Toddler Talk Thursday: Growing our family

 

We have been trying for #2 since the spring of 2010 with no luck.  But right before Thanksgiving this year I found out that I was 15 weeks along.  You'll have to read my other story about why I didn't know that I was pregnant.  Anyway, we were really hoping to add to our family soon since I just turned 36 in September.  We also only want two, but it's going to be an adjustment.  I was getting really used to just having one.  Thankfully I've had a really good pregnancy besides just being tired a lot.  So, come May we will have another one and we are going to wait to find out what it will be, so stay tuned!

Toddler Talk Thursday: Holiday Traditions

2008

2009

2010

These are our family Christmas photos since Shrade was born.

Next year we get to add baby #2 who will be about 7 months old by then!

We are just starting to create some Christmas traditions.  This year now that Shrade is 2 we are reading a The Baby Bible Christmas Storybook (The Baby Bible Series), singing Christmas carols and playing with this unique Nativity made by a friend of my grandma's.  Next year I hope to add an Advent activity for each day and a paper chain to count down to Christmas which we celebrate as Jesus' birthday.  Also, as far as presents, we are very low key and we only give one present to Shrade.  As he gets older it will change, but he receives a lot from relatives so it's good.  

Another tradition that we started was making MGM cookies to give away.  This year Shrade helped me mix up the colors of the frosting and put sprinkles on the cookies.  He didn't like that it was a messy project.

For the recipe head over to The Knowlton Nest.

To me, these are the best Christmas cookies EVER!

Toddler Talk Thursday: My 4 Favorite pics of Shrade!

Oh, this was such a tough call!  I have so many favorite pictures, but these ones I could look at over and over!  I'm just going to say, I realize that Shrade is not smiling in most of these, but that doesn't mean he never smiles.  I just had to have these ones for this post!

Shrade and Mama!

Well, he never got a dinosaur, thank goodness!

With his favorite person: Daddy!

My friend Tonia captured this look

Toddler Talk Thursday: Family

We are very privileged to live within driving distance of both sets of grandparents and our sisters and their families.  However, they are long trips so we don't see them as often as we want, but we do get to see all of them at least once or twice a year.  We travel to them and fortunately we live halfway between family members so if they travel through they always stop at the "Knowlton Bed and Breakfast."  Now that we have a grandbaby, the grandparents are making a few more frequent trips.  Here are some pictures of what Shrade has done with family members:

Grandma Linda

Four generations with Grandma Nettie and Great Gma Layne

Grandpa Jeff and Grandma Nettie at Shrade's baby dedication

Snoozing with Grandpa Del on a hike

Grandma Nettie

Cousins- Ethan, Jordan, Reagan and Auntie Koren

Doing "Rough Road" with Grandpa Jeff

Walking with Grandma and Grandpa

Auntie Janine takes professional pictures and she came up to do a photo shoot

I love this one of my mom and Shrade!

Toddler Talk Thursday: Games

This is a fun one!  I used to be a Kindergarten teacher for 12 years and now I get to play games with my little guy, but I have find what is appropriate for his age level.  Here are some of the things we do:

"Tent" time with daddy

Dressing up with scarves

Throwing balls down stairs

Tickle time!

I have found many other great ideas on the internet.  I just need to write them down and do them!  We also sing lots of songs, dance, play peek-a-boo, play chasing games around the "circle" in our home and also do lots of blanket games.  I can't wait to see what you wrote for your games!

I'm hooked up to Toddler Talk Thursday!

Toddler Talk Thursday: Discipline

This week is about Discipline! Well, there are so many different ways to discipline a toddler, but they are not yet old enough (ages 3 and up) to understand the reasoning behind why you want them to not do something. My son is 22 months and he has started throwing things when he's happy and when's he's mad. We tell him if he throws his toys we take them away and if he continues, we put him in a 1 minute time out. As far as anything else, we take it as it comes. I have read a book recently that was highly helpful and I even wrote a series of POSTS about each chapter for Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood: Practical Parenting from Birth to Six Years.  Right now we are taking a class called Growing Kids God's Way which is teaching us the foundational principles for training.  I am currently writing a weekly post of what I am learning.  It is not too young to teach your child with discipline.

We started by setting boundaries and being positive.  We used words like "hands off" instead of "don't touch."  We set the standard and expect our child to follow that standard.  Boundaries help a child feel secure.  I know that from many years of teaching Kindergarten.

I'm looking forward to reading what others of you are doing regarding discipline.  :)

Toddler Talk Thursday: Art

Well, art is not one of my strong points.  You would think after being a Kindergarten teacher for 12 years I would come to love art, but I actually avoided a lot of messiness.  However, since I'm going to be homeschooling my son, I know I'm going to have to get messy somewhere along the line.  So far my son is a lot like me, he hates having dirty hands.  So, who knows how much we'll get into.

Here are some of the art things that we have done:

Painting with ivory soap mixture

Playdough- Eco-dough

Coloring

Mama did all of the artwork- working on vocabulary!

Chalk Drawing

There are many more ideas that I will be trying in the coming year, but I'm just starting to get my feet wet!  I can't wait to read your ideas!

I'm hooked up to Toddler Talk Thursdays.

Toddler Talk Thursday: Travel

Every year we take a trip to Minnesota to visit relatives.  There is a 3 hour plane ride and a 5 hour car drive.  It makes for a very long day.  This year my son was 20 months.  At this age, he moves constantly and I was trying to figure out how I could entertain him during these travel times.  One major quirk about my little guy is that he does not sleep on trips.  I think on the way over this time he probably slept a half hour in the plane and maybe 45 min in the car.  That's it!  The rest of the time, it's busy.

So I asked around and I came up with some ideas.  First, I gathered lots of different and NEW toys that he had never seen before.  I also brought a lot of books and snacks.  Suffice to say, the only thing that really helped my son during travel times was SNACKS and singing!  Needless to say, I was exhausted.  None of the toys interested him and it seemed that they mostly frustrated him.  I brought flannel board stories, pipe cleaners and a quiet book.  The quiet book was probably the best bet.  I found that on Etsy.

However, with normal everyday travel in the car around town and short trips, my son is content with snacks, water, a stuffed animal and books.

We go on this trip every year, so I'm going to begin now to research what would be best for a 2.5 year old.  Any ideas?  Send them my way!

I'm linked up to Toddler Talk Thursday.

Toddler Talk Thursday: Music

Music is Shrade's favorite time of the day.  Whenever I say, "Let's play some music!"  He runs over to the CD player and starts bouncing.  He has this cute way of bopping up and down when music is on.  He even does this at church and everyone gets a kick out of it.

Favorite music?  LOTS!  I was a Kindergarten teacher for 12 years and I have many albums that I play for Shrade and I've written a few posts on some of our recent favorites: Music Notes

1. Veggie Tales: Veggie Tunes, Vol. 2
2. Mary & Company: 15-Singable Songs
3. Anything by Raffi- Bananaphone, Everything Grows, Animal Songs (Dig)
4. Meredith LeVandeWhat Are the Odds?
5. Plant A Little Seed songs for growing children (includes sing along CD)  and Little Songs for Little Me by Nancy Stewart
6. Buzz Buzz by Laurie Berkner
7. Songs for Saplings (we will be using these songs for our Bible verse memory this year)
8. Hap Palmer- Learning Basic Skills Through Music Vol. 1, Can a Cherry Pie Wave Goodbye?

I HIGHLY recommend all of these artists and welcome any others that you like.  These are especially good for toddlers.  The best thing to do is have fun with your little one.  My son is already starting to plunk at the piano and pretend to sing.  I sing to him all the time for fun times and quiet times.  My recommendation is to get a list of songs that you sing to your child and sing them repeatedly.  Eventually they will start to sing with you and get excited when you sing.  My son sure does!!

I'm linked up to Toddler Talk Thursday.