Big Boy Beds and More

Our week started off with Dallas moving on up into a big boy bed. 

I was all excited until bedtime rolled around. That's when I was sure I had lost my mind. Then I wondered how mad Paul would be if we had to pull the crib and mattress out of the attic and put it back up. All of this was followed by a quick prayer of "Please God....let him be ready!"  

The first night was great. He didn't get out of his bed at all, even when he woke up that morning. But the nights are hit and miss. Some nights we see this...

At least a couple of times, but most nights he stays in his bed looking at a book or playing with his trucks. I was more worried about nap time, because he doesn't want to take a nap anymore, but he has done awesome with his naps. Never gets up and goes right to sleep. I guess this means he was ready to transition to a big boy bed. Why do they have to grow up so fast?

We had a good week of school. I was a little discouraged with Lauren's progress. Not that she isn't making progress, because she is doing so much more than she was able to do a year ago...even six months ago. She is just behind for what is considered to be "normal" for her age. We are working so hard to try to get her caught up, but most things you can't rush because she is just not able to do them yet. But it will come in time. 

So, after much prayer about the situation I had an AHA moment. Why it took this long...I have no idea. Lauren is a mover and I am absolutely positive she has ADD. I imagine her brain constantly jumping from one thing to another, so it is very hard to keep her attention for longer than a few minutes. While she understands the reading concept better than Kristen did at this age, it is very hard to keep her attention long enough to focus on reading. So, we created a sensory bin for her to use. We start with our ending and I hide the beginning letters in the rice and she has to find them then tell me what the word is. 

I didn't realize how much she would enjoy this! Who knew some rice, with a few sprinkles added in could make a difference. We will use it for other subjects and add other bins in over the year.

She is definitely a one on one learner. Her mind wanders the most during subects we all do together, with the exception of writing. I printed off pictures of our bible lesson and let her look at them while we read from the bible and she learned so much more. Having lots of activites and hands on is what she learns best from. And I am learning so much from her. 

Kristen is chugging right along and is a human sponge. She loves learning new things and is a very quick learner.

We learned about linking verbs this week and she picked it right up. Language arts is one of her favorite subjects. 

We also made a bird feeder for science. 

We haven't seen any birds, but I am pretty sure a squirrel is enjoying the seeds. I bought a cheap bag and was surprised to see whole almonds and cashews in it. We also made suet.

Well, actually I made suet. Kristen hates the smell and taste of peanut butter, so I made it while she did her math with a close pin on her nose. It's still in my freezer. We have yet to put it out for the birds. I am sure the squirrels and other critters will just eat it anyway. I think all of the birds have already gone south for the winter.

We also talked about sin this week. It's one thing to be able to say that sin is anything you think, say or do that does not please God...but I wanted them to understand how sin affects our life and separates us from God (just like Adam and Eve in our bible lesson). So, thanks to the wonderful worldwide web, I found two object lessons about sin. 

First we started with a clear glass of water. This represented them when they were born.

Then they told a lie, disobeyed Mom and Dad, was mean to their sibling....etc....and it didn't matter how many times they sinned or how little the sin was, it still affected the whole glass of water (their whole life) and our water was no longer clear.

But, when we ask Jesus to come into our life and ask for forgiveness from our sins, he makes us clean again. 

As you can see Lauren loved this demonstration. I think she now thinks I have a little magic up my sleeve. 

They also drew a picture of Adam and Eve on one side of a piece of paper and a heart (which represented God) on the other side. We folded it in half, then added some water (sin) to the crease. Before sin we couldn't tear the paper in half by pulling on it, but after sin it separated very easily. This is because sin separates us from God. 

Some great illustrations!

We also made some snakes...

Made some scary faces, because we read the story, Can you make a scary face? And painted some bugs.

And made a cow mask to wear while we read the book, Who Moo. 

And if you have a two year old boy and you hear hysterical laughing coming from a closed bathroom door, be prepared to see this.

Yes, that is the potty insert. He was all smiles until he did it again tonight, but decided to wear it around his neck and it wouldn't come off. I had to hold his ears down while Paul pulled it off. His ears were still red at bedtime. I would say he won't do it again...but he probably will.