"Music Player"

Westley likes to pretend to push buttons and then sing and dance around. So, I drew for him a music player with a play and stop button, and a volume up and volume down button. He really liked it and would tell us what song it was playing and Will and I would join in singing and dancing. The volume buttons were good as when Westley was getting too loud (as I am sure Dad appreciated that we started this while he was still sleeping) I could tell him to turn down the volume and he would make his sing less loudly.

We were all entertained for a while by my poorly drawn music player on construction paper.

Tree Trimming

Yesterday Kevin trimmed our front tree. Westley was so excited to help. I thought I was going to have to stay next to Westley, make sure he didn't get in the way for Kevin, and instruct him on little ways he could help. Kevin and Westley didn't need me! He was very careful around the cord, cutting tools, and falling branches. He helped Kevin pile up all the small branches and filled the green waste trash can with all the leaves.

Funny how this is another task that was dreadful for the adult but an exciting fun time for a little kid!

Westley took this picture himself

I didn't get any good action shots... I had to keep a close reign on Will who thought it was a fun game to run into the street.

Rainy Day Fun

Today was the first rainy day we have had in months, and the first heavy rain we have had in a long time, and the first hail I've ever seen in San Diego. So it was really the boy's first experience playing in the rain. Westley got to put his Fireman raincoat and rainboots to good use. I wasn't going to have Will join in but he insisted, so I dug out the only thing I had for him to wear- an old snow suit from when we took Westley to Tahoe.
Will thoroughly enjoyed feeling the rain land on his head. Both boys were engrossed in standing in the gutter which was as strong as a mini river. It was a little scary looking and they got soaked as the extremely cold gutter water streamed up and into their boots, but I think they would both agree it was worth it

Crawly Bugs and Westley Pie

We have this old book, I'm not sure where it came from but it is one of Westley's favorites. It's titles Crawly Bug and the Firehouse Pie. It's about a lady who made a pie for a bake sale and these little bugs come and eat it.
I was playing one on one with Westley pulling him in a wagon and asked him what he wanted to pretend. He said Westley Pie. That was a new one.
I picked up leaves off the ground and threw them on him. I told him they were crawly bugs coming to eat him. He thought that was very funny and would try to get the leaved off of him and out of the wagon as fast as he could

Grandma came outside and didn't know what we were playing. She screamed and played along though as Westley had "crawly bugs" get her too.

Thanksgiving Fun

We had a big gathering for Thanksgiving at Grandma and Grandpa's house. The day was filled with activities and fun

Handprint Turkeys - thanks Aunt Lucia!

Pilgrim dress up - Thanks Aunt Fran!

Tractor Rids - Thanks Grandpa!

Playing chase with Angelina

 

Family Sing Along

"Birthday Cake" Decorating

Wednesday was my birthday so I asked Westley if he wanted to make me a pretend cake.
Thank you Grandpa for getting us a piece of styrofoam that we could use as the "cake"
Then Westley used shaving cream as the frosting and some sprinkles, colored toothpicks as candles and a little balloon cake topper we raided all from Grandma's kitchen.
Westley thoroughly enjoyed it.

(Grandpa wanted to join in the fun)

Westley wanted to do it again so we washed off the styrofoam and he did it again.

He even did it a third time two days later to make Uncle Curt a Birthday cake

Feather Painting

When we went to Guajome Park last week Westley found a large long goose feather. We brought it home and today we finally had the chance to do some painting with it.

Will actually surprised me and was even more interested
in this activity than Westley!

Felt Board

For Westley's 2nd birthday, Grandma Kathy made him a felt/flannel board. She glued brown felt on a presentation style board and added a boarder. We nailed it to the wall in our playroom. Westley played with it a lot when we first got it, but over time we all kind of forgot about it. We pulled out some pieces and Westley was really into it today. It even sparked Will's interest.

Right now we have a pieces that we built that are objects and then the written word to match. Some future activities might include making our own flannel pieces that are personalized or go with a simple song/rhyme.

Thanks again Grandma Kathy for the flannel board- what a great gift- especially considering how expensive they are if you buy one from a teacher supply store!

Nascar w/ blocks & Automoblox

Kevin and Westley built a Nascar racing set up with blocks and then raced around our automoblox mini cars I was really impressed with how it turned out and Westley had a great time with it.

We continued to play and build with our hard wooden blocks all day. He likes it when I tell a story about him building where it gets taller, and taller and taller, but then... it gets too tall, and start to jiggle, and jiggle and jiggle and... Pfshhhhhhhh!!! They all fall down.  It has hand motions that goes along with it :)

Turkey Basket & Nut Cracking

The other day Grandma Kathy and Westley made a very cute turkey basket that they filled with shelled nuts. They used cut outs of their hands and feathers to make the turkey feathers and Grandma Kathy made the shape of the Turkey's head (you could also trace a shoe print to get a similar turkey head shape)

Westley had never seen nuts like this before. Today, we had Westley take find one of every type of nut in the basket. Then, we helped him like them up from smallest to biggest.

We talked about where nuts come from and the different types of nuts we had there. Westley helped dad crack all the nut shells and then he tried all the nuts (which surprised me because usually he stays away from things with nuts). He said his favorite was the pecan.

Guajome Park

Today we went as a family to Guajome Park There is a playground with a play firetruck that Westley loves and a path to "hike" and see/feed ducks along the way.

Duck was one of Will's first words and he got a lot of practice with it today. He also had is first experience feeding them all by himself. It was a little scary though when there were geese bigger than him!

Thankful Pinecone Turkey

Today we got out one of our pinecones that we gathered from Grandma and Grandpa's house. Westley helped glue on the googly eyes and made his nose.

Then he cut out "feathers" while I talked to him about what it means to be thankful. I think he grasped the concept as best he could for being 3. While he was cutting he told me things he was thankful for and we wrote them on the feathers.

Things he was thankful for included:
God
Mom, Dad,
Grandma Martha, Grandpa, Grandma Kathy
Uncle Keith
Aunt Lisa, Uncle Curt (Westley "wrote" their names on feathers)
Colby kitty
Preschool
Legoland & Disneyland
Noodles (food)

He could have kept going, but we ran out of time.

Dad (with Colby's supervision) helped Westley glue in the feathers

This picture doesn't really do justice to the our poor turkey.
He's cuter in person

Will napped through most of this activity, but woke up at the end and wanted to write his own thankful messages. So we got him a pinecone and put in his one "feather" he was holding here. We guessed that he wanted to say he was thankful for his brother Westley.
If we had more time others would have included:
Mom, Grandma
breastmilk
books to eat
birds
swings

Wilson-in-the-box

Yesterday we used our box as a hiding place to pop out of. I cut a big rectangle out of the back side which acted as a door.
I sang Pop goes the Weasel and tried to get Westley to synchronize with popping up at the end. Given that he has never seen a classic Jack-in-the-Box toy he didn't fully get it, but invented his own version where he sang ooh ee ooh ah ah, ting, tang, walla walla bing bang.

Both boys enjoyed hiding in the box

Backyard Sledding

I rescued an old simple sled from my parents' garage sale. I was going to give it to a friend who has a cabin in the mountains. Westley got a hold of it at home though and begged for me to pull him in it. First I pulled him through the kitchen, and then we took it outside. Unsure of the safety of this, I was hesitant as he wanted me to tie the sled to his bike. I figured though sometimes we should take risks to have fun.
Will sat in the sled and Westley rode his bike to pull him (I had to push Westley's bike to help it actually move) It was actually fun and not that dangerous, as long as Will didn't try to stand up!

We will probably do this everyday for a week, then I'll give the sled away as promised.

Air Popped Popcorn

I pulled out my old air popper to make some some all natural popcorn. I haven't used it since Westley was really little so it was new to him. I sat him up on the counter and explained how it worked and he put in the kernels. He was so excited when it started popping. He was even more excited when it was time to eat it.

Will was a little hesitant as the popper is pretty loud. He insisted that I hold him the whole time, but was interesting in what was going on. I gave him his first tiny taste of popcorn (without any kernel). Like many foods, he rejected it and spit it out. Fine for Westley and I - just meant more for us to eat.

Bet there is a 90% chance Westley will ask to do this again tomorrow.

No photos today :(   I took some but I messed up the process of uploading to the computer. Hopefully Kevin can fix it.

Puppet Theatre

Today we went to cousin Angelina's house to play and have dinner. Westley was talking about wanting to do a puppet show this morning, so I brought with us a puppet "theatre" box and our puppets.

It would have been better to have a box both kids could fit in more easily, but it was the biggest one I had on hand, and the biggest that would fit in my car. I cut a square out near the top for the puppet stage area and a big square out of the bottom of back side for them to crawl in. We used our play silks to decorate it, but maybe on a day when we have more time we will paint it.

Will just loved crawling in and being in the box. Westley and Angelina got more of the concept and did some little puppet shows.

Thanks Fred and Lucia for having us over!

Grandma's Garage Sale

Westley, Will and I helped Grandma and Grandpa with their garage sale today.
Something that is quite dreadful and tiring to an adult I knew would be fun in the eyes of a young child. So many "treasures" to look through, boxes and wagons to push (and sit in), people to watch, and money to count.

Westley also got to ride in Grandpa's truck to the back of the property, and ride on the dolly- one of my favorite things to do as a child with my Dad. (I wish I could have gotten a picture of that)

Collecting Pine Cones

Yesterday we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house again and spent the night. Both of the boys just love the open land. They are not so needy of my attention as there is so much to explore.
While we were there I took the boys out to the back of the property under a very big pine tree to collect pine cones. We searched the ground for the "good" ones. They put the big ones in Westley's bag and and the little ones in Will's bag.

We brought ours home so maybe we can use them some day in another activity :)

Disneyland

Yesterday we spent the day at Disneyland with Grandma Kathy, Keith, and Keith's fiancee Megan and daughter Samantha

Included some creative arts with tortilla masks in CA Adventure

Sam and Westley

Painting An American Flag

In honor of Veteran's day, we wanted to do something fitting.
I haven't really looked online for many activity ideas for our activity a day, but I did today as I don't ever remember doing anything too exciting for the holiday before. After finding a suggestion to set up "a makeshift war zone with beanbags and table-top forts" I decided I was better off finding my own idea. Encouraging preschool boys to pin each other with beanbags does not sound like a good idea. 
So, instead I decided we would talk about the American Flag and paint a picture of one. I have seen Westley paint lines before so I figured there was a chance it might really look like a flag. 


So first I read a book with the Pledge of Allegiance that showed pictures of flags. 

I drew a box and and Westley and I filled it with star stickers. 
Then, I gave him red paint to make the stripes, and then blue paint and told him to paint all in the box and cover up all the stars. He meticulously and carefully made sure the whole box was filled in blue.

The last step after the paint dried was to peel off the star stickers. I thought Westley would have been more into this part, but he was having a rough night, so after he did a few he asked me to do the rest and I did. I wasn't sure if my star sticker idea was going to work, but
I was surprised how nice the stars turned out!

We are going to mail it to a military troop abroad with a thank you note and care package. (I send care packages all through the year using www.anymarine.com - check it out!)

Cornmeal Sensory Experiment

Usually I follow a practice to not use food items in art and other play activities (where it is not going to be eaten). There are a number of reasons for not doing so including that it can spread germs and is wasteful.
But I had a special situation.
I had a large bag of cornbread mix that had gotten old and did not taste good. I was about to throw it away in the trash can when I hesitated, thinking I should be able to get some type of use out of it.
So tonight I poured some into a cake pan, and set it on a towel on the living room floor. Westley rolled up his sleeves and dug right in (literally).

Will was cute. He watched Westley and looked at him like "what are you doing" He inched closer and closer and finally snuck over and stuck his hand in the cornbread mix. He pulled his hand out quickly, wiped it on his clothes and walked away. That was enough of a sensory activity for him!

Westley continued to play in it for a long time. He made mountains, and then flattened it all back out by shaking the pan. He guessed letters I drew in the mix, he buried his hands, stepped in with his feet, and looked for "corn treasures" (I also dehydrated some left over corn on the cob to add in).

It didn't take much of my corn mix to do put it in the pan like this. So I still have a lot left. We'll either do this activity over and over again (like we do many of our activities at Westley's request) or I might have to think of more ideas for it.