Avi - 7/31/2019

Avilene ate two servings of whole wheat toast and two servings of mangoes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate two servings of ground beef with marinara sauce on whole wheat spaghetti noodles, ate cauliflower, and ate fruit salad.

At the breakfast table Avilene said, "Linnea!!!!  Don't interrupt me when I'm talking to someone!!" Oh man I roared!!  I wonder how many times Avi has heard that sentence in her young life!?!?  She certainly knows what it means!!  :)

First picture: How many pictures have I posted with the kids waving at the window!?!  Haha!  I like this one because they are all waving.  Second picture; Avi is working on the same puzzle that she likes in this toy exchange!  And it's a good challenge for her.  Or maybe I should say it definitely was a good challenge initially, but she has mastered it by now!!  :)

Last picture: This was Linnea's first day to see the airplane toy.  (She was gone Monday and Tuesday).  Avi was SO excited that all the kids are on the airplane except baby Callahan.  This picture is also fun to look at in live mode.  It actually holds 7 kids; as there is a seat on each side of Atley.  Linnea is in the "driver's seat."

Avi - 7/30/2019

Avilene ate whole wheat bagel and three servings of grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate shrimp, brown rice, stir fry vegetables, and a large serving of raspberries.

First picture: I'd just turned on some music and the kids were dancing.  By the time I took the picture the dancing had kind of turned into jumping and Avi was just getting warmed up!!  Nora on the other hand was ready to quit and play with her dolls.  Nora said, "I'm done."  Avi yelled at Nora, "NO!! We're NOT tired yet!!"  Haha!!  That made me laugh hard!

Avi was doing "idle threats" again first to Atley; "If you don't listen to me you won't come to my house!"  Then to Nora; "If you don't say YES you won't come to my house."  She even included me this morning which I thought was actually quite creative!!  Haha!!  "If you don't listen to me you won't babysit my sister!!"  LOL!!  Oh man I roared!

We played outside for awhile this morning.  There's a window of time when we can do that depending on feeding Baby Callahan, when he goes to sleep, and when he wakes up.  Next picture: I thought this was a pretty creative way they found to use the airplane toy; where the three of them could teeter-totter at the same time.  Again, check this out in "live mode" and I set the picture when Atley's butt is off the seat!  :)  Last picture: Back inside before Lunch doing a preschool activity.

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Avi - 7/29/2019

Avilene ate half of bran cereal and half of raisins for breakfast.  For lunch she ate two servings of chicken, ate whole wheat pita bread, cucumbers, avocado, and ate a large serving of pears.

Nora and Atley were on the mattress and Nora was the "doctor."  She was wanting to do a checkup on Atley, but Atley wasn't really cooperating and she rolled over on her side.  That frustrated Nora and she flopped down on the mattress in a major dramatic maneuver and laid there sucking her thumb.  Avi was monitoring the activity of course and she yelled in a disgusted voice, "NORA!! Doctors do NOT lay down!!"  Haha!  I roared!!

I had to be downtown to sign some papers at 9:00 this morning and Lauralea covered for me.  I took this first picture as soon as I got back and set up this game of "Sequence."  Nora got tired of it eventually and said, "I'm done."  Atley followed up a short time later, "I'm done."  I told Avi she may as well quit and she said, "Why?"  Haha!  "Have you noticed everyone else is gone?"

Last picture: We were not outside too long this morning, but I wanted to get a picture of the airplane toy in today's blog!  They were loving it and having a blast!  Avi and Atley are on the teeter-totter seats and Svea is crawling aboard.  Nora didn't realize it was gonna move and she freaked out at first and watched from a distance.  (She's in the background!)  But she came back and joined in the fun!  The company forgot to pack a "steering wheel" so I called them this morning and it's on the way.  (I just cut a wooden circle for a temporary steering wheel!  Ha!)

Avi - 7/26/2019

Avilene ate two servings of whole wheat cream of wheat and a bite of dried plums for breakfast.  For lunch she ate most of baked beef kabobs with meat, pineapple, zucchini, and peppers.  She ate most of brown rice and ate pineapple on the side.

You recall from yesterday's Blog about Avi making idle threats to Nora NOT being able to go to Avi's house if she wouldn't listen to Avi.  Well this is kind of a followup when Avi was trying to convince Nora she NEEDED to go to Avi's house!  Again, Nora was basically ignoring it all.  Avi said, "Hey Nora! NORA! My house has some ice cream!!"  Nora didn't respond, HOWEVER that made Atley whirl around!!  LOL!  "What colors do you have!?!" Atley asked!  Avi said, "Blackberry!!  NORA, I have blackberry!!"  No response.  :)

This first picture is from yesterday afternoon and I set up the balance beam because Svea was asking for it.  I then showed Avilene that a 64 year old man could stand on this on one leg so she was doing it the same way.  It's cute in "live mode."  See Molly, I remember the phrase!

Story and Eden, my two Granddaughters from Billings are here until Sunday afternoon and it was very fun to have them in Daycare this morning.  And very BUSY BUSY BUSY I might add!!  By the way, Avi was just as bossy with them as normal.  Haha!  In this picture Story was playing "Duck Duck Goose" with them.  Avi got the rules and was emphatically telling them to Atley along with major finger pointing!  Haha!  That is actually a "developmental milestone" for her; knowing the rules of the game and explain them to others.  Now we'll work on HOW she does the explanations!!

All the kids were around Story most of the morning.  Eden is more introverted and she'd play, go off to have some alone time, come back and play, go off for more alone time.  Last picture: Svea was already eating in her highchair when Story asked me to take a picture of her and Callahan.  And everyone wanted to join.

Avi - 7/25/2019

Avilene ate waffle and several bites of fruit salad for breakfast.  For lunch she ate several bites of shepherd's pie with meat, potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, and carrots.  She ate whole wheat tortillas, and cherries.

This first picture is leftover from yesterday afternoon.  We do surfing classes at Little Treasures with Avi being the instructor!  Dry Flat Land Surfing.  Svea and Nora were getting a kick out of Avi's antics on the teeter-totter!  Speaking of Nora, it was hard not to laugh at Avi trying to boss Nora around.  Nora, of course, has her own ideas about how things work and she was totally ignoring Avilene.  Avi finally started saying, "Look at me Nora!  LOOK AT ME!!!"  Nora just kept ignoring her.  Avi moved into what I'll call "idle threats."  LOL!!  Avi said, "Or else you don't get to come to my house!!"  That didn't work either!  Two times I heard Avi using that threat!  :)

I've mentioned this before, but Avi loves adding her "two cents worth" to everything I have to say!!  It's like a compulsion or need, or irresistible urge and she can't help it!!  Ha!  She's like my sidekick, or color commentator!!   So for example this morning I said to Linnea, "The shakers are for shaking, but if we bang them together they will break."  What could you possibly add to that!?!  Avi said, "because they're plastic."  Thank you Avilene for your technical insights!!  :)

Avi asked, "Can we do some gluing?"  Sure and I got her some paper.  She said "we," but neither Atley or Nora wanted to glue.  Avi said, "Atley, do you want to do some gluing?"  Atley said, "No, I want to read books."  (Repeat two or three times.)  Finally Avi disgustedly said, "Ok Fine!! Read some books!!!"  LOL!  Next picture; looks like Atley gave up on the gluing and joined Atley reading some books.  Last picture; playing with the magnetic tray again.  She said, "Look at my caterpillar Gary."  Nice! I can totally see it.  The three round pieces on the end represented "his eyes and his chin" according to Avilene.

Avi - 7/24/2019

Avilene ate two servings of French toast and two servings of strawberries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate two servings of whole 30 chili with meat, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, and tomato sauce.  She ate whole wheat dinner roll, and ate tropical fruit.

First picture: "Hey Gary, I can do it by myself!!"  Yesterday I helped her with this puzzle and it's pretty challenging. This morning she got it alone.  And I love the sense of accomplishment they get from doing it by themselves.  It's ok to let them struggle for awhile before bringing assistance.  She was so proud of herself and told Lauralea as well.  Second picture:  This one is titled; "Classic Avilene."  She put her cap on her knee, lifted that leg off the floor, and started hopping across the room on one foot.  Nice work Avi!  She is circus material!!  :)

Next two pictures;  Avi and Atley are really enjoying experimenting with the magnets and all the pieces in that tray.  In the first picture Avi probably has about 20 pieces on her magnet.  Second picture: She's holding quite a bit of weight with that one ball.  Look at the focus in those eyes.

 

Last picture:  The kids wanted the legos table covered so we got the blanket from outside.  Svea and Avilene are hidden under there; Nora on the left peeking in and that's about as close as she got.  Atley's on her way in, but that didn't last long either.  Linnea liked playing around it, but no way was she going inside.  :)  Avi stayed under there without coming out for probably 30 minutes.  I asked her what she was doing and she said, "Making a home."  Very cool.

Avi - 7/23/2019

Avilene ate whole wheat English muffin and two servings of grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate pork chop, whole wheat toast, beets, and three servings of applesauce.

First picture: Wearing the cute hats and Dancing on the mattress with Atley.  Haha.  Avi has on some dress-up boots, but she even asked me first if it was ok for her to go on the mattress.  (Which impressed me.)  Good job Avi.  Speaking of Avi and Atley, shortly after this picture these two were bickering about some food toys.  Not sure what it was about, but it had to do with the ice cream.  Anyhow, Linnea was a bit concerned and kept asking, "What's the matter Atley, what's the matter?"  "What's the matter Atley, what's the matter?"

Next two pictures:  I put a ponytail in Avi's hair almost everyday; sometimes with a slight (or more- ha) protest from her.  And that's what was going on when I took this picture; "I didn't really want a ponytail Gary!" Oh, ok.  :)  Second picture: The hair usually gets messed up pretty quickly anyhow, but at least it's out of her eyes!!

Last picture: Hanging out in the preschool room reading books and doing activities.  Nora isn't here today if anyone was wondering!!

Avi - 7/22/1019

Avilene ate whole wheat Chex cereal and no peaches for breakfast.  For lunch she ate ground beef, whole wheat hamburger bun, couple bites of tomatoes, ate avocado, and no oranges.

Frequently when I say something to the other kids Avilene has to add her thoughts and "pile on" what I'm already saying.  And it's usually quite logical, but sometimes it makes zero sense!!  Here's an example of one that made zero sense!!  I said, "Nora, please quit picking your nose."  (That was at the end of an hour of steady picking!!  Not really, but almost!!)  I didn't even have time to exhale and Avi added: "So you don't get a thing with a hangnail on the back of your thumb!"  Haha!  Huh?  What?

We did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange this weekend so as usual the kids were super busy and very engaged all morning.  I took this first picture just after Avi finished breakfast and before I put a ponytail in her hair.  I'm always interested in what the kids play with first.  This is a music box.  :)

Here are some more pictures from Avi's morning.  She played with the flashlights and headlamps along with the new toys.  Following picture: I've mentioned before that I like to have one or maybe two "electronic" type of games in each toy exchange, but no more than that!  I'm just assuming they get plenty of those everywhere else outside of Daycare and Preschool.  This toy has 5 different colors and they "light up" when you insert them into the holes.  The kids can create designs, shapes, or make their own pictures.  Third picture in this set; Avi had the tray with the magnetic goodies we've collected.  And if you look closely she has quite the assortment of them all hooked together!

Last picture: Avi helping sister get on a boot from the dress-up toys.  She wasn't successful, but at least she was trying to help.  Love the hats.

Avi - 7/19/2019

Avilene ate oatmeal and no dried cranberries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate tilapia, most of whole wheat elbow noodles, ate green beans, and most of her applesauce.

First picture: When the three of them want to do an activity together the color sorting ones are frequently what they chose.  They have their own games they've added to it and they frequently do so with good cooperation without bickering.  (As long as they follow Avi's rules!!  Ha!)

Next picture: Avi was watching herself in the mirror with her cape and superman in her hand. A few minutes later she announced, "Ok, super time is over!"  Haha!  Translation: Ok, I'm tired of it, so Atley and Nora need to quit too!!  :)  Following picture: They've been doing lots of art activities recently as well.  I took the picture when they were gluing.  Moments later Atley reached across the table and basically laid on her paper that had lots of glue on it.  Haha!  Ooops.

Next picture:  Avi, Atley, and Nora were "skiing" and the yellow bench was their "truck."  They ran across the room and stood on their skis and when they were done they headed back to their "truck." There was lots of conversation and here's a sample of what I heard; "Going skiing."  "We're in the truck."  "Get your skis."  "Going to Discovery."  (Haha)  "On the grown-up hill!"  "Ok, we're done." "Get in the truck so we can leave."

Avi - 7/18/2019

Avilene ate half of whole wheat bagel and ate peaches for breakfast.  For lunch she ate most of hamburger and sausage pizza with peppers, pineapple, and olives; ate half of whole wheat pizza crust.  She also ate pineapple on the side.

The Lunch conversation today was pretty cute and funny.  Atley asked Avilene, "Do you have a basement?"  Avi said, "Yes, but you can't go in it."  Atley wanted to know "why?"  Avi said, "Because it's really dirty."  Haha!  So Atley just made up her own story and said, "There is creepy spiderweb there!!"  Avi said, "NO!!" and pretty much spent the rest of lunch time trying to convince Nora to come to her house.  And telling Nora the "creepy spiderwebs" were just a myth perpetuated by Atley!  Haha!  Then Avilene was talking about all the big plans she has to clean everything.  :)

Atley was singing, "Take me out to the Ball Game.."  Avi joined in with her except Avilene added her version; "Take me out to the swimming pool...."  Haha!  Isn't that cute!?

First picture: I mentioned this in Svea's Journal today, but here's a picture to go along with it!  Lauralea made an "appearance" this morning (works from home on Thursdays) and all the kids immediately went into show-off mode!!  "Lauralea's here!!  Lauralea's here!!  All five were bouncing and jumping on the mattress; "watch me! watch me! watch me!"

Here are a couple more pictures; Avi was sprinting around and around the mattress with her cape on saying, "Look at me Gary!!  I can fly!"  I looked at this picture and noticed how full Svea's diaper is and how low it's hanging!!  Haha!  Yes I changed it after this picture!!  Last picture: Avi was having fun in the igloo with this flashlight that shines purple.

Avi - 7/17/2019

Avilene ate three servings of whole wheat toast and two servings of grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate half of pork roast, ate whole wheat tortillas, half of potato/sweet potato, and ate most of fruit salad.

First picture: This is left over from yesterday afternoon and Avi was doing some sidewalk chalk.  She said, "Look Gary, I made a guitar."  A guitar with 8 strings!  I like it Avi.

Next picture:  Linnea was wiped out this morning so at 8:30 I asked if she'd like to lay on her nap mat.  And she did.  I took this picture at breakfast time, about 9:00 and Nora had just arrived.  Avi couldn't wait to drag Nora in to show her that Linnea was napping!  Ha!  (Notice Avilene's hand on Nora's left shoulder. So cute.)  Linnea got up at 9:10 (on her own) and was back to her normal self.  Atley looked at Linnea when she got up and exclaimed, "She's not crying!!"  :)

Last two pictures: We played this board game yesterday and they were all excited to play it again today.  " Can we do the Ladybug Game!? Can we do the Ladybug Game!?"  It's great for teaching them about "taking turns, recognizing numbers, and counting out that many spaces on the board."  Avi totally gets it!!  I needed to feed Callahan, but they said, "Let's play another game!!" which they were doing in the last picture!  Making up rules as they went!  :)

Avi - 7/16/2019

Avilene ate whole wheat English muffin and no dried plums for breakfast.  For lunch she ate two servings of chicken, a couple bites of brown rice, ate stir fry vegetables, and a couple bites of oranges.

This first note is left over from yesterday afternoon.  Avi was giving Nora some kind of bossy lecture and Nora covered her ears.  She's been doing that lately when she'd rather not hear what you're saying.  I said, "She's plugging her ears."  Avi said, "Gary, this is plugging your ears."  And she stuck her fingers in her ears to make her point.  So I said, "Ok Little Miss Stickler For Details! She's covering her ears."  Haha!!

Another note from yesterday afternoon.  Avi asked, "When are we having snack?"  I told her it was in about 30 minutes and I showed her the "Minute Hand" on the clock and the "Second Hand" which is always moving.  (We'll save the "Hour Hand" for another lesson at a later date!!  Haha!)  She and Atley totally paid attention to that and watched for over 20 minutes.  They'd get distracted and look back and see the progress it was making and were excited when the "Big Hand" hit the 1.

First picture: Here are the three oldest girls peeking out the Daycare entrance looking at the bunny in the yard.  There really is a bunny in the picture! Avi said, "That's the Easter bunny!!"  If you zoom in on the picture look at the top of the handles of the stroller.  Then look to the right.  We've been seeing a bunny very often lately.  And one day I actually saw two of them together.  Which from previous experience with rabbits usually means they will soon dominate and overrun the neighborhood.  :)

Two pictures: Avi worked hard at writing/drawing on her paper.  Great effort Avilene.  In the last picture she brought her work out to the play room for me to see what she'd accomplished!

Avi - 7/15/2019

Avilene ate cheerios and two bites of banana for breakfast.  For lunch she ate ground beef, whole wheat pita bread, olives, avocado, and watermelon.  When it was time to wash for breakfast I heard Avi (still out in the Play room) asking Nora; "Can I wash first?"  Avi knows there may be yelling if she doesn't ask first!! However, while these negotiations were taking place Atley had slipped in first and was washing her hands! Ha!!  Also during breakfast Avi said, "We had a spider in our house! And I don't like spiders!!"  Atley said, "I like spiders!"  Avi was super quick and stern in her response; "NO YOU DON"T!!"  Haha!!

We had a wonderful vacation; I took a good hike every day for 8 days straight and my favorite hikes were on the continental divide trail in different locations. We did tons of reading and played several board games and card games. There was no cell service at the Forest Service cabin or electricity so it was like the "good old days." (Haha! Actually, these are the good days! I love modern living and technology!!)

Everyone was giddy and silly this morning - as it usually is coming back from several days away!  So of course there had to be a surprise bonus to the morning; A Representative from Child Care State Licensing made a surprise appearance.  :)  She had to look at the Children's files, my Policies, Master Phone List, Fire Evacuation Plan, Disaster Plan, Visually Inspect every room the children have access to, Inspect outside play area, and the list goes on and on!!  And she had tons of questions as well.  So it's a challenge to answer her and still be partially focused on the kids!  Wow!  Callahan got hungry in the middle of this of course, but overall we all survived!!  Haha!  It's not easy when a stranger appears and she wants access to everything.  (And she wants it right now!)  Hey, guess what!?!  No deficiencies!!  Cheers!!  (Lauralea is an awesome consultant and keeps me up to date on ALL policy changes, so I give her lots of credit for this too!!)

Here are some pictures from Avi's morning; Using the binoculars and spotting birdies outside!  Second picture - Avi and Nora were pretending it was nap time and pretending to sleep!  Notice Avi has on some dress-up pajamas as well.  Shortly before Lunch Avi was laying on the step in front of the gate pretty much exhausted and her reserve tank was almost dry as well!  :)  Last picture: Practicing with scissors at Art Time.  She said, "I'm going to try to make a square."  Wow, good job Avi.

Avi - 7/3/2019

Avilene ate two servings of whole wheat English muffin and ate oranges for breakfast.  (She ate the oranges so she could have more muffin!)  I can't remember what Atley was doing during breakfast, but Avi said, "If you dink around Atley, you're done!!"  She uses the same phrases I do!  Haha!  Sometimes she'll even extend what I'm saying!!  For example; I might say, "You need to find something different to do!"  Avi will then jump in and run with it and say something like this; "And if you don't you'll have to ......."  (and she comes up with some sort of consequence) Haha!  For lunch she ate bites of ground beef, ate whole wheat elbow noodles, bites of peas, and no applesauce.  Also, during one of the meals today Avilene asked, "Gary, why does Svea always bug Nora?!?"  :)  That's a great question Avi.  Because of Nora's intense and immediate reaction; it's just too good to quit!!  Ha!  No way to explain that to a 3 year old.

Just in case there are some people reading the blogs that might not be aware of Little Treasures vacation days!  This will be the last blog until July 15th.  Thank you to everyone for making it possible for me to renew my energy and spirit with a few days off.  I have the best families at Little Treasures and I'm thankful for all of you.  Looking forward to hiking, reading, and relaxing for a few days!!  I love taking care of your children and enjoy it so much!!  (Oh yes, Lauralea informed me there will be cards and board games.  Haha!  I enjoy them too.)

At one of the meals Avi got the stool and moved it in front of the sink to wash.  She said, "I'm washing first."  (It's pretty much a "first come, first serve thing.")  Atley said, "I'm washing last - after you."  Haha!  Or better known as washing "second" or "next."  :)  Nora was standing in the wings sucking her thumb waiting to wash.

Here are some pictures from this morning!  Nora, Avi, and Atley were doing some gluing when I took this first picture.  They also did some other art work as well as some more activities.  And in the second picture Avi said she drew "a storm."  We'd been talking about the rain storm and how dark it was outside!!  Last picture: Avi flying off the blue balance beam, Atley jumping, and Nora trying to steer clear of everyone!!  Nora does her fair share of jumping too and she's a great jumper.  Especially if Lauralea is watching and that gives her (and every one else too) extra motivation and adrenaline!!

Avi - 7/2/2019

Avilene ate most of waffle and two servings of grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate two servings of chicken, ate whole wheat tortillas, corn, and baked cinnamon apples.

Avi and Atley have been very interested in Momma Emily's pregnant tummy recently.  And Emily talks to them about the baby.  This morning Emily was showing Atley where the baby's feet were located.  Well that's fine, but Atley wanted to know more; "Where is Miles' bum bum?!?"  LOL. cracked me up.

Pictures; Avi spent most of the morning again doing preschool activities and working on some of the trays.  In the second picture she and Nora are doing the color sorting, but they also make up some of their own games with these and it's not just sorting colors.

Last picture: It was kind of a busy morning and I didn't get a ponytail in Avi's hair until about 45 minutes before Lunch!!  And she said she wanted two ponytails!!  Sweet!  She's looking for Nora's name and she told Nora she'd have to do her own name - because Avi was going to find the letters for "Avilene."  Avilene's name and picture are right in front of Nora.