been busy...
...well not really but I have had my hands full with this little one.
And this little one too.
Lachie has always been a Mummies Boy but just lately he has become especially clingy and spends his days almost permanently attached to my hip. As for my other little poppet; she is a textbook two year old, need I say more. Between the two of them life is pretty full and I don't fell like I am getting anything much more then the essentials done but I would not trade it for the world (though I am looking forward to some me time,...even just an hour...one day).
Chloe the provider
This is what happens when Chloe feels that Mummy is taking too long to get dinner ready.
She introduced the self service policy to our kitchen.
At least she makes sure her brother does not go hungry :)
Pets...of sorts
A few weeks ago we welcomed another addition to our little family. Meet Nan Cat, sometimes known as Pus Cat or Pussy Cat (we come up with the best names, don't we).
Eden's uncles put the call out to find Nan and Pop's cat a new home because they could no longer look after it. Eden and I are not what you would call
cat people however we did not want the cat to have the
long sleep so we said if no one else puts their hand up to take the cat we would. Well I am sure that this is when Eden's uncles stopped looking :)
If you are going to be a cat owner without being a cat person this is a good cat to have. She lives outside, doesn't try to get inside and while she likes company she is not under your feet all the time. Chloe just loves her. She loved her when she lived at Nan and Pop's so we knew that Nan Cat would always be loved. She always asks to go out and play with
her cat. Nan Cat is great with the kids. She stays close enough for a quick pat and then takes refuge under the car. A few times Chloe has tried to pick her up and she just waits there patiently until put down, no swipes, no bites.
I tried to get a photo of Nan Cat with the kids but this is as close as I could get (what a smart cat).
Chloe has some other animals that she has claimed as hers, a herd of beef cattle that live in the paddock behind us. Every time they come to the fence she exclaims, "My cows are back!" while opening the door to 'talk' to them. They are just as curious about her as she is of them and will cautiously hang about at the fence watching what we are doing.
I always thought our first pet would be a dog or maybe a fish but it is a cat and cows and they are perfect for us now (especially the cows that we don't have to feed :)
Story Time- Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What Do You See?
Chloe is now at the age where she loves books and would enjoy and be able to get involved in a story time session that many libraries and book shops hold. I could just see her listening intently as a new and exciting book is read in a way that brings every page alive, then exploring the story more by participating in crafts and games and other creative endeavors based on the special story. Just one little problem, our local library is so small it does not have story time which I was disapointed about until I realised I don't need a library for story time, I'm a clever enough mummy (on a good day) to do it myself.
I believe that sharing books with young children is so important. . We already share lots of books with Chloe and Lachlan and so I want our story time to go beyond reading, looking at and talking about the story and illustrations. I am not going to ramble on about how great sharing books with children is, most mums know this already (but if you need more convincing my friend wrote a great post on books and young children
here and I agree with all that she says- or you could just share a book with a young child and see for yourself :).
So welcome to our first
story time, this week we chose
Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What do you see?, by Bill Martin Jr, illustrated by Eric Carle.
We read this book many times before our 'story time.' The repetition and simple illustrations make this a prefect book for young children to 'read' themselves as they point to the words. I have even seen Chloe 'read' this book to her toys and Lachie.
We decided to focus on Eric Carle's collage animal illustrations for our story time this week.
We used
Chloe decided she wanted to make a bear and a frog. She started off by painting her paper and then using sponges, fingers and strips of cardboard to add texture.
When the paint was dry I cut out animal body parts using Eric Carle's illustrations as a guide for the bear and winging it when it came to the frog (now the whole world can see how bad I am at drawing:). Chloe then chose the paper she wanted to stick her animals onto and started gluing. I had to guide her as to where to stick the pieces but an older child would be able to do this themselves.
We finished off with oil pastel eyes and labels for Chloe to read.
And there you have it. Eden came home and said something like, "Wow, how much did she actually do?" I put my best teacher voice on and then leaped into a little speech about how Chloe used different methods of creating texture and she did this and did that and learnt this and learnt that..... blah blah blah. In the end we had fun exploring an aspect of the book in a way that got us of the couch (or in front of the toilet :) and did something we might not have ever done had we not shared the book together.
What better way to finish story time then to reread the story again, and again and again....
And this little one too.
Lachie has always been a Mummies Boy but just lately he has become especially clingy and spends his days almost permanently attached to my hip. As for my other little poppet; she is a textbook two year old, need I say more. Between the two of them life is pretty full and I don't fell like I am getting anything much more then the essentials done but I would not trade it for the world (though I am looking forward to some me time,...even just an hour...one day).
