Magic Marker Monday - Canvases

"It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child."
~Pablo Picasso

Let's show you some of the canvases this 26-month-old has been using in my art recently...

Here's my very first acrylic on canvas painting! See the tiny black-haired rock-climber in blue dress in the upper left?
Here's a monocromatic drawing on my easel paper. Lots of nice detail bringing to mind spring...

Another monochromatic drawing, on a notecard this time. Lots of eyes - my specialty!
My favorite canvas: ME! And of course, baby doll does everything I do. Here is HER painting...

Mission Sunday

4-year-old Kaleb Roberts in Tchad...

What is it about tragedy that draws us to particular blogs? When news of a child's sickness or death pops up in a blog, I know I'm as drawn as the next person to the story.

There's a sense of empathy, of course. What can I do to help? And there's an almost secret sense of gratitude - for the baby in my house who is healthy and well. And the lesson to enjoy each moment I have with her.

I think the main thing for me, though, is the desire for a happy ending. I love happy endings. And even in the midst of tragedy, it seems there is always a silver streak running through. The strength of human spirit. The comfort and peace provided by God at just the right moment. And the promise of a truly happy ending one of these days... I want to stick around the story long enough to see the happy ending.

Today's featured blog recently dealt with tragedy. Little Kaleb, 4-year-old son of volunteer missionaries Gary and Wendy Roberts, passed away unexpectedly on June 10 from malaria complications. James Appel, the doctor at the scene in Tchad, writes about the experience in the Béré Adventist Hospital blog. Here you can read about the tragedy, the funeral, and the question - why does one make it and the other not?

I've been fascinated with all there is to read on this mission blog, so do yourself a favor and explore a little while visiting.

And if you'd like to help the Roberts family, you can donate funds for flight tickets for them. They are hoping to join Gary's parents in Indonesia and then furlough in the US. Send a check to Gospel Outreach International with a memo indicating it is for Gary and Wendy Robert’s ‘Kaleb memorial’. Monies received above the cost of the tickets will be used to help Wendy build a children’s nutrition clinic in Tchad, in honor of Kaleb. You may send this to:

Gospel Outreach International
PO Box 506
Collegdale, TN 37315
http://www.gospelministry.org/

The Roberts' family...Here's to a SOON happy ending...

"E" Activity Trays

Whew - we finally got to an easygoing letter! And my name starts with it! Here are the "E" activity trays that worked for this 26-month-old during "E" school...

Sensory Tub. Since I really liked the popcorn tub, Mommy brought it back out and put plastic eggs in it! I made egg shakers for music practice and had lots of fun pouring the popcorn in and out of the eggs.

Eggs. There are lots of other things you can do with plastic eggs, too! Like make egg eyes...

Color-sorting Eggs. Throw in an egg tray and a bunch of colorful eggs and you get color sorting fun. Like when Mommy puts in a row of six colored eggs and I have to put matching eggs in the other row. Though my idea of color matching was to take apart all the eggs and make sure they all had different-colored tops and bottoms.

What Comes Out of Eggs? For more of a challenge, fill the eggs with animal finger puppets. As you "hatch" the eggs, you have to tell Mommy if those animals actually come out of eggs or not.

Silly Putty Eggs. My favorite thing to come out of eggs, of course, is silly putty! First is the challenge of getting it out of the egg.

Then you get to stretch it, and break it into pieces, and make snakes, and balls, and then bounce the balls. You can make bears and then pinch the parts off the bears. You can wrap it around your fingers, cut it with scissors, make impressions on it, or tracks through it with dinosaurs. You can even put it on your nose to make a nose impression!

And of course it picks up newsprint pictures and erases pencil writing, too.

Sequence Envelopes. Inspired by First the Egg (by Laura Vaccaro Seeger), Mommy made some sequence envelopes for me. The envelope has a clipart picture of what came first - egg, tadpole, seed, caterpillar, etc.

Then the card in the envelope has a picture of what came next - chicken, frog, flower, butterfly. So I am supposed to tell Mommy what is inside before I open the envelope. Then I take the notecard out and show her I'm right. Then I put the card back in the envelope.

I am still trying to figure out envelopes, though. It's tough to get the card back in the envelope...

Feed the Elephants. Mommy printed out four elephants on cardstock. Each of the elephants had a number (from 1 to 4) that shows how many peanuts each one gets. And I am learning to recognize my numbers! (Though you can use dots rather than numbers to make it easier.)

I take my bowl of styrofoam peanuts and feed the right number to each elephant.

But sometimes I feel sorry for the one with only one peanut and try to distribute the peanuts more evenly...

Erasers. This was my favorite tray - it had lots of mini erasers in the shape of flowers. I got to sort them out by color. My favorite thing to do was pick out all the pink ones and spread them out throughout the house...

Earth. Mommy hasn't found a big globe on sale for me yet, so I just played with this little globe keychain. We talked about how the earth spins, and where we live on the globe.

Monogram. Since my name starts with "E", we got some "E" post-its for me to write on and leave around the house on anything that is MINE!

Magnets. We looked for "E" things in magazines to put in our photo frame magnets. We found lot of EYES! I love drawing eyes, too... I also have some letter magnets and an elephant magnet, plus "8" starts with "E", too!

Coloring. Here's my "E" crayon mug for all my coloring pages...

Rubber Stamps. We didn't have too many rubber stamps to play with this week - just a couple of elephants, an egg, and the letter "E". But we did have two new ink pads, a pink one and a green one, so I still had lots of fun!

Play Doh. I did play with play doh a little, though not as much since I had Silly Putty to play with! I had a bunch of egg cookie cutters to use - thanks to Easter!

Foam Letters. I didn't mention these before, but I've got a big jar of foam bathtub letters I play with in the bath. Mommy always makes sure I've got the letters of the week to play with, and here I've got all the letters to my name!

So that's what worked for me! Next week we'll share our "E" adventures...
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If you have a post or link related to "E" Activities for toddlers, link up here!

Wordless Wednesday - Gleneden Beach

Remember several weeks ago I went to Gleneden Beach with Grandpa and Grandma? Well, here are the photos - finally...

Randomness

Esmé's Mommy here...

Forgive the randomness of this post. I'm still working through a gastrointestinal bug that makes it difficult to concentrate on any one thought too long! I'll turn on the numbering to make it seem a little more organized...

1. Doctor in the House.

Esmé's doctor training during "D" school has been well worth it!

"Do you want juice, Mommy? I'll get you some juice, 'kay?" And she fetches the juice that has been sitting on the table since lunchtime.

"I'll get you some milk, 'kay?" And she brings in her bottle of soy milk. (Bottles aren't in use much, just for traumatic occasions such as Mommy being sick.) But she realizes there's a dilemma. "I'll get you a cup for the milk, 'kay? Be right back. Put milk in cup." But she comes back without it - all the glasses in the house are dirty at the moment.

"Here, eat this." Her leftover peanut butter and jam sandwich, which is all I could manage to put together for her supper. I tell her no. It looks disgusting. But she insists, so I nibble on a small crumb from the edge.

"Your knee owie? Let me put bandage on." She heads to the closet where the bandaids are. "Help me get bandage!" No, I tell her. My knee isn't the owie part. A bandaid won't make it better. So she comes back. "I'm going to kiss it, 'kay?" And my knee sure feels better after that kiss!

Inspection time. She sits on the bed next to me. "Ear! Eyebrow! Nose! Chin! Forehead!" Yep, all the parts are there. I must be 'kay.

I put the thermometer in my mouth. "I hold it for you, 'kay?" I make sure it stays in there long enough, then let her take it out. "Ninety-seven!" (Somebody was paying attention when Pappa took his underarm temperature last week.) It was 100.3, but close enough...

"You cold, Mommy? I'm going to fetch blankie for you, 'kay?" Now I'm not cold anymore. "I'm going to get under blankie, too, 'kay?"

2. Where It Began.

Esmé came down sick last Thursday. Diarrhea and an underarm temp of 101. Fortunately she was better within a day. Such a sweet little sickling. It hit me hard on Monday, and it's taking me a lot longer to kick it.

3. Potty Training.

We've kind of left this topic in the dark after the initial effort, haven't we? Let me start by telling you my favorite resource during this trying time was Mommy I Have to Go Potty! A Parent’s Guide to Toilet Training by Jan Faull. Everything I was reading seemed to either state that a kid would figure it out on their own in their own time, or that if I was a good mother, the training would be a piece of cake and should have been done long ago. This book just seemed most balanced and didn't make me feel like a cruel or inadequate mom.

Here's what happened. After 11 days of very little success (unless you count success as wanting to wear big girl panties all the time and sitting on the potty for hours without actually going in it), we had a breakthrough last Friday.

Up til then, we just had a kiddie seat on top of the regular toilet. Finally I succumbed and bought a little pink potty chair, and Esmé fell in love with it. She actually WENT in it right away! And had no accidents for three days.

I hesitate to say she's trained yet, as she had an accident yesterday and today decided to wear pullups most of the day, but at least I know she CAN use the potty when she's motivated.

And she wet the bed during her nap yesterday. She's been dry during naps, so rather than mess with pullups before her nap, we'd started just putting a doubled towel under her. But it wasn't enough. So I had the joy of washing the sheets and sprinkling cornstarch and trying to figure out how to get the cornstarch OFF the mattress all while being deathly sick, which makes everything seem much more difficult than it should be.

4. Flat Tires and Vending Machines.

Last Tuesday we got a flat tire (nail puncture) on the way to tumbling class. I must say that's a way to see the best in people - all the folks who offer to help with changing the tire...

So we spent some unplanned time sitting in Les Schwab waiting for the tire to be repaired. And Esmé had finished all the snacks I brought along, and it was getting close to lunch time, and there really isn't much to do in a tire store. Those are my excuses, and I'm sticking with them.

So I gave her a quarter to use in the little candy vending machines there. I tried to direct her to the Mike & Ike candies - not because then she'd have some to share with me. No, that would be selfish. I figured that way she'd get a variety of flavors to choose from...

But no. She insisted on the Sour Ball machine. She stuck her quarter in, I helped her turn it, and out came a PURPLE ball! Oh NO!

She stuck it in her mouth for a few seconds, and then dragged me back to the machine. "I want YELLOW one!"

I tried in vain to explain that you can't pick what flavor you want out of the vending machine. "You have to take what you get; sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don't. But you can't guarantee what flavor you're gonna get. So even if I gave you a dozen more quarters, you still might not get a yellow one!"

"It's just like having kids. You can't pick and choose the kid you're going to get. Fortunately, I got very blessed and got exactly the kid I would have picked. The perfect kid for me."

Unfortunately, the profound analogy was lost on her, and she had a crying fit until she finally dozed off for a little nap.

5. Reading?

I guess you couldn't call it that, yet. But it was fun to see Esmé recognize a few written words last week. "Esmé" is of course at the top of the list - she's had that one downpat for a while. And the latest words? "OK", "mamma," and "pappa."

6. Thanks.

I was pleasantly surprised to find an honorable mention in Scribbit's June Write Away contest. I've been feeling rather uninspired and tired in blogging lately, so that was a nice boost. Thanks, Michelle at Scribbit and judge Michelle at Bleeding Espresso...

7. Book Recommendations.

I broke my self-imposed book buying moratorium last week! There are two books I was wishing I could just keep permanently checked out of the library, so I succumbed and bought them. Used on Amazon.com wasn't too expensive.

So if you're looking for books with theme ideas for your toddlers, do yourself a favor and check these out of the library to try out! I love how they take a song or book and come up with a well-rounded set of activities to go with it. The books are: Story S-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-r-s by Shirley C. Raines and Robert J. Canady, and Where is Thumbkin? by Pam Schiller and Thomas Moore.

Another book I love is How to Get Your Child to Love Reading by Esmé Raji Codell. (Our claim to fame, by the way, is that the author left a comment on our blog about how nice it was to meet another Esmé!) Some great ideas and lots of great booklists for different themes and topics.

Two other good books along the same lines of the last one: Raising Bookworms: Getting Kids Reading for Pleasure and Empowerment by Emma Walton Hamilton and Under the Chinaberry Tree: Books and Inspirations for Mindful Parenting by Ann Ruethling & Patti Pitcher.

I was also looking forward to The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease. Sadly, I attempted to read it Monday while I was feeling deathly sick and incapable of concentrating on anything for very long. So I doubt I will ever be able to pick it up again without remembering those terrible sick feelings.

What I would really like at this moment is some light-hearted easy reading material. But Esmé's sick episode on Thursday prevented me from stopping by the library, so I've got nothing...

8. Why We Love Summer.

We went strawberry picking last week. Twice! Well, I should say I picked, and Esmé dumped berries out of my bucket. She doesn't like berries at all, no matter how hard I coax her to try them. I hoped seeing them in the field would make them more attractive, but it didn't work.

Given the berry dumping, we got about 12 pounds. Now, these are the delectable little ones that are so ripe they melt in the mouth. Yummmm. (Except when you're sick...)

So here are some photos to show why we love summer. Enjoy!

Not Me! Monday

My Charming Kids isn't up to the Not Me! Monday post, thanks to a hospital stay for little Stellan. But I'm not still up to my usual 2-year-old tricks, so we'll go ahead with our post.

Let's see. I did NOT tickle myself and giggle in the back seat of the car on the 1/2-hour drive to tumbling class.

I did NOT shove Mommy's library card into the photo computer slot at WalMart so that the attendant had to take apart the computer cover to get the card out. And the attendant did not act like it was crazy for someone to shove a library card into a computer. After all, that's where cards go. I know! I swipe Mommy's credit cards all the time.

I did not cover myself with Garnier Ultra-Lift Pro Deep Wrinkle Cream. After all, I LIKE my wrinkles! I'm proud of my old age...

And lastly, I did not grab Mommy's blush and cover myself with it. I am beautiful already...


That's it for today. We're saving up some stuff for next week!

Mission Sunday

1. Congrats to Braden, Johanna, and Keenan Pewitt on the arrival of baby Jaden William on June 17th! The Pewitts work in Cambodia - you can read more about their mission adventures on their blog, Searching for the Sea.
2. We recently discovered a sweet and thoughtful blog, Life Support System, by Steve Goodier. Check out the post Aren't They All Our Children? if you're wondering why you should care about the world's children...

Have a blessed week!

WFMW - "D" Adventures

Last week we gave you the "D" activity trays. Now here are the "D" adventures that worked for this 26-month-old during our two "D" weeks.

Review: Dogs.

Song.

• Bingo

Book.

• Go, Dog. Go! by P D Eastman. One of my favorites and the reason we chose "dog" as the theme today, because it is chock full of review stuff like colors and opposites.
• Skippyjon Jones by Judy Schachner. My ABSOLUTE favorite book of the week! It's actually about a cat, but Mommy had it earmarked as "dog" since it has chihauhuas in it. I kept arguing about which ones were cats and which were "hauhuas."
• The Puppy Who Wanted a Boy by Jane Thayer. One of my favorites - I actually own this book!
• Doggies by Sandra Boynton.
• I'll Teach My Dog a Lot of Words by Michael Frith. Another of my favorites that I own.
• Dog's ABC by Emma Dodd.
• Where's Spot? by Eric Hill. One of my favorites, but we made a lapbook based on this one, too - see the Adventures section below.
• Clifford the Big Red Dog by Norman Bridwell.
• I Got Two Dogs by John Lithgow.
• Good Dog, Carl by Alexandra Day.

Food.

• Puppy chow - this recipe was a bit oversweet. We modified it some to begin with and only made 1/4th of it, but would strongly recommend some desweetening if you choose to try it. But it was fun making it and shaking it all up!

Computer Time.

• Bingo video clip - BINGO song on video
• The Perfect Pet - a story about the perfect pet for me...
• Pick a Pet - a game where you have to decide what different pets do.
• Clifford the Big Red Dog - lots of dog things to do on this PBS site!
• Martha - and more dog things on THIS PBS site! The Pizza game has some good mouse practice for kids like me who haven't quite figured the mouse thing out yet.

Science.

• Feather hat - since Go, Dog. Go! was the theme book of the day, we made a funny hat to go with the book. Actually, the hat was already made - we just added feathers to it. We tried to fit as many as possible on without them falling off - it was a challenge to get them to stick into the hat. But doesn't it look stunning on me?!

Physical Activity.

• Ball - fetching practice!

Adventures...

We made alphabet dominos! I helped color out all the pictures. I don't have all the sounds figured out yet, so Mommy had to help me put them together, but I had fun naming the pictures.

And remember that cat paper bag puppet we got from WalMart on clearance? It came with some dog puppets, too. So we made these. My friend Gabe was visiting, so each of us made one. I love taking them apart afterwards!

Another "and"! We made a special dog lapbook! It's just like the Where's Spot? book, only better cuz we made it ourselves and don't have to return it to the library. I LOVE tab books, so this is perfect for me...

Lapbook: Ducks.

Song.

• Five Little Ducks - one of my favorite songs! I like practicing to quack like the mamma duck.

Book.

• My "d" Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure. My favorite sound box book so far, since it had lots of dolls in it!
• The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Andersen, adapted and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney. My ABSOLUTE favorite book! I am all about emotion in stories, and this story gets me every time! Poor ugly duckling! Mommy's note: I was surprised again at how well Esmé sat through this book - all the words - and requested it over and over. The illustrations were lovely. There was one math error in the book that I had to correct while reading.
• One Duck Stuck by Phyllis Root.
• Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey. We got the Scholastic DVD for this book from the library, too.
• Giggle, Giggle, Quack by Doreen Cronin. Mommy liked this book! I didn't quite get what was funny about it, but I liked the animals...
• Duck & Goose by Tad Hills. This is about a duck and goose who find a ball and think it is an egg, sitting on it and waiting for it to hatch. I had a hard time sitting still and listening to this - I kept insisting it was a "BALL" all the way through!
• Little Quack by Lauren Thompson. A definite favorite and great counting practice. I used to own this book until I tore it all up...
• Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal & Tom Lichtenheld. This is DEFINITELY about a RABBIT! I don't know WHY we're reading this in "D" week...
• I'm a Duck! by Teri Sloat. A happy book!
• Duck on a Bike by David Shannon. Another fun book...

Food.

• Deli sandwich with dirt dessert - a bun with veggie deli slices and cheese, and a cup of chocolate pudding topped with crushed oreos. Though you couldn't pay me to eat that dirt.

Computer Time.

• http://www.starfall.com/ - the "D" activities. I love starfall!
• Five Little Ducks video - to go with our song...
• Debbie Duck and Debbie Duck Park stories on BBC's site.
• And of course Debi Derryberry's Baby Banana site - with a mama duck...

Science.

• Floating duck - I played with my rubber duck in the bath - and Mommy showed how when it was full of air it floated, but not so much when it was full of water. And I like squirting that water!
• Feed the duck - I colored a picture of a duck and then glued it onto a cereal box with LOTS of glue. Then Mommy cut a small hole near the open mouth of the duck (and oh how I tried to help cut that hole!). Then I got to feed the duck through the hole with my goldfish crackers. Though it was more like duck - 1, Esmé - 1, duck - 1, Esmé - 1...

Physical Activity.

• Duck Duck Goose - not quite the conventional game with only Mommy and me playing, but fun anyways! A little more like Ring Around the Rosies...

Adventures...

Before we started on the lapbook, we did a duck feet painting. The idea is to take two spatulas, dip them in orange paint, and slap them onto your paper like duck feet. Mommy says it didn't look like anything special - she was expecting something more like duck feet prints. But it was fun to slap and paint! And we did it outside on a brown shopping bag.

Now to the lapbook. The first page was a block "D" - we were supposed to paint it with dandelion prints, but can you believe the dandelions were out of season already?! So we tried to use daisies, but they were WAY flimsy. Flexibility, flexibility... Mommy pulled out the qtips and we made dots...

As always, the inside of the first page had a gallon ziploc bag stapled onto it to collect all the miscellaneous "flat" stuff we did throughout "D" time.

And here's what went on the inner page...

Our "D" sounds book - I colored this first.

My "D" sign language cards - Mommy taped in our premade flashcards which included the letter and "drink."

We made a dog comparison book - big and little dogs, dogs of all colors...

We used a Daniel Bible verse from this page (the rest of the page was used for our Daniel adventures...

And we used daisy numbers for counting practice.

The back was a dinosaur coloring page.

Excursion #1: Dogs, Denny's.

Adventures...

We visited the dogs at the animal shelter. This little daschund just kept calling my name! I wanted to take him home so bad!

(Of all the options, Mommy says... She prefers the big dogs to the little yappers. But it turns out we weren't going to take ANY of them home, so I'll just stick with me little hot dog...)

And we ate at Denny's. Here I am with the ingredients to my secret restaurant recipes. I ended up getting pizza, and I insisted on goldfish crackers for a side.

Bible Story: Daniel.

Song.

• Dare To Be a Daniel - this is an oldie hymn that's lots of fun marching or saluting to...

Book.

• Daniel and the Lions, Falvo Fowler, ed., from GraceLink. We had the printed version, but you can find it online, too. It's one of my absolute favorite stories - I can tell you the next sentence before you read it! Here's our dialogue... Mommy: Is Daniel scared? Esmé: NO! Mommy: Why not? Esmé: Angels shut lions' mouths!

Food.

• Animal crackers including lions.

Computer Time.

• Daniel and the Lions online book - from Bible for Children site.

Science.

• Wax decree - first I wrote a royal decree on note paper with a purple marker. Lots of EYES (making sure all my "I"s are dotted) on that decree! Then Mommy helped me put it in an envelope and lick the envelope shut. Then we lit a candle and dripped wax onto the envelope to seal it even more. I stamped it with my rubber ducky stamp!

Physical Activity.

• Den - In addition to marching to our song, we created a "lions" den using chairs and a blanket. I didn't have any lions, so we put all my other stuffed animals inside. Then Mommy read me a story while I sat in the den.

Adventures...

Mommy glued my lion coloring page onto cardboard and cut the lion out. She punched holes onto both sides of the mouth and put in a piece of yarn so I could practice tying the lion's mouth shut! It's still rather complicated, but I'm working on it!

Then we made doily angels. You fold a foil doily into half. Then you make a cone out of a piece of paper and glue it onto the doily. Then you glue and/or staple a pompom onto the top of the cone for a head. The ones we made don't have hands - that's why I have to help keep the lion's mouth shut.

My secret? Use LOOOTTTTS of glue! Then Mommy has to make it disappear while the glue dries.

Science: Dinosaurs.

Song.

• I'm a Mean Old Dinosaur - Mommy's note: if you roar too realistically, you'll have to follow this up with LOTS of tickling!

Book.

• Danny and the Dinosaur by Syd Hoff. An ABSOLUTE favorite book! Check out the Scholastic DVD, too. (Mommy's note: a couple references to "million years" that left me a little uncomfortable, but overall a fun book.)
• Dinosaur vs. Bedtime by Bob Shea. This was a favorite! It gave Mommy some ideas about toothbrushing - now there is a toothbrush monster who chases after me every night so I don't fight so much and giggle more during the toothbrushing session!
• Dinosaur ABC. I kept asking for this book, but never sat all the way through it.
• Dinorella: A Prehistoric Fairy Tale by Pamela Duncan Edwards & Henry Cole. Mommy liked this because there were LOTS of "D"s in the book.
• Good Night Dinosaurs by Judy Sierra.
• Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaurs! by Sandra Boynton.
• Tadpole Rex by Kurt Cyrus. A favorite book of mine.
• The Berenstain Bears and the Missing Dinosaur Bone by Stan and Jan Berenstain. Another favorite of mine. I kept saying "bad dog!"
• Ten Terrible Dinosaurs by Paul Stickland.
• How Do Dinosaurs Play with Their Friends? by Jane Tolen & Mark Teague.
• Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs by Byron Barton.

Food.

• Fossil cookies - we put dinosaur tracks into sugar cookie dough with my plastic dinosaurs, then baked the cookies! Yummy! Mommy's note: I buy lots of sugar cookie dough when it's on sale and freeze it; then I can just grab some out for a quick project like this. It may not be as healthy as homemade, but supposedly it's safer for those sneak bites of raw cookie dough that inevitably happen. In fact, Esmé loves the cookie dough but hardly touches the baked cookie.

Computer Time.

• Land Before Time site.

Science.

• Official dinosaur names - we played with these dinosaur cards from 1+1+1=1's blog...

Physical Activity.

• Flight of the Dragonfly - we ran around and acted like dragonflies (using our dragonfly puppets) to the tune of Flight of the Bumblebee.

Adventures...

We made a dinosaur diorama! First you take a box and you paint the inside. Then you paint your feet and hands...

Then you paint some egg cartons to make mountains...

Then you wait for the paint to dry (or not). Then you move in your dinosaurs and make them do crazy things!

If you'd rather have it look professional, here are some dinosaur diorama templates.

You can use your dinosaur finger puppets in the diorama...

And here's a host of more dinosaur crafts that we didn't have time to do...

Social Studies: Doctors/Dentists.

Song.

• I Am a Doctor.

Book.

• Doctor Ted by Andrea Beaty & Pascal Lemaitre.
• The Crocodile and the Dentist by Taro Gomi.
• Dancing by Denys Cazet.

Food.

• An apple (a day...)

Computer Time.

• Sid the Science Kid Dental Hygeine videos
• Crocodile's Toothache by Shel Silverstein (only if you have a warped sense of humor...)

Science.

• Thermometer - Mommy showed me how to use the thermometer.
• And a diaper/pad test - this was a little impromptu. I opened up some pad samples of different brands - I called them diapers - so Mommy decided we might as well test them before we threw them away. Here I am pouring water on each one by the 1/8th cup to see which one absorbs the most. It was a lesson on what goes on inside my diapers, too...

Physical Activity.

• Dance - check out this great post on dancing to music from Munchkins and Music... Here I am dancing with my cousins' dancing doll in Portland.

Adventures...

We played paper doll doctors...

And I played doctor with my dolly! I took the temperature of her eye...

...and checked her throat...

...and bandaged her leg.

Excursion #2: Ducks.

Adventures...

We went to a duck pond and fed bread to the ducks.

They were nice and friendly.

So was this old little nutria...

Kitchen: Donuts.

Song.

• Donut Song.

Book.

• We didn't have any books for this theme, but we had SO MANY for the ducks and dinosaurs and dogs that I didn't miss it at all...

Food.

• Donuts! We made them using premade biscuit dough. I separated the dough and punched holes in it using a bud vase.
• Then I was on sugar duty! In addition to stuffing sugar in my mouth, I helped powder the donuts after they were fried.
• And of course, I helped eat them (though the sugar was the best part).

Computer Time.

• The Door game - you have to guess who's at the door in this Fisher-Price game.

Science.

• Salt/sugar taste test - Mommy gave me a plate of sugar and a plate of salt. I had fun tasting them over and over...

Physical Activity.

• Marching with my drum (see Adventures section below).

Adventures...

As well as making donuts, I also made a drum using a hot chocolate container. I put stickers on it and Mommy showed me how to put a shoelace through it so I could hold it around my neck.

We tried to make a balloon drum, too, by putting a balloon over an open container, but it didn't work. The balloons kept breaking instead of going around the containers.

Miscellaneous.

Book.

• Ella Sarah Gets Dressed by Margaret Chodos-Irvine. Mommy says this story could well be about me - I would love to dress up like Ella Sarah. Or just wear nothing all day.
• What Daddies Do Best by Laura Numeroff.
• The Story of Jesus and His Disciples by Alice Joyce Davidson.
• Dreams by Ezra Jack Keats.
• Hooray for Diffendoofer Day! by Dr. Seuss. A little long for me, but I did sit through it a couple of times.
• One Two Three Jump! by Penelope Lively. About a dragonfly and a frog...

Adventures.

We made daisy chains in the yard.

And told stories in the dark.

And had tea parties with our dolls using our bunny dishes.

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