Avi - 9/29/2017

Avilene ate malt-o-meal cereal and dried plums for breakfast.  For lunch she ate bites of "beef kabobs" (beef, peppers, zucchini, mushrooms), ate bites of whole wheat toast, and ate her pineapple. We were eating breakfast when Nora arrived and after Momma Emily went out the door Hudson said, "I wanna wave at The Emily."  Haha!  "The Emily."  Then Avilene started chanting it too!!  "I wanna wave at The Emily."  So they went to the window.

I was visiting with Baby Nora at breakfast and I asked, "Hey Nora, what does Birdie say?"  Hudson said, "Tweet tweet."  Avilene said, "Tweet tweet."  I said, "You guys will have to talk to The Emily so she can explain this to you.  Haha!!  (I wasn't about to tell Hudson (or Avilene) that Birdie is a Dog!!  They would have verbally processed that concept ALL morning!!)

I already told Momma Molly this, but I want to post it in the Blog as well.  All week Avilene has been picking up the books before we go outside.  And she's been doing an awesome job!!  That's been her job and she stays focused and on task until she's done!!  I'm very impressed!!

This first picture is from yesterday afternoon.  Atley was squatted down in the middle of the sidewalk watching school kids walk home.  Avilene saw her squatting there and ran to join her.  Not too much to say about this picture except for the fact I think it's adorable!!

There were several robins in the yard when I took these last two pictures.  The robin in the first picture hopped down to the ground and Hudson said, "He fell off!"  Haha!  Robins are one of the more "calm" birds around and these kept hopping closer to the window and they didn't fly when the kids were shuffling around at the window.

Avi - 9/29/2017

Avilene ate malt-o-meal cereal and dried plums for breakfast.  For lunch she ate bites of "beef kabobs" (beef, peppers, zucchini, mushrooms), ate bites of whole wheat toast, and ate her pineapple. We were eating breakfast when Nora arrived and after Momma Emily went out the door Hudson said, "I wanna wave at The Emily."  Haha!  "The Emily."  Then Avilene started chanting it too!!  "I wanna wave at The Emily."  So they went to the window.

I was visiting with Baby Nora at breakfast and I asked, "Hey Nora, what does Birdie say?"  Hudson said, "Tweet tweet."  Avilene said, "Tweet tweet."  I said, "You guys will have to talk to The Emily so she can explain this to you.  Haha!!  (I wasn't about to tell Hudson (or Avilene) that Birdie is a Dog!!  They would have verbally processed that concept ALL morning!!)

I already told Momma Molly this but I want to post it in the Blog as well.  All week Avilene has been picking up the books before we go outside.  And she's been doing an awesome job!!  That's been her job and she stays focused and on task until she's done!!  I'm very impressed!!

This first picture is from yesterday afternoon.  Atley was squatted down in the middle of the sidewalk watching school kids walk home.  Avilene saw her squatting there and ran to join her.  Not too much to say about this picture except for the fact I think it's adorable!!

There were several robins in the yard when I took these last two pictures.  The robin in the first picture hopped down to the ground and Hudson said, "He fell off!"  Haha!  Robins are one of the more "calm" birds around and these kept hopping closer to the window and they didn't fly when the kids were shuffling around at the window.

Avi - 9/28/2017

Avilene ate half of her waffle and bites of fruit salad for breakfast.  She ate a few bites of lunch:  Shepard's Pie with hamburger, green beans, carrots, and potatoes, bites whole grain tortillas, and ate her cherries.

The first thing Avilene did this morning was start building with the legos.  Then she got right in the drawer and started shuffling the legos around with her feet and that is so LOUD!  Here's a picture of her getting "into her work!"

Avi was totally into her book in this next picture and ignoring Hudson who was behind her saying. "Blue dots, blue dots, blue dots" for every page!  (And it is a book about different colored "dots and spots.")  Hudson is not too concerned about accuracy with the colors, but he's still zealous in the presentation.  This morning he was pointing at yellow and telling Nora it was "pink!"

I love this last picture!!  This is a bit of role reversal; Avi the teacher and Hudson the student!  They are basically doing this the same way I ask questions about colors, animals, etc.  Except Avi's question was the same for every picture/letter of the alphabet; "Is this a birdie?"  Then she'd go to the next letter;  "Is this a birdie?"  Haha!!  It was so cute!

Avi - 9/26/2017

Notice to all Blog readers:  There will be no Blogs tomorrow, Wednesday, September 27th.  Little Treasures is closing at Noon on Wednesday so I can get an MRI of my neck.  The Blogs will resume on Thursday.

Avilene ate toasted whole wheat english muffin and 2 or 3 servings of grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate bites of pork chop meat, bites of bread, roasted vegetables (half of beets, half of sweet potatoes, no red potatoes), and ate applesauce.

This first picture is from yesterday afternoon and Hudson was saying, "It's a monster car Avi!!  It's a monster car!"  Avi was not real impressed (maybe the book was too close to her face!  Ha!), but she sat there for a few moments and then went and grabbed another book and handed it to him!  One more note from yesterday; We picked up toys before we went outside and Avi and Hudson worked so hard and stayed on task!!  I was impressed.  I was very specific about the "jobs" I gave them.  "You can put books in the bookrack Avi."  "Hudson, you can put legos in the legos drawer."  Just a side note: When talking with this age group I rarely/almost never begin a sentence by saying, "Do you want to....?"  I frequently give them choices, but that's different.  "Do you want to put away the legos or the books?"  (Now that's a choice I can live with!)

We read some books, sang songs, and worked on the color posters again.  Avi and Atley did some legos building together and in the next picture Avilene was making a tower of some legos flowers.  In the last picture I was at the changing table working on my notes and when I turned around these three were tightly huddled on the couch.  Nora was there first, then Avilene, then Hudson.  :)

Avi - 9/25/2017

Avilene ate half of chex cereal and ate peaches for breakfast.  For lunch she ate bites of ground beef, ate hamburger bun, no lettuce, mushrooms, or peppers, and ate oranges.

Reid's Grandpa and Bode (Reid's brother - no school today) stopped by for 5 minutes this morning to say hi!  So nice to see both of them and Bode coaxed Avilene into giving him a "high 5."  She would have quickly and easily done so except she wasn't familiar with Grandpa so she was a bit cautious!  :)

Hudson and Avilene were having lots of fun jumping and I took this first picture when they increased the difficulty level of their jumps.  Ha!

As Daddy Andy said this morning Avilene has been reading lots of books lately and I love it too.  (Of course I'm biased because Reading is my favorite activity!)  We've always offered numerous opportunities for reading every day at Little Treasures.  There are lots of books out in every toy set, I have a special Story Time, they can read whenever they choose to, and I'll read to them whenever they ask if possible.

Avi - 9/22/2017

Avilene ate oatmeal and dried cranberries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate tilapia, maybe half of whole wheat elbow noodles, 1 or 2 green beans, and ate applesauce.  So at Lunch I asked this question: "Who is not here today?"  This age of kids NEVER think like adults (that's your free tip for the day), but I always like to ask "adult" type questions because the answers are always funny, but enlightening!  Ha!!  Again; "Who is not here today?"  So they've had ALL morning to realize Baby Nora is not here today (not feeling well) and surely someone will get the right answer!  Right?  Wrong!  Surprisingly, Avilene was the only one who gave an answer and it was a dandy!!  "JACKSON!!"  I roared!!  Well, I'll give you partial credit because you're right; your cousin Jackson is not here today.  I took this first picture when Avi was jumping before Lauralea left and she kept looking to see if Lauralea was watching.  :)  One of the times Lauralea wasn't watching and she said, "Lauralea, jump!"  Ha!

Hudson and Avi were riding in the swivel/rocker while Atley was pushing it around and around.  When she first started pushing the chair it was just Avi and of course Hudson wanted on, but she never did completely bring it to a stop.  He was jogging along beside the chair saying, "I want on, I want on."  And he made it!  (They were having fun and he never got to the point of frustration for me to help out.)

Here are a couple more pictures from this morning's activities.  The kids had fun doing some dot painting at art time and then I brought in a blanket off the patio for them to play in a tent.  Avi, Atley, and Hudson are all under the blanket - I guess you'll have to take my word for it, but they are there!! (I see two different feet and a hand sticking out!)

Avi - 9/21/2017

Avilene ate whole wheat bagel and two servings of peaches for breakfast.  For lunch she ate sausage & hamburger pizza, whole wheat pizza crust, olives, mushrooms, peppers, tomato sauce, pineapple and a side of pineapple.

Hudson was surprised to see Momma Molly driving the truck this morning!!  He said, "Hey!!  She's in Andy's little blue truck."  haha!!  Cracked me up!  I have no idea if it's blue or not, but I like the descriptive word "little."  :)

Sophie came and visited for almost an hour this morning and it was so much fun.  She wanted to read Special Stories and we read several.  As I've mentioned several times I will read all but the last word of a sentence and let the kids finish the sentence.  So, I was reading "On Top Of Spaghetti" and Avi kept answering with the word "meatball" for every sentence.  We were laughing so hard because Avi was being silly and as long as we laughed she wasn't about to quit!  Sophie was roaring!!  For example; "It rolled off the ........"  Avi said, "Meatball!"   (Answer is "table.")  Another one; "It rolled in the ........"  Avi said, "Meatball,"  (Answer is garden.)

I took this picture when these 3 kids were looking at the poster and Hudson was in his "teacher mode."  He was saying, "Show me the deer, Avi, show me the deer."  "Show me the fox Avi, show me the fox."  :)  Atley was just watching and rarely pointing so Bubba directed his questions at Avi.  Ha! In the last picture the kids were having fun peeking through the hole at each other.  They acted like it was the first time they'd really noticed the hole.

Avi - 9/20/2017

Avilene ate whole wheat toast and grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate pork chop, whole grain tortilla, bites of carrots and potatoes, and ate fruit salad.  At breakfast I frequently ask the kids; "What did you guys do last night!?"  Today Avilene said, "I play soccer with Jackson."  Haha!

I took this first picture yesterday afternoon when Kenzie was reading to the kids.  She needs to get 20 minutes of reading every day.  Sometimes she can coax the kids into listening, sometimes not.  :)  Hudson is usually more than willing to sit and listen forever, but not yesterday.  I like how Avilene is looking over Kenzie's shoulder.

I had a physical therapy appointment this morning and I was back at Daycare just a few minutes after 8:00 and that is why our car is parked in front of the window.  So the kids got to wave at Lauralea when she was leaving for work.  You can see Lauralea's hand waving out the window.

Here are a couple more pictures from this morning.  Avi was setting up the animals I have in this Toy Set.  (These are all animals from North America.)  The last picture - she LOVES the food toys!  I'll bet she played with this pile of sandwich food at least 6 different times.  Also this morning we read books, did some sign language, and worked on colors.  (And sign language for colors as well.)  Avi is really interested in all of that.

Avi - 9/19/2017

Avilene ate toasted whole wheat english muffin and dried plums for breakfast.  She had a few bites of lunch: chicken with stir fry vegetables, brown rice, and oranges.

The first toy Avilene got was the book "Vehicles" and she packed it around for a long time this morning and kept saying, "Read This!!"  Ok, I'll read it at Story Time and that will be the first book we read.  And it was.  It has several different "vehicles" and she kept saying, "motorcycle."  Ha!  (I had to mention that just for you Mommy!)  :)

This is a picture of her 2nd favorite thing to play with in this toy set;  Food toys.  She has quite the stack of sandwich goodies; buns, bread, tomato, hot dog, burger patty, lettuce, lunch meat, and cheese.  Maybe more, but you get the idea.  As you can see in the picture she's not really playing with it as much as she's "guarding" it!!

This next picture is just the kids waiting to jump off the balance beam again.  They never get tired of doing this and I love having it; especially on wet, rainy, or cold days.  They still get lots of exercise and work on their large motor skills.  In the last picture Hudson had built a "sidewalk" (his words) and Avi was testing it out.

Avi - 9/18/2017

Avilene ate cheerios and banana for breakfast.  For lunch she ate half of taco salad meat, ate pita bread, olives, no tomato and lettuce with salsa, ate most of cantaloupe.

Hudson took off his socks and brought them to me.  Nora noticed so she stopped and took off her socks.  Atley and Avi heard me say "thank you" to Nora so they both stopped and immediately started taking off their socks.  Monkey see, monkey do for this age group!  Always!  :)

We did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange this weekend and the kids stayed super busy all morning.  In this first picture Hudson was reading "Wheels on the Bus" to Avi.  As soon as he left she continued to sing and do the motions; see 2nd picture.  It was so cute.

We read books at Story Time too, but we didn't do Art or go outside.  The Monday of Toy exchange is always busy and I just let them do lots of exploring!  Here are some more pictures from this morning's activities.  Hudson started jumping on Friday (thanks to Kenzie) and here's a picture of the 3 jumpers this morning.  The following picture is pretty cute too; Avi was rearranging the doll blankets and when she had them properly adjusted she lay her head down and studied the car!  :)  The last picture hit my funny bone - she has the mask on backwards and all I could think of was the "Monday morning blank stare!!"  :)

Avi - 9/15/2017

Avilene ate brown rice and raisins for breakfast.  For lunch she ate most of salmon, half of dinner roll, no corn, and ate a large serving of mangoes.

When Daddy Andy brought Avi this morning he had Avi tell me what she plans to do tomorrow;  "I play soccer with Jackson."  So cute.  Well I'm glad he supplied me with that information because after breakfast I over-heard Avi telling Hudson the same thing; "I play soccer with Jackson."  Hudson's answer was SO adorable!!  "Ok, I be right here if you need me."  Ahhhh.  Then he wandered around repeating, "soccer Jackson, soccer Jackson, soccer Jackson."  :)

I took this first picture yesterday afternoon when Avi had build this nice tower.  Atley was making a run for it, but I was able to save the day and remind her that she can build her own tower.  Avilene was peeking around the corner looking for more trespassers!!

Atley, Nora, Avilene, and Hudson were all searching for legos "flowers" (if you look close you can see one in Avilene's right hand), but Atley and Nora soon turned it into a very loud noise maker!!  And they were laughing uproariously about their success.  Hudson (you can barely see him in upper right of photo) meanwhile, with his hearing sensitivities, was not appreciating it at all and had to stand up and walk away from the noise!

So here's the deal - if you see a similar picture pop up day after day - it's safe to assume you're seeing a favorite activity of your child!  :)  (There is no end to the insights you can receive from this Blog!  Ha!)  Avilene is happy to have another 'jumper' join her in the fun and she really has been jumping a lot more now because Atley has been jumping constantly this week!

Avi - 9/14/2017

Avilene ate toasted whole wheat english muffin and ate bites of oranges for breakfast.  For lunch she ate most of ground beef, most of whole wheat elbow noodles, bites of peas, and ate applesauce.

Familiar looking picture right!?  :)  She loves her legos!  I see the "R" block in the middle of her tower and that reminds me of something from story time today; One of the Special books today was an "Alphabet" book.  (I have LOTS of different Alphabet books!)  When it's the first letter of someone at Little Treasures I always ask; "Whose name starts with .....?"  So of course first letter she answered, "Avi."  And she did 2 more; "G" for "Gary" and "R" for "RiRi!"  (Riley)  Also, I frequently ask before starting the book; "What's this book about?"  Today for "Over the river and through the woods...."  Avi said, "Go Grandma's house."  Nice work Avi!!!  Good remembering!

I was changing someone else's diaper this morning and she walks up behind me, grabs her butt, and said, "I'm poopy right here!!"  :)  Good job Avilene!  You're next in line!!  She's obviously aware when it's happening now so that's an early stage of the process!!  :)  Very early!!  It's actually awesome that she's doing it because I can change her immediately and help her not get a rash!!!

The activity pictured below of Hudson and Avilene is similar to the picture in yesterday's Blog about the "show me the brown" activity!  The book they're looking at is; "I Spy."  There's a picture of something on one page and you search for it on the opposite page.  They were doing a slightly different version, but the same idea!  Hudson was saying, "Can you find a bunny?"  Avi is pointing at a bunny.  He said, "You got it!!"  That was so cute.  Next he said, "Can you find a peanut?"..........  And the last picture was during dot painting at art time today.

Avi - 9/13/2017

Avilene ate half of french toast and ate strawberries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate several bites of Paleo Stew (with ground burger, sweet potatoes, carrots, green beans, peppers, cauliflower, and broccoli), ate one cracker, and ate her tropical fruit.

I'm posting a couple pictures of Avilene jumping and going nuts on the mattress because there has been LOTS of this happening yesterday afternoon and this morning!  Why?  Because now Atley has conqueror the skill as well!!  And they've been having so much fun with it!!

Hudson is back today and he and Avi were building side-by-side with the legos in the next picture. The following picture cracked me up with Avi at one of our color posters.  Hudson was saying, "Show me brown, Avi, show me brown."  (He's mimicking what he's heard me say previously.)  What's so comical about this!?  Well, he's asking her to do something that he's not yet mastered!  Ha!

We were outside playing and Avi was slightly stuck getting her bike onto the sidewalk.  Hudson gave it a push and then wanted me to know he'd been a big helper.  He said, "I helped Avilene."  Who? "That guy right there." (pointing at Avi.)  Haha!  What did you do?  "That guy was stuck."  Haha!!  Then Avi spotted the moon and said, "Moon Gary, moon."  Yes indeed!!  Hudson said, "Where?"  Show Hudson where the moon is at Avi.  So she did.  (It's a Half Moon.)  Hudson looked at it for a few moments and asked, "Is it cut?"  Haha!!

Avi - 9/12/2017

Avilene ate waffle and grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate baked chicken, bites of whole grain tortillas, bite of roasted cabbage, and ate baked cinnamon apples.

Avi was ready for breakfast as soon as she arrived, but I had to change her diaper and she immediately went to the legos to build.  I had to take this picture because she is so serious and focused on her legos.  I love this.  (And then she went and ate a big breakfast.)  Nice work Avilene!

I wasn't even thinking about what I was singing until I heard Avi joining me!  I sang; "On top of spaghetti" and she said, "covered with cheese."  (In that cute little soft voice!)  So I continued, "I lost my poor meatball.."  She sang; "Doggie eat it."  LOL!!  Well actually, the doggie doesn't eat it, but in the picture in our book he has the meatball in his mouth!  Then he plants it and it grows into a tree covered in meatballs!!  The lesson of the story is to never sneeze, but just in case then hang on tight to your meatballs!!  :)

She brought me some shapes that we were playing with yesterday (2 circles) and wanted me to balance them on her head again.  (Picture from yesterday's Blog.)  So I asked her what the shapes were and her "default" answer was always; "Triangle."  :)  Although she correctly named the "star." We read stories and Avilene didn't want Nora to miss out!  "Come on Nora!"  Aww, that was sweet Avi!  After stories we went outside to play.  It's so nice that the smokey air is mostly clearing up and we can take advantage of what's left of the summer days!!  They burned up (no fire pun intended!) lots of energy outside and here's 3 pictures from this morning's activities.  Avilene never quit moving and was trying to pull Nora in the wagon, playing on the climbers, run across the yard, "mowing" the lawn, riding bikes, and occasionally watching me to make sure I was watching her!!!!!!!  :)

Avi - 9/11/2017

Avilene arrived at breakfast time and went right to her highchair!  I'm hungry!!  And she ate lots of breakfast: kix cereal and mixed fruit.  For lunch she ate half of ground turkey, ate whole wheat bun, no lettuce or tomato, and she ate her cherries.  I took this first picture at breakfast time.  Whenever Atley is done eating she starts singing LOUDLY!!  This morning Avi started to mimic Atley and she was pretty proud of herself!!  (See picture!!  Ha!)  One of the first things Avi asked me at breakfast: "Kenzie coming?"  Yes, after school.  "Ri Ri coming?"  (Riley)  Yes, after school.  :)

Avi and I were playing with the shapes; circles, diamonds, hearts, stars, and squares.  She was interested in them and I was introducing the names.  Then we found something way more fun to do with the shapes.  :)  Hold your head still and I'll stack them on your head!!  In the following picture Avi was putting these legos flowers on her fingers.  After she stuck them on her fingers she said, "Oh gosh."  LOL! Nora was watching and started doing the same thing; except not the cute "oh gosh!"

Running across the lawn carefree and loving life.  How cute is this?!?  Awww....  The kids watched a crow sitting on the power pole behind the garage.  It was yelling at us and Atley was yelling right back at it!  Ha!  The crow must have enjoyed the interaction too because it just continued to sit there.