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.

Avi - 9/8/2017

Avilene ate oatmeal and most of apple bites for breakfast.  For lunch she ate bites of hamburger stew (with meat, carrots, potatoes, and green beans), bites of dinner roll, and ate apricots.

I'm going to give everyone a little update on why I've visited the Doctor on Friday and again this week. I've got some inflammation above my shoulder blade and in the muscles that go from my neck to my shoulder.  And I was having some muscle spasms as well.  It's been very painful and uncomfortable! So they started me on a strong dose of steroid and I should see some improvement over the weekend!  That is why Lauralea is hanging out with us today!  Thank you SO much Lauralea!  It made the morning totally manageable!

I have several pictures from this morning's activities - it's fun to take lots of pictures and then chose ones that are a good representation of what they did the most.  Avi has been playing with the blocks a lot lately and also building with the legos.  (How many times have I said that!?  Ha!)  She really enjoys that process of creating with a hands-on approach.  In this first picture I really like the skinny base!  Haha!

Lauralea took this picture of me reading to the kids so I thought I'd post it for you.  These Blogs are about the kids, not me, but when Lauralea and I worked together we'd frequently have pictures of the caregivers with the kids!  Not much to say about the picture of Avi with the "kabob," except I LOVED how she was saying the word so I was trying to get her to say it several times!  Ha!!  Sorry Avi!  Sounded like this; "shick-a-bob, shick-a-bob."  So cute.

Lauralea was doing her routine with the kids again where they sit on her lap like Avi is doing in the picture and she sings and bounces them.  "Oh here we go to Boston...."  "Pony Girl"  "Walk walk, trot trot,..."  In the last picture the kids were having fun doing some "free-draw."  Later, we were at the color poster and I was asking Avi this question; "Can you show me.....?"  She identified 4 colors; brown, yellow, blue, and pink.

Avi - 9/7/2017

Avilene ate french toast and dried plums for breakfast.  For lunch she ate pulled pork sandwich, half of peas, and ate cantaloupe.

Avi was so cute at Story Time this morning.  We were reading "special books" and it probably takes 2 or 3 weeks to work our way through those.  So it's fun to quiz them and see if they remember any of the books.  What's this book?  She said, "Nick Nack Paddy-whack."  Good job Avi!!  (Give the dog a Bone.)  Earlier she'd been asking me about the books we have out in this toy set.  She said, "What's this book?"  I said, "Here's a hint; Here we go...."  Avi said, "Around the bushes!"   Haha!!  Very good.  The book is "Here we go round the Mulberry Bush."  Then she was looking at another book and said, "Dr. Seuss, Pocket."  That one is "There's a Wocket in my Pocket," by Dr. Seuss.

Here's the benefit of being the last to arrive at Little Treasures.  All the kids want to line up at the window to wave goodbye!  The kids were at the window several times this morning; watching school kids walk by, two different neighbors walking their dog, and some workers putting on a new roof across the street.

We didn't go outside this morning because of the smoke, but we sang songs and did some sign language.  Avilene is getting more interested in the signs and she is remembering some of them as well.  I held up a yellow legos and did the sign for yellow and she said, "yellow."  :)  In the pictures below Avi was playing with the cars on the ramp again and also with the phones.  She was trying to stick one of the little people in the end of that phone and I'll bet she worked at it for 10 minutes.  She has no problem staying on task for something she's interested in!!

Avi - 9/6/2017

Avilene ate whole wheat toast and mangoes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate ground beef with marinara sauce on whole wheat spaghetti noodles, a couple bites of squash, and ate fruit salad.  Avi and Hudson were pretty impressed (actually Hudson was quite concerned) with the spaghetti mess on Nora's face.  He kept saying, "Look at Nora's face, look at Nora's face!"  Ha!

I got out the car ramps for the kids to use with the cars in this toy exchange.  Playing with the same toy is not the easiest thing for this age group to do.  There are 2 of these ramps for 4 kids, but they always want to play in the "same" spot!!  But everyone survived!!  In the 2nd picture Avi had moved on and started playing with the little people and Hudson went right over to join her!  They like playing in close proximity and it works so much better when there are LOTS of toys.  :)

I think this is a cute picture of Avi putting on some dress-up shoes.  We also read books and talked about letters, colors, and numbers.  When I read the Alphabet Book I always ask, "Whose name starts with A?"  (Or whatever letter it is.)  Avilene said, "Avi."  Good job Avi.  After story time we played outside and the kids watched the workers get set up to put a new roof on a neighbor's house.  When I took the last picture of Avi on a bike I was thinking about watching her yesterday afternoon on one of the bikes.  She was sitting on her bike and using her feet to "power walk" herself along and boy she was moving pretty fast!!  I was impressed!

Avi - 9/5/2017

Avilene ate whole wheat bagel and grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate shrimp, bites of brown rice, bites of stir fry vegetables, and ate red raspberries.

We did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange this weekend and Avilene picked up this book (in the picture) and started singing!!  "Itsy Spider, itsy spider!"    ("The Itsy Bitsy Spider climbed up the water spout.")  It was so cute and in her sweet little singing voice.  Nice job Avilene.  You sure recognized and remembered that song/book!!

This next picture cracked me up!!  Hudson took off his socks and put them on the changing table.  Avi took off her socks and put them on the changing table.  Hudson started checking out his feet and Avi started checking out her feet!  Haha!!  I asked them, "What are you doing?" And Hudson said, "Examine my toes!"  Of course you are Bubba and all 2 year olds use the word "examine."  NOT!!  :)

We read books at Story Time, did some sign language, and I took this picture of Avi jumping off the climber.  I love how she's on her toes.  Looks like she's ready for take-off at the next swim meet!  Ha! Nice form Avilene!  In the last picture I was trying to have Atley show Nora the texture on the front of her shirt.  Nora wasn't interested, primarily because I wanted her to be interested, but Avi wanted to look.  And then Atley rolled away from her!  Geez!!  Silly kids.

Avi - 9/1/2017

Avilene ate malt-o-meal cereal and plums for breakfast.  For lunch she ate bite or two of meat from beef "kabobs," bites of brown rice, ate half of broccoli, not sure about zucchini, or red peppers, and ate pineapple.

This first picture is from yesterday afternoon when Riley and Kenzie were combing all the Daycare Kid's hair!  Avi was holding very still for Kenzie to hurry up and get done!!  Avi, bless her heart, wanted to hold still, but that's not her first choice!!  (Look at her cute facial expression and body language.)  Ha!!  Well done Avilene!!

Avilene was working SO hard stacking a tower of legos pieces and she was very successful I might add!  She came to me saying, "help me, help me."  I said, "You can do it Avi."  And I just encouraged her to keep after it and she did.  I also told her I was proud of how hard she was working;  "I knew you could do it."  She was right back after those legos when she was done with breakfast too.  Atley started doing the same thing after watching Avi.  I love that.

We were reading some special books and I asked, "What's this book?"  (A book we haven't read for at least 2 or 3 weeks.)  Avi said, "Where or where doggie?"  WOW!  Good job Avilene!  I'm impressed! The book was; "Oh Where Oh Where has my Little Dog gone?"

Avi and Hudson were putting the doll blankets over their heads and jumping on the mattress.  Avi fell on Atley 2 or 3 times and Atley just laughed uproariously like it was the funniest thing ever!!  What a goof.  She really is a little toughie!!  They played outside pushing dump trucks, ice cream carts, and lawn mowers up and down the sidewalk.  They also watched a garbage truck at work.