Double Trouble

Oh, yes... he gets that distinction all by himself.

The Elephant Hunter

The Elephant Hunter

Don't be fooled. 

Under this cute exterior, lies a very powerful
Elephant Hunter.

He means them no harm... he only wants to find them so he can wash the elephants and make them clean.

Meet his cute sidekick, who's not very serious about helping...

Filled with special water, The Elephant Hunter straps on his powerful backpack watersprayer and sets off on the hunt.

Where could those elephants be hiding?
Not here...

He senses their presence on the other side of the fence and calls them.

His trusty, red-headed assistant spots them! 

He lifts up his powerful water sprayer.

Shhhhhhh.... Shhhhhhh...  Shhhhhh....

His sprayer reaches the elephants.  All clean!

Job well done.

 Looks like Mr. Turtle could use a wash...

The end.

Wordless Wednesday -- Telling Secrets

Boredom Buster: Do*A*Dot Art!

Need a fun, colorful boredom buster idea for indoor days?

I've had this supply of Do*A*Dot Art non-toxic bottles since 2004, and thought I'd pull it out this morning to see if John Michael and Luke were ready for it.



I had a couple sheets left from a Christmas art project I did for Greta's 1st Grade class last month, so we went to work.

Before even getting started, John Michael had fun unscrewing the cap. Good fine motor therapy, right? When he was finished, he lined all the bottles up and counted them. Good for preschool skills, too. :-)



We divided the colors and he went to work. John Michael made all of this by himself. Pretty nice, eh? I like how he filled up his page and got enough pressure to make complete circle dots in many places.

Luke tried, too. The red and green dots were mine, but otherwise, he did pretty good for his first try at 19 months old. :-)

Do*A*Dot Art isn't inexpensive, but it lasts forever and stays perfect with the lid on. This was a "shimmer" pack of 5 I purchased for $14.99 at Learning Express back in 2004. The other colors are from even before then.

But what I really love about it is that it's super easy to use and hold, non-toxic (yes, Luke decided to paint his mouth) and it's really, truly washable. I got a couple dots on my shirt and jeans and they both washed out with some dish soap. It is actually harder to get this stuff washed off your skin than your clothes, so Luke looks like he smashed blueberries all over his face. :-o

Attention Span

Welcome and Happy New Year!

Just a little update on my sweet John Michael, who turned 4 in November, happens to have Down syndrome, and is an all-around awesome kid.



I had this Fisher Price Little People Nativity Set all packed up, ready to go into storage for another year, when John Michael came home from school and asked to play with the pieces.


 

John Michael's focused attention span continues to grow. He was at this spot, playing with these figures for about 45 minutes.

I love watching him concentrate.  He knows exactly what he wants, where to put things, and plays very nicely.  Here, he put all the pieces in a circle around the Baby Jesus.  (I'll bet you didn't know Elmo came to pay homage to the Christ Child, did you?)

Quietly. Sweetly. Reverently.

No throwing pieces.  No banging the angel's head on the table, or whatever else he could do.  No trying to bite the Magi's head off.

"John Michael, where's the Baby Jesus?"


"In a row!  Same!" proudly exclaims John Michael.

He was so proud to see all his pieces lined up in a row, as if to honor the Infant Child.  Everywhere he saw a nativity scene or a manger, he would identify Mary, "Jofes", and Baby Jesus.  He proudly tells me, "Jesus love me!" while patting his chest.  He's learning the faith and knows that these figures (minus Elmo) are different... not like Legos or other play figures.  Not because we explicitly said so, but because he's observing, paying attention and learning.  While he can't say all the words, he knows the words to a number of prayers -- the Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be, "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep", Grace before meals and the Sign of the Cross.

Can you tell I just LOVE this boy!

May 2012 bring you abundant blessings and much joy!

Thanks for reading.  I hope to hear from you more this year  :-)

Monica