Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Night time musings


Wow I think I did it! I don't know why this was so difficult for me-I wanted it to look nice so I had to fiddle and fuss but I like the colors.  Now I will work on new albums and hopefully will put them up by next weekend.

We had a great first week.  The children were so happy to see each other again and have oatmeal and soup. We have four new children, two do not yet speak English. Their family is here for four months from Norway. Transitions to snack and rest were a bit sticky but we all got through it. We will slowly get back into our rhythm and get to know each other.

Our Rhythm is; play from 8-9:15, then we wash, go potty and have breakfast/snack of hot cereal and fruit. After we eat and clear the table, wash hands and push the breakfast cart, with all the dishes etc on it, into the kitchen, we all go into the playroom to lie down on our pillows for a tiny tummy rest. I sing a few lullabies while the children lie down and then I sing my rainbow song and we have our story. I bring my Storybasket  onto my lap, spread out the rainbow cloth as a boundary between the children and me and then I sing my story, the first one of the year is, Mary Had  Little Lamb.  The children love this time and will sing the story with me, I have a knitted lamb and a felted Mary that come out of my basket to be in the story. When it is over I put the puppets back and choose a child to collect the rainbow, a coveted job!  By now it is about 10:15 and we use the potty, change diapers and off we  go to the porch/mudroom to get ready to go outside. Shoes, hats, sunscreen and bug juice and we are off to the garden gate into the backyard.  As soon as we are in the backyard the children run to take the cover off the sandbox and put all the toys on the grass and then serious "baking" begins. Sand is everywhere  in our yard- we began with 3200 pounds of play sand ( really!!) in the  sandbox and it is now about half full. Cakes get delivered to us at the big table, the chairs are both ovens, underneath, and tables on top. Our new child sized picnic table is  well used- a great purchase. Another beloved "toy" is our lounge chair- it has been a ship, bunk beds, a store and a house. There are logs to climb on and jump off of, a hammock swing on the fence is just the right size for toddlers and our new, very sturdy pails and shovels are always in use. We often grind grain at the big picnic table or felt balls while we are outside.  We go back in at 11:50 or so to  wash, change and get ready for lunch. Lunch is homemade, vegetable soup made with organic veggies from our CSA. We blend the soup and then add a grain to it. Served with fruit and some raw carrots or cukes and milk makes a hearty lunch for our hungry children. Here is the recipe, thank you Caroline and Tim for the mention on your gorgeous website!  http://kitchengardenfarm.com/component/content/article/5-kitchen-garden-journal/307

To be continued .....in the meantime here are some photos from our first week.





























1 comment:

  1. Thanks for sharing these photos with us, Celia! And also for the write up of your routine.

    It's interesting that you chose Mary Had a Little Lamb for your first puppet show, because Erin and I have been singing that song a lot for the last few weeks, and I think it's been Erin's favorite. Now it is for sure, she's been humming it all week!

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