Farm Week 4

No matter how uncomfortable I have been or how swollen my feet and legs are, I still have been doing "school" with J. She loves it and it gives her some different activities to do during the day. She is always asking to do "school" and I don't want her to lose that. One thing we have done this week is clean one room each day. She has been a big help in doing that. She helps me dust the furniture and sweep. She tries to mop but it it just too big for her right now. I put on some music and we work through a room as quickly as possible. Today, we will be cleaning the bathroom and she has already told me she wants to clean the sink and toilet.

We are still learning about the farm. This week is learning and reading about all of the different animals that live on a farm. Here are some of the activities we have done.

This is our farm mural that we have been adding to each week. So far, we have made farmer J, the barn, tractor, a blue rooster (I let her pick her own colors), a chicken and a nest, a multicolored apple tree and little baby chicks from our fingerprints (sorry you can't see these very well).

Because we have been learning about the farm, we have been reading about the food that farms give us. We learned about dairy and meats, eggs, and grains, veggies and fruits etc... So I bought a bag of unpopped popcorn and put it in a plastic bin with a lid. She has had a ball scooping and pouring the kernels, measuring with measuring cups and spoons, running her farm animals through it and hiding them. Even my teenage daughter got into it by playing with J for awhile!

We are working on our numbers. I printed out paw prints with numbers on them and every week, we are learning to recognize 2 numbers. This week, we are learning 6 and 7. We place the numbers on the floor and she jumps from one to the other, counting. Or she throws bean bags to the number I ask her. I leave these on the floor for her to jump to any time.

Still working on her numbers, she is placing beads on pipe cleaners to match the number board. We also used these beads to create patterns. The beads and pipe cleaners were bought in the states.

I recently made a felt board out of an old shelf I found hanging around and some felt. I made a ice cream pattern game which I found here. She chooses a card and makes the ice cream cone like the picture. We use this board in spurts, sometimes this will keep her attention for awhile and other times, she doesn't want to play with it at all. Lately, she has wanted to play with it all of the time.

Working on our numbers...wooden number magnets found at the Dollar Store.

Matching the numbers.

Our bible story this week was Noah and we learned about pairs of things, like a pair of animals, a pair of socks. We matched pairs of socks this week and we colored a rainbow as God's promise not to flood the earth. She is loving markers right now and I am loving that they are washable.

This is a new activity that took alittle time to get used to. I brought a turkey baster from America and gave her a bin of water with some measuring cups and spoons as well as small bowls. She used the baster to transfer the water from the bin to the cups. This is a fine motor skill that will help with writing and cutting later. She had fun playing in the water. She wanted to try to use the baster on the popcorn next to see what would happen.

One more activity that we are working on is recognition of her name. I found some letter cards in an incomplete game here and I used them for her name. We use the cards to learn the letters of her name and then, she matches the letters. We will be working on this through out the year. My goal is for her to recognize her name and the letters that make it.

We have definitely been having some farm yard fun. It looks like a lot but these activities may take about an hour or two to complete. We sing songs and color or paint as well. She also has been having fun playing with her Fisher Price Ark and making pairs of animals. I stress having fun in "school", if it becomes a chore, we won't want to do it anymore. Well, I am off to clean the bathroom with J, she has been waiting semi-patiently to clean the sink. Maybe all of this cleaning with trigger labor and I will have a baby soon. I guess I should be patiently and wait until he is ready to make an appearance. I am just afraid that the longer I wait, the bigger he gets. I still think I deliver only 7 pound babies, an 8 pounder will be something new for me.

Longest Week of My Life

I am one day from being 39 weeks pregnant and I tell you, this week has been the longest week of my life. I am uncomfortable and I haven't been sleeping well, my feet are permanently swollen, it seems. I can only sleep in 2 positions, on my side or on my other side. I am up at all hours of the night. I am waiting for arrival of the new addition to our family. I am nervous but excited. We went to the doctor yesterday and I am 1cm  wohoo. She informs me the baby is 8 pounds, ha ha. Eight pounds, no way, I tell her. I don't have 8 pound babies, I have 7 pound babies and I have 1 more week left. I guess we will see, hopefully soon.

Iki Tane Ekmek

As part of our living in an apartment here, we pay a monthly upkeep fee. The fee goes to keeping the hallways and elevators clean and running, as well as the security guards at the gates and removal of garbage twice a day. (This is nice considering we are on the 9th floor, all I have to do is put it outside of my door and it disappears.) Well, one thing extra that we have access to is a doorman. He rings the doorbell twice a day and checks to see if we need something. Now, you can't give him a whole shopping list but you can ask him to get several items that you are missing to make dinner or whatever. When we first moved here, he pretty much avoided us. But one day, when I desperately needed some milk, I opened the door and asked him to get it for me. Since then, he has come everyday except Friday - which is his day off.

It was a windy, slightly chilly day today and I thought soup would be a nice change for dinner. I was preparing a dinner for eight people and, not only would it be easy but it would also be filling. So I was planning on ordering bread for our door guy. J surprised me by asking if she could order the bread and give him the money. I was doubtful she would follow through on this but I said she could and promptly taught her what to say. Iki tane ekmek. (iki-2; tane - pieces or item; ekmek - bread) So we practiced and practiced and the time came when he rang the doorbell. We opened the door and, it wasn't our regular door man, it was someone new. I thought for sure that J would back out because she didn't know him but she didn't. "Iki....tane....ekmek" she said and handed him the 1 TL. He smiled and understood what she said. About 15 minutes later, the doorbell rang again, she opened the door and received the 2 loaves of fresh, warm, just out of the oven, bread. She said thank you and that was that. We had fresh bread delivered to our door thanks to J and the door man.

This may have not been the most exciting thing that happened today but I believe it was significant. She took the time to learn a new phrase and put it to practice. She overcame her shyness, which is usually evident around T people and she spoke up. I could have done it myself because it would have been easier but I didn't. I took the time to teach the phrase she needed and allowed her the chance to do it. I
 was very proud of her.

One side note, J loves bread, especially this bread. She probably ate about 6 pieces of it with her soup and, the funny thing is, she only eats the inside. She leaves the outside crust in a big long strip and hands it to her dad to eat. If I would let her, she would probably eat the inside of a whole loaf. I don't have to worry about the bread going to waste around here, which is a good thing since it is made without preservatives and doesn't last long anyway.

Baby Update: As of Friday, I have two more weeks to go. I am now visiting the doctor each week. I went this week on the 21st. Everything is going well. I am not sleeping well, though that is to be expected. The doctor did a stress test on Kaleb and he is doing fine. He is all most 7 pounds, if the ultrasound is correct and we got to see a 4-D picture of him sucking his thumb. Keke is calling me cankles because of my swollen ankles and J is still excited. She has been a big help around the house. She is helping mommy fold clothes and wash all of the baby stuff. I hope she still is excited when we bring him home! I think I finally have most of my hospital bag packed and I believe we are ready...but is anyone truly ready? It will definitely be a big change around here but we are looking forward to it.

New Discovery

While I was in America, some friends of mine picked up a chalkboard/dry erase board for me really inexpensively (10 TL). I had planned on buying one for J for her birthday coming up at IKEA but it was going to cost 5 times that. So, these friends graciously delivered it to my house and it was waiting when we arrived. Doing "school," we sometimes use it to practice number writing and just plain drawing. Well, imagine my surprise when J informed me that she drew a picture of our family on the chalk board. Now, this may look like a simple drawing of an all most four year old child but I believe it is a huge developmental stage. Her drawings of us actually had legs, eyes, mouths, and her picture of me had a round tummy for baby Kaleb. I was impressed. This was the first time she drew her family that didn't look like scribbles and I thought I would share it with you. I wrote the names of each family member as she told me who was who.

A funny thing, while drawing, J asked me if I thought her head was big and, of course, I told her no. So she ended up with the smallest head of them all! Enjoy your day!

Still Here

Sorry that I have been a bad blogger these days. Days just have a way of getting by me and before I know it, it has been weeks. Since we have been back, I have been getting ready for the new baby, having guests, working with J doing "school." I seem to have gotten J's cold and it isn't being very nice to me right now. All I really want to do is sleep but I can't - too much to do. My craft projects are put on hold  for awhile except for making sheets for the baby crib.

One thing I have been trying to be consistent on is doing "school" with J. We are learning about farms and numbers. We are using a preschool curriculum called Winter Promise and so far, we are having fun with it. We are reading many books about the farm, learning about who lives on a farm, how farms give us food. We are practicing writing and learning our numbers and we have played some farm games on the computer to help us learn how to move a mouse. Here are some of our pics for our farm unit, so far.

Here J is matching counters with numbers. This is a homemade version of a Montessori one that I saw on the Internet.

This is something new that I brought back from America, it is a magnetic board with logic style puzzles using magnetic shapes. The one we are using is based on objects or animals found on a farm. She has to match up the shapes on the pictures. The beginning ones are easy and they get progressively harder as you go.

We are learning about how farms give us food this week and one way is eggs from chickens. Since we are plenty far away from a farm, I made some "eggs" from ping pong balls which I numbered 1-12 (for a later math game) and I put some water in a plastic container. We put the eggs in the water, after counting them of course, and then J had to fish them out using tongs. This activity helps with fine motor skills and hand-eye skills. She had fun putting them back in and fishing them out again, several times.

Again, working with eggs and hand-eye coordination, we balanced a plastic egg on a spoon and had to walk around the room. I placed one of her plastic animals in it to give the egg some weight in case it dropped. This was to show her how an egg would crack open if dropped on the ground. We started with a large spoon and worked our way down to a smaller spoon.

Baby update - I am all most 37 weeks (this Friday to be exact) and I went to the doctor last week. The baby is doing good and he is the correct position. According to the ultrasound, he is measuring a week larger than he should at the moment. I had a good discussion with my doctor and I am hoping that this delivery will be good. I was able to tell her what I was expecting and what I wanted to do (natural birth, circumcision) and she seemed okay with my requests. We will see. Here, in this country, circumcision is done when the child is older (around 9 or 10) and it isn't usually done by a doctor. They have a big party and parade the child around in a white suit, so everyone knows (except the child) what is going to happen. The doctors will do it here after the birth if the child is healthy. So we are shooting for that option. We were also able to find out that the hospital will bill the insurance so we don't have to pay out of pocket for the birth. We will have to pay for the circumcision and then bill the insurance. We were alittle worried about that, so finding that out was a relief. DH was supposed to go on a middle school retreat the weekend before my due date but he has decided that it was too close. Just in case I go into labor early, he will be here. (I was alittle worried about that so I am glad that he decided to stay home.) J reminds me daily how big my stomach is getting and is constantly telling me to pull my shirt down - ha ha. She is having fun playing with all of the baby toys and is anxiously awaiting her baby brother so she can teach him things. And a special thanks to my family and friends, Kaleb will be well outfitted. He has just about everything he needs at the moment. Thank you, thank you.

School Week

Today is Wednesday, September 1st and it is the first day of school for most of the family. Actually, DS started school on Monday but the rest of us start today. I was up late last night trying to help DD get ready, she seemed nervously excited at this new adventure (she hates when I say that). Tenth grade and before I know it, she will be graduating and going to college like my son. Last year, I was able to homeschool her and I enjoyed her company as we learned to get along. I am going to miss her this year. Every day, we had lunch together and sometimes watched a movie. She was my partner in crime when I needed to go somewhere. She was my companion, I will miss that. Not that we can't do stuff on the weekend but it just won't be the same. Anyway, I am excited for her as she starts a new school year with her friends, I hope she enjoys every minute of it (minus the homework and tests).

DH started school as well. His teacher-in-service days actually started last week but this will be his first day in the classroom. He has been preparing all week, trying to get his room ready, his syllabus and lesson plans. Today, he went off in dress pants and a tie, looking handsome, ready for his new year adventure to start.

DS started school on Monday. He was more than ready for it to begin after "fish week" at his college. He had to wear a sailor hat which told everyone he was a freshman and if he took it off, his team lost valuable points. His week was jammed packed with activities, chapels, and service projects to prepare him for his first semester of college. He was dog tired when I briefly spoke to him and was desperately needing a nap. Too many late hours! He worked on his first service project this past weekend. Service hours are mandatory at his school. Guess what he did...he planted flowers! His floor was assigned flower planting, I am not sure where, but those of you who know him will find this funny. All along, we have been joking with DS that he should get a job in lawn care since he was soo good at it, working with his father. DS always vehemently refuses to do lawn care anymore but it seems to be haunting him more than ever. So, he planted flowers on Saturday, haha.

DD J will also start school today (as soon as I am done with this post). Our theme this 9 weeks is farm. We will be reading stories about the farm, learning our numbers and shapes, painting, and playing. She is excited and has been asking for "school" all week. She has waited patiently for this as I planned our projects, set up our new school table and organized all of her stuff.

Well, I hope your week goes well. I will be posting some ideas from J's school and projects soon, including some pics of her redesigned Hungry Caterpillar (by Carle) room - thanks to Grandma and J's new bed quilt. Hope you have a great adventure today, as for us...we will be "visiting" the farm :)