Frogs and Turtles Toob

I have read wonderful things about Toobs on many other blogs, and I decided on a turtle (pond) theme for Xander's birthday, so I decided to get him a Frogs and Turtles Toob.  I was very happy with the quality and detail when I opened it up, but goodness did Xander surprise me!  He LOVED it.  The first day I gave it to him, he did everything and crawled everywhere with either a frog or turtle in his hand.  Since he enjoyed it so much, I laminated two cards for him labeled "frogs" and "turtles."  For now I am just using them to teach him the words and separate the little figures for him.  Eventually, I would like him to separate them himself.

I also snapped some pictures of his little figures.  I had them printed on 4x6 photo paper and am happy with the results.  The little figures fit pretty well on them.  I plan to use them a bit like a puzzle or sorting activity.  If you have the Frogs and Turtles Toob and would like a copy of the photos, I uploaded them to my downloads page.  Feel free to have them printed.

Waving

Last Thursday Xander learned to wave.  Now he does it all the time, even waving to people in the grocery store.  He gets a kick out of his accomplishment, as do I.  Sometimes he gets over excited and waves with both hands. We are also working on clapping, but he isn't nearly as consistent with that.

Comparison Picture

Everyone says Xander looks like me.  I can see some of it, but I decided to dig out some of my baby pictures for comparison.  What do you think?

Treasure Basket Update

It has been a while since I first wrote about our treasure basket.  In that time we have added quite a bit and Xander has played with it often.  It is amazing how long he will sit and go through all the items, although he definitely has his favorites.

I am still hoping to add more, but currently in the basket we have:

3 Bean Bags

3 Smelly Bags

1 Combination Bag

piece of red belt material (Hobby Lobby)

tassel (garage sale)

toilet paper tube

wooden spoon (play kitchen set)

wooden rod (play dough rolling pin)

piece of cardboard

jingle bell on a pipe cleaner

silver cup (gift from a friend)

piece of orange felt (Hobby Lobby)

2 Jello box shakers

Glitter shaker

colored rice shaker

rubbery key fob (from dealership)

Gerber's lid

pine cone

cork (provided by Grandpa)

wooden egg (Hobby Lobby)

velvety ring box

Altoids container

baby nipple

Since he is so fascinated I would like to keep adding.  Maybe a feather, a rock, or a sea shell?  I try to keep my eyes open at thrift stores and on walks.

Showing off his pine cone.

What his room usually looks like when I get the treasure basket down.

Playing with his bell.

Back to the pine cone.

Baby School - 9.5 Months

 Another crazy week couple of weeks!  It has been really difficult to keep up when we have been spending so many  nights away from home.  I am thinking I either need to quit doing flash cards til we move, or maybe whittle it down to one set a day.  I hate that I can't be consistent.  He did get in a lot of time with his trays though.  I kept them up for two weeks since we were gone so much.

This week we had his colored wooden blocks, a pound a peg toy, the boat from his pattern puzzles,  and a tray of some of those dominos used for knocking over.

The dominos we used for math.  I made some math symbols and laminated them, then set up some equations for him to look at.  Of course, the dominos are also fun to throw all around the room.

VERY good at understanding the concept behind the pound a peg.  Still working on the execution.  He tends to hit them with the side of the mallet rather than the face of it.

Friday morning there was a huge thunderstorm.  Xander was mesmerized by it and spent a lot of time looking out the window.

I stumbled across a bell for him.  The first day I showed him he carried it everywhere with him, shaking the heck out of it.

We have been working on playing "catch."  I roll the ball to him and he is pretty good at grabbing it.  He is still rather nondirectional when he attempts to roll it back.

Attempting to steal my camera...

Book Challenge Conquered!

Back in April I decided to join in a book challenge with Xander.  Many Mommy bloggers are doing a 1500 book challenge with their little ones, but I edited ours down to 250.  Today we completed it!  It took a little longer than expected, since I went a month with no car to get to the library.  Also, we reread books so often, that new ones didn't get worked in every day.  I plan to keep counting new books for the rest of the year so that we can have a basis on which to set our goal for next year.  I am so happy that he enjoys reading and love that special time with him!  

One Handed

Showing off his new moves.  He looks so old to me! I don't know if I am ready for a toddler!