Homeschool-ish

Bugga wearing her backpack around the
house because she is "going to school to
eat pizza and read books".

Since my daughter is on the back end of the calendar as far as school start dates go (she was born in November), she gets "extra" time before she officially needs to be enrolled in school. As it is, she has been a sponge for months and months now, and I feel I really need to start teaching her some school skills since she loves what we've done so far. And maybe along the way she will use her parrot act to regurgitate some cool facts, versus just something I said when I didn't think she was listening. Oops.

As I posted recently, we started surrounding Bugga with All Things Alphabet and she loves it. I want to take advantage of this while I can, so I have been researching ways of creating age-appropriate lessons for her to learn more about what each letter looks and sounds like, and how they work with words. She's not quite ready to start using a writing device to draw the letters, but I have found a way to modify the concept to her abilities and still make it fun and educational.

My thought is to focus on one letter per week, and have 7-8 approaches to learning all about that letter. Each week we then choose 5 or so lessons to learn, allowing for a variety. After a month or two, when we have covered several letters, I hope to have lessons that focus on the combination of the previous letters learned to work on word construction.

By doing it this way, I am able to create a lot of the materials in advance so I can just print out what I need or whatever and run with it. Parenting doesn't give you a lot of time to prep, so I needed the tools for the lessons to be quick and easy. This is also useful for short attention spans - my 2-year-old will only watch me setup a project for so long before she no longer cares and would rather play with her Legos.

With regards to creating the materials, I have gathered ideas from many resources, and then ultimately I decided to create my own version so it fits the idea I have in my head. I plan to share these materials as free downloads wherever applicable, so hopefully they can be of some use to other back-of-the-calendar toddlers. 

I'll post the links to the post with the printables as soon as I get them uploaded!

Happy learning!

Toddler Room Reveal!

I am finally ready to do this post!

I shared my room inspirations for Bugga's new Canadian bedroom when we moved to Calgary last summer. I worked on her room and her new little sister's nursery simultaneously but it has taken me until now to get around to taking pictures of everything (that whole giving birth thing stalled me a little bit).

A little recap of what I was working with: we are renting so although we had permission from our landlord to paint the kids' bedrooms, I ended up being too pregnant (read: tired) to bother with paint. The walls are this cream color that I would not have selected myself, but I made it work. Also, Bugga's room has somewhat of an annoying layout since the first thing you see when you enter her room are the closet doors (eh, why?), and with a window and a random corner that sticks out there really aren't a lot of options for where furniture can fit in this room. We couldn't have fit more than a twin bed in here either!

As far as designing the room goes, my focus was on modern patterns, purple/pink/gray combinations, and the alphabet. I also wanted to use as much of the space as possible, so I have things hanging from the ceiling as well as flat and three-dimensional items on the walls. I am thrilled with how it turned out, and Bugga is constantly chattering about the details.

Anyway, without further delay...

View #1: This is what you see from the door. That far wall with the closet and the window really perplexed me with how to furnish this room. I'm still not sure what the builder was thinking. Anyway...

View #1

View #2: From left to right starting at the door, I put the dresser/changing table. I ordered alphabet decals in lavender for over the changing table, framing the "S" (Bugga's first initial) to make it the focal point. This has been a great tool for teaching her the alphabet, along with a few other things we've used.

View #2

View #3 & #4: The second wall is seen in the first picture. I really wanted stripes and considered painting them. After researching various techniques, I decided the decals would be the easiest, and I ordered these off Etsy in custom lengths to fit the wall (notice the corner kick out - adds interest, but still serves no purpose). 

I wanted Bugga to see her name frequently, so I painted white wood letters from Michael's. For her first initial I carved it from some styrofoam, covered it in purple glitter, and edged it with purple ribbon. 

The final detail for this wall are the three felt flower balls, hung from the ceiling which give the decor some depth. They are hung in the corner so they don't hit anyone in the head.

For a reading area, I brought her Pottery Barn Kids Anywhere Chair in from another room and set it next to her bookshelf so she can cozy up with her books whenever she wants.

View #3

View #4

View #5: I ordered the lavender chevron curtains FIRST because blackout curtains are a must with napping children. They unfortunately took a lot longer than I thought they would because I messed up the order the first time, but I love how they turned out. 

I then decided to go with a twin bed with a toddler rail (versus a toddler bed) because it will be used longer. I was tempted by the toddler bed because it would have left so much more space in the room for other things, but in the end, practicality won out. And we've never had too much of a problem with Bugga's safety in this bed (now keeping her in it has had it's moments). It also has a trundle frame (still in the shipping box under the bed) that we can use later. 

I covered some purple wood stars from Michael's in purple glitter and hung these from the ceiling too. I found purple "princess" bedding, and underneath are - wait for it - Minnie Mouse sheets. Her fave.

View #5

View #6: This angle shows the canvas art I created for her room. I went into extreme detail and included some tutorials for how I made some of these here. She still points at these all the time and tells me what they are. 

Also, I used the giant "S" collage from her first birthday party for her door, and it's fun to see her baby pictures every time we enter the room.

View #6

I mentioned in my inspiration post that I had started a satin rag rug. Well, let me advise anyone out there reading this that a rag rug project is not for the remotely busy person. That thing would have taken me many, many (many) months to complete if I had pursued it. Fortunately, I quit before I had invested too much time. And now I have several yards of lavender, silver, and white satin sitting around for another project. I'm glad I used coupons when I bought all that from Joann's!

So that's it! It's pretty simple actually, and I had a lot of fun putting it together. But most importantly, Bugga loves it. That's why we go to all this trouble, right?

**Please let me know if you have any questions about where I bought something or how I made something in this post. **

Easter Egg-tivities

I had great plans for Easter this year as far as toddler activities go. Then my newborn started sleeping (or rather NOT sleeping) even more horribly, and my husband needed to go out of town for work for the third time in four weeks. So basically most of this past week leading up to the Easter Bunny's visit is now a bit of a blur.

Somewhere in there I managed to put together two brain cells on occasion to find some activities for Bugga to do that were Easter-related. I found some great printable activities online that were both Easter-relevant as well as educational, but not too old for her as a lot of Preschool printables tend to be.

Here's Bugga working on the Egg Matching Activity, which she shocked me by immediately being a whiz at. This explains why her strongest skill with folding laundry is matching her socks!

Here's the Carrot Activity that involves Bugga trying to figure out which big letter matches which little letter. This was a new way of thinking about the letters, as we have not really introduced "little" letters yet. This was our introduction.

These printable activities can be found here.

And of course, I planned to get in some egg decorating. We had a great time last year when Bugga was 15 months old so of course I was optimistic. I saw an adorable idea online that involved rolling the eggs in polenta - I had planned on using colored coconut - but that was a massive fail. The "egg wash glue" was not at all a glue so it was just a big mess. Apparently I forgot the sugar, which, logically is the sticky part. Oops.

While we were waiting for the eggs to dry to see if the coconut would stick, my toddler got impatient with the waiting, so I improvised with some plastic eggs and a glue gun.

Once I knew that the textured eggs weren't happening this year, I washed off the remaining coconut, and just went with the infamous drop-in-the-colored-water coloring. Then I just used my glue gun to attach the googly eyes and bunny/chick appendages. What I learned: If you use a glue gun on an egg that just came out of the refrigerator, the glue will be chilled and dry before you attach whatever it is you're trying to glue to the egg. Another oops. So here is the motley crew of eggs that we ended up with.

Let's just say I am looking forward to making egg salad tomorrow.

I hope everyone had a nice Easter!

Activity: Stacking Cups

My 14-month-old daughter is currently fascinated with containers, and things that she can put in them, while just as fast taking them right out. So we found a great way to make more fun with this.

Of course I spend a lot of my day in the kitchen, whether cooking and prepping meals, cleaning up the results, or racking my brain (seriously just had to look up whether 'racking' or 'wracking' is appropriate here and apparently the jury is still out) trying to come up with some food ideas my picky-ish toddler will tolerate. So Bugga spends a lot of time at my feet, and I wanted her to be entertained so I could still be productive.

I designated two lower cabinets to my less-valuable storage containers, all plastic. All other cabinets are of course locked (and she is fascinated by the locks, by the way, but anyway...), but these two contain two large blue tubs of fun. Though it's no Tupperware, the little plastic bowls you get with your Chinese takeout have made for the most fun. I somehow have an assortment of sizes and they all fit perfectly inside each other in any order.

Bugga loves to take these containers, fill them with her little toys, and then stack them up. Then she takes them apart, drags them to the living room, stacks them up again, and puts more toys in them. Then back to the kitchen for the game to begin again. She loves it, and I'm glad that she gets to practice her dexterity, her spacial reasoning, and will even listen to directions if I ask her to "please put that bowl back in the blue bin" or whatever.

I can't wait until she's big enough to help me mix ingredients!

Slave to Silence

I'm not sure if I'm driving myself crazy, or if my craziness is justified. I freak out every time there is a sudden noise at night after my daughter has gone to bed, in fear that the noise will wake her up. What's the big deal, my husband always asks me. Well, for starters, she may not go back to sleep. Like for hours. This has happened almost never, but it IS possible. And guess who has to take care of her the next day on no sleep? That would be me.

It's one thing to take care of Bugga when she's tired and cranky and generally not happy with life. It's a whole different issue if I am feeling the same way. These are NOT good days. And because I know these kinds of days are horrendous, when I feel one of those days coming on, I about lose it.

My anxiety levels sharply escalate at every bark of the neighborhood dog, every creak of a floorboard, every release of the ice machine. My eyes dart to the video monitor to see what damage has been done, and should she not yet have stirred, I watch it carefully with a feeling of doom and confidence that she is SURE to wake at any moment.

And this makes me even more tired than I probably should be. I am probably a lighter sleeper than I have ever been, because I am listening for all those random noises that might disturb her. Why? I can't figure that out. Perhaps because there might be something I can prevent the next time, I don't know.

My poor husband. I snap at him now that we are parents, and most of it happens in these dark hours of the evening when I just want to have some responsibility-free time, but fear waking the baby. Why are guys SO LOUD? How does he not know how crazy I get when I ask him to stop making so much noise, and he just doesn't understand? I don't mean to be so controlling. But lack of sleep seems to make me that way. I'm not proud of it but I need to know how I'm going to get through each day and our household sleep is the primary detail.

But what I can tell you is that I know where every creaking floorboard is in my house. And I am going to lose my mind, I swear it.

Schedule Challenges Continue

It's been a couple weeks since I've posted...but I have two good reasons, I promise. For one, we have been in the process of moving, so for obvious reasons, I have not spent a lot of time with my laptop. The other reason is that prior to the move, our household had been having some significant challenges with Bugga's sleep schedule and her ability to put herself to sleep.

I've definitely allowed myself to fall victim to the anxiety that comes with the lack of sleep of a new parent. I blame myself for my husband and I essentially sitting in the dark and whispering once the baby has gone to bed in fear of waking her up. Yes, our (old) house had frustratingly creaky floors and air duct issues that required our room to be at 65 in order for hers to approach 74, but I think my personal fear of a crying infant at night has really escalated.

Now that we have been in the new house for a little over a week, we are still hesitant to formally sleep train. The new nursery is carpeted and cozy and a great place for Bugga to play, so the thought of putting her down awake in her crib to sleep makes me worry that she will instantly sprout negative associations with that room entirely. So I am still continuing to cheat by nursing her to sleep at night, and for naps. The pro to this is at least this house is a lot quieter so I have even had a few opportunities since we've moved in to set her down on the boppy pillow on the floor, turn the baby monitor camera on her, and leave the room to actually be...wait for it...PRODUCTIVE. It's a nice feeling. But I still spend half that time watching the monitor. Sigh.

Listmania: Kid Organization

This is yet another list for me to collect ideas that I will use somewhere down the road, and you are welcome to as well. As usual, please feel free to make suggestions, and if it is something I think has a place on the list, I will not only add it into the post, I will give you credit via a link back to your blog (should you have one).

Kid Organization

Description: Making it easy for parents and kids to find what they need, when they need it. Oh, and making it look neat and effortless at the same time.

1. Install a hanging accessory bag with at least 7 shelves. Label each shelf with a day of the week and place a complete outfit on each to make getting dressed for the day a snap.