Truth in the Tinsel - Day 8 - Sun

Truth in the Tinsel - Week 1

This week in our advent craft countdown, Finn has learned about Jesus being a light sent to the world, represented by the candle, he has learned that Jesus is a prince - shown by the crown. He's learned the roles of Zechariah, Gabriel, Mary & Elizabeth, and about Mary singing a song of worship.

So far, this program is a success, we've remembered to do it each day, and the crafts are at just the right level for Finn to do with my help. It's quick enough to keep his attention the whole time, and he is so pleased to have his own Christmas corner with a garland & lights to hang his ornaments on.

If you haven't seen the E-book yet, you can find it here, and do one of the short versions this year -- there are several options if you do not have time to do all 24 activities/days.

Truth in the Tinsel - Day 7 - Song

Truth in the Tinsel - Day 6 - Mary & Elizabeth

Truth in the Tinsel - Day 5 - Mary

Truth in the Tinsel - Day 4 - Angel

Truth In The Tinsel - Day 3 - Zechariah

Truth In The Tinsel - Day 2 - Crown

Advent, Tinsel, Crafts

For the month of December, Finn & I are working through "Truth in the Tinsel", for him to learn the story of Christmas. In addition, he has a Playmobil Advent Calendar from Mémé, with a very festive theme of 'cops & robbers' ... he will love it I know! He's very pleased with day one -- the robber. I was up late last night getting it ready for him, I'd forgotten that it takes a long time to assemble the calendars. We also put out the Christmas in the Woods one that Finn used for the past 2 Christmases, he has offered to open the doors each day for Cate. I'm sure she won't object. If that were not enough, Finn & Cate each have a chocolate calendar as well from the Christmas Party for Pé's work last weekend. I think Dave will be enjoying Cate's.

Number Recognition booklet

Finn has been wanting to get more familiar with numbers -- he can count quite high, but doesn't know all the characters, especially for numbers which just don't occur in our address or the board games he plays.

Found this booklet today, and have printed it off for him to work on tomorrow.

A conversation with a small boy.

(Earlier today, we came up with the idea of giving all my son's diapers to a baby for my son's birthday -- since he'll be 3 and a 'big boy'. He was totally on board, 3 hours ago.)

Just now, the little guy & I were chatting, and he asked me to retrieve an out of reach toy.

Me: I can get that if you tell me what you're going to with your diapers on your birthday.

Small boy: I can't tell you.

Me: Why can't you tell me?

Small boy: It's a surprise.

Right. I have a feeling the surprise is going to be that he's changed his mind.

The literal interpretations of a two year old.

Mama: "Finn, I've got the WonderPets song stuck in my head"

Finn: messed up mama's hair "Open up hair, get out of it"

Mama: "No Finn, it's not really INSIDE my head, you can't get it out like that"

Finn: now pulling mama's hair "Open it! Not stuck get out!"

And, just so it can be stuck in your head too ... Click Here ... (get a good giggle from the 'no copyright infringement intended, even though the images and sound totally belong to NickJr.')

Afternoon at the park & continued meal plan success!

Used up my random, unplanned lunch today - my mother-in-law invited Finn & I for lunch.

After our lunch, we all went to a park near her home, Finn walked 90% of the way there, and rode home in the stroller. He had a great time, swinging, climbing, sliding, running, riding ... all the fun things you can do in the park when you're two.

Day Two - Meal Plan Success Continues

Today, toast w/ nutella for breakfast, leftover chili, smothered in sourcream, cheese & green onions, for (very late) lunch. Dinner turned out to be the spare unplanned one, as friends brought over pizza. It was great to visit with them, and luckily it all got arranged just as I was pulling the cutting board out & turning on the oven to start dinner. Easy enough to undo!

Also today - a playdate with Finn's little friend (I even got to play Rockband on the Wii ... I'm not that good), before that we went for a 5km run.

Some photos from our day (oh! and yesterday's beautiful sandwich as well!)

Finn wants you all to know that 'Garg made it' ... his little blue bowl that is. Finn is very careful with it and always carries it with two hands!

Today's Reading: Mo Willems

Today Finn & I are reading 'Things that go' and 'Knuffle Bunny', along with a whole lot of other books!

I'm not reading any grown up books, as I'm saving all my not-yet-read books for an upcoming roadtrip.

Denny Oofing at Deer

I love toddler-speak. It's such fun to translate!

Today, while watching the deer in the field across the street, Finn announced to me that "Denny oofing at deer". I was lost. Totally. I know Denny is Penny - our dog. At deer was pretty clear. But oofing? What is oofing? After several repetitions, it clicked.

Offing = woofing = barking. And he's absolutely right. Penny would have been barking at the deer if she had seen them.

The deer have been here each evening for a week or so, generally six of them. Tonight there are only three - but it's still early. Perhaps I'll get a photo to share soon.

Potty Time.

The boy child is soon (hopefully) going to be ready for some potty training. And that means - underwear!

Here's the first batch ... more are cut out, and will be sewn up as time allows.



These are a great use of scraps!

Sewing Shorts from old pants

Some shorts for the little guy, cut from the bottoms of pants that I can't/don't/won't wear anymore. It'll be a while (months yet!) before we're ready for shorts, but I wanted to get them off my 'to do' list. I left the existing hems intact and matched up the new topstitching as close as I could.

Well. That was a bad 'resolution'.

Ok, so you know you don't update (or even look at) your own blog often enough, when you check in and think you've got the wrong blog! I forgot I changed the template. That was silly. Oh well, at least it's not yet been an entire month! So, technically, I am doing 'better'. My son is very funny. That's why I logged on, to let you all know how amusing he can be. At 23mths he's got this crazy vocabulary that surprises us daily. Today, our TV is not working correctly, and he told me 'broken, fix, cu-du (screwdriver), hammer, tool box, help, daddy, door' (Daddy's tools are in a room behind a door). He then headed up the stairs to get Daddy to help fix the TV. I'm pretty certain that no tools are required for this repair - maybe they'll want to smash the silly thing with a hammer though! I also got my Spotted Box today. More about that when I get the pictures off the camera. So far, the little guy is loving the play dough from Sewing Alley, and I can't decide who I should send this great little card to - it's from DFMI designs.