Tot School: Thanksgiving

This week I'm linking up with 1+1+1=1 to share some of the Thanksgiving activities Isaac and I did recently.

  We traced Isaac's hands to make "turkeys." Then, he glued tissue paper onto his "fingers" for the feathers.  Later we glued googley eyes on, too.   

(Apparently, tracing his hands for projects has made such an impression that he even wanted his hand traced inside my cousin's birthday card that he was decorating.)  :) 

Yesterday afternoon Isaac colored 4 turkeys that I found in this Preschool Pack.  There were several other turkeys to make other colors, but for now we're working on red, blue, green, & yellow.  :)

I've noticed that Isaac uses both hands to eat with a spoon or fork, but I didn't realize he uses both hands to color until I saw these pictures.

Once he colored them all, we glued them onto construction paper and practiced counting.

Dave got in on the action of "Tot School" tonight after supper!

On one end of the bridge, I hung a rope and attached the turkeys with clothespins.  Dave and Isaac were at the other end of the bridge.  Dave told Isaac which color turkey to go grab--and Isaac was off! 

He thought this was so fun!

We've found that it helps Isaac to associate each color with something he recognizes...

yellow like a bus

blue like the sky

red like a stop sign

green like GO!  :)

I had a much harder time finding Thanksgiving books at our library. The two that Isaac liked the most were both about Biscuit.  (Have I mentioned how much he likes dogs right now?) 

We also sang "5 Fat Turkeys," "Over the River and Through the Woods" and "Come, Ye Thankful People, Come."  (Yes, I was a music teacher.)  :)

What's next?  Christmas!  There are so, so many fun ideas!  I can't wait!

Isaac: 2 Years

I have no idea how it's already a month after Isaac's 2nd birthday and I'm just now sitting down to write this post.  Oh wait, I do know why--because I spend my days keeping up with this busy, busy boy! 

(And, I absolutely love it!)  :)

How did we get to this so quickly?  I feel like it was just yesterday he was this size....

At his 2 year appointment, Isaac was 28 1/2 pounds and 34 1/4 inches.  I'm pretty sure he's over 30 pounds since that appointment.  Sometimes it feels like it takes everything I have to lift him!  Ha!  :)

A few of Isaac's favorite things right now...

• FRIENDS!  Isaac gets so excited when I say we're going to see friends or that friends are coming over.  Most morning while I'm changing his diaper, I ask him what he thinks we're going to do that day.  Usually he says "see friends?" or "friends come?" 
• TRAIN TRACK  We gave Isaac this train track for his birthday, and it's the first thing he heads for every morning.  I hear "Mommy, train track?" several times a day.  If you ever come over and are anywhere near the train track, Isaac will insist that you hold at least one "Thomas train" (his favorite kind of engine).  Even if you don't play with the train track, you have to hold an engine.  :)  (And, even I have to admit that I'm getting pretty good at building different train routes!)  :)
• SINGING  The songs Isaac most likes to sing right now are "Jesus Loves Me," "Little Red Caboose," "The BIBLE" (which he calls the "Bibo" song), "Old McDonald," and "Holy, Holy, Holy."  We just started Bible Study Fellowship last month, and Isaac has learned "Holy, Holy, Holy" in his class there.  Whenever he sings it, it sounds like "ho-e, ho-e"--so, so cute. 

Each night before bed, we sing "Jesus Loves Me."  When we sing "Yes, Jesus Loves..." on the chorus, Isaac used to fill in the blank with his name each time.  Lately, though, he's started filling in everyone possible's name!  It's hilarious--and takes quite awhile!  :)  Some nights it goes like this:  "Yes, Jesus loves Momma, Isaac, Daddy, Isaac, Daddy, Isaac, Daddy, Isaac, Mamo, ManMan, Papa, Nana."  It's so funny when he gets stuck on two names and sings them over and over.  I love hearing his little voice!

• BEING A BOY Just the other night, Isaac threw his huge stuffed dog down from the landing on our stairs, and before I realized what he was doing, jumped all the way down onto the family room floor! Yikes! I didn't know whether to laugh or cry!  He goes down the slides at the park head-first, and he also started sliding down our stairs on his belly head-first too. Before Isaac was born, I prayed that Isaac would be an "all-boy" boy...just the other day, my mom said, "I think God answered that prayer more than you ever imagined!" ;)

• BEING OUTSIDE  I think he would live outside if I let him.  He loves to ride his bike and play in his new rock box.  The other day I caught him outside hammering with his Viking helmet on!  :)
• TALKING  Some of my favorite little words that he says are....Bibo (Bible), hammie (hammer), dobble dobble (gobble gobble), baby (usually means his blankie, though he sometimes means a real baby), hubble hubble (hubba, hubba--yes, Dave taught him to say that everytime he kisses me)  ;), hovel (shovel), bulldodo (bulldozer) pee-pee (pizza), ni-ni (broccoli).  It's been so fun to hear him put words together and start to say sentences.

"Can I be done yet?"  :)

Family Fun: Forest Park Miniature Railroad

On Saturday morning, we drove downtown to check out the Forest Park Miniature Railroad.  Several months ago, one of my friends posted about this on Facebook.  I asked her about it, and she said it was a great outing!  We loved it, too! 

Isaac was so excited to ride the train.  We told him about it at supper on Friday night.  When he woke up on Saturday morning, we said, "What are we going to do today?"  Right away he said, "Ride the train!"  So fun!

The weather was perfect--it actually felt like fall!  :)

CHOO-CHOO!

We left from the Trinity Park Depot and headed south to the Forest Park Depot.  There were several bridges along the train route that were fun to cross. 

When the train ride was over, we had a picnic by the depot.  Then, Isaac ran up and down the train tracks and played in the leaves.

 

Isaac's Two Year Portraits

My dear friend Jenny, of Jenny Sawyer Photography, took Isaac's two year portraits last month. 

She found this vintage Ford truck that was a perfect backdrop for these shots.

When I first saw the pictures, I kept saying over and over, "Is this really Isaac?"  He just looks too old! 

I love how sweet Isaac looks in this picture...

but this next one is my favorite of all!  Oh, I love this smile!

Jenny's boys couldn't miss out on the opportunity to check out this awesome truck, either. 

I think they would have stayed in it all day.  :)

To check out more of Jenny's awesome work, visit her website!  Last fall, she took our family portraits, and they are some of my very favorite pictures.

Tot School: Fall Fun

This week, I'm linking up with one of my new favorite blogs, 1+1+1=1, to share Isaac's and my new "learning" adventures.  Several of my friends have RAVED about all the ideas on the Tot School/1+1+1=1 websites.  After checking it out, I see why they think they're so awesome! 

There is so much information on these websites that it can be overwhelming.  But, it is well worth it to take some time to explore everything they offer.  I've found so many fun, easy ideas to encourage meaningful learning for your little one!

Over the past few weeks, Isaac (currently 24 months) and I did several fall-themed "lessons."  One of his favorites was this fall sensory bin!  I filled it with things I found around the house...mini pumpkins and apples; apple and leaf-shaped cookie cutters; acorns; artificial leaves; and, lots of pinto beans.  :)

Another afternoon we went on a leaf hunt.  Granted, it was nearly 90 degrees.  :)  And, most of our leaves here in north Texas are brown from our drought, not autumn-like weather.  But, Isaac still had fun hunting for leaves in this field in our neighborhood.

Isaac gets so excited when I say we're going to do a "project," so I traced his hands to make this leaf project (which I found here). Then, Isaac glued leaves onto his "fingers."  (This was his first experience with glue.)  We also counted the fingers on each hand and counted the leaves.

Isaac loves pumpkins, or "pun-kins" as he calls them, so we did an activity with pumpkin sizes, too.  Isaac found "all" the pumpkins he could in our house and put them on his picnic table.  We lined them up according to size.  Isaac was enthralled with putting all the "little" pumpkins into the jack-o-lantern.  To him, every pumpkin, except for the jack-o-lantern, was "little."  He even tried stuffing his trick-or-treating pumpkin into the jack-o-lantern.  :)

I also took some of the book recommendations on the 1+1+1=1 website and reserved these at the library. Isaac is just now beginning to enjoy reading "non-board" books.



This is one of my favorites that I used to read to my students at school.  So fun to be able to read it to my own little one now!



It was a lot of fun doing these activities with Isaac.  I think a little bit of the elementary teacher in me may be sneaking out again.  ;)  Next up for Isaac's Tot School is Thanksgiving activities!

fall fun with our little lumberjack!

 We've had so much fun celebrating fall!  A few weeks ago we visited the Pumpkin Patch!

What a difference a year makes!  Last year Isaac crawled around the pumpkin patch, and this year he was EVERYWHERE!  :)

Last Friday night, we ate Jack-o-lantern pizza from Papa Murphy's (our favorite!) and carved Isaac's first pumpkin. 

For Halloween, we dressed Isaac up like a lumberjack! We already had this red flannel shirt, and it was just begging to be used as part of a lumberjack costume. :)

On Sunday night, we went to a trunk or treat at my aunt and uncle's church.  Dave was out of town for Halloween night, so this was a fun chance for him to see Isaac "in action" as a lumberjack.  :)

We also visited my Grandma at Watermere.  Isaac walked around the courtyard with his ax pretending to chop down all the trees, bushes, and flowers. 

 

Halloween night was such a blast!  Isaac got such a kick out of running up each driveway.  I'm sure I'm biased, but I think his little "trick or treat" is just adorable!

On a mission--no time to waste!

And, speaking of adorable, who can resist these two?  I don't think this picture of Isaac and Landrie could be cuter!!

Of course, my very favorite thing about Halloween is that it's the day we brought Isaac home forever!  Oh, I love this little boy!