Tot School-Animals

This past week we focused on animals.  Mara loves animals and for the most part is really good with identification and the sounds they make.  I wanted to focus on some animals we don't talk about too often and also some other aspects of animals besides the sounds they make.

Tuesday we made up for lost time (I don't know what happened on Monday) and did four activities.  We started with an insect do a dot work sheet.  Mara calls any insect "bzzzzzz" so it was fun to introduce her to more specific ones. We did a bee worksheet and a lady bug.  While we were doing the lady bug worksheet we made sure to sing our ladybug song from music class back at Fort Bragg.

The night before I made Mara some binoculars out of toilet paper tubes so we went on an animal hunt around our house.  She loved this simple toy and kept them around her neck for most of the day.  We then decided to make our own animal mask.  Again the night before I prepped a paper plate and some torn up construction paper.  All Mara had to do was stick the paper in the glue.  I find I need to keep crafts fairly simple to keep her engaged and interested.  Even so sometimes she just isn't into it.  This was the case with creating the mask but as soon as it was dry she was all about it!

After nap time I got out the play dough and created a play dough petting zoo invitation to play.  I used Popsicle sticks to create pens and placed some of her little people animals in the pens.  Mara loves play dough and was content to have fun with this for two hours!!  That's an eternity in toddler time! She pulled out the sticks and then used them to make designs in the dough.  She also made animal tracks through the play dough!

Wednesday started with some animal matching.  For this activity I used wild animals that she wasn't as familiar with and printed out clip art pictures of them.  All she had to do was place the animal on it's picture.  She knocked this out really quickly and we did it again.

 The play dough made it's appearance again this day.  I had originally planned on doing animal track art with paint but switched it to the play dough because she really wanted to play with it.  With a toddler it's all about being flexible and hey it actually was less clean up for me!

Post nap we rounded up the day with some sticker art.  This is the first time I've tried this kind of activity with her and I'm so glad I did.  She loved it!  I took a piece of construction paper and made a very simple farm scene.  I then took some farm stickers we had and attached them to a spatula (she can't really peel them from the paper yet so this was to help).  She then created her own scene by adding the stickers to my drawing.

Quickly she wanted more and more stickers.  We made up for this by sorting the rest of the animals by type: cows, pigs, sheep, horses, etc.

Thursday was all about paint for us.  We read a book about pigs and then used a sponge and paint to make him dirty.   She really liked this and would point to a part of her body before making that part of the pig dirty.

We then painted our hands to create zoo animals.  We did a giraffe, zebra and elephant.  I saw this one on pinterest and thought it was so cute.  Turns out it is only as cute as the mom's ability to draw in the details of the animals after they're dry.  I'm not an artist so you can only imagine!

Friday was a rushed day as we only really had the morning at home before running errands and trick or treating.  I opted for another sticker art project.  This time we did an under the sea scene with some left over fish stickers I had laying around.

Animals were a hit and I am excited for next week....FOOD!

My Pregnancies-The Similarities. The Differences.

I wanted to take a few minutes and jot down some of my thoughts about my two pregnancies.  The similarities and the differences.....

1. Heartburn- The second time around I am really feeling the heartburn!  With Mara I had the occasional bout but not more than what I deemed usual.  With baby #2 I feel like some nights it's just debilitating.  I chew my tums and lay on the couch till it passes.  Also the second time around I feel like I'm getting heartburn from the strangest things.  Sure anything acidic still does it (tomatoes, pizza, etc) but water?  And milk?  Weird...

2. Cravings- I don't think I really have had any true cravings with either of my pregnancies.  I ate a tad spicier with Mara's and don't now mainly because Mara eats off my plate a lot.  Yes I still get yens for certain foods but again I don't think it's anything abnormal.

3. Energy-This one is a no brainer.  With Mara I didn't have to chase a toddler around so I felt a lot better a lot longer.  I think it wasn't till about week 34 that I really started to slow down.  This one I feel like I never got that second trimester boost of energy.  I have also moved with both of my pregnancies (not fun) and have had to set up a home amidst growing a human.  Exhausting.

4. The Nesting- Oh man with Mara I was a nester.  Since we moved a little into my second trimester I was in full on nest mode for the majority of my pregnancy.  I scrubbed, organized and repeated.  Moving during a pregnancy again I was a little nervous to say the least.  Thankfully I haven't really hit that crazy nesting mode this time.  Sure we got the house settled and I did go through a brief "I have to organize" phase but I feel pretty comfortable where we are now.  This may have to do with our awesome housekeeper but either way I'm thankful for not having that crazy urge.

5. The Movement-This little girl doesn't move much.  She's pretty quiet throughout the day and seems to wake up at night.  When she does move the movements are small.  I can almost picture her stretching and resettling.  She rarely gives a strong jab or kick.  Mara was all legs and elbows so it's kind of refreshing.

6. Weight Gain- Although I definitely put on more weight quicker with my second pregnancy at this point I am basically at the same point I was with Mara.  I think I'll probably hit that 35 pound mark again which is fine with me.  It was semi easy to take it off with Mara and I hope it will be the same this time around.

7. Dairy-Mara had huge problems with dairy after she was born.  I was warned by my sisters but I didn't listen.  So this time I will be going off dairy before this baby is born.  No point in going through 6 weeks of "colic" before realizing it again!

An Usborne Update

As many of you know, I have recently joined the Usborne Books & More team.  I have loved these books since the first time I purchased them for Mara and finally took the plunge at the end of last month to start selling them.  It was a big leap for me.  I don't consider myself a salesperson but had faith that these books would speak for themselves.

Now nearly a month in I am so pleasantly surprised as to where I am.  I held two Facebook launches with friends back home and was so encouraged about how supportive everyone was!  Books were ordered, parties booked and I was on my way!

On top of that the rewards started coming.  Usborne has some amazing incentives for new consultants.  I have been able to earn a half refund on my consultant kit along with the first success kit for hitting sales milestones.  Plus from my launch parties we have earned a ton of free books for our personal library.  So much so that Josh is a little confused as to why we need that amount in free books! :)

The past few weeks I've been holding parties for others and it has been so exciting.  I love working with other Mama's to get FREE books for their kiddos!  I've seen how books, especially Usborne books, have transformed our house and I can't wait to share that with others.

I was talking to Josh last night and he made a good point.  He said it seemed that my reasons behind going into this were shifting.  At first I thought, "Hey the consultant kit is a great deal.  I'll get that and if that's all, that's fine."  Now I'd say I'm thinking ahead.  How can I share these books with others?  Can I help my family financially with this?

In the past month I have already learned that my goals with Usborne are subject to change.  I can make this little business of mine into what I want and I love that.  I'm so ready to continue moving forward with this and see where it takes me!

On that note if anyone is interested in hosting their own Facebook party (or if you're local a home party) please let me know!  I'm currently taking bookings for November and would love to put your party on the calendar!  As a new consultant, I can offer you DOUBLE FREE books.  Yep that's right!  Twice as many books for FREE!  Also I am giving anyone who books before November 1 a coupon for 65% off any one item! So stock up on some books for the kids in your lives today!  Christmas is around the corner!

Also feel free to browse my website at https://s4971.myubam.com/147705

29 Weeks with Baby #2

This week has been a little trying.  Monday started off with a serious stomach bug.  I was laid up basically all afternoon.  It was all I could do to hang in there till Mara was down for the night.  Pregnant with a toddler and no hubby = no bueno.  Tuesday I felt better but was still pretty nauseated all day.  Thankfully by Wednesday I was back to normal and was finally feeling like I was getting some energy back.

I've been going to bed super early this week but am not sure I'm actually getting any more sleep.  Mara's been up a lot with bad dreams and when she does sleep I'm up peeing.  Oh the joys of the third trimester.

This birth is starting to feel really real to me.  We have just over 10 weeks left and with those 10 weeks being the holidays I KNOW they are going to go fast.  With Mara's pregnancy I couldn't wait to get her here.  Each day felt like an eternity.  With this one I'm perfectly content to let her cook in there.  Not that we can't wait to snuggle this sweet little girl, it's just going fast.  Mama's of more than one know what I mean.

I have all the usual third trimester things.  So much so that it seems redundant to type them here.  I'm getting big, getting slower, tired, veins are large, etc.  You know the drill.

This week I'm finally trying to do some nursery projects.  I want her nursery to be special too.  I remember obsessing over Mara's and that's typical of a first baby.  But I want to hers to have the same special thought out touches.  I'm doing the same colors (red, yellow and teal) mainly because I don't want to rebuy bedding but actually doing a theme this time.  With Mara I utilized different patterns and went with it.  Here I want to do a bit of a travel theme.  Josh has this sweet airplane that I thought we'd hang up if we ever had a boy but then I thought why can't it be in a girl's room too?  So we'll do that and I'm going to make some clouds to hang next to it too as a make shift mobile.  Her artwork is centered around paper airplanes, hot air balloons and pin wheels.  Just simple and whimsy.

For comparison 29 weeks with Mara!

Tot School-Fall

This week our theme is all things fall!  I'm so excited for this week because fall is my favorite holiday.  It's also starting to really feel and look like fall around here so it makes this week kind of fitting.  This week I am also trying to do some sub-themes: leaves, apples, and pumpkins.

On Monday we started off with a Halloween inspired coloring page.  It was of a pumpkin and a cat so I knew she'd be interested.  We colored a little bit before moving right into our next activity!

My mom sent us a lot of fall themed craft items for tot school and on a spur of the moment I remembered she had sent us these felt leaf stickers.  I quickly grabbed a piece of construction paper and a project was born.  We traced Mara's arm for the trunk, which she loved, and then stuck the leaves to the top to make our own tree!  I think tracing her arm was her favorite part of this activity but she did enjoy sticking the leaves as well.  The stickers had very small sticky points so in the future I think it would be better for the entire sticker to be sticky.

Right after nap we got in our bible verse for the week.  Isaiah 40:8 The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. She was so cute as I read the verse and said, "woah" afterwards like I had just blown her little mind. :) We then used our brown stamp pad to stamp her hand prints all over a piece of paper.  Again she loves anything related to stamping her hands or tracing them.  We did so many hand prints and then she refused to let me wash off the ink afterwards!  When she was done I went back in and drew in the veins and stems of the leaves.  We added a few of our felt leaf stickers from earlier to make it complete!

Tuesday was apple day and we started with an apple do a dot worksheet.  I've been trying to fit in a little of the alphabet into our activities so I printed off one that said, "A is for apple." She then used her markers to fill in the circles on the letter A and the apple.  She wasn't satisfied with the red marker I gave her so we also grabbed green and yellow because those are apple colors too!

I broke out the contact paper again today and made a simple tree.  I drew the trunk on the paper and cut out where the "leaves" would be.  Then I tore up red sheets of paper.  I taped up this activity on the window and as always left it there for the day.  She continued to come back and add her "apples" as the day went on.

At a play group we went to a few weeks ago, Mara did some apple "picking" and painting.  She loved the picking which was really just an apple hunt so I wanted to recreate that at our house.  She quickly found the apples and the asked for me to hide them again! We had big plans to wash them later using baking soda and vinegar but she decided they looked to good and we ate them instead.

Wednesday was a busy day for us and we were out of the house all morning.  On days like these I sometimes feel like it's hard to recover and do some tot school.  Mara's naps tend to be hit or miss which means I don't have a lot of prep time.  I had hoped to do a day filled with pumpkins but was only able to get to one activity.  We did a pumpkin invitation to play.  I made a pumpkin out of her play dough and gave her googly eyes, pipe cleaners and brass buttons.  From there she was able to make her own jack-o-lantern!  She really had fun with this project and in the end we had a very smooshed pumpkin with about five eyes.

On Thursday we tried to pick up where we left off on the pumpkins.  I printed off a pumpkin do a dot for her and laid it out.  She wasn't too interested and preferred to have some free play instead. She did come back to it when I showed her how she could mix yellow and red to get the color orange.  I ended up doing the entire worksheet for her but she did pay attention.

Originally I wanted to have a leaf raking activity but we don't own a kid size rake.  Instead I gathered all the leaves from my fall decorations and we just played in them.  It wasn't enough to make anything that looked like a true pile but she really had fun throwing them into the air.  She also loved to have me pile them on her head.

We finished the day with some pumpkin knuckle painting and Mara got to create her own pumpkin patch!

Friday we didn't really have any type of theme but wanted to wrap up some of the remaining projects we didn't get to.  I started with a spider web discovery.  I used yarn to create a spider web throughout a clothes basket.  I then put some of her stuffed animals at the bottom.  I told her she needed to save her friends from the spider!

She was so cute!  She went for her favorites immediately.  Mickey and Minnie were saved along with Ballerina bear and kitty.  She gave them each a squeeze and kiss when they were safe in her arms.  The funniest part of it was she didn't care at all about the two stuffed animals that were still in the web.  She rarely plays with them normally so I guess it was ok they stayed with the spider!  She asked to do this again and again all day.  It was great for motor skills!

The rest of the morning was spent listening to autumn songs.  She loves music and constantly asks to watch children music on my computer.  I figure it's better than her disney shows so I usually let her.  I only wish she would play while the music was on instead of being enthralled by the video.  We also colored some Halloween puzzles that Grandma had sent.

After nap we did a fall play dough invitation to play.  I put a ball of play dough down along with some of my fall decorations and let her go at it.  This was a hit as well!!  She loved stamping the acorns and pine cones into the play dough. In the end we ended up with what looked like an acorn pie.  This activity was awesome for encouraging imagination and she played with it for over an hour.

We usually don't do any activities on Saturday but I had prepped one last painting activity that we didn't get to on Friday.  I cut out fall shapes from contact paper and adhered them to a piece of construction paper.  I then let her paint the entire paper.  At first she didn't want to paint it all.  She really likes to paint but likes to dab and never paints the entire page.  I helped her a little and then she was off.  We let it dry during her nap and then peeled back the contact paper to reveal the shapes.

Mom Super Powers

No one ever told me that once I became a mom I would get super powers.  That bit of information was left out.  I mean it was over night and BAM there they were all these new abilities....

1. The power to wake up at EVERY SINGLE noise your child makes regardless of if they are in your room or across the house.

2. The power to wake up multiple times a night when they sleep through the night for the first time.

3. The power to carry both your groceries, purse, diaper bag, child and oh you want that rock on the ground.  Ok I'll pick that up too.

4. The power to multitask to the extreme.  Yes honey I can do that for you let me just also throw this away, while I'm emptying the dish washer.  Oh and let's not forget supper on the stove or the screaming toddler at my feet.

5. The power to see behind your head.  Nope don't touch that.  I can see you getting into that!

6. The ability to know when it's been too quiet for exactly the right about of time for your child to get into trouble.

7. The ability to know exactly how many minutes there are till nap time.

8. The power to remember every single kids song or cartoon theme out there but can't remember your phone number.  The important things.

9. To power to pack exactly the right about of snacks, diaper, wipes and change of clothes needed for a weekend trip but forget your tooth brush.

Tbilisoba

Our weekend was pretty busy with Josh getting ready to fly back to the states.  That being said we still wanted to get out and enjoy the city and each other.

Tbilisoba is a festival honoring the harvest and the city.  Basically everyone in the surrounding towns bring their wares into the city to cell.  In Rike Park there is also a carnival of sorts set up.  There are games, food and activities for the kids.

Saturday morning it was raining and cold.  We weren't too optimistic for the day but decided to head out anyways.  Thankfully the rain let off after a bit and we were able to enjoy our morning.

We headed to Rike park and started the day with a ride in the gondula.  Mara loved cruising in this suspension car to the top of the hill side.  She probably would have been satisfied to ride in it the entire day.  At the top of the hill there wasn't much to see or do.  There were a few food vendors and a small castle to explore.

Once down in the park again we ran into some friends from church.  We decided to grab some lunch with them and followed our noses to a local Georgian place.  We feasted on traditional fare and then headed back into old town.

With Josh still needing to pack we decided to head back home but made a few stops in shops on our way to the car.  Ice cream and wine are always a must!

It was a great morning and I'm so glad we got to spend it as a family especially with Josh being away for the next few days.  Next year we'll have to explore it more and really take in all the sights and sounds of the festival!

28 Weeks with Baby #2

Well hello third trimester.  Are we really here?!  This year is just flying by!  I feel like with each week I don't have much to report in these posts.  I'm still feeling quite big for this time.  I've been wearing my supportive brace already and am in love with leggings.  I realized that I have horrible maternity jeans this week.  I guess I really didn't need jeans with Mara since most of her pregnancy was in the summer.  The ones I have don't stay up and I am constantly having to pull them up otherwise the crotch would be between my knees.  I'm stubborn and won't buy myself any new ones especially because I can't try them on in person.  Nope going to live in leggings the rest of this pregnancy.  Sorry, I'm not sorry.

So we changed our mind on the hospital we're going to be giving birth at here.  Although we love the doctor we have met with we don't love the hospital he has to deliver at.  We've decided to go with the private maternity hospital here in town and are currently looking for a doctor there.  I can still go to the embassy for five more weeks so I'm in no rush.  I've spoken to a few friends who have delivered there and got their recommendations.

Josh's parents have been working on securing their flights here for when the baby is born.  I am pretty excited that they have chosen to come for the birth.  They'll arrive a few weeks before and stay for a few weeks after.  It's going to be such a blessing to have them here to visit first and foremost but to also be with Mara.  She's going to love having her Nana and Papa around!

This week we all came down with a nasty cold.  Let me tell you being sick while pregnant isn't cool.  When you google what medicines you can take you come up with literally nothing.  Yes I know you don't treat most colds with anything but it would have been nice to take something for the sinus pressure and the congestion.  I still have a lingering cough and runny nose.  Mara seems to be just getting it so next week may be fun.

For comparison 28 weeks with Mara!

Vardzia

This past weekend we went with the embassy CLO on a trip to Vardazi, a cave monastery.  King Giorgi III built a fortification here in 12th centry and his daughter, Queen Tamar, established the monastery.  Vardarzi is huge.  There are 119 cave groups, 409 rooms, 13 churches and 25 wine cellars.  A major earthquake exposed the caves in 1283 and its new vulnerability caused the monastery to decline.  Today the monastery has been reestablished and some of the monks still live in the caves.

At the embassy we boarded a large bus which was much nicer than our last embassy trip.  We were able to each have our own seat and Mara was free to move around.  Thankfully the morning ride was uneventful and we stopped for lunch at a restaurant in Akhaltsikhe, the town our hotel was located in. Lunch was pretty generic Georgian fare.

After lunch we headed up the road to the Sapara Monastery. The monastery is located in a picturesque region of the mountains.  It is perched on a cliff side far off the beaten path.  We were able to explore the church and the surrounding complex.

From there we headed to our hotel.  We were staying in the Rabati part of town in a renovated fortress.  We had a ton of time to check in and explore our surroundings.  We met up with the group for a complex tour.  Mara was a tad cranky so I only got to see the museum before heading back to our room to relax.  That night we grabbed dinner in the hotel family style with the rest of the embassy crew.

On Sunday we headed to Vardarzia for our tour.  Along the way we stopped for some photo opps at Tmogvi and Khertvisi Castles.  I was a little nervous for the tour as Vardzia isn't very kid friendly.  Thankfully Mara did really well in the back pack and Josh was able to carry her most of the way.

We toured most of the caves ending in a tight climb to the pent house on the 13th floor.  The view was great!  After finishing up with the caves we grabbed lunch by the river right at the base of the mountain side.

The next day we had a slow start and left for Tbilisi around 10.  On the way we stopped in Borjomi to taste the mineral water the town is famous for.  Josh indulged but I decided the sulfur smell was too much.  The town was pretty quaint and definitely worth a follow-up visit on another weekend.

Overall we had a great weekend.  The tour was tiring with all the hiking and stairs but well worth it.  I love that this country is so steeped in history and that there are places like Vardarzi to explore.

Tot School-Body Parts

This week we focused on body parts.  I was really excited about this theme because I knew Mara had a good grasp of the concept already.  I felt like this really gave me the opportunity to have fun with the week.

On Monday we were getting back from traveling so we didn't have the opportunity to do any activities but we started in full force on Tuesday.  In the morning we did a full body outline.  Mara was so intrigued that I wanted to trace her body and laid perfectly still while I completed it.  Afterwards I let her color "herself" while we labeled the different body parts.  This was fun because we got to talk about body parts we don't usually name such as, arm pit, knee, shoulder, etc.

Tuesday was pretty dreary so I set up the couch pillows on the floor and encouraged her to run around on them.  We played body parts songs and just had a lot of fun.  It was a great way for her to burn off some of that energy while working on gross motor skills too.  You don't realize how much of a skill it is to walk on pillows till you try it and I certainly came close to falling a couple of times.

After nap we kept exploring movement by making cool whip.  I gave her a mason jar filled with whipping cream and a marble.  Then I let her shake it.  We shook the jar until we had cool whip!  She wasn't too interested in the final product but it was a fun way to again focus on gross motor skills.

Wednesday we started with a contact paper activity.  I cut out a face and all the face parts.  I then put contact paper on the back and adhered it to our window (I find she stays engaged in this better if it is at her height).  I let her then make her face.  While she was placing the parts we named everything and I asked her where her part was ie "Where's your nose, Mara?" Although her end result was sort of interpretative, I was pretty impressed.

Mara loves to brush her teeth so I thought our next activity would be up her alley.  I drew a tooth outline on a yellow piece of paper, gave her a toothbrush and white paint and let her go for it.  We talked about how your teeth turn yellow if you don't brush them.  She did ok.  She wasn't as interested in the activity as I thought and in the end tried brushing her own teeth with the paint.  :/

In the afternoon I was prepping the next day's activity when she spotted it.  We decided to just do it then and she loved it!  I printed out a worksheet of a little girl and some band aids.  I taped the picture to a cookie sheet and glued magnets to the band aids.  I then told her the little girl had "owwwies" in certain places.  She then placed the band aids where I told her.  We left this one up the rest of the week and she kept going back to it.

Thursday was slow again and we only got to an art activity.  As with past weeks I try to incorporate a bible verse into our lessons.  We did Ezekiel 37 this week and the dry bones.  I took black construction paper and painted Mara's hands to look like bones.  We called them our x-rays!  She really loved this and we ended up doing a whole other project with pink paint.

That night I had planned some bath paint for Mara using shaving cream and food coloring.  I thought she may like painting her body parts but boy was I wrong.  She didn't want anything to do with it!

Friday we did a little play dough.  I have been waiting to bring the play dough back out and thought she'd like a simple activity of making hand prints in the dough.  We started with her hands and then broke out the play dough tools to add more textures.

After nap we tried another gross motor skill activity and walked a taped on line.  I used masking tape on our rug and asked her to walk on it.  She did pretty good and enjoyed running along it for awhile.  In the end she got out her tools and went to work "fixing" it.

Next week we are on to all things Fall!  Again I am pretty excited about this theme as I love all things fall.  It's finally starting to feel like fall around here too so that just adds to it!

Tot School-Patterns

This week were doing patterns!  I'm a little nervous about how it will go because like I said last week I think it's going to be a harder concept for Mara to grasp.

On Monday we started our morning with a matching patterns worksheet.  I found the worksheet online through this resource.  Mara was semi interested in the different whales but didn't get the concept of matching the similar ones.  We just talked through it and left it at that.

Later in the day we did a patterned ice cube sort.  I used pom poms of different colors to create an every other type of pattern and then asked her to replicate it across from it.  She didn't like that idea and instead made her own pattern!  I was actually quite surprised when the end result was a pattern of it's own!

After nap we did our Bible verse, 1Cor 14:40 Let all things be done decently and in order., for the day along with our craft project.  I painted every other toe a different color and then we pressed her foot to a leaf shape I cut out the night before.  She loved this so much she asked to do the other foot!  We then talked about the verse and the pattern we created.

Tuesday was a little slower for us.  In the morning we did a do a dot worksheet.  I have never done do a dot markers with her before and she loved it.  For those who don't know what do a dot is imagine those bingo markers that make perfect circles when stamped.  I printed off a blank worksheet with circles and showed her what a pattern looked like.  She then used the markers to stamp.  We didn't create many patterns but she did awesome with staying in the circles and stamping rather than dragging.

We ended the day with some pattern songs.  I am definitely going to keep incorporating songs into our lesson plans because she loves them.  And I love that they are educational rather than some of her other favorite shows! :)

Wednesday was a fun day starting with creating some patterned clothespin caterpillars.  Mara loved using the pom poms and googly eyes to make caterpillars.  I only wish we had that Eric Carle book about them to read along with it!

We rounded off the day with another coloring page.  This time it was a simple cross that had been divided into multiple shapes.  We used colors to create different patterns in the cross.  Mara didn't seem to want to "ruin" the cross so she asked me to do the coloring while she scribbled around it!

Later that day we tried to go outside for some fresh air but the dreary weather and rain changed our plans.  I knew it would take a lot to get her back inside so I suggested painting our nails!  Mara loves getting her toenails painted so I chose two colors and did every other toe.  She loved it and sat so still for me.  That night she was very upset at Daddy because she thought he was trying to remove her polish in the bath. :)

Thursday we had a rough start as we were going to head to the park.  Rain changed our plans and we ended up in front of the TV most of the morning (mom fail).  I did lay out an aquarium worksheet for her to do thinking that we would get to it after nap.  She surprised me and became immediately interested.  I was even more shocked when she was able to continue the patterns that were set up on the sheet! This involved matching the sea animal to the right row as well as putting them in the correct pattern order!


Friday was another busy day.  I had my Usborne launch party that morning followed by doctors visits at the embassy for both Mara and I.  We didn't get home till nap time. In the afternoon we did some patterning using baby links and then had a patterned snack of M&Ms.

Overall this week was very challenging.  As I suspected it was a very hard concept for Mara to grasp.  I am happy that we stuck with it and continued to work on activities despite this.  I am a firm believer that no matter what we do and no matter how long she works on something that she will get something out of it.  Next week we are tackling body parts and I am super excited for some of the activities I have planned!