Handyman Nicholas

Stuart had to replace a set of blinds in our bathroom window today. Of course, Nicholas was ready and willing to help with his own little tool box in tow. He is so cute. He just loves helping Stuart on all of the various projects around the house. Today he insisted on putting this pencil behind his ear and I had to get a quick picture because the pencil kept falling.

Girl Scouts Garage Sale for a Great Cause

I haven't posted an update about all that has happened since I won the $5,000 award from Pantene to add educational components about nature to a local playground. Well, I've spent a lot of time speaking with some members of the parks department and have been working to get a large all-inclusive (aka handicap accessible) wooden fort-like playground built on some undeveloped property that the town will be developing soon. I've attended several public hearings before the Parks, Arts, and Library Services board as well as Town Council to promote my idea and explain the reasons why our children need an exceptional park to help draw them outside, away from the television and video games. I'm excited to say that the final approvals have been granted for the concept drawings for the playground. Now I'm working on getting the community involved to help contribute time and money to help make the playground something really exceptional.

One of the ladies I've spoken with is the leader of a group of Daisy Girl Scouts. They are mostly 6 year olds and they want to do something to help contribute to the playground. I met with the girls last weekend at their first meeting of the year and talked to them about the efforts that have gone into getting the park to where it is and what we need to do next. I already knew that they would be learning about seeds and growing plants this year so I talked to them about the literal planting of seeds but also how we can plant seeds with our actions. We talked about how the seeds have been planted for the playground but now we need others to help water it to help it grow into something beautiful that we can all enjoy.

They decided to have a garage sale and donate all of the money to the playground. I worked with them to help get people in the community to donate items to be sold at the garage sale and made several trips around town picking up items for them.

The garage sale took place this morning and we all went over to show our support (and shop!). Nicholas' favorite part was the lemonade and donut stand. He was proud to do his part to contribute to the fundraiser by eating as much as he could.





Nicholas was also proud that he had gone through his toys and chosen some items to donate to help raise money for the playground. However, I did get in a little bit of trouble with him when he noticed a few more of his toys for sale at the garage sale that I had thrown in on my own. Oopsie! I hadn't thought about him catching me like this :)

I'm so proud of these little girls and what they did to get the fundraising piece of the project rolling. They have started us off with the first donation of $170. Way to go, girls!

Six Flags!

Again this year, Pepsico had their annual party at Six Flags. It is always so much fun and Nicholas looks forward to it all year long. The entire park is closed to the public so the crowds and lines for the rides are small. Pepsico provides stations throughout the park where you can pick up free Aquafina, Gatorade, Pepsi soft drinks, Fritos, Doritos, Lays, Rold Gold pretzels, and Sun Chips. Plus each person gets some free Daffy Dollars that can be spent on food or souvenirs at the park. What an awesome family event for a company to put together! Thank you, Pepsico!

We ended up with an extra ticket so Nicholas got to invite a friend along with us. We went to McDonalds for a quick bite to eat before because we were all hungry.



The boys got Batman toys in their happy meals and Stuart helped them figure out how to make Batman shoot his batarang.



Then we were off for the real fun at Six Flags!



The boys had so much fun on the rides. I loved watching their smiles and laughter. I don't think either of them were ever worried or scared on the rides.













We got some great pictures until the sun went down. Then we enjoyed a special treat of cotton candy. Who can resist cotton candy?







We got each of the boys some souvenirs with the Daffy Dollars and headed home about 11:00 pm. We are all exhausted except for Nicholas who was too excited to just sit quietly. He just kept talking about all of the fun he had. But as soon as we were home he passed out in bed...and so did Mommy and Daddy.

Meet Bumblebear

This morning we went to a PTA party at the library. It was fun and there was an instructor for Noah's Ark Animal Workshop there to help each child make their own stuffed animal!. Nicholas chose to make a Bumblebear which Mommy thought was the cutest of all the options to make.

The first thing Nicholas noticed was that the bear had an embroidered star on his foot. He said, "Look Mommy! This must be some kind of new Webkinz!" For those of you who are not Webkinz-savvy, the Webkinz stuffed animals have a little embroidered "W" on them.



He was given the bear and a bag of stuffing. The instructor taught the children how to make just the right size "snowballs" out of the stuffing to fit into the bear's arms, legs, etc. Nicholas make lots and lots of stuffing snowballs then the stuffing began. He was so cute as he stuffed because he was already talking to the bear as he worked on him.



Once Bumblebear was well stuffed, the instructor gave Nicholas an embroidered star. She told everyone to hold up their star and make a wish.



Nicholas wished for "all of the Star Wars toys ever made". Then he kissed the star and put it in the bear before we permanently closed him up. And voila! Meet Bumblebear! Isn't he a cutie!

This Week at Preschool

Nicholas had a great week at school. Here's some things he worked with and learned about:

Montessori works: Nicholas practiced using the pink tower and brown stair extensions. He learned how to measure and cut flowers for the height of a vase.

Language: Nicholas practiced nursery rhymes, finger plays, and songs to help learn the pattern of sounds for reading. He has been using muscial phonics to learn about letters and he enjoys singing his phonics songs around the house.

Math: Nicholas enjoyed counting everything. He used Math Mats which helped him to listen carefully and cooperate.

Good Shepherd Lesson: Altar and flower cutting

Spanish: He has been learning to say various colors in Spanish.

I'm proud that Nicholas' school promotes a Developmental Point of View. Here's an excerpt from an article that was recently sent home:

It is highly unlikely that anyone without a Developmental Point of View can really take part in a successful Readiness Program. This is not a program for those who feel that a child is like a piece of clay which can be pushed and pulled to fit a pre-determined form. Nor is it a program for those who feel that a child is like a computer for which information is broken up into little pieces and fed in bit by bit, to be retrieved at a later date. It is a program for those who have faith in the orderliness of nature and trust a child to know his own needs.

The Developmental Point of View means understanding that growth is orderly, structured, predictable. Because a child is a living organism, he is subject to the same laws of growth as every other species in nature and has a cycle of development peculiar to humans in general. In this way he is like every other child.

The Developmental Point of View means respecting the fact that every child has his own rate and pattern of growth peculiar to him. In this way he is different from every other child.

The Developmental Point of View means accepting the child as a total action system; his physical, social, emotional, and intellectual components depending upon and supporting each other. These components are not separate, and one cannont be stretched ahead of the others without upsetting an intrinsic and intricate balance.

The Developmental Point of View means appreciating that readiness for any given task has its roots in the biological-maturational make-up of the child. We can neither produce it, hurry it, nor ignore it. When a child is ready, he will be born, walk, talk, and read.

The Developmental Point of View means promoting educational programs for children in terms of development as is is, NOW, not in terms of what one thinks it ought to be.

The Developmental Point of View means walking hand in hand with nature. It is a respect for the total humaness of children.

The Power of a Pen

I picked the boy up from school today and we went to the park at the duck pond to spend some time outside and enjoy the awesome weather we've had.



I let Nicholas play on the playground for a little while but when he was ready for a break I told him that I had a surprise for him. I handed him a small package that came in the mail today for him from Granddad Owen. He excitedly opened it up and was glad to see an LSU pen (notice from his shirt that he had strawberries for lunch today - why does he think his shirt is a napkin?)



Nicholas loves LSU Tigers and even asked yesterday if McDonald's might have LSU Tiger toys in their Happy Meals someday. Anyway, this isn't just a regular old pen. No. This one plays the LSU Fight Song! How cool! Well, Nicholas had to run back to the playground and show all of the kids his new pen that plays music.

Then he had to go play the music for the ducks who were trying to take their afternoon siestas by the pond. Well, of course the ducks didn't appreciate a little four year old boy running up to them with a music-playing pen so they ran away. Hmmm, what do you think happened next? The four year old boy loved the response and created a new game - "Chase the Ducks with the LSU Fight Song Pen".



I let Nicholas play for a little longer on the playground before we left. At one point he was playing near the fence and bent down to pick something up. He came running over to me and said that these were for me. Sweet!



Thanks for the pen, Granddad! Nicholas loves it and has been playing that song over and over and over and over and over again ALL day long. He even wanted to bring the pen to bed with him tonight. I love the song but it's stuck in my head now and driving me crazy. You are so thoughtful to send this to us - how can I ever repay you? :)

Playtime at the Park

Nicholas likes the new friends he has made in his class this year. The moms have started a little playgroup so we can get them all together to play once a week. This morning the weather was great so we all met at a park. Nicholas was pretending to be a dinosaur and making weird animal noises. He loves doing that - as much as those animal noises drive me crazy!