Preschool, Week 3, God Made the Sun

Bible Story/lesson: Genesis 1: God created the sun, moon, and stars

Shape: circle
Letter: C
Number: 3
Color: yellow
Book: One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish

Bible Lesson

This week, our Bible study focused on creation day 4: God created the sun, moon, and stars. Cohen has really enjoyed his Bible study, and he is doing a great job remembering the lessons. He loves to tell anyone who will listen what God made on certain days. He's still having a little trouble remembering the first part of his Bible verse (Genesis 1:1): he just won't say "In the beginning", but we're still working on it. He can also "read" the first few creation days from his Bible.

After we read the Bible on Tuesday, we created the Day 4 page for our Creation Book. I cut out a yellow circle, and we discussed its shape and color, and then I let him glue it to the paper. Afterwards, I asked him to draw yellow lines around the sun. We did the same for the moon, and then I gave him a bottle of silver glitter glue and let him put dots on the paper for stars. I discovered on this day that Cohen loves to use glitter glue. 

Wednesday, we got the glitter glue out again and made another sun and moon. This craft was originally supposed to become a mobile, but we were just a little too squirmy to see it through :)

Letter

We learned about the letter C this week. Cohen's favorite activity was creating this letter animal for our alphabet book. My goal for learning the alphabet this year has always been to just have him be able to identify each letter when he sees them. So far, he's doing well with that. I am also teaching him the sounds that each letter makes, but that's hit and miss. He gets that letters make sounds, but he's not quite matching them up yet. I hear a lot of ah ah ah caterpillar. 

Shape and Color

Our color of the week was yellow, which is a color that Cohen sometimes has trouble with. He confuses it with orange, which I can totally understand. So we spent a little extra time looking at and learning about yellow. We went on a color hunt around the playroom, and Cohen flashed his flashlight on anything in the room he saw that was yellow. He loves this game and will go on color hunts on his own throughout the day.

The shape of the week was circle. We took some time on Tuesday to learn about how to shape circles by playing with Play Doh. We rolled out the Play Doh and then shaped them into lines, circles, the letter B and the letter C. He had a lot of fun with this project, but it was a challenge for him.

Book

This week we "read" the book One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish. And by "read" I mean we watched a Youtube video of people reading the book. We didn't have time to get to the library to check out the actual book, and I thought this would be a total fail, but Cohen actually really liked watching other people read to him. In fact, after we watched the One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish video, he asked to watch 3 more books. We also made our own blue fish by cutting strips of construction paper and gluing them onto a fish. Cohen was thrilled to have complete control of his scissors and the glue. He did a great job with this craft.

Preschool Week 2: And God Made ...

Bible Story/lesson: Genesis 1: God created land and plants
Shape: Line
Letter: B
Number: 2
Color: blue
Book: If You Give A Pig A Pancake

Bible Lesson

First off, let me just say that I am impressed on a daily basis by this boy's brain. I truly underestimated his brain's capacity to learn, but he is proving me each wrong minute by minute. His recall ability is second to none, and he loves to talk about last week's lessons, particularly when it's dark around us. Cohen loves to tell us, "God said, 'Let there be light!' and He turned the light on!"

This week, we continued working on our Bible verse, Genesis 1:1. Somewhere along the lines, he got a little lazy and dropped In the beginning, so I am having to remind him that that is part of the verse, too. We focused on Creation Day 3 this week, talking about how God created dry land and plants.

On Tuesday, we used construction paper and glue to make the third page in our Creation Book. Cohen is showing a huge interest in using scissors, but he's also left handed and the only pair of safety scissors the Dollar Tree sells is for right handed kids. So that has been quite frustrating to him.

On Wednesday, we painted cupcake liners to represent the beautiful flowers that God created. Cohen really surprised me with this craft: he was completely independent. We used this as a lesson on our shape of the week: lines, and he took off with his little marker making lines for the flowers' stems. Then he drew circles for the leaves and glued on the flowers. This was the first all-Cohen activity he's done.


Letter

We worked on the letter B this week. First, we made the B  page of our alphabet book. We cut out the letter B and talked about how it makes the beh beh beh sound. Then we talked about words that start with the beh beh beh sound. Like beh beh beh bumble bee. And beh beh beh balloon. I cut out paper and he glued to turn his letter into a bumble bee.

I think this is going well. He gets the concept that letters make sounds, but he can't quite match them up yet. He'll say, "Ah ah ah apple. Ah ah ah ant. Ah ah ah bear." I just correct him and more on. I hope it'll click for him as we practice more and introduce more letters and sounds.

A few weeks ago, I bought a little alphabet workbook for us to work through. It may be for kids a bit older than him, but I think with my guidance, he can do well with it. I know his motor skills aren't there yet for him to actually write letters, but I don't see the harm in tracing and practicing, so that's what we do. For the B page, I showed him that a B is just a line with two circles and let him practice. Pretty good for a two year old!


Book
We read If You Give A Pig A Pancake this week, and while the lack of story infuriated me more and more each time we read it, Cohen really liked this book. What I did like is how rich and detailed the illustrations were. They allowed Cohen to use his imagination and tell me what's going on in the story.

We used a variety of pink circles to create a pig of our own. Cohen really likes making characters of his own. It's fun to give him a shape and tell him what it is ("This is the pig's nose") and watch him figure out where it's supposed to go in the picture. And check out that circle work! This boy is becoming a circle pro.

The Most Heartwarming Story. Ever.

I don't think it's any surprise to anyone that I think my kid is the most adorable and coolest kid on the planet. If you ask me, I don't think you can get much better than him.

I think that's what makes this story so awesome.

Lately, I've been having major hot flashes and waves of feeling very light-headed. It happened this morning during Sunday School, and instead of suffering through an hour pretending I was fine, I decided to leave class and sit by the exit door of the church-- where it was much cooler.

It just so happens that I was sitting very close to Cohen's toddler Sunday School class, and I could overhear what was going on in that class. So I eavesdropped. Don't try to tell me you're not curious about what a 2 year old Sunday School class sounds like. I know I'm not the only one.

And what I heard come from that room? Made me so proud to be a part of my church and have my son in that class. His teachers were telling the children a Bible story. In between interjections of, "Cohen, come sit down." And "Ok, Cohen, come join us," (why was my kid the only one running around? lol) they shared the story of the lame man whose friends lowered him through the ceiling so he could be healed by Jesus.

Fast forward a few hours. We were all in the car, and I decided to quiz Cohen on some things I have never talked with him about, but I knew he was hearing in church.

Cohen, what is the Bible?
It's God's word, Mommy!!!

Cohen, who is Jesus?
Jesus is God's Son. He was a baby. He pooped. Everybody poops!

Where does Jesus live?
He lives right here, Mommy ! (Pointed to his heart).

Did you hear a story about a sick man today, Cohen?
Ummmmmm... Yea! He was sad. Jabber jabber jabber friends jabber jabber Jesus. He's happy now!

And that, my friends, is what came out of my 2 year old's mouth. I am so humbled and blessed tonight.

Thanks to all the preschool teachers who take their jobs seriously. I know it probably seems like those kids are just running around, and you're wasting your time trying to teach them. But today? It stuck. And I couldn't be more happy.

For the Love of Chicken Nuggets

There's a rule around these parts that we tend to be pretty strict about: no snacks after dinner. Once dinner is over, you don't get anything else to eat or drink until breakfast the next morning, even if you are staaaaaarving because you let the dogs eat your food or you had a tantrum and threw your dinner on the floor.

Sometimes we fudge on that rule just a bit when Mommy gets an ice cream craving after Wednesday and Sunday night church. I mean, let's be real here.

Being true to his toddler self, Cohen typically tries to con me out of some gummies or Goldfish or apple sauce about an hour after dinner, and I'm proud to report that I am pretty hard-hearted toward the snack requests. But that don't stop the kid from trying.

Last night as we were driving home from church, Cohen began to ask for chicken nuggets. Then he began to beg for them. Then he began to cry and wail for them. Seriously, this kid needed some nuggets, man. In an effort to quiet him down, I reminded him that we don't eat snacks after dinner (hello tears), but that we could eat chicken nuggets for lunch tomorrow. From the back of the car, I heard a muffled Otay, Mommy, followed by some pretty pathetic sniffles.

I'm not even joking now: my kid woke up about 30 minutes earlier then he usually does, and the very first thing out of his mouth? CHICKEN NUGGETS, MOMMY! Luckily he is a boy who likes his routine, so he settled for his usual breakfast, but only after I promised 8472 times that we would have chicken nuggets for lunch.

I'll fast forward a few hours. We're getting ready to leave my midwife's office, and Cohen's excitement level is growing exponentially. He's telling every nurse and doctor and patient we pass that he's getting chicken nuggets for lunch. He's telling me to hurry as we walk through the parking lot. Boyfriend is ready.

Each time we approach and then pass a fast food restaurant, I hear, "Yay! Thank you, Mommy! Heeeeey ... Mommy, chicken nuggets! Back there!" In an effort to save some money, I've decided to cook some nuggets at home, so I let him know that's the plan, and he seems OK with that.

We get home; Cohen makes a beeline to the oven and demands that I turn it on. I open the freezer and begin to shift items around in there to find the bag of chicken nuggets. I begin to shift items a little more frantically My heart sinks.

We don't have any chicken nuggets.

I ask Cohen if he'd like a hot dog instead. NO MOMMY! I try to make a grilled cheese sandwich sound like the best idea ever. CHICKEN NUGGETS, MOMMY! He will not be swayed, and he's starting to realize his much-anticipated lunch is in serious danger.

Whimpers. Slumped shoulders and mopey walking. Giant tears. He is heartbroken, and I feel like the worst mother in the world. So I do what anyone else would do: I turn off the oven, put my kid back in the car, and I go buy my boy some chicken nuggets.

This momma is a total softie.

Toddler Talk

It could just be because I'm his momma and think he hung the moon, but I seriously think everything Cohen says is hilarious.

This age is tons of fun -- not so much for the boundary testing and tantrums, but for being able to sit back and watch my child play with words and figure out how to get those thoughts in his head out into the world. Toddlers are silly people, I tell you.

Cohen says so many things that catch me off guard or make me giggle or tear up, and I catch myself making a mental note to remember what he just said forever. But that's not working too well for me these days. Seems I'm forgetting everything. So I figured I'd use this space to record some of the best things that come out of my kid's mouth, and I'd love to hear about the silly things that your kids say as well!
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In the grocery store, after I had just put a package of toilet paper in the cart:

Cohen: What's that?
Mommy: That's toilet paper. We use it when we go potty.
Cohen: Daddy goes potty.
Mommy: Yes, he does.
Cohen (loudy): Daddy poops!
Mommy (laughing): Yes, Daddy poops.
Cohen (as we passed by each stranger in the store for the rest of our shopping trip): Hi! Daddy poops!
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At our evening prayers one night after being at church with his friend, Ava:

Cohen: Dear Jesus, thank you for Ava. Ava take my Goldfish. Ava take my juice. Ava take my car. Daddy take my football. Amen.

Makes me glad I didn't do anything to cross him that day so he didn't have anything about me to tattle to Jesus.
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Cohen: More snack, Mommy?
Mommy: It's all gone. You ate it all.
Cohen: More snack?
Mommy: It's all in your belly.
Cohen (lifting up his shirt and looking at his stomach): No snack,just baby.
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After singing 4 rounds of If You're Happy and You Know It, I had run out of ways to keep the song going, so Cohen picked it up:

Cohen: If you're happy and you know it ... shake your hiney! (followed by some very skillful low-to-the-ground booty shaking).
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At bath time, I dropped a bath fizzy into the bath. We usually have fun with the fizzies because they turn the water different colors. This night, we used a yellow bath fizzy:

Cohen: Bath time! Bath time!
Mommy: What color is the water tonight, Cohen?
Cohen: Pee pee.