Happy 33 Months!

3 more months and Louis will be 3!

Louis is such a wonderful, fun boy to have around.

He has the best memory and loves to tell me about all the things we've done over the past year. He often surprises me with all the details he remembers.

He enjoys arts and crafts, painting continues to be one of the activities he enjoys the most. I've been introducing different mediums and he has been enjoying them. Watercolors, sponges, different household objects used to paint with. It has led to some great conversations about art, geometry and other topics. He has started to draw pictures. He loves to draw stick figures, balloons, jellyfish and spiders.

His favorite thing to do as of late are basic math problems like "If I have 4 apples and you eat 1 apple, how many apples are left?" He can usually figure them out pretty quickly or with the use of his fingers. He also loves to go over words and asks what letter they begin with. We periodically do this a few times during the week and then we switch and I ask him what words begin with specific letters.

Louis continues to explore more knowledge about space and dinosaurs. Over the past month we've been learning more about insects and other creatures together. On our trip to Toronto he became more interested in nature and we've been learning more about different types of trees and flowers.

Still loves to dance and has taken an interest in possibly taking it up as an activity. He is also learning all about different sports and enjoys watching them for short periods of time and then heading outside to attempt his hand at them. 

We decided to not do preschool this year and at first I was hesitant about it but he's doing so well on his own, with our support along the way. Unschooling has been working for us and for Louis so why mess with it. I love being home with the boys and having the opportunity to support them in their learning. Louis' vocabulary continues to grow in great leaps and bounds. I forget he isn't even 3 yet when we talk.

He recognizes a lot of letters and numbers. He has started to read some sight words. He also taken an interest in learning to write so we've started on the basics.

He continues to do well as far as potty learning goes. We took a break when we went on vacation but are back on that we are home. We've pretty much just been following his lead. Not rushing him or putting undue pressure.

I'm always on the look out for fun, new things to do with him. This is such a fun age.

33 and 34 Months Milestones

Mastered Skills (Most kids can do)
- Names one color - has known most colors for almost ayear
- Names one friend  - he usually names our neighbors and their children
- Carries on a simple conversation - can talk for hours some days

Emerging Skills (Some kids can do)
- Alternates feet going up and down the stairs - noticed this the other day
- Uses prepositions (e.g. in, on, over) - uses them and has also started to go over opposites
- Speaks clearly most of the time (75% can be understood) - appears to be understood pretty well by non-family members though many still ask him to repeat himself
- Stacks 8 blocks - makes tall towers of blocks

Advanced Skills (Few kids can do)

- Is toilet trained during the day - about 75% of the time
- Wiggles thumb - actually haven't noticed either way.
- Expresses a wide range of emotions  - He can tell me when he's mad, sad, happy etc.
- Draws a stick figure - He draws his version of a stick figure which is a big old head with legs and arms coming out of it. 

Mama! Let's Go Chalk & Paint!

At least a dozen times a day Louis will ask to paint, even if we already painted earlier in the day. I've been trying to mix it up with different mediums to keep it interesting and fresh. Some days we'll 'paint' with yogurt or I'll mix up a couple of batches of colored shaving cream in the bathtub. Plenty of finger painting or body painting, along with stamping. We look through the house and look at different objects we can use to stamp or drag, make patterns and so forth. Thank goodness for washable paint!

Same goes for drawing with chalk outside. 12 times a day or so Louis will ask to go outside for a bit. Never seems to get tired of it. We'll sit out on the driveway and draw together. Sometimes he'll ask me to go over different letters and words with him. He has learned how to write the letter L, O, U, working on S & I. Soon he'll have his name. 

Today we went back to a good ole stand-bys, chalk and our easel.

Summer Road Trip '12 - Day Six

Day Six: Ontario Science Centre

For our last day in Toronto we tried to get in as much time for the kids to enjoy the trip as possible and just enjoy being kids. The Ontario Science Centre was the perfect start to our day. Louis loved the circus exhibit they had. He especially enjoyed a models of what different animal dung looks like. It was a model of the dung & you had to guess what dung belonged to each animal. So basically he played with poop for 20 minutes.

Summer '12 Road Trip - Day Five

Day Five: Royal Ontario Museum

When we walked up to ROM Louis became really excited. He loved the way the building looked from the outside. As soon as we went in he was off with Leah taking a look at the exhibits. They went from one to the next while Leah read the plaques of information to him.