Playing and working with Emma

In the morning after we drop off Ada at school, we will often come home and get right to work.  Em will usually go right for the watercolors or some other thing in the art supply bin in the kitchen.  Right now there is a tray with glitter glue that both the girls are LOVING.  They squirt it out (or I do it for Emma- where she points on the paper) and spread it around with a qtip.  Ada has made "Saturn", "Jupiter", and last night while skyping with Nana and Gampa, she made "all sorts of roads".  I love having the art supplies out all the time.  Luckily they both really like to do that sort of thing, so they always have a go-to activity.

I'm getting myself sidetracked.  Emma and I will come home from school and... do art or work on some of the "Montessori- type" work I put on a bookshelf in the living room.  We will work together or she works on her own and I get the dishes put away or other stuff I need to do in the kitchen.  I finally got the Valentine's stuff put away and got this up over the weekend.  The button thing is mostly for Ada- I made it for our plane trip but it didn't really get used while we were traveling.  The color sorter is good for both girls in different ways.  Then I have some of those color tiles ( I made them with paint chips and woodsies), and the Melissa and Doug magnetic dress up girls Ada got for Christmas from Gramma Deb (a favorite).

Made this from 2 buttons we had from a lacing toy we got from the Popes and a piece of ribbon from a Christmas gift.  The felt was just left over scraps from other projects and I just cut random freehand shapes.

But this is really how Emma would rather play with the buttton work...

The color sorting work.

For the record, Emma is 1 and cannot accurately sort these colors.  I put them in the bins to demonstrate and she just plays with the pieces.  She especially likes putting little pom poms in and out of a little frog that has an open bottom.  Ada can identify colors and the objects and makes up stories for each one.  Her favorite is the little red flipper/jumper thing.  When Emma found the car she walked it over to the car I made Ada when she turned 2.  I just pulled it up from the basement because I'm kind of sick of looking at it and was going to recycle it.  She drives the car around the car (funny, Ada used to do the same thing).

And then, there's Peek-a-boo...

Valentine's Day Photos

So I realize the day has come and gone, but we still have our heart work out because mama hasn't changed it yet.  No problem for Emma who has been really enjoying the heart marshmallow work.  Wanted to share a few pictures of her- and I ask you, how can you not just absolutely love this kid?

I forgot to post this earlier, but in a moment of inspiration I remembered those large tissue paper flowers that I used to make as a kid.  Actually, for some reason they are etched into my brain in association with Holly, Melanie, and Nancy and Whalom Park.  Not sure why.  Maybe we bought them there?

We had been experimenting with watercolors on salt and paper and coffee filters (Ada is WAY into watercolors these days- I'll post some of her collection soon), and I remembered those flowers.  I folded a bunch of filters into an accordion, wrapped a green pipe cleaner around the middle, cut some ruffles and unfolded.  Then we dyed some water and dipped. I let them dry upside down in the shower and then we had beautiful flowers for the table without spending any money- love it!  Next time I think I'll have Ada just paint or use a dropper because the dipping method went too quickly and kind of mashed up the leaves.  We just fluffed them up when they were dry, but still.

Sorry, don't know how to rotate...

Alas, here is the last of the pics of the girls working on cards.  If you look closely you can see the photo cards we looked at as they were working.  Ada ran out of steam pretty quickly on this project.  It is becoming clear to me that she is more of an artist than a crafter.  More on that later.

Consumer Science

Most people know this as "Home Economics" but really these days it's called Family and Consumer Science.  Those of us who have been lucky enough to teach this subject to teenagers know how rewarding it can be to watch a 15 year old cook their first pancake and fearlessly (yes, that's the trick to a good flip) flip that sucker over.  But as one fantastic woman I know describes it, "It's like cooking Thanksgiving Dinner everyday"- TRUE STORY!!

When I was in Massachusetts I had an awesome job teaching 9-12 grade elective classes in Foods (basic cooking and nutrition), World Foods (exploring food through cooking around the world), and Child Growth & Development (prenatal- preschool).  It was awesome.  Not only did I work with amazing women, but my students were inspiring.  I really miss it.

The other day I pulled out a toy that I made as an example of a homework assignment I had assigned my Child Growth class.  They would need to make a toy for a child without spending any money- in other words, use what you've got.   I really wish I had taken photos of some of the things these students made.  Ispy jars, musical instruments, coloring books, one girl made a open the flap activity using the lids off wipes containers.  So cool!

Emma was so into this I thought I would take a video.  It's the sort of thing I would have liked to show in class to talk about the materials used- spice jar from the recycling bin (okay Ms. we know you want us to recycle), and q-tips.  In fact I think this one was from the FHS recycling bin ;)  You can practically see her little hand muscles getting stronger as she does this and she is concentrating SO hard.  We played with this in various ways for about 30 min when it was time to go pick up Ada.  Emma insisted on bringing it in the car.  Good toy!

Ada Dancing... as promised

Our little Ada has recently been enamored with all things ballerina.  It might be because there were some leotards in a batch of awesome hand-me-downs that came from Tony's cousin that are finally fitting her.  She wears them so much that I had to hang a special set of hooks in her room for her "ballerinas" and her tights so we wouldn't keep finding them all over the house.  Usually the first thing she does when we get home from school is go put on her ballerina.  FYI- do not try to call her Ada when she is wearing her tutu or leotard because you will be corrected, "I'm not Ada, I'm Ballerina".

For the record I think ballet is super cool and athletic, but I have never done it, talked about it apart from reading Angelina Ballerina to her a handful of times... she has done this on her own.  She gives "classes" to me and Emma and usually we need correcting on our moves, but she is pretty encouraging.  A good little teacher:)

Some nights we for some reason or another need a little dance party break.  Usually it's so I don't start drinking vodka directly out of the freezer, but last night it was a request from Ada.  You will see our kitchen in all it's 5:00 crazy including the roll of toilet paper Emma had just brought in from the bathroom.  Don't judge!

We almost always listen to:
Michael Franti- Say Hey
Feist- 1234 (Sesame Street version)

Enjoy!

Emma Giggles

I was tickling her under the chair just to document the best sound in the world.  There are moments in all of our days when hearing the sound of a little person experiencing happiness will melt away all the lousy stuff- which we all have too.  Hope this little Emma moment can bring joy to you!

So, Emma is 14 months now and really wanting to show the world her personality.  While she has a limited vocabulary in the traditional sense, she is extremely non-verbally communicative and is able to get her point across almost all of the time.  She also has the ability to make me laugh like very few people can.  Her sense of humor is amazing.  With one little sideways look and a crooked smile she gets me rolling.  I am still just totally in love with her.

That said, the reality of having two girls only 22 months apart is starting to rear its head.  The other day when Ada had done something to get me super angry (I'm told 3yo are especially good at this), Emma moved in got between us cocked her head to the side and gave me this little smile that could only just melt my heart.  I'm sure some "protect your sister from that mean mama person" kicked in, and while it was cute, and effective as I quickly was able to calm down and talk to Ada without yelling, I was also terrified at their ability to take each other's side to protect each other.

I'm pretty tough, but I think I'm going to have to get even tougher by the time these girls are teenagers!!