Just what have we been up to?

There are so many little things that I thought it would be fun to tell about that we have done lately. I am (ahem) quite addicted to finding fun & interesting things to do with toddlers while reading online and the kick lately has been Montessori activities. I just love all the practical life and sensorial activities. They look like so much fun and I'm quite sure I am having more fun than Collin with all of this! Anyway, actually it started when we were in Dubuque as the library there had some actual Montessori materials that we could check out (these are the "knobbed cylinders"). Boy do I miss that now! Collin was actually a bit young for most of the materials at the time, but would be getting to more of them now and in coming years. And for those of you that don't know, Montessori materials are extremely expensive, so being able to borrow them from the library was ideal, BUT...we are having fun with some that we are able to make up ourselves (after all...that's what Maria Montessori did originally, right?) So in our toyroom I set up some shelves in a corner with a little mat and I put all of these types of activities there for him. I usually come up with a couple new each week and he can play with them whenever, but we do keep them on the mat to make sure things aren't lost, etc. The exception to this has been playing with the beans.
He's not always terribly enthusiastic about cleaning up 2000 beans (although I must say he generally is very good at cleaning things up...even without being asked sometimes now, but the beans are a bit overwhelming), so until we work up to that, it is only on special occasion and is generally in the kitchen while I'm trying to get something done :). Along the same lines, when we were busy unpacking, Collin got to work with some other "sensorial objects"--packing peanuts! :) He actually spent a LOT of time with these. First he just played in them--putting them from bowl to tray to basket, etc, but then he discovered he could break them. It must be some sort of fascination because he spent probably a half hour one day standing over a box of them breaking them into tiny pieces. And then when we were outside I was picking up some pieces of old shingles that were mixed in our rocks around the house from when they re-roofed and he spent LOTS of time breaking them as well until they were too tiny to break...then on to the next one.
I think one of Collin's favorite Montessori-type activities has been the "mystery bag," which is basically a bag with several toys in it. While blindfolded, he takes a toy out of the bag and has to tell what it is. He is very good at it and I've realized I need to change the toys out a bit more often! Some others we've done are: sweeping pom-poms into a dustpan, stringing wooden beads, clipping clothespins onto a basket edge, opening/closing different sized boxes (small gift, jewelry, etc), putting rubberbands onto a doorknob, shape sorter, feeling rough/smooth textures (sandpaper/smooth board), and some matching games. Collin has known how to match for quite some time, however the trick has been getting him to put matches together as a pair, etc. Just in the last week it finally "clicked" which was exciting. I've been waiting for this simply because there are so many activities once he can match items: match pictures, match objects, match fabrics, match colors, etc, etc. I'm also hoping we can work on sorting because that also has so many possibilities. Now I'm not one to push a child to learn and learn and learn (or at least I hope not), and I know he will learn all of these things in his own time, but my thinking is that these are things we can take to church for him to do! YAY! That is always a struggle...so being able to take some of these activities I think would be really helpful. Here are the pictures that Collin was able to match the other day.
We have also made cookies a couple times. I love to bake cookies and remember fondly making cookies as a kid different times so I was anxious to be able to do that with him. He poured in the ingredients (a little oatmeal on the counter never hurts!) and of course watched the mixer! He loves the mixer (it is electric after all)!!
We've also enjoyed playing at the park and playing in rain puddles (or maybe it was just a good excuse to dress him up in his rain coat and boots!).

Collin really likes playing in water. Most nights he takes a nice long bath and plays and plays. A couple times lately I've kept him busy during dinner prep by putting a bit of water with soap in the sink and he stands on his step stool and plays and plays. He loves the bubbles! Usually I just give him a spoon and he is content for quite a long time. This day we had found some "counting/sorting bears and cups" at goodwill (I was excited!) and so he was "washing them" for me ;).
We have also "painted" with water on the sidewalk and played with a spray bottle of water outside a number of times (this pic is back in DBQ).
We generally spend some time outside each day--unless weather is not so good and Collin enjoys playing with his riding cars and lawnmower or going for a walk around the church in his wagon. We've also done sidewalk chalk a few times (this pic back in DBQ). Although generally he just plays with the chalk more than he really "colors". Lately though he's been doing a bit more coloring on paper, so maybe if we try it again soon...
The other day we collected leaves and did our first official "craft project". We stuck them to some clear contact paper and stuck it to the window in the playroom. He wasn't as excited as I thought he would be about doing the project, but was pretty excited once it was on the window and enjoys pointing it out at different times, so maybe that will help his enthusiasm for future projects...because mama likes crafts! ;)

So that's what we've been up to...at least when we aren't working...and I guess we do do some of that, but that's no fun to talk about! :) (Oh yeah, he helps with housework, too! Putting laundry into the dryer, sorting silverware into the drawer, etc. My little helper! :))