Samantha: 29 Months, Week 4 {Napping Problems, Meeting Curious George, and Grandparents Visiting}

We had a fairly restful week at home this past week so I continued with my preschool plans.  We moved on to the letter B and learning more about shapes.  Here are my plans in case you may be interested:

Week 2: The Letter B and Shapes

Day 1: Bears

Books: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? By Bill Martin, Jr. and Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See? By Bill Martin, Jr.

Song:  Sing this rhyme: “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, turn around.  Brown Bear, Brown Bear, touch the ground.  Brown Bear, Brown Bear, reach up high.  Brown Bear, Brown Bear, touch the sky.  Brown Bear, Brown Bear, bend down low.  Brown Bear, Brown Bear, touch your toes.  Brown Bear, Brown Bear, Go Upstairs.  Brown Bear, Brown Bear, say your prayers.  Brown Bear, Brown Bear, turn out the light.  Brown Bear, Brown Bear, say good night.”

Craft: Make bear using paper plates, brown paper to cover, and cotton balls to make him furry.

Letter Activity: Discuss how the letter B has 1 sound, practice that sound, and review the sounds that A makes as well.  Familiarity with name: 1) Tape a piece of paper to the table. 2) Say the letters of her name and hold her hand as we write them together on the paper. 3) Let her practice writing and coloring on her name.  Do the same thing with the letter B, writing “B” and “b” on the paper in a few places and having her color on the paper.  Do a large “B” dot-to-dot picture and help her connect the dots.

Snack:  Have Bear Toast.  Use cookie cutters to cut out bear shapes from bread.  Toast and spread with peanut butter.  Use food items for facial features (i.e. chocolate chips, raisins, Kix cereal, pretzels for ears).

Gross Motor: Practice walking like a bear over an obstacle course of pillows.  Also, read the book, We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury, and then watch the video of the book online at http://www.schooltube.com/video/cf2fb859b65bb6660cdf/.  After watching the video, hide "bears” around the house and have her go on a bear hunt to find the bears and put them back in their cave.

Number/Shape Activity: Practice naming the shaped blocks and placing them in the right hole of the block container.

Fine Motor:  Have her make giant B’s using blocks.  Set out alphabet blocks and let take turns finding the B blocks.  Use the blocks to build bridges and boats using blocks.

  

Day 2: Butterflies

Books: The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, Ten Little Caterpillars by Bill Martin, Jr.

Song: Caterpillar/Butterfly Play:  Provide each child with a scarf. The children lay down on their scarves and then wriggle around like caterpillars trying to keep the scarf under them.  I sing: (Wheels on the Bus melody).  The caterpillars are wriggling around, wriggling around, wriggling around. The caterpillars are wriggling around, all around the yard.  (Children roll into a ball and cover their heads with scarf) The caterpillars are building a cocoon, building a cocoon, building a cocoon. The caterpillars are building a cocoon all around the yard.  (Children pick up their scarf and fly with it) The butterflies are flying around, flying around. The butterflies are flying around, all around the yard.

Craft: Coffee filter butterfly.  Put food coloring in water and place them out.  Have her dip her fingers in the colored water and let it drip onto their coffee filter.  Let the filter dry, then take it and bunch the sides together, twist the pipe cleaner around the middle.  Take the ends of the pipe cleaner and curl them to make antennas.

Letter Activity: (Review the sounds that make A.)  Practice the sounds that B make.  Have her color the B pages from her alphabet book, and write any words we can think of on the back that begin with the letter B.  Maybe decorate the page like a butterfly!

Snack: Make butterfly by using a banana cut in half for the body, apple slices for the wings, and pretzels for the antennae.

Gross Motor: Play “Fly Butterfly, Fly!”  Have her use her purple butterfly blanket and give instruction to learn directional words such as: “Fly and land on the red _____.”  “Fly and rest under the blue _____.”  Make up as many as I can.  She can “fly” from one place to the next.

Number/Shape Activity: Cut 4 sheets of construction paper in half width-wise.  Use the shapes: circle, square, triangle, rectangle, pentagon, hexagon, and trapezoid.  Write one shape on each piece and write the name of the shape as well.  Attach the paper to the floor with tape.  While holding her hand, step together onto the shapes, saying their names as you go.  Also, practice calling out the name of a shape and have her run to stand on it.  Play bean bag toss to throw bean bag on the paper with the shape.

Fine Motor: Create a sensory table in the black dishpan.  Put uncooked rice, uncooked beans, dry noodles, etc. in the bin.  She can play in it; sharpen her fine motor skills by picking pieces up.  She can measure, scoop, and pour.  Include measuring cups and spoons for her to play with.  Have her pick out the beans and sort them.

Day 3: Body Parts

Books: From Head to Toe by Eric Carle and discuss which body parts we use when we crawl, hop, sing, hug, etc. Here Are My Hands by Bill Martin, Clap Your Hands by Lorinda Bryan Cauley, and Look at You!: A Baby Body Book by Kathy Henderson.

Song: Sing “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes.” Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes, Knees, and Toes.  Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes, Knees, and Toes.  Eyes and Ears and Mouth and Nose.  Oh, Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes, Knees, and Toes.  Also, sing the “Hokey Pokey” to practice body parts and left and right.

Craft: Let her paint with different parts of her body, like her nose or her toes.  Trace different parts of the body on paper, make handprints and footprints with paint.

Letter Activity: (Review the sounds that A make.)  Draw B and b on different body parts with lotion.  Have her practice writing and tracing the letter B on herself and on me.

Snack: Make cookies using gingerbread man cookie cutters, talk about the different body parts on the cookie.

Gross Motor: Make a defined space on the floor with a rug.  The game starts with her standing on her space.  I start music and she begins to move.  I might say, “crawl,” so she will crawl around the room until the music stops.  When it stops, she has to return to her space.  As she reaches her space, I will yell out a body part, for example, “elbow,” and she will have to touch her elbow to her space.  Then, begin the music again with a new movement and a new body part to stop with.  Also, just dance, using our bodies to move to the music.

Number/Shape Activity: Use cookie cutters to practice making the play dough into the various shapes learned about this week, match them up with the shapes from the shape sorter toy.

Fine Motor: Find a large cube (like a square tissue box) and paste pictures of different body parts on it.  Tear masking tape strips and partially attach them to the edge of a table.  Let her roll the dice and then find that part on their bodies, placing a piece of tape on the body part that she rolled.  Also, have her add the body part to Mr. Potato Head.

On Monday we did day one of my preschool plans and once again, Samantha had a good time learning and exploring through my chosen activities.

Here she is making her bear out of a paper plate, construction paper, and cotton balls.  Samantha loves to use glue sticks but for some reason always likes to rub the glue on her fingers rather than the the paper.

We made our teddy bear toast.  Samantha thought that was pretty neat and enjoyed decorating hers with chocolate chips.  I think you can guess which one was hers. :)

We also did some physical activity with doing a bear crawl over our living room pillows.  It was good practice for the bear crawl she has to do at gymnastics class.

And probably her favorite activity of the morning was going on a bear hunt.  I love how in this video she says, "Tiptoe, tiptoe, tiptoe," just like in the book we read.  We played this game for quite a while, taking turns with who was hiding the bears and who was finding the bears.  (Pardon the giant mess of stuffed animals on the floor.  Samantha has been in a big stuffed animal phase lately and will often drag her whole bin of animals downstairs in the morning.)

Our last activity, playing with blocks and Legos, was also a really fun activity for Samantha.  I feel like she enjoys things a little more and gets more involved in them for a longer period of time when I give her some direction with playing.  Sometimes she will get out a certain toy or activity and play with it in a creative way for awhile, but other times she just wanders from one thing to the next, more like dumping out all the toys rather than playing with any of them.  We had a good time building tall towers together and experimenting with problem solving when certain towers kept falling down.

Again this week we had trouble with naps.  Monday afternoon, Samantha played, kicked, and talked throughout her whole nap.  Then, on Tuesday, both Sadie and Samantha were asleep by 1:45, which made me one relieved and happy Mommy.  On Wednesday, Samantha fought sleep for almost an hour and a half, finally falling asleep at 3:00.  Lately, it's been like flipping a coin whether Samantha will take an afternoon nap or not.  It's just been so hard for me because I don't know what to do.  She's almost 2 1/2, but I think that's too young to stop napping.  However, as you can tell, she will go two to three days a week without napping, and it seems like it's been happening more and more frequently lately.  So I have just been torn, do I keep putting her to bed even if she just lays there, plays, kicks, and talks the whole time?  She's still in a crib, so she can't get out and play with anything, but she has a pretty great imagination and doesn't need any toys to be able to sit there and sing and talk for two hours.  She can entertain herself pretty well.  Ben and I are planning on moving her to a toddler bed after Christmas, sometime in January, so that way she is adjusted  (hopefully) to her new bed, before the new baby arrives in April.  You can read all kinds of advice and opinions online, but how do we know what to do with our daughter?  Should I be laying her down for her nap earlier or later, would that help?  Should I give her books to look at?  Should I ignore her when she kicks her bed or go to her door and tell her to go to bed?  Each stage of raising a child has it's challenges and it's benefits, but this stage is certainly trying on me right now.  I know she needs her sleep, and I know that she can't make it all day without a nap, but I can't force her to sleep.  That's a choice that she can make now, and sometimes it's frustrating knowing that a no nap day is going to lead to a night of testing Mommy and Daddy's patience.

However, the wonderful thing about an almost two and a half year old, is that they move on much more easily than adults.  While I am still frustrated by her lack of nap and am beginning to make dinner, Samantha acts likes her adorable self and lightens my mood.  She is playing with her necklaces and asks me, "What necklace do you want?"  I replied, "Green because that's my favorite color."  Samantha then said, "Well, that's not an option.  Purple is an option."  Hmm...I wonder where she's heard that before, surely not from Daddy and me. :)

Thursday morning, Samantha and I were playing with Legos.  She was building a house and decided it needed a "back around porch."  We are thinking that she meant a wrap around porch, but neither of us know where she got that from.  Who knows where she gets some of the strange and interesting things that pop into her mind and then come out of her mouth.  All we know is that there is always something going on up there in her little mind, that's for sure.

Samantha had gymnastics again on Thursday morning and was so excited about it.  She did a great job listening to her teacher, going through the obstacle course, trying to walk on the balance beam by herself, and jumping off the tall mats without always holding onto my hands.  I'm always so proud to watch her be brave in new situations.  The smile of accomplishment on her face is priceless.

After we got back from gymnastics, we did day two of my preschool plans.  Our theme was butterflies, but the only butterfly books I could find in our house were more about caterpillars changing into butterflies, which went very well with this little song.  (Pardon my not so great voice.  I had a pretty bad cold that day and was feeling rather crummy.)

We made a butterfly using a coffee filter and instead of using water dyed with food coloring, I decided to let Samantha use her watercolors.  This was the first time she had ever used watercolors and for some reason it was kind of confusing to her.  In the past we have always just used paint and several paintbrushes so that we could dunk them in water, clean them off, and reuse them for another color.  Well, the concept of dunking the paintbrush in water and then rubbing it on the paint color just seemed backwards to her.  I kept having to explain to her what she was supposed to do so that the colors would work, and I think it was just frustrating to her because she didn't want to paint for very long, whereas normally she'll pain for quite awhile.  We'll have to give it another try another day and see if she gets the hang of it the second time around.

And here is our awesome butterfly snack.  When I was making it, Samantha was complaining about not wanting bananas and apples, but once she saw what it looked like, she was pretty excited about it.

Our last activity was the sensory bin that I created with dried beans, barley, and dried noodles.  I wasn't sure what Samantha would think of this because she's never experienced something like this before.  However, she always enjoys the sand table at the Children's Museum.  I set the bin on the floor in the kitchen to make spills easier to clean up, and Samantha played with this for probably a good twenty-five minutes, dumping from the bin to the bowl, scooping and pouring from the big spoon to the little spoon or vice versa.  She really had a good time exploring this activity.  Sometimes I look at her and think, man, she's growing up way too fast.  I can't believe how big she is.  I am so lucky to be able to spend every day with my little girl rather than going to work away from her.  I love the time that we get to spend together.  It will always be precious to me.

On Friday, my parents were arriving from Chicago in the afternoon, so Samantha and I spent the morning doing preschool activities again.  Today, we had B activities on the theme of body parts.  I had to do a little clarification on what the word body meant, though, because Samantha thought I was talking about her private parts.  I think she gets the words body and bottom mixed up in her head because they sound awfully similar.  Her favorite activity of the day was the one where we picked parts to put on Mr. Potato Head, and she had to put corresponding pieces of tape on herself.  She liked having tape all over her face, that was pretty fun. :)

We decided to surprise Daddy on Friday afternoon and bring lunch to him at his office.  We stopped at Jimmy John's for sandwiches and then went to find parking on campus near his building.  Samantha was so excited to see her Daddy that she ran down the sidewalk towards him as she saw him approaching.  We had a good time eating our lunch in the big chairs, and Samantha did a great job eating her Plain Jim sandwich all by herself like a big girl.

Our lunch outing was a bit too exciting for Samantha because we didn't get home until late, meaning she didn't get down for her nap until around 2:00.  She always has a hard time falling asleep right after she gets home from something, and then my parents arrived like twenty minutes later.  I kept hoping she would fall asleep for at least a little while, but it didn't happen.  She was just too excited about Cago Ema and Papa coming, and also about what would happen after her nap--seeing Curious George at the library.

Once I finally got Samantha up and started getting her ready to go to the library, she could just not contain herself.  She was so excited that she kept smiling and squealing.  Daddy met us at the library auditorium, and we sat down, waiting to see and meet Curious George.  After some introductory songs, stories, and a video, George finally came out.  Samantha even got to go meet him and have her picture taken with him!  She was not afraid to approach him at all.  In fact, she ran right up to him and gave him a huge hug.  It was an exciting day for her.

Samantha always enjoys having grandparents come to stay at our house.  The main activity of the weekend was reading.  She would just bring book after book to Grandpa and Grandma to read to her.  They were even kind enough to watch Samantha for us so Ben and I could go to an IU football game and get a nice, relaxing dinner out at one of our favorite restaurants that is not too Samantha friendly.  Ben and I had a really enjoyable time watching the game, eating dinner, and talking freely to each other rather than to our little girl.  (Which, don't get me wrong, we love, but sometimes it's nice to have an uninterrupted, adult conversation.) It was good for everyone because then Cago Ema Papa and Samantha had some good bonding time together, playing and enjoying some good quality time, one of Samantha's love languages.

It was a great weekend together, much better than the last time my parents visited and I had to take Ben to the ER.  It's funny though because when grandparents are around, Samantha really could care less about Mommy and Daddy.  Every time she went down for a nap or went to sleep for the night, she wanted to know whether Cago Ema Papa would still be there when she woke up.  She loves her grandparents.