6/20/13

Aaron again came out for his milk at breakfast, no blueberries or English muffin.  At lunch he ate all of his saltines and canned cherries but no chicken or sweet potatoes.  

Aaron and Thomas were following Emily and Kenzie around bugging them so I let them go play in the back room to get away from them.  Aaron stood at the gate whining because I had taken his source of entertainment away.  I cuddled with him for a few minutes and after that he played just fine, but he was initially very distraught.  

Aaron, Kenzie and Riley all worked hard to get all of the stuffed animals that are out right now precariously balanced on the window sill.  There was actually too many for the space, so they really had to work to get the last ones all piled up there before the first ones fell off.  

Aaron had a blast helping Kenzie "load the car" (the area behind the igloo) with all of the stuffed animals, which were deemed "groceries".  

Riley was under the black chair in the big room and Aaron had fun peeking at her and getting her to laugh at him.  Aaron was obviously making it look to fun because Thomas came over and had to get in on the action and fun too!  They then started taking turns with who was under the chair and who was on the chair doing the peeking.  

6/19/13

Aaron came out and drank some milk, but didn't eat any biscuit or peaches at breakfast.  At lunch he ateall of his baked beans, a bite of dinner roll and a couple of pineapple, no peas that I saw. 

Kenzie and Aaron played on the rowdy side quite a bit this morning, with Riley joining them off and on.  Kenzie accidentally tipped over as they were playing and bonked her head on the floor, which made Aaron crack up.  The then took turns tipping over on purpose, bonking their heads and laughing.  

When they got tired of that game, they then decided to use each other as drums.  I had to keep reminding them to drum gently, but they were having a blast with it!  

I don't know how many times a day Aaron sings to himself as he plays.  He has amazing pitch and good tone quality.  Even though his enunciation isn't strong, I never have to work to figure out what song he is singing.  

Aaron totally shocked me today when he pointed to the correct letter when I asked Kenzie which one on my bracelet was "R" for Riley.  I then had to experiment to see how many of the letters in my name (on my bracelet) he knew.  He knew every single one, both asking him to point to the letters and me pointing to the letters and asking him what letter is was.  In addition, he actually verbalized the letters sounds extremely clearly.  Impressive!  I was about to take him to the alphabet poster to quiz him further when Kari came to work with him, so I will try that another time. 

6/18/13

Aaron came out to eat, but only drank milk, no waffles or hashbrowns at breakfast.  At lunch he ate all of his oranges, a bit of brown rice and no shrimp or fresh peppers. 

Aaron was so excited when I brought out big bear.  I had Micala sew up the latest tear in it, so we were able to play with him again.  He wasn't the only one glad to see the old friend!  They were cuddling, laying and jumping on him like crazy the first hour or so.  They then started fighting over him, so he took a break so he wouldn't get ripped some more.  

Aaron teeter-tottered for about 30 minutes of our outside play time this morning.  He started out doing it with Kenzie and loved that because Kenzie is lighter than he is so he could just sit with his end on the ground and she couldn't get down.  When she yelled "Let me down!", he just thought that was hilarious.  

After Kenzie was done Rae took over her spot but they were way more balanced and could both strand each other in the air, so yelled "let me down" at each other fairly evenly.  

After Rae tired of it (probably 10 times up and down) Thomas took over her spot.  Now things really got rowdy!  They were trying to push it up really fast so the other one lost their hold.  They then started bailing off of their spots randomly.  Aaron thought that was so funny until he misjudged and didn't bail off quite far enough and the seat hit and hurt his mouth on the way down.  

6/14/13

Aaron didn't even want to come out to eat breakfast.  At lunch he ate all of his applesauce, the cheese and most of the peas out of his peas and pasta, and a bite of lean ground beef. 

Aaron was following Emily and Kenzie around this morning, bugging them (trying to take their toys, standing on their blankets...) so I had him move away from them and give them some space.  He was not very happy at me and had a pouty face for several minutes before choosing something else to engage him.  

He was stacking the play cooking pans as if they were blocks, knocking them over then re-stacking them.  He moved away from them for a while and was very upset when one of the other kiddos took one of the pans off of the pile to put some food into and cook.  

Aaron took two pieces of cheese over to Gary to show him, telling him "oooo eeze" for 'two cheese'. 

Aaron was having his arm straight forward with his hand in a fist.  He then had his other hand pointing at the elbow like he was pushing a button on the straight arm.  He was also making a "uh-uh-uh-uh" sound repeatedly.  

Aaron and Rae frequently with switch placed doing one thing or another, saying "your turn" or "my turn" to each other.  Today they were taking turns putting a scarf over each others head with a play cooking pan on top of it.

6/13/13

Aaron ate all of his blueberries and gave his cinnamon raisin english muffin a kiss goodbye at breakfast.  At lunch he ate about half of his fresh pineapple (subbed for kiwi that was too hard) and no ground turkey burger or green beans.  

Aaron counted kiddos (up to 5) several times out of the blue, which was pretty cool. It was at multiple different times, such as while they were jumping, at meal, and while reading.  

I have felt kind of bad for Aaron lately, because Emily has been really giving him the cold shoulder most of the time.  She has been one of his best buddies and the one that played with him most.  Now she seldom will at all unless Kenzie is playing with them too and tries to include him.  

Kenzie, Rae and Aaron were playing in and around the igloo today.  He headed into the igloo and bonked his head on accident, which made Kenzie laugh, so he laughed along with her and did it again and again.  I have never figured out how hurting yourself can be funny, but to this age, it sure is!  : )

When it began raining, I started singing "rain, rain go away".  Several times throughout the morning I heard him singing it on his own.  It was really cute. I love how much he sings and loves music!

We went to the back room today to play with block, duplos and other toys.  Riley worked (with some help from Kenzie) to get all of the duplo fence pieces stacked.  They then lay them down on the floor.  Obviously, Aaron immediately thought it looked like a road and got a tractor to drive on the road.  Riley, on the other hand, really didn't seem to care about what it was or looked like.  All she was concerned about was that it was HERS an not for Aaron to drive his tractor on.  Eventually Riley got tired of lying on it and Aaron had his fun driving his tractor on the bumpy road.  

6/12/13

Aaron came out and had a couple drinks of his milk, but didn't eat any jelly toast or dried mangos.  At lunch he ate all of his beef and bean burrito and no tropical fruit or sweet potato.  

Aaron was peeking through the hole in the climber-balance beam step hole at Mia, which she loved.  They did it over and over, with Aaron chuckling when Mia stuck her hand into the hole to try to "get" him,  

When I was done reading stories to the kiddos (8 of them), Aaron was pouty because he didn't want to stop.  He kept telling me, "want to read more".  He and Nora were the only ones not ready to be done. 

Kari did end up coming around 10:30.  We were getting ready to go outside.  That was a little different, but he still did great (even with us all going outside and them staying in the big room).  He basically worked with her until lunch.  

6/11/13

Aaron ate his cinnamon roll but no prunes at breakfast.  At lunch he ate all of his cantaloupe, a bite of waffle and no hashbrowns or eggs.  

Aaron was trying to sit or step on everyone during play first thing today.  He wasn't being mean.  It was just in play, although the recipients of the stepping or sitting didn't necessarily agree!  : )  We helped him find something else to do when the kiddos didn't like his play choice!  

Aaron spent time looking intently at books today. He especially liked this one book that has a handle built into it for carrying.  It is called "knock on the door" and is about a bunny.  

Aaron, Thomas and Riley played together on the rowdy side of the room very appropriately.  They were basically just racing around then flopping on the mattress, racing some more and flopping on the couch.  There was very minimal grabbing and contact, amazingly!  

6/10/13

Aaron came out for breakfast, but didn't end up eating any Kix or mixed fruit.  At lunch he ate all of his mandarin oranges, a couple bites of peas and no ham sandwich.   

Aaron and Rae mostly played together today.  Both Thomas and Emily were gone today, which changed the dynamics quite a bit.  Kenzie was attached to her sister.  Mia, Nora and the babies just kind of do their own thing so that left Rae and Aaron.  

Aaron was very mellow today.  He wasn't sad or even snugly, just way calmer today. For one thing, he really enjoys Emily and she was gone.  Also what usually gets him going is either harassing Kenzie and Emily when they are playing together or just spinning, dancing or chasing with just Emily.  

I did a few bubbles at outside time with the huge bubble wand.  Aaron  was really the only one very interested in it.  Kenzie had found a tiny apple that had fallen off of the neighbors apple tree into our yard.  she had made a big deal about it and had gotten all of the other kiddos preoccupied with it about the time I got the bubbles out.

6/7/13

Aaron ate all of his raisins and no rice at breakfast.  At lunch he ate all of his meatloaf and bites of cooked carrots, no French bread or dried apricots.  

Kenzie let Aaron play with her so nicely much of the morning. He intentionally included him, even when Emily wasn't wanting to.  Aaron was trying to sit by Emily and she told him no.  Kenzie immediately told him, "you cacao me sit by me, Aaron!"  

She also noticed that he had a little owie on his finger, asked him if he was okay and how he got his owie.  He said something that I couldn't understand and then she said, "Oh, I'm sorry!" and gave it a kiss, asking if that was better.  

We got out the parachute when we went outside and Aaron had a blast with that.  He just cracked up when we did the big and fast waves, when they went under it and when I put it over one of the pieces of play equipment for the to play in like a tent.  

Just so you know because I keep forgetting to tell you, Aaron has been pooping for me every morning about breakfast time.  I didn't want you to think he was plugging up!  : )

6/6/13

Aaron at all of his grapes but no cinnamon toast at breakfast.  At lunch he ate all of his hashbrowns and nothing else -- chicken, biscuit and canned cherries.  

Aaron and Thomas were watching Kenzie "feed" Riley the play carrots then came over to join them and feed each other.  It is so great how often play is contagious like that!  They learn so much from each other and play experimentation.  

We got down the Geo Climber today.  All of the kiddos gravitated to it like it was a magnet for about 15 minutes then began to scatter somewhat.  Aaron was fearless, highly successful and really enjoying playing on it, but kept getting his shoe stuck and pulling it off in the corners of it.  He brought it over to me three times telling me "shoe came off" laughing and plopping down in front of me for me to help him put it back on.

6/5/13

Aaron didn't want to eat either bagels or peaches at breakfast.  A lunch he ate most of his corn and about half of his macaroni and cheese, a bite of ham and no salad with ranch.  

Kenzie, Aaron and Emily were all taking turns playing peek on and under the black chair.  They actually regulated the turn taking among themselves and doing it in a predictable sequence.  All of them were really enjoying it, but Aaron was really cracking up.  

Aaron and Riley are now the two super toy monitors for the big room.  As soon as they see a toy on the wrong side of the room, they are immediately picking it up and putting it where it belongs.

Aaron and Thomas played together some today-- mostly peeking at each other and laughing. Three different times during the course of their play Thomas fell down and Aaron roared!  One of the times when Thomas "booed" at him he got a little too close and they bonked heads.  Aaron really thought that was funny.  Another thing that Aaron thought was just hilarious was when he stuck his hands out onto the balance beam so that Thomas stepped on them.  He wanted Thomas to do it over and over again.  

When Kari came, he was ready to go do his work in the back room with her.  Rae also tried to join them but Aaron wasn't having that.  He knows it is HIS time and HIS Kari!  

All of the kiddos have been thrilled that warmer weather is here (as are we).  One of the things it means is that sand table play and bubble are back.  They had so much fun with the sand table from Mia to Kenzie!  

6/4/13

Aaron came out to breakfast, but only drank milk (didn't eat any waffles or pears).  At lunch he ate all of his fresh oranges, about half of his saltine crackers and no tuna or sweet potatoes.  

Aaron was going along with Kenzie's play about "cooking marshmallows" on the fire, which was actually a pile of stuffed animals.  She was giving him and Riley pretty good instructions on how the process went.  

Aaron was playing with the play phones a lot today and having some pretty lengthy conversations with someone!  I would understand a word here and there (mostly Hi and Bye), but there were a lot of things in between.  

Aaron was so cute feeding Nora some "milk" in the play cup today. Nora loved it and had to do it repeatedly!  Aaron did it for a while then moved away to play with Kenzie again.  

Aaron was playing with a couple of the Duplo cows and saying "moo" repeatedly!  It was great!  He is making the MMMM sound for it great!  

Aaron realized that he could put the Duplo fence pieces on top of each other and diligently searched for every fence piece he could fine and stacked them on top of each other.  He also recruited Kenzie to help him find the sections.