Wordless Wednesday - apple picking edition

Our Time Kindermusik Class

I uploaded these pictures a couple of weeks ago of Asher's last Kindermusik class, but have yet to post them - until now! This whole Kindermusik journey has been such a wonderful experience for us! Asher LOVES "Amy's class" as he calls it, and this year he has really come to love music, singing and playing instruments. The first song he ever sang by himself was a Kindermusik song - "I see you, I see you, tra-la-la-la-la-la". I think the structure was so good for him. He learned to listen, follow directions and a routine, and his memory - I believe - improved as well. He experienced so much and tried so many new things. Amy always had great ideas to engage toddlers, and Asher and I continue to play many of the little games and songs and rhymes from our class. We will definitely be back next year!

Here are some pictures of our last class:

Playing with the glockenspiel (not an xylophone):


"Crawl through the tunnel" song:

Playing with bells, and singing one of our many bell songs:

Our wonderful teacher, Amy:

Scarf and dancing time:

Story time with a favorite, "Shiny Dinah":

A big time favorite, "Egg-shaken blues":

Amy and a sad Asher that class is over:

What a great experience, and we can't wait to do it all over again!

Bye-bye gymnastics class!

Asher started his first gymnastics class just before Christmas. We went weekly to a parent and tot session, which meant I got to participate with him.

We had a lot of fun during our sessions! Asher loved the chance to run and jump and climb and play - sometimes a little too much! This tended to push me to be creative, and persistent, to get him to participate in the activities he was actually supposed to be doing. I found I really processed through that a lot this year - having reasonable expectations for him as a young toddler. During class I wanted him to have fun and enjoy what he was doing, and I understood that he needed time and space to explore, and that he couldn't be expected to stay "on task" or do everything that was asked of him. On the other hand, I wanted him to learn that it was important that he follow his teacher's instruction and do what was asked of him. So at the beginning especially, our classes looked a lot like me constantly chasing after him and having him participate. Eventually he got it though, and was able to participate in most of the activities asked of him without too much guidance needed from me.

Any given class looked a lot like this:

Running around pretending to be choo-choo trains or airplanes;


Climbing, sliding and playing on the equipment;

Crawling through tunnels;

Walking on the balance beams (usually with help);

Running or jumping on the "tumble track";

Jumping on the trampoline with Mama;

And Asher's favorite, playing popcorn with Monique (his teacher)!

Basically she just has the kids sit on their bums, and "pops" them into the air for a quick bounce. I wish you could hear Asher's laugh for this activity; he loved it!

We usually did some swinging on rings and bars, parachute play, and different floor exercises as well. I definitely think Asher got a lot out of it. Besides learning some basic listening and following instruction skills, Asher also learned how to do a bridge, a tree, roll like a hot dog, somersault (with help), hold his body weight by hanging onto a ring/bar, and jump! Pretty impressive for a 2-year old.

Our Monday mornings just won't be the same now that gymnastics is over. It was a lot of fun though and we hope to continue some of the activities on our own for the summer!

Discovery Boys

Last week I bought a sand and water table for Asher off of Kijiji and this weekend we got it all set up on the back deck for him to play with. On Saturday he spent OVER AN HOUR very interested and involved in playing with this thing (miracle toy, I tell you, miracle toy). I was amazed that a little 13-month old could have that much fun for that long. He enjoyed discovering and exploring and gave himself a lovely reminder of what sand tastes like :) Take a look at these pictures (I especially love the "splash series"... those faces are so Asher!)(Also, see what I mean about the splashing! This is what happens at our swimming lesson every week).

In addition to that boy discovering sand and water, the big boy of the house made another discovery about the broken stroller (this is sooo Greg).

Geez, a girl can't get away with anything in this house!

Those are my boys: observers, analyzers, discoverers, and I love them for it!

Season's Pass

A couple weeks ago we bought a season's pass to our local zoo. Asher is free since he's under 3 years old, so we only had to buy one adult season's pass, and it pays for itself after 4 trips. So far we've been 3 times. And since we live so close (like 2 minutes drive), I don't feel guilty for going and only staying for an hour. And let's be honest, the boy still naps twice a day, most days, so we really couldn't stay all that long anyways.

It's been fun. Asher is very interested in the animals, and he usually points and says "Ohhh" when he sees them. He's been most excited over the squirrel monkey's so far, since they are really active and was pretty surprised when he heard the sheep "baa-ing" this morning. It's cute!

He is also very interested in the local elementary school children we've seen and spends half his time staring at them (since it's end of the school year, I think it's field trip time). I should have just walked up to our local school, and the boy would have been just as happy, I think. Oh well, atleast the zoo is entertaining for me too (I really like the lions)!