11/30/12

Morgan ate all of her raisins and malt-o-meal and wanted more. She then asked, "well then, can I eat the rest of Kenzie's?" Needless to say, we found some that hadn't been eaten out of already. : )

Morgan wiped her melt-down up when I told her she could only go wave at the window if she wasn't screaming. She did start back up again after you drove off but the intensity was less. She was totally done after about 10 minutes. She stayed on my lap cuddling with me long after the tantrum was over and acted just exhausted.

Morgan and Joslyn got a whole stack of books and took them to the table. Morgan said they were "playing pay". From observing I believe that means they are pretending to check the books out at a store. Morgan would wave the book back in forth in front of her (as if scanning it) then hand it to Joslyn like she was the customer. They switched roles after a while.

Morgan and Kenzie were doing some cooking and baking dramatic play for quite some time congenially. When I limit the access to each other by having them play a part for a while each morning, they seem to play better when they do get to be together.

11/29/12

Morgan ate seconds on cinnamon raisin muffins and all of her blueberries at breakfast. At lunch Morgan ate thirds on saltines and everything else -- canned chicken on saltines, broccoli and canned cherries.

Morgan loves it when Trisha lets the kiddos sit on the couch and look at her keys. She has several cool things on her key ring other than just keys. She had a couple different key lights (mini flashlights), a dice key ring, a round one and several others. The kiddos love looking at them and whoever is here in the morning will sit on the couch and take turns.

She asked for Christmas music when Emily asked me to put some music on. She especially liked it when Jingle Bells and Rudolf came on.

They have started having a very rowdy session first thing every morning, which is a little challenging with other families coming and our attention needs to be in two places. We let them burn off a little steam until either it gets too loud or too rowdy and we are afraid someone will get hurt.

It amazes me how much the kiddos still love playing with the giant bear. We have named him Goliath. They play in, on , under and around him for many minutes every day and just don't see to get tired of it. She and Joslyn were playing on him today a little too closely and crazily. They ended up bonking heads and Morgan just knew Joslyn had hurt her on purpose! I had to really work to convince her that it wasn't.

Morgan, Joslyn and Kenzie were all involved in some pretty elaborate dramatic play today. One of the things they were doing cracked me up. They were going to banker Joslyn to get "money for the basketball game and the ticket". Morgan said she was giving Joslyn the "card" to get money with! It's a whole new era in dramatic play! : )

Morgan wanted to go play in the back room by herself about ten minutes before we were ready to head back. When we got back there she had made a great creation with the Duplos. She greeted us with it in hand, saying, "I don't know what it is, but I did it!" Kenzie immediately started asking her to help her make one. At first Morgan said she couldn't because she was "busy", but the next time Kenzie asked, she told her, "sure, I can" and helped her start putting them together.

11/28/12

Morgan ate a bite of peaches and all of her biscuit at breakfast. At lunch she ate thirds on baked beans and all of her dinner roll, pineapple, and corn.

Morgan was being very sweet this morning multiple times. One example is when she had a doll in her hands and she asked Kenzie if she wanted to touch her and then said, "that would be alright".

Morgan has been doing a lot of pretend crying for the dolls lately. Sometimes I have to look to see what is happening in order to tell if she is really crying or just play crying. It is so realistic.

Morgan has really become interested in the time and clock. Gary has been working with her, at her initiative. It initially started with her asking when mom and dad were coming to pick her up, but today it was over when we were goIng to switch to the back room. She actually seems to get the concept, which is VERY unusual for her age. That usually doesn't start happening until somewhere between 4 & 6. It will probably become increasing later as digital replaces clocks with hands.

Morgan and Joslyn were playing a form of hide and seek with one of the dolls. The thing that cracks us up is that as soon as the seeker starts looking for it, the hider always tells them where they hid it. Silly kiddos!

Kenzie and Morgan enjoyed playing with the little people airplanes, cars and parking garage in the one back room and in and around the building I helped them make with the big interlocking blocks in the other. They were cracking me up! They would stand on the edge of it and announce loudly, "Boys and gentlemen!" then jump into the middle of it. Gary will occasionally announce "ladies and gentlemen and kids of all ages, welcome to the Sanks circus!" for whatever reason. I guess that was their interpretation of it! : )

11/27/12

Morgan ate thirds on waffles and seconds on hash browns at breakfast. At lunch she ate all of her shrimp, rice and colored peppers, as well as a couple bites of oranges.

Morgan was a big helper for me this morning. First of all, she helped me put two sets of diapers away in the cupboard space where they go. Later, she helped Peyton remember to keep the toys out of the book rack then moved the toys she had brought over there away from the book rack. After that she took Thomas' shoes out and put them in his cubby (and later Aaron's).

Morgan was using the play thermometer out with this toy exchange as her pencil. She took it over to the table and was "writing". She was also writing on the mirror, poster, box, pictures and everything else. She was really enjoying it!

Morgan really likes to watch herself in the big room mirror as she plays. It especially happens when she is using the dress-ups, but I have also seen her doing it when reading, singing, playing instruments and other things.

Morgan went over to Gary and started bugging him so he would bug her back. He kept telling her to "come back her pig tails!" She was loving it and cracking up. She looked at me all smiles and said, "I havin' fun with my Gary". After a while Gary had to stop to do several things -- feed Mia, change a poopy diaper and so forth. When he sat back down Morgan asked, "can you wrestle me again?"

Morgan and Kenzie decided that the thing to do in the back room was to fill the block building Gary's kiddos had built with as many Duplos as they could get away with. I think I let them do too many because it caused problems when Aaron tried to go over and get some from them for the building he was making.

11/26/12

Morgan ate all of her banana and seconds on Cheerios at breakfast. At lunch she ate all of her grilled cheese sandwich and cherry tomatoes, about half of her apple slice and a couple bites of her salad. We had made it for dinner last night and decided to use the left overs for lunch today rather than wasting it. I had put some canned chicken in it and they didn't like it as well that way.

She was thrilled that we had the Christmas decoration stuffed animals up on the ledges, compliments of Kenzie's grandma Annabelle... She also liked the Christmas tree, especially when we had the lights on. I have to find the Frosty snowman for outside still.

Kenzie and Morgan were at each other almost immediately so I separated them while we were in the big room. Morgan ended up playing with Emily then and they did fine together. Emily will either go along with what Morgan says, or just walks away and does her own thing. She doesn't engages in battle with her. That battle of the persistent wills is what gets Morgan and Kenzie!

When we switched to the back room, Morgan immediately set about making a "motorcycle" with the big blocks. She actually did a good job with it all by herself (well, with a little help bringing her blocks by Riley). I also helped them make little "houses" with a opening so that they could slide the little Duplo people into the house through the "door". Kenzie and Morgan loved that!