Weekly Review - Time Off

Raccoon is 35 months

This week I didn't have any plans for Tot School since I knew we'd be busier than normal. We had doctor appointmens for Raccoon and me (I'm 20 weeks pregnant), along with our first playgroup of the school year on Wednesday. Raccoon is now the oldest child at playgroup since all of the 4 year olds are doing various Pre-K programs.

It was nice to take some time off, but Raccoon wandered over to our bookshelf (where I keep our supplies) several times during the week and said he was going to do school. I think he'll be excited about having some new things to do next week.

A few things we did this week:

* I was browsing through this Tot School post when Raccoon wandered over. He saw the picture of Ladybug making monsters and decided that it was a great idea. He spent quite a while making new monster friends after I grabbed whatever I could find for pieces. He enjoys looking at pictures of other kids, so maybe I should browse the Tot School posts with him more often and he can tell me what looks fun. :)

* I noticed that Raccoon can put things in order by size/length and likes to do this on his own with his toys.

* He is into counting right now, thanks to Richard Scarry's Best Counting Video Ever! and he has discovered a new interest in Busy Town. I loved Richard Scarry as a child, although we just had the books. Raccoon can count from 1 to 12, but for some reason he likes to start at the number 5. He doesn't quite have the concept of each object only gets one number, but it's fun to listen to him "counting" all of his stuff.

* He's done some exploring around the house this week with a flashlight and a magnifying glass.

* He loves maps and points them out wherever he sees them. He found a world map the other day and told me which continent he lives on. His love of maps grew out of his pirate obsession. He got a treasure map with a set of pirate things and wanted me to explain what all the symbols meant.

* When he scribbles, he tells me he's writing letters or making signs for his pretend museums. He "wrote" me his first note today and told me it said, "I love you very much." Awwwww.

* Now that he's growing out of babyhood and playing more on his own, I've been trying to add some extra cuddles into our day. One way we do this is to sit in the rocking chair together and I tell him stories about a little boy named Peter. He likes to help me make up the adventures and we send Peter to all sorts of exotic places. During our polar lands week, Peter spent a lot of time with penguins and polar bears.