Anyone need mail stickers?

A- just got a letter in the mail from Oma and Opa and she just wrote a lovely thank you letter with pictures and decorated sides. She said she needs a mail sticker for it (aka stamp). She wrote her name out and got every letter to look quite good except for the 'k'. She sounded it out afterward.

Preschool today was lovely... R- took G- on a bike ride for an hour so A- could work uninterrupted and she did lots of works (insets, lacing, what's missing game?, geometric solids, art 3 part cards, window cleaning, mystery bag with geometric solids). She wasn't interested in numbers or letters today but that's one of the beauties of Montessori - she works on what interests her at the time.

G- was just in here playing with her bus she got for Christmas last year, pushing it around and humming a little tune. It's close to naptime and she usually has one of two imminent naptime behaviors. She's either really cranky or really cute and plays by herself. I think she's trying to fly under the radar so no one will remember to get her down for a nap!

Some pictures from last night:

Finally, a good bedtime!

Finally, a good bedtime! With no crying from anyone, especially me! The girls are currently sleeping basically on each other in a single mattress next to my bed. At least it's better than in my bed! Although last night G- woke up saying "mama mama" and stood up and crawled up into my bed. She's so sweet though that I didn't care. A- finally had a good night last night. Her eczema itches her so bad that she wakes up and freaks out and it had been an hour several nights in a row before she'd go back to sleep. So I don't know if it was being nearer in the single mattress that made it better last night or the fact that I gave her some of the antihistamine that the pedi gave me for G-'s eczema. But I was glad!

A- asked me today on the way to La Leche League about why the rain falls, so I launched into a lovely explanation of gravity and why things fall toward the earth. So, she follows with "Then why don't the clouds fall too?" Hmm. They're light and all, but really, why don't the clouds fall too? To really explain that gets pretty complicated about fluids and bouyancy and floating. She keeps me on my toes.

And G- tries to imitate A- and me when we make letter sounds. G- points to the letters on my Ohio State t-shirt and makes letter sounds, usually "duh duh"s but I'm impressed she knows letters make sounds! She loves to turn the pages in books too and make noises for all the animals and point to and say "ball" for all the balls or anything that looks remotely circular. And of course, to sign "baby" for all the babies.

A- was showing me at bedtime today how her babydoll could stand up, she just had to hold its hands. So G- does the same thing with her baby.

A- and I played the geistlein (little goat) game that she got in Germany today while G- was napping. I beat her twice and then I read the directions and realized we were playing slightly wrong and she was well on her way to beating me the third game when she lost interest.

It's never dull!

First day of homeschool preschool

Yesterday was our official first day of school. While G- was napping, A- and I sat on the line and talked about the rules for school and we played the silence game. Then she chose to do sandpaper letters (c and m) and she traced them successfully and said the sound and wrote them in colored sand so we added "t" and "a" at her request. She can't get the sounds correct 100% of the time, but she has the idea. She then chose to do the spindle box and counted out popsicle sticks for spindles correctly but she wasn't sure about 6 through 9. She finished the very abbreviated first day with some lacing cards.

Today we babysat her neighbor friend so we didn't officially do school but she did a number tracing sheet for fun. She makes a great 4 and is getting the idea that you have to start in the same place each time and not just make marks til it ends up looking right. Hopefully that will progress with letters too. She writes lots of letters but not always in the correct order.

G- is still obsessed with babydolls and bathing suits. She's sleeping in one of A-'s bathing suits right now. She lets you know when she wants her baby by signing baby and if she's upset she signs it emphatically. She is saying da-da more, and she makes shhing noises to tell me A- is sleeping. She communicates an awful lot. She also shakes her booty like A- does, sort of, with a big smile on her face. She wants to do everything A- does, of course.

On Sunday, A- had a nametag from Sunday school and she told me about it on the way home. Pause. Then she says "It doesn't have an A for A- on it." I looked and the teacher had written the A kind of like a cursive A or a large lowercase A with a loop so it didn't look like what she's used to. I thought that was pretty insightful.

Tonight's bedtime discussion was about God. A sampling of her questions: Who wears the orange dress again? (this is referring to Jesus in the children's Bible we have) Where is God? Is God real? Does the rain get on God?

The conversation then moved to being powerful and she said she was powerful. I said but not as powerful as God and she said she was because she is a karate girl. And that she needs tennnis shoes for being a karate girl for kicking monsters.

Yesterday she said "Who are the weak ones again?" Referring to "they are weak, but He is strong" in Jesus Loves Me.

Her questions are amazing but unending. By the time R- gets back from a 3 day trip I'm usually tearing my hair out. But I love her curiosity!

Flowerpot

Here are A- and G- today. A- made a beautiful flowerpot with foam from a kit we bought at Hobby Lobby. She did it all by herself while I made lunch.

And G-'s life has been defined by wearing bathing suits lately. She has scarily decided that she's interested in what she's wearing. And she learned to spray a spray bottle all by herself. Over and over and over.

A- and I have been test driving her Montessori materials for our home preschool this year. We're officially starting on Monday. Today we went to the park with a friend and it was about 99% humidity but only 80F and so bearable, but sticky. Good for the girls to get some fresh air besides our daily playing in the driveway time after supper and before bath.