Library Day
Before we actually headed off to the library on Monday, I decided to introduce the concept of oral book reports. I asked the girls to tell me about their favorite books from last week and why they liked them. Here's what they responded:

• Monkey: The Seven Chinese Brothers. I like that they were apart, then got back together. I like that they ate fish together. I like that one had legs that grew.
• Goose: [about I Am Invited to a Party!] There was Piggie going to a party, and they were getting all ready. And Piggie was getting all ready. I like it cause it has orange on it.
• Bug asked if, instead of telling me about the book, she could read it to me (I took a video of this, but now the camera's missing. Grrr....). She said she liked "that it was Piggie and Elephant going to a party. And I like that there were party noises at the party."

There's still no storytime, but we met several friends at the library this week. We came home with these books:
The Night Eater
Dinosaur Bob and His Adventures with the Family Lazardo
Inch by Inch (Monkey was interested in inchworms this week; we spent a really long time looking at Google images of them)
Did I Tell You I Love You Today
All about Me (anatomy for toddlers)
How I Became a Pirate
Way out West Lives a Coyote Named Frank
The Secret House of Papa Mouse
The Emperor's Silent Army: Terracotta Warriors of Ancient China

We were actually back at the library on Thursday for the end of summer programs pizza party! The girls earned their tickets to the party by reading/having read to them 30 picture books. The girls thoroughly enjoyed their pizza and the opportunity to find themselves in the slideshow of photos from this summer's events.

Imperial China
The girls loved the book about the terracotta army that we got from the library this week. We read all about their discovery, the emperor's tomb, and how they would have looked when they were first made. Then of course we had to make own versions out of playdough.

(a horse and two soldiers)

We had a gray, rainy morning this week, and the girls did a fantastic job with their formal lessons, so I decided we'd "be lazy" by snuggling up on the couch and watching the History Channel clips about ancient China available online. The girls were intrigued. We learned about the Great Wall of China, the first emperor's unifying China and searching for immortality, traditions of the Chinese New Year, early legends of dragons, and ancient Chinese weapons technology. The girls spent lots of time during the rest of the week using Legos, Playmobil, and wooden blocks to build build palaces and stage battles for "the first emperor of China."

Bug and Monkey with one of the many palaces they constructed for the emperor.

Lessons
We added a new subject this week: handwriting. I hadn't actually planned on starting it yet, but we bought some workbooks, and Monkey and Bug just couldn't wait to get started. In addition to the standard lines for tracing and practicing all the letters, our books have activities for matching up letters and sounds, matching upper and lower case letters, and doing mazes and dot-to-dot activities practicing alphabetical order. We even found a couple of dry-erase books, which are particularly popular. The girls have made this one of their daily lessons, and Bug even worked handwriting into her reading lesson one day: she asked me to help her spell some of her sight words (i.e., said, you) because she thought writing them down would help her remember them better. She really seems to enjoy writing more legible letters. Monkey has been practicing the letters in her name, but mostly she works on the other activities in the book at this point.

Reading lessons continue, and Monkey and Bug have been more willing to attempt reading actual books! Bug still reads some out of her textbook, and Monkey definitely prefers to read sentences I write on the board (a preference we realized this week may be due to poor vision after she attempted--and failed--to read a book with small print; she has an eye appointment scheduled for the end of the month). They both tend to pick books they mostly have memorized and don't need to sound out every word, so that's been confidence boosting for them.

Math lessons still happen, of course. Bug usually works in one of the workbooks--comparisons, writing numbers, addition--and Monkey mostly uses manipulatives--measuring, counting, number recognition (on rulers and flash cards), and addition (flash cards and wooden blocks).

Let's Be Social!
The girls are finally getting this whole making friends thing. We started off the week on Sunday afternoon with a cookout at the house of one of Daddy's co-workers. The host's 6-year-old son, recently moved into a neighborhood with no kids, was ecstatic to have a trio of playmates arrive. They found him a little overwhelming at first, but I was impressed with how quickly they warmed up. By the time we were ready to go home they were busy helping him construct a series of roads for his trucks in the backyard and asking when they'd get to play with their new friend again.

The girls and I also made it to the neighborhood pool this week. In addition to swimming, they specifically said they were looking forward to possibly making a new friend at the pool, which they did--a little girl about Goose's age, whose daddy is also in the military. They had a blast in the pool. They can all kick around the pool with noodles tied on them, and Bug spent a lot of time practicing doggy paddling without a floaty. She can go a couple of yards all by herself!

Then on Saturday we went to a birthday party for one of our neighbors--a pretty low key event that involved pizza, cupcakes, and just letting the kids play while the grown ups chatted. The girls had fun playing with a bunch of familiar friends; although Monkey and an 11-year-old girl, C, nearly came to blows after C playfully "stole" Goose. Goose was having a great time, but Monkey was not ok with the situation. Fortunately, C handed Goose over before it devolved into violence.

Projects!
The girls really wanted to do a project one day this week, so we pulled out all the collage supplies, stickers, markers, and pencils and I just let them go for it. So much fun!