Cooking

Two days ago I let Dani help me make chocolate pudding. She helped me count as I put the cups of milk in and I let her "help" stir it and prepare some for her Daddy. She was very excited about this and then yesterday, she pretended to make pudding herself with a cup and a spatula. She then proceeded to set up a little meal for us to "eat". I hadn't realized until then that she understood the concept that all food needed a plate or a bowl, but she made sure the meal was well set up and then asked me to sit in the chair next to her.

Fingerpainting, swimming and talks

This week, we have been focusing on one of Dani's favorite letters, B. Since she already knows this letter quite well (including it's sound), I decided to introduce a couple other letters just for fun.

I made some homemade finger paint and we colored the back side of a few of our old wedding invitations. Though she really hated touching the finger paint, she sure enjoys showing the letters to everyone who comes to the condo. She will even try to name all the letters here. The only one that is clearly wrong is the lowercase A, which she labels 'O'.

In the picture above, I had asked Dani to say "cheese" , but since she is making a funny face, I decided to have her say "A". However, when I mentioned the letter A, she decided it would be more fun to hand them to me.

Yes, she is sunburned in these pictures from yesterday. We went swimming with friends from the Ward and we both ended up burnt. However, Dani's favorite activity of the day was still playing ball with Mason in the pool. She repeated "Ma" (Mason), "Ba"(Ball) multiple times during our evening conversation.

I have recently added a new activity to our bedtime routine where we talk about everything we did that day. It gives me an opportunity to reinforce things she has learned and add more vocabulary and conversation to our day. She will often nod as if she understands what I'm talking about, or she'll try and repeat the words that she recognizes or words that need more explanation. We then cuddle as she relaxes before being put in bed. It has become my favorite part of the day.

Bugs

Yesterday as we were blowing bubbles outside I noticed some large bugs flying around. As I looked down from our balcony, I realized what originally seemed like leaves, was really dragonflies on the end of tree branches. Lots and lots of dragonflies decorated the trees.

We also have lots of ladybugs in our fields. Dani has really enjoyed holding the little ladybugs before they fly away. Every time she sees the purple wild flowers she expects to be able to hold a bug.

So much to do, so little time...

Last week I decided to do more structured teaching with Dani. She had learned a few favorite letters (O,T,P,B) and started noticing them in her environment, so I figured it was time to focus more on teaching. I'm trying to emphasize one letter a week, but I am also introducing other letters slowly so that I don't get too bored of the same letter games.

Last week was the letter A. We played with her ABC zoo animals and searched for her plastic 'A's which I hid or she hid for the animals to find. We put a piece of masking tape on her play pen so the animals could find that A as well. We sang a song about the alligator and the monkeys swinging in the tree but changed the "monkeys" to the 'A's and acted it out with her toy Alligator. We took the plastic letters and stood them upright on a chair to see which ones would stand and then we blew on them to watch them move or tumble. We talked about things that began with A and ate applesauce.

Despite these activities that Dani sure loved, by Thursday I needed more variety and more things to do. I had been at home all week and needed to get out and talk to someone. Luckily, Sunday I met a few of the girls in my Ward and this week has been much more productive and fun. Fun enough to return to blogging.

We just returned from the Ward's monthly kid's craft activity and I decided to research more craft and teaching activities online. I am very excited to have found some websites with many fun learning and craft activities for preschool and kindergarten children. It will be much easier to not have to come up with all the activities myself. I cannot wait to get started!

Boo!!!

It has been a long time since I last posted. I can't promise I'll be much better because I still have a lot of organizing to do, but I'll try to be a little better at least.

Last Sunday I figured I'd let Dani see what nursery was like. She still has a few more weeks until she is officially nursery age, but with her separation anxiety, I know it will take longer than that for her to adjust. So, I stayed with her to help her get used to having other kids around and see what the schedule, songs and expectations are in the class so I can help prepare her at home.

We met a cute little girl who was at least 2 (probably near 2 1/2) judging by her looks and language. Dani decided to make friends with her, but since Dani has only made friends with younger babies (mainly Jackson), she doesn't quite know how to do this. She said "hi" as I told her to, but then she charged towards the little girl saying "boo" repeatedly. I took the video below to give you an example of what this looked like.

She was still about 2 feet away from the girl after charging. The two year old was somewhat perplexed at this behavior and just stared at Dani like she was strange. I tried to explain to her that Dani was playing "peekaboo" and she smiled back. The other kids were not interacting much, and I was thrilled to see Dani try to interact with others, but I think I need to teach her more common ways of approaching kids her age. Any ideas?

After the "boo!" series she just dances and I thought her dance was cute so I left the camera running. Hope you enjoy!

Getting into things

I have posted a lot about how sweet and well behaved my daughter is, and for the most part that is what she is like. However, she has recently become more curious and tested the waters of what is and is not allowed.



Dani loves to draw, not with crayons or pencils, but with pens. She knows (from experience) not to draw on Mommy and Daddy's sheets (I know it is a great big canvas, but it's still not allowed). She is still learning not to draw on her table or the couch, but this still occurs. Then Wednesday, she decided she would make a great canvas.

Here is a list of things Dani attempts lately. Though some of these things are allowed, most are pushing the line of what is and is not allowed.

• She is able to reach up to the kitchen counters and a few times has grabbed the hilt of a knife. Luckily we either catch her before it is off the counter, or she hands it to us saying "kni_"
• She learned to climb on the couch this week and tries to walk across it bouncing along the way.
• Since learning to climb on the couch, she wondered what climbing on the dishwasher door would be like (luckily this was prevented).
• She loves to play in the water left on the dishwasher lid while I'm loading and unloading dishes. She has tried to put her babies and books in this water, but to her dismay this is not allowed.
• She loves playing on Mom and Dad's bed sitting down right next to the edge despite having once fallen off by doing this.
• She finds pens everywhere and knows how to click them open.
• She has been finding scissors lately too (but luckily she doesn't know how to use them or what they are for YET)
• She puts toys (and keys) in boxes and holes. I had to stop her once from putting things in the sub woofer (don't want it to disappear).
• She grabs our cameras (even the more expensive one) tries to push all the buttons and pretends to take pictures.
• She turns on the television monitor, and changes the source on the receiver while others are watching it.
• She still turns on the xbox.
• She takes Dad's Rockband drum sticks and tries to play it herself (foot pedal and everything) and then hides the drum sticks all over the condo (especially in boxes or with her toys.)
• She asks for Mom's belt (while she is wearing it) and when she gets frustrated because she doesn't know how to put it on herself.
• She tries to put used bowls on her head like a hat.

These are just a few that I have time to think of, though I'm sure there are more. I really can't complain because I expected as much from a 15 month old. She's still much easier than I expected.

Favorite Song

Recently Dani has rediscovered a song playtime rhymes and song book. Her favorite song and page is "This is the way the ladies ride". I turned it on for her this afternoon and she danced away, until the song was almost over and she knew she had to ask for it to start over again. This video was taken second or third time she was dancing to this song, so it is not the most emphatic, but it was still fun.