An adventurous Day

Hubby got to join Babycake and I at gymnastics today. We heard that there was horrendous traffic so we left a half hour early. That however was not enough. We spent an hour finding new routes to get to class at our local YMCA. We arrived a half hour late but we still got about 15 mins of tumbling and pictures in. 

Practicing sideways walking on the balance mat.

Spidergirl spidergirl no one climbs like spidergirl!

Babycake did great for coming in so late to class. She really loves tumbling and running around. She caught on fairly quickly to the new stations set around to practice on.




She still needed me to hold her hand through about half the stations but I'm sure she would have mastered them and left me in the dust had she had the whole class time to practice them. Hubby and I are so proud of her and swell with pride  when we see her beam with joy when she completes a task.

Once class was over, coloring pages handed out, and hands were stamped with doggies and ponies, we headed out. Only when we got to the doors, we saw even more cars lined the road outside. We found out traffic was due to an overturned semi covering both southbound lanes on the highway. For some reason the northbound lanes were closed as well. So we decided to stay at the Y and let Babycake play in the indoor playground another 30 mins. We then grabbed some juice and chips for her afternoon snack to enjoy on the ride home and headed out.

Again we spent an hour detouring multiple roads in attempt to get home. Finally, at five miles from home I called it. "We're having McDonalds for dinner." We pulled over, ordered dinner, attempted to convince Babycake to eat, and then enjoyed watching her climb the mountainous playplace. Fifteen minutes into her play Babycake climbs out whispering "poopy." One of the few words no parent wants to hear their potty training child say in a play area. Especially, when we had been in such a rush to beat the traffic that we forgot to grab her bag of extra clothes on the way out of the house 3 hours ago. So I grab her and rush to the restroom trying to convince myself that what she was meaning was that she needs to poop and not that she had just done the deed in her only pair of pants we had available. (insert sad/evil laugh only parents know how to make) Why was I trying to kid myself?

Needless to say hubby's first gymnastics day was an adventurous one; ending with our poop cover, peed soaked, tired toddler crying that it was her turn to latch the car seat buckles when we climbed back into the car for a 5 min ride home. I'm not sure he'll want to go again.  ;-)

Babycake's Favorite Author

When I was pregnant and registering for all the new baby items we would be needing, I was thrilled to be able to register for some of my favorite books while growing up. The list of course included The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See?

Well we didn't get all the books we registered for but I was very pleased to receive Eric Carle's Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See? slide and revile board book. I was also happy when this became Babycake's favorite book, and stayed her favorite for over a year. I credit her quick learning of animals and colors to our constant reading of this book.

Recently we celebrated Babycake's 2nd birthday and she received Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar board book as a gift from a friend, as well as E.C's Head to Toe board book and some Curious George books. Babycake still loves her Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See? but that has been replaced with The Very Hungry Caterpillar for number one must read every nap time, bed time, and any other reading time.

Babycake does loves to do all the moves the animals do in Head to Toe. She laughs while shrugging her shoulders like a buffalo, thumping her chest like a gorilla, and kicking like a donkey. We have a few other Eric Carle books and she enjoys them all.

Babycake is a huge Curious George fan so we also enjoy all of our Curious George books. I personally have found our Sandra Boynton books to be the most entertaining for me. Boynton does a great job making the stories fun and educational for the child while humorous for the adult as well. We are so thankful to all our family and friends who have filled our library with these wonderful stories.

If you've got a little one I highly suggest these authors. They're entertaining for both parent and child. Win-win!

Letter of the Week Lesson Update

It's been a while since I've posted anything on this blog and even longer since I did my exciting new lessons with Babycake. As with most projects it was exciting and new and fun at the beginning, but then we had an irregular week, Babycake stayed out of town with grandparents, and life got busy. So I let my plans slide for a bit, and then a while, and now its been over a month,.. actually I really don't know what week it was that we last had planned/structured activities.

Of course we still read regularly, sing the ABC's and practice counting throughout our days, but it was so fun when we did a lesson everyday that related to a subject that continued to pop up throughout the week. I could really see the connections being made and the swiftness with which Babycake would learn a new letter. So I've committed to getting back on track. I've already made plans all the way through week Ii and we are only starting back up with Dd. (I obviously got far with this new phase) Wish us luck this time around lasts longer!

Finished crafts/activities from Weeks Bb and Cc.

Bat, Banana tree, Bumble Bee,
Butterfly, and Bus

Cast mask, Curious George,
and Caterpillar

Cc Week Cat masks with friends...
in a big box b/c big boxes are the most fun for cats and kids.