Tot School ::17::

~ Kaleb is 27 months ~
I am a huge fan of the Dollar Tree. I don't get to go in as often as I used to, which after this week is sadly evident. I didn't think my basket was THAT full, but you know you've spent too much money when the cashier enthusiastically says, "Come back SOON!"

All for the sake of my children. {grins}

I found some great things for Tot School {ok, and lots of other things too} but first up this week was the sugar shaker and some candles on a stick (both from the Dollar Tree). Kaleb was oh.so.excited to play with these over and over again. And later in the week I found him trying to climb up my wall {literally} to get the container again - 'More! More!' Thanks to Carissa for her lovely idea, although I didn't make it in time to get those cute little hearts that she has.

We were blessed to have amazing weather early last week and took a walk at a local park with all the kids. Kaleb spent most of the time in the backpack but had some time at the end to explore and poke around at the end of our walk.

Kaleb wanted to join in when Zachary was playing in a tray of rice, so he jumped right up and worked his way in. We moved him to the floor with a little more rice, some bowls and spoons and he had a blast pouring, stirring, dumping, transferring - and making a MESS of rice all over the floor. Because nothing says 'this is fun' like dumping 3 or 4 cups of rice all over the kitchen floor. Especially when you are super-excited about using the dust pan and the broom!

Since Kaleb enjoyed the rice so much, I filled a large plastic tub with a HUGE bag of rice, added some funnels and toys and let him play on the deck a few days later. Just a quick note: when you hide the container of rice, be sure to do it better than I did and avoid your own bedroom, or you might just find a few cups of rice in your bed when you are ready to sleep. Just sayin'.

Kaleb runs to the table every.single.morning and says 'Paint? Paint?' and I finally caved said yes. He painted his own beautiful watercolor. And then dumped the bowl of water all over the floor and table. And stained his hands and mouth blue when I turned my back for two seconds. You'd really think I would know better with our fourth child.

I pulled out our color matching cards to use this week (just three colors at a time) and Kaleb had a great time naming the pictures and putting them on the right color piles. The boy loves to sort.

And don't tell any of the other kids in the house, but Kaleb got to play on the laptop when we were alone! We went to the FisherPrice website (you can read more about the site at Totally Tots) and he had a blast playing the counting game and the alphabet game for a little bit. Next time we will move to the computer downstairs so there isn't so much banging going on, but he was thrilled to have a turn!

I asked Kaleb if he wanted to play a game this week (just me and him) and he pointed up to our game shelf and kept saying 'Who! Who!' so Horton Hears a Who it was! We hid the little clovers all over the living room and then ran around trying to stick them on his Horton mask. Listening to his little giggles was just too sweet.

Don't forget to visit Carissa at 1+1+1=1 for some more Tot School posts.