10/31/12

Morgan ate all of her peaches and biscuit at breakfast.  At lunch Morgan ate second on dinner roll and baked beans and all of her pineapple and steamed broccoli.  

Morgan and I sat on the couch and read stories for about the first 10 minutes  until my attention was needed elsewhere.  Morgan loved the one on one time.  

Morgan asked about everyone, "what are you going to be for Halloween?"  All of the verbal ones told her something, and as far as I know they were what they are actually going to be.  

I hope I don't jinx her, but Morgan has really been using her words well, listening to our and others' words, cooperating and keeping control of her emotions so far this week.  I was applauding her and talking to her about it this morning and she told me it was because she was a big girl.  Maybe being three has flipped some magical switch for her.  : )

Kenzie put her mouth on Morgan's foot and Morgan yelled, "Kenzie bit me!"  Kenzie immediately said, "But I didn't cuz it didn't leave marks!"  Tricky, but also pretty logical.  It didn't convince Morgan, though!  

All of the kiddos really enjoyed making fall wreaths.  It was great because the only thing that needed glue was the bow.  They had great conversations about what the different items were (apples, acorns, leaves...).  

Kenzie and Morgan were very engaged playing in the big block building Gary had helped his kiddos make yesterday after we left.  They were putting all of the duplo and plastic animals into it and saying it was their "zoo".  

Morgan went to sleep almost immediately after lunch today.  That hasn't happened for weeks!

Morgan and Kenzie were dressed up in the African lion and mountain lion suits today and stayed in them for at least 20 minutes.  What I found very amusing about the whole thing was here they were all dressed in Cat suits and they were cheering "Go Griz, Go!" It just hit my funny bone!

10/30/12

Morgan ate most of her waffles and hash browns at breakfast.  At lunch she ate seconds on fresh red peppers and all of her shrimp, brown rice and oranges.  

As soon as Morgan was done eating breakfast this morning, Kenzie went over to that side of the big room to join her.  They started playing with the food stuff and were very engaged in cutting the Velcro vegetables and fruits apart.   They got pretty rowdy with them in the loud metal sink and soon the whole room was cracking up, including Riley.  Aaron especially liked it.  

Morgan said she was heading to the baseball game and Kenzie told her, "Okay, I'll meet you there."  Morgan then told Kenzie, "OK, I'll see you when you get there!"  Great imaginative dialogue!  

Morgan and Kenzie were racing around the side of the room with the stuffed animals saying, "baby bear, baby bear, where'd you go?"  They were looking for the little black bear.  

Morgan, Joslyn and Kenzie were taking turns being the crying baby.  The baby would flop down on the mattress and 'cry' then the other two would pretend to 'fix' them and the help them up for to next baby to take over. 

Morgan stood with one of the big blocks under each foot and was scooting around the room on them.  She called them her "sledding shoes" and "icing skates".

10/29/12

Morgan ate all of her Cheerios and a bite of her banana at breakfast.  At lunch she at thirds on tomato soup and all of her apple slices and grilled cheese sandwich.

Morgan was excited to explore all of the new toy exchange stuff.  She started out playing with some of the dress-ups, wearing the waist packs and back packs, fishing with the poles, and looking through the picture binoculars.  She would look at it then have one of her friends look to see if they knew what it was.  

She also was very excited about the stuffed animals.  She immediately started gathering ones she liked and stuffing them down behind the climber "to save".  The ones she chose were a deer and two squirrels.  

At the end of breakfast, Morgan asked (kind of to herself) I wonder what puzzles are out!  As soon as she was done washing she asked if she could do puzzles.  She then found one that should have been pulled from last time that Missy had missed!  She always knows when it is something from last time!

We have been encouraging the kiddos to ask one another for help to try to build more of a sense of community and spirit of helpfulness.  I have noticed both Morgan and Kenzie asking others for help without prompting at times.  

Morgan and Kenzie were walking around the big room peaking into and around different things and saying "not in here".  When I asked what they were looking for, they said "a phone!"   

10/26/12

Morgan ate all of her craisins and oatmeal at breakfast.

Morgan, Kenzie, Joslyn, and Emily were all pretending that the books were money.  They were all setting around the picnic table in the big room and trading books, saying "pay, pay, pay".

Morgan and Kenzie were dressing up in the rain boots, camp hats, and shirts.  Kenzie then informed Morgan that she was Dora and Morgan was Boots.  Morgan liked the idea and played along with it.

Later they were playing house and putting the babies to bed in the box bedrooms.  I asked them if they wanted me to put on so soft music to help their babies sleep better and both of them just beamed.  They kept telling us and the other kiddos, "shhhhh! Our babies are sleeping.

The two raining songs came on the cd and Morgan asked if I could skip them, "since it's not raining out."

When they were playing in the back rooms with the duplos, Morgan and Kenzie were saying they were "doing surgery".  To me it looked like basic duplo building.  Just goes to show my lack of creativity!  ; ) After they were done with 'surgery', the exact same set of blocks turned into a sail boat.  Now that I could see a little.  

10/25/12

Morgan ate several bites of her blueberry bread pudding and a bite of blueberries at breakfast.  At lunch she ate seconds on turkey burger and green beans, and all of her kiwis.  

Morgan was playing with the stuffed turkey a lot this morning.  She wrapped its tail around the body and said, it was cold and needed to "get warm".  She then asked Gary "do turkeys fly?"  She is such a good little thinker.  

All of the kiddos were watching the big flakes of snow out the window.  They were pretty big for a while.  I don't know who was most interested in them, the kiddos or Matt, who has never lived outside of Louisiana. ; )

Morgan loved it when we had a very short circle time, talking about loving each other and being good friends.  I asked them how they could show each other that they loved them.  Morgan immediately tried to do the 'I love you' sign with her fingers.  When I asked if anyone else had any ideas how we could show each other they were our friends or we loved them, Morgan wrapped her arms around her own shoulders in a hug.  It was great.  This is, again, a great example of her great processing skills.  

One thing Morgan has been doing almost every morning is to bring me several of the stuffed animals (dinosaurs, frogs, ducks...) and asking me to sing songs about them.  I always start with the actual basic songs, but as she wants more and more I have to get creative.  : )

Kenzie and Morgan spent about 20 minutes building with Legos in the back room when we went back.  Kenzie kept telling Morgan to "put the other wheel on".  There are no round ones, so I guess they are square wheels.  After Morgan had built it pretty tall, Kenzie kept asking "shall we break it in pieces?"  They played great with them together.   Morgan also set up a bunch of the duplo people in a circle and said they were playing 'ring around the Rosie's.  

10/24/12

Morgan ate all of her jelly toast and all but a couple of her peaches at breakfast.  At lunch Morgan ate everything -- meat and bean burrito, tropical fruit and sweet potatoes.  

Morgan asked first Emily, then Joslyn, then finally Kenzie if they each wanted to "do laundry" with her when they came.  No one was interested at first, but Kenzie changed her mind within a minute.  They soon had all of the soft toys and many hard toys in the box to wash.  I vetoed the hard toys and had them help me take them out.  They left the stuff in there for a while then started "folding laundry" when they determined it was done.

 Morgan had her baby wrapped up very well and was looking all over for a spoon to feed her with.  She had everyone helping her look for spoons.  Riley was the one who found one for her.  

Morgan started to melt down when she wanted the sunglasses that Joslyn was using and she wasn't willing to give them up.  I went over to be with her while she was still holding on to them, gently helped her let go then, just sat with here right there on the floor after asking Joslyn to move away from Morgan and give her some space.  She started to melt, but pulled herself together after just a minute or so.  Way to go, Morgie!

10/23/12

Morgan ate seconds on cinnamon roll and all of her prunes at breakfast.  At lunch she ate seconds on waffles with syrup and all of her scrambled eggs, hash browns and cantaloup.  

Morgan was walking around with sunglasses on her wrist and saying "goggles for sale, glasses for sale."  It was very cute.  Se then would 'sell' a pair to a child here and there.  Emily started mimicking her, but didn't have any glasses.  : )

Morgan had a minor melt-down over someone else picking up the dinosaur she likes best.  She grabbed the other end of the dino and would NOT let go without help which didn't make her happy.  

Kenzie and Morgan were pretending that they were "getting ready for the baseball game".  Kenzie was getting a "base hat" and "base shirt" for Morgan to wear then got some for herself to wear also.  They then started giving each other a "stamp" with the button from their shirt buttons.  

Morgan asked for the music on and she then announced each of the songs that was  coming on next, a couple even before one note of music came on.  She was especially excited when the "Lolli-pop" song came on.  They call it my song because we have had kiddos call me "Lolli-Pop".