Some Fun Things We've Been Up to the Second Week in April

It's fun to see how natural and organic math can be. As I've written in recent posts, we've had a big resurgence in board game playing recently. Hi-Ho Cherry-O is usually at the top of the list. It's amazing to think about how well they play the game compared to how they did when we first played almost a year ago. I'm not great in math at all, and I in no way want my kids to have the same math phobia that I do, so anything math-related comes entirely from them. That's why when they make statements showing they understand basic addition and subtraction (especially Alexa) using the numbers 1-10, I'm very impressed. I try to remember to incorporate silly math games in our day, now that I know how much they like it.

Steve planted grass seed around the tree in the back, so the kids usually want a turn to water, too. It's fun to watch the baby grass grow each day.

They've been loving the sandbox, again, although it looks very tiny on them now. We need to figure out how to get them more sand space this year.

Jared's been into knights and castles recently, so I asked if he'd like me to show him how to build a castle and moat. He was very excited about the idea. Here is the final product. I'm sure in just a little time he'll be building far better and more elaborate sand castles than I can.

Alexa LOVES to watch old family DVDs. Many mornings she'll pop up from bed asking, "Can I watch a family video?"  It's great because it lets us talk about the past, see family members we only get to visit once a year, and remind the kids of things they used to like. On this week, they watch part of a DVD of when they had just turned two. They were playing with rice, flour and sugar in the kitchen and were having a food fight. So, naturally, they wanted me to take out those ingredients again. Thankfully, it's warmer out now, so it was easier to clean up this food fight than the last one. (You might notice Jared's wearing that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle mask I made for him.)

We visited a few different playgrounds this week. At one playground, after the kids had run off to the equipment and I was settling myself under a tree, I looked up to see Jared dangling from one of the upper rungs of a ladder. I raced over there, but he dropped to the ground before I could catch him. He just started laughing and saying he wanted to do it again. I really have to just relax about him doing this physical stuff and realize he is more capable than I give him credit for. Still, he is only just going to be 4.....

Later that same day, the kids had fun throwing crackers to the ducks. This time we saw some frogs and turtles in the pond, too. The kids crossed to the other side of the pond and picked me a bouquet of dandelions.

We've had our fair share share of using scizzors, too. The kids will get on kicks of wanting to practice certain skills, like cutting, and will just still there for an hour doing it over and over again. And then, they'll put in down, sometimes for a month, before wanting to do it again. But, even though they hadn't been steadily "practicing" the skill every day, the next time they try to cut again, they have made huge progress from the last time. It's so important to be intimately in tune with how your child learns and respect their unique style.