Tremendous T

Ezra and I started our "early pre-school" curriculum this week. =)

Our focus was on the letter T and all the fun things that that entails..

We started off by coloring big letter and little letter T's.

(Did you know that crayon wipes off of laminate?

Ezra thought it was hilarious to color with all his might on this laminated T and then wipe it off and start all over with a new color.)

We set up a letter T "board" on his door.

He knew most of the pictures right off, but the turkey and the tiger were tricky (he kept asking "what's that Mommy?" while pointing at the turkey's gobble with a somewhat disgusted look on his face. HA! He thought for sure the tiger was actually a lion)

Then we worked on some tracing papers.

Obviously he's still to little to have the muscle memory to trace a straight line, but I loved that after a few guided movements with me he would say, "across and down..there..it's a T!" after scribbling with his marker. =)

For the rest of the week we focused on things that start with the letter T.

T is for Teeth!

Did you know that February is National Children's Dental Health Month?

We decided to up the awareness in our house by adding a tooth brushing chore chart to our bathroom.

Ezra colored...

...then proudly hung his creation on the bathroom door.

He promptly asked to brush his teeth so he could earn a "stickerh" for his chart.

HA HA HA!

I love that he still has his "wake up face" on in this picture.

Soooooo sleepy! =)

He was so proud of that little smiley face!

He's kept up the toothbrushing all week long and now has a full column of smiley faces,and, his favorite, "GREAT" stickers!

That afternoon I introduced him to his new "dental health" folder game.

We talked about the happy tooth and the sad tooth and why they were smiling and frowning...

then we pulled the cards out, mixed them up, and decided what would make our teeth happy and would make them sad.

He played with this a LOT more then I thought he would.

He called it the tooth game. =)

Towards the end of the week he was starting to get a kick out of putting things in the wrong pocket...particularly the soda can.

HA HA HA

"Make tooth happy! hee hee hee"

T is for tumbling class!

There's been so much rain here lately, Ezra was starting to go stir crazy!!

We found a fun tumbling class to join...

and all of that pent up madness was set loose!

HOORAY!

T is for Tiger!

I bought this little foam craft at Michael's for a dollar...

....he was so excited to work on his new fluffy friend....

...but once again...the foam craft let us down!

Seriously!

What is the deal with cheap foam crafts....HA!

I guess you get what you pay for eh?

We decided to abandon the orange and black mess and colored a worksheet with a tiger instead.

T is for triangle!

I found this great cutting activity in one of the books that came with our book order last week. I was a bit worried about teaching him how to use scissors...but I figure he's going to learn it eventurally right....might as well learn the do's and don'ts now.

Lucky for us Grandma Maridawn sent a cooking set for Christmas that came with these AWESOME scissors!!

See that little white tab in the center?

It keeps the teeth separated (like a gentle spring) so that little hands don't have to pry them open with each cut.

Genius!

After adding some colors, it was time to cut.

Mommy held the paper while Ezra did his best to concentrate and snip (with both hands! LOVE IT!!)

We talked about throwing away scraps when you're done....

...and only cutting paper, NOT hands, hair, or cat tails!!

HA!

He glued each little triangle to a piece of paper...

...I added a title and some tape...and then let him choose where to hang it.

Apparently the back of the front door was the best place. =)

T is for trail mix!

This was by far his favorite snack all week.

T is for time with Daddy!

The boys headed up to the Zeum in the city for some much needed father/son time.

Talin snapped these fun shots of Ezra exploring and playing with his iPhone.

They stopped at In-N-Out for lunch.

By the end of the day this was one TIRED little boy!

HA HA HA!

Yes, he's asleep with a cheese puff in his mouth.

Overall I'm excited with how this week went.

It was laid back and fun, but I felt like it had a purpose.

Last night our hard work was validated when

Ezra picked up one of his alphabet fridge magnets, looked at it and declared..."That's a T!"

Woo Hoo! =)