Winter Blues

We have had a pretty low key last few days. I'm not feeling great and I just can't seem to get back to 100%. Isla has been slightly fussy too. So we've been surviving and doing our best, but keeping it pretty simple around here. Winter blues are in full force in the Ready household.

Last week, we visited the Children's Museum with Nana. Isla could spend all day at the water table. She loved the babies and food section too. We are really excited to have a yearly membership from Nana and Pop Pop. We'll be heading there often! 

 A little snack of berries before we took off for the museum. 

We've also been working on a thematic unit of "Winter". This week we talked about Arctic Animals. The teacher in me wants her to always have access to learning about the world around her. Fortunately for our situation, I have a TON of leftover curriculum, manipulatives, and classroom tools that I can use. I feel blessed to have had time in the classroom because now I can use those resources at home. She has loved learning about Arctic Animals this week. We have done a lot of sensory bins, puzzles, and books about the Arctic. 

 We made some snow-dough out of cornstarch and lotion. Isla didn't like touching it very much, but she liked sticking her penguins in it. This gave us a chance to talk about tracks in the snow.

Brushing her teeth and reading about snow... what a life!

Then we threw some cornstarch in a bin and played with the animals in the snow. She loved it and it got really messy, really fast. She did a pretty great job of keeping the snow in the bin too.

 That day ended in a quick strip and a splash in a water bin to clean up :)

 I found some snowflake manipulatives in my pile of school stuff. We practiced our colors and building skills. We tried pushing the snowflake in some playdough too, but she didn't like that activity. I didn't realize until I saw this picture that some AB patterning was going on too. I don't know if that was a coincidence, if I did that, or my genius baby put that together (probably the last one, right?). 

Then we ended the week with a visit from Grandpa and Mimi. Our time with them is always so special since we live so far away. Michael went on an ice climbing trip (so obviously we looked at pictures of ice and mountains to go along with our unit). So my parents came down to help for the days he was gone. I'm glad they did because I felt like I had a mini flu. My mom was really great at taking care of Isla and letting me sleep most of the day. Do you know what kind of luxury that is?

Then daddy came home and we all rejoiced. I don't know how single parents do it. Since he got home, we've been snuggling a lot, reading (seriously for hours at a time), and we are getting back to our routines (that means healthy eating too!).