Wednesday, January 30, 2019

8 Month Baby Shelves

With Archer being more mobile and active, I've found that he likes to have more options on his shelves than before.  Here is our shelf setup for the last couple of weeks.
The picture on the right shows what is on top.  We have our two folders for learning to read, one in English and one in Spanish.  We have one set of dot cards for learning quantities.  I also have one math reader in Spanish.  It is part of a set (also available in English), and my goal is to read it daily throughout the week before switching to another.

The left side of the shelves has our Rollipop ball ramp.  Archer has really been enjoying this.  He has learned to put the balls on the ramp and watch them go down.  He's not tall enough to put them in the top, but he can put them in the middle just fine. Sometimes, he gets a bit too enthusiastic and pulls the whole thing over on himself, though.  Luckily, it is pretty light.
 
 The top right has an art tray with his Tobbles set.  He doesn't actually build with them, yet, but he loves to knock over towers!  
 The middle shelf has both Spike the Hedgehog and his squishy blocks.  I'm not sure why I don't have tons of pictures of Archer with the little hedgehog spikes, because he was always crawling around with them in his hands or sucking on them.  He likes to pull them out of the hedgehog.  He also thought picking them up and dropping them on his foam steps was hilarious.
 The bottom right shelf had the same  Touch and Feel puzzle from last month, in addition to this Hide and Seek Farm, which as little doors to open and magnetic animals inside. 
 He LOVES the farm and opening all the doors (much more than I thought he would at this age).  The only down side is that he kept sucking on all the little animal magnets inside and was starting to wear the pictures off.  I ended up taking the magnets out and he still plays with the doors.
 
I decided to get down the white board to see what he'd think of the magnets on there.  They are a little flat, so were hard for him to get on and off.  He really enjoyed it, though!  I'll have to keep an eye out for thicker magnets for him.  In the meantime, it is great fine motor practice!

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Tuesday, January 8, 2019

New Year Photoshoot

As I mentioned back in December, I have been trying to do more fun photo shoots with the boys.  They're growing so fast, that it helps me capture them as they grow.  I've started posting about it in hopes of inspiring other budding photographers.

This New Year's Even shoot was our most recent.  Unfortunately, Archer had a cold and was a bit cranky, so these were the best we got.

I used this backdrop and then just black fabric for the "floor."  I got them little New Years hats and noise makers for props.  I'm hoping to be able to use this same backdrop every New Years so I can see them change over time.  I also made sure the hats didn't say the year, so hopefully, I can get a few years out of them.


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Friday, January 4, 2019

7 Month Learning Activities

 I feel like I always need the disclaimer that while I call them "learning activities," we really follow Archer's lead.  We don't force things when he's unhappy about them. He loves stimulation, so they provide good ways for us to spend time together.  

 
Physical Development:
Archer is crawling now and he is loving the new found mobility.  We're trying to give him ample opportunity to explore and practice his new skills.  Crawling around Xander's room is a favorite, as is chasing the dogs.  Archer has started pulling himself up on us and likes to stand.  I have a feeling it won't be too long before he starts pulling himself up on furniture or other things around the house. 
Archer is really enjoying trying to eat finger foods, although he does not have as many options as he would like due to lack of teeth.

Reading:
While we did take a two week break from our Doman-style flash cards, they are still our primary means of exposing him to new words in English and Spanish.  He watches Tweedlewink occasionally and really enjoys Your Baby Can Read a few times a week.  Archer has really started liking books.  His favorites are the That's Not My... series from Usborne, Noisy Farm and some old books we have that have photos and giant flaps.  Archer recently learned to turn the pages and gets so excited about it, that he sometimes does not have the patience to feel his touchy-feely books.


Spanish:
We also still do a Spanish Little Reader lesson most days, although I changed the settings so he only see the words and pictures, with non of the phonics.  The lessons are much more interesting to him that way.  He also watches Kid Start Spanish a few times a week and absolutely LOVES it.  I'm slowly working on making and acquiring more books for him in Spanish.  He got several for Christmas.

Math:
Not much has changed here.  We still do one Little Math lesson most days.

Baby Shelves: 
 Now that he is mobile, Archer likes a lot more stimulation.  He loves exploring new toys.  Here are his current shelves.
Top left is a basket with his musical eggs and his Ticky Tok toy.  The eggs each make a different noise when you shake them, which he enjoys.
Bottom left is his ball pounding toy.  He likes hitting things (including himself) with the hammer, watching the balls go down the ramp and tasting the balls.  He has yet to figure out how to actually hit the balls with the hammer, LOL.
 The top right has a tray of some of his Lalabloom toys.  While they twist and pop together, Archer still mostly eats them.  I put them out mostly so he can taste feel the different textures.

 Right middle has his little popping toy.  These little guys pop up when you press down on them.  Xander gets a big kick out of them and Archer likes watching them pop, especially if we do it all at once for him.  Once again, though, he mostly likes eating them.
 Bottom right has his Touch and Feel puzzle.  He likes looking in the little mirror, feeling all the pieces and scattering them around the room.
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