Let's cook!

Our weekly Baby School has grown up into what we now call Toddler Tuesdays. Since the kids aren't babies any longer, we've created a preschool-like morning. We still have free time to play, then we sing some songs followed by a snack. Finally, each week a different mom plans an activity. It's been a lot of fun. We've stacked all kinds and colors of blocks, we've put all sizes of balls into all sizes of buckets, we've made and played with puppets, we've had a pumpkin patch field trip and we've even done pretend cooking. These photos are from our pretend cooking activity which all the kids really enjoyed.

Here's Kelton cooking with Nana.


Here's all the little cooks hard at work, starting with Maya S and Mirabel.


Here's Maya Q, Kaden, Skylar and the whole gang cooking up a storm.

Kelton starts preschool

This fall Kelton started preschool! He goes once a week for 2 hours and since it's a parent co-op David and/or I go with him. He loves to go to school. He's learned to say school and gets excited when we get there. When Nana and Papa came to visit, we all went to school, and I was free to take some photos.

The structure of the day is simple. First the kids get about 45 min to play with whatever they want inside or outside. There are lots of toys and activities to choose from, but Kelton usually plays outside for whole time. Here's Kelton enjoying a tricycle ride with Papa and climbing in and out of a toy car.


Next is a short circle time inside which Kelton isn't very interested in. But that is followed by hand washing which is lots of fun with Nana's help.


Next is snack time. I'm always amazed that all the kids will sit together for about 10 min and enjoy their snack while teacher Judy reads stories.


Snack time is followed by more play time. This week Kelton enjoyed playing the piano with Nana and Papa. He also spent some closeup time with his favorite metal fire engine.


School ends with bubbles and circle time with songs. By this time Kelton is tired from his busy morning and, after chasing the bubbles, he is happy to sit in my lap for a few minutes before we head home for lunch and a nap.

Tioga Pass - Hat games

Kelton loves to play with our hats. His new game is to put on David's hat over his eyes and try to walk around. He thinks it's hilarious. Mommy gets a little concerned so we watch him closely as he staggers around.


He also loves the hat peek-a-boo get tickeled by Daddy hat game.

Tioga Pass - Cabin life

Kelton enjoyed staying in the Tioga Pass cabin. It makes traveling much easier since Kelton enjoys exploring every nook and cranny of a new place. Here he is waking up in the morning and then playing mousie hanging on the cabinet in the kitchen.


Kelton still loves to sweep, anywhere, anytime, with any kind of broom or in this case a mop.



Hanging out on the front porch was also a favorite pastime for both Kelton and David.

Tioga Pass - Exploring

Kelton explored many aspects of the High Sierra on our trip. One of his favorites were two abandonded mining cabins. He spent almost 2 hours running around inside, looking out the windows, and peaking through knotholes in the walls. He also had a great time dropping rocks through knotholes in the floor.


We also enjoyed showing Kelton a varitey of things we found. Here he is with a huge feather that David found. It was fun to wave around and fun to use it to tickle Daddy.


He was fascinated with the many gopher holes in the ground. We explained that "mice" lived in the holes. He would stop everytime he saw a hole, point, and make the mouse sounds. Kelton also enjoyed running up and down the slope of the glacial polished rocks and investigated the meadow grass up close.


Kelton learned the concept of big and small by playing with pinecones. He was looking at a medium sized one, and then I gave him a tiny one. He called the tiny one 'baby' and the other one 'mommy'. He still uses those words for anything that is little and big.


Some of the new words that Kelton learned on our trip were mountain (a-a), bird (crow), boo-boo, tree (E), and root. He enjoyed pointing to all the roots on the trail. He saw mommy roots and baby roots. We explained that roots were like feet to the trees and he seemed to understand that the tree above and the root underfoot were related. Kelton also loved picking up little rocks and handing them to us.

Tioga Pass - Splashing!

The lakes and streams of the High Sierra are incredibly beautiful and clear. Kelton was as drawn to them as we were. He couldn't wait to stick his toes in and feel the water.



One day we visted the Tuolumne River and the water was pretty chilly so he was hesitant to get in and once he did he wasn't so sure about it.


He still wanted in the water so Daddy picked him up and showed him the fish, then held him over the water so he could kick at it without commiting to standing in the icy cold water.


The beautiful Fantail Lake was our favorite since it had a shallow sandy bottom and Kelton could really enjoy jumping off a little rock into the water, and just generally kicking around.