I don't have pictures this week, either. So you get a lot of blah, blah, blah this week, but I finally posted a bunch of videos in other postings from the summer that can keep you entertained.
This week the potty police came into town. Definitely my child. Tucker is the potty policeman. He has this discussion with Whitney about who has a diaper and who doesn't of their friends. Like 10 times a day at least. I figure my mom will get a kick out of this. Apparently I did something similar when I was recently potty trained and my nursery buddies weren't. The conversation goes something like this: "...Aisley doesn't have a diaper. She's big. Joe has a diaper. Tom is big. He doesn't have a diaper. Lucas has a diaper......"
Tucker is really starting to like going to other places where he knows his friends are. He walked out of nursery and his pre-school classes this week with a big, satisfied smile on his face, sighed, and said "Mom, Tucker likes nursery" or "Mom, Tucker goes to pre-school. Pre-school is over". Whitney makes no comment, only continues on her content and patient way.
He really liked the house he went to this week. I think it has to do with the tramp, sandbox and some really cool activities. They did the five senses this week and Tucker had a grand ol' time with his buddy turning the smelling lab into a tasting lab. They really liked how the strawberry pudding mix smelled and tasted, so they thought they would get the same effect with cinnamon. Smells good, right? So a big huge lick of it on the tongue must be even better. Yeah. I think they learned their lesson. Dill weed was also on the paper and Tucker told me later that "mom, I LIKE pickles" Not sure he has had pickles of late. Who knows, though. Might be a dad snack for them when I'm gone. I stopped asking what happens when I'm gone. It makes me too mad to think about it sometimes.
Another thing they did at pre-school was to try to guess sounds. Tucker and his buddy (same as above) loved it so much they did it again.
I finally decorated for fall. I normally do it first thing sept 1st because I'm so excited for fall, but not as much now. I like to drag out summer and it's sunny days as much as possible. So since I waited so long, I could put out the Halloween decorations. I put their treat bags in their rooms. They are these felt bags of a candy corn and a ghost that hold about a soup can worth of candy. When Whitney walked into her room, she noticed right away. She got a big grin and giggled at them for about a minute. She really likes them. She refers to them as "Halloween". As in, "Where did Halloween go?" when I turn out the lights.
I read or heard somewhere that little kids don't necessarily know completely the difference between movie and reality. I think that might apply a bit to books. Whitney totally applies her books to real life. Here are some examples:
I asked her to get her pj's on and she started reciting "...get pajamas big and small..." over and over. It's a line from one of her books.
We went to a playground that has a monkey picture on the underneath of the slide and Whitney pointed out, loudly exclaiming: "Mom! Look! There's George!" We recently checked out Curious George for the first time and they love him. He's real.
We went to a place that has trains. Whitney started commenting "Tucker has train pajamas and Whitney has bear pajamas" Yep. You're right, Whit.
Her newer comments this week melt my heart. She made me "soup", fed it to me, and after I pretend ate it, asked if "mommy feels better now". She also says "I'm making Tucker feel better" whenever she does something to help him out.
The rest of this is just random silly stuff they say that makes me laugh.
Whitney finger painted her green smoothie on the table. I came over to wipe everything up and she said to me "Mom! I made pokey tree!" Pokey tree is what they call the holly bush in our yard. And it really did look like a leaf from the tree. I wish I had a camera to take a picture of that.
Whitney got out her blocks one day. There are some longer, straight, skinny blocks that do look a tiny bit like really thick french fries. She said she was making herself French fries. After she ate some, she made some more for Daddy, because "Daddy loves French fries." Yep. True that.
While we were at the playground one day, they were fighting over the little toy piano thing they have because Tucker wanted to play row row row your boat, but Whitney kept screaming "that's MY EMAIL!!". It does look a bit like a computer keyboard.
She can count to 13 easily now. I'm not sure why it's 13, but it is. She also likes to say "I'm listening, Mom" when I'm getting after Tucker about something. She calls going down the slide on her stomach "Whitney slug". There were two benches facing each other at the playground, so Whitney sat down and asked me in a very serious grown up voice "Mom, do you want to talk?" You bet!
We went to Value Village and there were some tap shoes one size too big for only $2. I seriously considered getting them for her since she loves to watch me dance, but realized another mom probably with a child really in tap lessons will want them, so I didn't. But then Whitney asked for them the rest of the day. She hasn't asked since, but I think she might be interested in dance when she is older. Or now.
Tucker was very considerate of Whitney at the lake this week. We didn't get in the water, but he threw rocks for a good long time while Whitney drew in the sand with her stick. He brought her a pink rock he found for her to throw in. And she wanted clam shells, so he brought her those when he found them. It was really cute.
Tucker likes to play take out the trash. He drags our recycle bin through the house just like I drag the big cans up the driveway. It cracks me up because he walks really slow and careful around the house like I do when they are "helping me" get the cans up so I don't trip over them.
One night I gave them goldfish crackers for dinner. I think they've been missing them. Tucker climbed up in his chair and said with his eyes big with excitement "Oooooo!! Whitney! We got GOLDFISH crackers!!"
Tucker has started liking to take care of me. He likes to feed me my food, give me water to drink and wash my hands for me, just like I do for him. Kind of annoying. Gave me a little respect for why he doesn't like it when I do stuff for him.
He figured out how to buckle himself in the seat so he always has to buckle himself in. Add another 10 minutes on to the trip. It gets worse if he thinks he needs to buckle Whitney in. And even longer if Whitney doesn't want Tucker to buckle her in. Whatever. BUT it takes even longer if I try to do it for them.
Whitney is trying to figure out the rules. And help others obey. I fed them smoothie for breakfast one morning and was going to drink my smoothie while I checked my email. Hah! No checking email. Tucker ran in and said "Mom. Are you eating?" and climbed up to share. Whitney came in and said "Mommy! Go sit in your chair in the kitchen! (with kitchen pronounced as chicken).
all in all they've been really good this week and we've had a lot of fun together.
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
an encouragement to keep up daily scripture study
Tucker seems to know these old testament stories. we read stuff out of the picture scripture things once a day.
last minute beach play
Whitney brought me a clam shell with an animal in it.... the rest is self explanatory.
last week and videos from summer
Videos of Whitney pushing Tucker in the swing, playing the flip over game with Piglet and digging in the dirt together. The video below is Whitney taking a picture of Piglet with her play camera. I think I'll put the rest of the videos in separate posts. Taking too long
It's interesting to blog about Tucker and Whitney. They both have much better verbal skills, but Whitney talks a lot more and about pretend things. Tucker talks quite a bit, too. Usually about what is happening around him or to Whitney, so it is harder for me to remember what he says. So I've decided to start blogging about what he does during the day and just know that's pretty much what he says, too.
Tucker still loves water and pouring it. He does the dishes with me a bunch. This means he has the faucet on low filling and emptying a measuring cup. This is the same way he takes a bath. Otherwise, no bath unless it is absolutely necessary. He loves helping with the routine. He is very good about taking care of Sammy and Rocky and their needs. He feeds them and gives them water. He also is conscious of how much petting they need and realizes that they both love their ears "petted".
He loves helping me cook and clean purely to be able to use another tool. He stirs the noodles or veggies in the pot. This is a very stressful endeavor for me, to allow him so close to a hot surface. He also has taken up scrubbing the toilet. I also hate that one because I don't want that thing anywhere outside the toilet or any water being splashed, but we've come to terms with his turn and Mommy's turn and when his turn ends.
He also helped me make salsa from the 20 pounds of tomatoes we bought at the awesome stand. I happen to like my salsa fresh, spicy and with lots of garlic. I let him put in the tomatoes and turn the food processor on each time. He also liked to taste test each batch with chips. I kept tasting and saying "Que rico!". He caught on and did the same thing, scooping up the stuff, eating it and saying "que rico!" even though he would get an expression on his face like it was a bit too spicy or garlicy. I think he just wanted to eat chips.
I think Tucker likes to eat garlic, too. He'll eat large handfuls of garlic flavored Triscuits. Anyone that has had those knows there is a limit to how many you can eat, but he gobbles them up like another flavor of fish cracker.
Whitney has quite the imagination and the words to describe it. They really like to play with the holly berries. They put them in their "soups", gather piles of them, call them apples for Sammy and Rocky, etc. She came up with a new one. She rubbed one on my face and said "Mommy, do you want some apple blush?" and stroked my face like she was putting on makeup. She totally knows how to do it, too. Very intuitive with makeup.
They play "beach" in our shower stall. This is how it goes. They get their soft chairs and drag them into the shower stall. Then they sit in there and play all sorts of pretend beach games. Whitney even got out and was using her soft toy mushroom to put on the "crema para the playa" (sunscreen).
I only have a fitted sheet on their beds. They prefer to sleep on the floor anyway, especially Tucker. He puts his pillow right on top of the heater vent. Anyway, I thought just having the fitted sheet and their blanket would be a lot easier than covers and making two extra beds everyday. I don't know. I make their beds daily anyway once they learned to play this game. They like to crawl in under their fitted sheet and wiggle around like slugs and try to catch each other. The sheets usually come off every time.
Sunday Whitney totally tripped going into the church and did a hard face plant. I guess it didn't hurt because she chuckled to herself, looked up at me and said "Oh no! Silly Whitney slug!". She also calls going down the slide at the park on her stomach being "whitney slug".
On Tuesday I got after her quite a bit for being underfoot when I was going back and forth with stuff to can peaches. So later in the day when I wasn't actually moving hot stuff around, she came in the kitchen. She had her biggest pot in hand full of blocks. She said "the blocks are too hot for Mommy to eat. Mommy could burn herself". I also had my green waste bin out putting in all the scraps. She came in carrying her block bin, which is also green with a lid, only slightly smaller than the green waste bin and said "look! Basura just like Mommy". Spanglish is definitely the language of choice around here.
It has been dry here, even though the air is starting to get cold. They play in the back yard a bunch. One thing they play is Mommy and Daddy. Tucker cracks me up. He gets on Whitney's pink bike and says, "I got to go to work, Mom" and drives off. Whitney says she has to go to work with the plants. I guess they get that Tucker leaves and Whitney works outside in the plants.
Last week they had joy school at another kid's house. Wasn't my week to teach. Turned out pretty good. Tucker let go of his death grip about 15 minutes into the first day and 5 the second day. I think they are having a blast. They are learning about bodies this month. Boy did they have fun with that! Tucker came home the second day saying, "Mom! I go to school! School is all done. Bye Bye Annabelle!" That was the kid's house it was at last week. They made gingerbread men and drew outlines of themselves (with help) on butcher paper. They were very careful carrying their gingerbread men down the stairs to the car and waited until I said they could it eat it. Amazing, right? They also loved their body pics. I put them on the refridgerator and it filled the whole thing up. Whitney loved that. She laid it out very carefully on the floor and put toys along the side of it so she could look at it and point out the pockets and buttons drawn on it. Tucker wrapped himself up in the paper like a "Tucker burrito" (pronounced Tucker furrito).
Thursday we went to check out the salmon at the hatchery. It always amazes me how big the fish are that come up a tiny stream. The water is lower this year, so you see a lot more dorsal fins sticking out of the water and can really see them power through the shallow areas upstream. We were there a good two hours just watching, fascinated. It was fun.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)