Avi - 3/20/2018

Avilene had bites of whole wheat bagel and two servings of grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate shrimp, a bite or two of brown rice, ate half of stir fry vegetables, and ate her raspberries.

One of the special books we often read is "Over the river and through the woods..."  There's a picture of a scarecrow that all the kids think is very funny.  The illustrators remove the clothes off the scarecrow to use in a play.  Today when we read it Avilene said, "They took all the clothes off the spare-crow!"  I asked, "scarecrow or spare-crow?"  She said (grinning), "spare-crow."  Haha!

I just thought this first picture was cute.  Linnea had just awoke from her nap and Avi was glad to see her.  (This was the first time she'd seen her since Friday.)  The next picture needs some explanation! Avi brought me a couple of booklets from the igloo that were left in there by Kenzie and Riley.  I peeked in and saw the igloo was now empty.  Except, a few minutes later Avi brought me another booklet!  Where did you find that?!?  Avi said, "The igloo."  So I lifted the igloo way up and found where Kenzie and Riley had made holders for their papers and booklets! Haha!  Love it!!

In the next picture Nora was looking at one of the color posters and Avi joined her.  Nora would point at the colors and Avi would name them.  This is obviously one of many ways they learn from each other!!  :)  It's like Nora has a big sister who's four and a half months older!!  :)  In the last picture Avi was just being silly and scooting her head along the floor - using it like a snow-plow!  Except the carpet is not real gentle on the forehead and she quickly realized it!!  :)

Avi - 3/19/2018

Avilene ate bites of bran cereal and ate raisins for breakfast.  For lunch she ate chicken, whole wheat pita bread, bites of salad with lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, olives, and ranch dressing.  She ate bites of avocado and two servings of pears.  Atley was done first at lunch ("I'm done, I'm done!!") and immediately Avi and Nora started saying, "I'm done!" between bites!!  Ha!  

Avi came in talking and continued talking for a long time.  I finally told her she had to stop jumping up and down while talking because I couldn't understand a word she was saying!!  haha!  She had lots to say!  "Parade, parade, parade."  I heard lots about the parade!  "Mommy took me! Not Andy or Svea; they stayed home."  :)  "I'm gonna play golf with my daddy.  I'm gonna do it last night."  Haha!

"Momma called Grandpa Mark"....."computer."  Oh, to help him with his computer?  She said, "No, Peter's a tuba player."  Oh, ok, that makes perfect sense.  Haha!  And on and on and on.  SO CUTE!!  I love that!!  We do this thing where we shake hands and I always say, "Nice to meet you, I'm Gary Sanks."  She said, "I'm Avi."  Avi who?  "Avi Nelson."  Then she added a middle name.  I couldn't remember it and I asked, "Avi...also...Nelson?"  "NOOOO!!"  Haha!  So I finally had to go look at her chart!!  Oh!!  "Avi Arlo Nelson!"  "Yes!"  She's SO much fun!!  Love you Avilene Arlo Nelson!!

Avi did puzzles and we also did puzzles as a group to help Nora with her puzzle skills.  Avi and Atley (and Hudson when he's here) point where the puzzle piece goes and Nora gets first shot at placing it correctly.  Then Atley or Avi put it in place if Nora can't get it.  Here are some pictures from this morning's activities.  Avi, Nora, and Atley were running from the gate to the mirror and back and I tried to get all three in the picture, but that wasn't working so I took a picture of them individually.  I think that is a super cute picture of Avi.  In the 2nd picture we did some painting at art time.  The last picture; all three girls were putting blankets over their head and jumping.  It was Nora's first time and she actually started it.  Not many weeks ago Nora was not yet jumping and now she's blindly jumping!!  Yikes!  :)

Avi - 3/16/2018

Avilene ate a large serving of cream of wheat cereal and a couple of dried plums for breakfast.  For lunch she ate most of baked beef kabobs with meat, zucchini, peppers, and mushrooms.  She ate bites of brown rice and ate her pineapple.

The kids learn what the other child is saying regardless if they can talk clearly or not!  They figure it out!  Atley and Avi were at the window and Atley was pointing and saying, "eh-ca-cot, eh-ca-cot, eh-ca-cot."  Avi said, "I don't see any helicopter."  LOL!  That was so cute, sweet, and funny all at the same time!  You are a good friend Avilene!!

Here are some pictures from this morning's activities: Avi wrapped this doll blanket around herself and said, "Look Gary, it scarf."  (It took me several guesses, but I finally got it right!  "scarf!"  Either I got it right or she got tired of all the words I was saying!!  Ha!)  In the 2nd picture Avi was standing on the blocks trying to move them along.  She called it "roller skating."  :)  The last picture; she told me; "I'm gonna fill my bucket up!"  As you can see in the picture she got it full.  She said, "It's stuck!"  I said, "No, it's full!"  :)

Avi - 3/15/2018

Avilene ate two servings of whole grain waffle and ate half of fruit salad for breakfast.  For lunch she ate half of shepherd's pie with hamburger, potatoes, green beans, carrots, and sweet potatoes.  She also ate whole grain tortillas and cherries.

I told Lauralea I'd obviously missed Avi - within the first 15 minutes of her at Little Treasures this morning I'd taken at least 6 pictures!  :)  She said, "Hey Gary, I'm gonna go to carousel in Missoula with my Mom.  Haha!  Last Sunday I was walking on the trail past the carousel and thinking how much Avi loves that carousel!!  :)

We did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange last weekend so Avi was a busy little girl this morning.  She brought 2 of the stuffed animals (whales) to me and said, "These live in the ocean."  :)  Then during Story Time she told me what she saw on the page; "the elephant drinking from the water with his trunk."  Wow!  That's a great sentence Avilene and it pretty much sums up the whole picture!!

So here are some pictures from this morning:  Avi greeting Linnea!  She is so attentive to the baby and immediately alerts me to anything and everything that the baby might need!!  "Baby Crying Gary, baby crying!!"  "Linnea spit up!"  Thank you Avi!  It's all very helpful.  (especially alerting me to the baby's spit-ups!)

Next picture: Avi is pulling all the toys out of the shelves to see which ones she may want to play with!  :)  Following picture: Well Avi is back and it's time to build a sidewalk!!  If you look closely at the picture you can see Avilene is grinning while nose-to-nose with Nora.  After I took the picture Avi just stepped off and went around Nora.  Thank you Avi.  That was a sweet thing to do.  In the last picture; The dress-up clothes had not been touched this week, but as soon as one person gives them a try then everyone wants to do it.  :)  Avi wanted to put on some pajamas and then Atley and Nora. Thanks for getting everyone motivated Avi!  (Atley had her PJ's on all morning until Lunch Time.)

Avi - 3/9/2018

Avilene ate oatmeal and dried cranberries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate tilapia, whole wheat elbow noodles, ate green beans, and two servings of applesauce.

Here is a `picture of Avi and Nora racing back-n-forth across the room.  Hudson and Atley were late today and these two were having a TON of fun!  It's so cute how dynamics change when one or two of the kids are gone for awhile!!

I've mentioned this before, but while reading stories I will sometimes let them finish the last word or two of the sentence and they really like doing that!  So this morning we were doing "Farmer in the Dell" and they were all yelling out the ending.  So we got to the line, "The cat took the ______!" The answer is "rat."  Avi says, "Dirty Rat!!"  Haha!  You've got a great memory Avi and I couldn't be more proud!  :)

This is a familiar looking picture right!?  Hey, when you're seeing the same picture over and over it's safe to say that it's an activity that they enjoy!  She really is quite the little engineer and likes to build and create things with the legos and big blocks.  I guess these big blocks really are big legos.  They fit together so well and are easily manipulated by all ages!  Then in the last picture I helped them work on another sidewalk going the other direction.

Avi - 3/8/2018

Avilene ate most of whole wheat bagel and two servings of peaches for breakfast.  For lunch she ate two servings of hamburger/sausage pizza on whole wheat crust with tomato sauce, olives, peppers, and pineapple.  She also ate mixed fruit.  Sometimes it's a bit rowdy getting through the gate for meal times and I have to watch them closely.  Tuesday and Wednesday Avi walked into the corner of the gate (or was jostled) and hit her forehead.  Today at breakfast Hudson said, "Hey! Avi didn't hit the gate this time.  :)  Thank goodness!!

Lauralea has been teaching evening classes so she is at home today.  The kids were greeting her at the gate this morning and it was SO cute.  And re-creating the moment looks pretty good too, right!?  (See picture!!  Ha!)  Speaking of Lauralea - during meal times I have the kids say, "Thank you Lauralea!" And she usually isn't around to hear it, but she was today!  Side note about that: This morning at Lunch I mixed some baby food with infant cereal for Linnea and Hudson said, "Thank you Lauralea!"  (As he watched ME fix it. That cracked me up!)

Ok, this next picture is so cute!  Does it look familiar!?  Haha!  It cracks me up, so I decided every time she wears this sweater with the large collar and uses it for a hoodie I'm gonna take a picture.  The last two pictures: Avi worked hard at building a sidewalk again!  She loves doing that.  The girls were running back-n-forth to the mirror again as well, but now they had to deal with a sidewalk obstacle!  We also did golf ball art, or as Atley calls it; "goo-ba art."  :)  Speaking of art, Avi wanted to put on her paint shirt by herself and it went like this: "I'm doing it by myself Gary...uuhhhh....can you help me!?"  :)  That moment of independence lasted for at least 2 - 3 seconds!!

Avi - 3/7/2018

Avilene ate whole wheat toast and two servings of grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate most of pork roast with carrots, potatoes, and sweet potatoes.  She ate whole grain tortilla and a large serving of fruit salad.

Avi was talking about her halloween shirt and then she said, "I remember Santa from halloween!" Ha!  Hudson, of course, had to jump on that!  "He's from Christmas!!"

Nora, Atley, and Avi were all lining up these legos toys like you see in the next picture and lining up some little car toys.  We see this frequently with this age group and it's totally normal.  It's just a way of exploring, organizing, and manipulating their environment and some kids do it a lot.

Here are some more pictures from this morning's activities.  We were doing some selfies and Avi was watching herself play with her hair.  I kept moving her hands away from her hair and she thought that was pretty funny.  Cutie!

We did some stickers at Art Time and it was fun to watch Avilene put down her stickers.  As you can see in the picture their papers are pretty full, but Avi worked hard to not overlap very many of them. Atley was flying through her's!  Haha!  Overlap!?!  Who cares!?!  :)