Cleaning Up Grocery Store Parking Lots or Laboring in Lots

JDaniel hates to see trash in store parking lots. He points to it and declares, “A mess.” I started to pick up the less messy pieces of trash and put it in the trash to show JDaniel that it is important to take care of the environment. If there is a trashcan nearby it hasn’t a problem to pick up the corner of a bag or smashed can and carry it to the trash.

It can be a problem when there is trash all around where I park and/ or it looks really gross. To JDaniel the trash on the ground is trash that needs to be taken care of. To me it looks like a nest of germs waiting to spread to the two of us. I don’t want either of us to get sick because we cleaned up others people’s clutter.

There seems to be three solutions to this growing problem. We can avoid the parts of parking lots with trash. We can start to carry a broom and dust pan to clean up the debris. I can carry rubber gloves in the trunk so I don’t have to touch it.

Let's Talk While We Read

This is the fourth post I have done on Literacy Awareness. I first looked at vocabulary in a post called Setting Up A Literacy Center- Vocabulary. Next I did a post on Reading! Reading! Books and Words Everywhere!- Print Motivation. Last week I posted a post called How Does a Book Work- Print Awareness. This week’s topic something I love to do with JDaniel. It is talking about books.

My mom says I was born talking. My husband tends to be more on the quiet side. Yet both of us try to talk about what we are reading with JDaniel.

Ways to Work on Narrative Skills

Birth to 2- Years Old

• Talk about what you are doing. My son asks me all the time, “What are you doing.” Sometimes I am just driving the car.


• Tell your child stories and make up silly songs.


• Encourage your toddler to tell you about things.


• Listen patiently and ask questions. Reread favorite books over and over again
  

2 to 3 years old

• Have them tell you about their day


• Talk about what is happening first, next, and last in a story.


• Have them read you their favorite book.

4 to 5 years old

• Ask questions like “What do you think is happening in this picture?” and “What might happen next?”


• Add adjectives to words your child says. If he says, “ Dump truck”, say “yellow John Deer dump truck.”


• Have your child tell you what is happening in a picture they have drawn.
  

How do we do this at our house?

• It is mostly natural part of reading.
  
• We try not to break the flow or rhythm of the story. It may mean reading the story and than going back and asking questions if asking them during the story will keep JDaniel from enjoying the book.
  
• We keep favorite books out where we will encounter them and can talk about them.
  
• We don't do it every time we read a book.
  
  
  

Muffin Tin Monday- Labor Day Picnic Tin

JDaniel had a picnic meal in a muffin tin. There were potato chips (We never have chips in the house. He was thrilled.), hot dogs, potato salad, cantaloupe in the shape of 6's since it is the 6th day of September, blueberries, and watermelon.

I don't think he got that it was a picnic meal. He ate while inside the house at the kitchen table. I do know he loved it.

Happy Labor Day!

Shutterfly Photo Book Winner

Combatboot Mom won the Shutterfly Photo Book Giveaway!

Great Posts I Came Across This Week- September 4th

Mom Related

Wisconsin Mommy has her son’s perspective on his K5 screening. I loved his insights.

The Funky Mama Bird has a fun post with great stick figure illustrations called How to Feed Gunne Bear.

Good Day Regular People has a fun post called Historys Longest Post.

Child Related

Mom-ology has a fun post on I Spy Bottles with Rainbow Rice.

Life of a Pastor’s Wife has a great Tot School post. I love her activities. The color matching activity with cookie cutters looks like fun.

The Toby Show has a great storytelling activity called Cheap and Easy Story Dice. I don’t draw as well as they do. I wish I did.

Recipe

Our Family Treat has an amazing recipe for Asphalt Pie.

Be Different …Act Normal has a really fun Fruit Salad Ice Cream Cone that would be great for a Labor Day picnic.

Winners from September 2nd

Tina 12312 won the $90 CSN GC. The Robbins Zoo won the I Know-Rhino Toddler Applique Shirt. I have contacted both winners.

Thank you to all who entered these giveaways!

My Words are Stuck Mom

Just last week my little clear speaker started getting his words stuck. He starts to say something like “What are you doing?” What comes out of his mouth is “What, What, What.” He gets so frustrated with himself and his words. This isn’t all the time. Sometimes it’s when he is tired. Sometimes it is when he has just gotten up. Sometimes it just happens.

I got worried and talked to my mom and my husband’s mom about it. My mom said that it was just a stage that he was going through and it would pass. My mother in-law remembered that both my husband’s sister Angela and her great granddaughter MK have trouble with this too. “Their brains were processing things too fast for them to speak their thoughts,” she said.

It is so hard to hear him struggle to get words out. I try to stop him and have him count 1, 2, 3. Then I have him try to start the sentence again sometimes that works. If it doesn’t I try to get him to slow down and focus on something else. That seems to work sometimes too.

We were at my mother in-laws over the weekend and she go to hear the what whats and the I I Is firsthand. When got ready to leave, she mentioned we might want to talk to a speech pathologist that we know. It is easy to say that it will pass. It is hard to hear him struggle. This is probably just a stage. We hope it is.

The Indigo Haired Boy Taught Us about Vaccinations

I really struggled with what to write about using the color indigo. Mrs. Matlock’s Summer School class is studying the color indigo this week. JDaniel and I went to Lowes to find an indigo paint chip to help me think about things that are indigo. I thought about making play dough or finger paint that was indigo. Since color mixing has never been my forte, I feared someone would come along and point out my indigo wasn’t really indigo at all. I tried finding pictures of indigo things on Google and found some people have purple things the call indigo and others have blue. That search wasn’t much help to me. While watching TV., I noticed Sid the Science Kid has indigo hair. I decided to tell you about Sid a boy who has indigo colored hair if your television tint is just right.

We don’t watch a lot of the television each day. We do watch Sid the Science Kid periodically in the morning. Who is Sid? He is that Indigo Haired Boy that has a cartoon science show for preschool age children on PBS. On Monday Sid announced at the beginning of his show that his grandma was coming to his school to give he and his friends vaccinations for the flu. He wondered what vaccinations were and why he had to take one. His parents told him it was something that parents decide to do to keep their children and the people around them healthy. The show proceeded to explain ways to avoid getting and passing on germs along with more information about vaccinations once Sid got to school. Hand washing, elbow coughing and keeping your house clean were three of the ways to stay away from germs covered. It was really informative episode for JDaniel and me. There were lots of opportunities for us to talk about germs, antibodies, and shots.

We as a family have chosen to get flu shots. I know not everyone makes that same choice for their families. If you choose to get them, the episode of Sid the Science Kid may be a good one for you to watch with your child.