A lot of people ask me how Nate's speech is coming along. Well, his speech is not understandable, but he has a TON of personality. Check out this video...
(Click here for Video)
I cannot get enough of how cute he is! :) I asked the kids to do a relay race earlier in the day, and Nate really (and I mean REALLY) got into it. Later that afternoon, I got out my video camera and hoped that they would do it again for me. I was lucky this time!
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
One Week Update....
It has been just one short week since Nate's surgery, and although it has been a great week, I have had a roller coaster of emotions. I realize that hearing will inevitably improve Nate's speech, but it makes me sad to know how much precious time we have lost and how much more work we have to do. I believe Nate will eventually be talking fluently, but it will take a while to get there, and sometimes I just break down and cry about it all. Now that Nate is hearing better, I feel like we are starting back a year. I feel the need to reteach everything to him, so that he can hear it correctly. It makes me feel like I am living in reruns. However, I also know that things could be a lot worse, and that this will all be a distant memory someday. I thank God everyday for my boys and their health. I also want to thank all my friends and family who are there to listen when I need a shoulder to lean on. I am happy to report that in one short week, we have already seen some improvement.
First, it is obvious Nate is hearing better. He interacts just plain differently. It is hard to put into words, but both Jay and I agree on this. Just two days ago, the boys were at the kitchen counter having a snack. I turned my food processor on, and Nate covered both ears with his hands (never having done this before). Apparently, the food processor was too loud for him...Jay and I loved seeing this!
Second, Nate had surgery on Wednesday and then caught a terrible cold on Friday. I felt very scared, and told Jay this cold would be a true testament to how well the tubes worked. Luckily, Nate was able to fight off the cold without a fever or antibiotics within three days! This was such a big deal to us!
Third, I can't say Nate is waking up perfectly happy everyday, but he is not waking up in pain either. He no longer has fluid in his ears (which causes pressure and pain), and so he does not SCREAM when he wakes up. I cannot tell you how nice this is!
Lastly, Nate's speech is getting better... On the way over to Grandma and Grandpa's house on Saturday, Nate was saying, "Pa Pa Bob" over and over again. Also on Saturday, he wanted to get in the truck all my himself, so he pushed me away and said, "I do!" Also, words that he has said previously on other occasions are now becoming more and more clear...Bye Bye, Ball, No, Milk, More, Nigh-Nigh, and All done.
Although, the best news of all happened last night! All day long, I worked on the word "me" with Nate. He did so great and was finally able to say it AGAIN and AGAIN! So you all know where that leads us, right? Yes! Next, I worked on "Mommeee!" He was FINALLY able to say it! If any of you know me, and what we have gone through with Nate, you know that this is the word I have been waiting to here for sooooooo long! Up until now, Nate could only physically say, "Ma Ma" or "Ma May." Now I am able to finally here those precious sounds, "Mommy!" It literally brought tears to my eyes, and Nate was so happy with himself as well. Well, it doesn't stop there....We worked on it all evening, and when Jay and I were tucking him in last night he said, "Daddy!" This was just the boost we needed from him. What a great way to end a seven day stretch post surgery!
First, it is obvious Nate is hearing better. He interacts just plain differently. It is hard to put into words, but both Jay and I agree on this. Just two days ago, the boys were at the kitchen counter having a snack. I turned my food processor on, and Nate covered both ears with his hands (never having done this before). Apparently, the food processor was too loud for him...Jay and I loved seeing this!
Second, Nate had surgery on Wednesday and then caught a terrible cold on Friday. I felt very scared, and told Jay this cold would be a true testament to how well the tubes worked. Luckily, Nate was able to fight off the cold without a fever or antibiotics within three days! This was such a big deal to us!
Third, I can't say Nate is waking up perfectly happy everyday, but he is not waking up in pain either. He no longer has fluid in his ears (which causes pressure and pain), and so he does not SCREAM when he wakes up. I cannot tell you how nice this is!
Lastly, Nate's speech is getting better... On the way over to Grandma and Grandpa's house on Saturday, Nate was saying, "Pa Pa Bob" over and over again. Also on Saturday, he wanted to get in the truck all my himself, so he pushed me away and said, "I do!" Also, words that he has said previously on other occasions are now becoming more and more clear...Bye Bye, Ball, No, Milk, More, Nigh-Nigh, and All done.
Although, the best news of all happened last night! All day long, I worked on the word "me" with Nate. He did so great and was finally able to say it AGAIN and AGAIN! So you all know where that leads us, right? Yes! Next, I worked on "Mommeee!" He was FINALLY able to say it! If any of you know me, and what we have gone through with Nate, you know that this is the word I have been waiting to here for sooooooo long! Up until now, Nate could only physically say, "Ma Ma" or "Ma May." Now I am able to finally here those precious sounds, "Mommy!" It literally brought tears to my eyes, and Nate was so happy with himself as well. Well, it doesn't stop there....We worked on it all evening, and when Jay and I were tucking him in last night he said, "Daddy!" This was just the boost we needed from him. What a great way to end a seven day stretch post surgery!
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Nate's Surgery
Nate had his ear tube surgery yesterday and everything went well! We thank God for his health and well-being and the many answered prayers. Thanks to all of you who called, texted, or emailed yesterday to show your love and support. It was a minor procedure, but still a very big deal to us.
We needed to leave the house at 5:40am on Wednesday morning. We dropped ET off at my friend Barb's house for the morning. What an angel! She volunteered to wake up at this time on her day off to watch him for us. We could not have been more grateful!
We needed to arrive at the surgery center at 6:15, and surgery was supposed to be at 7:15am. We arrived on time, but the place was packed! Nate was second in line for surgery, but they were already an hour behind schedule. He did not enter surgery until 8:15. It was really no big deal though, he was content cuddling with us all morning. He was required to fast, so being that he had no water or food in his system, we were so happy with how content he was.
When they were ready, we were called back into a small transitional room between the waiting room, and the room where surgery would actually take place. This is where they put Nate under anesthesia. They ask that the parents be with their child through this, so that they can go under peacefully. Although it was hard to see him go under, we agreed that we would want to be with him every moment we could. Jay held Nate on his lap while sitting in a desk chair. I squatted down on the floor in front of him so he could watch me as he fell asleep. They placed the mask on his face, and he never cried, whined or turned away...he was such a good boy! I talked to him and rubbed his legs and arms as he drifted off to sleep. Jay and another anesthesiologist carefully carried his limp body to the bed and settled him in. We gave him kisses, and watched him be taken away. It was so hard to watch, but I just kept repeating the same prayer over and over in my head, which helped me hold myself together.
We entered the waiting room and I immediately looked at the clock. I knew it would not take longer than 15 minutes. Sure enough, about 13 minutes later, the surgeon was calling us back to consult with us on how everything went. He said Nate did great, and the tubes were in place. He also stated that Nate had very thick fluid in both ears that he needed to suction out first. That was what I was most curious about. After hearing that, I knew Nate would experience a whole new world upon waking up.
We were dismissed back into the waiting room, and told the nurses would get us as soon as Nathan came to again. This is when I was the most antsy. I could not bare the fact of him waking up, and crying without us there. About 20 minutes later, the nurses got us and sent us to our final recovery room. We waited as they rolled him on the roll-away bed down the hallway and brought him to us. I could hear him crying as he neared, but the nurse was talking and consoling him the whole way. His cry was not a big cry, it was almost like he was trying to hold himself together for the nurse. Once he made eye contact with me, that is when he cried a little harder. Almost like saying, "Mommy, what is going on?" I immediately picked him up to hold him. His body was very stiff, and I had to mold him to me to get comfortable (probably an effect from the anesthesia). He stayed with me for about two minutes, but then wanted Jay the remainder of the time. Not surprising at all - he adores his Daddy. We turned on a movie and dimmed the lights. He cried out periodically about three times during the first ten minutes, but then never cried again the whole day. He sat with Jay and drank his water, and ate his dried cereal snack I had packed him. We left for home no more than 45 minutes after being in recovery.
When we were driving home, his head was cocked to the side and his eyes showed such concentration. Jay and I knew that he was awe stricken because he was hearing new sounds for the first time. When we arrived home, he was totally his normal self all day. We kept the TV on a good portion of the afternoon. He ate a very filling lunch, and took a decent nap. When he woke from his nap, he called out "Ma ma" like he always does, but Jay and I could not believe the difference of tone in his voice. We asked him to say about a million things yesterday, and we could definitely notice a difference in many of the words spoke already. He still continues to use his own language, but we just knew that he was interacting differently due to better hearing.
Nate watched another movie, ate dinner and then even went outside to play for the remainder of the evening. It was 20 minutes before bedtime, and he was asking for more food again. I don't know what that was about, but he was clearly more hungry than normal - which could only be a good sign. He slept all through the night without a peep!
We could not be more excited for Nate! We are very hopeful that this was the barrier between him and his speech, and with better hearing he will progress at new rates. He will need to go back for a checkup in 4-6 weeks, so that surgeon can look things over. We are just praying this works, and he will no longer have fluid or ear infections.
We needed to leave the house at 5:40am on Wednesday morning. We dropped ET off at my friend Barb's house for the morning. What an angel! She volunteered to wake up at this time on her day off to watch him for us. We could not have been more grateful!
We needed to arrive at the surgery center at 6:15, and surgery was supposed to be at 7:15am. We arrived on time, but the place was packed! Nate was second in line for surgery, but they were already an hour behind schedule. He did not enter surgery until 8:15. It was really no big deal though, he was content cuddling with us all morning. He was required to fast, so being that he had no water or food in his system, we were so happy with how content he was.
When they were ready, we were called back into a small transitional room between the waiting room, and the room where surgery would actually take place. This is where they put Nate under anesthesia. They ask that the parents be with their child through this, so that they can go under peacefully. Although it was hard to see him go under, we agreed that we would want to be with him every moment we could. Jay held Nate on his lap while sitting in a desk chair. I squatted down on the floor in front of him so he could watch me as he fell asleep. They placed the mask on his face, and he never cried, whined or turned away...he was such a good boy! I talked to him and rubbed his legs and arms as he drifted off to sleep. Jay and another anesthesiologist carefully carried his limp body to the bed and settled him in. We gave him kisses, and watched him be taken away. It was so hard to watch, but I just kept repeating the same prayer over and over in my head, which helped me hold myself together.
We entered the waiting room and I immediately looked at the clock. I knew it would not take longer than 15 minutes. Sure enough, about 13 minutes later, the surgeon was calling us back to consult with us on how everything went. He said Nate did great, and the tubes were in place. He also stated that Nate had very thick fluid in both ears that he needed to suction out first. That was what I was most curious about. After hearing that, I knew Nate would experience a whole new world upon waking up.
We were dismissed back into the waiting room, and told the nurses would get us as soon as Nathan came to again. This is when I was the most antsy. I could not bare the fact of him waking up, and crying without us there. About 20 minutes later, the nurses got us and sent us to our final recovery room. We waited as they rolled him on the roll-away bed down the hallway and brought him to us. I could hear him crying as he neared, but the nurse was talking and consoling him the whole way. His cry was not a big cry, it was almost like he was trying to hold himself together for the nurse. Once he made eye contact with me, that is when he cried a little harder. Almost like saying, "Mommy, what is going on?" I immediately picked him up to hold him. His body was very stiff, and I had to mold him to me to get comfortable (probably an effect from the anesthesia). He stayed with me for about two minutes, but then wanted Jay the remainder of the time. Not surprising at all - he adores his Daddy. We turned on a movie and dimmed the lights. He cried out periodically about three times during the first ten minutes, but then never cried again the whole day. He sat with Jay and drank his water, and ate his dried cereal snack I had packed him. We left for home no more than 45 minutes after being in recovery.
When we were driving home, his head was cocked to the side and his eyes showed such concentration. Jay and I knew that he was awe stricken because he was hearing new sounds for the first time. When we arrived home, he was totally his normal self all day. We kept the TV on a good portion of the afternoon. He ate a very filling lunch, and took a decent nap. When he woke from his nap, he called out "Ma ma" like he always does, but Jay and I could not believe the difference of tone in his voice. We asked him to say about a million things yesterday, and we could definitely notice a difference in many of the words spoke already. He still continues to use his own language, but we just knew that he was interacting differently due to better hearing.
Nate watched another movie, ate dinner and then even went outside to play for the remainder of the evening. It was 20 minutes before bedtime, and he was asking for more food again. I don't know what that was about, but he was clearly more hungry than normal - which could only be a good sign. He slept all through the night without a peep!
We could not be more excited for Nate! We are very hopeful that this was the barrier between him and his speech, and with better hearing he will progress at new rates. He will need to go back for a checkup in 4-6 weeks, so that surgeon can look things over. We are just praying this works, and he will no longer have fluid or ear infections.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Easter Sunday!
Here are the boys on Easter morning. The Easter bunny was very generous. The boys received a few books, a couple plush animals, and other various trinkets. Nate's favorite was a die-case metal school bus, and ET's favorite was a plush angry pig from the set of Angry Birds.
We headed to Great Grandma Mavis's for the day. As soon as we arrived Grandma had the boys start their traditional penny hunt! This was Nate's first year being able to participate in this. Nate did great, and ET did a great job sharing.
Of course, the cooking was fabulous as always. It was a pretty cold and windy day, but we were still able to get outside for a bit to see some of the perennials that have already poked up around Grandma's yard. The boys had fun exploring and throwing sticks into the river. It was a nice time spent together.
My parents were driving back from their Easter get together at my Aunt Diane's at the same time we were driving home. Being that they had my grandparents in the car with them, they decided to stop by our home on their way back. They could only visit for a few minutes, but it was nice we could still see of them on Easter. :)
We headed to Great Grandma Mavis's for the day. As soon as we arrived Grandma had the boys start their traditional penny hunt! This was Nate's first year being able to participate in this. Nate did great, and ET did a great job sharing.
Of course, the cooking was fabulous as always. It was a pretty cold and windy day, but we were still able to get outside for a bit to see some of the perennials that have already poked up around Grandma's yard. The boys had fun exploring and throwing sticks into the river. It was a nice time spent together.
My parents were driving back from their Easter get together at my Aunt Diane's at the same time we were driving home. Being that they had my grandparents in the car with them, they decided to stop by our home on their way back. They could only visit for a few minutes, but it was nice we could still see of them on Easter. :)
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
St. Luke's Easter Egg Hunt
Luckily, the rain subsided long enough for us to still participate in the outdoor Easter egg hunt this year at the church. I videotaped Nate while Jay snapped a couple pictures. ET ran off so fast, I couldn't keep my eyes on him. The kids had a lot of fun.
Saturday Morning at Home Depot...
Jay took ET to the kids workshop at Home Depot on Saturday. They had a great time bonding, and building a window bird feeder. They also had a surprise set-up of a few fire trucks, and the practice fire house. They had a great time!
Daycare Easter Celebration
I had a great day celebrating Easter with the daycare kids. Unfortunately, I wasn't as good at taking pictures on this day.
Some of the activities we did were:
-We made our own bunny picture with our handprints for ears.
-I filled a small baby food jar up with jellybeans. The kids had to estimate how many jelly beans they thought were in the jar before counting them.
-We played BINGO with numbers 1-20. We picked an Easter egg from the basket, and opened it to reveal the number that needed to be called out. We used jellybeans for markers on our BINGO boards.
-We matched uppercase and lowercase letters written on both halves of plastic Easter eggs.
-We compared the difference between a raw and a hard-boiled egg.
-We went on an egg hunt!
-The kids also played with the many Easter toys I have saved over the years: a bunny dress-up costume with plastics eggs and a basket, a Velcro bunny catch game, a stacking plastic bunny tower game, and plush bunnies!
This was the lunch I served the kids on Friday to celebrate Easter. It was so much fun to put together.
They ate bunny shaped sandwiches with candy eyes, carrot sticks with dip, strawberries and grapes with a bunny pick, a deviled egg, yogurt with sprinkles in a silicone cupcake liner, and a bunny cookie! :)
Hope you all enjoyed your Easter!
Some of the activities we did were:
-We made our own bunny picture with our handprints for ears.
-I filled a small baby food jar up with jellybeans. The kids had to estimate how many jelly beans they thought were in the jar before counting them.
-We played BINGO with numbers 1-20. We picked an Easter egg from the basket, and opened it to reveal the number that needed to be called out. We used jellybeans for markers on our BINGO boards.
-We matched uppercase and lowercase letters written on both halves of plastic Easter eggs.
-We compared the difference between a raw and a hard-boiled egg.
-We went on an egg hunt!
-The kids also played with the many Easter toys I have saved over the years: a bunny dress-up costume with plastics eggs and a basket, a Velcro bunny catch game, a stacking plastic bunny tower game, and plush bunnies!
This was the lunch I served the kids on Friday to celebrate Easter. It was so much fun to put together.
They ate bunny shaped sandwiches with candy eyes, carrot sticks with dip, strawberries and grapes with a bunny pick, a deviled egg, yogurt with sprinkles in a silicone cupcake liner, and a bunny cookie! :)
Hope you all enjoyed your Easter!
Monday, April 9, 2012
Nate's upcoming surgery...
Okay, so you all know that Nate is scheduled for surgery to have tubes placed in his ears. This surgery is scheduled for Wednesday, April 11th. After Jay scheduled this, I felt the need to have the surgeon examine Nate one more time to evaluate whether or not his tonsils and/or adenoids may be affecting his ears. I went back for another appointment on Friday, March 30th. The doctor examined Nate a second time and said that he is not concerned about these things, but that he STILL has fluid in his ears. I was utterly shocked! At that time Nate was near the end of his second round of antibiotics prescribed during the month of March, and I was sure he was at his healthiest. Jay and I have only taken Nate to the doctor when he is sick, and four times this year healthy. EVERY TIME we have gone in now, we have been told he has fluid in his ears! I wanted to cry for Nate...no wonder the kid can't talk!
Being that Nate still had fluid, he needed to be prescribed ANOTHER antibiotic for preventive measures. He has been on that now since Monday, April 2nd. Jay brought Nate in on Friday of last week (April 6), for a pre-op appointment, and AGAIN Nate continues to have fluid in his ears! WOW! If that doesn't prove to anyone how badly he needs surgery, I don't know what will.
Jay and I both will be off from work on Wednesday so that we can be with Nate together through the whole procedure. We will get a call this week to see what time he will be operated on. We are all just so excited for Nate to have this done. We are anticipating a huge change for him. Say a prayer for him, and I will keep you all posted as to how it goes.
Here is a video of Nate talking...
LINK TO VIDEO OF NATE
Here is my little guy on the swing out back. It doesn't get much cuter than this...Elmo shirt, bucket hat, swing - how adorable!
Being that Nate still had fluid, he needed to be prescribed ANOTHER antibiotic for preventive measures. He has been on that now since Monday, April 2nd. Jay brought Nate in on Friday of last week (April 6), for a pre-op appointment, and AGAIN Nate continues to have fluid in his ears! WOW! If that doesn't prove to anyone how badly he needs surgery, I don't know what will.
Jay and I both will be off from work on Wednesday so that we can be with Nate together through the whole procedure. We will get a call this week to see what time he will be operated on. We are all just so excited for Nate to have this done. We are anticipating a huge change for him. Say a prayer for him, and I will keep you all posted as to how it goes.
Here is a video of Nate talking...
LINK TO VIDEO OF NATE
Here is my little guy on the swing out back. It doesn't get much cuter than this...Elmo shirt, bucket hat, swing - how adorable!
ET can ride a two-wheeler!!!!
*Check back again...I will post a video of ET riding his bike. I didn't have time to download it yet.
ET officially learned how to ride his bike (without training wheels) on Tuesday, April 3rd!!!! The Wednesday before, Jay removed ET's training wheels AND pedals from his bike. He used his feet to move along like a Flintstones car, and taught himself to balance all on his own! Balance bikes (a bike with no pedals) are the newest hype and most popular way of teaching kids how to ride their bike these days. I cannot believe how fast he learned, and how little effort it took on our part! Six days later, I felt he was ready for the pedals to be put back on. I managed to screw them on myself, and ET took off! He was so excited to surprise Jay when he got home from work! He fell a few times, but never cried, and never gave up. We are so proud. :)
It really gets me emotional to see him doing this. He is growing up so fast!
Of course, we had to go out for ice cream to celebrate! :)
ET officially learned how to ride his bike (without training wheels) on Tuesday, April 3rd!!!! The Wednesday before, Jay removed ET's training wheels AND pedals from his bike. He used his feet to move along like a Flintstones car, and taught himself to balance all on his own! Balance bikes (a bike with no pedals) are the newest hype and most popular way of teaching kids how to ride their bike these days. I cannot believe how fast he learned, and how little effort it took on our part! Six days later, I felt he was ready for the pedals to be put back on. I managed to screw them on myself, and ET took off! He was so excited to surprise Jay when he got home from work! He fell a few times, but never cried, and never gave up. We are so proud. :)
It really gets me emotional to see him doing this. He is growing up so fast!
Of course, we had to go out for ice cream to celebrate! :)
We went to the Circus!
During the month of July, I will be teaching the daycare kids all about the circus. I thought I would look online to see if there was a circus coming to town anytime between now and then, and luckily there was!
Jay bought us tickets to go to the Osman Shrine Circus at the Colosseum on Sunday, April 1st. We had a great time!!! At one point during the show ET asked me, "Mom, why is that girl wearing sparkly underwear?" Ha!
I think Nate might have like the tigers the best. ET loved the comedy going on between a man and his horse, and The Canon Lady! :)
Jay and I got a good laugh out of "The Canon Lady." Seriously though, this woman is brave!
Jay bought us tickets to go to the Osman Shrine Circus at the Colosseum on Sunday, April 1st. We had a great time!!! At one point during the show ET asked me, "Mom, why is that girl wearing sparkly underwear?" Ha!
I think Nate might have like the tigers the best. ET loved the comedy going on between a man and his horse, and The Canon Lady! :)
Jay and I got a good laugh out of "The Canon Lady." Seriously though, this woman is brave!
Friday, April 6, 2012
March Activites...
So usually I post pictures of the projects that the kids created at daycare. As great as that is, I thought I would post some of the fun activities that I had planned last month instead.
During the month of March, we learned about gardening...
I bought a ton of gardening toys, and filled a box with brown shredded paper. They could dress up like a gardener, and pretend to plant seeds, dig for plastic bugs, or pick fabric flowers.
We worked A LOT with seeds! Here the kids sorting all sorts of different seeds with kid-sized tweezers.
We made a flower snack with apple butter for the soil, celery for the stem, and dried fruit for the petals of the flowers. Nate was super crabby upon waking up this day, and he did not want me to take his picture.
Poor guy, I will be glad when he gets tubes, and he finally wakes up happy.
ET was at school this afternoon, so he made his later in the day.
One day we focused on just learning all about worms. I had Jay buy a container of worms used for bait. The kids watched the worms in the jar all day. I managed to get enough courage to pour the worms on a plate, and poke at them with a Popsicle stick. YUCK! ET begged and pleaded with me to play with the worms. I said I just couldn't stomach it, but that Dad would let him later in the day.
I was gone this evening. Here they are, boys being boys, I guess. YUCK! YUCK! YUCK! I think it is beyond disgusting, but I absolutely LOVE that they find it awesome. :) I was majorly grossed out that their exploring took place on my kitchen counter though.
Of course we had to have green garden cupcakes with gummy worms on top! :)
I found a really great resource site called, "Teacher Pay Teachers." I printed off a bunch of math and literacy activities for the kids to do that were all centered around gardening.
I filled up our sensory bin with real soil and added gardening toys for them to dig and explore with. We played with this a ton during the whole month of March.
The boys and Jay planted a window view root vegetable garden!
Each kid planted their very own container of grass seed.
We also planted grass seed in an Easter basket again this year!
To end our gardening, each child brought in a fruit or a vegetable with seeds. We discussed whether or not we could eat the seeds inside each one, and then tasted them all. We ended up with quite a big variety. I never knew before doing this that there was such a thing as an apple pear.
I adore seeing the lessons I teach being carried out through the kids play time. Here they are being gardeners in the backyard. They were picking small stems from the nearby lilac bush and planting them in the dirt. They were so incredibly proud of themselves!
March was a great month for us! The kids learned a ton, and we were blessed with very warm weather nearly all month long!
During the month of March, we learned about gardening...
I bought a ton of gardening toys, and filled a box with brown shredded paper. They could dress up like a gardener, and pretend to plant seeds, dig for plastic bugs, or pick fabric flowers.
We worked A LOT with seeds! Here the kids sorting all sorts of different seeds with kid-sized tweezers.
We made a flower snack with apple butter for the soil, celery for the stem, and dried fruit for the petals of the flowers. Nate was super crabby upon waking up this day, and he did not want me to take his picture.
Poor guy, I will be glad when he gets tubes, and he finally wakes up happy.
ET was at school this afternoon, so he made his later in the day.
One day we focused on just learning all about worms. I had Jay buy a container of worms used for bait. The kids watched the worms in the jar all day. I managed to get enough courage to pour the worms on a plate, and poke at them with a Popsicle stick. YUCK! ET begged and pleaded with me to play with the worms. I said I just couldn't stomach it, but that Dad would let him later in the day.
I was gone this evening. Here they are, boys being boys, I guess. YUCK! YUCK! YUCK! I think it is beyond disgusting, but I absolutely LOVE that they find it awesome. :) I was majorly grossed out that their exploring took place on my kitchen counter though.
Of course we had to have green garden cupcakes with gummy worms on top! :)
I found a really great resource site called, "Teacher Pay Teachers." I printed off a bunch of math and literacy activities for the kids to do that were all centered around gardening.
I filled up our sensory bin with real soil and added gardening toys for them to dig and explore with. We played with this a ton during the whole month of March.
The boys and Jay planted a window view root vegetable garden!
Each kid planted their very own container of grass seed.
We also planted grass seed in an Easter basket again this year!
To end our gardening, each child brought in a fruit or a vegetable with seeds. We discussed whether or not we could eat the seeds inside each one, and then tasted them all. We ended up with quite a big variety. I never knew before doing this that there was such a thing as an apple pear.
I adore seeing the lessons I teach being carried out through the kids play time. Here they are being gardeners in the backyard. They were picking small stems from the nearby lilac bush and planting them in the dirt. They were so incredibly proud of themselves!
March was a great month for us! The kids learned a ton, and we were blessed with very warm weather nearly all month long!
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