Summer Reading Programs Rock!

Nicholas always participates in the summer reading programs at the library. He has gotten all kinds of prizes like free tickets to the circus and Texas Rangers game, free ice cream, free kids meals at Chick-Fil-A, Jason's Deli, Joe's Crab Shack, and Whataburger, plus toys, and even books.

This year Nicholas also participated in the summer reading program at Half Price Books. There program is especially cool. Each week the child turns in their reading log for a $3.00 gift card to use in the store. This is super cool since the books are already at half price and there are so many great books and DVDs to choose from. Nicholas used his most recent gift card to buy a bug kit called Backyard Bugs. He was excited to see that there was a book and some plastic bugs. But when he picked up the book there were more bugs and goodies hidden underneath. The kit comes with an awesome set of 12 realistic looking bugs that Nicholas absolutely loves. Seriously, he has been taking them everywhere, even to bed! The cicada is definitely his favorite. The kit also has a wonderful book that talks about the bugs as well as a great colorful poster and set of stickers. Nicholas is very proud of this find because he LOVES bugs!



He put a giant butterfly sticker on my shirt and the rest he put on his shirt and...his legs? He likes to pretend to scare me so I have to say, "Oh, Nicholas! There are bugs crawling up your legs! Ahhhhhh!" Silly boy!

Macarena!

Are any words really necessary? It's the Macarena!

Rachel Can Pull Herself Up to Sit!

Today we were all in the bedroom playing. Rachel was crawling all around the room exploring on her own while the rest of us were just hanging out talking about plans for the day. Then I glanced over at Rachel and saw this...



She was in a sitting position! No one in the room saw her get into a sitting position but certainly no one helped her do it. Wow! That's new. At first I wondered if I would get to see her do it again soon or if it was just luck that she had gotten herself up like that. But she has continued to do it over and over again without struggle.

I caught a quick video her sitting up before she tried to attack the video camera.



Of course, she was just had to sit up in her crib at naptime too, just to show me that she could. Her crib mattress is still in the highest position which is great for a newborn baby that can't go anywhere. But now that she is getting around so well and sitting up so easily, she could potentially pull herself up and over the crib railing. So we'll be lowering the crib mattress tonight before bedtime!

Rachel has also done other new things today. She has discovered how to take off her bib when I'm feeding her. She especially likes to do this AFTER it is covered in baby food so it now gets smeared all over.

She has also started drinking from a sippy cup! HOORAY! Yesterday I made a trip to Babies R Us and I studied every sippy cup there to try to find one that would be most like her usual way of getting milk. Success!

It's been a busy day for the little princess. Lots of learning and lots of little accomplishments all the time. It's such a wonderfully fun process to witness and be a part of!

Rainbows

We woke up to a rainy day. From what I've heard it will probably be rainy most of the week. We like playing in the rain but sunshine is definitely more fun. We decided to talk about rainbows in hopes that the rain would go away soon.

We talked about the color of light. Is it really white? No, light is made up of wavelengths of colored light, specifically 7 colors - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet - the same colors seen in a rainbow. Nicholas was having a hard time remembering the colors so I started writing out "ROYGBIV" on a sheet of paper to show him a trick to remembering them. I was about half way through writing this and he asked, "Why are you writing the first letter of each color?" I was surprised that he had caught that. We talked about how to use this to help him figure out the colors in order. I didn't think it would really help him but I wanted to at least introduce it to him so it would be familiar to him. However, he did use it later to help him recall the colors in order.





We talked about what is needed in order to see a rainbow - light and something like water or a prism to separate the colors. After a storm, the sun comes out while there are still raindrops in the sky. The raindrops reflect the sunlight and separate the individual colors. Since the rain drops are curved, the rainbow appears curved in the sky.

We used a flashlight and a prism to reflect the light on a white piece of paper so we could see all 7 colors in light. Then we each made our own simple rainbows with styrofoam, pipe cleaners, and craft beads. I tried to neatly lay out all of our supplies but that didn't last long. How can a 5 year old possibly resist not sticking pipe cleaners into styrofoam?



The project was super easy and we had fun. I cut each pipe cleaner in half and we each arranged the pipe cleaners in order of the rainbow. Then we each counted out 10 craft beads in each color, strung them on the coordinating pipe cleaners and slid them into the styrofoam.





I love projects like this that work the fine motor skills in his fingers. Great exercises for developing better writing skills.





Well, it's still drizzly outside with no rainbows in sight. I think we'll just make the best of it and go splash in some puddles!

Rachel Waves To Her Adoring Fans

Rachel has been able to wave and clap for a few weeks but I just now got it on video. Also on this clip is Rachel banging on her high chair with part of a plastic measuring scoop. It's so neat that she likes to bang quietly for a moment then she bangs as hard as she can - and she gets so excited about it!