January 8th, 2011
Q is for Quiescent
Friday, May 6, 2011
Fetch
I can't tell you how much Pippen loves his 'da bird' feather toy. He used to make himself literally breathless he would play with it for so long. And he finally chewed through the string itself. It's easy enough to fix, we just haven't done it yet because he loves the feather by itself too. Anyway, the title of the post sort of speaks to what is getting ready to happen here, I just thought it was too cute, especially with his little munchkin cat legs. Yes, that's right, our cat plays fetch!
Vinny was sorting through some paperwork. (Yet another of those pre-move necessities that just takes time and energy that we often don't have at the end of a day) Apparently he'd been doing the fetch thing for close to 30 minutes before I noticed and grabbed the camera. Tenacious little guy, our Pippen.
What's your cat's favorite toy?
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Cinco de Mayo - What went down
Ya know, I'm pretty impressed with how much I managed to squeeze into the Cinco de Mayo celebrations. We started our morning with a super cute e-card from Vinny that ran through a quick history and then suggested perhaps margaritas were better than history. It gave me a smile to face the day with.
So, as planned (see the plan here), we first hit the whole air/land/water distinction. Quite correctly she said that the bottle of air was empty, so that was cool, and I was able to do the presentation almost by the book.
There was a slight snag when I realized there was no balloon in the house for me to demonstrate how air fills a space. Luckily, she has a ball that was a good substitute.
Even after naptime, when I asked her what was inside the ball, she said 'air', and that rocked my world I was so happy. She also told me the elephant stomps on land, another big thumbs up.
And we also managed to talk about land water and air on the globe...also on the plan. I sort of did the whole, 'this is North America' and showed her where we lived and where Mexico was, but it was more half hearted than the land/water/air lesson. Though, Bella is always happy to cheese for a few pictures as long as she gets to peek at them afterwards.
We also added green, orange, and purple into the color tablets and she did a great job with the introduction of those. And she didn't even call anything 'pink.' See more of that joke here.
She wanted to do music, so we shifted the plan a bit to accommodate some time for Mexican music. We checked out some videos on you tube of traditional Mexican dances, then we pulled out the skirts and danced the rest of the morning. Bella insisted that I wear one of her skirts too, even though it only fit on one leg...luckily no pictures of that. Just this clip:
My friend Emma came and joined us for our fish taco lunch. Bella decorated the wall with her first taco...I think she was trying to keep it away from the cat, but it ended up splattered all over the dining room. Thank goodness for the margaritas! She ended up eating her lettuce and cheese and fish and salsa on a plate all separately and with a fork.
After our siesta, we hit the local library where we found the children's section empty of other patrons...which is almost unheard of. So Bella asked the librarians if she could hold Happy, the resident guinea pig. No pictures of that, because I was too busy making sure she didn't squish him. It was super special to get to hold him though. And when we went to check out downstairs she asked the librarian (without prompting) if she could "check these out please?" And that was cuter than I can explain in words. She used a lot of "please" today. Who knows...maybe I am getting through to her.
We talked about flags on the way home, looking for houses with flags. Then when we got home we talked again about the countries of North America, and which flag belonged to America and Mexico (and Canada for good measure). She colored her own flag, naming the colors along the way and we hung it in the room where the other flags are.
She wanted to put her name on her flag, so we got to talk about the letters in her name:
We finished our school day talking about whether the ball would be good if it didn't have air inside (and experimented with it) and got some energy out throwing the ball different ways (bouncing, rolling, etc.) both with and without air.
Daddy came home and we ate burritos and listened to more music before bedtime. We really crammed it in today. I fully expect tomorrow to be one of those days where we eat cereal all day and don't make it out of pajamas!
So, as planned (see the plan here), we first hit the whole air/land/water distinction. Quite correctly she said that the bottle of air was empty, so that was cool, and I was able to do the presentation almost by the book.
There was a slight snag when I realized there was no balloon in the house for me to demonstrate how air fills a space. Luckily, she has a ball that was a good substitute.
Even after naptime, when I asked her what was inside the ball, she said 'air', and that rocked my world I was so happy. She also told me the elephant stomps on land, another big thumbs up.
And we also managed to talk about land water and air on the globe...also on the plan. I sort of did the whole, 'this is North America' and showed her where we lived and where Mexico was, but it was more half hearted than the land/water/air lesson. Though, Bella is always happy to cheese for a few pictures as long as she gets to peek at them afterwards.
We also added green, orange, and purple into the color tablets and she did a great job with the introduction of those. And she didn't even call anything 'pink.' See more of that joke here.
She wanted to do music, so we shifted the plan a bit to accommodate some time for Mexican music. We checked out some videos on you tube of traditional Mexican dances, then we pulled out the skirts and danced the rest of the morning. Bella insisted that I wear one of her skirts too, even though it only fit on one leg...luckily no pictures of that. Just this clip:
My friend Emma came and joined us for our fish taco lunch. Bella decorated the wall with her first taco...I think she was trying to keep it away from the cat, but it ended up splattered all over the dining room. Thank goodness for the margaritas! She ended up eating her lettuce and cheese and fish and salsa on a plate all separately and with a fork.
After our siesta, we hit the local library where we found the children's section empty of other patrons...which is almost unheard of. So Bella asked the librarians if she could hold Happy, the resident guinea pig. No pictures of that, because I was too busy making sure she didn't squish him. It was super special to get to hold him though. And when we went to check out downstairs she asked the librarian (without prompting) if she could "check these out please?" And that was cuter than I can explain in words. She used a lot of "please" today. Who knows...maybe I am getting through to her.
We talked about flags on the way home, looking for houses with flags. Then when we got home we talked again about the countries of North America, and which flag belonged to America and Mexico (and Canada for good measure). She colored her own flag, naming the colors along the way and we hung it in the room where the other flags are.
She wanted to put her name on her flag, so we got to talk about the letters in her name:
We finished our school day talking about whether the ball would be good if it didn't have air inside (and experimented with it) and got some energy out throwing the ball different ways (bouncing, rolling, etc.) both with and without air.
Daddy came home and we ate burritos and listened to more music before bedtime. We really crammed it in today. I fully expect tomorrow to be one of those days where we eat cereal all day and don't make it out of pajamas!
Cinco de Mayo - the plan
So the plan for 5/5 is to celebrate Cinco de Mayo by starting our foray into geography, with a little focus on Mexico and Mexican heritage.
So we first have to hit the whole, air/earth/water difference, then tackle talking about the globe, then we can talk about North America...with the plan to have a basic puzzle to do (gotta put that together tonight)...and then once we finally hone in on Mexico, it will probably be lunchtime.
So we can talk about Mexican food, by making fish tacos and having margaritas (non-alcoholic of course) for lunch. And of course, no day celebrating Mexico would be complete without an afternoon siesta.
Then we'll take a look some videos of traditional dances in Mexico on the internet and maybe try a few out. (Maybe I can manage to get in a Zumba workout!) and then do the Mexican flag, which is red, white, and green. Red we've done...but not white and green, so I get to introduce new colors too. WHEW...it is going to be a long day!
Wish us luck! We might need an adult version of the margarita after she goes to bed! ;)
I'll try to post pics asap!
So we first have to hit the whole, air/earth/water difference, then tackle talking about the globe, then we can talk about North America...with the plan to have a basic puzzle to do (gotta put that together tonight)...and then once we finally hone in on Mexico, it will probably be lunchtime.
So we can talk about Mexican food, by making fish tacos and having margaritas (non-alcoholic of course) for lunch. And of course, no day celebrating Mexico would be complete without an afternoon siesta.
Then we'll take a look some videos of traditional dances in Mexico on the internet and maybe try a few out. (Maybe I can manage to get in a Zumba workout!) and then do the Mexican flag, which is red, white, and green. Red we've done...but not white and green, so I get to introduce new colors too. WHEW...it is going to be a long day!
Wish us luck! We might need an adult version of the margarita after she goes to bed! ;)
I'll try to post pics asap!
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Overheard.Big Words - P
January 8th, 2011
P is for Pugacious (which sounds weirdly like Dalmation in Bella-ese)
Real Montessori - Rolling a Workmat
When I sat down for the first time and thought about how you teach a 3 year old to roll up a mat, I was a bit flummoxed. It seems like explaining all the pinching and pulling and making sure that you do the same thing with both hands...all that was so much to get through to a little brain. But I'll be darned if she didn't pick it up and pretty quickly too. Those first few folds are a bit tough, but the process is pretty forgiving as a whole.
Demonstration:
She usually drops it at least once on the way to putting it up. I think just so she can roll it up again.
Demonstration:
She usually drops it at least once on the way to putting it up. I think just so she can roll it up again.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Take me out to the ballgame
Thanks to Bella's BFF, Xander (and his Dad), Bella and I spent Monday evening at the Pawsox baseball game. (Vinny was home because he had to work overnight and needed to sleep a bit) This was Bella's first baseball game, and I think her first professional sporting event too.
 |
| Bella, her BFF (Xander), and his Daddy (Marcus) |
We saw at least 4 home runs in the 3 innings we were there for, so the 'Sox' were kicking grass and taking games...or something like that. The innings were a bit long so we had to leave after only 3 so the kiddos could get to bed.
 |
| A gorgeous evening for baseball |
But first we had the official baseball stadium dinner: hot dogs (sub in fruit salad for me), french fries, peanuts, and Cracker Jacks. And no, Bella didn't care if she ever got back...in case you were curious.
She even got to say hi to the HUGE mascot...which is (I think) a polar bear. It was basically a gigantic white bear and Bella was understandably dubious about approaching and say hello. Luckily, Xander was more courageous and said hello first so Bella gave high fives from my arms once she made sure the bear wasn't going to eat her. She had a blast dancing with the music and joining in with the clapping, and best of all, she loved getting to (finally) use her OUTDOOR voice!
Also, as a not-so-aside, aside...The national anthem felt more patriotic than usual today. I'm proud to be a Navy wife, and I'm proud to be an American. I'm proud to raise my child in a country where she can have Muslim friends, and Jewish friends, and Christian friends, and friends from all nations; where the possibilities are bounded only by her dreams.
One quote I heard today that resonated: “I’ve never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure.” -
EDIT: So I hear that quote isn't actually Mark Twain, but rather a simplification of the following quote from civil rights activist, Clarence Darrow:
"All men have an emotion to kill; when they strongly dislike some one they involuntarily wish he was dead. I have never killed any one, but I have read some obituary notices with great satisfaction."
Yay internet!
EDIT 2: and, you know...cause we already went there:
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