Tuesday 29 October 2013

Our latest project

This weekend we got a little creative in our house. We made our little guy a school shelf. We got given the shelf from our cousin friends and i was inspired. Now yes he's only 2 we aren't starting anything formal yet. We still aren't really sure what we are going to do for him for school quiet yet, and beside he's only 2 we have awhile. If we stay here In AUS paying for school is very expensive until we are residents and home schooling scares me a bit for my only child. I'm afraid he will get bored just me and him learning our ABC and shapes. And honestly I'm a little nervous about being his teacher. But I've been reading an awesome blog that has got me excited for him to start learning so we started a little school shelf. It's mostly contains Montessori style school activities right now but he loves it. We have the shelf in our room so it's  contents don't get completely trashed and there is some supervision, but he has access pretty much whenever he wants. It's amazing to see how fast he's " getting it." We have a little sheet of paper with 5 different colour squares and then a bunch of matching squares in a jar. When he first saw the jar he dumped out all the squares and Immediately started to match all the colours together.his favourite is the Popsicle sticks. We have a few cards with pictures of Popsicle sticks making different shapes and patterns. The idea is to use the Popsicle sticks in the jar to make the matching picture. It's a bit tough for him but today he did his first pattern all by himself. I was definitely  a proud mama. It's just nice for me to see him enjoying learning. I think we have a hands on learner like his mama! Still not sure how and when we are going to start any formal learning for now we are just having fun. Here's a few pictures of our little man enjoying his new shelf
The shelf all put together. I made the chalk board with chalk board paper and a small canvas so it can be taken anywhere. The baskets on the bottom were a gift from a friend who got them in china. They work perfect for his little hands.
The matching game. ( excuse the very miss shaped squares) 
Cleaning up after he's all done with the Popsicle game.

Thursday 24 October 2013

I do declare a day of rest

This week hasn't been overly busy or wild but it's been full and we've all felt it. We've had a great week playing with new friends. Walks to the library in the warm sunshine and crazy wind. Friends coming over to play and finally Christmas in October. Our little family is headed to North America over the holiday season so we decided to have an early Christmas with our Aussie family. It was everything Christmas should be, a baked dinner with pork cracklings and cauliflower with cheese sauce. A delicious dessert that may not have won awards for looks but  sure tasted amazing! A few fun gifts, a warm evening and most of all amazing friends. We are definitely blessed to have friends who lean more in to the family category  than just friends,when all those we share DNA with live on the other side of the world. The one thing Christmas did have that we could have done with out was an emotional little boy. It started with a scraped knee on the way in and ended with acting as if we were killing him every time we tried to give him some food. So last night I declared today would be a quiet day of rest. No friends over, no going anywhere just lots of snuggles and doing nothing. We did make some oat bars and jack did a great job putting in the ingredients and stirring. I think this recipe needs a bit more honey but they will still get eaten.  We also managed some outside time and 4 loads of laundry! This was a record laundry day!  But for the most part lots of napping, snuggles and rest. Jacks been unusually snugly and quiet today. I hope he's just enjoying our rest day and not getting sick.  Enjoy your Friday everyone we sure are!