Our Learning Today

Nick and I did some informal learning things today. We made stacks of his pretend coins, counting to five, and we named them. He mentioned something about dollar bills go in his wallet, but he does not have one yet. Xander does. :) Then we got Sandy the guinea pig out and petted him and combed his hair. I will very soon get pictures of Sandy. He is getting slowly more and more comfortable here. Nick is almost more interested in Sandy than Xander is...considering Xander has more going on every day.

Sandy sheds enough hair that I googled "spinning guinea pig hair into yarn." I think the consensus is that you would need a lot of guinea pigs to provide enough hair, and that guinea pigs do have hair rather than fur, so it would be harder to do unless you had a silkie or curly-haired type. Which we do not.

Then Nick wanted to color and paint. All our paints are nontoxic and very washable. However, he did get it on his clothes (before I remembered to take them off) and his feet and he managed to track some of it around the living room before going to the bathroom to wash his hands. I love laminate floors more with each passing day. Why would anyone want carpet????????????? I am now thinking about dirt and mud and sand tracked in on little boys' shoes. Again, carpet - why??????????

Ah. Now I see traces of black paint in Nick's hair. Yep. Nontoxic and washable.

Then Nick had his marvelous daily independent playtime. I often hear him singing to himself in there. Today he was making conversation on behalf of his toys. I don't know which. Maybe his animal puzzle pieces, maybe his stuffed animals, maybe his Lego Winnie the Pooh characters...

Now he is playing with his magnet trains and also looking all over for the bouncy ball he JUST bounced which promptly disappeared. He is moving pillows and going around the room saying, "Is it under the pillow? No. Is it under the couch? No. Is it in the vase with that flower? No..." I will have mercy on him and go get it. I am sure it is under the couch - Wait. No. As I typed this, he found it. What a good little systematic search he did.

His eyes are looking like they are doing a lot of work to keep themselves open. Nap time soon.

I stepped down from my Babywise blog co-moderating gig yesterday. It makes me very sad, which is silly because I can still do it again whenever I want. I just won't be expected to on any particular day. That blog and group are very valuable. Ack. I miss them just writing about them. Which again is silly because I know just where to find them.

I want to declutter my schedule so that I can focus on my main priorities right now. It will be good for when Erik is gone, too, for me to feel that I don't have so much to do. Taking breaks from computer activities is especially good for me. I think I'll try to keep up with this blog, though, because Erik will want to read it when he is not here.

Grandma Lucy just left and now it looks like Grandpa Mike and Grandma Lesley will be visiting in mid-May. Uncle Jeff and Aunt Rieko might come, too! That would be exciting anyway, but it will be especially welcome because Erik is going to be gone then.