Red and Yellow Game

David has always had a fascination with playing a board game called Blokus. It's for 5 years old to adult, so I haven't encouraged him playing it, so I keep track of the pieces. The other night we were home just the two of us, and he asked again to play the red and yellow game. So I consented and played a simplified version with him. I like to play games with David as a way to illustrate that Mom has to follow rules, too. David's view of rules at our house is sometimes that no one has rules to follow but him. It's one of those things that having siblings helps to even the playing field a bit. So, playing games is a great way to illustrate that really, we are all subject to following rules.

So.

We played a round, and David caught on pretty quickly. Then he wanted all the pieces to play his own game. I stood vigil next to him, so none of the pieces walked off if he were to be distracted.

He was  not distracted. He was completely focused while he fit every piece into the playing board by himself. Of course he had all of his own rules, but I was amazed at the way he would choose a piece, and have the spatial concept to fit it into his puzzle on the board. I saw a lot of pre-math skills when he could see exactly which piece to lift and rotate in order to make room for the piece in his hand. He was able to fit all 84 pieces on the board in a big puzzle, with only about 10 blank spaces left. I was truly impressed.

I'm thinking that we need to pull out the red and yellow game more often now,  and integrate these pre-math skills into our preschool activities.

Part of the fun was breaking apart the puzzle--unfortunately I didn't grab my camera until David was gleefully moving all the pieces out of his perfectly pieced puzzle!

Pyrah's Pioneer Peak Farm 2012

 This outing is an end of the summer must-do for me. I simply must get a stash of freshly picked vegetables and allow my boy to get dirty while he sees where food comes from.

This time we were lucky to go with Lindsay and her kids--what a great outing. The gorgeous Pioneer Peak makes this farm scenery just breathtaking!

 I learned that I am a lot less exhausted coming home when the kids help pull and push the wagon, and I'm not the one dragging it through the fields by myself. David had a (very long) turn to pull the wagon, and it was hard for him to give it up. (When we are with other kids, I try to give him every opportunity I can to teach him to take turns and share. Not easy on him, but oh, so good for him!) When we finally coaxed him away from the handle and into the wagon, he was all smiles with getting a ride!

 See that cute little Madi, wanting one of David's crackers? We never go anywhere without enough snacks to share with the other kids--simply because David needs all the practice he can get. And on this particular day, he was willing to share. On his own terms such as breaking crackers in half, but willing. I'll take what I can get.

 The very next day a storm rolled in and it poured all morning long. I'm glad we went when the fields were dry, but more importantly--when the sun was shining!

Love this cute little farmer boy!

Reason number 183

That David needs a sibling--

So he has someone to teach how to brush teeth besides a stuffed animal.

 

Giraffe was getting the whole lecture, as well as our little song and skit we do as we march the toothbrush into David's mouth:

"Gonna get the sugarbugs, Gonna get the sugarbugs . . ."

When the toothbrush finally makes its grand entrance, we break up the party the sugarbugs are having--"These sugar bugs are riding their bikes. Get outta there sugarbugs, you can't have a party in David's mouth." And we move around his mouth, naming all the best things David did in the day, and chase the sugarbugs away from having their party in David's mouth. "These sugarbugs think they get to sit here and play with playdough. Not a chance. Get outta there, sugar bugs. No parties in David's mouth!"

You would not believe how many power struggles this little game has dispelled right on the spot! We easily get three whole minutes of brushing teeth out of the boy, and usually a smile, too. It seems to melt away the crankiest clenched jaw that doesn't want anything to do with beginning the bedtime routine.

Oh, and as a bonus--you get reason number 184.

So David has someone to boss around besides his parents.

David-isms August 5

A friend pulled into our driveway to pick up her son, and one of her tires was on our grass.

David: I don't appreciate it that you parked on our flowers!

The flowers in peril? Dandelions.

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 David is in a phase of making up words and their meanings. Most of them are too creative to recall a second time, so I have very few examples to share. But one word he consistently uses is "shrimping, shrimped, shrimper, etc." It's usually used as a verb, and its meaning depends on the context in which it is used.
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With our recent progress in potty training, David has a few new vocabulary words--some of which he has made up himself. The word he decided to use for "pee" is "peep"--so that's what has stuck. I was reading him the story about Goldilocks and the Three Bears when we came to the part that said, "Goldilocks peeped into the windows." David's eyes grew huge as he incredulously asked, "Mom! Why did she do that?" The first couple of times, I tried explaining that peep has more than one meaning. But David wouldn't have it, so finally I said, "Because she was very naughty." He was satisfied with that answer, so we were eventually allowed to resume the story.
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Hey mom, would you please sing me the song we heard at the store today so I can dance to it?
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And just a picture or two for good measure--I recently found an excuse to make a cake for a 1-year old friend.

David took a special liking to the blue frosting.

Work Project

 While the men were at home installing our new flooring, David and I went to Home Depot so David could find a work project to do on his  level. It was our first time to attend one of these workshops, and David of course loved it.

 I decided that it is a true act of love and bravery to hold a nail, or be anywhere near the hammer my 3-year old is swinging--but David didn't seem to notice.

 He was pleased as punch with his new project, apron, pin and certificate.

I'm sure we'll be back for more.

Out with the old

We moved into this house a few months shy of 5 years ago--and finally we are replacing the carpet on the main floor. In our next home I plan to replace flooring so we can live on it, not so we can sell the place. Yes, we are looking to move--but with Sam's new calling, we're restricted to boundaries that are 2 1/2 miles long and about 1 mile wide. That leaves us with just a small handful of neighborhoods to look in. So it might take a while to find something we want, but in the meantime we're doing our last home improvement projects so when the opportunity comes up, we'll be ready to put our house on the market.

This was a very exciting day--to see the carpet go!

David was a great little helper--with those over sized gloves, and later on when he insisted on helping with the vacuuming.

 This is Mikayla--her dad was here to help us install the new floor. Mikayla has been a friend of ours over the last 4 summers, and she was a great friend to David while the men worked. We kept taking David on outings to stay out of the way,  but it was hard to think of new things to do by the end of a long work day. Mikayla was a great sport. (And by this time, we found gloves for David that stayed on a little better.)

 The men folk--Nathan and Sam--at work with our new floor.

 I told David that he had to step over the seam where the new floor ended--so he got lots of practice taking giant steps. He was trying to be really obedient, and I was really entertained by his dramatics in leaping over the edges.

We are about 2/3 of the way done, then we'll move everything back into place.

As we removed the carpet, Sam asked me if I wanted to kiss it goodbye. Ick! I'm a lot more likely to kiss the new stuff than the old. It's a huge improvement!

Grade A

Once we got a white board for the sake of teaching David how to write his letters, he could hardly stand to let it sit idle. So at his insistence, we have begun lessons on writing letters.

 Maybe while David learns to write letters, I should learn to draw simple pictures. He humored me and deciphered between my apple, ant and airplane--but let's just say I'm on the hunt for little cards with simple pictures that I can use with letters B-Z.

 He was loving life. While most of these letters were written with my hand helping him hold the marker, or him tracing my letter, the two A's in the lower right were done completely by himself.

He is very proud of those A's.

Almost as proud as me.