Faythe turns 5

Do we ever stop looking forward to our birthdays?  My kids get so excited when they know their birthday is coming up.  Faythe and I made a chain to count down the days, but I think she got confused.  She thought that when there was one chain left then it was her birthday, so the morning before her birthday she came into my room with a huge smile on her face saying it was her birthday.  I hated to burst her bubble and tell her she had to wait one more day, but luckily she was OK with it.

Faythe's only wish was to go swimming.  Things happened a little differently than normal.  My sister had tickets to a Diamondbacks game.  Faythe didn't want to go to a baseball game, she wanted to go swimming.  So Jonathan and Darrien took the 7 older kids to the game, and Jennie and I took the 3 younger ones to a swimming pool.  Faythe got her wish and didn't care that the whole family wasn't involved.  I wish I'd taken a picture of her.  We  had lots of fun playing a younger version of the game categories and the other kids had tons of fun at the game.  It all worked out.

Several months ago Faythe found a picture of some yummy looking cupcakes in a grocery ad and decided that she wanted to make them for her birthday.  The picture has been hanging on the fridge forever.  I asked my mother-in-law (the baker) how to go about making/decorating them.  She helped me out and I attempted to copy the picture.  They don't look the same, but no one cared and the process made me grateful that I don't work in a bakery. 

Happy Birthday to Faythe!

No More Thumb Sucking!

Two weeks ago the kids had their teeth cleaned and the dentist told us that it was time for Faythe to stop sucking her thumb.  I wasn't looking forward to this because I knew it would be hard.  Faythe sucks her thumb ALL THE TIME!  She does it to help her fall asleep, she does it to comfort herself, she does it when she's bored.  I knew that I needed to prepare her.  So after the dentist appointment I made a chart counting down the days to no more thumb sucking.   I gave her 5 days and on the 6th night I put socks on her hands.  She kept them on all night.  And there was no crying.  It took her an extra long time to fall asleep and she woke up early, but she didn't suck her thumb.  And, amazingly, she had no interest in sucking her thumb during the day.  I thought we would have to break each habit individually. 

I praised and rewarded her with a treat each morning and on the 7th day we went to Wal-Mart and bought her a toy.  She was so excited and loves to tell  people that she stopped sucking her thumb.  I'm keeping the socks on for another week, because sometimes bad habits come back in the subconsciousness of sleeping. 

Way to go Faythe!

Faythe and her Letters

Faythe and I continue to work on her letter recognition during school time.  On Monday I will introduce a new letter and do an activity then during the rest of the week the other kids take turns working with her.  Sometimes they will do something that goes along with the letter of the week and sometimes they will come up with their own fun activity.  I love that they are willing to help Faythe learn and it is a great opportunity for them.  Over the past few weeks Faythe has been introduced to the letters Kk, Pp, Cc and Hh. 

We made a kangaroo that I thought was pretty ugly, but Faythe loved. 

We mixed red and white to make pink and painted a plate, then Braedi helped Faythe make a face for her pig.

Faythe took this paper cat to bed with her for a few nights. 

I love the humming bird we made.  We used cardboard, coffee filters, tin foil and markers. 

I love seeing my kids learn new things.

Lots of Letters--Dd, Oo, Ww, Ii

For the letter Dd, Faythe made a dinosaur pillow.  She colored 2 pictures of a dinosaur, stapled them together leaving a small opening, cut paper into small pieces, stuffed the paper into the opening and stapled it shut. 

For the letter Oo she made an octopus.  She counted and cut 8 legs and attached them to a body, then curled the legs.

The activity for letter Ww is a favorite.  Faythe got to play in the water.  She experimented with things that float, she measured the water in different containers, and she made a wet mess. 

She also made a pair of walruses getting married.  She named them Auntie Kosette and Uncle Matt.

For the letter Ii, Faythe learned about insects.  She read books, counted legs, made a bee and a ladybug and made a counting book.  These are pictures of her book.

It sure is fun teaching Faythe her letters.  Pretty soon she will be reading!

Faythe Turns 4

Faythe has been looking forward to her birthday all year.  On August 1st we started counting down the days.  I made a chain and she dutifully tore off one link every morning. 

The only thing she asked for was squinkies--a teeny rubber toy that she likes to chew on. 

 

Faythe had a hard time deciding what she wanted to do with her family for her birthday and finally decided on Peter Piper Pizza.  We ate pizza and played games. 

We also made yummy cupcakes for her treat.

Now that Faythe is barely 4 she likes to say that she is almost 5.  Happy birthday to my sweet baby girl!

 

The Letters Nn, Ll, and Tt

I'm a little behind in my blogging, so instead of doing all these letters as individual posts I'm going to combine them. 

Faythe has been slowly working her way through the alphabet--though a little out of order.  The curriculum I use teaches the letters by the frequency they appear in the English language. 

For the letter Nn, she made a Noodle Necklace.

 I LOVE her face in this one!

We also talked about Nests and made a Nest out of play-doh.

For Ll, Faythe made some Ladybugs.  We counted the legs and the spots. 

She also played with Legos

made a Lion mask,

 and did Leaf rubbings.

For the letter Tt, I told the story of The Little Train that Could (instead of Engine) and we made a Train that carried Tt things.

Then I told the story of the Tortoise and the Hare and we made a Tortoise.

Lastly, we had a Tea Party for 3 guests.  Faythe had to give each guest 1 cup, 1 plate, and 1 spoon.  She didn't invite herself to the party, but invited her baby doll, her "Eyering" doll and her Tortoise.   

The Letter Mm

Faythe had a lot of fun learning about the letter M. 

She played with magnets,

made 5 little monkeys,

made a mouse mask,

made a monster puppet,

and made a monster counting book.

The Letter Ss

September brought a new school schedule to our house.  Part of it includes some one-on-one time with each kid learning about what interests them.  For Faythe it's her abc's and 123's.  Each week she is learning a new letter and number.  I am following the order given by the My Father's World curriculum, but using a lot of my own ideas and ideas from this site. 

For the letter S, we looked in the letter bucket for things that start with S.  (The letter bucket is something I created when I taught kindergarten.  Each letter has a bucket filled with things that start with that letter.)  We made an S headband and decorated it with star stickers.

We also made sand pictures.

Braedi helped Faythe make a spider using her hands.  (What a great opportunity for Braedi to tutor one of her siblings!)

Faythe is 3

Faythe celebrated her 3rd birthday on Sunday.  I can't believe how much she is growing!  She already wishes she were 5.  ("Mom, am I this many?" she asks while holding up 5 fingers.) 
Faythe got a new dress-up dress and sunglasses, some dress-up shoes and a necklace, a barbie and two ponies, some money and some other small toys. 

My parents visited and brought presents and the traditional ice cream cake.  And Lola visited the next day and brought Faythe a ding-dong cake. 

The day after her birthday we went out for ice cream for the family activity.

Happy Birthday to Faythe!

Faythe Prays

Faythe says that she can say her prayers by herself. I love kids' first independent prayers. "Heavenly Father, Thank you for this day. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." So simple.

Faythe Joins the Chore Rotation

Our family rotates chores weekly. I figured this keeps them from getting bored with a chore and helps them to know there is an end in sight to chores that they don't like. We had 4 main chores that needed to be done everyday--setting the table, emptying the dishwasher, loading the dishwasher and swishing and swiping. That worked fine until Faythe was old enough to join the rotation. Now I had to think of another chore. I added washing the breakfast dishes and wiping the table to list. Faythe has gone through 3 rotations and does a pretty good job. This morning as she was loading the dishwasher she asked me to take a picture of her.

O-R-A-N-G-E

Faythe and I have been working on the color orange. We read Matilda and the Orange Balloon, sang the orange song, looked at orange things and made orange balloons, an orange fish, and an orange jack-o-lantern. I LOVE that she loves to work with me? "Can I work with you mom?"

Twins

Faythe has a little friend and they are so cute together. They also get into a lot of mischief together. Before kids are supposed to "play" together (usually it's parallel play) they were playing together. They look forward to seeing each other. Today they wore matching shirts and I just had to get a picture. That was a lot easier said than done. They would fold their arms over their shirts, or lift their shirts up or when one was looking the other wasn't. I finally got a halfway decent one.

R-E-D, Red

Faythe and I have been working on colors. She actually knows most of her colors, but it's always fun to read a book and do an activity. We started with red and will work our way through the rainbow and onto the rest of the basic colors.

We read the story The Little Mouse, the Hungry Bear and the Red Ripe Strawberry by Audrey Wood, then looked at my collection of red stuff. We also sang a song to learn how to spell red. (I don't expect her learn how to spell it at this point, but the song is cute.) Each day we did a different craft. We made a strawberry, a firetruck and an apple.

Old Mac Faythe Had a Farm

For 1 on 1 time with Faythe we learned about farm animals. We read stories, sangs songs and made animal masks.


We also continued to work on ABC's, counting to 10 and recognizing her name.
She is always asking if she can work with me. And Ephram has requested 1 on 1 learning time, too.