Library Day
We were back at storytime this week. The girls were excited to see their friend H (she lives across the street but her attendance at storytime is a new thing), and I was excited to meet another military wife with her 3 kids under the age of 4 in tow. While this week's librarian-led time was a little too participatory for the entourage (they want her to just read good books, not try to get them to sing and dance), they loved the craft: decorating construction paper shapes with foamy shape stickers. This week we came home with:
Little Bear's Friend
Green Eggs and Ham
Sheep Out to Eat
Fancy Nancy and the Mermaid Ballet
I Like Dogs (this week's "What do you want to learn about?" book)

Rocks
We acquired another math toy this week. We've been looking for some form of small counters for the girls to use and settled on smooth aquarium gravel. While we haven't formally used them for counters in any games, they've been very popular. Monkey and Bug like to count and sort them (by color or size, discarding the ones they deem too tiny to be counters), and Goose loves having some dumped into a pan for a sensory activity followed by the fine motor practice of placing them one by one back in the container. Monkey and Bug have also taken advantage of the fact that Goose thinks it's fun to go diving under the table for any rocks that get dropped.

Pet Store
Of course, acquiring aquarium gravel meant a trip to the pet store--always an exciting errand! The highlight this time was the reptile section which contained several varieties of dragons among the creepy crawlies. A trio of very friendly water dragons was particularly fun: they were extremely curious about us and followed us from one end of their tank to the other.

Necklaces
Now that Goose is old enough to understand being gentle I've started wearing necklaces again. Monkey and Bug have been particularly fascinated by this new trend. They always want to see what pendant I have on, and I quickly realized that all the necklaces I wear have significance beyond their aesthetic value (the fairy stone I bought on a middle school field trip, the descending dove from a mission trip to Mexico, the coral heart from Daddy and my honeymoon, the mother's necklace Daddy bought when Monkey and Bug were born, etc.). The girls love hearing the stories and remembering what the pendants stand for when they see me wearing them. Of course, they've also requested "real necklaces" of their own to wear. Fortunately, I have an abundance of chains and a couple of small cross pendants I was willing to pass down. We talked (at a preschool level) about what the crosses mean as well as what a responsibility it is to own "real" jewelry. They have their own jewelry box on their dresser now, and Zoe wears her cross almost every day.

Projects
Of course, pulling out the crayons and coloring sheets is a near daily occurrence, but this week I also taught them how to weave using construction paper. Monkey picked it up very quickly and cheerfully self-corrected when she missed a strand. Bug faced some initial frustration in acquiring a new skill, but was encouraged/challenged by (?) Monkey's success and returned to try again and complete her project. We decided to turn them into wind socks, which they embellished with shiny stickers and hung from the art string in their room.

Look! A Box! Let's Get in It!