Homemade Pizza!

Lizzy made pizzas today for dinner. She did a great job making cheese pizza and some chocolate, peanut butter and coconut dessert pizzas! Lizzy went to town with the cheese...her cheese pizza had extra sauce and extra cheese just like daddy likes it.

Playing with Sand

We added sand to the water table on our patio area for Lizzy to play with for a while. We've put different things for her to play with in there then we have to change it and clean it up so I thought we could just put play sand in it and leave it alone for a while only changing the sand tools and hiding different toys and items in the sand as surprises. So far she has enjoyed it so much she didn't want to come back inside.

Table Setting

I had this cute little placemat that shows you how to set the table correctly and I thought Lizzy would enjoy it because she loves helping out and setting the table but she doesn't know where everything goes.

First I set the place setting for her to see

Then I mixed everything up for her to chose

Then she put everything where it should go

And this is how she set the table. Not too bad.

Re purposed Dress

The Houston livestock show and rodeo will be here in about a month. As you can imagine the rodeo is a big event here in Houston. Last year I took Lizzy to see the animals and this year I plan to do the same. There are a lot of activities for children at the livestock show and rodeo, petting zoos, pony rides, pig races, yummy food, to name a few.

This was us last year at the rodeo.

I used the dress she wore last year and re purposed it to make her a new outfit for this year.

Now all Lizzy needs is a pair of boots and a hat

Slowly Transitioning to Toddler Bed

Lizzy still sleeps in her crib which is fine because she doesn't try to climb out of it and she sleeps good in it but soon the time will come when she will climb out of the crib. To ease her into the idea she has a toddler bed for naps at grandmas house.
Here she is trying it out. She seemed to really like her new bed. We hope she will try sleeping in it soon.
Lizzy is eating a pickle in her bed. Once we got to grandma's house the first thing she did was ask for a pickle then run to her room there and get in the bed. Her room there use to be my old bedroom growing up.

Making Valentines Gifts

Valentine's Day is Special to Mike and I but I also want it to be special for Lizzy so I'm already thinking of small ways to make it special for her.

This is Lizzy's mailbox. It's a small mailbox from Target's dollar bins I just added her name and glued a flower onto it. I plan on surprising Lizzy with small gifts when the flag is up randomly from now until Valentines Day.

Lizzy loves Chinese chiming balls. She loves the pleasant chime they make. I found something called a fairy heart chime that makes the same sound but it is in the shape of a heart. I know she will love this.

(I think I got my reflection in the heart)

Lizzy also loves nesting toys and I had a plain set of craft nesting dolls but I didn't have the time to paint detailed dolls onto it so, I painted them solid colors, I added numbers to them because Lizzy likes "counting" right now, and wrote a word on each to make up the quote "It's what's inside that counts" the last doll symbolizes love.
I ordered a yo gabba gabba valentine's day book and a rose colored play silk to give Lizzy as well. I can't wait to start celebrating Valentines Day with Lizzy because now she gets excited and expresses herself a lot more verbally than she did even a couple weeks ago.

Evenings

We had a busy Saturday and like usual we try to just stay in and relax on Sundays. I haven't had my camera with me while I've been out but I tried to snap a few shots of Lizzy at home tonight but she's much more interested in playing with the camera than whatever she was doing so...taking pictures of her is getting harder to do.

Even on Sundays we try to get out to the park or something like that because Lizzy needs that time outside or she gets cabin fever. Today we didn't go out ... resulting in a restless and irritable toddler. When this happens we try to do different activities and keep her entertained and happy.

Lizzy loves the book "Little Yoga" she loves doing all the yoga poses. Here she is or what I was able to capture of her doing yoga.


Lizzy also loves to help in the kitchen. Lizzy's witching hour is usually while I make dinner before Mike comes home. She will cry and want me to pick her up and hold her while I try to make dinner. I have finally learned the solution to this problem! I now let her help me make dinner. I put her taller step stool by the counter and have her wash veggies in a bowl of water, let her mix things, or let her start setting the table. Now she's happy as a clam! It's also nice to have her set the table while I am still working in the kitchen. Basically she will take all the silverware, napkins, condiments and set them on the table. Once dinner is ready she will get her bib and go sit down to eat. I think helping me in the kitchen and with the table gives her a sense of ownership and pride over the food and meal we will eat. It also develops a rhythm that will hopefully end the crying she use to do during this time.

Now Lizzy wants to actually cook and make actual food with her play kitchen. She will ask me for water in her play pans and say "cooking". It's very funny. Here she is "cooking"

Arcade Games

Lizzy had fun playing some arcade games she starting to understand the concept of some of these games like stomping on the lighted dots = tickets coming out of the machine.

Play Dough

Lizzy loves playing with play dough she likes to tear it apart, roll it out, and her favorite is to stamp it with her molds. She always exclaims "whoa" when she sees what she has stamped. She then got the idea to stamp her feet in the play dough....Ha!

Painting Hearts (Messy)

I got some wooden craft hearts to add to our love/valentine theme nature table but they just seemed too plain and they didn't stand out at all.

So we got a little paint...

And I put Lizzy to work...

She did great and loved it! Every time she painted a heart she would say Whoa!

It was messy! I'm glad I used crayola washable paint. It came right off with water.

Afterward I added the painted hearts to our nature display

Baking Bread

Today Lizzy and I made some bread using a basic bread recipe used in Waldorf schools. Waldorf schools incorporate baking bread into their weekly schedule to keep with a rhythm. Children this young don't know the days but they can follow a rhythm of weekly activities such as baking day, music day, painting day and so on. Waldorf education is an education of the head, heart and hands. Baking bread allows the child to think, feel and do. Children this young also learn by imitation and Lizzy does that very well. Today she did everything but put the bread in the oven!

Finally enjoying the bread at the end of the day! (Lizzy likes to use a fork on everything, even bread)

Lizzy Drinking Juice

I haven't taken very many pictures this week. I have been busy with work and hopefully with this long weekend I can take time to update the blog again. But... this is the only photo I have taken of Lizzy recently when she was drinking her juice. She loves drinking juice and saying juice!

Bath Time

I usually start running the bath water first then while the water is running I get Lizzy undressed and occasionally she will jump in the bath with her clothes on while I have my back turned. Today was one of those day....

She wasn't smiling, I think she felt bad that her clothes got wet because I tried to make her smile and she wouldn't smile at all.
Lizzy brushes her teeth while she's in the bath. It's just easier while she's in the bath and happy.

Puzzles!

Today Lizzy went to the gym for open gymnastics and like usual she had a blast. She loves to jump on the trampolines and her balance amazes me! Hopefully next week daddy can come with us and see what she does there. I also plan to make a video of her there to share on the blog. Today I forgot my camera so I thought I would share a little bit about Lizzy's home activities.

Lizzy loves puzzles, she can complete all her puzzled by herself and she really enjoys them. This is her puzzle corner although most of her other toys are puzzle toys as well. At Lizzy's age most of the Montessori toys are puzzles of some sort. With Lizzy she's learned to put the pieces in their correct spaces, she also identifies the piece and says what it is, she's also learned to take and put the puzzle back in the puzzle rack when she is done. I'm also surprised that she can identify colors and shapes. These puzzles really build concentration in toddlers like Lizzy.

Stampin it Up

Lizzy used some of the stamps she got for Christmas today. I think we will made valentine cards out of these.