Moving

I've had to move my blog because of storage constraints.  I'll be picking up where I've left off over at my new location.  Here's the link: http://leahscottelijahandkeira.blogspot.com/  Also, Elijah's made a new post on his blog, be sure to check it out, he's eagerly awaiting comments.  :)

Learning How to Write Her Name

After every Tiny Tunes, Keira and I sit in the van and share a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  I found out that if I waited and tried to eat lunch when we got home, often she was so tired she'd fall asleep in the car or too grouchy when we got home to sit through any meal prep.  Besides being a practical solution, Keira loves it.  She likes to sit in the front seat like an adult, hang out with me and listen to some music.  After this particular picnic she started to learn writing her name.  Earlier in the week, I had noticed that she was trying to write her name by writing a few squiggles than the "I" and then a few more squiggles.  I told her I could teach her to write her name if she was interested.  Later, I told Scott I was concerned, "K" and "R" were two of Elijah's hardest letters to master.  Fortunately, the day before this picnic we had shopped at Grammie's store and bought a Fairy Doodle Board.  Accidentally, I stumbled on the fact that this particular board was perfect to teach her to write her letters.  I told her to draw a straight line, then start in the middle of the line and draw a line up to the orange fairy, start in the middle again and draw a line down to the red fairy.  It was Fairy Magic -- so easy, so simple and so successful!  Here's Keira smiling as she shows off her first "K". 

Then, she practiced her "I" with the lines on the top and bottom.

 

Finally, she used her board to draw some smiley faces.



Tiny Tunes

Keira still loves Tiny Tunes.  This fall, we took another class, and as she's gotten older it's gotten more fun.  She follows along and participates in all the activities -- even the parachute.  When we first took the class she was terrified of the parachute, she didn't even like it being out.  Then, she started participating by holding on to the outside of it.  Now, she happily rides on top of it with the other brave kids.

Now, she even likes to sit under the parachute and let it tickle her.  Although, as of this class on
September 26th, she still wanted me to lay next to her under the parachute.  But, as you can see by her big smile, she loves when the parachute comes down and tickles her toes.

Besides the parachute, one of Keira's favorite parts of the class is the free play instrument time.  She always loves the big drums, but on this day, she branched out a bit and tried her hand at the cymbals. 

However, before long she was back to her faithful drum.

Finally, every class ends with bubbles.