Baby Oscar Joins the Daycare

We had an 8-month-old baby join the daycare last week. In preparation, I brought the exersaucer and high chair up from storage, and combed the apartment for little toys that could cause choking. I ordered child-proofing supplies, since the wear and tear on most of the previous ones installed for Noah have rendered them useless.

Baby Oscar is an absolute sweetheart. It is as if this kid was made for this daycare! He is just already so patient when I need to do things for the other children. I would expect far more fussing from a baby, but he seems to be such a tough little guy; a real trooper!

The transition from mommy to daycare seems to be going pretty smoothly, with the exception of sleep. It's not that he has trouble sleeping here, it's just that he needs more of it than the other guys. So, we are trying to figure out a sleep schedule that works both for him and fits into the daycare schedule. I tried getting him to nap in the stroller while the others played outside late in the morning, but to no avail. He is determined to keep up with the older boys.

And how are the big boys relating to the baby? Definitely better than I expected. I thought they would be mowing him down as they drove their cars, bikes or trucks around the apartment. Actually, this was my biggest concern with Oscar joining the daycare; his safety in the company of the big boys. However, they are really heeding my direction in regards to the safety of the baby.

Oscar helps Noah and Simba with a puzzle.

The big boys are also learning how to understand and relate to someone who is so behaviourally different (eating/moving/communicating-wise) from them. Speaking of moving though, it is amazing how much more mobile Oscar is this week compared to last week. Whereas last week he mostly stayed put on his belly, this week he is crawling like a pro, usually in an attempt to play with the boys. Nothing like the motivation of playing with the "cool group" (read: older group) to get a baby going!

As for the exersaucer, I don't know who's having more fun with it, the baby or the big kids! I thought it was adorable that Aidas gave his little doggie a ride in it, and also brought it toys and water.

This is another game that has become quite popular over the course of the week. One guy crawls under the exersaucer and sticks his head up through the seat, often exclaiming "I can't see!" I had to ban it when other game players then tried to turn the seat, or push the other's head back down, or just fought over who's turn it was to crawl under.

All in all, a good couple of weeks of transition!

Picnics and Pools

It's wading pool season! Once or twice a week, we have been going to the playground and wading pool at Lithuania Park. We bring our Spider Man backpack of toys to share with everyone. Some of our regular programming time is lost due to the sunscreen I have to slather on them all. (And I thought getting them into their snowsuits was time consuming! Still, this is much easier!)

The water is absolutely frigid. No, I'm not being a big baby. I'm basing this opinion on the fact that after wading in it for more than 10 seconds, my feet actually hurt. But kids are made of different stuff, and don't seem to notice. (Remember actually enjoying a good frolic in the freezing cold sprinkler as a child?)

B. doesn't like to go in the water yet. He prefers to play with the toys "by the shore". Lucas is the one who seems to enjoy the pool the most. He goes to the middle (the deepest part) and fills up buckets from the ice water coming out of the tap.

The part of the excursion they look forward to most, though, is the picnic. We bring cheese sandwiches and cucumber, or pita bread with cream cheese. There's something so enjoyable about eating outside, isn't there?

Aidas is pretty much toilet trained. We are all so proud of him! Every day we all have a little treat to congratulate him for being a potty star. I give the treat to all of them because I want the other kids to be happy for their friend, not jealous. At first Noah was motivated by Aidas's success to also become a potty star. Now he prefers to reap the rewards Aidas brings in without doing any of the work himself. (Smart boy.) Sometimes he comes to the bathroom and says to Aidas, (as if he is very excited about his buddy's hard work), "Aidas! You go pee pee in potty?!" Then he adds, "What treat you want later? Freezie, or Gold Fish, or Nutrigrain Bar?" He's got it all figured out.

Maya and Lucas love to show support for their friend by wearing (clean) underwear on their heads. As you can see in the photos above, they are intent on promoting their fashion line.

The following video demonstrates Lucas's skill, not only at playing guitar, but at being cool and cute at the same time. He is very passionate about his song. A true musician!

Noah's Oma and Opa got him a 10-foot long alphabet train puzzle. It's a great teaching tool for toddlers! And fun too! They love singing their ABC's over and over again to see what puzzle piece they need to put next.

Noah and I picked up some new foam shapes (and pom-poms) from the dollar store, and the kids all made pictures by gluing them to a coloured paper of their choice. We haven't done a gluing activity in a few weeks, and I was surprised to see that most of the kids had forgotten how to do it! It's a lesson for me: make sure this is, in the very least, a bi-weekly activity. 

The kids are loving Play-Dough more than ever, as they are able to do more and more with it themselves. 

Lucas and Maya are still treating nap time as "concert rehearsal time". I often have to go back in, after a little while, and change their diapers. Sometimes they can only settle down if I lie down in my bed and encourage them to be quiet. The following video shows Lucas entertaining himself after his sister has already dropped off to sleep. He has such a sweet, playful character! Little imp!



Speaking of performing, Noah continues to entertain. We have made a few trips to the Choo Choo Playground (Vine Parkette) after the kids have gone home. He loves to use the empty wading pool as his stage. I love to watch him singing. During one of his songs, titled "It's a nice day out", he pointed to the sky and sung about it being blue, and the fact that it was sunny outside. I love my little ham!

Fun and Games

We are continuing our round-the-block walks, at least once a week. Aidas and Noah get to walk half of the way around the block, while the other 3 enjoy the view from the wagon. Then, when we get to the tennis courts, we know it's time to switch. Noah and Aidas get into the wagon, and Lucas, Maya and B. get a chance to walk. They're all really good about holding hands and staying safe. We have been working on what to do when you get to a driveway. The kids are getting pretty good at the drill. We stop, look both ways for cars, and walk quickly across if it's clear. It is helpful, teaching-wise, that sometimes there is a car coming into or out of the driveway, so that the kids can see why we need to check.

Some days we go straight out back with the Spider Man backpack of toys. The kids are becoming more interested in the skipping rope. They enjoy turning the rope. Because they are beginners, I'm encouraging them to jump over the rope when it is still or moving (Snakesies) on the ground.

One weekend, Dan, Noah and I were returning to the apartment building after an outing. In the garbage area, someone had left a child's play kitchen that was in nearly perfect condition. I almost left it alone, since we have little space left for more toys. In the end, I just couldn't leave it, knowing that many children besides my own would get to enjoy it. I made room. They love it!

The kids manage to find or create muck even when it isn't raining. Sometimes the sloppy goop still hasn't dried from a rain storm the night before. Sometimes they gather dirt, and then hold it under an outdoor tap that has a slow drip. One day when it was drizzling out, the kids scooped up mud and then painted an outside wall with it. It looked like graffiti on our building, yet I just couldn't bring myself to stop them. I was captivated by the focus they showed while creating their art. It looked like an incredible childhood experience for them, making a mural with mud! The next day, when Aidas was trying to add to the masterpiece, the superintendent to our building walked by and basically told us "Not cool." I completely understood, but was glad they had the chance to do it at least once!

We visited the library again a couple of Fridays ago. B. accidentally locked himself in this little chair and needed to be rescued. The children and I talked about the fact that they are big kids now, and that this little chair is for babies. We found a dolly and all the kids doted on her, giving her lots of pretend food to eat and many toys to play with.

Here are a few of the kids dancing during music circle at the library. They love this "Throw the Beanbag and Catch" song! 

I bought this great ABC puzzle from a neighbourhood garage sale. Each puzzle piece is a different letter of the alphabet. Singing the alphabet helped us to place the letters in sequential order. Then we tried to match pieces from our wooden alphabet puzzle to the letters on this jigsaw puzzle.

The kids are also learning how to play games. Noah got "The Nose Game" from Maya and Lucas for his 2nd birthday. Whenever we take out this game, we spend some time just playing informally with the pieces and matching the noses to the right animals. Then we play a game, where each child takes a turn reaching into the bag (without looking) in hopes of matching the noses on his or her cards. They are really good at waiting their turn now, and also keeping their cool when the awaited for turn doesn't result in any nose matches. The last time we played, the game was long because none of us were getting matches for our cards. I was amazed that all the kids remained focused and continued to participate right until the end of the game!

After this game though, most of the kids were done with such formal play. It was just Noah who wanted to play another game, so we played the "Memory Game". He mostly understands this game, though at one point when my attention was on the other kids, I found him flipping over every card until he got a match! 

One of the kids' favourite activities is playing with both the wooden (Thomas the Tank Engine) and the plastic train tracks. Maya is particularly good at making both interesting and extensive train track routes. Thank goodness we have accumulated enough of the wooden train cars (some from IKEA, which is where my mother bought the wooden track) so that all the kids can have at least 2 each!

Pretend play is increasing around here, and getting more creative too! The newest game is pretending that the doors between the kitchen and dining room are elevator doors. I was washing dishes after lunch one day, watching them play this. Way. Too. Cute.

There is a lot of arguing over toys happening lately. At least they are starting to see that having a ball all to yourself isn't nearly as fun as playing with a partner! Lucas and B. rolled the ball back and forth to each other for quite some time, without needing me to help coordinate things. This was especially good because I needed to get dinner on the table!

On June 30th, just before the long weekend, the kids coloured in print-outs of the Canadian Flag. I got the printable from the internet at http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/pdfs/coloring_flag_canada.pdf. Lucas coloured his yellow, and Aidas coloured his orange, just to give it some flair!

By the way, in the photo below, Noah's holding the one I coloured; he's not that advanced! He did bring both the one I coloured and the one he coloured on our outing on Canada Day, and waved them around proudly!

Look out summertime, cause here we come!