Documenting Delight: day two hundred and forty four {watch out Mum!}

Documenting Delight: day two hundred and forty three {making lunch}

Documenting Delight: day two hundred and forty two {Things I need to remember about you}

 

Dear Harper,

           You are now two years and nine months old. Almost a three year old. You are going through a tough time at the moment, dealing with some big, big emotions when boundaries are set by your Dad or I. Right now, I am struggling to ride the storm with you. But I will of coarse, because I am your Mumma and no matter how tough it gets I need to be strong for you. Sometimes though, I am anything but strong for you. Sometimes your tantrums come with so much force that I seem to myself dissolve into a tantrum (of the adult variety). This isn’t good form, I know.

Lately I have had to do a lot of re-thinking about our parenting approach with you, but mostly I have had to look within myself and question why your tantrums grate on me. I haven’t found all the answers yet but I do know that I need to shift the way I look at your tantrums, the way I look at you. So baby these are the things I remember about you when you are lost in a tantrum:

*You are not an adult, you are a child. You haven’t learnt how to identify and regulate your feelings like I have.  I am here to teach you how to do this.

*No matter how big or small the tantrum is you aren’t acting this way in spite of me. Usually this has nothing to do with me. You don’t act this way because you want to hurt me.

*You need me to be calm, to be centred and in control. When I show that I am scared of your emotions this frightens you even more.
 

*You are not this behaviour. I need to look beyond this moment and see my loving, affectionate, caring, funny and spirited child.

*More than all of these things I remember that you are my child, and that even though at times I am challenged by you, I love you. I will always love you and help you, tantrums or no tantrums.

I hope in some way this attitude change helps us both throughout this rocky phase.

Love you my baby girl,

Mumma Bear. xxx

Documenting Delight: day two hundred and forty one {working it out together}

Before today Finn and Harper have rarely noticed the water bubbler at our local shops. Today though Finn ran over to it and tried to figure it out. I stood back and watched him try and co-ordinate the button and positioning his mouth over the spout. He was making progress but wasn’t getting the desired result.Cue quite a bit of frustration and angst.

Then Harper casually walked over.

I help you Bim Bim.

Then they worked out a system where one held down the button and the other drank the water. Harper couldn’t quite reach the near freezing water but of coarse she figured out a way to get a drink.

Teamwork. Love it.

 

When you can't reach, you improvise.......

 

Documenting Delight: day two hundred and forty {watching}

Documenting Delight : day two hundred and thirty nine {afternoon sun in the garden}

Documenting Delight: day two hundred and thirty eight {tunes}

{So Harps, just so you know, this is the volume control}

Documenting Delight: day two hundred and thirty seven {thinking about + drawing the seasons}

Documenting Delight: day two hundred and thirty six {bead towers: fine motor activity}

This is simple fine motor skills activity I adapted from the Sugar and Spice blog. My inspiration point used Cheerios to slide onto a dried spaghetti noodle and while I thought this was clever, I knew that if I placed those tasty treats on the craft table they weren’t going to be involved in any fine motor task (cue fist fulls of Cheerios being shoved into Finn and Harper’s mouths). So colourful little plastic beads it was.

Harper placed about eight beads on her spaghetti tower before deciding that it was much more fun to break the dried spaghetti into teeny tiny bits and scatter them on the floor. Finn, predictably, applied his zen-like concentration to the activity.

Documenting Delight: day two hundred and thirty five {chatting}

{featuring Eli with his new haircut}

Documenting Delight: day two hundred and thirty four {I not Harper, I Snow White}

Following on from yesterday’s fairy tale post, today Harper moved onto role playing one of her favourite tales ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarves’. Harper was Snow White (of coarse), Finn was all of the seven dwarves (tough role) and dishing out the parts Harper told me:
“You da evil queen”

I tried not to look too deeply into my assigned character and put on my best menacing voice.

Above is the poisoned apple scene. Who knew Ms White wore Dora crocs back in the day?

Documenting Delight: day two hundred and thirty three {fairy tale love}

Over the past few months Harper has developed a deep love of fairy tales. It all started with ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’ and since then we have made our way through any traditional story we can get our hands on. I thought it may have been the princesses that were drawing her in, but princess or no princess she is captivated by these stories.

Lately Harper has taken to re-telling these stories. She mostly has the structure down but does like to make her own unique additions.

{Enter the big bad wolf in ‘The Three Little Pigs’}

Harper: I call him the nice wolf now.

I found some old felt board fairy tale cut outs in one of my teaching resource boxes and gave them to Harper and Finn to play with. Harper sets all the pictures up,  moves the figures around and adopts the characters voices. Today she placed all the cut outs on our computer desk and acted out ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’ with a whole heap of enthusiasm. The top picture is Harper showing Goldilocks’ expression when she wakes up and find the Three Bears looking at her. Nailed it, wouldn't you say?

Documenting Delight: day two hundred and thirty two {let's get ready to rumble!}

Take a guess who physically dominates in this relationship? 

Harper: rough, and always ready for wrestle time.  

Documenting Delight: day two hundred and thirty one {eyes for daddy}

Documenting Delight: day two hundred and thirty {Book of the year awards + meeting an author}

Today marked the first day of the Children’s Book Council of Australia Book Week. Finn and I braved the cold weather (In Finn’s words: “Mummy it is such a miserable day!”) and headed out to the National Library of Australia to hear the announcement of the CBCA’s Book of the Year winners. The event tied in really nicely with Project #6 in My Little Bookcase’s The Little Book Adventure. Project #6: Meet an author or illustrator, encouraged families to find and meet a children’s author or illustrator at a book event during the month of August. With local children’s authors signing their books after the announcement, we were able to successfully complete this month’s Book Adventure (....after missing the last coulple of Projects). Completing this project was a simple task but one that made for a lovely outing for Finn & I and bought him a little closer to understanding who is behind a book or collections of books.

Before the Book Award winners were announced we spent some time in the National Library’s beautiful bookstore. It gave us time to read through a couple of the shortlisted titles we hadn’t had the chance to view previously. The two that struck a chord with Finn the most were ‘A bus called Heaven’ by Bob Graham and ‘The Runaway Hug’ by Nick Bland. To find out not long after our mini reading session that these two books won Book of the Year for their separate categories wasn’t really a big surprise. Both are beautiful books with heartwarming endings.

{taking in the pictures from 'a bus called heaven'. finn was quickly drawn in by the intricate illustrations}

{i love how finn draws his shoulders in when he is reading. it's almost like he is trying to get closer to the pages}

After the official announcement we returned to the bookstore and I told Finn that he could pick out one of the shortlisted books. He chose ‘A bus called heaven’. I had to restrain myself from picking up ‘A runaway hug’ too. We also chose a book written by local author Stephanie Owen Reeder for her to sign. Finn decided that he would like to give the book, ‘Colour My World’ to Harper. Finn approach Stephanie and they had a lovely chat about colours and how to spell his sister’s name. After the meeting Finn was so excited to return home and show Harper her new book with “the lady’s writing inside it”. 

{meeting stephanie owen reeder & finding delight in her feather pen!}

{a special message for harper}

 Completing this project was a lovely way to extend Finn's understanding of authors, and of coarse it is always a treat to add a couple of gorgeous books to our bookshelves. 

Documenting Delight: day two hundred and twenty nine {a kiss after he closes his eyes}

Documenting Delight: day two hundred and twenty eight {a little poppet at the playground}

Documenting Delight: day two hundred and twenty seven

Documenting Delight: day two hundred and twenty six {writing centre}

A little something wonderful has been happening in this household over the past few months. Step by step, bit by bit I have had the privilege of watching a beginning writer emerge. Finn is a words man. He l.o.v.e.s  books and soaks up and stores language.  Even with this being said, I wasn’t sure how and when or if this love for words would translate to wanting to write. That sounds quite ridiculous with me being a Kindergarten teacher but really even though I have myself taught children to write I have never seen where, way back in early childhood, it all begins. What prompts a child to move from random scribbles on a page to markings that mean something to them? How do they move from Hey this is my name and now I want to know how to write it?

Throughout this process the teacher in me has had to take a sit back a little, learn to watch more, do less and only give direction when he seeks it. Most of the time Finn happily writes letters, addresses envelopes, draws up shopping lists and speeding tickets (for all those law breaking duplo people in our playroom), makes maps and labels drawings all without engaging with me or asking for assistance. Then there are those times he will come to me and ask how to write a particular letter or request that I write a word on the whiteboard so he can copy it. And so it goes; tiny pockets of child led teaching, a high interest level and a massive amount of independent writing all revolved around play.

{um...like mother like son. finn's to do lists (top). completed items highlighted of coarse}

Over the past few months I have been trying to find ways to support  Finn (& Harper) with their writing. To make writing more accessible to them and organise any potential writing materials close to their play space. We don’t have a great deal of space near their craft table so it took me a while to find a smallish bookcase to store their materials. I wanted all of the materials to be at their level, easy to collect and simple to pack away. When I found this cheap bookshelf at Magnet Mart ($17) I knew it would be perfect. I added an office paper divider above the bookcase and there you have it, our mini writing centre.

{small bookshelf to hold writing implements}

{paper divider for easy storage + access}

{finn making his selections}

{tins: washed out fruit/vegetable cans, scrapbook paper, handstamped labels + contact}

{this book lives in the writing centre. an easy way for finn to record his little adventures}

Making everything at arms reach, giving them control over what materials they use for their pictures and letters etc has made a huge difference. Play now moves smoothly from engaging with toys in the playroom to creating drawings, writing or making props for play (Finn will complain that his toys aren’t doing what he wants them to do so he often make additions/modifications using paper or cardboard). Pack up time around this area is now easier now that everything has a spot and is labelled.  

It has been fascinating to watch Finn’s interest and skills in this area grow and I can't wait to see where it all leads in the future.   

Documenting Delight: day two hundred and twenty five {flower arranging}

Documenting Delight: day two hundred and twenty four {our day}

Taking my inspiration for today from talented Nicole over at Eye Freckles. Check out her fabulous photos detailing her home-schooling day with her children.

1.       Struggling with a whiteboard marker lid.

2.       Drawing up a map to get to the party.

3.       Discussing their parenting woes.

4.       Eating ham + cheese toasties, the Harper May way.

5.       Drinks break

6.       Time with his trucks

7.       Car ride to party time

8.       Rocket ship party props

9.       It’s all about the details

10.     Sweet ride

11.     Bonding at bath time