What I have been doing lately

I recently found a great link, which was about someone who had made xray cards for their child. That link is now "broken" and it was a great shame as it was a fantastic idea.

So.... I made my own.

They can all be found here

The "difficulty" of having a smart child

While not meaning to sound like a pushy parent, I must say that Rona is smart.
This is really good, because, well, it is.

But it is also hard. It is hard to keep her engaged with things, and most things for her age she gets bored with easily (as she can do them easily) and things for older kids are too hard.

So I spend hours each week trying to work out how to do new things that are developmentally appropriate but also stretching her. Thank goodness for Pinterest and teaching blogs such as No Time for Flashcards and 1+1+1=1

Rona "writing"

Painting a bear, we have been reading about bears lately

Rona "knitting" after seeing me knitting

Doing housework with a toddler

Rona loves helping me do whatever I am doing. She is getting more helpful as time goes on. While it takes longer, I find it is better to let her help as much as possible. (with any luck it will rub off and she will be helpful as she grows older).

Getting ready to wash the dishes

Helping Mummy shred old bills

Licking the bowl after baking a cake

Cousinly Love

While growing up, I had no cousins close to my age. And I see Husband and his cousins and love how they interact together.

I am working hard to make sure that Rona has lots of times with her cousins, from both sides of the family.

Rona adores Grace and James!

Grace is William and Deanne's daughter (and they are expecting another in November!) and James is James' and Angelica's son.

Redundancy

 
Rona continues to enjoy drumming, and has had more opportunity to do so because Husband has been home, because he has been out of work for two months.

It has been lovely to have more time with Husband, but at the same time, very stressful.
We are okay financially, thank goodness, but it is tough to see our emergency fund go down.

Husband has 4 weeks of casual work, and we hope that that will turn into a permanent postition, but we will have to wait and see.

"The Big Sheep Goat"

When we went to the family funeral lately, well, we had to stop often.
It is a long drive, 7 hours plus stops each way.

While on the way back we stopped at the Big Merino in Goulburn.

Rona adored it, still talks about it weeks later.

Sorry for the long break, we have come down with viruses and stuff since I last posted.......

Running out of time

My 102 (1 month from turning 103) year old great uncle died this week.
I will be traveling to the funeral with Rona, Husband will be staying at home, still searching for work.

I will be going with my parents, and petrol and accommodation are provided (staying with relatives, Dad gets free petrol for something or other).

So I will be gone for a while, and I have run out of time to schedule posts.
I will try to write when I get back.

Learning by accident

I love how Rona's mind works.

Recently, I brought out Twister, thinking she would like playing on the mat. Rona loved the mat, and decided to sort her toys out into the relevant colours.


We had to put one thing on each spot, she is nothing if not methodical

 
We reinforced learning about numbers, colours and patterns. All before getting out of our pyjamas ;)

Role playing with Rona

Rona loves to copy things she sees us doing, as well as what is on the television.
I found a  fabulous play kitchen second-hand for only $10, and Rona loves to "cook" me dinner.

Rona is also into letter boxes and receiving and sending mail. She loves to check our letter box each day, and open mail.
So I have made her a letter box she can send mail in and play with.