Letter Days

It's definitely been summer fun around here, but wanna know what's added to the fun? A little bit of learning! Little Chuckles hasn't quite nailed down all of his ABC's yet, so we've been having Letter Days around our house! So far, we've had a "B" day, a "P" day, a "C" day and an "L" day. Our boys now wake up every morning and ask for a Letter Day! We haven't had one everyday because they take a little pre-planning on my part, but at least they're excited!

Each of the mornings, I've drawn a big letter on computer paper (a visual for Charlie) and we've listed every word that comes to mind, on the paper around the letter. Having Luke helps for sure, because Charlie still throws out any ol' word assuming it starts with the letter of the day! Then, I bring out the coloring pages I've printed (the night before) of things that start with that letter. For "B" day they colored Belugas (as in whale--hmmm, who do you think enjoyed that?), baseballs and bats, beach pictures, etc. When you know your children's interests, you can tailor their print outs!

The rest of the day we do activities surrounding the Letter of the Day! For example, on "L" day we went to the library, had lemonade and lollipops, etc. On "B" day we had burgers at the Butcher Shop, read books, went on a bug hunt, etc. On "P" day we went to the park, had a picnic, and watched Peter Pan while eating pizza and so on and so on!

It's been a lot of fun doing the little things that keep their brains sparked during the summer. Really, we've done all the same things we would normally do, but with a small amount of planning ahead, we've combined the activities into a Letter day! Easy peasy and worth the extra thought--especially for their squeals of "Hooray!! It's a Letter Day!"

Popsicles for "P" day

Pizza and Peter Pan for "P" day!

Books for "B" day!

Miles participates when he can. . .Puffs for "P" day!

photo shoots

What do these 3 people have in common?

Answer? Absolutely nothing!! Well, except they were subjects of my photo shoots lately! Click here if you want to see more!

potty train express!

I sure was dreading potty training Charlie. His third birthday was in April and things were busy. I knew May was around the corner and SUPER busy with older brother having t-ball, swimming and the end of school. So we had passed that "magical" age of potty training (which I believed was 6 weeks before one turns 3) and I thought we were going to be in trouble! If you have been reading our blog for a while, you may remember Luke jumping aboard the potty train and it was a breeze! Easiest kid we've ever potty trained. Oh, wait, he was the only child at that point! Anyway, it was SO easy with him, that I was terrified of what would happen with Charlie. . .

BUT, shock of all shockers, he was even easier!! Didn't know that was possible, but he was. We had 2 accidents on Day 3 and that was the only tough day! We trained him by sitting and less than 2 weeks into it, he's already standing. In less than a week, Charlie had already conquered the automatic public flushing potties. In less than a week, (Mimi's or Nana's or friends without boys or kids you may want to skip the next few lines) he had managed to pee in a cup in the car (under dire circumstances) and also peed for the first time in the grass, with good aim and hoping to win the "furthest shot contest." Yes, we are proud boy parents and SO VERY proud of our little Chuckles!! He jumped aboard the Potty Train Express!!!!

As with Luke, Charlie had a potty train chart. He got to put a sticker on the chart for every time he successfully pottied! Once he finished his chart, which was yesterday, he was able to go pick out any toy he wanted. He's been planning this for a long time (even prior to potty training) and was thrilled to venture to Target to get the oh-so-coveted. . .

Glowing Lightsaber!!!

No, you can't see him, but you can see his outline and his most prized possession!!! A Jedi Master in the making!

makin' my own music!

Hey out there! I'm overtaking my Mommy's blog again. This is a special shout out to all my sittin' up friends! Do your parents keep pulling out or buying new toys for you? I definitely have lots of toys that my older brothers played with. They are really colorful and play great music!

But, you wanna know a little secret? My mom got me a new toy the other day! At first, I wasn't really sure about it. I mean, it was white and didn't play any music. . .

So, I grabbed it and moved it from hand to hand. I banged it on the ground, and sure enough, I made music of my own!!

In no time flat, this new toy became a favorite! Best part about it. . .I can play with it right on the floor in the SAME room as Mommy!

Ahhhhhh, it's the little things in life, ya know? Little buddies out there, go tell your Mommy to get you one of these cool white toys too! We can start a band one day!!!

Peace!!

searching for strawberries

It's become a tradition to take the boys strawberry pickin' so we loaded up last Friday afternoon (when it was still cool outside--don't know why the heat ever has to come) and did just that! We hit the tail end of the season due to our busy May, but found some perfectly ripe ones and were all smiles!

The boys searched

and searched

and even Miles helped look around, though his view was mainly straight out or straight down.

Luke proved to be the hard worker (he is older of course), while Charlie was still all smiles and had a blast jumping the rows, thus turning his strawberries into strawberry juice!

Luke and Charlie were obviously thrilled they were going home to eat yummy strawberries. And Miles, well he wasn't too pleased to find out he isn't old enough for strawberries yet!