empty wipe container+rings=quiet time

 I put this little game together for Elinor the other day. At the store last night I saw the exact same thing for $20. Working at the daycare I remember making something simliar with an empty formula can (with a slit cut in the top) and the flat lid of a bottle.

 I sat down with Elinor, showed her a ring and then put it in the container. She looked at me smiled and grabbed another ring right away to hand me. After a couple more I handed her one to try. She is still working on her coordination to get it in but is doing great!

 I walked away to start dinner and she sat working on it for 15 minutes! 15 minutes of silence! Normally that would make me nervous but she was busy playing. We were working on colors while putting them in today and she seems to have picked up "blue". According to her every ring is blue.

trees

 We go to the same lot of an ice cream store every year to get our tree. We went after work last week and let Elinor feel the trees and wonder around. She really liked the white pine tree which is always Dave's favorite. He has been wanting one every year but we never find a perfect one.

 Elinor found the perfect one! Dave was so excited. She kept walking passed it and petting it.

 We came home and decorated it right away. We fight with our tree topper every year. This year we didn't even bother with it. We are going to get a new one soon. I put softer ornaments near the bottom which Ellie has already torn off. She brings them back to the tree and hold it up like she is trying to put it back on.

With her being so interested in the tree, I made a felt tree on the back of the door. There are felt ornaments with velcro on the back so Elinor can decorate it herself. We used to make boards like this at the daycare all the time. I think I'm going to start keeping different boards up through out the year for her.

Her and Henri love it. Henri likes to pull them down, hid them and then put them back up. Elinor would only pull them all down for awhile. She now will start putting them up. While I was downloading these pictures, she came up behind me to see them. She walked away and when I looked up again she was at her tree moving ornaments around. What a smart baby!

Did you get a chance to read Elinor's 12 month update that Dave wrote yesterday? It was so sweet and I hope to get Dave to write more often on here. Read it here

stickers

I've been trying to do little activities with Elinor lately. She is getting older and I want to work on skills that I would with any child I've ever worked with. I sometimes get lazy when we get home after a long day. I just was to sit and rest but something that could take 5 minutes would be so beneficial to her.

We had some time before dinner the other night and I had stickers my mom had given Ellie. I stripped her to her diaper and started sticking them all over her body. I would say each body part and she sat and watched. After a bit she started peeling off the stickers and either handing them to me to put back on or I would help guide her hand to put one back on. 

She didn't last too long but it was enough to work on some fine motor skills and identifying body parts. It's an activity we will be doing again soon!