Avi & Svea - 10/24/2018

Rather than sending out a separate email I'm gonna include a reminder to begin the Blog today.   Please write these dates down, put them in your calendar, or whatever you use.
Closure dates for the remainder of 2018:
November 19 - 23.  Little Treasures is closed for Thanksgiving week.  (Louisiana here we come!!!)
December 24 - 25.
Also, closed for New Years Day January 1st.  That's a Tuesday and I'm scheduled to be open on Monday December 31st unless most families have other plans.

Avilene ate whole wheat toast and two servings of grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate bites of pork roast, ate whole wheat tortilla, bites of carrots & potatoes, and ate fruit salad.

Every day my daughter sends me a picture of our new grandson.  (My request!  ha!)  Avi knows that and when she hears the "cricket" (sound on my phone of a new text coming in) she says, "Can I see the picture of Gideon!?"  She doesn't even ask who it is!!  haha!  Isn't that cute?!  She also knows the picture in the window by the daycare table is our two granddaughters.  Today she said, "There's your two granddaughters.  You're getting a lot of granddaughters!!"  Haha!

First picture: Linnea loves her Svea buddy!  She gets all happy and excited whenever Svea arrives.  She was saying, "baby baby baby."  She's amazingly gentle with Svea!!  I probably shouldn't say this, but so far I haven't had to teach her "gentle touches!!"  Second picture: This is the stacking game that comes with the saying, "Dang it!"  Today within 15 seconds of sitting down with the little building blocks Nora and Avi immediately started saying, "Dang it, dang it, dang it!!"

More pictures: Some library time in the preschool room!  Nora was singing the "Alphabet" song over and over and over and over.... Avi and Atley don't even notice.  There is no "quiet" sign in this library!  :)  I love the last picture!  Avi was so serious in conversation and walking around and around with the swivel chair.  Nora and Atley noticed that and they soon had their phones as well!

Avi & Svea - 10/23/2018

Avilene ate two servings of toasted whole wheat english muffin and ate dried plums for breakfast.  She said, "My Mom calls them prunes."  :)  For lunch she ate most of chicken, ate brown rice, most of stir fry vegetables, and ate oranges.  At lunch Avi just randomly started talking about going to the fair again.  "We saw turkeys at the fair!"  Then she turned to Nora and asked, "Did you go to the fair?"  Nora looked at her and before she could answer Avilene said, "Say yes Nora."  Hahaha!!  Also at Lunch time Avilene said, "You wanna come to my house and see Christmas decorations?"  Then she added, "Can Bubba come?  We have a ghost at home."  Haha!  Those would be halloween decorations.  :)

Yesterday when Avi got up from her nap I was snuggling her and she was all lovey like she frequently is when she wakes up.  I told her I loved her and we were naming family members that loved her.  She said, "There's a lot of people that we love."  So sweet and cute.  And I felt pretty special to be on the list.  I made the cut!!  :)

Avi did several preschool activities this morning.  I like watching her trace the letters.  She's figured out that if she'll hold the marker close to the end she has much more control.

A couple of pictures of Svea doing what she does best: being the cutest thing ever.  :)  I like the first picture where you can't see her hand hanging on and she's leaning backwards.  :)

Last two pictures: Lauralea was giving pieces of tape to the kids as they asked for the colors.  Then in the last picture they were having fun with play dough.  (Nora had abandoned her play dough.)  Earlier, they were stacking little wooden blocks and during that activity Avi will frequently say, "Dang it!"  So of course they are all chanting, "Dang it!"  Except at first Nora said, "Dank it!" But it didn't take long under Avi's fine tutelage for her to get it right!!  :)  "Dang it!"

Avi & Svea - 10/22/2018

Avilene ate cheerios and most of banana for breakfast.  For lunch she ate ground beef, whole wheat pita bread, no avocado, ate olives, bite of tomato, and ate cantaloupe.

It was fun to have all five kids back this morning!!  Atley was thrilled to have someone roaring at her shenanigans and Nora didn't disappoint her.  Atley was "bonking" her forehead on the window and Nora was cracking up!  Speaking of window, when Avi got through waving at Momma this morning she got all teary-eyed and said, "Atley missed my Mom!"  Atley was still taking off her shoes and coats and not there to wave bye!  :)  Later Avi and Atley had been playing and Avi kept saying, "Five more minutes Atley, five more minutes!!"  Then; "She's not listening me Gary!!"  :)  Maybe her watch isn't working Avi!

So here are some pictures from the morning activities at Little Treasures!!  As soon as Svea arrived she went right over to where Linnea was reading and started tugging on the books.  Haha!  Up to that point the library had been very peaceful!  Second picture: Avi's face is blurry in this pic, but she was working very hard at bouncing on one foot!  "Watch this Gary, watch this!!"  I like that Avi!

More pictures: I thought it was cute how Atley and Avi were laying on the mattress together.  They were attempting to make heart shapes with their fingers.  In the middle picture Avi was asking; "What's happening with this?"  Haha!  Well that's your dishwashing soap in the play toys.  She said, "There's a lemon."  Yes, it's lemon scented.  Last picture; Avi did several preschool activities and trays.  She's a whiz at these color sorting activities and she likes them.  She kept at these until the white basket was completely empty.  Nice work Avi.

Avi & Svea - 10/19/2018

Avilene ate brown rice and raisins for breakfast.  For lunch she salmon, most of whole wheat dinner roll, ate green beans, and mangoes.  Here is a piece of lunch time conversation: Atley; "We have a back room."  Or maybe it was; "We have a bath room."  Or maybe; "We have a vacuum."  Avilene and I were guessing, but with limited success.  Finally, Avi looked at Atley's mouth full of dinner roll and said, "Chew Atley!"  Haha!  Forget talking, just chew!

Avi did lots of preschool trays and activities this morning.  She and Atley were doing the little wooden blocks and Avi started saying, "Dang it!  Dang it!"  And of course Atley was now going; "Dang it! Dang it!"  Ha!  Avi was watching Atley try to find the letter "V" and Atley couldn't see it and really doesn't know it anyhow.  Avi said, "It's right across from the "L."  Ha!  (That was true.) The first picture: They had fun gluing and trying to get things to stick on the round paper towel tubes.

Second picture: We also set up the marble maze and they played with it for awhile.  Here's a scenario that amused me this morning and it's pretty typical when trying to teach 2 and 3 year old children to "share" their toys.  (Something we discussed in our Parent/Provider meeting.)  Sharing is a concept they really aren't totally capable of grasping until usually in their 3rd year.  And that's' why I have 3 and 4 duplicates of everything!!!  Today it was doll blankets.  Avilene had 6 and Atley had none.  Atley was whining for one.  So I said, "Avi, which doll blanket can Atley have?"  Avi; "This one."  And she gave her one so Avi now had 5 and Atley had 1.  Avi immediately said, "Hey Atley! You wanna share?!  LOL!  Which meant: Avi wanted that blanket back!  Too funny!

Last picture: Here are the two girls reading some Daycare books.  Earlier these books were still laying in front of the bookrack; we didn't get them put away yesterday.  Atley looked at them and said, "Linnea got the books out."  Haha! Except she hasn't been here since Wednesday.  :)

Avi & Svea - 10/18/2018

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

First picture: Nora has been in Vermont with Mommy and Daddy this week seeing the beautiful fall colors, visiting farms, teddy bear factory, orchards and having fun.  I showed the kids this picture on Tuesday and told them Nora was eating a "cider doughnut."  Yesterday afternoon Avi wanted to see the picture again and she asked; "Can I see Nora eat spider doughnut?"  Atley immediately said, "I wanna see Nora eat spider doughnut too!!"  Me too!!  LOL!!  I roared!

Avi and Atley were doing stickers and Avi asked, "Can I do stickers on my knees?...Until I get bigger?"  Huh?..?  Oh yes, of course.  She wanted to "stand" on her knees on the table bench to reach better.  I initially thought she wanted to put stickers on her knees.  Ha!  There is a LOT of "language translation" that happens in this setting and it can be very challenging!!  Next picture: It's just the two big girls today so I tried letting them do some big ink pads with the big stamps on a big paper.  (Using a very limited amount of the colors and stamps.)  There is a process and directions to follow and Avi did pretty well with it.

I love how curious Avi is about Everything!  And the non-stop barrage of "why" questions and wanting details on everything!!  (This reminds me of my son and all of his continual "why" questions at that age! A very bright child and I can brag about him as he's adopted.  Ha!)  She was looking at a book this morning and the boy had his hands cupped around his ears to ear better.  She asked, "Does he not like that sound?"  What a great question!  Then this morning she extended it to the picture she was drawing that you can see below.  She pointed and asked, "What's that lady doing?"  My answer - Well Avi, you drew the picture so you tell me; what's that lady doing?  Avi thought for a few moments and said, "She's doing hip hop."  Whoa.  What?!  What's that mean?  Avi said, "It's like exercising."  Wow! Ok, I'm impressed again!!  :)

Avi & Svea - 10/17/2018

Avilene ate french toast and two servings of strawberries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate bites of hearty paleo stew with meat, broccoli, cauliflower, sweet potatoes, green beans, and carrots.  She also ate saltines and most of tropical fruit.  Avi asked me this morning: "Hey Gary! Can I watch Rock Dog at my house!?"  Haha!  You'll have to ask Mom and Dad about that one!!

This first picture is left over from yesterday afternoon just before we went outside to play.  Linnea and Svea were playing close to each other and they really do get excited to see each other after naps or first thing in the morning.  Linnea is so gentle with Svea!  I'm so happy about that and also impressed that I actually only remember one time I've had to tell her (and show her) "gentle."  Linnea's personality is really starting to blossom and she's a funny little kid.

Momma Molly: Did you immediately notice Avi has on different clothes in the pictures below!?  Yup I thought you probably did!  :)  Not a potty accident!  She was doing a preschool tray transferring water from one bowl to the other bowl (same as picture posted on Monday's Blog) and doused herself pretty good!  So all her clothes were in the dryer.

Here are some pictures from Avi's morning activities.  I think this toy exchange is the first time these little stacking blocks have been out.  I cut the majority of these out of different sized dowels and sanded them.  Avilene was enjoying these and working hard at them.  I mention this all the time, but I love how involved and engaged she gets in her work.  She's a busy little girl and loves to move about, but when she finds something that captures her interest - wow - she can stay focused for amazing amounts of time.

Next picture: pretty much the same as yesterday.  Atley reading loud and Avi plugging her ears!  Ha! I was watching from the kitchen while putting food on the plates and decided it was worthy of another picture!!  Last picture: Avi and Atley had the igloo STUFFED with big blocks, blankets, dolls, pillows, and animals.  They said they were packing their "dryer."  (their words)

Avi & Svea - 10/16/2018

Avilene ate waffle and two servings of grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate chicken, whole wheat tortilla, ate corn, and a large serving of baked cinnamon apples.

Lauralea was with us for an hour this morning and we played with a "marble maze" that we found at a garage sale.  Marbles are "choke-able" for babies, plus we wanted a way to contain them so I bought this cheap little blow-up pool!  Ha!  Avi and Atley both kept asking; "Are we gonna put water in it?"  "Can we have some water?"  Haha!  No.  However, when they came out to play with it Avi still started to take off her pants!  LOL!!  Lauralea and I were laughing hard.  "It's dry!"  In the following picture Avi was putting the little plastic "chain links" together after Lauralea demonstrated how it's done.  Nice job Avi.

Next, a couple of preschool trays doing some tracing.  First one is several different shapes and the second one is obviously some letters.  Wow, we were impressed how well she's doing with tracing those letters and boy was she working hard at it!!  Well done Avi.

I took this last picture after lunch shortly before nap time.  I was in the kitchen putting away lunch things and Atley was reading/singing SO LOUD!!  If you've never heard her on high volume it's kind of astonishing!!  And hard on ear drums.  Occasionally I'll ask her to tone it down a bit, but generally speaking we operate on a fairly high volume anyhow so it's just fine.  Anyhow, it sounded loud in the kitchen and when I came around the corner to where the girls were at this is what I saw:  Avi plugging her ears.  Haha!  And just reading - not complaining about it.  :)  Atley was singing "Old MacDonald" with passion and volume!!