Playing with the Twins

 Our youngest daughter gave birth to twins in December and it has been wonderful to watch them grow.

 They borrowed some of the ideas that was used for our older grand daughter.

Like this PVC pipe stand to hang rattles, and such, to attract their attention, or accidentally hit and make noise.

We started reading books to them early too.

A mirror was set up for tummy time so they could look at themselves and each other.

And of course we sang lots of songs to them.

 And lately I introduced play trays.

Simple cookie sheets placed in front of them to hold items that may be easily grabbed.

At first they just looked at the items,

but as they developed more movement in their arms they brushed against the items and watched them move.

Items were added, like the tin foil plate, to add more sound when it was hit or moved.

As they continue to grow their coordination improves and they begin to grab some of the items.

April Brought Spring

I found this wonderful board book to share with our little one about Spring.

It inspired us to look for signs of spring while we were out on our walks.

We began to see little flowers in the grass.

A lot more birds.

And we could see the wind move by the leaves dancing by.

It was wonderful to watch this tree bud out.

Each time we walked by we stopped to see what was different.  Then one day we noticed the shells of the pods on the ground,

the blossoms were beginning to emerge.

Then one day they were big and beautiful.

Another day we stopped and picked the petals, that had fallen from the tree, up off the sidewalk.

There were days that she wanted to take her basket so we collected bits of nature.

Like this big stick.  Will it fit in her basket?

No, but lots of other things did.

Of course she found lots of puddles to stomp in.

Lately we've started to see bugs, like this pill bug (roly poly, wood bug, whichever you call it)

ants on the sidewalk and bees in the flowers.

A snail is living just outside our front door and we check on it everyday.

Yesterday we spotted our first mushroom.

Oh and the dandelions are very attractive to the little one.

Her Opa showed her how to blow wishes with the seeds and she is still practicing.

Little fairy wishes waiting to sail away.

What will we see next?

Book - Grumpy Bird with Pegkins

Grumpy Bird by Jeremy Tankard is one of my favourite children's books

and it has become one of my grand daughter's too.

If you are not familiar with the story it is about a bird that wakes up grumpy.

Too grumpy to eat, play and even fly. So he walks.

And as he walks he meets his friends, who are all cheerful, like sheep,

rabbit,

raccoon,

beaver

and fox.

They all decide to walk along with bird.

They copy his every move till he realizes it is fun and he is no longer grumpy.

Then they all fly back to his nest for a snack.

After introducing each pegkin to her we moved them to the felted landscape.

 

Where we re-told the story.

By now we don't need the book because we have read it so many times.

This book has been a great introduction, for us, for feelings.

She now knows how to sign grumpy and happy.

 After my weekend at home I returned to find Grumpy Bird and his friends were now playing in the construction site.

The bridge has become a teeter totter.

The pegkins were easy to paint so I made a couple of sets.