Day 79: Elizabeth Playing with her New Toy

Elizabeth has had trouble learning to spell her name, and this might hold her back from kindergarten this year, so I decided to get her some 'toys' that I hope will help her learn her alphabet. The one she is using in this picture is pretty cool. You press the letter you want to learn, and it lights up a series of dots on the screen showing you how to write it. Then you trace over it with the special pen. When you're done you swipe the slider at the bottom to erase what you've written and start again. It has shapes, upper and lower case letters, and a few games. So far she really likes it, but it remains to be seen whether it will actually help her learn her alphabet and her name.

The other toy I got her was magnetic letters that you can pop into a holder to form 3-letter words. When you press the letter it says the name of it aloud, as well as the word you have formed. So far that hasn't been as popular, but it might be better once she's got a handle on all the letters and is ready to start making words.

I took this picture with my new flash. So far that's working well too :)

32: Jesus Loves the Children

I co-oped at Elizabeth's preschool again today. I am doing two days this week, as I was the last person to sign up, and ended up with whatever days were left. We had a fun day. In this picture, their teacher is telling them the story of how Jesus loved the children, and told the disciples not to keep them from him, but to become more like them (Matthew 19). She used the whiteboard to draw the scene, and the kids were totally engrossed! Mind you, they were also engrossed when she read them "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs' too :)

This isn't actually the picture I had planned to post today. Edward developed an ear infection during the night, so I had to take him to the pediatrician this morning. I had planned to take a picture of him in the waiting room, or waiting in the examination room, but I totally forgot. He hated the whole experience! He cried when the nurse weighed him, he cried when she took his temperature, and he tried to get away when the doctor was trying to look in his ears. I think he thought he was going to get a shot! In fact, he was supposed to get one tomorrow. The kids have an appointment to get their H1N1 booster shots tomorrow, but now he can't have his. It's probably just as well, they both hate getting shots, so at least now I'll only have to deal with one hysterical child!