Today we had a few set backs to our perfect Halloween, but in the end it turned out really well :) Ethan's costume didn't arrive in time, and he's got a bit of a cold, so we decided not to do too much today, just had fun at home until a Halloween party in the late afternoon.  We had Halloween themed food throughout the day and then got ready to go to the party.  I had to improvise a bit with the costume, but luckily we had a fabulous tail that Ethan got for his birthday from his Auntie (she got it from Tell Tails) and then I cut some spikes out of felt and used double sided tape to stick them to a grey hoodie to make him into a dinosaur!  As soon as we arrived at the party we got his face painted, his first time ever having it done, he was so good about it, and it completed his costume perfectly.



The party was lots of fun, there were games, crafts, a bouncy castle, toys and hot dogs for dinner.  Ethan loved everything about it, he was running around from one thing to the next full of energy and excitement.  I was undecided about trick or treating with him at this young age, but on the walk there I had noticed quite a few houses that were decorated for Halloween, so after we left the party I asked Ethan if he wanted to do some trick or treating.  Of course he said yes, and after the imaginative play that we did yesterday he was completely prepared and knew exactly what to do.  He loved it!  He was so polite and said 'trick or treat' and 'thank you' every time, everyone loved him and offered him more candy!  He was hooked and kept asking to go to another house, so then we had to spot the pumpkins outside the houses so that he knew which ones he could go to.  We even managed to time it so that Daddy could meet us to go to a few houses on his way home from work.  It was such a fun Halloween, Ethan is completely exhausted now and will hopefully get a good nights sleep, despite his cold.  Happy Halloween!

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Today we're continuing our preparation for Halloween by pretending to go trick or treating! We're undecided if we'll actually attempt any trick or treating tomorrow, as Ethan is still quite young, but today we decided to try it out at home.  This is fun for Ethan's Creative Development to use his imagination and pretend to be outside trick or treating.



We got out the play tent, decorated it for Halloween and then got out all of Ethan's dress up clothes for him to wear.  I sat in the tent and Ethan dressed up, then came and knocked on the door and said 'trick or treat' and then I put a treat in his pumpkin basket.  Then he said 'thank you, bye' and he went to change into a different costume.  It was really sweet, he got the hang of it really quickly and enjoyed coming to the door in his various hats.  The best part was that because we had left it all out, Ethan played again with Daddy when he got home from work :)

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Today we went for a Halloween play date at Ethan's friend's house.  We decided to make some pumpkin muffins to bring for the other children, and spent our morning baking.  Baking is such fun and it's great for Ethan's Knowledge and Understanding of the World as he sees how ingredients come together to make something.  I found the recipe for the pumpkin muffins on Southern in Law's blog and made a few adaptations based on what we had in our cupboards (we didn't have whole wheat flour so I just used plain flour for the whole amount).  I would say it was mine and Ethan's best baking work together to date!  He was so excited to help, pouring the ingredients one by one into the bowl and mixing for me.  He was talking all the time about what we were putting in and how he was 'cooking' (I think that he calls stirring 'cooking').  He even helped to scoop the mixture into the pumpkin shaped tray.  The muffins looked really good when they came out of the oven, and I think that they tasted delicious (but I suppose that pumpkin is an acquired taste, so it may have only been Ethan and I that liked them ;)



We had lots of fun on our play date today, the 3 little ones played together really nicely with toys, and chasing and shouting after each other!  They didn't really manage to keep costumes on for very long (Ethan refused to wear his hat completely) but it was a lovely Halloween play date :)

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Today in continuing with our Halloween preparations, we've made treat bags for Ethan's friends!  As they're only 2, and most probably don't eat much candy and sweets (and probably aren't going trick or treating) we decided to make them some cute little treat bags to give out when we see Ethan's friends at play dates and play groups this week.  Ethan is learning to share and to be kind to his friends, so it's a nice exercise in giving as part of his Personal, Social and Emotional Development.



I bought little cellophane Halloween bags and we filled them with:

• Halloween stickers
• a glow stick
• 2 Halloween balloons
• a box of 'mummy' raisins
• I wrapped a box of raisins in white tape and had Ethan stick on some googly eyes
• a 'pumpkin' orange
• a small orange / clementine with a pumpkin face drawn on with permanent marker
• and attached a Halloween card to the top

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Today we went pumpkin picking!  It's our third year in a row going to Garson's Farm to pick a pumpkin the weekend before Halloween (that makes it a tradition right?)  We went when Ethan was just a few weeks old, when he had just turned one and now this year.  Every year we have so much fun, but this year had to be the best as Ethan could actually walk around amongst the pumpkins, great for his Physical Development as he's still learning to walk in his wellies!



Ethan loved running around, picking up different pumpkins and saying 'this one' to every one that he found.  We kept pointing out nice big round ones, but of course he couldn't pick those ones up, so we eventually decided we would need to buy two!  We picked one nice big one for carving, and Ethan picked a small green one that he could carry :)  He was very proud of his pumpkin and carried it all the way to the car with a big smile on his face.

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Today we had a very busy morning, so we needed a nice quiet activity for this afternoon, and play dough was the perfect choice. To make it a Halloween activity I gave Ethan some play dough (we didn't have any black, so red and blue had to do), some pipe cleaners and straws to make the spider's legs, and some pom poms for the spider's eyes.  Ethan also used some tools to roll and shape the dough, it's a great activity for his Physical Development.  I especially love the play dough scissors as at his age they're the safest scissors for him to use and learn early cutting skills.



Ethan had a lot of fun sticking things into the play dough, he gave the spider lots of legs and we counted them together.  He tried different combinations of legs and eyes to make the spider look different.  We also rolled the dough into a ball, used a rolling pin to make it flat, cut it into small pieces with the scissors and made patterns in it with the different materials.  It wasn't always a perfect looking spider, but Ethan had fun :)

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As it's only 1 week until Halloween we've pulled out all of our Halloween books to read!  Ethan loves these books as a few of them make sounds and one has flaps to lift.  They're great to prepare him for Halloween and to start conversations about what to expect as part of his Communication, Language and Literacy development.



The Scary Sounds of Halloween

• this one has a button to record and play your own scary sounds, Ethan loves to record sounds over and over again!

Who's at the Door?

• this one has a button to press and flaps to lift!  It's about trick or treating, so could be good to prepare for children for what will happen on Halloween night.

Beware the Haunted House!

• this one has a button to press and makes sound and has a flashing light to go along with the story

The Best Halloween Hunt Ever

• this is a finding book, it's actually a bit too grown up for Ethan as the pictures are very busy and it's difficult to find all of the details.  We use it in our own way, Ethan points out and counts the items he does know (like pumpkins and spiders) on each page.

The Biggest Pumpkin Surprise Ever!

• this is Ethan's new book for this year (a gift from his Nana) it has lots of flaps to lift and pumpkins to find on each page, he loves it!

As a teacher (former teacher?  I'm never sure how it works when you're a stay at home Mom, either way, I still feel like a teacher) choosing a nursery, preschool and school for Ethan is a very difficult task!  My last job was as Deputy Headmistress and Manager at a wonderful nursery school in Chelsea, and it's proving impossible to find anything that compares to it (unfortunately we live too far away to make it possible for Ethan to go there).  
So since Ethan was born I've been looking for the perfect place for him to play and learn outside the home.  I was unsure about when I wanted him to start, as a stay at home Mom I'm in no hurry to get him out the door, but I do think it's important for him to develop his social skills and independence to further his Personal, Social and Emotional Development.  Now that we have another baby on the way I think it's time to find Ethan somewhere that's all his own, to keep him busy when I'm occupied by the new little bundle.



Before going to visit nurseries I started researching which ones we would like to see, by searching online (Google search and our local council website) and by asking other parents where they sent their children.  I came up with a list of things that are important to us in choosing a school (these will differ for everyone, but here's our list):

• type of school 
• nursery (takes children from babies, operates all year round during working hours)
• preschool (takes children from 2 or 2 1/2, operates during term time during school hours)
• Montessori, Steiner, Waldorf, other (different approaches to teaching, often more hands on, more nature based)
• location - walking distance
• it's very important to me that a nursery school is close by, I think that the walk to school is a vital part of the day and it just isn't the same when driving or taking public transport
• premises - shared or own?
• I prefer nursery schools that have their own permanent location, as they can then fully set up all the time and have the children's work displayed on the walls.  In this case I would consider a nursery with a shared location if I really liked other aspects of it, but I would prefer it not to.
• schools that it feeds into
• it would be ideal if the nursery school that we choose sends a lot of children to the primary school that we choose for Ethan, that way he will most likely have a few familiar faces when he goes on to school.

• Do you have space for January or September 2014 or would we go on a waiting list?
• When would we have to decide when we want to start and for how many days?
• Do children have to be potty trained before starting?
• What is the induction process like?  Do we have visits beforehand?  Do the parents stay for the first morning?
• What happens if he has trouble settling in?

•  What is the daily routine like?
• What systems do you use for teaching reading and numeracy (Jolly Phonics, etc) if any?
• Are the children given snacks / meals or do they bring their own?
•  How often do they play outside?
•  How involved are parents?
• Are the holidays the same / similar to local state or private schools?
• Are there any future plans for the school?  Expansion of the premises? Extended to offer full / more days?

•  What is the ratio of children to adults?
• Are all of the teachers qualified?  Have they been at the school long?
• What are the security measures like? Pick up procedures?
• What is the accident procedure?  What is the sickness policy? (Are all of the staff trained in first aid?)
• What is the discipline policy?
• What schools do children go on to attend?

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Today we did some hand print painting for Halloween.  I love anything that involves a hand print as it makes a unique personalised picture and it's a lovely keepsake as it shows just how tiny your little one's hand was.  We decided today to keep things simple and stick to one colour and made a black cat, bat and spider for Halloween.  A fun activity for Ethan as he got to get messy in the paint and work on his creative development as he turned those hand prints into the different animals.



Materials:

• card
• black paint
• cut out cat, spider and bat faces
• glue
• googly eyes

I mixed up some black paint for Ethan while he did some free painting on paper (I find that I need to let him have some freedom to paint as well, if we're just doing something like hand prints he doesn't get to express his creativity very much).  We started with the cat, painting his whole hand and placing it carefully on the paper for one hand print.  His four legs are the fingers and his tail is the thumb. 




And finally we painted both full hands for the bat, using the fingers as wings and thumbs as ears.  We left them all to dry, washed hands and I printed out some faces for Ethan to colour in (We could have cut out black sugar paper / construction paper into the face shapes, but thought that colouring would give Ethan more to do).  I found lovely Halloween colouring pictures online and used parts of those for our faces and bodies (apologies that I can no longer find the links to them), but an adult or older child could easily draw these simple shapes themselves. Ethan coloured in the faces and then stuck on some googly eyes.  I was really impressed with his ability to match up the googly eyes to the eyes drawn on the pictures.  I think they all turned out really well and will look great on display for Halloween.

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Today we decorated a paper pumpkin to put up and add to our very festive Halloween house :) Ethan is loving all of the decorations, so he was more than happy to make a pumpkin himself! It's great for his Creative Development as well as his Physical Development as we work on his fine motor skills.



I cut out a pumpkin shape from orange sugar paper (construction paper) and then covered it in glue and gave Ethan a spreader to put the glue all around.  Then I gave him little pieces of orange tissue paper to crumple up and put all over the pumpkin (and a few pieces of green tissue paper to put as the stem, this was actually Ethan's idea as we were looking at a real pumpkin while he did this).  We didn't manage to cover the whole pumpkin in orange tissue, as once Ethan saw the cut outs for the face (I cut them out of black foam sheets) he was very excited to stick them on!  We identified which facial features they were (by holding them up to our own faces first) then covered them in glue and Ethan placed them all in the right spots.  He was very proud of his finished pumpkin, every time he saw it he said 'good boy!' :)

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We went to a lovely playgroup this morning, it takes play in a local art gallery and is different to other playgroups that we go to as it's more arts based.  There are different stations set up around the room with craft activities that children can visit as they like and make all sorts of different things based on a theme.  Then there's a singing and story session all together.  It's a fantastic group for Ethan's Creative Development and I really like that it's different to other playgroups that we go to.

Today we made a paper bag puppet and a paper cupcake, Ethan also loved taking part in the singing and playing with the parachute.  My favourite part was when he sat down to listen to the story.  As the children are so young, many of them wander off at this point, but Ethan really seemed to enjoy the story and he sat right by the lady and listened to the whole thing.  He even remembered what it was about hours later, as when his Daddy got home from work and asked him about his day he was able to say that the story was about penguins and a boat :)

Today we played in the park with friends.  It was a lovely autumn day, perfect for running around in the playground.  Ethan loved climbing and sliding, great for his Physical Development and playing with his friend as part of his Personal, Social and Emotional Development.

Ethan has known this little boy since they were born (we were in NCT together) and it's incredible to watch how they've built a proper friendship.  They run around together, making up little games and giggling like crazy.  It's really great to watch Ethan properly interact with a friend.  So many children at this age develop at so many different rates and play in such different ways, that it's really nice to see that Ethan's found someone that enjoys to play in the same way as he does :)

We received the Little Learners Sleepy Puppy Pack from Parragon Books to review.  It's a lovely little bedtime story that comes with a snugly little puppy toy.  You can buy the book and toy set from Amazon for £6.25, which I think is very good value for a cute book and toy.  The book itself is very sweet, it's very short (perfect for children with short attention spans!) it's a sort of lullaby that you can read or sing to your child before bed as it goes through the process of getting into bed and going to sleep.  It's a book that is short and sweet, Ethan is already starting to join in with the words, it's great for developing his Communication, Language and Literacy skills.


Ethan really loves the story and the little puppy toy.  I wondered at first if he wouldn't be interested, if maybe he was too old for it, but I needn't have worried.  He absolutely loves the little puppy, it's one of his new favourite toys and he's taking it to bed with him every night now! It's such a sweet story, I think that it may become a part of our nightly routine :)


* This has been a review post, Parragon gave me these books so that we could read them and write a review for them. To see more about my review process please click here. *

Thanksgiving is over, and that means it's time to decorate for Halloween!  We can't wait for Halloween this year, we've celebrated every year since Ethan was born, but this year he's older and I think that it will be a lot more fun for him.  It's so much fun to see him getting excited about special occasions now, all part of his Personal, Social and Emotional Development.



We had so much fun decorating today!  Ethan wanted to help with everything!  We put little bats on the door knobs, spider webs along the railings, pumpkin lanterns on hooks above the stairs, window stickers on the glass doors and little pumpkin buckets and toys all around the house! Ethan had a say in where everything went, and keeps picking things up and reorganising them. He loves the little light up ghost and tells me when to turn the pumpkin lights on and off.  He is a true little decorator :)

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Today is Canadian Thanksgiving, and even though we live in the UK we still celebrate (as it's actually a really lovely holiday to take part in, no matter where you're from).  A fantastic meal and reflecting on all of the things that you are thankful for is a pretty nice way to spend a day.  We had our big meal yesterday (see the photo here) and today we are just being thankful for everything that we have in our lives.  It's a great way to teach Ethan about gratitude as part of his Personal, Social and Emotional Development.


I cut out some leaf shapes in coloured paper, and as he used crayons to draw on them I asked him about what he was thankful for.  Of course this is a difficult concept for a two year old, so I also asked him about what he loved and what made him happy.  We talked about lots of different things and I gave him many suggestions, that he agreed to.  Hopefully next year he'll be able to come up with his own things to be thankful for.

Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving, no matter where you live :)

It's a weekend of birthday parties for Ethan's friends.  It's so nice that Ethan's party is done and we can just relax and enjoy the other parties (and I love the inspiration for future parties!).  It's so much fun for Ethan to see his friends and play with them in different venues.  Today's party is at Gymboree and tomorrows is at The Little Gym.  Ethan loves climbing, jumping, sliding and playing with his friends, so these parties are fantastic for him!  They're great for his Physical Development as he takes part in the gym activities as well as his Personal, Social and Emotional Development as he learns to celebrate his friends' special days.



Ethan had so much fun at the party today, taking part in the session at Gymboree (which had a Peppa Pig theme).  He loved climbing and throwing the balls around, the air log, playing maracas,  the bubbles, the parachute and the songs.  Then sitting down with all of the other children to have a snack and cake (which he just eats the icing off of!)  The biggest problem was calming him down afterwards, the combination of over excitement and sugary icing makes for one very hyper toddler!  Now to do it all again tomorrow :)  

* Update, the second party of the weekend was also fantastic!  Ethan had loads of fun at The Little Gym and loved Elmo and Cookie Monster everywhere as part of the Sesame Street theme!  

Today we made another Thanksgiving craft that I used to make when I was little, the classic hand print turkey!  A really simple craft for Ethan's Creative Development and to get him excited about Thanksgiving.


First I painted Ethan's hand in autumn colours (brown, red, yellow and orange) and then we carefully printed it onto the paper.  We left that to dry for a few hours so that we wouldn't smudge it.  Then I gave Ethan an eye, a beak and a gobble (the technical term, lol).  I cut the beak and the gobble out of craft foam sheets.  We put some glue on them together and I pointed to where Ethan should stick them.  He stuck the bits on, as well as the 'H' and 'T' stickers for 'Happy Thanksgiving' and then held up his creation proudly!  After I hung the picture up he pointed to it and said "good boy!"   He really is proud of his work today :)

Today we made our first Thanksgiving craft of the year!  There are loads of fantastic ideas on Pinterest for very complicated crafts, but I decided to go retro and have Ethan make something that I remember making in school when I was little.  I printed out a colouring picture of a Thanksgiving turkey and Ethan covered it in bits of tissue paper.  It's a fun activity for Creative Development, as it's so simple that Ethan could do it with very little help and use his own free expression.



First we squirted some glue all over the turkey, then I gave Ethan a glue spreader to make sure that the whole turkey was covered in glue.  Then I gave him some little bits of red, yellow and orange tissue paper and he crumpled them up and stuck them onto the turkey.  I was amazed that he actually understood how to scrunch up the paper and followed instructions so easily   It's great for his fine motor control, and surprised me as I've taught some 3 and 4 year olds that struggled to crumple paper!  He really seemed to enjoy it, asking for more and more paper.  He was even able to find empty spots when I encouraged him to fill the whole turkey with tissue paper.  He made a real masterpiece, and I'm so proud of him as it really is all his own work!

Today we have started to get into the Thanksgiving spirit!  Canadian Thanksgiving is next Monday, and even though we live in England, we still like to celebrate.  Today we went to Whole Foods to buy Thanksgiving dinner essentials, as well as some gourds and mini pumpkins to start to decorate the house for Thanksgiving.  It is great for Ethan's Knowledge and Understanding of the World as he learns about different holidays and traditions, as well as learning about his Canadian culture.


We had a fun afternoon at Whole Foods, we even went to the cafe to share a piece of pumpkin pie (Ethan loved it! "More pie" were his exact words.)  Then came home to set up our little Thanksgiving table.  It was so sweet, we set up the gourds and pumpkin, got out the Thanksgiving napkins, and then Ethan went over to his basket of conkers and brought one over to add to the display.  He's such a cutie :)

Today we set out on our first tasks to play with Ethan's fabulous collection of conkers.  I thought that before we poke holes in them we ought to enjoy them in their complete form.  So the first thing that we did, was count them.  A great activity for Ethan's Problem Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy skills as he's showing a lot of interest in counting above 10 now.  Then we made a box to keep them in, decorating the box with autumn colours.


Ethan helped me to count all of the conkers, he collected 48 altogether!  We then counted them in small batches, in and out of the basket.  Ethan is loving the challenge of learning more numbers, he tries to count along with me all the way.  Then we covered the basket in brown paper and we talked about the colours that would be good to use to decorate it, choosing some autumnal colours together.  Ethan really enjoyed colouring right onto the basket, I think that it made a change from colouring on a flat surface.  Now to find more ways to play with our conkers tomorrow!

We were very lucky to have another beautiful autumn day today, so Ethan and I went to the park to collect conkers (horse chestnuts).  It's a great way to keep Ethan busy outside, by giving him a task.  A great way to learn about different natural materials as part of his Knowledge and Understanding of the World.


At first he didn't know what conkers were, but it didn't take him long to catch on and get really into it.  Soon he was running around, searching everywhere for 'more ponkers'!  He ended up with quite the collection, now we just have to figure out what to do with them all!

Today was Ethan's Second Birthday party!  We had it at the local sports centre fun gym room. After much deliberation, we chose a Winnie the Pooh theme, as it seemed like an easy choice to find lots of things for.  I really just wanted an easy party this year, so this sort of venue and theme seemed the perfect option.

Decorations:
It's a big room, so there was no way to decorate the whole place!  We stuck to a small area, just doing the tables and putting up some banners and signs to point to the party.  I also decided at the last minute to make some Winnie the Pooh character ears, getting the printouts from Merriment Design and attaching them to strips of paper rather than headbands.

• balloons
• banner and bunting
• tablecloths, trays, napkins
• snack boxes
• Hundred Acre Woods signs
• Winnie the Pooh, Tigger and Piglet ears from the Merriment Design website

Activities and Games:
The room had a bouncy castle, giant slide, climbing frame and soft blocks in it, but for some reason I thought that might not be enough for the kids!  So I made a few things, just in case.

• Pin the tail on Eeyore from the Disney Family website
• roll the dice and move like the character 
• I printed out pictures of the characters onto card and stuck them onto a square tissue box
• toss the balls into the 'hunny' pot
• I covered a big bucket with blue paper, made a 'hunny' sign and cut yellow paper to look like dripping honey, then put in a couple of Winnie the Pooh balls and some other balls to toss in
• play in Winnie the Pooh's house
• we brought our tent and tunnel from home and made a 'Mr Sanderz' sign for above the door

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