You Can See It Building

My daughter is me, but with blond hair.  She doesn't really look like me, except the eyes.  Her attitude (as in the bad part of it), her patience (as in none), and her ability to aggravate anyone at the drop of a hat is all me, baby.  And boy does it stink sometimes!

Last week I shared some pictures from a front yard romping.  Here are some more pictures from the same outing.  I read a tip once that said the key to taking good pictures is just keep clicking away.  If you take 100 pictures (which I believe I took 80 that morning), you will find a handful that are keepable.  So I actually had my little girl still and smiling.  I clicked away as fast as I could.

And you could see it build up.

That is the slow motion version of her orneriness building up and her need for constant motion taking over.  She shot off and ran down the hill in our front yard, squealing the entire way.

These pictures were captured by the Mamarazzi.  Please head over to Household 6 Diva and check out other mom captured moments on Mamarazzi Monday.

Tools to Help Teach Preschoolers a Foreign Language

As you know, I am embarking on the adventure of teaching my two young children German.  I do have a background with the German language (although it has been an eternity), but I need something to help me get my children excited and learning at their level.  Enter Little Pim.  You all know from my post last week, that Little Pim is the system I chose to use.  I contacted them about this and they agreed to be a part of it.  

So we have been watching the DVDs.  The kids are really into them, but I want to extend their learning past watching these shows.  I say words from the shows throughout the day as they come up.  Since the shows are about eating, waking, playing, sleeping, etc. it is pretty easy to incorporate them into our daily routine.  

As I feed them a meal, we point out eine Telle (a plate) and ein Glas (a glass), along with the translation of foods we are eating.  That seems to be working really well.  The other day I realized that my previous experience with this language has an advantage with the pronunciation of words.  What if you were learning the language with your children?  

I went to the resource area on Little Pim's website and found an awesome print out that I wanted to share with you.  Here is an excerpt of it.  You see that it shows which DVD and show it is in reference to.  It has each line of the show written out in German, the English translation, and written out phonetically.  So if you don't know how to say a word, you can hear it on the DVD (or on the digital download) and then have it written out in front of you as well.

They also have neat things to know, such as in German "w" sounds like "v" and that nouns are always capitalized.  Like I said, neat little tips that a beginner would not know.  They have these for all of the languages, by the way.

I printed up some coloring pages from their resource center, too.  As the kids colored, we talked about what they were coloring (in both languages) and it was a great time to introduce the German words for the colors.  

I have also shown my son which countries speak German on a map.  Charley would have no idea about the concept of a map.  We talk about different cultural things in those countries as well.  Watching a recent episode of Toot & Puddle in which one of them goes to Bavaria really helped spark this interest. 

I am currently trying to find neat books for toddlers and good books for preschoolers that are written in German.  This way I can incorporate those into our reading time a few times a week.  I am having trouble finding some that I can actually see what the book looks like on the inside (to make sure it is decent) and that are not over $20 a piece plus shipping and handling.  

Here is my suggestion to Little Pim...come out with a few picture books (board style) for toddlers, and short stories for preschoolers in the languages you offer.  I, for one, would definitely love that.  Even the people that do not purchase Little Pim would want them.  It is hard to find these books, especially for us small town people.  I bought Baby Einstein DVDs and books for my children.  I would definitely buy Little Pim books!  Just saying.

So how do you incorporate a foreign language into your routine?  I would love to read what you do and how it works for you.  Please share with us.

True Sibling Love

Here is a true glimpse at sibling love.  I am so happy I caught this during a recent frolic in the front yard.  

Here is a brother and sister showing each other some love.

Okay.  That's enough.

This moment was captured by me being a mamarazzi.  This post is linked with other Mom taken photos on Mamarazzi Monday over at Household 6 Diva.

Teaching Preschoolers Foreign Languages

You might remember that I wanted to teach my children German.  So I hit the internet looking for programs to help teach a preschooler a foreign language.  

While I was searching I came across Little Pim.  The reviews were glowing and Little Pim had been featured in so many reputable magazines and sources.  So I contacted Little Pim asking them if they would like to be a part of my adventure in teaching my two young children German.

To my surprise, they were just as excited as I was about it.  So they sent me Little Pim Three Pack German.

The Little Pim Three Pack contains three DVDs.  The set includes Eating and Drinking (DVD 1), Wake Up Smiling (DVD 2) and Playtime (DVD 3).  This set is only $49.95.  I was really impressed by the price.  They do sell the DVDs individually.  The individual DVDs retail for $17.95 each.  We have started to watch Eating and Drinking.  The kids really enjoy watching this DVD and my son has requested it.  It works great for me to brush up on my German as well.  

The Eating and Drinking DVD has a lot of very useful translations.  I love the way they show children doing normal kitchen activities and eating.  Little Pim does a great job of showing the items and then it displays the item's German translation in writing on the screen.  That is helpful for us parents so we can read it and register it easier (and get a better idea of pronunciation).

The clips are short enough to keep my kids' attention, but yet they show enough to actually teach them.  My son actually grabbed his plate on Sunday and said, "Mommy, eine Telle."  When I picked my jaw off of the table, I told him that he was correct.  Then he told me, "And ein Glas", as he lifted his cup.  So I would say that the interest is there and Little Pim is doing a great job so far.

I have had weird questions like "How do you say ceiling fan in German?" and the ever so boyish "Mommy, how do you say poot in German?"  So I have Google Translate on hand for those moments.

So please join me as I use Little Pim to teach my children a foreign language.  I will be sharing our journey every Wednesday.  Every week I will share what we are doing, learning, and dive in further into Little Pim.  You get to learn more about our progress, follow along with us (if you would like) and learn more about Little Pim.

Little Pim does offer 10 languages, so if you are not wanting to learn German, you have plenty of options.

Are you teaching your children another language as well?  If so, please share which language and how you are doing it. 

Say WHAT?!

                                

“Water and poop do not make mud!”

 

Background: We were playing in the backyard and my son asked if he and his sister could make mud.  I told him that was fine.  I was sitting back, relaxing, and reading a magazine in a patio chair.  I could see them pouring water and stirring with their shovels.  Everything looked kosher.

WRONG.

He came up to me and asked me if I wanted some mud cake.  I said, “Sure”.  I leaned in to pretend eat (you know, where you get really close and make munching sounds).  I was hit by that all too familiar smell.

I asked what he put in his mud cake.  He said, “Just mud.”  So I asked how he made his mud.  He said, “Oh…it’s a great recipe!  I mix up a little dirt with dog poop and add water.  Ta-da! You have your very own mud.”

I wish I was making this up.  I wrote down the exact words right then in the magazine so I could tell my husband.  Then I immediately thought of you all and how you would laugh at this one.  :-)

Chalk another one up to things I thought would never come out of my mouth.  What weird thing have you said lately?

Kim

Cinco de Mayo

 

I guess you already know that today is Cinco de Mayo.  I will be doing a couple of crafts today with my kids involving Mexican culture.  But I didn't do them ahead of time to share with you, sorry.  Here is what we are going to be doing today.

We are going to be eating Mexican inspired dishes all day.  Breakfast will be breakfast tacos.  Lunch will be quesadillas.  For dinner I will be making shredded chicken burritos with refried beans and spanish rice.  

Today we will be learning a preschooler version of the Mexican hat dance.  I think the kids will have a ball with this.

We are going to try to make a Mariachi band.  Let's see if the kids try to bring in the electric guitar.  :-P

I am also going to show the kids on the map where Mexico is and we talk a little bit about it.  Those are the things I am going to try to fit into today's activities (if the kids cooperate).  

Are you doing anything for Cinco de Mayo?  If so, please share.  I would love to read what you are up to!

Easy Mother's Day Gift Idea - Photo Magnets

Here is a craft that uses things from around your house.  My mom is getting these photo fridge magnets.  What you will need are a few lids, some construction paper or craft foam, magnets, scissors and glue.

I have been saving lids for a while, so I went through my stash and got some ones that I thought would be good for this.  Turns out that the pickle jar lids worked the best for me.

 
I got some cutie pictures of the kids printed up.

I traced the lid onto the picture where I wanted it to be cut.

I made a few petals and cut them out.  I then used those as a guide to trace the others.  I let the little man do the last few.  I cut the petals out while he cut the ones he drew out.  He was not in a picture taking mood.   :-(

I grabbed some fridge magnets that I have been given by businesses (and other stuff) and cut them up.  I glued the petals to the outside of the lid.  I also glued the magnets to the middle.

I cut simply placed the cut pictures into the lids.  They popped right in and I didn't need to glue them.  If you accidentally cut them too small, you might have to glue.   

I gave them a test run on our fridge to make sure they will stick.  They turned out great, as least I think so.

So I thought of this project a few months back knowing I would do it for Mother's Day.  I was secretly thinking how clever I was.  Turns out I'm not.  A few weeks ago, I saw this post and realized I am not so creative after all.  At least great minds think alike, huh?


What is the least amount of money you have ever spent for a Mother's Day gift?

Mother's Day Gift for Yourself

Do you have tiny onesies stashed in your closet from when your kids were little?  That take home outfit or Christening gown shouldn't be hidden away.  They are too cute. 

So treat yourself to your own Mother's Day gift and display them.

I bought a couple of 11x14 frames at Wal-Mart for $5.00 each.  I got out some construction paper (you can use scrapbook paper), tape, and scissors. 

I ironed the teenie-weenie onesies and used double sided tape to affix them to some construction paper.  You can loop any regular tape to work just fine.  I printed up the kids names, birthday, time of birth, and birth weight on the computer.  I cut that out and put it at the bottom just below the outfits. 

Now I have a sweet reminder from when my kids were super little.  I walk past them every time I go down the hall.  It is the best $10.00 (since I bought two frames) I ever spent on myself.  :-)

If price was not a factor, what would you buy yourself for Mother's Day?

Kim

Say WHAT?!

                               

“Oh Sweetie, German is a language that people speak, not what germs speak.”

Background:   I have been trying to teach my son the few German words I can remember.  Since I used to speak German, I thought if I taught it to the kids it would come back more.  

I have tried to teach Cole a couple of words and every time I say that it is German, he flips out and yells that he doesn’t want to learn German.  His response was very strange and not his style.  He loves languages (he even makes up his own).  His response was so strong that I never pushed the subject or probed why he didn’t want to learn it.  

One day a couple of weeks ago, we were talking about Chinese (Mandarin) and how maybe we should learn it together.  I asked why he didn’t want to learn German.  

He looked at me with this sad look in his eyes and said, “Mommy, I don’t want to learn German because I don’t want to talk to germs.  They are bad and I don’t like them.”

My heart just melted.  How cute is that?  So I said the above sentence in reply.  Then we looked at maps and talked about German things.  I told him how I lived in Germany as a little girl.  I showed him pictures of Gemran castles on the computer.  He perked up.  Now he is interested. 

So now I have to brush up on my German, because it has only been 13 years (OUCH!) since I last took it in college.  I do not think I have uttered a single German word since then, so I have my work cut out for me. 

Chalk another one up to things I never thought I would say, or have to. 

What things have you said lately that you never thought would come out of your mouth?

Kim