One-Year-Old School

September=Apples

We have done some very simple activities to keep us busy this September. Our theme was apples and my goal was to have the boys identify an apple and maybe say the word apple. We also talked about the letter "A" and the "aaaaa" (short a) sound. We also tried to use as many of our senses as possible with our activities. Here are some of the activities we did:

apple sensory bucket

apple prints (this activity didn't really work and the boys were less than impressed)

finger painting (there was definitely crying at the beginning of this activity but they started to participate after a little bit. I think they will enjoy finger painting with more practice.)

red play-doh

apple fruit leather

apple turnovers

SONGS

Way up high in the apple tree

Two little apples smiled down at me (he wouldn't do this action when I was trying to take pictures, I'll add it later if I can get him to perform!)

I shook that tree as hard as I could

Down came the apples, mmmmm they were good!

Just Cute

Not My Child

Until just recently I have thought James had a lot in common with his mommy as far as his personality, etc. Well, as most of the people who read this blog already know I do not eat "white" stuff like ranch, mayo, etc.

Well the other night I made some chicken nuggets and I thought James might like to dip them in ranch...because little kids like to dip stuff right? Well, he did like to dip.....his FINGER in the ranch and eat it all up. I don't think he really wanted any chicken after he started eating the ranch. Once he licked it all up he whined for more ranch. He is DEFINITELY his father's child!

Pumpkin

Me: Look James it's a pumpkin!

James: BALL

Me: No it's not a ball. It's a pumpkin. Can you say pumpkin?

James: BALL

Me: Pump-Kin

James: Ball-ball

Me: Ok, it's a ball.

Sleepover

James had his first sleepover last week. We had fun playing together and Corbin and James played nicely together while I made dinner which was nice since James normally is very whiny while I am trying to make dinner.

We went to a book signing at Barnes and Noble then went to bed. The next day it was chilly so we stayed in our jammies until lunchtime and spent time inside playing in our tent in the living room. It was so much fun!

15 Months

I can't believe James is already 15 months old. He is looking so big now and not like a baby anymore. Sometimes when I look at him I can see him as a 4 or 5 year old. It's crazy.

James is walking better and better and starting to learn to climb on things. He loves music and cuddling. He also likes to make a mess.

There are several words he can say. Some of them sound exactly like what they should sound like. Some of them are just words he uses consistently for an object but don't sound that much like the word he is meaning to say. I suspect there are other words he can "say" that I just haven't caught onto yet!

The words he says now are:

this (all the time!!)

ball

hi

bye

hot

brush

shoes

done

yes

no

daddy

mama (hardly ever but he can...when I ask him to say mama he normally says DADDY)

boo

moo

woof

vroom

brrr

The Beach

We went to the beach twice this summer. I forgot to write about it the first time we went so I am going to lump both of our trips together.

At the end of July, we went to a wedding in Florida and got to spend a few days at Daytona Beach. This was James' first experience with the beach. He loved it. He ate some sand but he also enjoyed playing with it.

At the beginning of September we went to Topsail Beach for a week. Again James loved it. This time he was a little nervous about the waves going in and out and knocking him over. As the week went on his balance really improved (after walking on many different surfaces and starting to get used to them). By the end of the week he enjoyed chasing the waves as long as Mommy or Daddy were standing nearby.

14 Months

Well, since James is almost 15 months old and I never did a post about 14 months I thought I ought to go ahead and do it. Of course, at this point I don't really remember what he was doing at 14 months. A few things I do remember...

-We took away his pacifier right at 14 months old. He had been throwing it out of his bed and crying and he really only used it when he was sleeping anyway. There were times he would fall asleep without it so we knew he was capable and he also seemed to be getting more attached to it so we figured better now than in a year when he really thinks he needs it. We had three weeks of rough naps (it never really affected bedtime too much). This week he seems to be back to normal and falling asleep just fine.

-We made four 10 hour car trips. We took a trip to Florida to see some of Lee's family and it was 10 hours each way. Then, a couple weeks later we took a trip to Pennsylvania to see some of my family and it was 10 hours each way. James is becoming a great traveler!

-I think he started saying more words this month but I will talk more about that in his 15 month post because I'm not sure what happened which month.