Advent Calendar

This is K's first year of having an advent calendar. She has been working on decorating 25 envelopes for a few weekends. Last night we hung the envelopes in the loungeroom.

I found some Christmas cards from last year that we cut up and glued on to the envelopes.

Glitter glue was used for some.

And paints of course.

K practised her numbers by writing 1-25 on the envelopes.

 

Mum will place a very small gift or activity card in each envelope and K will get to open the corresponding envelope (December date) each morning. Maybe this will become a new tradition for our family. We don't have too many special event traditions so it would be nice to start one.

 



(Photo taken by K)

Show Time II

K enjoyed the little country show with Nana a few weeks back and now she had the opportunity to visit the show in her own town, building on the experiences she gained with Nana. We decided to go on Friday evening for a few hours so that we could see the fireworks which were to start at 8.30pm.

 A goof friend of K's came along with us - it was very sweet seeing them holding hands as they arrived and entered the show.

K has enjoyed this little rollercoaster before. It swings around the corners quite fast and leaves K with a great big smile on her face.

The girls enjoyed looking at the artwork on display, created by other children. We were quite disappointed though that the animals were all tucked up in bed with the shed closed. We could hear the roosters etc, but weren't able to see them. Given a lot of families come to the show on a Friday night, it would have been nice to have had some animals the kids could view.

Clowns are always a favourite. The girls identified each number chute the balls would land in. Maybe next year they can have a go at adding up the numbers themselves. Other favourite activities for the night were the jumping trampolines and the bouncy castle. One bouncy castle attendant was good enought to let the girls stay on for a good 15 minutes as we were waiting for the fireworks start to get closer. The girls had great fun and we actually got a bit of value out of the $6 per child cost.

 

Sitting on the grass enjoying slushies, waiting for the fireworks to start.

 



 

The night was cool, but we had warm enough clothes on not to be uncomfortable. The girls bought one showbag on the way out (that K has not eaten and lost interest in) and were tucked into bed and asleep by 9.50pm. This was a late night for them, however they both still woke just after 6am.

 

In getting K changed for swimming lessons on Saturday morning, we discovered some spots that looked suspiciosly like chicken pox.

 

Chicken Pox

So, apparently 5-10% of kids who are immunised, will still get chicken pox. K woke on Saturday morning saying that she had a mozzie bite on her head/scalp. It wasn't until she undressed later that I saw the other spots, mostly on her torso. A doctor visit later that morning confirmed they were chicken pox and advised she should stay at home for a week - until the spots developed scabs and were no longer contagious.

So - what to do with a few days off work and a child who is supposedly not to be in contact with others...

Our water beads, which live on the kitchen bench, were revisited.

We played 'schools' and K did some workbooks.

We tried to start some sight words.

 

K of course had to be the teacher - she read to Mum who had to sit on the mat.

 

We cut out old Christmas cards from last year and stuck them on envelopes - we plan of making an Advent Calendar with 24 envelopes K has decorated.

K looked after her babies and took them for walks.

 

We swung.

 And looked for bugs.

K volunteered to help with some jobs.

Even Natti had to participate as K tried to teach her to read numbers.

 

By Thursday, K's 30 or so spots were sufficiently scabby and Mum decided it was time to head back to daycare. I think we had a reasonably productive three days. I guess we can now cross chicken pox off the list of future reasons I will need to stay home from work.