Too Much Fun...

I used to have a co-worker who would always say/sing "We're having too much fun, too much fun!" (Sarcastically, I might add.  Since we were almost never having too much fun).  He was an unforgettable character, though, and his voice is playing over and over inside my head right now.  Mostly because this whole teaching my son thing is incredibly fun.  I can't believe I didn't start this sooner!  Granted, our kids learn from us and their world every day, but I like having a sort of formal, fun little plan to encourage him along.

Yesterday I introduced the number "1" which he insists on calling "2".  He knows how to count to 20 (most days, anyway) but for some reason only recognizes the "1" when it's drawn as just one straight line (like a lowercase "L").  He's also still calling squares triangles and I feel pretty silly for letting him lose the grasp he had of this stuff in the recent past.  Ah well.  He'll get it at some point.  I should probably mention his age....he's 32 months. :)

I didn't take pictures of the "1" stuff we did.  It really didn't amount to much more than me printing out/showing him the number and sticking it on his learning poster.  We then counted things.  "One fruit loop"  "One cow"  "One fish" "One car" etc.  I showed him how to hold up one finger.  He liked that the best, for some reason.  I also made him a very bland, uncreative counting book out of construction paper, per the LOTW website's instructions.  I'm sure there are many, many moms who would come up with a way to make it look way more fun, but for now it'll do. :)  I drew the number 1 on the first page and had him place one sticker underneath it.  He seemed to enjoy it, and we reviewed it again today.

The best thing about yesterday was our first field trip to a local ranch!  It was definitely a "real ranch" and we saw a bunch of animals.  Yep, cows included. :)  I think he enjoyed chasing the chickens, kicking dirt all over place and the baby goats the best.  One thing I never realized about real ranches and farms is how much poop there is....everywhere.  Lol.  It didn't smell bad and it was hard to even notice it.  Just a fun fact, I guess.  Here are some photos...it was hard to get a good shot with all the movement and activity.  We invited another family and his best friend along.  I think she had the most fun of everyone!

This turkey definitely made turkey sounds for us.  All of the animals made their sounds!

 There were so many beautiful, sweet horses.  Ever apparently thinks horses are the Scariest. Animals. Ever.

 A sweet little (hungry) calf!  There are 2 goats raising this little girl and it was awesome to see.

No tour would be complete without petting a barn cat.

Or a chicken.  J was so brave and touched so many animals!  Ever was less enthusiastic, but did end up petting the chicken.

The pot bellied pig!  Pigs were, by far, J's favorite animal to look at.

Huge pigs!  J wanted to see the "cute little pink" pigs...lol.  One of them is pregnant, so there should be some cute ones in a few months.

Ever's new friend. :)  He stayed here the longest, I think.  He really liked the little goats.  There was a blind cow in there with a "seeing eye goat" that helps her everywhere she goes. :)

COWS!  Who knew they weren't fond of toddlers?  Or people in general?  The bulls here ARE beef cows, though, so I guess I can't blame them.

 My favorite picture...holding his little toy cow while investigating the real ones.

 J playing with Mr. Toy Cow.

Chasing chickens!  Kids are so fun.

On our way home.  He had a blast.  I don't care what he says. =)

That little trip was definitely the highlight of our first week.  Here's what we did on our last "school day" this week:

(Notice the incredibly unimaginative counting book):

It was "Nursery Rhyme Day" so I introduced "Hey Diddle Diddle" while in the car on the way home from lunch.  He seemed to like it well enough, so we watched a few really cute youtube videos of it and then he colored for about 5 whole minutes.  He really hasn't been into art much at all, but I tried to get him to stay on task for a few more minutes than he originally wanted.  We hung his artwork on our poster, watched a few more minutes of Hey Diddle Diddle videos, then did a very, very tiny hands-on activity.  He has a "Moon in My Room" hanging on his bedroom wall, so we got his toy cow and made him "jump over" the moon a few times.  He quickly moved on to his toy cars, but it was still fun.

Then we read his cow books again (multiple times, at his insistence...I LOVE that he's starting to enjoy books), talked about where milk/cheese/etc comes from, reviewed the word "Calf" and that's it!  The end of Week #1.  I'm so proud of my little student!



I have it on good authority that there are free-roaming cows near a not-too-far-away area, so we may take an impromtu trip just to see.  He hasn't napped yet, so he'll probably just fall asleep though. :)

Anyway, that was our week!  Can't wait to see how much he progresses and, most of all, how much he enjoys learning about new things!