Rinn Update

Rinn is a little girl now.  There is no baby left.  She talks, almost non-stop, about everything.  From flowers, to pictures, to what cuss-word someone just said - everything is subject for discussion.

Currently, we are learning the days of the week and the alphabet.  I printed off the days with pictures corresponding to the days of creation.  This way there is a concrete thing that makes each day different.  We also have a handy arrow that points to the current day.  When Nana and Papa came yesterday she had to run to the Days to the Week chart to make sure it was the right day that they came.  She was so excited!

We just bought a cute table for her to work at.  It is a wonderful addition to our home!  We have been drawing and playing play dough everyday since we put it together.  It is so nice to have a dedicated area for her arts and crafts.  Just above her table are the Days of the Week and Alphabet chart.  We also bought her a clock of her very own.  We put it down at her height so that we can teach her the time.  She was so excited to get the clock - she carried it throughout the whole store!

She is now potty trained with the exception of pull-ups at night.  The nighttime pull-ups are mostly to save us from having to get up at night one more time.  She is a trooper when we go out and is really good about using any potty.

Several months ago we discovered that PBS is finally appropriate for her age!  So now we enjoy Clifford and Caillou almost every morning.  She has recently begun to enjoy Super Why as well.  This gives me a couple minutes to do the dishes or nurse Tempie.  I don't like her watching too much TV, but I have to realize that this will not last forever, but is a great tool right now while I sometimes need the extra time.

Last month, we began reading aloud to her before she goes to bed as part of the bedtime routine.  We are purposely choosing books that are slightly above her and have almost no pictures.  We started with a character she was very familiar with, Winnie the Pooh, and are now expanding it into other books.  I think she is learning to listen more carefully.  Since we started reading aloud, she is making more observations during Morning Prayer and asking more complicated questions.  Such fun!!  We began with The House at Pooh Corner, then read Winnie-the-Pooh followed by  Haffertee's First Christmas (a British book I read as a child).  We are having to go and discover books that we did not read as children like Mary Poppins and others of similar levels.  Any suggestions would be wonderful!!!