Well it has been a while since I have posted but many things have changed. DAG is now 38 months old and has been potty trained for over 2 months. Yeah for him.

He loves his Thomas the Train, dinosaurs, owls and cars. I belief he is a typical boy. He just started to write his name and told me that he wants to write his whole name to hang on his door. He has 2 middle names and an unusual last name so we will work on that.

I am now a full time Art Teacher for the Ann Arbor Public Schools since August 2010. It has been a real adjustment. Here are some pictures from the past 6 months.

Last Week- Part 2 Owl Pillows

DAG and I enjoy owls. I have read him the book Can I Have A Hug? since he was about 6 months old and we have 2 copies. Inspired by our mutual like of something I decided to make him some no sew pillows for his bed. I also did a star pillow.

In order to finish the pillows I had to have him engaged in his own task. In the past I have had him wash all of his dishes, pots, pans and measuring cups from his kitchen. This time I thought he could do all the food. This has become a very useful way to clean his toys and I don't feel guilty about him using water since he is not wasting it. 

After he was done I still needed a few more minutes. I gave him this tray I found at Ikea for under $3 and gave him 9 frogs to but in each tin. I did not even need to tell him what to do. He counted the frogs aloud and he asked to do it again. He repeated the process several times. Just enough time for me to finish his pillows. We have since done this with snacks and other animals.

It looks as though I should make him a tool belt.

Last Week...... Part 1

It is amazing how much fun you can have with someone who has an open mind. DAG is always amazing me with his connections and his curiosity. This week he came up with "I have an idea." He says it when he wants another book which he goes and gets or when he wants to rearrange his train tracks, room or add something new to a game he is playing. As an only child he is independent and plays well on his own. 

This past week he did a lot because I had a lot of supplies on hand. I was even able to finish his owl pillows.

Birdhouses and Bird Nests

We each painted a birdhouse and made bird nests with birds and eggs. DAG impressed me with his nest. We hung the bird houses and DAG asked for birdseed.

We also did a shirt project. We used the bathtub foam letters to spell his name and he used his Jeep to paint tracks across the shirt.

Experimenting with Color

DAG mixed the primary colors- red, blue and yellow first. Than he mixed them to make orange, purple and green. He did this several times and has asked to do it again.

Volcano

I really liked this experiment and so did he but next time I am going to do it as a volcano. I will mold some homemade moon sand around the jar and have plastic dinosaurs around the base so when the volcano erupts he can see what a volcano really does. The recipe is simple: 1/4 cup vinegar, 4 teaspoons red jello and 2 teaspoons baking soda. Add in that order. I would recommend a smaller jar- 8 oz.  

Beating the Heat Wave with Turtles and Insects

On Sunday DAG and I needed to do something outside that involved cooling off. The weather had been in the 90's for the past 5 days and although we enjoy being outside it can get very hot. On Saturday I had decided to come up with something that involved ice so I froze insects and grass in a bowl and turtles and lily pads (leaves) in another. I placed the insects and turtles upside down on top of the grass and leaves. 

     

I placed 12 insects and 9 turtles in the bowls and I told DAG that we had to find them. I wish I had made him a chart with numbers so he knew when he found them all. He can count to 15 and sometimes 20 and recognizes the numbers as well. He did not get wet because the table was tilted and I placed a piece of paper under each piece so they would not slide off. I did have 2 big buckets of warm water underneath the table for him to use and he used a plastic pitcher for maximum coverage. He really enjoyed it and I will do it again and maybe do dinosaurs and rocks or snakes and grass or fruit or  ............................................

DAG as a robot.

We also played with the peg board I had painted with chalkboard paint. He can do connect the dots and I thought that this would be a great idea to reinforce that concept as well as have a new chalkboard for outside. He does enjoy using chalk on his blue water table- race and train tracks especially. I purchased the pegboard to make a board for rubber bands and I think I like the idea of the board being black. 

The Journal of DAG

This Journal is document my time I spend with my 30 month old son DAG. We do a lot. We play, sing, laugh, build, paint and do just about anything we can. We go to parks, zoos, museums and lakes. When he is not busy do activities, he is either sleeping or eating.