Learning Together at Travelers' Academy

ABC Jesus Loves Me - Week 12

2012-01-23T08:00:00.000+04:00

After Isaiah's surgery the end of September, combined with the holidays making things crazy busy, our schooling has definitely been a little "loosey-goosey" so to speak. But this week I was more purposeful while still trying to keep things fun and entertaining for Isaiah.

Nadia is really starting to join in on the fun, too, which I think makes things more interesting for Isaiah. It's always more fun to have a partner in crime, right?

This week's goals:

Bible Theme/Story: Thank you, God, for making me

Bible Verse: Psalm 139:14

Books: Wheels on the Bus, What Do You Do with a Grumpy Kangaroo?

Color: Green, Purple

Letters: L-P

Number: 1-4

Shapes: Circle

Information: First, middle, and last name

Self-Care and Manners: Dress self and name clothing

Fine Motor Skill: Stickers on paper

Gross Motor Skill: Walk along lines made by painter's tape in the shapes learned

Honestly, I'm not sure what happened to October and most of November. I think I was pretty much surviving from day to day. But God is gracious, and my children still love me. While we were still learning lots and lots, it was hard for me to keep myself focused, let alone help the kids.

But now we're getting back in the groove. I'm getting more creative at keeping Isaiah interested in things, which keeps us both happy.

We reviewed the Creation Story and how God created people on Day 6. Isaiah even tried to draw a picture of Daddy, and I am so sad that I didn't get a picture. We did learn "Head & Shoulders, Knees & Toes", which brought us all lots of laughter!

Since Isaiah LOVES the iPad, I'm trying to incorporate it into our time together. I found "Wheels on the Bus" as an app (and score points for Mama) Isaiah really liked it! He's even found it on his own and played with it, including changing the language settings. His favorite page is "the doors on the bus open and shut".

We also worked on colors with a sketching app that lets you draw with your finger. It's like a modern-day Etch-a-Sketch!

Lots of color fun with play-doh this week. Thankfully we were able to keep Nadia from eating it, most of the time.

We also worked on shapes and following directions by playing tic-tac-toe with the play-doh. Isaiah didn't have the patience to help me make the shapes, but he enjoyed the game. He seemed to learn his colors! Green is his go-to color for everything, but he remembered purple, which he didn't know before.

We're still slowly working on numbers and letters. We count pretty much everything, and on a good day, Isaiah will count up to 12.

For fine motor we did a lot with play-doh and tried to color some. Gross motor involved a lot of wheel chair activity, which btw, Isaiah does incredibly well!

To work on emotions, I laminated the faces from the curriculum and we tried gluing them to tongue depressors. That didn't work so well, so we just talked about the different faces. This will definitely take some more time. Isaiah needs to add the feeling words to his vocabulary.

So, for full lesson plans, check out ABC Jesus Loves Me. And you've got to read by sister's new blog at Three Tiny Tots. She's super creative and fits in a lot of fun activities with her adorable children, not that I'm partial or anything.

Have a great week. We'll see ya when we see ya.

ABC Jesus Loves Me - Week 9, Review

2011-11-05T07:25:00.002+04:00

We skipped a week to play a little catch up, in case you were wondering if I forgot that 8 comes after 7.

This week's goals:

Bible Theme/Story: God Made The Animals/Creation Days 1-6

Bible Verse: I Thessalonians 2:13

Books: Old McDonald Had A Farm, Five Little Speckled Frogs, Good Night, Gorilla, Moo, Baa, La La La!

Color: Red, Blue, Green, Yellow

Letters: A-K

Number: 1-3

Shapes: Circle, Line, Square

Information: First Name and last name

Self-Care and Manners: Use Fork and Spoon, Place dirty clothes in laundry, Pick up toys

Fine Motor Skill: Finger paint

Gross Motor Skill: Hop like a kangaroo

This was a review week to cover the above material; and every day we did a little something:

God Made the Animals

We played with the 5 Green Frogs again, but this time under the table! We also played with the animals under the table, including cleaning them up. Isaiah loved finishing his Creation Book and then reading it to me several times. He is also a champ at the animal sounds! We also enjoyed some sticker action again with some very colorful fish.

We all became very familiar with ducks, as Little Sister enjoyed her duck costume.

Numbers and Shapes

We made some more wooden squares, and the kids spun each other around in the laundry basket again, since they enjoyed it so much the week before.

He liked glue so much that I just let him practice on a blank paper. Good fine motor stuff, right?

Fine Motor Skills

Isaiah's getting better and better at using his fork. This week he scarfed down a whole Polish sausage at Sam's, and those things are huge!

Check out the grip on that marker!

He also enjoyed destroying an egg carton with his sister, which I cleaned up for days.

Gross Motor

Um, hopping like a kangaroo wasn't really in the cards for us, but he's getting quite adept at wheeling himself around in his chair. We've found Sam's to be a great practice area with it's wide aisles. He's a great helper in the shopping, too!

Our family enjoyed the Fall Festival of the church we attend locally, and a member of the church was kind enough to help Isaiah play all the games. She's a 3rd year OT, so he even got some therapy thrown in for fun.

Faves of the week:

Isaiah: I think he enjoyed playing under the table as much as anything else! We did lots of things under the table this week. And since God blessed us with a new table, I can even fit underneath it!

Mama: I loved watching Isaiah and Nadia together as the King Josiah and his duck.

And who couldn't love this "funny face"?

I'm still a week behind in my posting, so this was actually 2 weeks ago, but hey, who's counting? We just have fun, and if it gets recorded, then all's the better. Check out ABC Jesus Loves Me for more wonderful lesson plans!

ABC Jesus Loves Me - Week 7

2011-11-05T07:20:00.000+04:00

Check out the full lesson plan here

This week's goals:

Bible Story: Creation Day 6 (farm animals)

Bible Verse: I Thessalonians 2:13

Books: Old McDonald Had A Farm

Color: Green, Yellow

Letters: H-K

Number: 1-3

Shapes: Circle

Information: First Name and last name

Self-Care and Manners: Pick up toys

Fine Motor Skill: Finger paint in a circle

Gross Motor Skill: Rolling a large ball

What we accomplished:

Creation Day 6 - Farm Animals

We enjoyed some stickers of farm animals (from Dollar Tree yet again!) on a piece of green construction paper. Isaiah is getting better at figuring out how to maneuver stickers with his fingers--great fine motor skill practice for him.

Isaiah loves Hide and Seek, so we played with the animals! An animal would hide under a green towel and make his or her sound (because of course some of our animals are girls, you know), and Isaiah would guess which animal it was. After a few rounds, he was getting them all right! As we would take our walks outside, I would quiz him on what each animal says, and about 8 out of 10 times he would get them right, sometimes needing the first sound of a word. He always repeated the sounds, too! I'm pretty stinkin' excited about this.

The animals needed a snack, too. (We couldn't have done this without, you, Aunt Beth!)

He also enjoyed his (free!) Vocal Zoo app on the iPad, which has real life pictures of animals. When you touch the pictures, you get to hear the sound the animal makes. There is a "full version" that you can buy, but we're content with what we have.

Books
We actually found Old MacDonald Had a Farm at our library, because we made it to the library! Isaiah mainly liked sticking his fingers in the holes of this book, but he didn't have the patience for me to read/sing it the way the author intended. But that's OK because we read tons of animal books this week, tons for us that is. We enjoyed Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown, Doggies by Sandra Boynton, First Animals and Learning Ladders Animal Babies.

{I must confess that I didn't like this Sandra Boynton book as much as her others that I quite enjoy. We only read it once because I sensed some confusion from both my kids about the dogs making different noises. We mainly used it for counting purposes.}

Big Red Barn is now a family favorite!

Green and Yellow

We didn't focus as much on colors this week as Isaiah seems to be getting better and better at remembering them. He did work on his yellow crown though....more to be revealed later.

This was also some good fine motor work, those jewels were tough to pick up!

Letters, Numbers

We played the board game "Sorry!", and Isaiah did great counting his spaces. He also continues to correctly identify his letters from a field of four.

Circle

Our laundry basket is sort of a kidney bean in shape, but it can make great circles, especially with someone sitting in it!

First and Last Name

Isaiah is a pro!

Pick Up Toys

Isaiah loves to put things "in", so this wasn't much of an issue for us. He even likes to put little sister "in" things. :)

Fine and Gross Motor Skills

Isaiah wasn't interested in finger painting this week, but we got tons of gross motor skill practice for him with physical therapy on Monday and a physical therapy demonstration on Tuesday. We love being able to help people learn how to help other people, so when Isaiah's physical therapist, whom we absolutely ADORE, asked us to come to a class she was teaching, we rolled at the chance, since jumping at it wasn't an option. :)

Because I've waited almost 2 weeks to actually write this post, I must confess I don't remember what our favorite things were, though I think the laundry basket rides were definitely near the top of the list!

Happy ~~playing~~ learning!

ABC Jesus Loves Me: Week 6

2011-10-28T08:39:00.000+04:00

For the full week 6 lesson plan visit ABC Jesus Loves Me.

This week's goals:

Bible Story: Creation Day 6

Bible Verse: I Thessalonians 2:13

Books: Good Night, Gorilla

Color: Green

Letters: H-K

Number: 1-3

Shapes: Square

Information: First Name and last name

Self-Care and Manners: Place dirty clothes in laundry

Fine Motor Skill: Play-doh

Gross Motor Skill: Jumping

What we accomplished:

Creation Day 6 - God made the animals (and people)

We focused on the "wilder" animals like lions, tigers, giraffes, gorillas and such. Isaiah seemed to enjoy putting animal stickers (from the Dollar Tree!) on the green paper with a big 6 drawn on it. This was a nice easy suggestion from Heidi at ABC Jesus Loves Me, which you can find in the lesson plan link above.

We continued to read the Bible story of creation every day. Isaiah seems to like stars the best as he says God made them on every day. In addition to knowing Adam and Eve, he has learned that they lived in the garden of Eden! He's also getting really good at giving a "thumb's up" as Heidi suggested in the very first lesson.

I Thessalonians 2:13

Isaiah still enjoys listening to me sing this song, but he will repeat each word after me as well.

Good Night, Gorilla

We made it to the library, but this book wasn't available; so we checked out lots of other animal books for next week. We enjoyed reading a Fisher-Price book, My Best Friend by Kirsten Hall. A little boy talks about his best friend while playing with all kinds of animals, but I won't spoil the surprise of who his best friend is.

We also found a great little book at Dollar Tree: Amazing Animals: Wild Animals by Hinkler Books Pty Ltd. (There is no specific author listed.) It's a short book with great pictures of safari
animals.

Green and Squares

We did everything we could think of with the color green, even begrudgingly eating green vegetables! We painted green, played with green play-doh and did some square activities.

We also glued together 4 tongue depressors into a square. Isaiah loves to play with glue, so this just sort of happened as I tried to keep him interested in things.

Not related to green but related to squares, we stamped! Isaiah found this great stamp set at Dollar Tree, and thankfully the stamps were squares, so he enjoyed stamping Lightning McQueen around the place.

Numbers 1-3

We used tongue depressors for counting and number recognition. Then we stirred things with them. Isaiah liked the stirring best, I think.

Letters H-K

We are still working on A-G. Isaiah will identify the correct letter from a field of 4 about 9 times out of 10. He is also starting to willingly tell me what sound the letter makes. Thank you, Letter Factory! We will keep on watching!

First and Last Name

No problem! He can still tell you his first and last name, and everyone in our immediate family; but we need to work on his generalization, though because he now says our last name is EVERYONE'S last name.

Laundry

Isaiah's very good about putting things away. He loves to put things "in." Although this week, he and sister did a much better job of taking his dirty laundry out and spreading it all over his room. But they had fun, and we worked together to put it all back.

Jumping

Um, yeah, that didn't happen, but Isaiah got tons of wheelchair practice in the store. He's pretty amazing. His post-op visit went really well, too, and he showed off his chair rolling skills for some interns. Thankfully we are cleared to start physical therapy!

Our Favorites:

Isaiah:

I think he actually enjoyed the painting this week! That's my sensory-seeking little man. :)

Mama:

I love that my kids enjoy doing things together. Anytime Isaiah does something, it's only a matter of time before I hear, "Sister...too." Smile.

SEW: Head Lock

2011-10-21T16:41:00.001+04:00

Last year:

This year:

Siblings make me smile.

See other Special Exposure Wednesday posts here.

Week 5 - Creation Day 5

2011-10-17T06:52:00.000+04:00

After a two-week surgery break (not two weeks of surgery, just surgery and recovery), we are getting back into the swing of things again. I had had all these grand plans of getting to do things with Isaiah in the hospital like read books and learn songs and all manner of fun. The poor little guy however could barely muster a "No" whenever I offered him all my wonderful ideas.

So I let it slide. We cranked it up this week, and there's a double meaning in that, unfortunately.

For the full lesson plan and other great ideas, visit ABC Jesus Loves Me.

This week's goals:

Bible Story: Creation Day 5

Bible Verse: I Thessalonians 2:13

Books: Five Little Speckled Frogs

Color: Red, Blue

Letters: H-K

Number: 1-2

Shapes: Line

Information: First Name and last name

Self-Care and Manners: Use a fork and spoon

Fine Motor Skill: Tear Paper

Gross Motor Skill: Throw a bean bag into a circle

What we accomplished:

Creation Day 5 - God Made the Birds and the Fish

We continued to read the "Very Good Beginning" section from our copy of The Big Picture Story Bible. Isaiah can now tell me what God created on each day, including Day 5! He can also complete some of the sentences of the story as I read, and he knows the name of the first man and woman created by God! This is HUGE! I am so excited that he is able to retain this information!

We did two crafts for Day 5:

Getting the proper hold on his scissors is trickier than it looks!

We (and yes, I mean WE!) cut out two fish together! Isaiah then half-heartedly colored a few random lines on both of the fish. Rather than stapling the fish and stuffing with paper towel as suggested, I taped them up 3/4 of the way, and followed Isaiah's lead as he began tearing the scraps of paper left over from our cutting. We then stuffed the fish with the scraps of paper as the fish said, "More paper, please!" in a very fishy kind of voice. He also asked Isaiah what Isaiah's last name is, as well as the last name of all the members of the family. Yeah, we love multi-tasking, and apparently Isaiah enjoys talking to a fish.

That was one hungry fish!

The crankiness occurred when we attempted our second Day 5 craft. Isaiah enjoyed glueing the "water" to our paper, but he was "ALL DONE!" when it came time for finger painting the fish and the birds in the appropriate places.

I Thessalonians 2:13

"Give thanks to God." (to the tune of It's Raining, from the curriculum) We sang this over and over and over and over again, and this time "we" means "mama" while Isaiah kept saying "Again! Again! Again!"

Five Little Speckled Frogs

Didn't make it to the library, but I do know a song along the same lines, so we sang "Five Fat Freckled Frogs" instead. Perhaps not as politically correct, but lots of fun! As we sang the song, we pulled the frogs off the log and made them jump into the water. And now we have laminated frogs that we can use again and again!

First and Last Name

See the story about the fish. :) Isaiah definitely knows his last name now!

Using a Fork and Spoon

Isaiah loves to play with spoons, pretending that he's making cakes in a bowl. We have been working on his utensil skills for, oh, 3 years or so. This week we actually began to see significant improvement! He intentionally tried to stick his food with his fork by himself. He has been able to eat with a fork, if the food was already there, so this is great improvement. I think little sister is inspiring him as he sees her try these skills, too. It's always good to have a partner in crime.

Tear Paper

Again, see the fish story. Isaiah LOVES to tear paper. He sees Daddy shredding things the old fashioned way and his eyes light up as he scoots himself closer and closer. Keep strengthening those hands, buddy!

Isaiah never gets cranky when asked to tear paper.

While we didn't work specifically on letters, numbers, colors or lines, there was lots of unstructured learning going on in that area throughout every day. We worked on circles while waiting for the doctor one day: Nadia and I twirled around while Isaiah twirled around in his wheelchair; he was pretty amazing! We are constantly counting things and naming colors. I want to be more intentional about letters next week.

If you'd like to see more ways to use the ABC Jesus Loves Me curriculum for 2-4 year olds, visit ABC Jesus Loves Me or Our Out-Of-Sync Life where the developer of the curriculum has a blog roll of people who use the curriculum regularly. Thanks, Heidi!

A Short Week

2011-10-02T07:53:00.003+04:00

This past week the ABCJLM curriculum scheduled a review week, which worked really well for us!

Monday and Tuesday we kept very busy before our long day in surgery on Wednesday.

We were finally able to get at least one of the books from the curriculum at our library. Thankfully people have donated lots of Dr. Seuss books, so One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish was actually available! I think I enjoyed it even more than the kids, though.

Monday we started preparing for our "Pre-Op Party", and I couldn't have done it without my baking helpers!

It's amazing what you can learn in the kitchen.

Flour is great for making circles and lines!

Sister wanted in on the action, too; and brother was kind enough to share.

Isaiah "measured" things with one bowl and worked on pouring the flour into (or onto) something else.

Tuesday night we got to party! I realize this isn't quite part of school, but we were enjoying the fruits of the plants that God created on Day 3, right?

The fruit of our labors, a "Singing" cake, per Isaiah's request.

The rest of the week was sort of a bust for school, but that's ok. We've talked a lot about the days of creation as Isaiah lay on his tummy in his hospital bed. He's listened to his daddy sing a lot, and he's enjoyed some of his favorite videos, which did include some Letter Factory.

I'm not sure what next week will look like, either, but we'll get back into the swing of things as we are able. I'm learning to give myself some grace in this area and make sure that we have some fun!

He's Getting It!

2011-10-02T07:42:00.003+04:00

Our third week of ABCJLM school went great! Our week was a little crammed because we had some extra dr visits thrown in at the end of the week. Isaiah got to start physical therapy, this week, too, which was very exciting. We even managed to fit in a trip to the library since I had an extra pair of hands. I haven't been brave enough to take both kids by myself because I know all the books will end up off the shelves and on the floor.

I'm writing this from Isaiah's hospital room, so I apologize ahead of time for not getting in all the links that I would normally put in, but I didn't bring all my supplies to the hospital because we are trying not to move in. :)

The biggest news this week is Isaiah's ability to tell me the days of creation! This is HUGE for us! He has days one and two down cold. He tells me day three and four with a slight prompt from me of the first sound of each word. I think his favorite part of creation though must be "stars" because he tries to put that in every day.

We did do a bunch of fun crafty things, but I focused more on the creation days memorization, so I don't have as many pictures of the craft stuff. Also it's been a week since we finished the lesson plan, so my memory isn't as fresh.

The main goals for the week (that I actually worked on):

Creation Day 4

Color Yellow

You know we have to have our play-doh!

Isaiah did a great job gluing on the sun, moon and stars for our Day 4 craft.

We also colored with a yellow marker on a coffee filter to make a sun. Isaiah then painted this yellow sun. He really liked the sponge paintbrush more than I thought he would.

We had a great week (two weeks ago)!

SEW: Simon Says, Sort Of

2011-09-29T22:14:00.001+04:00

Before Isaiah's surgery we played at our local children's museum. Thankfully a friend joined us. A fun little friend who likes hanging out with Isaiah.

We love our friends.

See what else has been special this week at 5M4SN.

SEW: The Drinker

2011-09-22T07:41:00.003+04:00

(Been gone a while. Have a new name. Getting back into the swing of things.)

How to get Isaiah to drink:

Find the largest cup possible, fill with ice, insert straw. The boy who has to be forced to drink, will ask for more!

See what other people have enjoyed lately at 5 Minutes for Special Needs.

Two Weeks In A Row!

2011-09-19T08:47:00.001+04:00

Well, week one went so well, I thought we'd keep on going. Just kidding, we were going to go on no matter what, but if it hadn't been fun, we would have made changes.

Here's the original lesson plan, if you would like to see all the options available. Momma C has found some great resources!

This week's goals:
Bible Story: Creation Day 3
Books: When the Elephant Walks
Color: Blue
Letters: A-G
Number: 1
Shapes: Line
Information: First Name (We actually worked on last name, since Isaiah knows this cold)
Self-Care and Manners: "Please" (This is one of Isaiah's best manners! He's very good at saying please and thank you!)

We're still getting in the groove of life in America, and we're trying to fit in as many reunions as possible, so our schedule is not routine to say the least; but it is fun!

We are in the habit now of reading our Bible story every morning. Even Nadia is getting better at sitting still for this time! Isaiah's cath time has become a regular singing session when we sing the Bible memory verse. This week he actually repeated some of the words with me!

Monday we kept things pretty simple and did prep work for our Day 3 craft by cutting strips of green construction paper that would later be used for grass. I was so proud of Isaiah's cutting! He still needs me to hold the paper for him and encourage forward progress, so alas, no pictures; you'll just have to take my word for it that he did the work.

Tuesday we enjoyed a day with friends, and Isaiah enjoyed exploring the different environment and practicing new friends' names. I think he's becoming more and more understandable to other people.

Wednesday we finished off the Day 3 craft and enjoyed blue: blue play-doh, blue-colored shaving cream, blue guitars. It was a blue fiesta. We worked on lines with the play-doh and the shaving cream, not so much the guitar, though the strings are lines. Isaiah usually just pulls apart the play-doh into tiny pieces and moves them around, but he did attempt to roll play-doh into a line for about 10 seconds, which is 10 seconds longer than he's ever tolerated that before.

Isaiah LOVES glue.

Check out that grass! I helped him with the placement of the tree, but the grass and flowers were all his own.

We also worked on letter recognition. I made capital and lower case cards for every letter of the alphabet. Isaiah doesn't vocalize the letters very well on his own yet, but out of a field of three he identified the correct letter 8 out of 10 times. We only worked on A, B, C; and I completely forgot to work on the number 1 specifically, but I did hear him counting things that he was pulling out of the cabinet the other day, and he started off with 1 and made it all the way to 4 on his own!

The tray on Isaiah's stander tilts up and down, so I have a built-in vertical surface. Thank you Squiggles!

Thursday we worked with sister on a sorting toy. Last year at this time, Isaiah could still not do sorting toys without a lot of assistance. I'm pleased to say that he definitely shows improvement! When he's paying attention he can identify the correct hole for the shaped toy 8 times out of 10, and he can get the toy in on his own! Go, Isaiah!

Friday we focused more on Day 3 by going to play in the dirt. Isaiah knows without a doubt that God made DIRT! We all had a great time playing in the dirt. Yes, even Mama.

Yes, our dirt was sand, but you work with what you've got.

Saturday we used a drink bottle for this cool painting idea originally found at The Amazing Mess. Isaiah loves playing with bottles, so this was right up his alley. You simply use the bottom of the bottle to make the flower and the cap to make the center. On one flower, Isaiah got the bottle cap in the center of the flower all by himself! He also picked out his own paint colors, which I thought was pretty cool. (see picture below, on my fridge)

Faves of the week:

Isaiah: Definitely the guitar. Isaiah likes to play the guitar because Daddy plays the guitar. Or perhaps playing in the dirt! What boy doesn't love dirt?

Mama: Other than the play date, my favorite activity was the bottle painting. It was really cool and showed me some development in Isaiah I wasn't anticipating. Oh, and playing in the dirt.

Pic:

A picture of pictures. I love having refrigerator art.

Week One

2011-09-13T08:30:00.000+04:00

So, our first week has gone pretty well overall. I've been slowly developing a routine for us, though not too stringently because I know soon it will all change as we start therapy.

We started a couple weeks late from the curriculum's original plan, but I'm not too worried about that detail. Isaiah is actually having fun, and that's what I'm focusing on right now!

This week's goals:
Bible story: Creation, Day 1, 2
Book: Llama, Llama, Red Pajama
Color: Red
Number : 1
Letters: A-G
Shape: Circle
Information: First Name
Self-care/Manners: Sitting Quietly

Now, before you think I'm some kind of super mom who had this great plan and actually implemented it and accomplished everything listed above, think again! One of the things that I love about this curriculum is that there are so many possibilities that I don't feel pressured to actually do everything listed. There's time. I have two main goals: 1) Have positive, somewhat structured interaction with my son that encourages learning; 2) Have fun!

So this week, it looked like this:

Almost every morning we read Part I from The Big Picture Story Bible. (Thank you, dear David and Cathy.) It's more of a thematic approach to telling children God's story, but I really like it! I think it's helpful for Isaiah because there aren't too many details. Then at random times during the day we sang the songs from the lessons. Isaiah really, really likes them, though he won't sing them. He always says "Again!" whenever I finish.

Monday was Labor Day, but we didn't let that stop us from having fun with friends and taking over our Day 1 and 2 art projects. All the kids, even Isaiah seemed to really enjoy the projects!

Coffee Filter Earths, so easy, but all the kids liked them.

This was almost my fave pic for the week, I couldn't believe how into this project Isaiah was!

Day 2

Tuesday the kids and I went for a run in a park nearby, and wouldn't you know it, the firemen were there running, too. And they traveled in style! As they pulled into the parking lot they saw me with the kids and flashed their lights on the GREAT BIG RED TRUCK that's wheels are circles of course. Yeah, that was pure gravy.

Wednesday we played with red play-doh and snacked on strawberry flavored Twizzlers, after we had a fun play date with friends!

Thursday was a marathon doctor day. We left the house at 9:30am and returned shortly before 5:00pm. I don't remember what we did that night.

Friday was Isaiah's physical therapy re-evaluation. He did great, naturally. And while this won't mean anything to many people, I have to brag that for the first time, he wheeled his chair all the way from the therapy clinic to the parking garage, which includes a slightly inclined breezeway! When I'm hurrying with the kids, that walk takes me 10 minutes. It took us a little longer after his appointment, but it was so worth it!

Saturday before going to watch UGA football (yes, RED uniforms) with some friends, we painted with shaving cream again! I just can't get over how much Isaiah liked this activity. He painted the Creation craft again, but then we just played with the shaving cream, drawing circles and lines on the table cloth. We had a great time.

I didn't do anything with letters, but I have something ready for this week. Isaiah already knows his name really well, and if you've ever been near us in church, you know how well he can sit quietly. Hurray for easy successes in those areas!

Faves of the week:

Isaiah: Play-doh and shaving cream painting were probably a tie. He loves play-doh, and he was so into the shaving cream paint that I had to tell him it was time for ice cream in order to get him to stop painting! That's certainly a first.

Mama: Ok, Saturday football was my favorite. I have to find a way to tie that in again this week. :)

Picture:

Isaiah was being the teacher, telling Nadia who people were, even in some old pictures! I love my family.

To learn more about what we're doing, visit ABC Jesus Loves Me or Our Out-Of-Sync Life.

A New Beginning (again)

2011-09-06T17:26:00.001+04:00

Around the world school has officially started, and this week it will begin again in our home, too. Since Isaiah is 5 I am actually doing a curriculum with him this year called ABC Jesus Loves Me. This is a free curriculum online, but I did choose to purchase the book so that I can make notes throughout the year and have everything in one place.

Momma C who writes the curriculum has done a great job finding all kinds of online resources and materials and suggestions and putting them all in one place. For the internet-search-challenged mama like me, her work is quite a blessing! I personally get overwhelmed with the options and activities that I find, when I'm able to complete a search successfully. So thanks, Momma C!

I've chosen to start with her 2-year-old curriculum because I want it to be fun and I want Isaiah to have plenty of opportunities to succeed. It's a nice basic preschool curriculum that has plenty of room for making it personal, but gives me the structure that I need. I also like that all the lessons are built around a Bible story and encourage Bible memorization.

So, Lord willing, we'll be posting about our adventures again, as we learn together! I'd appreciate your prayers for wisdom and patience and consistency for me and for patience and a good attitude for Isaiah! Thanks, friends!

Fun At The Park

2011-08-17T06:29:00.001+04:00

We've driven between MS and NC many times and have often thought about going to a Braves game. We finally made it happen!

Go Braves!

Nadia did really well considering that the game started when she usually goes to bed. Of course it's easy to avoid falling asleep when you never stop moving!

Isaiah had a pretty big day for lots of reasons, but he got to top it all off by sharing a milkshake with Grandpa at the game.

I love making memories with my family.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod

Tot School--Our Return, I Think

2010-10-27T02:04:00.000+04:00

[This was written the end of August, but thought I'd post it now anyway. I didn't take the time to go find any pictures, though, sorry. I have some updated things to post soon, but this is what we were up to in St. Petersburg just before we headed back to the good ol' US of A.]

Well, believe it or not, we've actually been doing our "Tot School" activities for several weeks now. I however haven't had much computer time, and the blogs were the first thing to slide. Face to face time with my little man and his little sister have been much more important.

And on a rather random note, it's been too hot to turn on our computers! Crazy, huh? So when I did have some time without the kiddos (I love that that's plural), I didn't want to turn on the laptop. You wouldn't believe how much hotter it makes the room, not to mention my lap.

All that to say, here's what we've been up to the last few weeks:

We've been sitting still and reading lots and lots during the heat wave--no central air meant hanging out in one room and not moving around a whole lot. Isaiah has to take a medication that prevents him from sweating, so we have to be extra careful when it gets this hot. My husband made us a Redneck Air Conditioner to help us survive, and no we didn't make up the name. You can see videos about it on YouTube, though ours had a distinctly Russian flair because Thomas had to "rig" a good bit of it. It made the one room at least bearable to stay in. Thank you, Honey!

So what did we read? Lots and lots, but a few favorites were Moonpowder; Dr. Seuss' ABC's and Old Hat, New Hat. Isaiah also continues to love "reading" his Russian Bible and flipping through his magazines.

We keep working on developing those fine motor skills. My mom brought him a peg board when she came over. I had been wanting one for quite a while, but I couldn't find one here. We use it for all kinds of things! We sort, work on colors, strengthen hands by pulling apart, develop fine motor skills by stacking, the list goes on and on. But I can't neglect Isaiah's favorite activity: moving them from their bag to a box or bucket and then back again.

Mom also brought over a puzzle that we had purchased in the States to use at OT, but it didn't make it back with us in January. Isaiah actually likes this puzzle, it seems, something of a small miracle.

He takes out all the pieces very well and hands them to me. Then we put in all but one piece together. The last piece he does by himself. This seems to cut way down on frustration and gives him a definite opportunity for success! As he gets better at this, then I'll have him do 2 pieces on his own. The 6 pieces all at once was just overwhelming to him, I think. Mama had to do some learning in order to cut down on frustration for both of us!

We also discovered a great website with flashcards for all kinds of words. Kindersay.com is a free site that has words in different categories for learning all kinds of things. If you register with them, you can also upload family pictures to have in an album. I haven't had time to do that yet, but I definitely plan on it. Isaiah loves looking at pictures, so this site is a hit! If you want to visit it, it seems to work best for us in Safari, so you might want to try that browser if you are having problems.

Isaiah has always enjoyed looking at the pictures on my iPhone. He loves being able to scroll through the pictures himself. Well, we were given an iPad, and we are so excited about the educational possibilities that we see with this piece of technology! We had tried downloading some games on the iPhone for Isaiah, but the screen is just too small for him and his developing fine motor skills. Also, all the programs have way to many options to start with, and he would get frustrated with the overload of choices.

My husband has been able to develop a few flashcards for Isaiah on the iPad to review colors and shapes. Isaiah LOVES it! Thomas is hoping to develop some applications for Isaiah and other kids with special needs because, as I mentioned, the apps that we've found are a little overwhelming for our little man. If you have any suggestions, feel free to let us know! Leave a comment or shoot me an email!

While my mom was here, I had a great talk with her about how Isaiah learns best. I'm composing a post about it in my head, but we'll see when it actually makes it to the computer. :)

So for now, we're getting a new routine for our family that involves feedings and diaper changes and continues with the old stuff, too. Of course, it will all change as we head back to the States on August 30. Then we'll add in physical, occupational and perhaps speech therapy for about 4 months. Never a dull moment around here!

Busy!

2010-08-10T12:11:00.001+04:00

So, we've been doing our "school" activities, but in a much more playful way lately. I just have no time to post about them. We'll get back to it eventually, I suppose. Right now we have 3 extra people in our apartment, which means we have 3 little people in our apartment--lots of fun!

Thomas and our guests will be gone for 11 days, which might give me more time for posting things. Then they'll all be back for 3 days before our guests leave. Four days after that we head for the States. So maybe in the 11 days that it's just me and the kids, I'll post about some of the ideas and activities that we've had for Isaiah. I've discovered that things have to be very different for him than what I was trying to do. The switch has resulted in a much happier little man and, therefore, a happier mama. So we'll see what the next few weeks holds. And maybe I'll even blog about it. :)

But until then, here's a cute picture of Isaiah in action with some pegs that Gran brought him:

These have been great for all kinds of games that we play together, and about which I have started a post. Eventually it will get published.

SEW: Fun on the Fourth

2010-07-29T17:26:00.000+04:00

Yes, I'm really late posting our July 4th pics, but there are a couple that are special, so better late than never!

I'm sure Mrs. O won't love this pic, but I do! She took the time to play with Isaiah before the cooking started and Mr. S was kind enough to share some of his chips with Isaiah--one of his favorite things!

Isaiah participated with everyone reciting the pledge of allegiance, sounded kind of strange to hear that in park in Russia!

To the races! We had fun participating in some relays.

And then my favorite:

My mom captured this look of pure joy as Isaiah watched the kids run around.

Check out the other Special Exposure posts at 5 Minutes for Special Needs. Oh, and here's another one of ours that I forgot to link up in the busyness of life: A Boy's Hands.

SEW: A Boy's Hands

2010-07-07T15:00:00.001+04:00

Now that it's warmer, Isaiah's hands look the way they should.

Where We've Been

2010-07-04T15:00:00.001+04:00

In case you don't read our other blog and you missed the big news, we do have a good reason for not posting lately:

Isaiah's been learning how to be a fantastic big brother.

Tot School

2010-05-23T15:54:00.000+04:00

Isaiah is 51 months old

Thanks to Daddy, Isaiah still got some Tot School learning in this week. I am basically on bed rest, not to lift or move Isaiah and supposed to lay around as much as possible.

Isaiah's daddy searched YouTube for some great number, letter or color videos. He did a great job finding short clips that Isaiah really enjoyed watching. He did a great job repeating the numbers or letters or colors!

And one really fun thing--he was sitting on the couch one day playing with his toys, when I heard him randomly and completely unprompted say, One, Two, Three, Four in the cutest little singing voice!

No pictures from official learning times, but here's a couple of Isaiah with his fabulous substitute teacher:

Gotta love the perks of lovin' in the middle of the day!

I'm guessing that we won't be posting about Tot School for a couple of weeks as I continue on my bed rest and as, Lord willing, Nadia will be with us soon! But don't forget to check out the other Tot School posts linked up at 1+1+1=1.

SEW: The Help of Friends

2010-05-19T06:12:00.000+04:00

A friend's helpful hands...

...made this sweet smile possible.

Thank you, God for thoughtful friends.

See other Special Exposure Wednesday memorable moments at 5M4SN.

Tot School--G Week II

2010-05-16T17:00:00.000+04:00

Isaiah is 51 months

This week we finally got back into the speech therapy list for our alphabet school. Since it's been a while, I'll just say that the use of the alphabet is more for me to have a spring board for activities to try with Isaiah. I'm doing my best to make them interesting for him but also productive as far as the therapy goals that his therapists in the States gave me before we left.

We picked up with the next letter on our speech therapy list, which was G. And G is for...

Green

I drew the big and little G on his drawing board in green crayon. We found all his shades of green crayons and markers and he actually colored and did his horizontal lines very well! I think it's more difficult for him to do his other lines and circles while standing as he has to work hard just on balancing at the same time, but he did great with his balance! He was able to let go of his walker with both hands several times for several minutes.

Oh, and it was all his idea for his friends to sit with him while he worked on his drawing board. I LOVE how he is getting better at telling me what he would like.

He also found his play doh several times this week and asked to play with it. He would bring me the container and say All mine, which I thought was a creative way to let me know what he wanted.

Go

I tried to get him in his braces even more this week. He did really well walking around our little space.
We were also able to go outside a lot more near the end of the week! I had to take more sitting breaks than in the past, but as long as he could watch the cars go by, Isaiah didn't seem to mind one bit!

Things that Go

When Isaiah had occupational therapy, he HATED working his puzzles. I hadn't pulled this one of some trucks out in a long time. I just nonchalantly put it on the table to see what would happen. He immediately started taking out the pieces and even tried to put 3 of them back! One piece was almost in the right spot! I was thrilled, so I told him to smile for a picture with the puzzle, and this is what he did...

Gathering

Ok, this is a stretch, and I don't think I ever said this word with him, but when he asked for his "colors", he did well moving them from one place to another, or gathering them. :)

But I did some gathering of my own. I've been wanting to organize Isaiah's toys for a while now, and I finally had the energy and time (all at once!) to do a deep clean of his room and organize things a little better. My preference would have been to get flat containers with lids to slide under his bed, but that would mean spending money, so I just used the crates that we had, and it works all right. We have one for "Cars, Trucks, and Things that Go", one for "Legos" and one for everything else.

I was also able to finally get the posters up that our cousin sent us! Unfortunately I can't get the glossy ones to stay up, but the alphabet one is doing well. We look at it together, and I've found him looking at it when I get him up from his "nap". Just some passive learning with it right now, but I'm sure it will be even more helpful later!

Guitar

And what would G week be without some serious guitar time? Isaiah's little guitar finally met its end, so he had the special treat of getting to strum Daddy's guitar a few times this week.

God

We continue to work with Isaiah on his children's catechism questions. We are having a bit of a dilemma however, and I would appreciate any advice. For the past 3 years, Isaiah has been able to do the first 2 questions without any problems at all. We added the 3rd question about a year ago, and all was going well. Suddenly, however he wants to answer the first 2 questions with the answer for the 3rd question. It's like it's stuck in his head or something. We're having a hard time discerning if this is behavioral/needs discipline issue or a genuine part of some of the learning difficulties that Isaiah might have. He does tend to get stuck on certain words or answers in other situations as well.

We are trying to develop some more interesting ways to review his catechism with him to see if maybe he's bored with the process. I have to give my husband kudos in this area as he has been the main one to try new things.

But any thoughts or ideas would be appreciated.

Glasses

And just in time a wonderful package arrived with some fun goodies for Isaiah (Thanks, ST!). He seems to really like glasses, and I was thrilled to have some pipe cleaners, which I thought would be perfect for making him some play glasses. My husband whipped some up in no time!

(my husband is less than thrilled with this picture, but it was the only one I had with Isaiah's cute play glasses, so sorry, honey)

Lord willing, we'll continue our alphabet school this week. We're pretty much taking things one day at a time here as we wait for our Little Lady to join us in the outside world.

But be sure to check out the other Tot Schools at 1+1+1=1.

SEW: Big Brother

2010-05-12T08:00:00.008+04:00

Check out the other Special Exposure Wednesday posts linked up at 5 Minutes for Special Needs.

(And to my 5M4SN friends, I have been having trouble leaving comments on wordpress based blogs. I don't know why, and I feel quite frustrated by this! I so enjoy seeing your posts and learning from each of you, please know that I do come and visit! I can't even leave a comment on the 5M4SN site for some reason, it never shows up. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!)

Check This Out!

2010-05-11T13:55:00.000+04:00

A friend of ours posted about this amusement park on Facebook recently. Some of you might have already heard about it as I am often late in finding things out from the States, but I thought I'd share anyway.

Check out Morgan's Wonderland--what looks like an amazing amusement park designed specifically for people with disabilities and even has an amazing price!

The Chair Challenge

2010-05-10T08:00:00.000+04:00

Since Isaiah can't feel his bottom, sitting is something of a challenge. Most chairs pose different difficulties from slanted backs that don't support his back well, to slanted seat areas that promote sliding. We're always on the lookout for something that will work better for him.

He likes to sit at the little table that we got him and play with his play-doh or read his books, but the chair that we had bought to go with the table just wasn't working for him.

Enter my brilliant husband...

He found this little wooden chair at IKEA and added the shelf braces, also from IKEA, to provide the perfect little chair for Isaiah. The straight back helps him sit straighter and not slide. The horizontal slats on the seat seem to provide some resistance to sliding as well.

wooden Ekby Valter bracket, $4 in the States, but turned differently on our chair

Unfortunately, the chair isn't pictured online without the brackets, and I forgot to get a picture of the chair before my husband's improvements. The chair cost about $11 with our current exchange rate, so it's probably cheaper in the States. Altogether, with screws and everything, we were able to have this for under $16. (My husband wanted me to say that he already owned the drill.) :)

Yard sales aren't that common over here, but you might be able to find something similar for even cheaper if you're able to shop thrift stores or yard sales.

Isaiah sat in his chair for an hour today without sliding or having to be adjusted--great for both of us!

Tot School--Special Guest

2010-05-09T08:00:00.000+04:00

Isaiah is 51 months old

Isaiah has been a big help in the kitchen this week as we celebrated Daddy's birthday and enjoyed having a very special guest from the States!

Isaiah decided that whenever I'm mixing something up in bowls, he has to have the same things, too. This is great as it increases his hand strength and actually does some pre-writing work without having to "force" him to color. :)

He helped me make Daddy's birthday breakfast pancakes, and did a great job, of course!

He was the teacher this week, as he taught my pastor several words in Russian while we enjoyed his time with us.

Another great part of Pastor being with us was watching Isaiah form another attachment. Isaiah loves it when we have people over. For a while it seemed like he didn't remember people from one visit to another, but now he will ask about the people who have been here long after they're gone. He remembers their names (or the names that he's given them) and follows them around or goes and looks for them while they're here. When they leave he is really sad, which of course I don't like for him to be sad, but I'm really excited for the mental development that this implies!

I have been told to limit my activities for the next few weeks as Nadia's arrival draws near, so Tot School will probably continue to be fairly low key, focusing on life skills and physical therapy more than school room type activities.

What are some ways that you try to incorporate learning into daily activities that don't "look like" school?

Check out the other Tot School posts at 1+1+1=1.

Tot School--Keeping Busy!

2010-05-06T11:57:00.000+04:00

Isaiah is 50 months old

This past week (actually almost 3 weeks ago now!) Isaiah and I did our best to keep busy and pass the time until Daddy got home!

We enjoyed some great weather in the beginning of the week, which meant lots of fun time outside! This was definitely a good idea, according to Isaiah.

Monday we had friends over! I got a taste of what it will be like to care for a littler person with my Little Man, which means that my hands were way too busy to get any pictures of how sweet Isaiah was with our little friend. He also enjoyed playing with her big sister--thanks, Lydia!

Tuesday we had some math lessons. :) Yes, we talked about the wonderful exchange rate that enables us to buy an ice cream cone for $0.35!

Actually we had an amazingly fun breakthrough in communication this week while shopping at IKEA! Isaiah often shows interest in something for about, oh 30 seconds, and then moves on to the next thing. Well, this time he saw something that he liked, and he told me so...several times! I was so excited, so I have to share it with you, too.

He would wear the hat for a long time, give it to me, then ask for it again a few minutes later. He has never done this before. He communicated with words very clearly exactly what he wanted! Celebration!

Wednesday we went and visited some newer friends, which thrilled Isaiah--time outside traveling and playing with other little people! What could be better!

Thursday was cold and rainy, which altered our plans, but gave us some much needed rest and time to prepare for the best day of the week....

Daddy coming home!

So while "school" might have looked different this week, we actually had so much progress in Isaiah's verbal skills and communication that I could not be more thrilled.

Check out the other kids and their fun at 1+1+1=1.

SEW: All's Right Now

2010-05-05T21:50:00.000+04:00

Daddy's home again.

The Perfect Ending

2010-05-05T21:44:00.000+04:00

Despite a long break from walking due to Mama's broken arm and inability to put Isaiah in his braces, Little Man is doing really well lately with his walker. So well in fact, that we are able to release the front wheels and let them swivel.

The beginning of the first video shows him turning out of his room with the new swivel action. Sorry it's so dark, but hopefully you can see it.

The second video doesn't show the swiveling so much, but the ending is the best!

We are so thankful for this progress for Isaiah! As the weather gets prettier and drier, we hope to take him to the park not too far away and let him have further to go.

SEW: Special Plans

2010-04-21T08:00:00.001+04:00

playing Daddy's guitar with Daddy!

I have to brag on my husband for this week (though he deserves it every week, of course!). He has been gone on what will be a 9-day trip, but he planned ahead for us! Every day we read the Bible together as a family, after breakfast and again after supper. We review Isaiah's catechism with him both times, teach him how to pray in the morning, and sing together at night.

I would do this anyway during Thomas' absence, but he took the time to record himself reading the short passages to us! He also played the guitar for us for our singing time in the evenings. It has been great! Of course, we'd rather have the original, but being able to see and hear him and "interact" with him has been grand. And Isaiah has LOVED it. He gets very excited every time and asks to watch the videos several times. He blows Daddy kisses and says night, night and love you, too. And makes my heart melt...

Tot School

2010-04-20T23:09:00.000+04:00

Isaiah is 50 months old

Last week Isaiah was my big helper! I actually had energy, and we were able to get some much-needed cleaning done together. He would lead me around the house saying, This way, Mommy! Beep! Beep! and make sure that I got to the right places.

We enjoyed a family day before Daddy left on a 9-day trip. Thankfully the rain held off and we were able to take a nice walk and enjoy a special lunch out together. Since Daddy left, Isaiah has enjoyed looking at these pictures from that day and telling all the things that Daddy is "wearing" in the pictures.

sorry, honey, but Isaiah thinks they're great, so I just had to share!

We also had a special treat of a package from the States thanks to my husband's cousin, Linda and her sweet children! Thank you so much! Isaiah lunged for the box as I began to open it in front of him with the cry of Toys! He looked through all the books as he told me, I read. I read it, Mommy.

And his favorite activity last week was definitely play doh! He's enjoyed this before, but he's never dug through his toy box and brought me the container to me to open for him to play with! It was a learning moment for me because at first I put him off because I knew it meant I would have to vacuum when he got done, and I just didn't want to vacuum. But then he got so disappointed, though not fussy about it, and I thought, you know what, I can vacuum; I need to celebrate the fact that Isaiah communicated to me what he wanted to play with.

He doesn't play with it in the conventional manner, mind you, but rather just tearing it apart and moving it from one container to another; but he loves it!

This was also a perfect activity for him to do while standing up. I'm so thankful that my arm is strong enough again at last to get him in his big braces!

We've enjoyed some exceptionally beautiful weather lately, which means LONG walks outside! Not many pics, but tons of fun and sunshine!

This week we're keeping busy to distract us from Daddy's absence, though it's really only somewhat effective. We're so ready for him to come home!

Enjoy checking out the other Tot Schools at 1+1+1=1.

Tot School--Catching Up

2010-04-14T11:51:00.000+04:00

Isaiah is 50 months

Well, my blogging has been rather sporadic as of late due to the fact that we've been enjoying some amazing weather and some extra time with friends since we can all get around the city a little easier with our little ones now. Public transportation is not easy with lots of snow and strollers or wheelchairs (in our case) and moms with broken arms.

Hooray for spring at last!

But, my lack of posting doesn't mean a lack of learning! Isaiah has been making some great progress in some areas of life skills, things that he can do for himself. My pictures (though few) represent the past couple of weeks--better late than never!

enjoying some time with Slava--they actually play together really well!

Dressing Himself:

Pants work well as a scarf, too, right?

Isaiah has actually made some great improvements in taking off and putting on his shirt by himself. We help him with his balance, and he does just about everything with his shirt on his own. He still requires some verbal and physical cues, but he's doing great! Another fun part of this is that he will tell me what he wants to wear:
What shirt would you like today, Isaiah?

Truck! (or) McQueen!

He has also started undressing himself when we come in from our walks. He'll take off his gloves (which we really don't need very often any more now!) and his hat on his own. Oh, and he has to wear his truck hat, too when we go out.

Communicating Needs:

Isaiah has made a jump lately in his communication skills! Naturally, it's hard to take pictures of him talking, so you'll have to take my word for it. Whenever I try to take a video, he of course clams up!

We've been told that children with spina bifida often communicate in a manner that's called "cocktail chatter". This simply means, I think, that they understand certain responses to certain questions, but they don't always completely understand what is going on in such a way that they can volunteer information or creatively participate in a more "advanced" conversation. They can be good at "small talk", but perhaps don't always understand beyond that point. As Isaiah's communication improves, we sometimes see signs of this, but most often we are pleased with his comprehension of what is going on around him. His responses to our questions are improving, and we just keep consistently working with him on conversation skills.

So, all that to say, here are some of Isaiah's new phrases (usually ending with Mommy or Daddy):

I'm ready!

I wait, Mommy.
I read. (as he turns the pages to his book, magazine, or most often requested Bible)

In response to "did you" questions he will answer, I did.

He will also try to sing along with us by repeating words. I LOVE THIS!

And he still says Honey, all the time, which is absolutely adorable, especially since he says it with the cutest little southern accent!

His Russian vocabulary is increasing a little bit, too, as we are able to spend more time with our Russian friends.

He's also seeming to communicate physical needs a little bit, as I wrote about here. And the other day he even seemed to know when he was pooping on his own (other than his normal pooping time). This may seem strange, but I've never been so thankful to clean up a mess as I was that day when he was trying to tell me that something was wrong!

Walking:

Isaiah had several weeks without using his walker due to my not being able to put him in his big braces. :( Thankfully, this is changing! He had several long walking sessions. At first he seemed to forget a little bit, but the skills are quickly returning, along with his communication of where he wants to go or not go and when he wants to move or not move!

and yes! he's balancing on his own here while using both hands to play with his little frog that then had to ride permanently on the walker

Counting:

Isaiah now consistently counts to 3, and he has on several occasions gone to 4! M&M's are a great incentive!

So we've been busy, even if it doesn't look that way. I get my cast off Saturday, and we're looking forward to some more activities to do together! I love hanging out with my Little Man!

Check out the other Tot School fun at 1+1+1=1.

SEW: I'm Ready!

2010-04-14T11:03:00.000+04:00

Isaiah has started voluntarily saying several new phrases as of late, one of them being "I'm ready!" This is especially helpful when it's time to walk in our newly abundant sunshine!

And it's almost time to lose the hat and wear a lighter weight jacket! Woohoo!

Check out the other great things happening around the world at 5M4SN: Special Exposure Wednesday.

SEW: A Couple Months' Difference

2010-04-08T21:06:00.000+04:00

Remember this:

Well. here's what it actually looks like:

Spring is on its way!

Check out the other Special Exposure happenings at 5 Minutes for Special Needs.

He's Growing Up

2010-04-08T08:00:00.001+04:00

Just the other day my husband commented on Isaiah's lack of inhibitions. We had been out for a family walk or returning from some public setting in which Isaiah had been not acting in a typical Russian fashion. In public Russians are reserved to say the least. Interactions with strangers are kept to a minimum, except when it comes to our son.

Oh no, Isaiah will regularly flirt with strangers or talk loudly in a very happy voice. Thomas and I usually can't keep ourselves from laughing with him, and we aren't really interested in suppressing his adorable personality.

But something happened yesterday in great contrast to this behavior. Thomas and I had both commented that Isaiah just doesn't seem to realize that there's anything different about him than other kids, and we like that. Yesterday my friend, Oksana and her little boy Slava came to play. It was time for one of Isaiah's cathings, and since his little friend is also a boy, I didn't even think about asking them to leave the room, especially since Oksana had just changed Slava. But Isaiah seemed to have different ideas...he got all shy and sheepish looking.

I wasn't sure what was going on at first, until I asked him if he wanted some privacy, and he said "uh-huh" with the sweetest little look in his eyes. Oksana and Slava naturally complied, and he was completely fine after that.

I don't know if he is understanding that his way of going potty is different, or if he's just growing up and realizing that he wants some privacy when he goes potty. Either way, I thought it was pretty neat, actually.

I don't necessarily want Isaiah to become inhibited. I LOVE his carefree and playful personality; but I think it's really wonderful that he is beginning to communicate to me better the things that he wants, even if he can't explain the exact emotions that go along with those wants.

What are ways that your children deal with differences? How do you as parents teach them to be themselves?

Tot School--K Week II

2010-04-06T08:31:00.000+04:00

Isaiah is 50 months old

This week we moved on to the letter K, the next one on our speech therapy list. Isaiah can say this letter very well! We didn't do a specific craft with the letter as my arm is still healing, so we focused on working in the kitchen! I am trying to include Isaiah in some of the regular things that we do every day as my helper, and he really seems to enjoy it!

I don't have a picture of this one, but he decided to help me clean in the kitchen. We keep a floor rag for wiping up random water. It stays by the sink, and Isaiah decided that as he crawled around on the floor he would clean things up for me with the rag. He seemed to be singing a little cleaning song as he moved around the kitchen. And he even seemed to say, "I cleaning!" Hooray for increasing vocabulary!

We colored Easter eggs one day. Isaiah's coordination still needs some improvement before I trust him to spoon a real egg into dyed water that could stain lots of things, so we improvised for him. He got to play with water, much to his delight. First he stirred it, then he splashed it, then he poured it all over himself.

Next I gave him plastic eggs to play with, and he did a great job opening them! Yeah for better hand strength!

As a surprise for Daddy we made chocolate chip cookies. Isaiah took care of the flour for me.

I finally realized this bowl was just too big...

...so we got two smaller bowls, and he stirred and transferred (even once with the spoon!) and just had fun making a big mess.

He played for an hour with his bowls of flour! I asked him a few times if he was done, and would emphatically say "No!" Until the park dries enough for playing in the sandbox, I think we found a great and rather cheap substitute!

This week Isaiah has also learned how to help me lift him better and hold on better while carrying him. I am very thankful for this as my arm continues to heal, and he is getting bigger! He is almost 23 pounds!!!!

Check out the other Tot Schools for great ideas for different stages at 1+1+1=1.

SEW: Daddy's Style

2010-03-31T07:00:00.001+04:00

When Daddy gives the bath, fun things happen!

Check out the other SEW photos at 5M4SN.

Tot School--Takin' It One Day At A Time

2010-03-20T23:20:00.000+03:00

Isaiah is 49 months old

Well, Mama is still somewhat incapacitated, so we didn't do many structured activities. And in all honesty, after talking with a wonderful and wise friend this week, I have to tell you that aside from the carry over from the different therapies, our Tot School is not nearly as structured as it might appear on the blog. Usually I start an activity with Isaiah, and then just let him do his thing. This week, he had a blast (which made our time so much more fun)!

I got out our treasured construction paper, and we tore it up! Literally. After a few minutes, Isaiah got more into the ripping. And I just asked him to repeat the color names to continue getting him familiar with them. He identified green and blue on his own!

So we had the big pile you see on the table, and then we got out the glue. Isaiah LOVES glue.

We have large white sheets of paper, and I just let him have the bottle of glue and do whatever he wanted. Then we stuck the different pieces of colored paper all over the big white paper, banging on them as hard as we could. I'd show you the end result, but it's a surprise for someone back home. :)

I've been wanting to work on hand coordination in more interesting ways. We finally finished up some syrup that was sent to us, and I thought the bottle would be great for pouring. I've had a hard time finding the right-sized container for this. The bottle was still a little big, but Isaiah had fun!

The boy is slightly obsessed with syrup and pancakes, so he got excited when he saw the bottle. We called the water inside syrup, which seemed to increase his interest. Or syrpup as Isaiah calls it.

I had a hard time getting a good shot of him pouring. Here I was helping him get the motion a few times.

Then we added a funnel. He liked trying to get it in the bottle opening and watching the syrup go back inside.

It didn't take him long to figure out that the funnel was the middle step. He kept trying to pick up drops of syrup to put in the funnel then the bottle.

And then splashing ensued, naturally.

He asked for a spoon! I love that he thought of what he wanted to play with on his own and was able to tell me! Guess who ran to the kitchen!

He told me he was making pancakes. :) Smart Little Man!

Here's to having fun with it! Mama learned a lot this week, but that's for another post...my left hand is tired after such a long post.

Check out the fun at 1+1+1=1.

SEW: Substitute Teacher

2010-03-17T22:05:00.000+03:00

Not the best quality picture, but still a precious moment--Daddy has been spending some extra time with Isaiah since I broke my arm. He always spends time with Isaiah, and he is always teaching him things, of course; but it's been special to me to see their bond strengthen during this time.

Tot School--Anything Goes!

2010-03-14T13:12:00.000+03:00

Isaiah is 49 months old

This week did not go at all as planned, and I really mean that in the strongest sense possible! And this post will be short because, well, for one thing, typing with one hand is not my best skill. Monday, I had a fall on the ice and broke my arm, so Tot School was not so easy to accomplish.

Thankfully, I have an amazing husband whose schedule was a bit more flexible this week, and he has been doing pretty much everything that requires 2 hands, like cathing, doing enemas, giving most of the meds and lifting. When I can type a bit faster, he's getting a huge post on my personal blog!

Thanks to Daddy, Isaiah has had some more number focus this week. I even got to join the fun with counting M&M's! Isaiah made it all the way to 4 one time so far this week! He is very consistent with 1, 2!

We did a lot of reading from our small personal library. Isaiah seemed more interested in our Eric Kinkaid's Nursery Rhymes book that some good friends of ours gave him.

We also looked at all our family picture books over and over and over again. Isaiah was able to tell me just about everyone's names in our extended family! I think he has some nicknames that I don't quite understand for some of them, and sometimes his aunts and uncles were called by the names of their children, but he did the best he's ever done!

A friend and her little girl came over to play one day, and she taught Isaiah how to act out The Three Little Pigs with lots and lots of laughter.

Isaiah and I played "catch" one afternoon (when the throbbing in my arm lessened). He actually seemed to try to aim the ball for me, which I don't remember him doing before.

And he continued to progress verbally. Some of my favorites lately:

I'm coming! Yes ma'am!

I pause it. (any time we need to stop music or a movie)

I drop it. (whenever something falls)

I'm funny!

and my current favorite:

Thank you, Honey!

Check out the other Tot Schools at 1+1+1=1!

Oh, and any suggestions for keeping things running smoothly with a little person while mama isn't quite up to par would be great! I had started a schedule for us, which has been helpful, but Isaiah isn't exactly able to keep that going on his own like an older child could. I'm sure I'm not the first and will not be the last to be in a situation like this, so share the knowledge, parents! I look forward to hearing your ideas.

SEW: Generations

2010-03-10T11:04:00.000+03:00

Learning from my grandma, circa 1979

Now I have my own little helper to teach, 2010

Check out other SEW memories at 5 Minutes For Special Needs.

Tot School--B Week II

2010-03-06T07:00:00.002+03:00

Isaiah is 49 months old

B is for...

Body

We have already worked on the letter B several times, so I was trying to do something new with Isaiah this week. We focused on his body. I drew an outline of his body with the hopes of him drawing in some of the parts. He did great while I was outlining him! When I showed him the outline, though, he kind of freaked out. It was a little weird, but we pressed on.

Isaiah's drawing currently consists of practicing vertical and horizontal lines and circles; so for his drawing I tried to keep things simple for him to give him as much success as possible. I think he did great! He did the most work on the head, where apparently he has one long sideburn on his left side. And I suppose he drew the face as his "funny face" because that's how he wanted to pose with the picture.

The body activity took most of our time with a lot of hand-over-hand help from mama in holding the marker or the crayon. He did the movements himself, but he seems to be having a hard time holding on to things, perhaps because he doesn't always really want to be doing what we're doing.

Board

Thomas and I were excited to finally get Isaiah a new chalk/white/drawing board. Now that he can stand so well, he needed something to stand by! This has really helped him with balance, too, I think. While he draws he can't hold on to the walker as much, forcing him to have increased balance control. We had wanted to get this for him for his birthday, but needed to finish saving up some first--you know how it is!

Books and Bears

We of course read books, focusing on the letter B. I Love You, Daddy; I Love You, Mommy (both about bears) and The Tale of Benjamin Bunny by Beatrix Potter. The Potter books tend to be a little long for Isaiah for some reason, but he seems to be tolerating them better.

Building with Blocks

We worked on color recognition and hand coordination with lego blocks. Together we built a few towers. After some fussing, of course; but that quickly turned to fun.

Balancing

He enjoyed moving his toys from one box to another while sitting on his little toy car--this was great upper body balancing practice!

Beating

In the kitchen he enjoyed helping me tenderize some chicken by beating it with the meat mallet. He then continued to want to beat everything he could with the mallet, so I let him. Again, he needs some increased hand control.

Boys

We looked through magazines for pictures of boys. Isaiah is also beginning to answer the question What are you? with I'm a boy.

Not related to the letter B, but still very exciting, Isaiah identified two letters and their sounds completely on his own this week! I've mentioned before that we really like Letter Factory by LeapFrog. This week Isaiah identified L and S, and I think largely in part to watching that video! Woohoo!

Bible

Isaiah loves to read his Bible! I think it's pretty amazing that he can identify a Bible from any other book, even if it's hardback and not the typical looking Bible. Often if I haven't finished my Bible reading before Isaiah gets up, he will sit with me while I read, and this is one of his favorite spots and things to do during that time.

Be sure to check out the other Tot Schools at 1+1+1=1 where you can get great ideas for your child, no matter what their age or development.

Unusual Learning Times

2010-03-04T23:55:00.000+03:00

We are taught in Scripture to make the best use of the time, because the days are evil (Eph. 5:17, ESV). We are also instructed to teach our children about God when [we] sit in [our] house, and when [we] walk by the way, and when [we] lie down, and when [we] rise (Dt. 6:7, ESV).

These things are hard to do! It's so much easier to let silence reign or to let little opportunities slip by. Part of this instruction I think also involves teaching our children about God's world as a way of teaching them about Him, part of why we choose to fulfill our responsibility for teaching Isaiah in our home.

As parents of a child with special needs, we've found ourselves in some interesting situations that we are endeavoring to turn into such teaching times, looking for ways to best use the time. And one of those times is Isaiah's "poop time".

That's right, even our time in the toilet room (a completely separate room in Russian apartments) can be used for learning, and not just about bodily functions. So what do we do every other day for about 30 minutes while giving Isaiah a water enema and then waiting for the business to be done?

~Well, we work on letter sounds.

~We review questions that people ask Isaiah all the time, like How old are you?, What's your name?, Where do you live?, What do you like?

~We count.

~We talk about the colors of the clothing we have on.

~He makes up games that we play. His current favorite is telling me Night Night and gently pushing my head to the side. Then he says Wake up! And I'm supposed to pop my head up and say I'm awake! (this is a good time to work on the pronunciation of that difficult W letter!)

~We review body parts.

~We sing. Isaiah is actually learning how to follow along with a song these days! He'll sing a word here and there, and it's so sweet.

~We review his children's catechism questions.

~I've started working on facial expressions for emotions with him, and he loves this one! He does the same expression for everything, but I vary mine.

~We listen to music.

The possibilities are many (though you do have certain limitations, naturally). For example, Isaiah can't sit on the toilet without me holding him, so we can't do a ton with our hands, well, actually Isaiah likes to play with my hair and try to put his hands in my mouth, but we can't do crafts or anything.

This learning time is one that I never would have anticipated. I confess there are days that I'm really tired, and I don't redeem this time as well as I would like. But we've been able to turn an unpleasant (at least in the odor area) time into something fun and enjoyable for Isaiah. It's great concentrated time that we have together that could so easily slip through our fingers or become a drudgery (not that I love giving him enemas, but hey, it's our life).

What ideas do you have for those random times that are unique to your family?

Tot School--W Week

2010-02-27T20:41:00.007+03:00

Isaiah is 48 months old

We had a lot of fun with W this week, and Isaiah's pronunciation of the letter definitely improved, though it still needs a little work. I was surprised that W was on our list so soon, but we decided to go with it and have fun!

Watercolor

We had tried watercolors before, but Isaiah didn't seem to understand the process. This time for several minutes he understood that you take the brush (as opposed to your fingers) from water...

...to paint...

...and then to paper! I was so excited that he did the complete process that I forgot to get a picture of the last step. He however decided that his fingers worked better, of course, and tried to pick up water and put on the paint then rub his fingers on the paper. It worked, and he had fun doing it.

Wave

And with paint on his fingers, it made his hand show up better when waving bye to Daddy.

Writing

While Isaiah is still working on lines and circles, he steadily shows improvement in his pre-writing skills. He found a pencil and actually asked to use it with paper! Scribble on, Little Man!

World

We don't have a globe, but we do have some resources. I found a free printable world map on this site, which has tons of maps that you can print out in all kinds of sizes. We had a blue balloon that would suffice for water for our globe. I cut out the map and helped Isaiah glue it onto the balloon. Then I traced my hands and cut them out for him to glue on the back of the balloon, and we sang He's Got the Whole World in His Hands. Isaiah really, really liked this activity and asked to play with the balloon a lot this week. We do have to be careful with his exposure to latex though, so he didn't get to play with it as often as he would have liked.

But, lo and behold, that very same day we received a package, complete with an inflatable globe! Great timing, Grandma!

White Ws blowing in the Wind

While working on Isaiah's walking and balance, we also experimented with windy conditions and the letter W. We glued white Ws onto strips of crepe paper, which I then tied to the light fixture in our living room. We tried blowing on the paper, then using my hair dryer and finally a big fan. The beginning of this idea started when I read online the suggestion of hanging the letter of the week from the ceiling in a classroom so children would often see it, but unfortunately, though I thought I had bookmarked the site, I can't find it now. But it grew from there to include some W-inspired activities.

Woosh

Isaiah definitely preferred the woosh to the wind, though.

So that's what kept us occupied a good bit this week. Enjoy visiting the other Tot Schools at 1+1+1=1.

Tot School--H Week II

2010-02-13T22:05:00.000+03:00

Isaiah is 48 months old

This week's letter was H, and while we didn't do a lot of activities for various reasons, as I thought about the week, I realized that a lot of life skills learning took place! But first we'll start with the letter-based activities:

Hand

"Show me your hand, Isaiah!"

And what better activity to strengthen those fingers on that cute little hand than strumming and plucking on Daddy's guitar--a special reward for some AMAZING walking!

I traced Isaiah's hands, and then he helped trace my hands for a special project for Daddy. He really did look at the paper he was coloring, I promise, and he didn't even fuss about it this week!

Heart

I cut out a large heart on which we could glue our hands to give to Daddy.

I also cut out 4 differently-sized hearts to work on sequencing. (thought I took a picture, but must not have, oh well) Isaiah did identify the biggest heart and the smallest heart, but that was as far as it got. For his first sequencing activity, I thought he did pretty well! I'll definitely try to pull that one out again with other letters.

Hats

Isaiah was somewhat enamored with this mask, which he decided was a hat. He had to wear it every day!

And of course that meant Mama had to wear it, too.

We've been working on life skills with Isaiah in order to give him as much independence as possible. Sometimes he really fights against this for whatever reason. But I've noticed over the past week, that he has definitely improved in several areas:

Dressing--Isaiah will now put on his shirt almost completely on his own. I do have to hold him steady to provide balance for him so that he doesn't do a face plant, but other than that, it's pretty much all him!

Outside--Related to dressing, Isaiah now tells me which articles of clothing he needs before we go outside. He can say shirt, pants, braces, coat, gloves, hat, scarf. He's even started saying them without me asking "what is this?". So excited about his speech improving!

While he is still dependent on us for many things, and most likely always will be for something, we are really excited about his wanting to do more on his own. But I also am thankful for the reminder that he gives me every day of how I must depend on God for everything!

Be sure to check out the other Tot Schools at 1+1+1=1.

Tot School--N Week

2010-02-13T22:02:00.000+03:00

Isaiah is 48 months old

As we focused this week on the letter N, I decided to take this opportunity to work on numbers with Isaiah. Coincidentally, we also started reading Numbers in our family Bible time each day. "Thrilling" you must be thinking. :) We just read a short section from the OT in the morning after breakfast and another from the NT before bed time. We use this time to teach Isaiah his catechism and how to pray. I love hearing him talking to God!

I wrote the capital and lower case Nn for Isaiah on some construction paper. I cut out thenumbers 1-4, and Isaiah enjoyed gluing them down. For the first time he put the objects to be glued on the paper all by himself, exactly where he wanted them. He told me where he wanted them, and I made sure that they were facing the right direction in his hand (glue side down), and then he put them down and patted away! This would be why they are in a pile, but hey, he did it himself!

And then he played peek-a-boo, still a favorite in our house!

Every morning we then looked at his letters and traced them with his fingers and said words that start with N. His pronunciation improved throughout the week. Naturally, his favorite N word is "No" in all it's variations...no, nah, nope. I think nope is my personal favorite. He says it very clearly!

I made these number cards for him. While I'm no artist, he recognized the little pictures at the top for what I had intended them to be--cars, of course!

I made these with different colors, but we're not using the colors as much right now, at least not on purpose. Every day we reviewed the numbers, focusing on the number 1. I would hold one card up at a time, and we would trace the number and touch the cars. A few times I held up the number 1 and number 2 cards and asked him to touch a certain one. He did it correctly a couple times but not consistently.

We also used a "needle" to work with his lacing beads (shaped like cars) again. He is getting better and better at this! This takes a lot of action on my part, too, though, so we never do get a picture. But speaking of needles, Isaiah helped me on a sewing project this week, so we talked about the needle on the machine going up and down, which seemed to give him a thrill.

We also worked on writing, which requires some hand-over-hand action as well. This week, however he didn't put up nearly the fuss, and he actually wrote a lopsided kind of N!

I am really trying to focus on life skills with Isaiah more and more. He is actually starting to show interest in some things that he hasn't up to this point.

Isaiah is fascinated with cutting things with a knife lately, so we cut play-doh with a plastic knife.

And he helped me cut biscuits one morning!

We have been pleased to see increased strength in Isaiah's legs. Six months ago he could not have gone from this...

to this...
in the small braces that he is wearing. Thomas is only helping him balance, which means that Isaiah's knees are actually getting some strength! Praise the Lord for development in so many different areas!

Be sure to check out the other great Tot Schools at 1+1+1=1.

Tot School--M Week II

2010-02-07T22:05:00.000+03:00

Isaiah is 48 months

This week M was for Motivation, or lack thereof, as the case may be! For some reason this week started out particularly badly for Mama. We did manage to get in some Tot School here and there, but not many pictures because a lot of work was hand over hand.

Matching

I hadn't done much matching work with Isaiah, so I thought this would be a good week to start. Inspired by the car cards my husband had printed, we made another set and had Isaiah begin to learn about matching. He did really well with McQueen and Mater, so I added 2 other cars. I think 2 was his limit for now, but that's all right. I was pleased!

Muppets

While I cut his hair, Isaiah got to practice balancing and standing while watching one of his favorite things: Muppets! He is very good for his haircuts.

We also watched Letter Factory a few times. This will probably be a regular activity for us. I can tell Isaiah is beginning to pronounce his letters much better, and we're working on recognition. He says the sounds with the characters on the DVD now much more frequently! And his M is marvelous!

Markers

We worked on pre-writing skills again with his markers, which he has begun to call "colors". So fun to have him identify things! This went horribly this week with lots of whining and tons of resistance. I had to do more hand-over-hand work during this activity than I have in a long time, so obviously something to continue working on.

In the kitchen we enjoyed meatballs this week, and Isaiah started wanting to mix things with his spoon!

I looked at our past M week, and thought that it had gone much better, but this week ended well with celebrating Isaiah's 4th birthday! We worked a lot on teaching him to say "I'm four", and his pronunciation has greatly improved! He even remembers to say "I'm four" instead of "I'm three" sometimes. We celebrated with all things Lightning McQueen, much to Isaiah's delight!

Check out other great Tot Schools by visiting 1+1+1=1.

Tot School--P Week

2010-01-31T22:06:00.001+03:00

Isaiah will be 48 months on Saturday!

This week we started back into our alphabet inspired school. However, rather than going straight through the alphabet, we are working through a "letter/sound chart" given to us by Isaiah's speech therapist that shows which sounds usually develop first for little people. It just so happens that the first letter on the chart was P, so that's where we started.

I wasn't as on top of things as I still hope to be, but we're getting there. I didn't have a specific Bible story picked out to work on, but we did read the Bible every day as a family.

We started out the week just right with a playdate with our friend Lydia! No pictures, I'm afraid, just too busy having fun!

I drew and cut out an upper and lower case P for Isaiah to glue onto a piece of construction paper. He hadn't used glue in about 6 months, but he remembered exactly what to do with that bottle!

We then worked with his little markers on his pre-writing skills and hand strengthening by having him open the markers and then draw lines up, down and across as well as circles, trying to make the Ps pink and purple.

And then he tried to tell me he wanted no more of this activity (before he had completed the tasks) by throwing his arms out to the sides whenever I asked him to draw a line. Yeah, he's got his own ideas these days. :)

We played with pink play-doh. I made him a little pot from some of the play-doh so that he could tear pieces from the rest of the play-doh and put the pieces in the pot, but he was only interested in tearing apart the pot, so we just went with that before rolling out long pieces and shaping them into the letter P.

I finally got some pictures printed out for him. This was a big hit! He didn't do as well as I thought he would in naming the pictures at first. (I had tried to choose things that he already knows really well, looking for opportunities for him to succeed right away.) We then adapted to laying out all the pictures. I asked him to give me the picture of "walker" for instance, and he got them 100% correct this way, from a field of 8! We worked with these every day, and he has definitely improved. I hope to add to our stash every week.

Isaiah's pronunciation continues to improve, but his habits change. Originally he was not closing his words well, but now he's not opening them well. For instance, "popcorn" comes out "opcorn", when it used to be "popco". It's strange to me, since I don't understand how all that works. He's improved greatly on closing his words, which has definitely helped with understanding him. Any suggestions in this area are greatly appreciated!

Thomas also downloaded and printed lots of pictures of cars for Isaiah to look through--another big hit with Little Man! We use them for colors right now, but I have plans for grouping and other things as his color identification gets better.

We also enjoyed exploring the letter P in the kitchen with pancakes, peanuts and pizza!

Check out all the other Tot Schools for great ideas of fun things to do with your little ones at 1+1+1=1!

Tot School--Back in Russia!

2010-01-22T22:08:00.000+03:00

Isaiah is 47 months old

We are getting back into the swing of things in many areas as we have returned to Russia! While in the States official Tot School took a bit of a back seat while we were able to get Isaiah some intensive physical, occupational and speech therapy.

So now I'm trying to get us into a schedule that will help me stay accountable and productive as Isaiah grows and learns each day! My desire is to continue the work that we began in therapy as well as incorporate much of what we had been doing in Tot School before we had our 5-month stint in the States.

Here's a little bit of what we did this week:

We actually made it to the park with his new wheels! Something I'm hoping to do more of when it gets just a tad bit warmer, like above 0 F.

Working on hand strengthening for writing, we used puzzles, lacing beads, legos and play-doh. Isaiah's hand coordination is developing slowly but nicely. Thanks to some lacing beads that look like cars, he actually seemed to enjoy this activity that he often resisted in occupational therapy!

We worked on drawing horizontal and vertical lines and circles. Just opening the markers is a skill to develop hand strength. These were fairly new and not all of them have been used yet, so they were a little tricky.

A puzzle with trucks helped keep his attention.

We used legos to work on color recognition/identification and hand strengthening. First I held out 2 different colored legos, asking him to take a specific color. If he went for the wrong color, I prompted him to try again. He got 2 out of 4 correct. He does really well with green and blue, and red is finally starting to come into the picture! Then he worked on stacking them, harder than you think when you have to match up those little pegs. With a little assistance on alignment, he did a great job.

Isaiah seems to have ups and downs with self-feeding, which can give Mama some ups and downs, too! This week he was doing much better with the spoon, a definite up for both of us!

Next week we'll start with working on specific letter-themed activities again to help give us focus and to develop some of the skills Isaiah began working on in speech therapy. But this week we did general activities like watching LeapFrog's Letter Factory. I got so excited as Isaiah actually began repeating the sounds with the characters! He's never done that before.

He's getting much better at repeating letters as we practice his alphabet. He also will count 1, 2 on his own, and then I help him up to 10.

On Tuesday we had a special treat. It's been bitterly cold here, so rather than meeting a friend in a favorite park or something, we took the free bus out to IKEA! We had a great time catching up with Oksana and Slava! There are always tons of toys to play with at IKEA, which also provided time for me to visit with my friend!

Every day we review Isaiah's children's catechism. He has the first two questions down cold! With a little prompting he is getting the third one really well, too. After breakfast we read the Bible together, and we are working on teaching Isaiah how to pray. I love hearing him talk to God!

And our big news is how well Isaiah is doing in our "PE program". Thanks to the diligent work of his therapist and the man who made his new braces and the man who ordered his equipment, Isaiah is making strides in walking! I just had to post a video of this. His walker is about 14 pounds, more than half his weight (finally 23 pounds!). He is finally getting the hang of turning it on his own, which involves lifting it a little bit. Little Man is STRONG!

Be sure to check out the other Tot Schools at 1+1+1=1! It's good to be back!

Starting Over?

2010-01-15T22:09:00.000+03:00

Since I am finally starting to feel better, even without medication, I really want to get started in Tot School activities with Isaiah. I'm a girl who loves routines and really gets so much more accomplished when I have a routine. For the past several months my routine was get up, get sick, take Isaiah to therapy, try to survive the day.

Now we're back in Russia, and my routine has been adjust to jet lag, get up, get sick, try to survive the day and have some meaningful interaction with Little Man.

I'm ready for more! However, I'm having a really hard time finding a starting point in providing structure for both of us. I would appreciate any suggestions!

There are certain elements that I know need to be included every day, but I currently begin to feel overwhelmed when I try to think about fitting them all in! Here's the short list:

~Bible Reading
~Physical Therapy (walking, arm strengthening exercises)
~Occupational Therapy (I want to focus on hand coordination for now, thinking ahead to writing)
~Speech Therapy (increasing vocabulary)

And then the more "school" type activities can often be fit into the therapy categories, such as learning colors and numbers and letters.

And here are the other things I'm hoping to fit in every day:
~Grocery shopping, at least every other day so Thomas doesn't have to do it all. This will involve at least 2 hours of the day.
~Outside time for at least 1 hour. It takes us about 25 minutes to gear up for going outside, so I'd like to be there for a while.
~Rest time
~Reading time, books other than Bible Reading time
~Independent play

Am I asking too much? Perhaps I am, but I would appreciate the insight of others! I think that part of my struggle, too, is simply remembering that Isaiah learns differently than other kids. During our time in the States we became increasingly aware that while Isaiah learns well and continues to progress, there are definitely some delays. I have to constantly find that balance of pushing him, but not looking for things that aren't going to happen on a "normal" schedule. I want to make learning fun for him, just like every parent, I think. I want to learn him well, so that I can help him in the best way possible.

Tot School--Flexibility!

2009-10-05T22:09:00.000+04:00

Isaiah is 44 months old

Well, official Tot School sort of got put on hold for a couple months. This break wasn't intentional, but we're trying to make the most of it. Those of you with children with special needs are probably very familiar with times like this! These days have been so full with moving into a new house, doctor appointment after doctor appointment, surgery and therapy. Things are finally starting to slow down, but in the midst of all that business a lot of learning has been taking place!

Isaiah after his tendon release surgery. He almost had to learn how to sit again as his legs were in different positions.

While we're still working on "school" stuff, there has been a focus on more physical development. Isaiah had surgery the end of August for a tendon release in order to prepare his legs to be able to bear weight. We go to his wonderful physical therapist two times a week to work on gross motor skills such as strengthening his arms to lift his body with a walker and to push himself in a wheelchair. His occupational therapist has been working with him on fine motor skills such as drawing and putting in puzzle pieces and dressing himself.

Here he had a break between physical therapy and occupational therapy. Please forgive the poor quality, I had to copy this from Twitter.

His beloved OT, Miss K working on lines and circles.

During his therapy sessions we also work on colors and identifying objects and following directions and problem solving. He's become quite proficient in choosing the correct color when asked, but he won't say the colors without a lot of prompting. His self-feeding has improved a lot, and he's finally drinking with a straw! (thanks, JanJan!)

He's been working on perfecting his straw technique by sharing smoothies with Grandma!

So at home, I've been trying to follow the therapists' lead, and I'm in the process of developing my Tot School plans based on the activities that they do with him in therapy. They have loaned us a stander with a tray, and we have been working on different fine motor skills at home, while learning shapes and colors and drawing. We're working on sorting, too, but he hasn't quite caught on yet, but he's getting better!

Coloring with Mimi and JanJan while working those legs in the stander.

Isaiah actually drew TWO CIRCLES all by himself the other day and TWO STRAIGHT LINES! That might not sound like much, but both those events were tremendous victories!

So, as things slow down, Lord willing, for us, I hope to be faithful again with Tot School. We do have some traveling coming up to visit some friends in CA, and several appointments again this week, but I do hope to get at least 2 days of official Tot School in each week (between appointments!). I've missed reading everyone's posts, as I've been too busy to even stalk all my favorite blogs! Hope everyone is doing well!

Be sure to check out the other Tot School posts linked at 1+1+1=1.

Tot School--N Week

2009-07-17T22:11:00.001+04:00

Isaiah is 40 months old

Bible Verse: Psalm 67:4 Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon the earth.

N is for...

Notes

So we made this, that I barely remembered to get a picture of, and yes, I realize some of the notes are backwards. We'll do better next time.

Not much else

Yeah, it was a busy week....

But there are other Tot Schools that you can check out at 1+1+1=1.

This week we're living it up outside. I think O is definitely going to be Isaiah's favorite letter.

Tot School--M Week

2009-07-06T22:12:00.001+04:00

Isaiah is 40 months old

We had a monster of a week! But I mean that in a magnificent way. :)

Bible Verse: We continued with Mark 12:30

And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

I decided to keep this verse because after all this is the greatest commandment. I think it's worthy of 2 weeks.

Bible Story: Moses

Family worship has been in Leviticus (we just read through the Bible, and that's where we are right now), so we've been reading tons and tons about Moses. I didn't do any specific activities with Isaiah about Moses, but we talked about him every day!

And here are some of the other things we did, in no particular order:

Monster

I made cookies with Isaiah's help, and he was the Cookie Monster!

Machines

I was able to get this little outfit made for Isaiah with the machines that he's growing to love more and more.

Moon and Muppets

For our letter craft, I found a printout of the moon and of Kermit the frog from the Muppets. This covered 2 of Isaiah's current favorites, Moonpowder and The Muppets. Just to tell you how much Isaiah loves his muppets...usually his first word in the morning when I come to get him out of bed is outside. Several times lately he has said uppets before saying outside. Now that should tell you something!

Meet

We finally got to meet Birdie! We've been waiting for quite some time now. The day before we were going to get to meet her, I told Isaiah at bedtime, Tomorrow we get to go see Birdie! I mentioned this several times. The next morning, first thing, Isaiah said Outside? Birdie? (which sounds like Buddy, it's so cute!)

Miss

Not like the adorable little miss pictured above with her mommy. This is for missing Daddy! Every day Daddy would call and talk to Isaiah, and this is how Isaiah looked while talking to him, except when he was covering the phone with kisses!

Material

I took scraps of material from old sewing projects and put them in 2 of Isaiah's bowels, thinking, of course, he'll love to move them back and forth. The 2nd picture shows you how interesting he found this activity.

Magazine

Isaiah loves his 'azines as he calls them. My mama graciously sends us some magazines on a fairly regular basis. They're all about North Carolina, where I'm originally from, so I really enjoy them, too!

We also ate at McDonald's (how could we skip that during M week?!). I also made us some meatballs, which were not enthusiastically received for some reason.

We sang My God is so Big, I May Never March..., Majesty, All Must be Well, My Hat Has 3 Corners, The Ants go Marching. Music is always a big part of every day for us! We listen to it, sing it, play it, the works.

We read Moonpowder (over and over and over again!), I Love You, Mommy and of course lots from the Bible.

And finally, M is for...

Mohawk

During bathtime I just couldn't resist giving Isaiah this cute 'do.

(Please ignore the mildew on the wall behind the tub. I have scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed, and it just will not come off. But hey, it's another M for us, right?)

Be sure to enjoy the other Tot Schools linked at 1+1+1=1. And we're getting a notable start for N Week!

Tot School--L Week

2009-06-28T22:13:00.001+04:00

Isaiah is almost 41 months

L is for Life, and we had a lot of interesting experiences in our lives this week!

Bible Verse:

Mark 12:30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

Bible Story:

Lazarus

Unfortunately, I couldn't think of any great crafts for this Bible story to increase hand coordination for Isaiah, so we acted out the story with some of his little animals. Lazarus was the lion (since they both started with L). I hope that doesn't seem too sacrilegious! We didn't have an animal for Jesus. And Isaiah's little cloth briefcase sufficed for the tomb. So Isaiah enjoyed putting Lazarus into the tomb, but I had to convince him that Mary and Martha didn't need to go in the tomb, too. Then he enjoyed taking Lazarus back out when I finished the telling him the story.

Laundry basket

Which apparently has suddenly begun to fascinate Isaiah.

Lydia!

Lydia's mommy had their second daughter on Monday night! We got to spend all day with Lydia on Wednesday! They played so well together!

Lick

Thursday our friends Oksana and Slava came over. After lunch we were able to go for a walk in the wonderful park near our house. Isaiah and I enjoyed licking some ice cream!

Lighthouse

I made the letter L and we turned the tall side into a lighthouse. Anyone recognize which lighthouse this is supposed to be?

Legos

Isaiah actually asked to play with his legos! And guess what else! He built something with them! This is the first time that he's worked so hard to put the legos together all by himself. Before this he's only pulled them apart.

Lids

Isaiah is getting better and better at unscrewing or taking off lids these days. And he even has started to put them back on fairly well. This also has developed into a fascination with putting chap stick on his lips because he can get that lid off very easily! Hmmm....wonder where he got that idea? (anyone with the last name of Slawson willing to confess to this behavior?) :)

We did a few other things like mail letters, look through magazines, lock ourselves out of the apartment, and of course laugh lots and lots.

Some songs we sang:

O Be Careful Little Hands..., This Little Light of Mine, O Love That Will Not Let Me Go, and tons of songs with Love in them.

These last 2 pictures, don't have much to do with our Tot School, except that the applique is "Little Mechanic". I just really like them, so I had to add them! And it's like a preview for next week's M activities!

Be sure to check out the other Tot Schools around the world or helpful Tot School tips at1+1+1=1.

Tot School--K Week

2009-06-21T22:13:00.001+04:00

Isaiah is 40 months

Hmm, this was 2 weeks ago, and I don't think that I even remember very much of what we did! But I'll do my best, just in case anyone is wondering what we were up to (i.e., Grandparents).

Bible Verse:

Ephesians 4:32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

I must confess that I never really settled on a Bible story, though thankfully we read the Bible together as a family every day, so Isaiah didn't do without!

This first picture had nothing to do with K, but it was something that occupied Isaiah for a long time! He worked with his little pegs and pegboard all by himself! At first, I would put in the pegs and he would pull them out. Then he started trying to put them in, too. Then he realized that there was a plastic bag nearby, so that ended any attention to the pegboard, everything just went from the bowl to the plastic bag and back.

Kitchen

No pictures, but Isaiah is starting to imitate some of my actions in the kitchen. For instance, he has a bowl and a plastic bag that I keep in there with some toys for him to play with. He has started pretending to stir the toys around in the bowl and to open the plastic eggs. It's really cute.

Kick

With a little help, Isaiah was able to kick this soccer ball!

Karate

We karate-chopped (is that a verb?) his foam letters. He did fairly well identifying the letters that we've worked on so far.

Kangaroo

I made a letter K and Isaiah glued it and a picture of some kangaroos down. We also watched some youtube videos about these amazing creatures!

Koala

We watched some youtube videos about koala bears, too.

And now, I can only remember one song that we sang, Jesus Everlasting King, but I know there were more. This is what happens when I wait too long to post something. Oh well!

There are plenty of other Tot Schools to read about at 1+1+1=1.

Tot School--J Week

2009-06-15T22:14:00.003+04:00

Isaiah is 40 months old

Our Bible verse this week:

Proverbs 3:15 She [wisdom] is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her.

Of course, the most precious thing to Isaiah is outside, so we changed this verse a little bit to fit what he would better understand.

Our Bible Story:

Joshua and the Battle of Jericho

And other things J is for...

Jelly

Isaiah enjoyed his first jelly and butter sandwich. He's not really into peanut butter lately (more for mama!), but he had to have jelly this week, so I improvised. He seemed to really enjoy the sweet lunch, since he ate the whole thing, and he's not a big sandwich fan.

Juxtaposed

This week Isaiah figured out that he can sit up even better by leaning up against something like the leg of our little table or the wall. He was pretty proud of himself for this accomplishment! And Mama was, too!

Jocularity

Friday night we had 3 other families join us for dinner, and Isaiah, as usual, had a blast! He was doing his normal laugh until you can't breath thing, which was really quite cute. He's getting better and better about actually playing with other children.

Just

As in just a few more M&M's, or just a few more minutes in the bath, or just one more song, or just like Daddy...

Joshua and Jericho

We read the story of Joshua and the battle of Jericho in English and Russian as always. Then we built our own wall, which ended up more like the wall of China, probably, but we had fun. We knocked it down, too, which was even more fun. Then Isaiah wanted to clean it up. He amazes me!

Some other random j activities:

We listened to some fun jazz thanks to the radio via iTunes. We jostled through the park on a nice jaunt one afternoon. It rained most of the week, so this was a treat, actually to finally get outside. We learned about jungle animals by watching some videos on YouTube. And Daddy made us jambalaya although Isaiah didn't really eat very much of that because it was pretty spicy--Yum! We jumped around the house, which brought lots of giggles. We jogged down the stairs to get the stroller, which also brought lots of giggles.

We sang: Jesus Cast a Look on Me, Jesus Loves Me, and whatever other songs we could think of that had Jesus in them. Why do I always forget these songs when I come to write my post?

We read: The Tale of Jeremy Fisher again, since that's our only J book.

And now we're Kickin' it with the letter K!

Check out the other Tot Schools at 1+1+1=1.

Tot School--G Week

2009-06-08T22:15:00.001+04:00

Isaiah is almost 40 months old

For "G Week" we enjoyed games, gangs, gargantuous amounts of rain, and lots more, but here are some pictures from the week:

Well, actually first, our Bible verse and Bible story:

G is for God (of course!)--Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.

G is for Gideon

We read about Gideon in our giant family Bible (ok, not really that big, but to Isaiah it is!) and in his Russian Children's Bible (again good practice for mama). And since mama also had 3 grueling language lessons this week, Julia came to take great care of Isaiah, and she was able to read to him about Gideon without the language limitations, so he heard it correctly in both languages. And incidentally, when I returned home from my lesson one day, Isaiah was only speaking in Russian! He did a great job, too!

I had hoped to do some crafts with the Bible story this week, but 3 lessons rather did me in!

Gang

But the peaceful kind! Tuesday Isaiah and I enjoyed hanging out with Oksana and Slava (Оксана и Слава, for those of you interested in the Russian spelling). This was fun for the mamas and the boys. We were able to take a walk in the glaring sunlight (the only day we had sun this week).

Green grass growing in the ground

On the way home from Oksana and Slava's we stopped off at our park. I had forgotten how gorgeous the color green can be! We gazed at the green trees and grass with gratitude to God for bringing spring at last!

And what could be holding Isaiah's attention so well? A big machine digging in the ground, of course! He watched this for about 20 minutes with occasional smiles flashed at me.

Grandparents glued under glass

Living so far away we take every advantage to make sure that Isaiah knows his family; praise God for Skype! But I thought it would be fun to add to our collection of family pictures, so I printed out larger copies of pictures of his grandparents. First we glued them onto brightly colored pieces of paper. For the first time I let him use the glue all by himself, and he did great! He didn't want to stop!

Then I cut the paper so that a small frame was still around the picture. For glass we used something akin to contact paper, but it was a little thinner and a little more difficult to work with than what I had been used to in the States. But it worked. To work on fine motor skills, I cut a small piece for Isaiah to try to peel apart the sticky side from the backing; here's his reaction: I don't think he's a fan. :)

He did however enjoy rubbing down the "glass" to try to make it smooth over his grandparents faces.

Then he loved on them with hugs and kisses. And now he kisses them goodnight every night.

Garage

We don't own a car here, so we don't have a garage, but Isaiah does! He got this little set for Christmas, but most of the smaller cars that came with it have broken. It's supposed to shoot cars out really fast, but Isaiah enjoyed playing with it like this:

The rest of the activities/songs/foods don't have pictures, because I was usually really involved in them and couldn't take pictures.

Gravity

We dropped his animals into different containers, and they always fell. Gravity is pretty predictable that way.

Grapes

Isaiah LOVES grapes and can even say the word fairly well.

Guitar

Isaiah also LOVES the guitar. Every day when we have family worship, Daddy lets Isaiah strum the guitar after each song we sing. He even tries to use the pick now! I do hope to get a picture of this, but usually he's in my lap for family worship, and then I forget later.

We sang lots and lots this week, but here are the songs that are G-ish: God is so Good; My God is so Big; No More My God; (sensing a theme?); The Green Grass Grew All Around; Great is Thy Faithfulness; The Graham Cracker Song; and I think there were some more, but that's all I can remember for now.

We sadly did not get to read very much this week beyond the Bible story. And we don't have very many G related books anyway.

We are jumping to J next week, since we recently did H and I. See you then!

For more Tot School fun, don't forget to check out 1+1+1=1.

Tot School--F Activities

2009-06-02T22:17:00.001+04:00

This week F is for FINALLY! I finally got this post done, and in all honesty, we finally did some Tot School!

So here's some stuff that we did...

Bible Verse:

Proverbs 18:24b There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Bible Story:

Flood--we played a lot with his ark and his animals, but you've seen pictures of that already, and I actually didn't take any new ones, so you'll just have to trust me on that one. And during baths we talked about all the water that there must have been during the flood, and Isaiah tried to get me wet.

F is also for...

Fun with Friends

Isaiah's friend Lydia celebrated her 3rd birthday. I don't think Isaiah could have had any more fun than he did on this day, playing with the other little people. And Lydia's daddy was so nice to help him really participate in the games as well! We love our friends!

Face

I don't have a picture, but Isaiah and I got to make a face at the birthday party, too. It was a really fun craft. One of the moms had cut out different facial features for the kids to choose from and make different faces.

And sadly, F is also for fever, which is what Isaiah had several days this week, another reason for the delayed post, and really not that many activities. Thankfully F does NOT stand for fever seizures! We are praising God that it seems like Isaiah might be outgrowing those really terrible things!

Family

I told you to expect this one, didn't I? Only it didn't quite play out the way that I had in mind, but that's ok. Since Isaiah was sick we had some special family time. His grandparents don't often get to spoil him with fun, fanciful, frolicking toys (just had to get some more F's in here somehow, because we really did use them a lot!), but thanks to financial freedom, this week he got a special treat from his faithfully fond grandparents in forever hot Louisiana, his very own computer!

Flower

And since my favorite flower is a daisy, I found a print out of a stencil to make one, and we did.

Fine Motor Skills

We work on fine motor skills all the time, but this week Isaiah showed some fabulous progress! He taught himself how to unscrew a bottle cap. We figured out that he could do this when we found Zicam powder all over him and a good bit of the kitchen. Now we know not to give him a bottle unless it's ok for him to open it or it's childproof!

He's almost got the knack of fitting the cap back onto the bottle, too. But don't you just love this face!

We also sang: Five Fat Freckled Frogs, This is my Father's World, and some other songs that I can't remember, as usual.

We don't have that many F books, but we did enjoy Beatrix Potter's book about Mr. Jeremy Fisher. I've also started reading The Adventures of Frog and Toad every time Isaiah takes a bath.

He is also doing a fantastic job learning his letter sounds. We've been watching the LeapFrog Letter Factory, and he gets really into it now. It's so much fun to hear him repeat the sounds!

Don't forget to check the other Tot Schools at 1+1+1=1.

Tot School--E Week

2009-05-17T22:17:00.001+04:00

Isaiah is 39 months

This week was a little different, but I don't really know why. I don't have many pictures, but we did do some other activities, so words will just have to suffice.

Unfortunately I didn't do that well with a Bible verse for this week. I just had a hard time choosing one, and then I didn't talk about any of them very much with Isaiah.

Bible Story: Elijah

We enjoyed reading from his Russian children's Bibles about Elijah. We read about Elijah's faithfulness to God when lots of other people were not faithful, and we read about the altar that shouldn't have burned, but God made it burn!

E is for

Elephant

I found this elephant mask online, but have since lost the web address. It was something about Go, Diego, Go!, but I don't really know what that is, since it's not on Russian television. :)

Isaiah wasn't too thrilled with this thing on his face.

So we pulled out his elephant foam puzzle square from his really awesome foam mat from Aunt Emily, Uncle Rich and Luke. He seemed to enjoy taking all the pieces out, but didn't really care about putting them back.

Our friend Deanna also came over for supper one night, and she brought Isaiah a really cute stuffed elephant because she knew we were working on E, but I didn't get a picture of them together like I should have!

Aunt Emily

For some reason, it had been a while since we looked at Isaiah's family book (get ready for more of that next week!), so I pulled it out and he loved on the pictures of his family, oh so far away.

Eggs

I don't have pictures of this, but Isaiah really liked playing with his plastic eggs again this week. He could even get them apart! I finally remembered to save an egg carton for him to put them in, and he could do it! I wasn't sure about his ability to put them in specific spots, rather than just a big bowl. I was pretty excited about this new development! He also did well picking up the color egg that I asked for, though he wasn't interested in naming them himself.

Egypt

This sort of happened by accident. We unexpectedly had to eat lunch out one day due to no electricity, and Isaiah got a pyramid-shaped toy with his lunch. (yet again no picture) We hid treasures in his pyramid and talked a little bit about Egypt.

Eli

Who is the main character of one of Isaiah's favorite books, Moonpowder, which obviously doesn't start with an E, but Eli does. And Isaiah sounds really cute when he says that name!

At the end of the week, Isaiah got sick, so we've been focusing on keeping his fever down and limiting our activities. Hopefully next week Mama will be more "with it" and plan ahead a little better!

For the other Tot Schools, be sure to check out 1+1+1=1.

Tot School--D Week

2009-05-10T22:18:00.001+04:00

Isaiah is 39 months old

D is for Day

Psalm 118:24 This is the day that the Lord has made; we will be glad and rejoice in it!

Bible Story: Days of Creation (yeah, it's a carry over from last week when we didn't finish) :)

So here are our D activities for this week:

Determination

Isaiah loves taking off his socks, perhaps in part because I love to give him lots of praise for it! Anything that he can do for himself like this is certainly worthy of applause!

Day 2

This activity was actually intended for C Week, but I just ran out of time and steam. So when we talked about Day 2 of Creation, we made a cloud. Isaiah quickly remembered however, that cotton balls are much more fun to pull apart than anything else.

Delight

We have been enjoying some amazingly wonderful weather, so Isaiah and I have been outside A LOT! Hence, Isaiah's extreme delight! Here are some D things that we saw one day in the park:

Drain

Not particularly stunning, but Isaiah had fun learning how to say drain while I took his picture.

Dandelions

These aren't actually dandelions, but they're close! We found these little flowers in the park, and thankfully I had thought to bring a plastic bag along. Isaiah loves putting things in plastic bags lately, so we collected some flowers. We did see actual dandelions later on in the week.

Downhill

You might not be able to tell from this picture, but this was a pretty good downhill slope in this new-to-us park. There were actually several, and we enjoyed running downhill over and over, running up wasn't as much fun for mama, but Isaiah enjoyed that, too.

Dome, Durham, Dalmatian

I love this picture. I had a better one with Isaiah actually looking at the camera and smiling and with the dalmatian actually in the picture, too. Yeah, didn't realize until after the upload that the dog didn't make the cut, oh well, just use your imagination. But you can still see really well the dome of the church across the street from the park and the Durham Bulls logo on Isaiah's cap. We love baseball!

Drinking

Ok, so Isaiah's 3, and until this week he has only drunk from a sippy cup, though minus the valve that prevents spills. I've tried in the past to get him to drink from a regular cup on his own, but since balance is often an issue for him, he's not too interested in doing anything that requires lots of care with his hands in a situation that's not familiar. But this week he did great! I was so excited that I kept snapping pictures, but for y'all I limited my selection to only 2. :)

Dinosaur

We were able to attend a concert this week, and Isaiah looked dashing in his dinosaur outfit from Grandma and Grandaddy!

Deanna

Here Isaiah's with our dear friend Deanna at the concert.

Daddy Directing

What would D week be without something special about Daddy?! He directed the choir at the concert that we attended, and of course he did a great job!

Dancers

Isaiah really enjoyed watching the dancers at the concert, too. Actually, he liked watching them warm up when they had to run 5 circles around the seating area the best. But he enjoyed watching them dash across the stage as well.

Door

If there is a door in our dwelling that is open, don't worry, Isaiah will take care of that for you in seconds!

Days of Creation

At the end of the week, we had finally completed all the Days of creation. I had found some small plastic animals at something akin to a dollar store here. When we talked about how God made the animals and man, I gave Isaiah his new little animals, and he was thrilled! I tried to imitate the sounds, and he tried to copy me! We're excited about his verbal progress lately.

Here's Isaiah playing with his animals and our ark from a few weeks ago after we finished all the Days of creation.

Disaster

Ok, it really wasn't that bad, it was actually pretty funny. I made the error of leaving out the crates I use for his school supplies after I had done some cleaning. Isaiah found them and managed to pull out just about everything.

Then he struck gold when he found the plastic bag with the foam letters! He got the bag open (great fine motor skill improvement!) and started moving the letters from the bag to the big crate then reaching into the big crate and pulling them out to put them back in the bag.

We enjoyed singing: This is the Day, of course; as well as Deep and Wide, Don't Ya Know (from a Veggie Tales music CD) and ShenanDoah and some other songs that I don't remember right now. Isaiah loves Shenandoah for some reason. It's really cute though, he'll sing "Dough" really loudly over and over again. He also likes to sing with me when I just sing "do, do, do" in the place of all the words of a song. I like that, too.

We read: Oh My, Oh My, Oh Dinosaurs; I Love you, Daddy; and tons of other stuff that has nothing specifically to do with d.

And yet again we didn't get to all the things that I had planned like drums, daisies, doughnuts and more. Oh well, there's always next time! But we did get to...

Dancing!

We love to dance!

Make sure to check out 1+1+1=1 for more Tot Schools!

Tot School--C Week II

2009-05-03T22:19:00.001+04:00

Isaiah is 38 months old

We're getting back into the alphabet where we left off before starting with Isaiah's name. We had done C a little bit, but not as thoroughly as I would have liked because it was around Christmas, and I got very distracted. So, here's what we did with the letter C.

C is for....

Creation

Our verse for the week:

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Celebrate!

We enjoyed celebrating Daddy's birthday on Tuesday! He had a yummy chocolate cake, which Isaiah also really enjoyed. Unfortunately I can't get the picture off my phone to show you, so you'll just have to trust me on that one.

Creation

We only made it through the first day of creation this week, but I think that we can easily continue this theme with the days of creation for D week next week. We really only had one official day of Tot School this week, but I have all the projects ready for all the days of creation, so we should accomplish more next week.

Isaiah helped me glue our creation circle for day 1: Light and Dark. We cut out the circles in light and dark colors of construction paper, then glued half of one circle onto the other. Here Isaiah is clapping after we finished the craft.

Cotton

I found some small plastic containers at IKEA when we were there with friends on Monday, so now I don't have to keep borrowing from the kitchen and running out when I need them! I found some cotton balls, and Isaiah really enjoyed moving them from one container to another, no big surprise to me.

But then he realized that he could pull them apart, and that was even more fun!

And if you missed this other post, you can now know that C is for CRAWLING

We are super excited about Isaiah being able to pull his knees up under his hips and get around a little bit at a time. There's a video, too, if you would like to see him in action!

Cutie in a Cap

We had a nice family day on Wednesday when we were able to go visit Pushkin. We were outside almost all day, which thrilled Isaiah, of course. The weather was not cold, which thrilled all of us! But here's Isaiah looking oh so cute in his Durham Bulls cap, a wonderful gift from North Carolina.

Clock

We visited Katherine the Great's palace in Pushkin. There were lots of neat clocks like this one in the entryway.

Ceramic Furnace

Almost all the rooms had ceramic furnaces in the corners like this one. Be sure to notice the cool blue footies that Isaiah's Daddy is wearing. :) Any time you go to one of the palaces or other historical spots in Russia, you will usually need to wear these over your shoes to protect the floors. Thankfully our Russian has improved so that we could talk the administrator into letting us use Isaiah's stroller throughout the palace so we didn't have to carry him the whole time!

Castle

Ok, so here, these are actually called palaces, but they're really like castles, too, don't you think? It was really quite beautiful.

We really enjoyed God's beautiful creation!

We enjoyed lots of singing again this week: If You're Happy and You Know it, Clap Your Hands; Consider it All Joy (written by Isaiah's Daddy from James 1:2-4) and lots of other songs that aren't related to C at all. :)

We read lots of books (especially since we went on a short trip the end of the week, but that's another post, this one is already long enough): Corduroy; The Cat in the Hat; and some Russian books that Isaiah really enjoys, but don't start with C necessarily, just the hard sound that's written with what looks like a latin K.

We ate crunchy nuts like almonds and cashews and not so healthy things like chips and chicken nuggets, too, and of course the aforementioned chocolate cake, which was by far his favorite food of the week.

So that's our short Tot School week. Check out the other creative ideas at 1+1+1=1.

Tot School--H Week

2009-04-26T22:20:00.001+04:00

Isaiah is 38 months

Finishing up the letters in Isaiah's name this week.

H is for....

Holy

Our verse for this week was I Peter 1:15 But as He Who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct (ESV). Since this is still sort of new for us, I'll say again that I didn't make Isaiah memorize this; we're still working on getting him to say please and thank you and peoples' names, so I think memorizing a verse this long would be a little hard for him yet; however, he is doing a great job learning his children's catechism, but that's for another post. For this week, we talked about this verse every day (and mama memorized it) and ways that we can be holy in our daily activities. For Isaiah we talked about obedience and how he can obey God when he obeys mama and daddy; but how mama and daddy also must obey God!

Hannah

Our Bible story for the week was about Hannah and Samuel. I didn't do nearly what I had hoped to do with this story, so maybe I'll be able to remember my ideas and do them on the next go around. We did read the story of Hannah in the Bible (in English and Russian!). We talked about her prayer and her promise to God, and how she kept her promise to God. (Then we prayed for a baby, too!)

Happy

Isaiah was very happy to have a play date with his friend Lydia, at last! Lydia's mommy and I had been trying to get back into our regular play dates for a while now, so we were all happy to have one again.

Honey

And what better snack could you have than Honey Nut Cheerios, I ask you? I think that I was just as excited about this special treat as Isaiah was, maybe even more!

Handprints

Of course, we had to make handprints. This is actually the first time that I have ever made a print of Isaiah's hands. He seemed to be a little confused, but complied anyway. Then, of course, he wanted to touch everything else before I got him cleaned up.

Hats

We read the great book Old Hat, New Hat by Stan and Jan Berenstain, thanks to Grandma S. I had planned on making hats like some in the book, but Isaiah decided to take several really long naps this week, and with other activities already scheduled (and amazing weather!), we ran out of time. I think I'm going to try to incorporate the hat idea with other letters though, because Isaiah is really into hats lately!

I know this picture is out of focus, but I couldn't resist it! He was just so cute wearing this knit hat around the house on Friday as he helped me clean.

And he had to wear this orange hat while sitting in his favorite spot on Saturday morning as we waited for Daddy to come home.

Ok, couldn't come up with a legitimate "h" word for this one, but here is an example of his current obsession. This Little Man LOVES ziploc bags (too bad z is at the end of the alphabet!). If he sees me get out a bag of something he asks for the bag, not because he wants what's inside (I'm finally learning) but because he wants to try to open the bag, take out what's inside then put it back inside and start the whole process over again. So this time, his snack went from plate to bag to plate to bag, with a few bites taken in the process.

Helper

We did some big grocery shopping on Friday, and Isaiah was my big helper as always. He likes me to hand him the products, then he puts them into the basket for me. He does a great job!

Ham

As in ham and cheese blini, which is sort of like a crepe with ham and cheese inside. He got this as a treat on Friday for lunch, and he ate it while watching Letter Factory. We haven't had the video for very long, but he seems to enjoy it. He has finally started repeating the sounds with the characters, but I haven't noticed yet any letter recognition, but much more sound recognition.

Hammer

Isaiah played with his hammer a good bit this week, but when I asked him to help mehammer his H to the paper for his big name project, he was NOT interested. He had seen the small box that holds his little containers of paint, and he wanted to play with that instead! So after we got the letter attached, probably the fastest art project ever, he was happy to remove the paint containers and put them back in.

Haircut

Isaiah's hair grows remarkably fast, so I take care of the cutting. I'm always amazed at how different he looks after a haircut, so here's a before...

...and an after.

Helicopter

I found this great Chinese made toy at our store for less than $1, and it actually worked! (sometime I'll have to explain that comment.) Although, don't pull the string in a room with tall refrigerators behind which the spinning circle can fall and be lost--this thing can really fly high! I couldn't get a good picture of it because I was enjoying myself too much. :)

Hang

We got to hang Isaiah's name on the wall in his room at last! You can tell that later in the letters I was trying to get a little bit more creative. Maybe we'll do it again sometime; I'm sure that this won't last forever.

We're a pretty musical family, so I enjoy focusing on songs that have lots of words with our letter of the week. Some of our favorites from this week were: Happy and You Know It, Holy Hands, Hallelujah Praise Jehovah, Head and Shoulders Knees and Toes and just plain humming, which worked especially well on all our walks in the park where the paths were bumpy and you could hum all sorts of interesting things while we bumped along.

Hot

Well, ok, not really hot, yet, but relative to what we have been experiencing, I have felt really hot on our walks this week. Thankfully Isaiah is no longer in the polar suit! Hooray! Now that he's not all constricted in the great big thing, he can sit up straighter and enjoy watching the cars go by, which seems to really hold his attention!

We also watched some youtube videos of hippos and hamsters, but I think that's all for this week for us. Head on over to 1+1+1=1 to see more great Tot School ideas, and you'll also get to see Carisa's beautiful little girl!