Saturday, December 31, 2011

What I'm Learning in Preschool: December 2011

In December, my preschool class worked on its coordination and visual skills. But before we get to that, we also made quite a few awesome art pieces for the holidays. Here are two more gifts I made for my family. The first is a reindeer card and the second is a photo frame.
Here's the inside of the card. Neat, huh?
I also made this glittery Christmas tree...
...this neat stocking (which Ms. Leslie hung in our classroom during the month)...
...and this hand-print Santa (looks like I forgot to draw on the face...I must have been tired).
OK, on to the topic of the month. Our visual skills lessons included matching like objects...
...and distinguishing differences, like big and small.
We also had to do letter matching. I did pretty good on this one.
Creating patterns is another visual skill we worked on. Here's my square circle square circle pattern.
On this worksheet, we had to cut out and paste the presents in the space with the same first letter. Hat starts with "H" so I pasted it there. I was able to match them with a little help. Not bad.
 
So our coordination and visual skills sure did develop in December! Can't wait to see what we do in January for learning about nature and science. Stay tuned...

Friday, December 30, 2011

My New Friend Freddy

Today I went to Build-A-Bear Workshop with Daddy to use some of my Christmas money to buy a new pal. Here's his birth certificate. He's a dog and I named him Freddy.
Freddy is white, brown and black. He decided that he wanted to be a fisherman like my Pop-Pop so we got him a fishing outfit complete with a pole and fish. He loves it!
And boy, do I love him, too! Welcome to my world, Freddy! You and I are going to be life-long buddies, I just know it.

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Blocks!

As you know, I got a really cool set of retro wooden blocks for Christmas from my Mimi and Pop-Pop. So today I decided to try them out. Daddy and I built this neat ramp for my cars to drive on. It's kinda like a block freeway. The cars had fun!
We also built this neat tower. I put some Lego guys on the top. They loved it!

What an imagination, huh? I thought up these things all by myself and gave Daddy directions. He was a good follower. What will I come up with next?...

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Santa Claus Came to Our House!

 Today is Christmas Day! Hurray! 

Santa Claus came to our house last night and brought everyone a bunch of awesome gifts. I also had gifts for everyone, including this neato macaroni ornament that I made in school. Mommy and Daddy loved it!
As soon as I woke up, I dug right into the gifts. This is the face of an overwhelmed boy, I tell ya!
Here's a closer look at the chaos. Yikes!
I sure had fun! I got a really neat Matchbox car ramp that you attach to the wall (more on that gift soon) from Mommy and Daddy, my annual ornament (I got a Noah's Ark one and one with the year on it) and a big boy set of Legos from Santa (just like I asked for).
I also got new "clothes" for my Mr. Potato.
Now he can be a policeman. Cool! By the way, check out my awesome Santa jammies, huh?
Here's the first thing Daddy and I built with my new Legos. It's a helicar! I'm such an inventor!
I also got a stocking full of great gifts from Santa.
It had a card from the Big Guy in it just for me. Santa thanked me for being such a good boy and hoped that I loved my new Legos. By the way, Santa actually called me last week! He hoped that I was being a good big brother, eating all my food and going to the potty all by myself. I told him I was! Awesome, right?
Here are a few things from my stocking. A PEZ with a car on top...
...and this neato bug. It buzzes and zooms across any surface. I love it! I also got some Squinkies, the world's smallest cars I've ever seen.
I bet you are wondering what Mia did during all this present opening. She slept through most of it (Are you seeing a pattern here? I sure am. Boy, babies sleep A LOT!) so Mommy helped her open her gifts. She got a glowing seahorse that plays music from Mommy and Daddy and a talking/singing puppy from Santa. It will teach her all kinds of cool stuff when she gets a little bit bigger. She also got her first official ornament (a cute Winnie the Pooh one for baby's first Christmas) and a card from Santa just like me.

Wow, opening presents sure is fun! We are now off to Tutu and Sir's house for Christmas Day fun with the Dirstines! 

P.S. Mommy apologizes for not having pictures of all the festivities at Tutu and Sir's house (she was busy feeding Mia during the present opening and Daddy was busy helping me open the presents). So I thought I'd give you the highlights. I got a Leap Pad (kinda like my own little iPad), a couple of cool Captain America toys and a Toy Story Blaster from Tutu and Sir. Mia got a super cute outfit from Tutu and Sir (she thinks she will wear it to her Sip 'N See in a few weeks). Mia and I also got a neat Advent book from Uncle Mike, Aunt Marisa and Cousin Ella. Aaron, Aunt Nora and Grumpy also joined us for the fun Mommy hopes she can track down some photos from someone else's camera soon...Stay tuned!

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Oh, Boy, It's Christmas Eve!

Oh, boy, today is Christmas Eve! Our stockings are hung and ready for Santa and everything! We even got a new stocking for Mia. I guess she is really a part of our family now.

Soon we were off to Mimi and Pop-Pop's house to celebrate Christmas Eve with the Livingstons...
 Jack and I started out the night decorating Christmas cookies. Great-Grammy Mary brought all the stuff for us to do it.
 
 I was really good at using the icing.
These look pretty good if I do say so myself.
Here are my finished products. I ate most of them pretty quickly.
Jack was very meticulous about putting his icing on. He followed the patterns exactly.
Soon it was time for presents! Oh, boy! Our friend Terry supervised.
Wow, look at this neat pad of construction paper! You know how I love to draw and color.
I also loved this Peter Pan pop-up book. Thanks, Mimi and Pop-Pop!
Jack got lots of cool stuff, too!
What's in this one? I love presents!

Some other gift highlights include matching Spiderman action figures (Jack and I flew them around the room and had a blast), a neat retro set of wooden blocks, clothes, money and games.
Here are some of the adults opening presents, too. Everyone got some awesome gifts! We gave everyone framed photos of Mia and me and a cool calendar with our pictures in it. They loved them!
Of course Mia was there, too, it being her first Christmas and all. She was looking quite cute in her Christmas sleeper. Merry First Christmas, little sister!
Lots of pictures were taken by all of the adults but Mommy was busy part of the time feeding Mia and Daddy was busy helping me open presents so unfortunately Mommy had less pictures to post. Oh, well. But we thought we would leave you with a great family photo of the four of us. Pretty cute!

So now I have to go home and go to sleep so that Santa will come tomorrow morning! Thanks, Mimi and Pop-Pop, for a great Christmas Eve! And thanks, everyone, for all the presents and fun! Stay tuned for more Christmas adventures...

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Reflections on Being a Big Brother

When you are a big brother, you definitely have a lot of responsibilities. You have to hold your little sister and make her happy. You have to talk to her and read her stories. I also love singing her songs. Before she was born, I practiced singing "Rock-a-bye Baby" over and over again so that I would be really good at it. 

But being a big brother is not so bad, especially since my sister is so cute! And I am a really good big brother, too. I tell Mommy that at least 20 times a day. And of course she agrees!
And at the end of the day, you can count on your Daddy to be able to put both you and your little sister to sleep. Whew, being a big brother can be so tiring!

So even though being a big brother is a big responsibility, I wouldn't trade it for anything. I love you, little Mia, and I love being your big brother!

P.S. Sorry about the dark photos. Mommy tries hard not to flash Mia with her camera. It makes her sad.

Friday, December 16, 2011

Happy Birthday, Uncle Jon and Aunt Jenn

Today we celebrated Uncle Jon (December 19) and Aunt Jenn's (December 15) birthdays! We all went to Great-Grammy Mary's house for a big spaghetti dinner. 

But the best part came after dinner. Grammy pulled out her old shake maker and made us all shakes! Neat, huh? Aunt Jenn helped.
Jack LOVED his shake. Grammy even had special glasses for us to drink out of.
Yummy! Can we have another one?
This is the unfortunate face of a 35 year-old. You are getting so old, Uncle Jon! Hee, hee!
Aunt Jenn, you don't look a day over 21. 35 looks great on you for sure!
After our shakes, Jack and I caught a bit of Yo Gabba Gabba. We love sharing a chair.
And what did my little sister do? She slept most of the time, of course.
Soon it was time for cake! The birthday kids got ready to blow out the candles...
Oh, boy! We hope you both made good wishes. Mia wasn't too happy about the candle blowing. Maybe she didn't like our singing.
Then Mimi re-lit the candles and Jack and I took a turn, too! Candle blowing is so much fun!

So happy birthday, Uncle Jon and Aunt Jenn! I hope your birthdays were extra special! We love you both!