Making This a Child-Friendly Home

Thanks to the wonderful world of Pinterest, I stumbled across my new favorite blog, Play At Home Mom. The group of parents who author this site are well-versed in early childhood education best practices, and I've been so inspired reading some of their posts--particularly the linked one about child-friendly environment.

I've heard it said that in a quality preschool program, the environment does 90% of the teaching. (OK, I'm pulling that percentage out of my rear end, but it honestly is an overwhelmingly high figure.) Kids should have a variety of appropriate toys at their disposal, meaning the child is able to get them out of the storage space. Not the heavy drawers that I have trouble opening that we've currently got going on in our house.

I saw a glimmer of hope that the hubs might just take to these ideas, as he's been talking about getting Clara a big white board for her room. So I decided to take some of these ideas and run with them:

1) since Clara and Joe are currently sharing a room, there isn't much space to play in. And as bedrooms should be for sleeping in (and Clara will happily wander all night if given enough incentive), I decided to take all the toys out of her room (save a number of books). The TV room/Patty's room is now also the playroom. I cleared off the two lowest shelves of the bookcase (which we really weren't using much anyway) and stashed Clara's blocks there. We have a little school desk, which Clara is now big enough to use properly, sitting in the corner for coloring, play-dough and other sit-down-y kinds of activities. I've got other ideas for the space, but they have yet to be implemented.

And with that being the only carpeted room in the house, it's a good space to lay out a blanket and let The Boy hang out and watch what Clara may be up to.

Future plans include a very light weight felt board to cover up the TV, during daytime hours. Surprisingly, it really has not been a point of contention (so far). I thought I'd get the endless request of "TV? TV? I wanna watch TV!" Maybe that's a sign that it's the one area where I consistently stick to my guns. (Wow--maybe I AM consistent with something!)

2) I made more blocks! Those liter cartons of milk + brick wrapping paper = large, lightweight bricks! Awesome!
3) Until we get the real white board, Clara improvised her own! Seriously, this was HER idea.
Yep, the lids of ice cream tubs! I'll be storing that idea away for when I teach preschool again!

4) Project in the works: audio books! We've had a pile of recordable CDs for a few years, and the computer has a microphone and voice recorder. I just record myself reading the book, burn the recording to the CD, paste a CD jacket in the given book, teach her how to use the CD player (that I just put on the shelves within her reach), and voila! Audio books! True, not as cool as reading to her myself, en vivo, but when I've got to cook or change the baby or fold laundry and she's got ganas for a book. Bam. She can do it. Sweet.

I'm looking forward to seeing what other waves of inspiration capture my attention.

Busting a Gut

The scene tonight at bedtime was pretty much the polar opposite of the scene last night.

And I had to capture it, as it was the first time that Joey has busted a gut (thanks to the antics of The Sister).



Sorry that it's so dark. It was bedtime, after all.

Her First Song!

In the last few weeks, there have been a number of incidents that made me step back and say, "Wow, Clara--you really ARE three years old!" For instance, she sang her first song a week or two ago (a video of the event is below) and has been singing an number of other songs since then. Also, she's been "reading" her books out loud. I'm a little overwhelmed (in a good way) by the things she remembers and can repeat back to us.


So, take it away, Clara!


Chocolate
molinillo
corre, corre
el cepillo
estirar, estirar
que la nina va a pasar.

Nightly Adventures

The other night, Joey was sleeping in my room. After I had finally gotten him to sleep (for the second or third time that night), I walked past Clara's room and noticed the light on. Now, I was sure I had turned it off when I kissed her goodnight.

I checked the rest of the house to make sure Patty wasn't in there for some reason. Nope, Patty was in the kitchen.

That means that Clara was out of bed and up to no good.

I opened the door and found this:

I just loved surveying this scene and reconstructing exactly what happened between the time that I closed the door and then found her here again. She had gotten out of bed, turned on the lights, took some books off the shelf, made the bed her reading stand (because it's clearly waaay better to read standing up). And then when she finally got tired she laid down on the floor (because she loves the freezing cold tiles).

And because the lights were too bright, she just put her blanket over her head. *sheesh*

Every day (and sometimes night) is an adventure around here!

Clara turned 3 years old last Saturday, and here's the photo show to prove it: She blew out all the candles herself! (She practiced during Advent.)In Mexico, the birthday person, regardless of age, always cuts her own slice of cake.While Clara hates pinatas and refuses to hit them, Joe didn't seem opposed to beating the yellow horse to death.However, for the first time, Clara did join in on diving for candy.

Frustration Break

Because it's been a rough week with this one, I've got to post this to remind myself that yes, the kid can smile and even sometimes laugh.

Take it away, Big Guy . . .