We use our hands to touch

I've been doing activities on the five senses with Logan. He is able to identify his body parts so I thought it would be good for him to know what his five senses do. I got ideas from hubbardscupboard.com. She has a curriculum for 2 year olds so I have to pick and choose which ones he can do or modify them for his age.

Today we learned about our sense of touch. We sang a song,

"I touch with my hands, I touch with my hands, I use five senses every day, I touch with my hands."

Then we played in "Clean mush".

Clean mush:

1 bar grated bar soap

3 rolls of toilet paper

1/3 cup borax

1/3 cup warm water

(I cut the "recipe" into 3rds bc I figured we didn't need that much mush for one kiddo).

At first Logan was really unsure of the new texture. He would only touch it with one finger. But pretty soon, he was practically diving in.

It wasn't even that messy! We did it right before bathtime and I was planning to mop the kitchen floor after bathtime, so a little extra soap on the floor didn't hurt anything.

(I have to say, the texture and smell-- even though it smelled clean-- bothered me more than him. UGH! Pregnancy!!)

After we played in the mush, we read "Five Senses" by Aliki. The first 5 pages of the book were the best for Logan's age. The illustrations are big and clear and there is little text. Logan liked finding the eyes in the picture and then finding his eyes.

We also played with a "feely box" this week. I filled a kleenex box with items of different textures (smooth, bumpy, rough, soft, hard.) As Logan pulled the items out of the box, we talked about those language labels and about how we use our hands to touch.

Other things that he learned from these activities:

- He learned to use his hands NOT his mouth to touch. (i'm not saying he's mastered this one yet but we need as many reminders as possible :) )

- He was introduced to the concepts of in and out as we took each item out of the kleenex and then put it back in.

Next we are going to practice hearing with our ears!!

No crying over spilled milk

Logan had a lot of fun drinking out of his big boy John Deere cup at lunch today. He found out he could blow bubbles in his cup, put noodles into his cup, and a variety of other tricks. The worst part is, he kept trying to get me to look away so he could do more playing and less drinking. He would point outside and pretend to see something so I would look away and he could add noodles to his milk. I informed him, however, that I taught public school for 8 years and pulling one over on mommy wasn't going to be that easy. PLUS, I'm married to his daddy and they have a similar mischievous smile...

18 months old

Logan turned 18 months old on November 1st. Wow! I have a 1 1/2 year old!!!
The night before he turned 18 months, he dressed up as a lion for Halloween. We went trick or treating on Main street in Festus with a pirate (Nick) and a fireman (Alex). Then we came home and passed out candy to our neighbor kids.
Today, Logan went to his 18 month check up. He got 4 shots-- including his seasonal flu shot and his first dose of H1N1 vaccine. The poor baby got 2 shots in each arm. Ouch! He cried more when Dr. Glines looked in his ears than he did when he got the shots! He does not like people touching his head!!!
He was also weighed and measured. He weighed 26.13 lbs. He's in the 60th percentile for weight and head circumference. He was 36 inches tall! He's off the charts for height (again). The doctor told me, "He might be a basketball player." I said, "Not if he inherited his mommy's athletic abilities." Luckily, he seems to have already surpased my abilities. He loves to play ball and has recently learned how to kick the ball.
Other things he can do at 18 months:
- He loves to read books. We went to the library last week and he picked out "The Home Depot Big Book of Tools" He is literally obsessed with this book. I can name a tool and he can point to it on the page. (He has also surpassed his mommy on tool knowledge). He also has started "reading" books to himself- which is nice for me!
- He loves to talk and makes little sentences now like, "I want juice." or "I see elephant."
- He loves to sing his ABCs-- although he doesn't know most of the letters past c-- he just makes it all up :) He likes lots of songs and will try to sing along even if he doesn't know the words.
- He likes to count. He counts, "Two, free, fries, six, seven, eight, nine, TEN"- He usually just skips one-- and sometimes skips 6-9 as well :) I'm pretty sure he doesn't get the concept of numerals but it's a good start!!
-He loves bath time and asks for bubbles. And then asks for more bubbles.
-He loves to laugh. And he loves to tickle mommy and say, "Tika, tika"
-He likes to kiss mommy's belly and say, "Baby". He also lifts his shirt and points to his belly and says, "baby".
-He loves to play with dirt, bugs, leaves, worms, etc.
-He likes to hold hands and say the prayer before we eat. He says, "Amen" at the end of the prayer... or when he thinks you should be done praying!!
He's a good little boy and we are so lucky to have him. We're looking forward to our second little boy. Only 10 weeks until our due date!!!

Bellies

My sister in law, Pam, and I are expecting baby boys just 6 weeks apart. We took some pictures of our preggo bellies when we went to a bridal shower together this weekend.

Pam is expecting Jacob in December (or November hopefully :) And I'm expecting Tyson in January. Both babies will have a big brother so we'll have 4 little boys running around together!!

This is Greg's mom, Joyce "Grandma Higgins", with the pregnant ladies!!

Another funny face Friday

My mad scientist!!

(Those are the old glasses that they used to make the students wear in Chemistry Lab at Festus High School. Can you imagine having ANY friends after that??? )

5 Generations

On Tuesday we went to visit Logan's Great-Great Grandma. I think it is very special that there are 5 living generations of my family and I wanted to get a picture of Logan with all of his Grandmas.

Logan's Great-Great Grandma is Grandma Harman (Nellie Souder). She is 96 years old. Her daughter, Audre Hunn, is Logan's Great-Grandma. Her daughter (Debby Bradley, my mom) is Logan's Grandma. And of course, I'm Logan's mommy!

We also took pictures with Julie and Nick and Alex and their five generations as well.

Grandma Harman looked like she was doing well and so did her husband Eldred. She sang a song about a thanksgiving turkey to the boys and they sang Happy Birthday to her. We also got to say hello to Aunt Patty and Pete who were there visiting. We didn't stay very long because 3 little boys can fill up a house pretty quick!

My big boy

Logan got to take his lunch to church with him yesterday. We went for Bible study in

the morning and then I stayed for a luncheon and the wonderful nursery workers fed all the kids! He LOVES going to church. If I tell him that is where we are going, he goes and waits by the door. I gave him his lunchbox to hold and he looked like such a big boy standing by the door holding his lunchbox. By the time I went to find the camera, though, he wanted to stand by the door and hold his John Deere tractor instead. But he still looked cute so I snapped a picture of my big boy!