Tot School

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(Mommy's Note:  We installed this Amazon Associates tool which is doing really funky things with our blog layout.  Trying to organize pictures took forever, and the html code doesn't seem to match what's being displayed.  Hopefully it will post okay - if not, sincere apologies.  It is all MY fault, not Esmé's... :>)

We are, like, oodles of weeks behind in posting Tot Schools.  Here's one from the beginning of February.  Maybe we'll start getting caught up one of these days... Anyways, you'll see lots of hearts and stuff, since Pink was our color and Heart was our shape for February. And you'll see my crown, since I hadn't lost it yet...

Our book of the week was Peter's Chair by Ezra Jack Keats.  I didn't find it all that exciting.  Partly because I'd read it lots of times before.  And partly because it wasn't about animals.  Cuz I am all about animals in books these days.

Here are some other books we read about Sisters and Brothers and Family:

• Climb the Family Tree, Jesse Bear! by Nancy White Carlstrom.  This book was pretty cool.  Cuz it was about bears, you see.  And bears are animals.  And they can really talk.
• Sisters and Brothers: Sibling Relationships in the Animal World by Steve Jenkins & Robin Page.  That had lots of animals in.  So it was okay.
• Bunny Money by Rosemary Wells.  That was about bunnies.  They are animals.  And bunnies can really talk.
• The Paper Princess by Elisa Kleven.  This was about a boy and a girl.  But there were animals in it.  And they could really talk.  And the paper princess doll could really talk.  So it was a good book.
• It's Time to Sleep, My Love by Eric Metaxas.  This wasn't really about family.  But it had lots of animals in it.  Pretty pictures.  So it was a good book.
  

I think you'll notice the theme of the week was "doing my own thing my own way."

I painted a paper chair pink, just like Peter painted HIS chair pink for his baby sister in the story.  Red and white make pink!  (So far, so good...)

Then I had to sort through a bunch of stuff and say if it was a big kid thing or a baby thing.  Bottle and glass was easy, but I wasn't too happy about the diaper and underpants designations.


I made towers out of blocks, just like Peter did in the book.


I painted a green crocodile, and we stuffed it with snow stuffing.  So I could have a toy crocodile just like Peter did.



Speaking of green, I was supposed to paint a PINK heart.  But I had so much fun mixing blue and yellow to make green for the crocodile, that I REALLY wanted to make a green heart.  So that's what I did.


I cut out pictures of babies and big kids out of magazines and told Mommy which was which.


I played with tangram pieces that looked a lot like Peter's blocks.


Mommy had two "baby sisters" that she was going to color with DIFFERENCES so I could tell her the differences between each.  But I intercepted and decided to color them myself.  I made them exactly the SAME - red teddy bears for each.  And we put them in my cradle so they could sleep.


Mommy told me to draw a picture of my family.  So I'm on top of the building.  Pappa's inside the building.  Mommy's the big tall one holding the building up. Baby sister (as in PETER's baby sister - to be crystal clear) is free-falling sky-diving off the building.  And there are lots of otherworldly aliens floating around.


Then Mommy gave me a bunch of people shapes to make a family.  I've learned this very cool trick - if you color over and over on the same spot with a marker, the paper disintegrates!  So I was trying to disintegrate the family.  Very cool!


Mommy put out a basket with floral foam and pink flowers and hearts, and I arranged a bouquet.

But I thought those hearts made really cool drumsticks, so I did a lot of drumming, too!

Speaking of pink, here's some goop - silly putty - that was really cool and dripped all over the place!  Mommy just loved cleaning it up!

Mommy tried to teach me how to cut out a heart.  I wasn't interested. It was much too hard!


So I cut up the valentine-making materials - ribbons, lace, and such - into itty bitty pieces, instead.


My cutting skills are progressing well!  Here is an itty bitty tooth I cut out.  I was supposed to be gluing a set of teeth onto my "T" collage.  (We were studying "T".)


Here is a snowman!  This was all my idea - I made it from a bowl of cedar shavings (which I also spread all over the living room rug - it was lots of fun!)


When I was supposed to be coloring, I made myself a tower out of markers instead...


...And used it to become Little Bo Peep.  Or Mary with a little lamb.  And walked around and around with my staff, singing.


Mommy brought out some pink sculpting sand.  So I made baby sand castles.  And tried very hard not to get sand on the floor.


For our science experiment, I played with ice!  First I stuck my hand in it.  It was very cold.


Then I stuck my hand in a glove and stuck the glove in the ice.  It was not cold at all!  The glove did a good job of insulating my hand...


I did some fun Valentine stuff at day care.  Like this quilted heart magnet.


And a heart picture.


I played games on Mommy's iPod Touch.  It is SO easy!


And we made snowflakes out of gum drops.  Except I ate all my gumdrops (with toothpicks, of course) instead of making snowflakes.