Scavenger Hunts

I know it has been a REALLY long time since I posted on here, but things just kept happening, and I kept getting more overwhelmed with all the stuff I was missing out on posting, and now the list is so long, and I don't know if we'll ever catch up completely. So instead, I am going to share something fun we've been doing for a while. My girl is a great helper. She loves to help with the shopping and such. To make sure that I could actually get the things I needed to has been a bit of a challenge. She doesn't just sit quietly in the cart, but wants to be in on the action. So, we started playing scavenger hunt. I took out a small paper from my purse and wrote some things that I knew she could find, including one color, a number, a letter and a shape. She could hold her list and look for the items. When we found one, she'd get really excited, and have me cross it off the list. Sometimes she wanted to be the one to decide what goes on the list. She usually names the things right around us, and we don't get to move very far in the store. When we are downtown we include things like looking for a bear or a whale, since lots of stores use those for displays. Once the list is finished, we, of course, have to write another one on the back side. My girl LOVES this fun game! We have done loads and loads in the last several months. Then we (thankfully) found a variation. We play "I spy with my big eye...", and take turns finding things. I don't think my girl gets it entirely yet, since she describes the thing and then immediately tells me what it is, but it is a bit easier than the pre-written scavenger hunts, since this can last much longer and be a bit more spontaneous. We play this new game all the time, and my girl will throw in her other favorite, the "what rhymes with..." game. She has really gotten this rhyming stuff down, and makes up rhymes and words all the time. We play this at the store, but her favorite way to use this game is as a diversionary tactic at nap time. She is struggling against laying down for nap time, and I let her know that she doesn't have to sleep, but she does need to relax and have some quiet time laying down. So, she says, "Can we talk? Good, let's play the rhyme game." And off she goes. We rhyme for a bit, and she relaxes, and before she knows it, we're so relaxed and quietly 'thinking' that she falls asleep!
On the whole, I love these little games, as they show me the skills she has mastered from the things we learn at home, and they distract her at the store, and they provide amusement for other shoppers. When my girl finds one of her things, she loudly proclaims, "I FOUND ONE MAMA!!! Over there!", drags me over to see it, and insists I cross it off the list immediately. When I compliment her for her skills, "You sure know your shapes!", she responds with cute things like, "Yep, I sure do! And I sure know my letters and numbers and colors!", or my other favorite, "I'm sure smart!" I love that she has a sense of accomplishment from displaying her knowledge. And I enjoy this kind of scavenger hunt way more than I enjoy the outdoor/nature type ones.
Sometimes I'm a little concerned about our ability to find some of her requests. Like this last week, we agreed that we could have a special treat and do a scavenger hunt at the airport. She LOVES the airport. It is a magical place to visit, and she requests to go there often (usually as a fun outing with her Daddy, so I can get a project done at home in solitude). We have a small airport, where we find several bears, an eagle, a fish, and fun things likes stairs, escalators, and an elevator. We can also find lots of shapes and letters. This last week, she wanted to find the letter z. I admit, I was a bit concerned about the lack of certain letters in the world, but wrote it on her list anyways. I thought about making it a picture taking scavenger hunt, but figured it wasn't going to look great at the airport...so we didn't get pictures. But we did have a lovely 45 minutes of wandering around the airport....and we found TWO places with the letter z. One on the sign going through security where they explain about having a Ziploc bag, and only 3 oz. bottles, and the other at the rental car desks...we have a Hertz place! Hooray for the airport. We also enjoyed the gumball machine. My girl explained that we needed some money, and then we could watch the ball go around (another fun thing her Daddy introduced her to). We got a red one, carried it around in her pocket, and then deposited it in the 'cool round thing' with the trash from our snack as we left the airport. It was a good time, and my girl is already requesting that we repeat this exciting adventure. I admit, I know what we'll be doing for at least part of our 5 hour layover in Seattle in a few weeks.....although I know I get worn out before she does, it is wonderful to make some fun memories together, and I'm sure will make the traveling into an exciting adventure!

Thanks For Helping

As we have embarked on the journey of preschool at home in the last several months, we have sort of let things pile up and get crazy. We may be moving soon (or not, it is really all still up in the air month to month), and are hopeful for some visitors next month, so we've decided that we need to get organized. My girl and I worked hard to move empty boxes from the back bedroom, and to rearrange books on our new bookshelf (hooray for Logan and his cool building skills!) in the last couple days. First we swept and mopped the floor where the boxes would be sitting. My girl was so helpful. She even suggested that we should sing a song while we worked. She told me about a Clifford episode where the dogs are planting a garden and they sing. I thought that sounded good and asked her which song she would like to sing. She went, "Hmmmm." I asked if she would like to sing 'The Church of Jesus Christ', a new song she has learned, and sings a lot lately. She replied, "No, Mama. That is a song I sing in nursery. When my nursery teacher tells me to sing, then I sing it." (This was partly funny, because I am her nursery teacher at church! Although she insists I'm just her Mama.) So I asked her what song she would like to sing instead. Her response surprised me. She said, "My Daddy taught me a song this morning we could sing." I was a bit curious, since we hadn't seen Logan yet that day. She went on, "It goes like this: A B C D E F G..." and she proceeded to sing the Alphabet song. What a girl! I was not aware that it was a 'newly acquired' song (she's known it forever!), or that it was good for a working song, but I guess you can adapt it to fill any need. So we finished with that and got down to the box moving.
My girl, of course, HAD to help. She had a bit of a hard time moving some of those big boxes, so she insisted instead that she would help me carry them. This was one of those times where the thought ran through my mind 'Moving these boxes is A LOT easier when the three year old is doing something else............BUT it IS good to work together'. SO, I made the effort to slow down, and invite her to help me. She was so excited, running back for the next box and saying multiple times as I took the front end and she the back, "Mama, it sure is fun to work together on a project with a friend!" (Also something she learned from Clifford.)
What a great helper my sweet grown up girl is!
And she is making progress in leaps and bounds with her special seat. She earned her big reward by keeping dry for three weeks, wearing pants, and has been doing FABULOUSLY! I am so grateful that she has finally caught on, and is so grown up, and that we are out of the diaper stage!!! Although, I admit to being a bit nervous when we take our new skill on the road....But she's doing okay so far! Hooray!!

My Little Dinosaur

My little bug LOVES the show Dinosaur Train. We have learned a lot of dinosaur names, and facts, and songs about dinosaurs as well. At the start of the series, the Pteranodon family has adopted an egg of unknown origin. The eggs hatch, and there are three Pteranodon babies, and one orange dinosaur with blue spots. The family rides the Dinosaur Train to visit different species, and hopes to find out what this little Buddy's species is. Eventually they visit Rexville, and a Tyranosaurus family, where they find out that he is a Tyranosaurus Rex, and he sings this song (or something that sounds like this!):

My girl LOVES to sing the T-Rex song, and loves to pretend to be a dinosaur. She was so excited when we made this costume for her! On their website, the Dinosaur Train people put a pattern for making a costume for the little T-Rex named Buddy. I found it to be a bit challenging (I used three different patterns to get it the way I wanted it to be. As I am one of those people who likes to follow instructions, and not change things, it was an adventure to adapt different things to do what I wanted.), but my girl LOVES it! She fell in love with the tail, and wants to wear it for a portion of each day, being either Buddy, or Annie (the T-Rex friend). When we put it on, she squats down to hit the tail on the floor, or wiggles to make the tail sway. We've had lots of pretending to be on the Dinosaur Train, and some suggestion of making a grown up sized costume...for Logan! Wouldn't that be cute? I think so....but we'll have to see. Anyways, I knew it would be a good addition to our dress up box, and she'll get to enjoy it for months and months, and hopefully still be able to use it for a Halloween costume. So, if anybody wants to come over for some dino fun pretend time....we're always ready! ROAR!

Funny Things Kids Say

Oh, I know it has been a while, and I really am trying to get back to updating this more often.....REALLY! We have made a leap into homeschooling preschool, and I admit, it is taking more of my time than I had foreseen to come up with fun ways to do school type learning activities. I've spent lots of time in the last couple months finding, downloading, and printing, and putting together file folder games, other random learning games, and lapbook activities for my girl and I to do. Then of course there is the normal amount of crafty activities like coloring and painting, as well as music, story, and pretending time we do. I love to see how much my girl is absorbing, like a little sponge! It is amazing! A couple months ago I was feeling really overwhelmed with the idea that she was ready to be learning things that I didn't have the background or know how to be able to teach her, so I did a lot of online research, and spoke with some of my more knowledgeable relatives and friends, who all assured me that I was already doing great.......but I still wanted some more CONCRETE IDEAS of things to do together that would be learning activities or a bit more challenging for my girl than I could come up with off the top of my head. (HUGE thanks to those who gave suggestions or even mailed your supplies all the way up north for us!) So, now we are in the implementing stage, where we are spending time doing the games and activities whenever we can/she wants to. It has been a lot of fun! On Friday, for example, we rolled long pieces of paper across the floor, taped them down, then painted the bottom of our feet and walked across the paper, making trackways. My girl LOVED this! Then we painted some more and played an alphabet/picture of animals matching game. We are still in the stage where I am suggesting things we might do, and she gets to pick ones she is interested in, which I feel works great since she likes to be the 'mama' and have me be the 'grown up girl Elise'. I am also feeling a lot better about her being more confident with the skills she will need for real school, so she can not be so shy when we get to that point (maybe), and can concentrate on the social aspect of them when the time comes. Overall, its been good, but we've been busy beavers, to say the least! The unforeseen challenge comes with my girl giving wrong answers on purpose and thinking it is incredibly funny. It started with her spelling her name wrong, but branched out into my asking her anything I know she knows, her giving me the wrong answer, and then giggling uncontrollably. This has also manifested itself in my asking her to do anything, like clean up her toys, or help with a job, or brush her teeth, or stop trying to jump off the back of the couch- and she thinks it is funny to NOT do it......We've had some small stories, songs, and games on obedience, and things have gotten a bit better, but it is still one of those things I didn't know to prepare for and am still not exactly sure how to handle when it is something that she is learning and would be lots easier to learn right the first time, rather than having the game of giving the wrong answers. For a while she was doing 'its funny to spell my name wrong' for so long, that she wasn't spelling it right at all. We had to go back and practice the right way several times, and now we're back to saying it right every time. One of those small things we're working on, which becomes incredibly important when it is a safety issue! Fun fun fun.....

So, there were a couple funny moments at church yesterday, which I would love to share. We were walking through the hallway on our way into the chapel, when my girl noticed a painting of some people on a ship traveling to a new place, having faith that God would keep them safe and get them to their destination (Nephi and Lehi). My sweet little one pointed out the picture, "Mama! Look at that! Look!"
I said, "Yes, who is on that boat?" Keeping in mind that we have been reading some scripture stories, and practicing telling them with flannel board stories so she can do part of our Family Home Evening, I thought she might recognize this painting and the people depicted in it. I forgot however that we've been concentrating more on the New Testament, than the Book of Mormon.....So I ask my girl who is in the picture and she replies confidently, "PIRATES!" I got a good laugh, AND we got another opportunity to learn about a scripture story she obviously isn't all that familiar with!
The other funny incidents were in nursery class later that day. I am blessed to be able to go to class with Elise as her teacher, and be on hand to witness/help her interact with the other kids. She has been doing great lately, although we still have a moment or two where the concept of sharing is in opposition to her ideas of being the one to make all the decisions. And I notice that Elise likes to pretend without the aid of toys more than the other kids. She will be the first one to start hopping around being a frog or kangaroo, or flap like a bird. Occasionally she plays a game she does at home with me quite often. She LOVES to be the mama, and have me be the daughter. She says stuff like, "I am going to my work (or class), and you are going to stay in your class with your friends. If you need me, just call me!" It is not always easy to catch on to which role she expects me to play, but yesterday she made it quite obvious. She kept calling me 'Elise' until I called her 'Mama', then she told me she was going to her class and I was going to stay in mine. The other kids got these really confused looks on their faces and asked, "Where is she going?" It got even more confusing for them when she just went over into a corner and pretended to hammer something together (which is what she usually does when she is pretending to be at work with her Daddy). The other kids don't have their parents in class with us, so they are always a little concerned the Elise is calling me Mama, but they can't have theirs. Throw into the mix that she gets to be the parent, and the kids just didn't understand. I tried to ask if they ever pretended to be the adult, and they just didn't get it. I thought the whole thing was pretty funny.
And the last thing my precious little girl did. It was toward the end of class, and she was coloring a picture of things we can be thankful for, including food, clothes, home, and our families. The family depicted included a mom, dad, sister, and brother. This family depiction isn't very accurate for most of the kids in our class, but they usually roll with it, and color away happily anyways. One little girl, while coloring next to Elise, was describing her family as she colored and announced happily that her Mom was going to have a new baby. When she announced this a while ago, I just thought it was wishful thinking, because she plays with the baby dolls all the time. Now it appears, their family ARE expecting a new baby, and this little girl tells us, often, how she is going to have a new brother, and a baby. Not to be outdone, my little one pipes up yesterday, in a loud, carrying kind of voice, "I'm going to have a brother! Yeah, I'm going to have a baby!" Well, we ARE NOT expecting, and would not really enjoy having people start asking us if we are, but it was really funny to hear her announcing this, and to see the wheels churning in the heads of the other adults in the room. Kinda funny, and I, not knowing what to say, just replied, "Oh, that would be fun, wouldn't it? Well, you have cousins!" She agreed and we started talking about her fun cousins, who she likes to pretend are visiting us and playing games with us. Once we (her and I) played Candy Land, and Elise had to have 3 playing pieces on the board. When asked, she told me that the third piece was for her cousin in Oregon. She then drew a card for herself, and moved her piece. She 'helped' me draw a card and move my piece, and then she helped Cousin A draw her card and move her piece. We played the whole game that way! So, cousins are fun pretend playmates, although the reality of them being their own people with ideas and personalities might be a bit of a shock when we actually get to visit in person!

So, things here are rocking right along. Logan is hard at work, doing lots of things, working on the house as well, and took time last week to paint the car (it looks amazing!). We have reached two milestones with our girl. A couple months ago, she successfully transitioned to not using a pacifier any more!!! We've also had our first tangible success with the 'special seat' training, which we've struggled with off and on for the last couple years. She could do it, she just didn't want to, until we took drastic measures! After trying everything I was comfortable trying to no avail, I discovered she couldn't stand to not have pants on at all, and would use her special seat, on her own, every time, if not wearing them....Which means we spend a lot of time at home, and she is doing FABULOUSLY!!! And earning beads and fun things from the earning box and exclaiming "Hooray!! I did it! I'm a grown up girl!" without any adult prompting/requesting! I NEVER would have thought I would be okay with this option, but as it is working, and she is able to be in control of this situation, we're going with it! Next is the transition to continuing to do well but WITH pants on......Fun times for everyone!!!

June already?

Well, we've just gotten caught up doing lots of things and having adventures. We're working on getting pictures organized (as well as everything else) on this new computer, as the other one officially bit the dust. We'll try to post an update of sorts soon.......hopefully! In the meantime, here's a picture of our cutest little bug, who is getting to be way too grown up way too fast!We cut her hair for the first time EVER, in April. She wasn't very excited about it.....since she'd never had her hair cut before! It took her so long to get any hair at all, and then for it to grow, that I never had the heart to cut it before. Her hair was getting so long, and she isn't really a fan of having it brushed. She says things like, "not again!" when I tell her it is time to do her hair in the morning. Some mornings she even proclaims, "Never brush my hair again! Never ever!" So....having it shorter is good in some ways, although it still wants to go forward into her eyes, so we've been working on clips or something to help with that. So here she is!
Doesn't this next picture just say it all? I love it!

And in this last one where you can see her cute hair that is still curly, she is wearing her necklace for earning beads. We decided that having a camp necklace where she could earn special beads for certain activities might help with motivation for certain activities.....So here is her "girls camp necklace" with all those beads! Hooray!

More Fun from Recent Days

Yesterday we wrote about some cute things my girl has said lately, and this morning I remembered a couple more. Lately she has taken to adding her 'title' to her name. When we play, she often will change which person/character she is being rather quickly, and it is sometimes hard to keep it straight whether she is being Clifford the big red dog, or Larry the cucumber, or Buddy the T-rex, so I will ask her who she is. When she is just being herself, she will reply, "I'm Elise, the grown up girl", just to make SURE I know who she is. She often congratulates me on being a grown up girl too, and is quick to cheer for any grown up girl activities. What fun!

The other funny happened again on Sunday. She had taken a little break with Daddy, and when she came back to the nursery room, they opened the door. My girl paused for dramatic effect, then proclaimed, "Elise is here!", as though the party and fun could now start because she had arrived! It was hilarious!

On Monday night, Elise took charge for Family Home Evening (FHE). She picked all the songs, which she has been working on all week. We were learning The Church of Jesus Christ together, and through the week I'd hear her practicing all by herself. She's getting good. And she even taught the lesson. She used her handout that we did in nursery to tell a very simplified version of the Easter story. It went something like, 'When Jesus died, his friends were sad, and put him in a cave called a tomb. There was a round rock in front. After three days the rock was moved and Jesus was Resurrected, which means he was alive again! His friends were very happy!" She had the tomb, rock, and picture of Jesus to show us how it went, and did very well. I think her Daddy was a bit surprised at the simplicity of the story, but we got the point and learned that new big word, RESURRECTED. And she even told us that this coming weekend is General Conference for the church and we will see the Prophet and the Temple in Salt Lake City on TV. SHE DID GREAT!!!! I love it when she wants to pretend sacrament meeting or nursery class time. She likes to be the one conducting the meeting and giving talks, although she gives me turns as well. She really likes the part where she gets everyone to raise their hands. And she likes to sit on our carpet squares and tell me the stories about the pictures of Jesus too. She is a great teacher!

As fun as all of those things are, her new favorite thing she rediscovered is blowing bubbles. She will blow bubbles for a long time, sometimes with my help, but sometimes all by herself. She has a spill proof container, and has figured out (finally) how to actually blow the bubbles. While she really enjoys popping the bubbles or trying to blow them around once they are formed, her favorite part is getting on her hands and knees to mop the floor after it gets all soapy from the bubbles. She LOVES to have her bowl/bucket and rag and drip water all over the floor. She tells me all about how she is like her friend Cinderella. I got a video of her doing this, and we even turned on the Cinderella music for her to sing with while she mopped. It was so cute! When she dips her finger in the water and then holds it up, she is pretending to be Cinderella from the Disney movie (she blows bubbles in her soapy water). After this first time of bubble mopping, I learned that I could mop up real quick and get most of the soapiness, and then give her just a little water for her own mopping.....there seemed to be a rather large puddle after this mopping....

So, if you want to come over to play, we'll be blowing bubbles and being Cinderella all together!

Funny Things of Late

I love my girl. She says some of the funniest things. I guess that can be said of most people's kids, but since I'm with mine all the time, I am limited to telling the stories of her rather than all the other cute kids.

So, first off, my girl is very helpful. We pray as a family before meal times, and in the evening before bed time. My girl LOVES to be the one to say the prayer. She has a couple things she says in every prayer, including being thankful for the food and for all of the blessings we enjoy. We have been encouraging her to add something. Usually she will open her little eyes, and then express thanks for the first thing she sees, like her stuffed cougar Kisa, or a balloon she earned, or a book she'd been reading. Many times she expresses gratitude for all the members of our family, including herself. She is also becoming more.....'leader-ish'. She likes to pick who should say the next prayer. The way she does this is pretty funny. We will all be sitting around her dinner table, and I will say, "Do you want to say the prayer?" My girl will either say, "Sure," or she'll say, "Ummm, no thank you." Then is the funny part. She'll point to either her Daddy or me and say, "You're it!" by which she means it is our turn to pray. A couple days ago she declared it was my turn, and then said, "Don't worry, I'll help you, cause I'm your Mama." She likes to pretend that I am her, and she is the mom, so I said, "Ok, thank you." She then proceeded to instruct me on folding my arms, bowing my head, and closing my eyes. When I was properly ready, she whispered things to me to say in the prayer. I, of course, tried to include the things she wanted me to say, and added some of my own. She wasn't too impressed with my embellishments. When she told me to say "thank you for the tv and my books", I instead said that we were very thankful that we were able to spend time together as a family doing fun things like reading or watching a movie. She looked at me disappointedly and repeated her whisper, "thank you for the tv and my books." Well, she is persistent, and knows what her expectations are, and is good at communicating what those expectations are to others.

Yesterday morning we were getting ready for the day, getting dressed, brushing teeth, and such. Elise wandered into the hallway, then ran back into my room and said, "I hear a weird noise!" She usually thinks it is Daddy coming home from work, but it was too early in the day. As she didn't offer any explanation for the noise, I teasingly said, "I hear you!" since she had been singing and dancing around and making noise like all 3 year olds. She looked at me, shocked, and said seriously, "I am NOT WEIRD!" She paused, as if thinking momentarily, and then declared, "I'm cute!" I had a good laugh, and had to agree she is pretty cute! I love that she is old enough now (or I guess age doesn't really have anything to do with it), or her hair is long enough now, for us to do some fun things with it. Growing up with so many sisters, I had lots of practice doing braids and ponytails. I have had to dust off those skills recently, and have had to re-learn how to do a french braid fast enough that the braid-ee doesn't get tired of standing in front of the mirror while her hair is pulled. My girl is a trooper, and has asked for braids a few times, and is even girly enough to request ribbons as well. We've been having fun being THE GIRLS, and Elise will frequently tell me that we're sisters, or friends, or that we're "all together, like a family".

Then this morning, I was vacuuming the rug in the front room, and decided the couches could probably use some attention as well. Elise was sitting back, watching the action, until I pulled the cushions off the couch to vacuum underneath. She moseyed nonchalantly over, and climbed up into the space the cushion usually occupies. I had to ask her to move off the couch until I was done, which she did, but she stayed really close, waiting....When I finished the one couch and moved to the next, she said, "Please, I have these?", gesturing to the cushions. I agreed and proceeded to vacuum the second couch. She commandeered those cushions as well, and declared that the cushions and their spaces on the couches were the swimming pool, and that she and her doll Suzy were going swimming. She even invited me to join in as she taught her doll how to swim. I had forgotten that she loved to do this at her grandparents house in Oregon when we stayed with them....we'll have to take some pictures for some comparison shots....What fun! She has such an imagination....

Which sometimes leads to funny situations. She likes to pretend that Clifford the big red dog is playing at our house, and either she is Emily Elizabeth, or she is just borrowing Clifford. At nursery on Sunday, Clifford, apparently came to play. Elise doesn't often play WITH the other kids, she prefers to have me play just with her. But this last Sunday as we sat in class, she informed me that she would be playing with Clifford, and went to an unoccupied space of carpet. Then she said, "Clifford, you are running so fast!" and pretended to watch him run around, and then ran around with him. The other teacher turned to me after hearing Elise address Clifford, and said, "Is she playing with her imaginary friend?" I had to laugh, because Elise pretends all kinds of friends, and frequently pretends to dress up in costumes and be different people herself. I hadn't really thought of this as having an 'imaginary friend', so it was a bit funny.

This morning I asked Elise to help me with a project. She said, "Absolutely" (so funny!) Then she said, "Well, maybe we do a different project for me. Like make a lion costume for me to wear!" She compromised and agreed we could paint a mask that looks like a lion (we got a couple masks at JoAnn's for $1) instead of making a whole costume. FUN TIMES!

Anyways, that is all the fun things from lately....that I can think of, at least. We'll try to do better at putting those fun stories and our pictures up....we have just been side tracked with getting some projects done lately. We'll try to do better! In the mean time, we're all healthy, happy, and glad that we get to spend time together!