Doctor's Wellness Visit

CJ and Daisy just had their wellness checks and both did well overall.  DC just got over a little cold/cough so she was upset with the doctor but was still trying to muster up her cute little smile.  CJ absolutely HATES going to the doctor and will fight even getting on the scale.  Thankfully Daddy went with us so I didn't have to deal with 2 screaming kids by myself. They both received their flu shot (Mommy did too) and a happy CJ left covered in stickers.  
  
Here are their current stats:
CJ - 3 years old
37 pounds (92nd percentile)
38" tall (66th percentile)
   
DC - 9 months old
21 pounds (84th percentile)
29" tall (91st percentile)

Alphabet Art: Letter A

A fun art project that CJ and I do often is create alphabet art.  I found these great cardboard uppercase letters at Lakeshore Learning.  Lakeshore Learning sells lowercase letters as well.  When we first started, I had the idea to do all the letters in alphabetical order.  I quickly scrapped that plan and now we'll do whatever letter we have materials for.  When we're done with the entire alphabet, I'll used the scanned artwork to create a book.

A is for Apple Tree

Materials Used:

• green paint
• apple stickers

The idea was to get CJ to paint the "tree" green and place the stickers.  She wasn't too thrilled with the painting so I had to finish it for her.  She loved doing the stickers though.

Happy 7 Month Birthday DC!!!!

At 11:11pm, little DC officially be 7 months old!!  I can't believe how fast my baby girl is growing.  She's been making a lot of accomplishments lately.  She's now crawling....or at least her version of it.  She will crawl a little bit but resort to rolling around when she's being lazy.  She hates laying down and wants to stand up as much as possible.  She loves holding onto the coffee table and watching her big sister play.  CJ isn't as amused because DC tries to steal her toys. She started baby food and loves squash and green beans.  She won't let a drop get past her mouth so she won't let us get a messy-face baby pic.  Best of all she said her first word!!!!!  I'm a little jealous that it was "Dada" considering I spend all day with her but I'm happy to see how much she loves her daddy.  Poor guy has 2 daddy's girls on his hands now!  I'll try to post some pics of her soon!

Labor Day at the Inner Harbor

I hope all of you had a wonderful Labor Day!  Charles and I decided to take CJ to the Inner Harbor and the weather was perfect!!  (DC hung out with my parents so we could have some quality time with CJ.)

We took at trip to the top of the World Trade Center (27 stories up) to see the gorgeous panoramic views of the city. Much to my surprise, CJ was not afraid of the heights and loved looking out the windows.

As soon as CJ saw the dragon paddle boats, we knew that we had to go for a ride.  I reminded her that Dora always wants us to be safe so we made sure we wore our "lifejackets.....so we can be safe!"

After the paddle boats, we stopped for a little lunch and CJ couldn't resist the mechanical rides.

Giant crabs were on the loose!!

Inside the Visitor's Center was Fifi the a giant pink poodle. It has a bike underneath it so I assume it was designed to be a moving art piece.  CJ thought it was hysterical and wanted to ride it.

We had originally planned on going to the Science Center but decided that we would rather tour the harbor on the Water Taxi.  CJ had a BLAST!  She loved feeling the breeze on her face, looking at the water and seeing all the boats. 

ONE OF MY FAVORITE PICTURES OF CJ:

I plan on turning some of the pictures that I took into an educational photo book for CJ.  Here are a few examples of what I plan on doing:

2 Gray Ships

7 Large Cylinders

What shapes do you see?

I love the architecture of the city.  It's a mix of historic and modern built next to each other.  Here are some of my favorite shots:

My mom will only make her Sweet Tea with Domino Sugar.

 World Trade Center & National Aquarium

If you're a fan of Homicide: Life on the Street, you might recognize this building as police headquarters.

The building has beautiful architecture and the patina is gorgeous!  I love taking close-up shots of architectural details such as this:

Details of the street light:

The USS Constellation. Notice the flag on the back of the ship and the smaller flag in the distance.

We spent several hours having fun at the Inner Harbor and CJ loved having alone time with her Mommy and Daddy.  By the end, she was so tired she passed out as soon as she got in her car seat.

Worldless Wednesday: Rub-a-dub-dub, CJ's in the tub!!

CJ decided she wanted a bath instead of a nap. She took matters into her own hands and this was the result:

Teaching the Alphabet

I've been asked how I taught CJ the alphabet.  Honestly, it wasn't something that I intentionally set out to do.  It was more of a pleasant surprise when she started showing us that she understood what those crazy symbols we call letters mean.  Here are just a few of the things I used:

V-Tech Touch & Discover Alphabet Town

CJ has loved playing with this ever since we got it for her.  (She even takes it to bed sometimes.) We first noticed that she understood letters when the game would ask "Press the letter W...Press the Letter H..." and she got most of them correct!

Alphabet Magnets

I bought both the uppercase and lowercase letters at Lakeshore Learning but you can find them at Wal-mart or Target.  When playing with our magnet board, CJ would put the letters up as I told her what letter it was and what sound it made.  This was pretty informal and I didn't think she was really paying attention.  I guess I was wrong.

Meet the Letters

Although adults may find the "Meet the..." series to be dull and repetitive, CJ is always glued to the TV when it's on.  The DVD shows both upper and lowercase letters but doesn't include the phonetic sound they make.  We first borrowed the DVD from the library and bought it once we realized how much she liked it.  We also bought the complete collection (Meet the Shapes, Meet the Colors, Meet the Numbers, Meet the Sight Words 1, 2 and 3).

Starfall

A great website for teaching the alphabet and early reading skills is starfall.com. Click on a letter to hear its name, the sound it makes and different words that start with that letter.

Book Bargain Bonanza!

I love shopping at our local thrift store for books for the girls.  Not only do I always find a huge selection but the books are usually in good condition and the prices can't be beat!  I've never spent more than a dollar for a book before.

My latest trip was no exception.  I walked away with 61....yes, that's right...61 books!!  The best part was that I only spent around $40!


These aren't all the books but some of my favorite finds.  Some of them are advanced for their age but I'll set them aside for later.  I bring them out a little at a time so they always think we have new books and don't get bored of them right away.

A look at the big box of books that I got.

One of things that my husband and I want to instill in the girls is a good set of values, solid character, and healthy self-esteem.  I'm always on the lookout for books that have some sort of moral or life lesson that can be taught.

ValueTales were books published in the 70's and 80's.  There were 43 total books in the series but I only could find 23 at the thrift store. (I'm sure I could find the rest on eBay if I wanted to complete the collection.)  I seem to remember reading some of these as a kid so my mom probably still has some in her garage.  I can't say how good or bad they are because I haven't read them yet (as an adult at least).  Hopefully, they aren't too old-fashioned or too weird.

A childhood favorite of mine was The Bernstein Bears.  I was thrilled to find 8 books that talked about issues such as telling the truth, strangers, bullying and getting into fights.

More books that fit into the character/values/self-esteem theme.

Another big thing we want to teach the girls is safety preparedness.

You can never tell your kids too much that you love them.

A couple of great books for bedtime and morning story time.

Now I just have to find a place to store all of these along with the TONS of other books we already have.