fun putting the pieces of track together and taking them apart. She really loves it when I help her create a track for the trains, but I left her mostly to herself this week, as getting down onto the floor has been hard for me.

Along with trains, I brought out her Mega Blocks, and she had great fun lining up all the people. Once she had them in a line, she would start a new one in a different direction and move all the people over to that one. It was pretty cute to watch.

She also spent a lot of time stacking blocks into towers.

I work part time at a gym daycare and was asked to find some craft ideas for the kids to do there, and I found some cute snowflakes made from macaroni. Basically, you draw an x, then draw a vertical line through it for the snowflake. You put some glue down on the lines and let the kiddos cover the glue with macaroni shapes. E helped me make one for the example, and another to put on our fridge. Then she had lots of fun playing in the bowl of pasta. I gave her a measuring cup and let her scoop and pour to her heart's content.

Another new favorite activity is to unstack and re-stack the paper cups leftover from her birthday party. She usually fills the pantry with these as I am trying to get dinner ready, so that it is impossible for me to get any ingredients out of the pantry.

We have been going around looking at Montessori preschools lately. One we visited let her work with one of the older girls on some practical life activites while I spoke with the directress. She had so much fun putting pom-poms into separate holes, using a latch box, and trying out some different kinds of tonging activities. I am still on the lookout for inexpensive tongs that are her size to use at home.

Since I have basically been stuck on the couch this week, we have been reading lots and lots of stories. Favorites this week included:

Skippyjon Jones by Judy Schachner
Elmer Takes Off by David McKee
A Good Day by Kevin Henkes
Old Bear by Kevin Henkes
Ella the Elephant (Wild Animal Families) by Jan Latta
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr.

The biggest thing we have been working on this week is potty training. And it seems to be going pretty well! I am happy with the progress she is making. It's amazing what a month or two will do, I tried starting her on the potty a few months ago, and while she was interested the first day, she wanted absolutely nothing to do with it after that. This time seems to be working - so far!

Picture of the week: I FINALLY got pigtails in E's hair!

To see what other moms and tots are doing, visit Carissa's blog 1+1+1=1.