Svea's Journal

Svea wasn't here for breakfast. For lunch she ate a large serving of Hearty Paleo Stew with meat, cauliflower, broccoli, sweet potatoes, green beans, tomatoes, and carrots. She ate saltines and ate bites of tropical fruit.   We were preparing to go outside this morning and it was like 80 degrees at 10:00. I told Svea we were going out and she said, "But I didn't bring a coat." I told her "that's just fine because it's hot outside." Svea said, "That's because I didn't bring a coat." Haha. Ok, whatever you say kiddo. (You have to be pretty special to have the weather follow YOUR lead.) This first picture is left over from yesterday afternoon and I basically wanted to show the positioning of the children. The big girls were enjoying their game, being kind of loud and rowdy. Svea just kept reading totally ignoring it all and staying in her own world. She kind of has the ability to tune everything else out. Including me some times of cou...

Svea had no waffle and ate grapes for breakfast. For lunch she ate chicken, whole wheat tortillas, ate corn, and baked cinnamon apples.   I accidentally poked (very mildly) Svea in the neck and she said, "Hey! You poked my ankle!" I started laughing because it was pretty cute and funny and she started grinning. Avi heard it too and of course had to set her sister straight! "That is NOT your ankle! That's your neck!" :) First picture: This was pretty cute and sweet; Atley told Svea she could this baby and take it home. Atley said, "I don't like dolls anymore." (She really never did like them here.) Svea was thrilled. In the following picture Atley was playing a "matching game" with Svea. I heard Atley say, "That is NOT how the game goes." So I quickly backed away!! :) I like for them to try to figure things out for themselves without my involvement unless it escalates. This did not escalate. :) Next picture: Svea was using this a...

Svea said she didn't want any breakfast. She said, "I had a peanut butter & jelly sandwich" Atley said, "That sounds more like lunch. You had lunch." Avi said, "No, it was peanut butter toast." Ha. For lunch she ate two servings of ground turkey, ate toasted whole wheat sandwich thins, ate avocado, tomato, and two servings of black-raspberries. First picture: This is the first activity that Svea did after she decided not to eat any breakfast. I always love how focused she gets on her activities and how she can really "lock-in" on what she's doing. Second picture is another example of that. She's very serious and doesn't want anyone to interfere with her important work she's doing.  Next picture: Hey Svea, your hair looks pretty long in this picture. She was scooting after the bubbles in front of her. About every third or fourth time I asked the big girls to give Svea a chance at the bubbles too. Cal isn't here today an...

Svea was not here for breakfast. For lunch she ate chicken, two servings of toasted whole wheat pita bread, ate avocado mixed with her chicken, ate cucumbers, and ate pears. At Lunch time Svea told us about some future plans!! :) "When I get older I'm gonna go to the donut store and buy some donuts. With sprinkles on em!!" :) First picture; Atley doing the "people matching game" with Svea. Svea actually ended up with the most matches and Atley was such a great sport about it and congratulated Svea several times for her good work playing the game. Thank you Atley for giving Svea a good example. Next picture; We did a toy, book, puzzle, and art supplies exchange. There's LOTS of stars in this set in celebration of July 4th.  Next picture: Nora was working on an Art paper doing some stamping with some stamps they'd not seen before. We found these great stamps at a garage sale in Billings. Svea moved in close to check them out as well! :) Last picture; Svea ...

Svea ate bite of oatmeal and bite of dried cranberries for breakfast. For lunch she ate half of tilapia, bites of whole wheat elbow noodles, bites of green beans, and ate applesauce.   First picture: The Nelson Sisters in a game of "Spot It." Atley and Nora didn't want any part of this game today so it was just these two. Atley said she didn't want to play because "Avi is too good." (And very competitive I might add!) It will be nice for Avi to get to a larger setting like Paxson so she has more options and she'll obviously encounter kids that compete on her level in various games. Oops, I forgot this is Svea's Blog!! Haha. Oh well, I'll just leave the comments about Avi. Second picture: Svea working on tracing some letters; the book happens to be upside-down, but who cares. Not Svea. :) Next Picture: Today's Science with Lauralea was not as stimulating as Svea wanted or needed so she left the table and went to the Daycare Room. Miles was mor...

Svea ate blueberry bagel and two servings of peaches for breakfast. For lunch she ate a half serving of our homemade hamburger & sausage pizza with meat, pineapple, peppers, olives, and tomato sauce. She ate bites of whole wheat pizza crust we serve on the side, and bites of pineapple on the side.  At lunch today Svea told me she was tired so at Nap Time I said she could just lay quietly - "you don't have to go to sleep" - and so she laid for awhile and went fast asleep. So you can keep that in mind during Bedtime tonight and let me know if it makes it too difficult. This first picture of Svea is from yesterday when she was sorting the colored bears. She does this activity very methodically and quite logically; one color at a time. And this is a favorite activity of her's right now. Next week may be something new. Following picture; Svea joined Nora at the Dollhouse and these two take their Dollhouse play very seriously. As you know they get along quite well and f...

Svea ate most of whole wheat toast and ate grapes for breakfast. For lunch she had no pork roast, ate whole wheat tortillas, no potatoes, and ate fruit salad.   Svea spent all morning in the Preschool Room again and she's so proud of herself!! She also frequently mentions the fact she doesn't have to wear a Bib anymore either. That's true Svea; you don't even have a bib here anymore because it went in the trash. In this first picture you can see one of the first things she did; doing some drawing with this activity tool. I like how she's on her knees while she's working on this.  Next picture; Svea had just finished another puzzle and again Nora was SO encouraging. Nora said, "Oh my gosh Svea you got a match! You are SO good at puzzles." Isn't that sweet? So Svea came back with this puzzle you see in the picture. This is probably the most difficult puzzle I have here and she struggled to get started with it. I eventually offered some help and prima...

Svea ate most of whole wheat English muffin and no dried plums for breakfast. For lunch she ate chicken, bites of brown rice, ate broccoli, and ate strawberries.   First picture: Nora and Svea were playing with the "fishing game" together. And just like real fishing there was a good possibility of getting their lines tangled when fishing that close together. Ha. Svea played with this game two or three times this morning. Next picture: So here's Svea riding on sister's back again. Ha. Svea kept saying; "dump me off, dump me off." And she'd quit hanging on like you see in the picture. Like I mentioned yesterday the mattress is a pretty soft landing for these maneuvers. :) Last picture: Just like the past few weeks Svea has been spending the majority of her time in the Preschool Room. She loves the various activities and it's so cute when she does them successfully. Lauralea happened to be in the kitchen when Svea completed this activity you see below a...

Svea ate cheerios and bites of banana for breakfast. For lunch she ate ground beef mixed with avocado, ate toasted whole wheat pita bread, ate olives, and two servings of mandarin oranges.   We did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange this weekend and the kids had fun with the different stuff. Svea got this Frog Suit on by herself and was pretty proud of herself. Nora is so sweet with offering praise and encouragement to her friends. She said, "Good job Svea!!" (That's Nora in the tan Lion Suit.)  Next picture: You'll see another picture similar to this in Avi's Blog. Here they are before Avi stood up and started walking around. This mattress is a pretty soft place for their antics. :)  Next two pictures: We (Peter and Sylvie!!) did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange this weekend and Svea was exploring everything in the Preschool Room. We're starting to work on "letter recognition" with her. One of the puzzles in this exchange requires letter recognition t...

Svea ate brown rice and no raisins for breakfast. For lunch she ate salmon, whole wheat dinner roll, ate cauliflower, and two servings of mangoes.   This first picture is left over from yesterday afternoon. Svea wasn't crying, but she was upset because she had to take a break away from the Preschool Room. (Not a big deal; she's quickly learning to follow the rules because she LOVES doing activities out there.) Anyhow, Miles knew she was feeling bad and he went over to give her a love. She rolled away from him, but it was still SO cute and sweet. The second picture is also from yesterday afternoon. I'm not exactly sure what the "game" was, but Avi was saying, "Ok now it's your turn." And then Svea or Nora would hug her. Ha. I took the picture right when both of them were giving her big loves at the same time.  I took this next picture while Svea was playing the game "Spot It" by herself. :) It's not really a one person game - especially ...

Svea had bites of whole wheat English muffin and ate two servings of mandarin oranges for breakfast. For lunch she ate half of ground beef, bite of whole wheat elbow noodles, half of peas, and ate applesauce.   First picture: This is from yesterday when Svea was tracing some letters with the erasable markers. Second picture; this morning she was immediately back to doing the same thing! Good work Svea and that's great practice for you. I love how she concentrates and works so hard.  These two pictures are from Science with Lauralea and you'll recognize the first picture from Avi's Blog. Lauralea asked Svea if she could hold the upside-down glass of water over her head and initially Svea said, "NO!" But she watched Lauralea hold it over Nora's head and decided it was safe. Haha.  In case you missed it in Avi's Blog I'll repost it here!! Haha!! So we did a little 6 second video - You can view here:  https://youtu.be/B7JygTPGZAM   It was real easy to set ...

Svea ate half of French toast and ate strawberries for breakfast. For lunch she ate ground turkey, toasted whole wheat sandwich thin, ate avocado, tomatoes, and ate cherries. One of my all-time favorite things about taking care of children; listening to them talk as they learn language. The way they formulate their sentences without proper structure is frequently hilarious and Svea does some classics. This is a pretty simple one, but it's still cute. She was putting food toys in her mouth and then Cal started putting food toys in his mouth. Of course she needed to "report" his violations to me!! "Hey Gary, Cal got MY germs on me ." Haha. I think you'll survive! First picture: You'll see in Avi's Blog a picture of her trying to coax Miles to get on her back. That wasn't happening, but Svea on the other hand was all over Sister Avi. Ha. Second picture; This sequence of events was pretty cute. Shortly after Svea arrived Miles was working hard to ge...