Add to LibraryThing

Well, now I don't know what to think. Apparently you can add to LibraryThing from Amazon. That's cool (better than nothing) but I'd really like it to add from any source. Unfortunately, it doesn't. And just as I was getting happy because I saw that there was an option to highlight and click, I read the page and that option is old and doesn't work for the updated version of the browser. However, I did pay good money for LibraryThing so I'm going to find a way to make this work for me! I'll update should there be any changes.

Wow, almost a month!

Almost a month has passed since I last posted! Not cool, I know.

Anyway, we went to the zoo as we do a few times a year. Once again, I was reminded why we go so randomly. The gorillas looked so sad. If you didn't hear about it when it happened, read about why the gorillas aren't happy. While the zoo now claims that the gorillas have recovered from that incident, I don't think so. They always seem distant and sad, a few times one or two have been angry.

Maybe it is just me but I don't feel right about keeping animals that act so like humans locked up. They can speak to us, they can actually use a language and talk to us. Not like dogs or horses or any other animal, gorillas can learn sign language and carry on conversations with humans. Yet we keep them locked away like criminals.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned Shelfari before but it is a great option to LibraryThing which I am becoming less enchanted with. I like some features of LibraryThing but it isn't as pretty a set-up as Shelfari and it is a lot easier to add books that you don't know about (the groups have group shelves!) than LibraryThing. Though maybe I'm not utilizing LibraryThing to it's full potential. I've already paid for a lifetime membership to LibraryThing (though Shelfari lets you add unlimited books for free) so I'll keep at it and maybe (hopefully?) it'll get more user friendly.

Been A Long Time

I believe I'm finally in the groove of working and spending time with the children. I had to take a break from everything for awhile and just concentrate on relearning to balance work and home life. I'm just making a quick update to say that I'm back, I'll actually make a new post tomorrow.

Do You Speak English?

All we've been speaking lately is English. It has just been easier. I decided to raise my children bilingually because I wanted them to have the advantages that brings and also so that I'd have someone to talk to in my select languages as I like to study foreign languages as a hobby. But raising a child bilingually when you aren't a native to the language is harder than I'd anticipated. I don't have the ingrained "baby language" that I would if I'd been raised speaking German. I don't know how to call a toilet anything but it's proper name (and a few names that I can't use with a baby!) and I don't know if a baby has an "owie" or "boo boo".

In a way this might be good. Everyone has read the numerous studies and articles about baby talk holding children back. The new trend is to speak to a child as if they are your forty-five year old colleague instead of a new soul trying to figure out a strange world. So the fact that I can't babble baby talk to my children is actually a plus in this department. But it holds me back when I want to coo sweet nothings into my baby's ear or softly soothe my toddler in "mommy" words.

So after I had the new baby and I was so tired I couldn't even bother dressing myself each day, it didn't seem like such a big issue to let German slide for awhile. I figured that it would be easy enough to pick back up once I could remember how to spell my own name. Now over a month has passed and a recent conversation with my oldest made me realize that we've hit a low point.

Fin: Mama, what are you doing?
Me: Feeding the baby. What are you doing?
Fin: I'm playing with my toys. (fidgets around) Can.... MAY I have a glass of water, please?
Me: Sure.

Now, this would normally be a nice conversation. He self-corrected to say "may" instead of "can" and he even said "please". However, after I handed him the glass of water and he thanked me, I realized that not one word of German passed his lips. I tried to think over our recent conversations and couldn't remember when we'd last spoken in German. All of our recent books and songs have been communicated in English. We haven't even watched any German DVDs.

I'm now having to expend more energy trying to get back into the groove of speaking German. I often forget to speak it myself, when I'm in a hurry English is just at the tip of my tongue while German is slower to surface.

Back to School Shopping

Last year I hit up the back to school sales. I'm not sure how much I bought but I know that every time I ran errands I picked up at least $5 of crayons (when they were at the most twenty cents per twenty-four pack) and a few packs of paper (on sale for thirty cents per pack). I ran out of money before I felt even near stocked up. My mom and husband laughed at me when I expressed dismay at not getting enough supplies for the year. They saw the overfilled shelves in my storage closet and thought that there was no way I'd run out of supplies before the next sale in July.

I ran out of paper in two months. A week ago I pulled out the last box of crayons.

So this year I'm making a plan and budget. So far I'm thinking of this:

• $30 of crayons. They usually go on sale for twenty cents for a 24 pack, with some places going into the teens. This will give me two packs a week with a little wiggle room.
• $30 of paper. Lined, college-ruled paper was on sale for thirty cents per pack last year. I'm probably going to have to spend more than this, closer to $50, as I'll need to get blank drawing paper and kindergarten ruled paper as well.
  
• $50 art supplies. Glue, paint, scissors, and other miscellaneous items fall into this category.

I get many of our books from the library or the discount bookstore. I have to spend full price on German books unless I can get my cousin to send some to me. I'm really liking ABC Kinderladen right now. Their prices are high but their shipping is low. I recently priced a DVD I want to get the boys from them and I'll spend about $26 including taxes and shipping. Pretty good for a German DVD.

One of the other things I need to budget in is year passes to things for the children. The zoo, the children's museum, science museum, and a couple others. In a perfect world I'd buy a membership to the two major zoos in our area as one is wonderful and huge but it is further away and is harder to reach by public transportation and the other is smaller and not nearly as great but it is easy to reach without having to use a car.

At the suggestion of a fellow homeschooling parent I tried asking for these as Christmas presents for the boys but my family loves to spoil them so we got more toys instead. So this year I'm going to ask if they'll just go in on one of the memberships (zoo probably) and then they can spend the rest of the money that they usually spend on toys.

They really are lovely toys anyway. My family makes sure to go out of their way to get toys that I approve of, not made in China (I have neither the will nor the want to haunt the recall website waiting for the next hammer to drop) toys that will spark imagination, not kill it. Last year I even went shopping with them, at their request, so that I could give my opinion on toys that weren't so clear in the bad/good category.

Well, I hope that this entry makes sense as I'm operating on about an hour of sleep and I'm getting sick so everything is a sort of haze. Which reminds me, is there any feeling that matches the dreadful weight in one's stomach when one wakes up to a child vomiting where he stands?

Two Library Comics

Having worked in the library system for years, I find things hilarious that others just don't get. If you've ever worked in a library or even just spent a good amount of time there (on the internet doesn't count!) you'll find joy in these comics as I have.

Unshelved I found this comic awhile ago and have been cracking up over it ever since.

Shelf Check Just found this comic but it looks funny so far!

Helpful Links

Books:

Booksense Find independent bookstores near you.

Booksfree The Netflix of books.


Toys and more:

Nova Natural Lots of nice toys. Kind of expensive.

Toys Made in America A list of toys that are made in America.

Three Sisters Toys A work at home mama's website.

Rainbow Turtle Family owned and operated Waldorf store.

Jomamaco Natural parenting site. Lots of cool stuff.

A Toy Garden Natural toys and more!


Funny Stuff:

I Has a Sweet Potato This is hilarious!


Do Your Best to Help:

Click to Give Hunger, breast cancer, children's health care, literacy, the rainforest, and animal rescue are all featured here. All you have to do is click a button and support is given to these things (different button for each issue). Do this daily.

Starches Only, Please!

I can't force Fin to eat. I have to accept that fact. Today I made stuffing, chicken breasts, cornbread, and carrots (boiled, yuck, but Dul likes them that way and anything that keeps me from pulling out my steamer/rice cooker combo if sushi isn't in the making keeps me happy) for lunch. I thought that at least Fin would eat the stuffing since it has a bread base but no such luck. He likes his starches simple and in a form that he can easily shovel into his mouth hence his love of cornbread.

I'm not keeping up with Library Thing very well. I've been so busy just trying to keep up with reading the books, much less cataloging them. Just realize that our book list is a couple weeks behind. I'm attempting to tag them as best I can for ease of use. So when I enter new books and I don't have time to tag, I just enter unread. Some of those books are unread and some we've read but either way they'll get new tags as soon as I get around to it or, for the ones that are truly unread, once we've read them. I'm going to slowly add reviews also probably starting with the ones we've loved and the ones we've hated.

I've taken my books out of the Library Thing account and I've started a Shelfari account for the books I read for myself. Shelfari is completely free, no need to buy a membership after 200 books added. It is also prettier and the search function seems to go faster on my pathetic dial-up connection. I usually get the book that I put in also instead of having to wade through other books that aren't even titled what I put in or just breaking down and using the ISBN to find the book. (By the way, PSA: It is not ISBN number. The "N" in ISBN stands for number. Thank you and have a nice day.)

One Child Policy Homeschool is a blog by a mom living in China and homeschooling her daughter. Be forewarned, it is hosted by the evil Homeschool Blogger site (if you don't know, they support the Pearls and their abusive parenting techniques) however, don't think less of the blog for it, she is in China afterall which bans most of the other blogging sites. Anyway I've been reading it a lot lately and it has turned me on to lapbooking. I'd read about it before but this blog really put the idea into action for me.

"Your head is beautiful!"

Dul loves his Mega Bloks. We have the big ones made for toddlers and also some smaller ones that are made for older kids. He spends hours every day playing with the blocks, designing different things. A few days ago he made a helicopter with no help from anyone and just from his imagination. You could tell what it was by looking at it and it even had a non-working propeller. The boy loves to build.

So today he was building while I was nursing the baby and came in with a couple pieces.

"Mama, look!"
"Oh, that's nice!"
"Yeah." He looked at the pieces with pride and stroked them lovingly.
"I really like those, Dul"
"Yeah, Mama. I made this myself!"
"You made that yourself? That is great!"
"Yeah, Mama."
"That is really nice, Dul. That is beautiful."
"Yeah, Mama, it is beautiful! And your head is beautiful!"

Got to love that little boy!

Making Some Worksheets, Perhaps for My "Display Line"?

The week is half over! I hate kindergarten workbooks. The directions are idiotic and yet written out as if the child should be reading the one reading them. Circle this, underline this, write that, count those... Blah blah blah WASTE OF TIME blah. I believe I'm going to start making some worksheets online and just printing them out rather than continue wasting time on this refuse.

The Math Worksheet Site is where you can make individualized worksheets. You can also make answer keys if you like.

Tracer Pages from Kidzone makes tracer pages for you which is great for improving handwriting. You can make blank pages or include a theme which is a great time saver so you don't have to go digging through your clip art to decorate a holiday themed word list.

Handwriting Worksheets is another tracer page. This one has no themes included and really isn't that outstanding but it is just another option. I like having alternatives to my most useful sites in case the site I've chosen is taken down for one reason or another.

Worksheets form Homeschooling Adventures is a big list of links to worksheet pages, many ready made. Each link is given a small explanation to save you clicks.

In a fit of frugality I decided that I would start line drying all my clothing. The only problem with this is the fact that I live in an apartment. I quickly decided that I could put a line up in my "dining room" (no actual dining table resides there, basically it is the kids' playroom) and dry my clothes there. I rationalized that there is a ceiling fan in that room which would hasten the drying process. One load and many execrations later I concluded that my decision was one founded in pure stupidity and gave up the idea. I'd screwed the line into the wall and as I was angry I didn't take it down that day. When my husband came home and saw the line I didn't want to admit my mistake so I quickly proclaimed it my new "display line". I told him that I'd hand the children's paintings to dry and display on the line. He looked at me dubiously but didn't contest the idea and so the line has remained. He did find out the line's original purpose as I couldn't admit defeat after just one try and once again attempted to hang a load of clothing up and enlisted his help. The load took three days to dry.

The line does serve a lovely purpose now. I've hung up the boys' learning posters on the line and it will serve nicely when I gather the courage to allow the boys to paint.

Beginning a Formal Education

I forgot my password to Library Thing so I had to start a new account. Lesson learned: Always add an email address even if you don't want to so that you can retrieve your forgotten passwords when needed. Or at least let Firefox remember your passwords for ease of use.

Making a new account reminded me that I hadn't updated to a lifetime account yet. If this were just something for myself I wouldn't have done it but because I'm using it to keep track of information for home schooling I went ahead and upgraded. Now I can add as many books as I like. That's great because we've already reached the limit of 200 books that the free accounts get. I've been keeping track on my computer and haven't gotten around to adding the books to Library Thing but I'll do that in the next few days.

I'm debating buying Singapore Math for Fin and Dul to begin a math program. Singapore is cheap and I've heard great things about it.

This Monday Fin and I are beginning kindergarten. We've done some warm up but I've gathered enough of my basic curriculum to go ahead and get serious. It will still be very relaxed, I'm just adding a little sit down work in English and math. Right now we're using various math workbooks that I've bought over the years for the math. For English we're using Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading . Dul and I will be starting at the beginning, Fin is beginning to read so we'll skip the first few lessons that would surely bore him and we'll get started with the lessons that start teaching words.

With the rate that Fin is progressing right now I'll take a guess and say that we'll start the first grade materials this winter when he turns five. Of course, everything will be entirely at his pace so it may be earlier or later than that. I've chosen to take an eclectic Classical approach. Traditionally that would mean that I'd teach a classic language (Latin or Greek are the most popular) as the kids' foreign language. That presents itself as a problem as I've already made the decision to help my children be bilingual at the least. Because of that I've decided to put off the classic language until later years. I'm teaching the kids to read and write in English first. First grade will bring German reading/writing and after that will be Spanish. I also think that Mandarin or Japanese (I'll let each child choose between the two) writing should come before the classic language so we're looking at introducing it closer to middle school than elementary. I may just skip it entirely but I'm not going to make a formal decision on that now.

More Language Shopping Sites

Here's a couple more sites where you might find language materials.

Alphabet Garten

Language Lizard

To Do Today

I'm going to post today's "To Do" list here. I'll update at the end of the day with what I actually accomplished.

1. Read the 30 books to the kids. (Sounds like a lot but isn't that much when you consider we can go through five at each nursing session.)
2. Make Fin's learning poster and review.
   
3. Review Dul's learning poster.
4. Write meal list for the week.
5. Clean boys' room.
6. Do four loads of laundry. (I wish the washer would clean more than one blanket and towel per load!)
7. Clean kitchen.
8. Clean bedroom.
9. Clean bathrooms.
10. Clean dining room.
11. Sew five diapers.

So, that's the list. Not too much to do but still quite a bit if you consider that Belle won't let me put her down very much during the day without crying.

*Update* It is 10:27 a.m. and I haven't been to sleep all night. So far I've only made two diapers and neither of those are very good. One I sewed the soaker in wrong, it is still usable but it is ugly. I messed up the elastic on both. Again, they are still usable but ugly. The diapers also seem kind of big so I'm holding off on making anymore. I've got to find my measuring tape and then I'll measure the baby when she wakes up. Then I'll cut the pattern down to be a better fit. I want it to have room but this looks like way too much. I'm going to try and nap with the baby (which means that she'll be up soon and I won't get any sleep.)

Still Hibernating But Shopping

The baby is almost three weeks old. We are doing very limited schooling right now, basically we're just reading books and going about daily life. I plan to get back to homeschooling when the baby is a month old, so a little over a week more of "time off" for us.

We love books and reading and since I'm trying to raise the children bilingually in German and English, I want to build a library for them in both languages. I've got a few sites that are good for buying books in foreign languages.

Multilingual Books This site sells more than just books and offers a diverse selection of materials.

Books Without Borders Specializes in children's materials with a few different languages. They sell videos and audio cassettes as well which is nice if you are looking for those type of materials.

Schoenhofs Has more materials for adults but there are some offerings for children as well. Very diverse in the languages that it offers.

German Amazon This is where I've bought my children's DVDs in German. This is Amazon's German site and it is all in German so you need at least a basic knowledge of German to navigate here. Keep in mind that the prices listed are in the Euro which means that if you are in the U.S. you'll pay around double the price listed for the item. Shipping is HIGH here, I once bought two DVDs and paid over $20 in shipping.

Free Educational Songs

As a child I always loved "educational" songs. Really I had a deep love for music in all it's forms and educational music was an extension of that. Learning the fifty states in a song was a thrill. So now that I'm homeschooling my children I'm always on the lookout for new educational songs. I've recently found a great site. You can't save the songs but it has a variety of topics and clear, well-sung lyrics. Kids Know It

Another great site is Kiddie Records . It has songs taken from old kids' records and made into mp3 format. I've yet to check out all they have to offer but it seems like an excellent source for hard to find kids' songs of old.

Songs for Teaching is another great site. It has the lyrics for the songs so if you know the tune you can sing the song. As an added bonus they have songs in German (and a few other languages). Unfortunately they don't offer the full songs for free. You can either buy the cd or buy it in mp3 format. I've yet to buy any songs from them so I'm not sure of the quality but we like to listen to the clips.

NIEHS has patriotic songs, songs from movies, and children's songs along with the lyrics.


Kindersite is a page of songs from different sites. Some educational, some just fun songs.

Have Fun Teaching has just a few songs but they are originals that I have yet to find elsewhere.

Music Moz is a bunch of links to music sites. Some are good, some not so good but it is a good resource all the same.

Mama Lisa's World has a great collection of nursery rhymes and songs from around the world. It is the biggest collection of various language songs that I've run across to date.

Library Thing

I'm going to try out Library Thing. Basically I'm going to use it to keep a running list of the books that we read. I'm starting from today as it would be much too big a project to go back over every book we've ever read. I've added a widget to the side that shows the recent books we've read and also a search function so you can search my "library". It seems really cool! Something I didn't know about Library Thing: You can access it from your cell and search your library. That is great because I often find myself at the book store not knowing if I already own a book. Now if only there were a way to separate books you've only read from books that you've read AND own!

Ah, I just read that you can only add 200 books for free, after that you need to buy a membership. The lifetime membership says that it is $25, however it also has an option for $19. I'll probably be buying that soon as we'll get to 200 books in no time.

Interesting

64 words

free Touch typing

I never tested how many words per minute I type but I always assumed that I was around 40 wpm. I got this score with both my boys jumping around me screaming like banshees.

Scope and Sequence

World Book Guide

Dul *3 years old*

Preschool Curriculum Guide

Size

* Understands big and little.
* Understands long and short.
* Matches shapes or objects based on size.

Colors and Shapes

* Recognizes and names primary colors.
* Recognizes circles.
* Recognizes rectangles.
* Matches shapes or objects based on shape.
* Copies shapes.

Numbers

* Counts orally through 10.
* Counts objects in one-to-one correspondence.
* Understands empty and full.
* Understands more and less.

Reading Readiness

* Remembers objects from a given picture.
* Knows what a letter is.
* Has been read to frequently.
* Has been read to daily.
* Looks at books and magazines.
* Recognizes some nursery rhymes.
* Identifies parts of the body.
* Identifies objects that have a functional use.
* Knows common farm and zoo animals.
* Pronounces own first name.
* Pronounces own last name.
* Expresses self verbally.
* Identifies other children by name
* Tells the meaning of simple words.
* Repeats a sentence of 6-8 words.
* Completes incomplete sentence with proper word.
* Has own books.
* Understands that print carries a message.
* Pretends to read.
* Uses left-to-right progression.
* Answers questions about a short story.
* Tells the meaning of words heard in story.
* Looks at pictures and tells a story.
* Identifies own first name in manuscript.
* Prints own first name.

Position and Direction

* Understands up and down.
* Understands in and out.
* Understands front and back.
* Understands over (on) and under.
* Understands top, bottom, middle.
* Understands beside and next to.
* Understands hot and cold.
* Understands fast and slow.

Time

* Understands day and night.
* Knows age and birthday.

Listening and Sequencing

* Follows simple directions.
* Listens to a short story.
* Listens carefully.
* Recognizes common sounds.
* Repeats a sequence of sounds.
* Repeats a sequence of orally given numbers.
* Retells simple stories in sequence.

Motor Skills

* Is able to run.
* Is able to walk a straight line.
* Is able to jump.
* Is able to hop.
* Is able to alternate feet walking down stairs.
* Is able to march.
* Is able to stand on one foot for 5-10 seconds.
* Is able to walk backwards for five feet.
* Is able to throw a ball.
* Pastes objects.
* Claps hands.
* Matches simple objects.
* Touches fingers.
* Able to button a garment.
* Builds with blocks.
* Completes simple puzzles (5 pieces or less).
* Draws and colors beyondva simple scribble.
* Able to zip a zipper.
* Controls pencil and crayon well.
* Cuts simple shapes.
* Handles scissors well.
* Able to copy simple shapes.

Social-Emotional Development

* Can be away from parents or primary care givers for 2-3 hours
without being upset.
* Takes care of toilet needs independently.
* Feels good about self.
* Is not afraid to go to school.
* Cares for own belongings.
* Knows full name.
* Dresses self.
* Knows how to use handkerchief or tissue.
* Knows own sex.
* Brushes teeth.
* Crosses residential street safely.
* Asks to go to school.
* Knows parents' names.
* Knows home address.
* Knows home phone number.
* Enters into casual conversation.
* Carries a plate of food.
* Maintains self-control.
* Gets along well with other children.
* Plays with other children.
* Recognizes authority.
* Shares with others.
* Talks easily.
* Likes teachers.
* Meets visitors without shyness.
* Puts away toys.
* Able to stay on task.
* Able to work independently.
* Helps family with chores.

On the following list, red means that we haven't covered it yet. There are probably plenty of things that we have covered but we're going to go over them again for the sake of my sanity as I haven't kept records on what we've done up to this point. When I update the ones in black will be the topics we've covered.

Kindergarten Curriculum Guide

Social Studies

* Meanings of holidays, traditions, and customs
* Understanding and appreciating other cultures
* Individual's role in family, home, school, and community
* Relationship of the individual to the group
* Work and jobs
* Safety rules and symbols
* Basic human needs
* Self-respect and self-awareness
* Awareness of others
* Location of home and school
* Diagram of home and school

Science

* Observation of everyday, familiar things * Common animals and plants * Interrelationships of animals and plants * Classification of living things * Farm animals * Care of pets * Like and unlike plants * Indoor plants * The sun: our principal source of energy * Weather and seasons * Temperature * Light * Colors * Senses * Earth, moon, stars, planets * Simple measurement
* Beginning experimentation

Language Arts

* Phonics * Choral reading * Listening to literature, music, poetry * Nursery rhymes, fairy tales, fables * Social listening * Constructing visual images while listening * Oral communication skills * Role play * Following and giving directions * Paraphrasing and summarizing * Organizing ideas * Experience stories * Relating events and experiences using complete sentences * Listening for correct speech habits and word usage * Beginning writing process * Manuscript handwriting

Health and Safety

* Personal hygiene * Good eating habits * Good grooming * Care of teeth * Major body parts * Physical fitness * Safety to and from school

Mathematics

* Simple counting to 20 * One-to-one relationship * Concepts of more, less than, same * Sequence of events * Correspondence of quantities * Ordinal-cardinal relationship * Number-numeral relationship * Recognition of basic sets * Meaning of addition and subtraction * Introduction to number line * Estimation * Elementary geometry (shapes) * Calendar and clock * Denominations of money * Basic problem-solving strategies * Basic chart and graph concepts


Fin *4 years old*

Preschool Curriculum Guide

Size

* Understands big and little.
* Understands long and short.
* Matches shapes or objects based on size.

Colors and Shapes

* Recognizes and names primary colors.
* Recognizes circles.
* Recognizes rectangles.
* Matches shapes or objects based on shape.
* Copies shapes.

Numbers

* Counts orally through 10.
* Counts objects in one-to-one correspondence.
* Understands empty and full.
* Understands more and less.

Reading Readiness

* Remembers objects from a given picture.
* Knows what a letter is.
* Has been read to frequently.
* Has been read to daily.
* Looks at books and magazines.
* Recognizes some nursery rhymes.
* Identifies parts of the body.
* Identifies objects that have a functional use.
* Knows common farm and zoo animals.
* Pronounces own first name.
* Pronounces own last name.
* Expresses self verbally.
* Identifies other children by name
* Tells the meaning of simple words.
* Repeats a sentence of 6-8 words.
* Completes incomplete sentence with proper word.
* Has own books.
* Understands that print carries a message.
* Pretends to read.
* Uses left-to-right progression.
* Answers questions about a short story.
* Tells the meaning of words heard in story.
* Looks at pictures and tells a story.
* Identifies own first name in manuscript.
* Prints own first name.

Position and Direction

* Understands up and down.
* Understands in and out.
* Understands front and back.
* Understands over (on) and under.
* Understands top, bottom, middle.
* Understands beside and next to.
* Understands hot and cold.
* Understands fast and slow.

Time

* Understands day and night.
* Knows age and birthday.

Listening and Sequencing

* Follows simple directions.
* Listens to a short story.
* Listens carefully.
* Recognizes common sounds.
* Repeats a sequence of sounds.
* Repeats a sequence of orally given numbers.
* Retells simple stories in sequence.

Motor Skills

* Is able to run.
* Is able to walk a straight line.
* Is able to jump.
* Is able to hop.
* Is able to alternate feet walking down stairs.
* Is able to march.
* Is able to stand on one foot for 5-10 seconds.
* Is able to walk backwards for five feet.
* Is able to throw a ball.
* Pastes objects.
* Claps hands.
* Matches simple objects.
* Touches fingers.
* Able to button a garment.
* Builds with blocks.
* Completes simple puzzles (5 pieces or less).
* Draws and colors beyond a simple scribble.
* Able to zip a zipper.
* Controls pencil and crayon well.
* Cuts simple shapes.
* Handles scissors well.
* Able to copy simple shapes.

Social-Emotional Development

* Can be away from parents or primary care givers for 2-3 hours
without being upset.
* Takes care of toilet needs independently.
* Feels good about self.
* Is not afraid to go to school.
* Cares for own belongings.
* Knows full name.
* Dresses self.
* Knows how to use handkerchief
or tissue.
* Knows own sex.
* Brushes teeth.
* Crosses residential street safely.
* Asks to go to school.
* Knows parents' names.
* Knows home address.
* Knows home phone number.
* Enters into casual conversation.
* Carries a plate of food.
* Maintains self-control.
* Gets along well with other children.
* Plays with other children.
* Recognizes authority.
* Shares with others.
* Talks easily.
* Likes teachers.
* Meets visitors without shyness.
* Puts away toys.
* Able to stay on task.
* Able to work independently.
* Helps family with chores.

The kindergarten list is the same as Dul's.

I'm overdue to have this baby...

I'm due to have the baby any day now and it suddenly occurred to me that I haven't read many books about new babies to the kids. So I proceeded to order about thirty from the library, hopefully they'll arrive in the next few days. Fin, my four year old, seems to realize that I have a baby inside me but I'm not sure that he's connected that the baby will actually be coming out to live with us. Dul, my three year old, has absolutely no idea that the baby will be coming out. Both boys love to look at pictures of babies and they kiss my stomach all the time but I don't know that they'll connect the baby in Mama's tummy with the actual baby once it is born.

I'm thinking that I'll take the rest of this week to teach the boys about babies. Fin and I will learn how to spell some baby-related words, we'll all read the books together when they finally arrive, and we'll watch a few births online.

It is going to be pretty warm out today so I think I'll take the boys on a nature walk. If I can find my camera cord I'll take some pictures and try and post them.