Anna is 16 months

Anna turned 16 months on the 25th & this update is 2 months overdue! Hard to keep up these days!

We sold the crib & changing table & re-arranged Anna's room. Probably around age 2- 2 1/2 she will get a twin bed in her room to transition from our bed.

In the last couple of months Anna has really come out of her shell. She loves doing everything her brother does & it is so cute to see her! She is to the point that if we do not allow her to do things or we forget she can do something, she will squeal and screech until we realize! This includes all the activities at Paradise Park & other kiddo places. She has an adventurous streak to her just like Eli!

Anna loves to be outside. It is a place that has always calmed her and since becoming mobile she insists on going outdoors a lot. I wonder if she will like playing in snow this winter?

Anna's vocabulary is pretty limited but she definitely understands everything we are saying and asking of her. She will get her shoes when asked, goes to the door when we say we are going outside, goes to the bathroom when we talk about brushing teeth, gets books from the bookshelf when we ask, etc., etc. She will also say random words such as "hi" which shows she CAN say words, she just is not quite ready. She frequently says mama, kitty, & ball. She also knows the animal sounds of monkey & tiger. She does some signing still & a lot of screeching, moaning, & grunting :) Anna also shows a lot of interest (& has for quite some time) in books & will bring books to us to read or just sits and reads on her own.

Anna can point to her body parts when asked including eyes, ears, nose, mouth, & teeth. She will wave bye-bye to people as they leave. She does peg puzzles & sorting bucket & shows a lot of interest in learning! I am sure one day she will just start talking!

Anna is still quite the mama's girl! She prefers my company and will let me carry her around and just watches what I do for a decent amount of time. Of course other times she wants to help me or get down & do it on her own!

Anna will NOT wear any hair clips. She instantly pulls them out. Her hair is getting pretty long so I'm thinking a hair cut may be in order at some point. Bangs? Just a trim? We shall see!

Miss Anna loves the stairs now days & insists on going up & down them on her own....but we are spotting, of course:

Anna is also quite the lovey girl! She gives big, long hugs and favors certain stuffed animals such as a tiger & monkey. She will give most people a hug & kiss when asked, which is too cute. Eli says to Anna "Give me a hug!" with his arms outstretched and she runs to give him a hug! Love her cuddlebug side!

And there it is!

Eli's 4 year pictures

Eli had his 4 year pictures taken by his Uncle Chris & we are very pleased! Thanks Uncle Chris & enjoy!!

Eli's 4th Birthday Party

Eli had an awesome Spiderman 4th Birthday party at the end of August and had a blast! It was a beautiful day and so many friends, neighbors, and family attended. I'll say it again....we are blessed! This year I incorporated activities for the first time and it worked out wonderfully. The weather cooperated so we were able to be outside and enjoy the day!

Here is a slide show of our celebration:

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It's preschool time again!

Eli starts his 2nd year at Christ Preschool on Monday! He is in the 3/4 year old class this year and while it is the same school, he has a new teacher, new classroom, AND new classmates. We made the decision to switch him to the M, W, F class so his preschool days would be more consistently spread out vs. the T, Th, F schedule he had last year. We attended open house on Thursday and Eli was his usual social self! He already knows and is comfortable with the 3 teachers and 2 directors of the preschool due to the staff combining the classes for fun activities and everyone meeting for circle time conducted by one of the directors daily!

As most of you know, I have my BA in Elementary Education and taught Kindergarten and 1st grade about 10 years ago (WOW....can't believe my kiddos are in their senior year!!!). One of my FAVORITE parts of teaching was all the planning, organizing, and room preparation. So it should be no surprise that I enjoy doing the same for my own kiddos! This summer we had a flexible schedule that included language, math, science, art, games, physical play, games, and many field trips! With school starting, I wanted to continue a schedule with some academics (just one daily), but also continue the field trips. We have a couple groupons to use for inside bouncy house places along with wanting to continue going to Paradise Park weekly. Of course we hope to keep the parks & rec activities, library, and other fun kid places in the mix, too! Here is what I have come up with:

7:30-8:00am BREAKFAST
8:00-8:30am MORNING JOBS
8:30-9:00am READ ALOUD STORY TIME (great transition before leaving to preschool!)
9:00-9:45am (M, W, F) Take Eli to preschool
(T & Th) GAMES (board games,
file folder games,
made up games by Eli ;)
9:45-10:15am ABC’s & 123’s GAMES
(M, W, F Anna only; T, Th Eli helps; Eli has enjoyed helping teach Anna, too!)
10:15-10:45am PHYSICAL PLAY
(chase, tag, red light/green light,
outside, basement play set, etc.)
10:45-11:00am Snack
11:00-11:45am Anna naps
11:45-12:00pm (M, W, F) Pick up Eli from preschool
12:00-1:00pm LUNCH & Tidy/prep for afternoon
1:00-2:00pm
M: Baking (some kind of healthy snack for us to munch on throughout the week that Eli helps cook!)
T: Library Story time & book check out
W: Friend playtime (attending one of the many fun kid activities/places in the area or just a simple playdate!)
Th: Errands/Appointments/Clean
F: Paradise Park
2:00-2:15pm CALENDAR (including month, day of the week, & weather)
2:15-2:45pm
M: Science
(easy experiments, Sid the Science Kid
from PBS, etc.)
T: Language
(letter writing, letter sounds,
beginning sounds, etc.)
W: Math
(counting aloud, counting objects,
simple addition, number writing, etc.)
Th: Art/Music
(crafts & free art play; music DVDs,
Music with Mar, & free music play)
F: Paradise Park
3:00-3:30pm Snack
3:30-4:00pm PHYSICAL PLAY
4:00-4:30pm GAMES
4:30-5:00pm READ ALOUD STORY TIME
5:00-5:30pm Dinner prep/free play
6:00-6:30pm DINNER
6:30-7:00pm BATHS
7:00-7:15pm BEDTIME JOBS
7:30pm ANNA’S BEDTIME
8:00pm ELI’S BEDTIME

And Eli's visual schedule. Kids connect well visually & it helps them feel aware of how their day is going to run:

Our alphabet with upper/lower case letters & pictures that begin with that letter. Numbers with numeral & number word. I will add up to 20 soon. The bottom area will be for him to hang up his preschool work:

Each month the preschool sends home a newsletter with the theme, colors, numbers, letters, words to the songs they sing, and bible verses they learn for that month. This allows parents to extend to home what is being learned at school:

We talk a lot about the weather in our house, so I was excited to find these window clings for the weather. I printed and hung up "Today's weather is:" so we could change it out each day:

I also found window clings for shapes & colors that also had the words:

This is Eli & Anna's craft cabinet. There is paper, coloring/painting supplies, stickers, coloring books, and play doh. Eli used to have access to it all the time but Miss Anna keeps pulling the shelf down on her so now it is blocked by a chair:

Here is what is inside our ottoman/coffee table in our living room. A variety of puzzles, file folder games, flash cards & special books we get out to play with throughout the week. These items need adult supervision :)

Our living room play area is arranged with toys that Eli & Anna can play with TOGETHER. I moved the toys for Anna's age to her room & Eli's cars, trains, super heros, etc. to his room. This helps in several ways. Eli knows that what is played with in the living room is shared & played together. If he wants to bring out his super heros to the living room, that is fine, as long as he understands Anna can play with them, too. If he wants to play with them alone, he can either go to the kitchen table or his room. This has really helped him, He understands that he DOES have toys that are just his and a place to do just that. With the set up of our house, he just goes down the hall and it isn't a "punishment" to play alone. Then the living room has large puzzles, games, books, reading toys, mega blocks & other items that can be done together:

Now for the basement. We bought this playset with the idea that we will bring it inside to the basement during the winter for a place to have some physical play! It is the perfect size for Anna and Eli loves the rock wall on the side:

Also downstairs is the art easel that I will add supplies to for creative art time:

All of Eli's hotwheels tracks are in these tubs along with some toys & musical instruments down below. Also some toolsets for the kiddos to help "fix" things:

Another addition to our basement is this keyboard. Eli & Anna both love to play it & especially play songs to dance to. We will have many winter dance parties I am sure:

This summer we started learning character traits. We learned about 8 or so of them. Starting this week, I will just have one up a week to review and focus on for that week. I also want Eli to continue to be aware of his and other people's feelings. So I made feeling cards that we will also discuss what they mean, look like, and what are safe ways to express each feeling. We are definitely seeing expressions of anger in this house & I hope that just addressing emotions throughout the week will help:

Since cancelling cable over a year ago, Eli watches some PBS in the morning and at lunch. He loves Dinosaur Train, Curious George, Super Why, Sid the Science Kid, Clifford the Big Red Dog and especially Caillou. He really relates and zones into Caillou. Thankfully PBS has a great website with a lot of educational activities. I have started to print some off for our days. Side the Science Kid is especially great because they have experiments & other science activities:

I have kept some of Eli's preschool work from his first year. Eli's coloring a year ago was quite scribbly. Some of this was due to age and lack of fine motor skills, but also his desire to be fast & rough. But, I did see a great improvement over the year and this summer he totally surprised me by coloring this picture in the waiting room at Children's Mercy:

So, there you have it! We are pumped for school....how about you!?