First of 2007

What a fun way to start off our first week of 2007 — with LIVI!!

The two of them jumped right into chatting and playing together, beginning with observations including colors they were wearing when everyone accompanied Livi in the bathroom to pee (I was changing Quinn). They compared colors on their briefs – both had blue, Declan had more blue and wondered if Livi’s were “made with the blue in there” or not (?). Declan insisted he needs a haircut soon, and that Livi did too, and she said no, she’s letting it grow, and Declan said, yes, but when it’s too “big,” she’d need a haircut, and they kind of left it at that. They are insisting in manners with each other, and after almost every transaction of Play-Doh tools, you hear a “thank you” and a “you’re welcome” and an annoyed “You’re supposed to say ‘thank you’/’you’re welcome’!” if one of them doesn’t say it. Declan showed Livi how one of the decals on his sneakers is wearing off. He really covets Livi’s Dora shirt. She told him something about Abey not getting some doll but “got it at a different store,” to Declan’s blank, “Oh.” They’ve both been super sweet to Quinn, kind of outdoing the other on how to be with her, whether it’s about safety, or being loving, etc.

During this Play-Doh time, at some point, they established that they would change tools in “3 minutes” (wonder where they got THAT from! ha) which was so hilarious. Every so often, Declan tries to agitate things by hysterically referencing some monster coming. Livi alternates between playing along and “I’m just doing my work” (Play-Doh).

-Art: Free play using Play-Doh and a bunch of accessories. I let them do this as long as they wanted – they eventually said they wanted to do something else and we cleaned up. They probably played this around 45 minutes.

– Pre-Reading/Writing: Wooden number tile game identifying numbers, counting, and matching numbers and number of items (like matching the number “8″ with the picture of 8 slices of cake)

– Music: They took turns picking songs from the Wee-Sing book — today’s selections included The More We Get Together; Clementine; Sarasponda; The Upward Trail; Down By The Old Millstream; Get On Board Little Children; Heav’n, Heav’n; Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen; Jacob’s Ladder; Swing Low Sweet Chariot; and Rocka My Soul. – Storytime: They each picked two stories – Livi chose “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” and “3 Billy Goats Gruff.” D chose “Little Tuppens” and “Chicken Soup With Rice.”

– Snack: Thumbprint cookies and cranberry juice (diluted with water). Toward the end of snack, Quinny spilled Livi’s juice all over the floor. Declan screamed and just sat there, saying, “There’s juice on my toy!” Livi sat there with her doll, eating her cookie, looking bummed out about her juice. After a couple of increasingly annoyed-sounding rounds of “I could use some HELP here with disinterested, blank stares coming back at me, I got specific: Livi, please take this towel and wipe up; D, please take this towel and wipe up; It was like I was speaking Greek for a minute, but then they kicked into action….anyway, they were AWESOME helpers after I told them specifically what I needed them to do and wiped everything up and put the wet towels in the hamper. Sometimes I forget they’re only 3….. Quinny just went over to the snack table again and the kids are doing a great job of moving everything over, away from the edge. Fast learners

– cool!

– Outside time…..free play with lots of “Alicia” and “Diego.”

LOVE LOVE LOVE  this special time together!!!!