Purple aids!

Journey got her hearing aids 3 weeks ago, and is doing great! She keeps them in, and can definitely tell a difference when she has them in. She always smiles when I put them in in the morning because she can hear better.

Here she is at the appointment, she had just gotten the first hearing aid turned on and put in her ear. She got really quiet and still for about 10 minutes, just listening to all the sounds. The audiologist was giving me information and telling me how to take care of them, when suddenly Journey said "Mommy...no talking!" The audiologist told me that for the first couple of days, her brain would by hyper alert because it was hearing sounds all over that she hadn't heard before. 

After she'd had them in for awhile she wanted to tell me something, but when she started to speak, it must have sounded funny to her because she started talking with a slow drawl, concentrating on every sound she made. It was really funny to hear! As we walked outside to go to the car a truck went by and she tapped her ear and said "loud! I hear a sound!"

And now, she is very proud to show them off and tell people about her 'purple aids' :)

She picked purple for the hearing aid (no surprise!) and then the part that goes inside her ear is clear with purple glitter. The yellow string attaches to the hearing aids...


And attaches with a clip to the back of her shirt so that if she is running around and one falls out, it doesn't get lost-what a genius invention!


All decked out with her glasses, ocular shell, and hearing aids. I don't even want to think about the $$ worth of equipment she has on her head!

Fall themed quiet activities

I always imagined that I would have a Montessori style play room-cute little activities in baskets lined on shelves. Pouring, scooping, sorting. But then real life happened, and Vivi, my anti-Montessori child happened. She's not one to sit quietly and scoop beads from one bowl to another-she's one to dump them on the floor and giggle at the sound they make. She never wants to do what is intended, always finding a different way to see things. Which is a good quality, but not really conducive to a shelf full of glass pitchers and 1,000 small pieces.

So I instituted 'quiet rest time toys'-toys that are kept out of reach during regular play time and are brought out during the big kids' quiet rest time (their alternative to napping), and the girls do them in the afternoons while Jeb does school work.

I found these red plastic leaves in the dollar section at Target, a box of them for $2.50. They are called 'table scatter', like for arranging among the candles on a table cloth. I don't know how many came in the box but it was enough for 2 activities and I still have some leftover. They also had white ghosts and I think purple spiders? But I thought that red leaves would last us longer than the Halloween themed ones. They also had these cute acorn bowls 2 for $1. We already owned the spoon, pitcher, green bowl, and the baskets, so for $3.50 I have 2 great themed activities that all three kids love!

Sleeping Cuties :)

September, the month of firsts!

Vivi had her first day of Jazz/Tap class, which she is really enjoying!

Journey had her first day of 2 year old ballet! She was so jealous last year when Vivi was in dance and she wasn't, we had to stop taking her because she would have a fit in the hall because she wasn't allowed to go in. Now she has a class for herself and she owns it! The other 2 year olds are timid and shy still, but Journey is all about it and is doing great!


And Jeb had his first real soccer game! His team last year was just instructional, they didn't have games, so this was all new for him. He was really nervous at first but is doing great, he even got an assist (had an assist? He assisted someone in making a goal) this past weekend. My best friend's son is on the same team and the boys are enjoying that. Her son likes to yell "Camden and Jebby are the fastest!" and it's so cute to hear them cheering for each other :)


And then, the first night wearing fleece footie pajamas! They were SO excited to all  be wearing similar pajamas, they couldn't stop giggling.

The letter C

A computer issue made me way behind in posting, we're on the letter F now, but I wanted to share some of the things we are doing to help us learn each letter of the alphabet!


We always start the week by decorating a big letter with something that begins with that letter. For C, we painted on the letter C with Cotton balls. I also let them pick more than one color so that they painted their letter c with Colors.


Later in the week we read a really good  book about the lifecycle of a Caterpillar. The book is called Life Cycles Caterpillar to Butterfly by Sally Hewitt, which came as part of a set of books with great close up pictures. My favorite picture from this book is of a caterpillar coming out of it's egg! It looks like the book is a little bit hard to find, but I included a link anyway. Sally Hewitt seems to be involved in a lot of science related books for kids that look really interesting.

Anyway, after we read the book, I had cut out paper circles and drew a C on the kids' papers. Then they used glue sticks to turn the C into a Caterpillar.