Hi ho hi ho...off we go!

The food is in the cooler, the clothes are in suitcases, the toys are boxed... and off we go for a mini-vacation. Jeff and I are taking Brayden for four days in Hocking Hills, OH. I have made my lists, checked them twice, packed from the list, checked everything again... and STILL forgot to buy bagels! Honestly, I'd forgotten how much planning and packing it takes with a two year old. I've run so many "what if's" through my brain that it's spinning. My biggest concern is clothes -- there is no washer and dryer at the rental house. And the weather right now can swing from 50's at night to 80's in the day -- so I have to be sure Brayden has the right outfits for the weather and the activity. Then I have to have inside/rainy day toys vs outside/play on the beach toys. Portable sides for the bed because there's no crib, and a gate to keep him from going up and down some very steep stairs. Bandaids for boo-boo's, Tylenol for teething, sippie cups and a booster seat, the monkey blanket for diaper changes and picnics, the favorite pillow, a toy to cuddle, games and music to play in the car -- Now you see why I made lists! I have, as usual, over-organized our trip -- planned and written up an agenda, have a notebook with phone numbers, maps printed off for locations -- and we'll get to our rental house, unload the car, forget about schedules, and just enjoy ourselves. Whatever I forgot can be purchased just 2 miles away from the house. I'm so looking forward to having fun with Brayden and Jeff. I hope the weather holds up for us -- rain is forecast 2 of the 4 days, but that's OK... we don't melt and I've packed rain jackets and umbrellas. Two year olds LOVE walking in the rain, splashing in puddles, and carrying an umbrella. It's all good. As Brayden says, we're going to have "TOO MUCH FUN!" Now if I can just remember my camera... Wait.. where's my list?!?

Pre Pre Pre Preschool

Welcome to the first Toddler Tuesday! I hope to find fun (and often frugal) activities you can do with your Toddler, and share them here. If you have activities you can also share, please list your blog or web page in the "Mr. Linky" below. This could prove to be a great resource for all us grandparents, parents, babysitters, daycare providers, aunties, and anyone who is blessed to have a Toddler in their house, whether full or part time. Today I'm sharing a web site and activities that I plan on introducing to Brayden (my 2 1/2 yr old grandson) this week, as we're taking him with us on a 4-day vacation and I was searching for some quiet activities to do with him. (Physical activities will be well taken care of with trips to the lake, a scheduled pony ride on a farm, a county fair, hiking to see a waterfall, and more!) I also needed to make sure I have indoor activities for him in case of rain. (Please no please no please no...) The web page I found is called Letter of the Week, and it's a wonderful, well-thought out Lesson Plan for preparing Toddlers (ages 2-4) for future preschool. Each week has a theme, such as cows, cars/trucks, rain, sun, eyes, kittens, etc. For each week's theme, the web site lays out a plan of age appropriate books to read, poems to read, a related nursery rhyme, and a craft or activity. It also includes activities to familiarize your child with shapes and numbers each week. What a treasure trove of great ideas on this one web page! Week 1's theme is "cows" and we happen to be visiting a farm while we're on vacation, so I thought I could easily tie in the theme. The first thing I did was check my local library (online) and see if they had the books listed, and put them on hold to pick them up tomorrow. I have also printed out the cow pictures, and packed crayons and scissors and some extra construction paper for the squares used in a second project. I've printed out the poems and songs, and we can do some of these in the car. I also cut a "Letter A" out of a piece of sandpaper and glued it on a piece of construction paper. We can talk about the Letter A in the car, and (hopefully) find signs with the letter A! There are many more activities on this web site. Do check it out! She even makes theme-related print-outs available. It can't get much more frugal than this! Now it's time for you to share your toddler activities! Please link directly to the Blog post. In order to make browsing as easy as possible, please link to your individual blog post on Toddler Activities, instead of to your main home page. You can do this by: right click on the title of the post you want to link to, click “copy shortcut” and then paste it into the form below. If you wish to use my Toddler Tuesday banner above in your blog, simply right click on it, copy it to your computer, and upload to your blog.