Catching-up on the last couple weeks!

The past couple weeks have been quite hectic! I put together a big garage/moving sale, my husband was out of town a lot (and will be much more this month), I'm starting to pack a little bit, and we've been focusing on many more socialization activities and playgroups for Ty. It's been difficult to work on many new activities or to expand on our old ones, but here are a few, along with some of the other fun and important things that Tyler has been up to!

The biggest Montessori thing we've done is starting work with the sandpaper letters. I had been so unsure about beginning this with him, but just before the letters arrived he was doing things that reassured me it was time. He's doing so well! I'll post more about this soon.

Tyler just loves buttons and really enjoys pouring lately, so I gave him buttons to pour a couple weeks ago.

 There are several button matches, and I wondered if he would take it upon himself to match any of them up. I've only noticed him doing it a few times, but it's pretty neat! When he makes a match he tends to set them aside or in the bowl.

The activity is also a pouring/transferring activity. He kept wanting to use his pennies, buttons, rocks and puffballs together so I finally just put them all together for him along with some new glass containers I found when going through boxes in our basement. There's also a butter container with a slot cut into it used here. I help him sort each items into individual containers when he's done.

I popped into a thrift store the other day and one of my finds was this old marble tic-tac-toe game. Perfect for balancing marbles and he loves it! 

We continue to use just about everything we used during our water wonderland day. He immediately runs to it every time we go outside (which isn't a lot these days with so many air quality warnings). It's providing him great water transferring practice.

Ty has been doing a lot of line work with his animals. I love to catch him doing this!

One afternoon when we were yet again stuck inside, I gave him this wrapping paper tube to see what he would do with it. Looking through it was his first reaction, then he decided it would be his new super-arm! After a while he began to see what it was capable of and started to practice spinning his fan cover with it. I just love watching his imagination grow with random objects!

Tyler practiced independence (and I practiced letting go...) at a carnival by riding rides by himself. My husband and I were quite sure he would bawl, but he really enjoyed himself! The only time he screamed was when the carnival workers attempted to take him out of the ride themselves, which made me happy!

Ty is working hard on a lot of practical life activities. He is asking to go potty lately and has gone three days in a row now! He's doing well with dressing and being a real help to us whenever he can. Here he is determined to squeeze the toothpaste onto his brush. His small squeeze skills need a touch more work.

I showed him how to zip his jammies last week and he's now doing it from feet to neck. He's so proud!

Ty likes to help put pots and pans away for me from the dishwasher lately, but more likes to slam the drawers open and shut on me. This keeps him busy for a moment. Makes me wish all of our dishes were low. Maybe in the new house...

Ty hadn't been to the gymnastics center's Open Gym in months and it's hard to take him due to the timing of his nap, but after a week of being stuck inside, we were determined to get him there. He amazed us by hanging from the bar for long periods of time and swinging his body back and forth. He decided to fly down the balance beams too. I hope wherever we move next we can find something like this for him! Large motor activities are crucial for brain development and I like to keep him challenged.

We've done a lot of painting recently. Here he uses the easel that my parents recently bought him. It also has a magnetic board and chalkboard which he really adores. I love how he is color mixing on his hand!

Ty has taken to not only painting his paper, but himself lately. Other than eating the paint (even though it's non-toxic) I honestly let him go ahead and let him explore with this. Nothing a bath can't fix, and it tends to make the bath water quite pretty! 

Here he is making a canvas masterpiece for Grandma back in New York. He insists on using a brush first then eases into getting his hands dirty.

 One of the reasons we've begun increase Tyler's social activities so much (more on those later) is the attention that he's begun to give our cats. He tried to dress them up with hats, enjoys studying them, tries to share his toys, and here (and this isn't the first time) brings one of our cats some of his food to share. The child is ready some friends!

Linking-up with Tot School