Tot School - April 20 - 24, 2009

Lindsay is currently 3 1/2 years old

Tot School last week was a little sparse in the picture department. My foot has been really bothering me lately, and I'm having trouble walking. What's wrong, you wonder? In an act of infinite gracefulness, I stepped on a piece of broken glass last year sometime. Evidently, the surgical skills of my husband and I are lacking a bit, because I am in excrutiating pain when I walk. The only plus is that by the afternoon, it's so numb that it doesn't hurt as bad and I can actually get things done. I've never gone to the doctor about it because, well - I don't have to explain that to other moms, I guess. I just tend to put my own problems on the back burner until the whole kitchen burns down. :) Anyway...I've now realized that by ignoring it, I may have done myself more harm than good. So....I'm having surgery this Thursday to correct the damage I've caused to my foot and will be on crutches for 3 weeks. No biggie...but I've never walked on crutches before so this will definitely be a challenge. Ya'll pray...I'm not scared, but Gary is. He's never had a surgery and worries himself sick when I have to.

ANYWAY...Tot School. Right. We had a busy week, even if most of our time was spent just talking to each other. We talked about Earth Day and the importance of recycling. We looked at pictures of the earth and I showed her where we lived on a world map. We made promises to do better when we throw things away and we will really try to get things to the recycling bin instead of the trash can. We had lots of little talks about our planet and how we need to take care of it. We touched on climate differences a little, but it was kind of over her head, so we moved on.

Here's something I did get pictures of: Our "Fuzzy Weed-Stamped Flower Garden"!! One afternoon, we were sitting outside playing in the grass. Lindsay brought me this weed that I'm sure everyone has in their own yards, right?? She called it a "Fuzzy Weed". After I finished sneezing, I collected several more from her and grabbed some paint. Here's what we ended up with!

First - Grab a "fuzzy-weed" like this from your yard (or if you're the super-mom-type who would die if she found a weed in her yard, go steal one from your neighbor!)

Second, choose your paint colors - we used yellow, orange, green, purple, light blue, red, and pink. I used the Crayola Washable paints, and they worked like a charm when it came to clean-up time.

Next, dip your "fuzzy-weed" into the paint and stamp it on your paper (I used 11 x 13 poster board), to make a flower. Play around with it...the more paint you put on your "fuzzy-weed," the fuller the petals on your flowers. I loved the effect I got when I used a very small amount of red paint...it almost looked like a hibiscus flower!

Finally, use the stem of your "fuzzy-weed" to make the flower stems and leaves for your garden!

Clean up was really easy - I tend to stay away from painting because I detest cleaning paint brushes!! But this proved to be very easy!!

For those of you who noticed my hypocrytical use of styrofoam plates while teaching Lindsay about Earth Day...I know! I know!!! I'm really sorry!!! I bought a huge supply of them a few months ago - before our new promise was made. :) I am trying to change, I swear!!!

To join in the weekly fun, or simply read other Tot Reports from other moms, visit Carisa's blog: 1+1+1=1.