Learning through play

We went to the open house and curriculum night at the girls school this week. There they discussed their learning through play philosophy. I agree with this philosophy because for children play is work. Through play children learn and discover things at their own speed, I get that but I also have issues.
It should not surprise any one that I have issues because I have strong opinions about early childhood education. Even though the kids are learning through play there should be things in the classroom environment to promote literacy and basic math skills. To promote literacy everything in the classroom should be clearly labeled with pictures and print so that the children can make the connection between the object and the word. Through labeling the child comes to realize that text carries meaning. This also helps with some basic skills including categorization and organization.
I was also surprised that there was no calendar . It seems to me that a calendar should be a staple in a preschool classroom so the days of the week can be taught. How better to teach the language of time? "Today is Monday, Yesterday was Sunday we did not have school." "On Wednesday we will have music with Miss Carolyn, what instruments do you think she will bring?" That little exchange, using a calendar as a visual cue, has just touched on several language concepts, past, present and future tenses, as well as prediction and sequencing. While it teaches the language of time as well as basic math skills, counting the number of days in any given month is just the tip of the iceberg. A calendar can be used to teach patterning, sequencing, counting by two's, five's etc. and it can also be used as a way of discussing holidays which impact the school schedule.
Can you tell I am slightly passionate about this topic? I am truly shocked that these elements are not part of the girls classroom experience. I am by no means suggesting that these elements should become the primary focus of any child's classroom but they should be included in any classroom routine to enhance the learning experience. As I was reading through the curriculum goals, I noted several goals that related directly to the language of time and no direct evidence in the classroom to target these goals on a regular basis. I am concerned. I am concerned because these basic elements will not negatively impact play, if anything it will increase the language the kids are using while they are playing. It may even increase their overall level of communication about their day.
Don't get me started on the communication aspect within the classroom because my head might explode. Yes, really my head will explode. I am a Speech Pathologist I can not help it, it is in my blood and it shows because my kids communicate well and they are getting better every day. They are getting better every day because I ask them questions about their day every day. When Matt comes home I have them tell him about their day. School days are hard for me because I have no idea what the kids do. We get a news letter at the end of the week which gives us a small amount of details about their week. Because of my language background this is not enough and it should not be enough for the other parents either. Am I the only parent who talks to their child? I was talking to a friend whose son goes to another school and she gets a news letter at the start of the week that tells the parent what the theme is and what they expect to cover during the week including the books they are reading. I did the same thing when I taught preschool to keep the parents involved in our classroom activities.
I remember when the girls started school last year I had several misgivings and I was right. At that time I made a promise to myself and to Matt that I would not just let the things that I perceived as important slide because I did not want to make waves. I know that I do not want my kids to be taught by a teacher who will drill them all day on their ABC's and 123's and I am happy that the school does not employ this educational philosophy but I worry that they are taking the play philosophy too far and not incorporating some of basic educational elements. I know that when the girls are developmentally ready to perform certain tasks they will, I simply want them exposed to more language opportunities related to time, literacy, and math . Is that too much to ask?

Sir cyrus the smelly

Poor Cyrus, he is really misunderstood. He has a reputation as a really dumb dog. He is not that smart but he is not as dumb as everyone thinks he is. He is really turning into a good dog and the girls are just wild about him.
We spend a large part of our day talking about the dogs, letting the dogs out and yelling at the dogs. We yell at the dogs a lot, they are usually in the way or snaching food from the girls, so we yell. We also insult them every chance we get because they smell. They smell because we do not bathe them on a regular basis, which is our fault, and something we could rectify if we had the time or the energy.
Because they smell the girls and I decided to rename Cyrus "Sir Cyrus the Smelly". While the name is unfortunate, it is true, but it is not his fault and it may not even be our fault. It appears that our dog has allergies which inflame his ears which creates a smell not to be believed. We took "sir Smelly" to the vet today and he took one look at our boy and said he is highly allergic, we are going to change his food, give him Claritin everyday, medicate his ears and give him antibiotics for the next ten days or so and hope it improves his very itchy condition.
As I explained to the vet, he better not be allergic to the kids because we are not getting rid of them. No matter how dopey and clumsy Cyrus is he is a good dog who loves our family and puts up with tons of abuse from those girls and keeps coming back for more. So "Sir Cyrus the Smelly" is here to stay.

Last sunday

Last Sunday we took the girls back to the infamous "vacation house" for a swim. This time their cousins were there to help entertain and entertain they did. Apparently, since the last time we all swam together, Eitan and Adina discovered how to jump from the edge of the spa into an inner tube floating in the pool below.

They spent a good hour showing my very impressionable three year olds this dynamite new trick.
Sydney liked the look of the stunt and spent a good fifteen minutes trying to master it, climb out of the pool, onto the edge of the spa, wait for the ring to be placed properly, and jump. Repeat. She made it a few times but most of the time she missed or hooked her leg onto the tube and grabbed onto it as hard as she could. Every time she came up her smile was bigger and brighter than the time before. She is quite the daredevil, our little Sydney!
Lior was not as interested in the new trick but enjoyed the day by the pool with her cousins. Jordan is becoming more and more comfortable in the water. Now we have to teach her to lift her head out of the water to take breathes while she is swimming and she will be a pro. Akiva is always very content watching the kids play as long as he has his feet to play with.

Fifty

I think Matt hates this challenge. This morning I decided that I was going to get the girls to pick three toys to give away. Every time I picked up a toy they would quickly grab it out of my hands and say "You are not giving that away!" I distracted them by giving them small chores like finding all the instruments and putting them in a bin. The more I asked them to do the further they moved away from me. It is funny, the only one who would come near me was Jordan because she was afraid I was going to throw away a pocketbook or a baby.
Matt also stayed away, especially when I mentioned moving on to the garage when we were done in baby jail. I convinced him by promising that we would each throw away ten things and that we would be done in an hour. I do not even think we were outside for an hour and we each threw out our ten items. Matt convinced me that when we throw out a huge garbage bag filled with tons of different things that it need to count as more than "one".
Using his logic we are done with this challenge. I must have gotten rid of over one hundred pieces of clothes, one hundred toys and stuffed animals and one hundred pieces of paper. I must admit I liked Matt's logic but I had loftier goals. I wanted to get rid of at least one hundred big things. I wanted to see big gaping holes where stuff used to live. I wanted to look at a closet and say to myself "What can I put in here? instead of "Where can I fit this pill box?" I still have time and I am planning on making Matt get rid of ten things next weekend as well. We are at fifty "things" and counting and counting and counting.

Our trip to the "vacation house"

Danny and Tanya have moved to Florida. They thought they found a house and moved in and then the house was sold. They have a years lease so they have a place to live but the people who bought the house really want to live there and asked Dan and Tanya to move. It is not as bad as it sounds as the people have two other homes, one more beautiful than the next for them to move into. The house they chose does not have a pool in the backyard, it is less than fifty feet away and is shared by the community. Good enough for us because it is better than what we have.
So while Uncle Danny and Aunt Tanya have this fantastic "vacation" house with a pool and no furniture, we are going to use it as much and as often as possible while they have it. The pool is a lot of fun. The hot tub is the perfect height for the girls to jump off and into the water. Sydney was the first to try it on Sunday and her sisters followed right after her. I thought Matt was going to go into shock when I told the girls they could jump off. "Today it's the hot tub, then it's the avocado tree and the next thing you know it's the roof" Apparently I opened Pandora's box. Unfortunately I did not take pictures of Jordan doing it on Sunday and today she refused without her "Daddy".



It looks like the girls do not need their father to throw them up in the air anymore, they can jump off the hot tub all by themselves. Maybe it is a good thing they are moving!

Matt & Minnie

Matt went to Philadelphia for his brother Mark's wedding earlier this month. He left me home with the four kids, it was a good thing Tanya was here with her kids or I would have been all alone all weekend long.
While he was packing Friday morning Lior walked over to his suitcase and put in a teddy bear. When Matt told her he was taking it with him she quickly withdrew the offer. That is when Matt took all three girls into "baby jail" and picked out a doll that he could take with him. They chose Minnie because we have at least two of them. Matt spent the rest of his trip taking photos of Minnie and sending them to me via the i-phone so they could keep up with his trip.
Minnie's plane.The view from her hotel room.

The shower she could not stop raving about.
The frog she tried to kiss, but decided that he was no Mickey Mouse.
Minnie and Matt dressed up and ready to party at the wedding.
Minnie and Uncle Mark getting ready to take the plunge.
Matt, Minnie and Uncle Mike getting ready to walk down the aisle.
And of course Minnie could not rest until she got a photo with the bride and groom.
There are plenty of other pictures from Matt and Minnie. They ate cookies, played in the park, got a haircut, and danced with a few unsuspecting wedding guests. The kids absolutely loved it. They could not wait for them to come home. Jordan still comes up to me and asks me t show her pictures of Minnie.

More Peas

Akiva really likes food. He likes food a lot more than he likes plain cereal. I finally got the pictures of the first bite of peas onto the computer and up for all to see.
Sydney is such a great big sister!
Look at those big blue eyes! I do not know if he got any food in his mouth that time.
Yummy!

Back at it

We went back to the gym again today for more abuse! We did not even make it in to the gym before some little boy came over and tried to gouge out his eyes. The little bugger woke him up before I could try and stash him away safely.
Doesn't he look safe? Doesn't it look like I have tried to take him and place him out of harms way? Today the moms' decided that it would be better to stand right in front of him and carry on their conversations, so they could block my view of the baby and keep a "close eye" on their children as they attack my son. I picked him up halfway through class when someone told me it was the bears on his straps that were attracting the children's attention. I should ask them if they ever say "no" to their kids, it works.
While I was being aggravated by the mommies Jordan was having a grand old time. Look at her go!

Priceless

Isn't that just the best thing you have seen today?

Now they are playing with me

Danny called me today to ask if he could pick up the couch. "Pick up the couch? Of course you can have the couch, come NOW" They got here Danny took one look at the couch and said "I can't fit that into a mini van. I'm not going to take it." Why must they play with my emotions? Don't they know that I am a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown?
Instead of the couch he took a mattress that he needs to bring back. That kind of defeats the purpose of my challenge, don't you think?

My challenge

I got rid of six towels today! Can I count them towards the hundred things I am giving away this month? It is funny how my brothers housing problems directly impact my ability to complete my challenge. I just need to have him pick a house and move so I can give him at least ten pieces of furniture. Then I need him to come over here and babysit my kids so I can get rid of another thirty pieces of junk.
Time is ticking away and my house is still filled with junk.

The things people say...

Jordan started back at the gym three weeks ago. I bring Jordan and Akiva to the gym by myself and try to leave Akiva in his car seat so I can have my hands free for Jordan. I usually place him next to one of the padded walls and a small basketball net so he is protected on two sides. I am always close by. Even when I am across the room with Jordan working on a skill my eyes are trained on that car seat. I am always watching.
The mothers talk and I hear "Whose baby is that?" dripping with complete disdain. It is like they are saying, "How can that mother just leave her baby like that?" Since I am never far away and always within ear shot I quickly and quietly say "mine" and they say "oh" and quickly walk away. Their children are drawn to Akiva like a moth to a flame. They want to touch him, squeeze him and poke out his eyes. Their mothers just stand there and talk completely oblivious that there precious little child is about to harm my devastatingly handsome son. So I patiently redirect their children away from his eyes and to his feet so that they learn to be gentle.
Last week there was a little boy completely infatuated with Akiva, he would not stay away. His mother moved the portable basketball net away from Akiva so that he could get closer (and she could talk). Now if that basketball net fell over it would land on my little guys head instead of the wall. It became such an issue for this mom that she felt it necessary to walk up to me and tell me that she was going to have to switch classes because the baby was such a distraction.
I suppose that if I were a nice person I would start to wear Akiva in the Baby B'jorn during class. But since he generally sleeps during the first twenty minutes and is content to sit and watch for the rest of the time, I am going to continue to chase the other mothers out of the class and away from my baby.

Peas

Akiva tried peas for the first time tonight and they were a huge success. The first spoonful went in like it usually does but when he tasted those peas, his eyes lit up and his mouth opened wide. We have a pea lover on our hands!
Sydney helped me give Akiva his cereal and peas for dinner. She loves to feed him, she likes to feed him so much that she was willing to skip her bath to feed him his pea dinner. Most of you are saying "What kid would not want to skip a bath?" Sydney LOVES her bath, she is willing to negotiate for a shower if she thinks a bath is not in her future but she NEEDS to take a bath on a daily basis. For her to skip her bath is a big deal but I guess feeding Akiva and getting to try his peas is an even bigger deal! She even liked eating the peas and Akiva loves it when his sisters feed him!

Twenty two months

Jordan is twenty two months today. She thinks she is thirty two months. Jordan is going through the terrible two's. She wants what she wants when she wants it and she always wants it now, I mean RIGHT NOW!! When she is not screaming because she has not gotten what she wants she is cute and sweet. She has a great sense of humor and is by far the silliest twenty two month old kid we have ever had!
Her language skills amaze me. She has been known to use six word utterances to request things or to tattle on her sisters. She is naming attributes ("I want the small one", "I want the pink one", "Yook Mommy big one", "I want the one with popa dots, peeese!", "Mommy button shirt"). She sings songs, right now the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" in both English and Hebrew are her favorites. She is also singing the alphabet when Sydney and Lior are singing it. She knows colors and uses them all the time to request things.
Her biggest pleasure, besides tormenting her sisters is playing with babies. Jordan can spend the whole day walking around our house with her purse on her shoulder pushing the stroller with her baby in it. Now it is never the same baby but she does have babies that she prefers more than others. When Sydney and Lior are at school Jordan likes to play with the babies they like. She walks over to me all the time and hands me babies and tells me who they belong to. She will stop playing with the babies long enough to put things in her purse and talk on her cell phone. I have found a lot of items we have been missing in the girls purses. She has been known to raid my wallet and load her newly found goods into her purse. Whenever I am missing money from my wallet I know who to look for.
Jordan is now telling me what she wants to wear every day if she has not already picked it out and put it on. Jordan dresses herself from top to bottom. She even puts on her socks, although she sometimes requires assistance. She puts on her shoes (on the correct feet!) and takes them off with ease. She uses a fork and tries to cut with a knife. She continues to amaze us at the gym where she is walking the balance beam with my finger on her elbow to make her feel more comfortable and to increase the difficulty of the skill. She is very strong and is almost doing pull ups.
She is climbing our rock wall to keep up with her big sisters.
Jordan is wonderful with Akiva and will often come running to tell me when he is crying. She is always bringing him one of his toys to play with, especially when he is upset.
As tough as Jordan is and she is tough, she has a heart of gold. She is always sharing what ever treat she has with her sisters or with me. When Sydney is crying Jordan will always bring her the toy she wants or get her something to make her feel better.

Eight

I got rid of eight "things" tonight. They were not just little things, they were boxes and garbage bags filled with clothes. I am finally making a dent in my challenge. Watch out because Dan and Tanya are moving into their house on Sunday and I am sure I can unload a ton of stuff on them.

My hero

Matt is my hero! Today while I was doing laundry the dryer died! Mid load it just stopped working. The towels were still wet and there was a load in the washing machine. So I did what every smart woman would do, I went shopping with four tired and cranky kids in tow (but that is another story). While I was shopping I kept thinking about how the laundry would pile up all week and I wondered how much underwear we had. Could we make it a full week without doing laundry? Sadly, the answer to that question is no!
It is a holiday weekend, when would the service people be able to come? The idea of being tied to the house for the day was enough to drive me to drink!
I decided to bring the wet clothes to my mom's house to be dried. While they were there to be dried they were miraculously folded by my sister-in-law Tanya, who could not get over how cute (and little) their clothes were. While she was folding Matt was fixing our dryer! He actually fixed the dryer. He is just amazing and wonderful because now we will all have clean underwear!

BFF's

Every night is a party when you share a room with your very best friend.