Imaginative Play

Last night I was reading a bit about twins at the preschool stage and thought, "Oh that is so us!" when I read about how the preschool age with twins brings fascinating imaginative play into the house. The kids are playing more independently, but still want nothing more than for you to sit on the floor with them to play out cars racing, crashing, and needing new tires (from Luigi of course), or to line up chairs (a.k.a. the train) to go on a trip to grandma's house, or to simply enjoy an afternoon (pretend) snack of tea (two sweetener scoops for Mommy) and salad with sausage. The book commented on how this is heightened with twins because they feed off ideas from each other -so true. I love watching them get busy creating and interacting with new imaginary worlds and find myself waiting eagerly for the invitation, "Mommy, you come play with me."

As if right on cue, this morning the whole family went on an incredible boat ride! Malynn was busy taking care of two babies, and Jack took charge of the trip:

• We all put on our life jackets as the first order of business.
• He was the boat chef and kept us all fed.
• He also got a trash can and vacuum for clean-up. (Good thing Daddy knew where the storage closest was on the boat!)
• He had a flashlight for pointing out whales. We saw a red baby whale swimming with a blue mommy whale!
• The boat took us to a dance party (music supplied by our computers).
• Jack had some work to do on his computer on the boat ride home, and Malynn had a stinky poop to clean up from one of her babies. She had us all in stitches when she kept saying, "Gross" as she diligently cleaned her baby's bottom!

 Here's Jack pointing out the whales!

P.S. The next morning, Jack and I were playing "bank-store" (that's what we call the side of the playhouse in the basement that has the bank ATM and market window on it). He asked me how much money I needed, $1, $3, or $5. I said I needed to check the balance in my checking account first, and when I found there was only $100, I asked for $5. Jack responded, "No Mommy, if you have $5 that will make all the people sad, you can have $1." (Read into it what you will...!)

Our Directional Scribbles

Jack in particular has already been doing some great writing. He likes to add to the note for Mel each day and both kids like to help me with the grocery list. Jack has had directional scribbles going on for several weeks and this project gave me the perfect opportunity to capture it.

It's a cute project the kids did at library story hour. I hung them on our art door after Malynn and Jack had gone to bed. In the morning they noticed the art was up. I asked who's was who's because they didn't have names on them. The kids remembered easily which one was theirs and Jack marched over to get a pencil to write...

 

 

Re-looking

I love the opportunity to look at something familiar with fresh eyes. Using one of our favorite sets of blocks we have gotten quite good at building roads, ramps, castles, and towers. Then I stumbled upon a book offering tons of creation ideas for those same blocks!

 

 The kids thought Mommy's tall duck and swimming duck were pretty amazing!

They each started with something they already were comfortable building, and tweaked it in an interesting way.

I didn't get a picture of Malynn's castle before she demolished it, but in the background of this picture you can see from her foundation the goal was to go large scale!

 

 Jack started with a traditional road, but with a little collaboration we ended up with a dock by the water. Jack added a bench (inspired by the book) where his little people could sit to watch the ducks swimming.

 Our last undertaking for the afternoon was this dog. Making it exactly like the picture wasn't proving so easy and I was so impressed when Jack came up with a way to improve the integrity of the body so that the tail could balance at the back, and Malynn balanced the tail piece and thought of adding the front pieces to look more like paws. So fun!

I'm glad this book helped us "re-look" at what those blocks had to offer!

Pretend Reading Getting REAL!

I simply have to get a few of the latest reading behaviors documented. The researcher in me laments not making it a priority to take observational notes every time my children have any sort of engagement with literacy. However, the mommy in me still has her hands full cleaning up Cheerios and Play Dough, so c'est la vie. This post will have to do. :)

 Around Christmas time Malynn really took to a handful of little books we have in our winter collection. She expressed that they were "her size" and became particularly attached to one, Tale of the Christmas Mouse. She had to have it with her at nap and bed time for weeks! Malynn didn't even ask us to read the entire story to her much, she just wanted to study it. She would flip through the pages and talk about the pictures at first. Then she started asking us, "What does this one say?" and we would read only a page or two at a time. The first page she mastered was the one with the line "I hear him creep." Malynn would find that page and proudly announce, "I hear him creep." This was a fantastic new step in matching memorized text to the pictures for her pretend reading!

The next step I noticed happened with the book, My Great-Aunt Arizona. Both kids have taken to that story; it has been a favorite for months now, which is tough on Mommy and Daddy because it's hard for either of us to get through it without choking up -every time! (It's a special story.) Anyways, first Jack and Malynn wanted to start helping to hold the book, particularly holding the pages down on either side. This seemed to have prompted their interest in turning the pages. Their eagerness to turn the pages led to the following progression of comments in response: "Wait, I'm still reading the words on this page." "I'll tell you when to turn the page." "Here, I'll point to where I'm reading and you turn the page when I get to the end (plus little side coaching about where the "end" was)." Subsequently, when I wouldn't point to the words, I started getting questions like, "Where are you reading Mommy?" "You reading over here now?" I've been just facinated by how their interest in turning pages has been a tipping point for their desire to track text! So cool!

In the weeks to follow, their interest in tracking text has been confirmed in two awesome ways: 1) Both kids on occasion will now stick out there pointer finger and say something like, "Now you make me point to the words." And they'll do it for a full page with several lines of text! 2) Malynn and Jack are searching for things within the text beyond individual letters. Their interest in finding periods and question marks has been rekindled, and Jack asked for help finding the word for characters in The Gruffalo. We found "mouse" because we know capital M so well, and then Jack said, "Where's the one [word] for this guy [pointing to the Gruffalo]?" This stuff is like candy for me!!!

About the same time Malynn "read" a whole book! It was a George bath book, My Little Boat. She was sitting on the potty and I had just read it to her. She wanted me to read it again, and I declined her request -can't remember why. So, she said, "Ok, I'll read it to you." and preceded to open the book and read the appropriate memorized lines for each page! I must have asked her to do it again a least 5 times!

Okay, so do you remember when Jack and Malynn were learning to roll over? Jack was working on it and working on it and finally got it. Malynn showed no interest up to this point, but then a couple days later just popped over! Well this time the tables were turned. Malynn worked on her pretend reading with Silly Sally, and Tale of the Christmas Mouse, and My Little Boat. Then, seemingly out of the blue, we got the book This Car from the library on Saturday, read it to Jack a handful of times, and then Jack did this...

 
Merely thinking about how proud I am of both of you, Malynn and Jack, for all the amazing steps you keep taking with reading and writing, gives me a lump in my throat. We don't have mandatory reading time, or flash cards, or anything obsessive going on. We just love going to the library to find books about characters and topics we love. We love snuggling up on the couch with a blanket across all our laps and working our way through a stack of books. We never go down for naps or bedtime without sharing a few of our favorite stories. We love our ABCDs puzzles.We love drawing on the easel with pencils, markers, crayons, and paint, and we get really excited when we make a shape or or a letter we recognize. We love putting things on the grocery list or adding to the note to Mel each morning. We love getting a free magazine from outside restaurants to "read" on the way home in the car. We love noticing letters we know on signs, trucks, and cereal boxes. I don't know what you will do with your reading and writing when you are older, but it gives me peace in my heart to know that difficulties with reading and writing will not hold you back from what ever it is you decide you want to do.

Getting in the Spirit

I got started on Christmas decorations on Thanksgiving weekend this year! Feeling eager to enjoy the holiday season with the kids definitely prompted my earlier than usual efforts. And it has been magical every step of the way.

Part I: Decorating Around the House

 

One of the first things I did was set out our Christmas friends.

The kids knew instinctively what to do with these snuggly characters.

We also got the lights in all the windows!

That's always one of the gestures that makes it feel official. The house beckons to you as you arrive home after dark and has an extra warmth with the soft glow coming from the windows as you head up to bed.

Inside we got a few more special items set up, like...

 the wooden sleigh and reindeer crafted by the kids' great grandpa,

the snowman with twins gifted by my best friend from college's mom,

and the hand-carved wooden Santa, who has a tradition of joining our ladybug in the window (They look rather random, but actually serve the purpose of being the recipient of "wake-up" kisses when we come down the stairs in the morning or after naps.)

Part II: The Tree

The next weekend it was time for the tree!

Nothing beats cutting down your own tree from a well run tree farm, which we learned about when we lived in New England for a stint. But we have a couple local nurseries that always have a good selection, so that's where we go. There's an old friend out there who has earned an "I told you so." The wife of a coaching colleague of Mike's had us over for a holiday dinner years ago. They had a couple of kids already, and the wife commented on how crazy the ornament placement was on their tree because the kids had helped. I have always been...um...precise we'll say, about ornaments. (Sets or like ornaments should be equally distributed, everything should hang facing out -not twisted to the side, heavy ornaments always go on first so you can find the strongest branches for them -nothing should rest on the branches below, select ornaments -especially those that reflect the tree lights- should be set in the tree to add depth...words other than "precise" may be coming to mind!) So, Mike commented that I would never give up tree decorating to the kids or at least wouldn't allow disorder. The wife said, "I was like that before kids, you'll let it go." I smiled politely and probably said something like, "Probably," while thinking, "That's fine that you did, but not me." Well, she was right. The top of our tree was still pretty precise, but the bottom was a hot mess. What she didn't tell me, but I know she knew, is that not only would I let it go, but I would actually love the disorder! It was Jack and Malynn's disorder, they owned every bit of it, so how could I not love it. :)

Part III: Holiday Card Pictures

I was pouring over pictures from the last few months for something to use for the holiday card and having no luck. Mike had the great idea of simply putting on our red and white shirts with jeans and doing a little photo shoot around the tree after naps the next day. It worked like a charm.

I love these simple pictures of Jack snuggling with our Christmas friends.

 

Malynn was a little hestitant about it all; she is our slow-waker-upper.

  

But we got into playing with the beads and she slowly but surely got into it with us.

 

We even pulled off some cute family pictures...

 

We got "sweet."

We got "classic."

And our favorite, we got "silly."

Part IV: Pictures for Papa's Good Night Book

Papa wrote an endearing "Good Night" story about everyone settling in at their respective houses each night for bedtime. We decided to mobilize and get it published as a photo book and give it to him for Christmas. Here are a couple we took that give you a glimpse of what the most important part of bedtime at our house looks like...snuggles and stories in the "big ol'" chair.

 

It was extra perfect that the story Daddy happened to be reading that night was The Night Before Christmas, illustrated by Jan Brett. This story gets most of the credit for teaching Malynn and Jack about the critical elements of Christmas: Santa has a white beard and red coat, reindeer pull his sleigh using magic to fly, he brings gifts to good girls and boys and puts them in stockings hung by the fire place (though other hanging locations are acceptable if you don't have a fireplace), he won't be ready until Christmas Eve, and he only comes to your house once everyone is asleep. We have a conversation rehashing these details often, and read The Night Before Christmas almost every day. Getting this Christmas business all figured out is high priority!

Not for the Faint of Heart

You already know Malynn and Jack have learned how to use scissors. Now they LOVE to practice cutting with their little Fiskar kids safety scissors. Though they are "safety" scissors, they do cut and therefore require close supervision! Getting the finger control and strength needed to coordinate scissors is challenging, so watching my children be so hungry to master this skill and be so fervent about practicing has been fun. This day I decided to get a little video documentation. :)

A Band-Aid Phase

We're in a Band-Aid Phase. (I didn't know that was a thing!)

Can you find all the Band-Aids?

I'm hoping that once they are feeling really good at getting the band-aids open and successfully adhered to any given desired surface that this obsession will subside. Since we were blowing through all of Mommy and Daddy's "good" band-aids, I did take Grand's suggestion and buy them each their own box of "play/practice" band-aids. (Thanks for the idea Grand!)

Scissors

A few days ago were playing in the basement and the kids got into my "student" scissors. I showed them how to hold them, use them, manipulate the paper, and put them away safely. Two days later I left the kids playing downstairs while I prepared lunch, and when I came back down to get them, this was the scene I found:

I guess we know how to cut now!

Tumbling Class Comes to an End

Tumbling class has come to an end. I will be happy to not have to rush out the door so early on Saturday mornings, but it has been nice having a semi-structured activity for the kids that they've enjoyed with a couple great friends.

 

I say "semi-structured" because it really offered very little structure. At some points I wished the instructor would do more to get the kids actually doing some of the skills. Yet, at the same time I realized that you can only do so much to get 2-year-olds to do what you want them to do, and if the instructor pushed, she probably would have just had a room full of crying, defiant toddlers! So, instead we did a lot of exploratory play each week on the equipment. I accepted that to make the most of our time, I  had to make the most of it and be fully engaged: encouraging them to try new things, modeling rolls and headstands myself, and being ready to support when then showed a glimmer of interest in doing any of the target skills. Fortunately, Daddy also bought into this philosophy so both kids were always supported the whole time.

 

If I apply my knowledge of intellectual development to this scenario, then I know that even though they may not look like they're doing much, they are actually taking important early steps: building strength, awareness, interest, and confidence.

 

Particularly the very last day, I was in awe of some of the things they were doing quite impressively compared to where they started: jumping more and higher without holding an adult's hand on the trampoline, staying straight while doing somersaults and log rolls, doing a new flip while holding the bar (which Malynn could do nearly independently!), going significantly faster on the balance beam, hand-stands...sort-of (which Jack could do nearly independently!), and simply navigating mat configurations with greater agility, strength, and balance.

Some favorite things have been:

     Conquering any and every configuration of mats possible.

 Swinging on the rings.

 

Balance beam!           

And trampoline (not pictured).

A newly discovered favorite is laying on this half-circle mat and getting rocked way back and then way forward!

 

Sophia wanted in on the action, and Jack, being the gentlemanly-type, helped rock the ladies.

 

These special friends: Sophia & little brother Evan and Dylan & little brother Ethan have really made this a special event.

Our families have been enjoying COFFEE and breakfast bagels together after each class. Moving forward we talked about keeping the breakfast date but bumping it to a little later in the morning!

 

If I ask myself, was it worth it...I think these faces offer a definitive answer!

Special thanks to Samma & Papa who came along for our early Saturday morning one day and took pictures. The kids have realized this class is a special thing and have often asked for specific people they love to "come to my tumbling." Now they can check Samma & Papa off the list. :)

They can also check Grand off the list, who was able to be there on Awards Day.

  

 

Congrats Sophia & Dylan!

Congrats Malynn & Jack!