The Monday Fun Box

Since I am still sick with some kind of a terrible cold that has me starting to lose my voice, we woke up a little later this morning.  I think it was almost 10!  But, obviously, we both needed the sleep.  Then, we had to go to the grocery store almost immediately because we were out of everything.  I got all the food to make tacos for dinner, a couple of toiletries, some bananas, and a couple of boxes of cereal.  It doesn't sound like much, and it really doesn't look like much in the cart.  But, guess how much that was?  $73 dollars!  I don't know what our world is coming to!  How can anyone afford to eat anymore?  We try to stay on a pretty tight grocery budget, but it seems like every time we turn around the price of food has gone up!  It's crazy!  I feel like I can't walk out of the store with ten things anymore without having spent at least $50!  I know I'm not the only one who feels gouged by the grocery store!  It's just crazy!
 
So, after our morning errand, we had a very busy day playing with the contents of the fun box.  Surprisingly, the little people set was a big hit!  I love it, but I just wasn't sure if Joelle would be ready for this yet.  She liked it so much that she never wanted to clean it up.  We set it all up on the big pink rug in her room and so it was easy enough just to leave it out all day.  We had lots of fun playing with this together!

Joelle loved this little people swing set!  I think she could identify with it because one of her favorite things to do is go on the swing anytime we are at the park.  She carried this around with her a lot today.

Another one of Joelle's favorite things with this set was the garage on the house that can open and close.  She spent quite awhile putting a car in and out of the garage and opening and closing it.  She also loved the doorbell on the house that makes a real ding dong sound.  She spent a long time playing with that too.

Daddy came home for lunch right after we got this whole set out and Joelle wanted him to play too!

We read all of the books out of the box and she really enjoyed the pop up nursery rhymes book.  Then we listened to her music tape.  She was dancing a lot today- twirling around and laughing, stomping her feet.  She has always loved music of any kind.  She was having a great time!

After Joelle's nap, we got out the markers and stickers.  She had a fun time coloring today.  She loves it when I trace around her hand, so we did that a couple times.  After awhile, she noticed that her hands were really marked up and she said to me "hand dirty!"  I didn't even know that she knew the meaning of "dirty," but apparently she does.  She has never liked to get anything on her hands.  So, we went to the sink and washed her hands, which then lead to some water play for quite awhile.

Another thing we pulled out of the box this afternoon was the Time for Tots color matching game.  She doesn't get the concept of matching yet, but she had fun playing with the cards and the little objects.  She does know the color "yellow" and she identified it multiple times.  We have a little light up fish tank on her window sill by her changing table, and I often point out the yellow fish to her, so that must be where she remembers the color from.  Here are some pictures of her enjoying the color match set:

I did notice that Joelle would entertain herself at different intervals today, and she was more content to do that than she has been.  I think since we are spending some focused time together throughout the day, she doesn't mind being independent as much as she normally would.  I also really enjoyed having this box of activities to do because it made me feel like I had a little bit of a plan and some structure for the day.  I think we both do better when we have structure, even when we are just hanging out at home.

She did great playing by herself this evening while I prepared dinner.  I just rotated her toys yesterday, so they all seem like new toys to her right now (she has not seen them for at least two weeks).  She spent a lot of time playing with her peel able fruits and veggies this evening.  She loves to pull them apart, and put them in the bag and then carry them around the house.

She also spent lots of time today putting her shoes and socks on and then taking them off again.  At one point, she put her snow boots on, put her hat on, and then was trying to put my coat on!  She loves to put stuff on and then get her play keys and say "bye-bye!"  We also spent a good chunk of time this evening rolling a ball back and forth in the hallway.  She loved that and she laughed so much!  She went to bed easy tonight because we had a very full and busy day!

I love my Sweet Pea and I'm trying to remember that she won't be this little for very long- so I'm appreciating those little moments with her.  I'm very happy with how this day turned out!  Tomorrow we will have another fun box to explore!