L and M!

For letter L we read lots of books about love, books about lions and letters, as well as books about leaves and ladybugs.

Making dot marker L and l.

Lacing beads... Sam and Anna are still getting the hang of pulling the lace through the hole once it is in, but they are becoming more successful than they used to be!

Sam and Anna's lion handprints... these might just be my favorite handprint letter so far. 

We tasted limes and ate lettuce.  These lollipops left were over from the 4th of July parade.

We went to the library.

We also brought Daddy lunch at work.

Tracing Lls.

Tracing dotted lines left to right.

Coloring practice- practing identifying and matching colors as well as coloring itself.

Making ladybugs out of circles and half circles.

We went on a leaf scavenger hunt outside.  We compared size, shape and texture of the leaves we found.

Then after trying to match leaves from the same kind of plant/tree, we made a leaf collage with the ones we collected.

We did lots of general letter activities... one of the faves was hunting for magnetic letters buried in our water bead bin.

Number order, naming, and matching.

On to letter M!  We read books about monkeys, mice, the moon and monsters.

Making dot marker M and m.

Drawing with markers on our art easel.  (Using markers is rare for us... I really hate how the marker gets everywhere, how frustrated Sam and Anna get when they can't always snap the cap easily, and how awkward they are for their little hands.  Broken chubby crayons are sooo much better for encouraging a better grip for writing and drawing.)

Matching monkey shapes and practicing their names.

Tracing Mms and coloring things that start with m.

Tracing lines left to right.

After reading several books about moons, we made our own moons with shaving cream plus glue.  We talked about the texture of the moon and how it isn't smooth and flat.  Anna LOVES sensory experiences with her hands... Sam not so much.  I don't push him, but still try to provide opportunities for him to make his comfortability level larger with this kind of stuff.  He put one finger in it, and proclaimed he was done.  I had to tear Anna away.  Notice the cute dog watching in the background too. :)

(I should have written their names on the front, but Anna's is the one on the bottom)

Eating mini marshmallows using toothpicks.  We usually have much healthier snacks, and so this was the first time we had mini marshmallows ever.  I threw in a fine motor skill practice spin with the toothpick.  Sam and Anna liked capturing them on the end of the toothpick... although I'm sure our dog Bella would have wished they dropped some!

Painting with marbles- one of Sam and Anna's favorite ways to paint.

Sam and Anna's monkey handprints.

I brought out a map of Minnesota to show where we are going next weekend (where Sam is pointing).  We also found where all of our grandparents live and where we spent time at the cabin in June.

We went to the Farmer's Market on Saturday.

Playing with magnets.

We ate mushrooms and macaroni and cheese. We also made muffins together- then ate them!

Mama Loves Dot Markers

Do-A-Dot Markers were one of the first art experiences Sam and Anna had.  I remember taking them to the Children's Museum art room and seeing their delight in making dots all over the paper when they were about 1 year old.  This was before they did much with crayons.  As they got older, dot markers were a quick art project to bring out when they got tired of crayons.  Now that Sam and Anna are older, we use dot markers to make letter shapes, but they still love to freely explore and create with them too.

I can attest that dot markers are also a hit with the kindergarten aged crowd as well.  One of my favorite beginning of school activities to do is to make dot marker names:  I print each kindergartner's name as large as I can on paper and then each child "traces" the letters in their name making dots along the lines.  It's guaranteed successful and gives them practice recognizing their unique name.  Plus, they look nice too.  I bet Sam and Anna would enjoy that too... so don't be surprised if you see that project show up in my letter N post, ha!

Dot markers dry easily, wash out of clothing, store well, and clean up fast.  It's like using paint and markers at the same time but without the mess of either (I'm not a big fan of using markers with Sam and Anna because it seems like they always get marker all over themselves and they get frustrated if snapping the cap doesn't happen easily.)  They are quite large- easy for little chubby hands to grip.  Pressure on the tip releases the marker ink.

All in all, dot markers are one of my favorite art materials to use with Sam and Anna!

W sitting

Anna W sits.

 “W-sitting” or “W-sit” is a term used to describe a sitting position in which a child sits on the floor with their legs forming a “W” shape on the floor (knees bent, legs rotated and facing away from the body).

 

 

(Old pictures I took when Anna was W sitting)

Sam does not.  I knew from my educator background that with kindergartners, this is not a good thing, but that's where my knowledge ended.  I didn't know when it became not a good thing, if it was something that kids grew out of, and if it was something to correct or do something about at this age.  So I consulted Dr. Google.

Here's some great info that I easily found:

When is it ok?

Children often move into and out of this position during play or when transitioning from crawling to sitting. W-sitting is OK and perfectly normal if used in this way. It temporarily widens the base of support, giving the child a greater sense of stability and balance during play.

When is it NOT ok?

However, this position should not be encouraged for prolonged periods of time during play as it will lead to future orthopaedic and musculoskeletal issues, affecting muscles and joints of the back and lower limb. Long-term W-sitting is NOT encouraged as it will make the child become reliant on this position for added trunk/hip stability to allow for easier toy manipulation and play. Their trunk muscles will not be activated sufficiently for them to learn and practice weight shifts during rotation and lateral (side) movements of the body.

W-sitters are often children with:

• Low muscle tone
• Hypermobile joints
• Difficulty with balance

Side effects of W-sitting:

• May develop sway back posture
• Walk and stand with feet turned inwards
• Weak trunk and low back muscles
• Tight hamstrings and low back muscles

Why do children choose to W-sit?

In W-sitting the legs are rotated outwards and spread wide apart. This means that there is a larger base of support and hence less work required by the trunk muscles to stabilise the body. The trunk muscles are important for maintaining an upright posture and reacting to shifts in balance. Possibly these children have not developed sufficient trunk rotation (twisting) or lateral flexion (bending to side) for weight shifts and so relies heavily on the wide base of support for maintaining stability during physical activity and play.

Correcting the Habit

Often W-sitting becomes a habit very quickly and it is important to address it promptly.
Encourage other ways of sitting:

• Cross-legged
• Side-sitting with both legs out to one side (make sure they alternate the side)
• Sitting with legs straight out forward as able (hamstrings can be stretched at the same time)
• Sitting on a low stool or a cushion

I also know that it can effect hand dominance and therefore fine motor skills for writing, cutting, etc.  because when W sitting, a child cannot turn their body as effectively to reach what they want.  So a child will use whatever hand is closest to the object they want, rather than their dominant hand.  Repeatedly using a non-dominant hand will weaken the ability to strengthen the ability to use the dominant hand well.

Since reading more, we've made it a habit to tell Anna to "fix her legs" immediately if we see her in a W sitting position.  Right away she changes her position and we continue on with whatever we're doing and call no further attention to it.  Easy fix.

I'm hopeful that we noticed this early enough on that it won't be a huge habit to break!

Camping Take 2

Against what I thought would be my better judgement, we took Sam and Anna camping for the second time this summer last weekend.  I thought for sure after last summer's debacle,  it would be a long, long time before attempting it again.  However, I grew up camping with my family and spent 4 summers as a camp counselor in college, so camping is in my bones and I really want us to camp as a family often as Sam and Anna grow up.  So we went, and I braced myself for more of the same as last year:  horrible sleep by all,  sickness, bugs, crabby people, and probably whatever could go wrong, would.

It wasn't all sunshine and roses... but it was a definite improvement, and not horrible.  I only cried once. :)  (Mostly because of lack of sleep and rain holding us back from the fun we had planned.) Sam slept awfully the first night and was awake most of the time between 11:30 and 4 am. It rained Saturday morning and only cleared up when it was about naptime (figures) which shot our fun plans a little, and then rained again Sunday morning.  It would figure that the only rainy weekend so far this summer would be the one that we chose to go camping.  But besides that, no other huge negatives!

Anna slept great both nights.  Even though they went to bed late and didn't sleep late in the morning, neither child was overly cranky and we didn't have to do any time outs or endure any tantrums.  Naps were pretty good.  The camper was a savior with the rain, even if the close quarters made it challenging to entertain two 2 year olds for hours. 

Sam and Anna adored playing with their cousins and loved camping with their grandparents.

Rain wasn't going to stop us!

Going on a walk in the rain.

Going swimming when the weather cleared up after nap.

Eating first s'mores by the fire.

Sam and Anna's first bike ride.

(My disclaimer:  We do not own our own bike and trailer and therefore Sam and Anna do not have helmets yet.  It was a super short bike ride before bedtime, and that was it.  If we went one more than just this quick one, I would have certainly make sure all of us had helmets on.)

Where we were camping there was a bike trail on an old railroad bed that pass through rock tunnels.  We took Sam and Anna to the nearest tunnel by bike, the shortest tunnel at 1/4 mile long. 



Tunnel #1

When we left on Sunday, we drove to the trail by the farthest away tunnel (the longest at 3/4 mile long), walking to get down the trail this time.  Sam and Anna had so much fun walking through the dark with their flashlights, hearing their voices echo, and pretending to be trains chugging through the tunnel. Sam and Anna are in a huge train phase right now, so this was a perfect adventure to take them on.

Added bonus of a camping weekend:  Sam slept for 13 hours straight the night we got home, and still took a 3 hour nap on time the next day.  Anna slept almost as long.  Now we're pondering a trip in the camper to visit the farthest away grandparents in two weeks...  a 8 hour drive, just a two hour drive south of the Canadian Border and the farthest north Sam and Anna have ever been.