Stickers!

One of my goals for our tot trays is to help Xander develop fine motor control.  Curious to see what he would think, I got him some stickers.

We started with regular stickers.  He understands the concept, and seems to enjoy the activity.  Execution, however, still needs some work.

Sometimes the stickers got stuck on his fingers and he would get very frustrated trying to get them off.

We also tried some foam stickers.  On the one hand, they are bigger and thicker, so it is easier for him to grab them.  On the other, they are stickier, so he has trouble getting them off his finger.

Tot Trays - 13.5 Months

Now that Xander is walking constantly, and officially a toddler, I figured I should probably switch to calling them Tot Trays, instead of Baby Trays.

This week we tried a couple of new things.  First, for one of the trays we had a big bin of red items to go with this week's color theme.  Xander really seemed to enjoy it, particularly scattering little red objects all over the room...

One tray had his Leap Frog Wash & Go Magnet Set, with only the pieces for the fire truck.  He isn't ready to have all the pieces out yet.

 On another tray I had a tall container with pieces of pipe cleaner.  He understood what he was supposed to do, and could get the pipe cleaners in some of the time.  However, if he grabbed the pipe cleaner in the middle, it was really hard for him to get it in since it would bend.  Now I realize he needed something much more rigid than pip cleaners.  We will try a similar activity again soon.

One of his favorite things about this tray was trying to put the lid on the container.

And, as always, one tray contained a peg puzzle.  Sorry, I didn't get a picture of it this week.  We also worked on activities like drawing, erasing, and our Christmas Light Puzzle.

So Long Flashcards

As you can probably tell from my blog posts, we have definitely been struggling with our flashcards.  With me working all day right now, and going to school full time starting in January (not to mention the 3 hours of commute time every day), flashcards are just not working.  Now don't get me wrong, I still fully believe that flashcards can be effective for teaching babies, if implemented properly.  Hopefully, when I have a baby in the future, I will have time to do a full blown flashcard program.  However, being a single mother in school, we need something more flexible.  I will probably stick with educational toys, worksheets, and other fun activities.

I haven't completely ironed out what our new "curriculum" will include.  I know my goals include working on fine motor skills, pre-writing skills, and basic life skills.  I hope to work on some of the early education basics, like colors, shapes, numbers, letters, etc.  I have a feeling it will be an evolving process.  I can't wait to see what types of activities Xander really enjoys.

Xander's Desk... Long Overdue

A couple of weeks ago I finally picked up one of those little lap desks for Xander.  I have been meaning to for a while now, but somehow it kept getting put off.  I am so happy I finally did, though!  It has been so nice to have a work space at his level.  I think it will really improve his ability to color or do fine motor activities since he won't have to lean way over the ground to reach anymore.  I see many hours of use in our future.

coloring

Playing with his felt Christmas tree

He also really likes putting things down in the sides.

First Christmas Cookie!

Recently, I let Xander decorate his first Christmas cookie.  I realize he way too young, but I figured it doesn't hurt to try.  

At first he was just kind of intrigued with the activity.

Then he figured out it was edible.

Then the decorating stopped altogether.  Notice the sprinkle container...

Final product.  This is why he only got to decorate ONE cookie.

Baby Trays - 13 Months

After the move it took me a little while to get the trays set up again.  Now that I am finally a little bit more organized, I am hoping to keep up on them. (Hopefully, I can continue to come up with developmentally appropriate activities!  Most of the examples from other blogs are for much older children.)  I know Xander loves them.  Here is what we did last week.

The puzzle was Melissa and Doug's Zoo Mix N' Match Peg Puzzle.  I think it is still too hard for him since he really only got it out if I did it with him.

I set up a tray with an empty juice bottle and some medium sized pom poms.  Because he has never done this type of activity, I wasn't sure how he would do.  He ended up LOVING it.  He frequently wanted to do this activity and was entertained for quite a while.

So proud of himself!

On another tray I set up a felt activity.  I cut a tree out of green and had a bunch of ornaments and a star for him to put on.  This was his first experience with felt, so he wasn't quite sure how it worked.  Although he did it a few times, I think I will put it away for a week and then try again.

He ended up really enjoying putting the "ornaments" into this adorable reindeer plate the teacher I work with gave him.

The final tray was his ice cream.

Gremlin Giggle

Xander has this weird giggle he makes that sounds almost like a gremlin.  I wasn't able to catch too much of it on video, but here is what I did get.