Jellyfish

For our J craft project we made a jellyfish, sort of inspired by the ones here and here. We really just used what we had on hand. Emma needed some help with the assembly but she loved the finished product. It's been hanging out in her room ever since.

Jell-O

I had a hard time coming up with something to cook that started with J, so I went for an easy classic. Though would you believe we don't eat jello very often at our house and Emma had never had it? She enjoyed the stirring, but not so much the eating of it.

DLTK-Kids

I come up with a lot of the ideas for activities for each letter on my own, but when I'm stumped I turn to DLTK-Kids. It is a HUGE clearning house of ideas for crafts, activities, coloring pages, you name it. It is convenitently organzied with categories such as: ABCs (the one I use the most, obviously), Animals, Bible, Holidays, and others. It's also a great source for birthday party ideas. Check it out!

I Books

Insectlopedia by Douglas Florian. This book contained different poems about bugs, which is kind of cool, but not necessarily for the alphabet project. The text was also quite long.

Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney. We've had this one for a while, and it's a cute, classic board book.

I Hear by Rachel Isadora. This book was about the different sounds a child is likely to hear--from birds in the morning to a lullaby at night. It was lovely, and I want to add it to our home library. Though it is not currenly on Amazon, it is worth seeking out. It is *perfect* for learning letters: short sentences, a simple font, a big font siz

I Can Do It Myself by Diane Adams. Is there a more appropriate book title for a precocious toddler? In addition to the cute topic, there were lots of Is.

(We all scream for) Ice Cream!

What better summer/letter I treat than ice cream??? Unfortunately we didn't take any pictures, but we made lime sherbert in our ice cream maker with a basic recipe from the booklet that came with the ice cream maker. Though if you don't have an ice cream maker, you can try this recipe. I think we're going to try it sometime just for fun.

Ice Cube Painting

For our I project, we "painted" with ice cubes. All you need is a box or pan, paper, ice cubes, and a colored powder. The original directions we found called for powdered tempera paint (which I didn't have and didn't want to buy), but you can also subsitute Kool-Aid or Jell-O. We used red Kool-Aid. Simply put the paper in a cardbord box or pan (we used a 13x9" cake pan), sprinkle some powder on the paper, and place an ice cube in the pan. While the ice melts, rotate or swirl the box to create a pattern on the paper.

This was easy and fun. We will probably do it again for a fun, low-mess summer activity.

Igloo

For our I craft project, we made an igloo. The original inspiration for the project came from here, but we modified ours a bit. Okay, a lot. I was a bit lazy and didn't want to craft with sugar cubes, so we worked with paper. It turned out okay. I outlined our paper "bricks" in black after we were done so you could tell what it was, but if I were to do this again I think I would draw the outline *first* and then "build" the igloo inside it. Emma had fun with the glue, though.

H Books

But Not the Hippopotamus by Sandra Boynton. Yes, it's some more love for Sandra Boynton. Who can resist her quirky sense of humor or distinctive illustrations?

Hush! A Thai Lullaby, by Mingfong Ho. This is a sweet bedtime story that also made a great H book. We loved it so much we have added it to our bedtime repertoire.

Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson. This book is a classic, and each time I read it I fondly remember why. Who doesn't want their own purple crayon? As a bonus, this book had just the right amount of text for picking out Hs, and the font was large and easy-to-read for toddler eyes.

The Little Red Hen by Lucinda McQueen. Another classic folktale that also makes an excellent H book. Emma has especially loved this one, and though we actually completed H a couple of weeks ago, she keeps requesting it, so we keep reading it. How could I not encourage a story where those that don't help in the household chores don't reap the reward?

Honey Florentines

I don't have a picture to prove it, but we did make these H-for-honey cookies. The recipe is from Martha Stewart's Cookie book.

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
pinch of course salt

1. Preheat oven to 375*. Melt butter, brown sugar, and honey in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Transfer to a bowl. Whisk in flour and salt until smooth.
2. Working quickly, drop 1/2 teaspoons of batter onto large baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing at least 3 inches apart. Bake cookies until they spread and turn golden brown, about 6 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks. Carefully remove cookies from sheets with your fingers. Cookies can be stored between layers of parchment in airtight containers at room temperature up to 2 days.

These made thin, lacy cookies with ingredients you probably already have in your pantry. Emma dumped the ingredients (measured by me) into the pan, and I even let her stir the batter in the saucepan since it was on low heat.

Hula Hoop

What better activity for H than to hula hoop? It also made for a nice excuse to get a fun (and cheap) summer toy. Emma wasn't quite coordinated enough to spin it around her waist, but we made up our own games with it, such as placing the hoop on the ground and jumping in and out of it.

H is for Hat

What could be better for an H craft than a new hat? I took the easy route and bought a foam visor from the craft store for $1. Then we stuck on a foam letter H, some stickers, sequins, and colored it a bit. Easy and quite fashionable--at least to a two-year-old.

Ghost

For our G craft, we made a cheesecloth ghost. It's a little early for Halloween, but we're ready!

Materials:
newspapers
balloons
drinking glass or vase
cheesecloth, cut into double-layer 14 inch squares
shallow bowl
1 tablespoon water
2 tablespoons glue (I used Elmer's)

1. Prepare your work surface with newspapers. Blow up the balloons (one per ghost) and set them in drinking glasses; this will let you mold the damp cheesecloth in a ghostly shape that you like.
2. Cut square of double-layer cheesecloth. In a shallow bowl, mix the glue and water. Dip the cheesecloth square in the mixture and squeeze out excess. Drape the cheesecloth on the balloon in a ghostly shape of a flying or standing ghost. Let it dry overnight on the glass.
3. When dry, add a face (we used googly eyes), then remove the balloon by popping it.

Our finished version:

G Books

General Store by Rachel Field. Emma loved this book because of the pictures; at first she thought it was about a house. There weren't all that many G words, though.

The Growing Story by Ruth Krauss. With the arrival of a new baby and comparisons to pictures of baby Emma, we have been talking a lot about growing lately. This is a sweet book that talks about how things grow over time: trees, crops, puppies, and children. My only complaint is that it's a bit wordy and Emma got a little bored.

Double Trouble Groundhog Day by Bethany Roberts. What makes a better G book than one about groundhogs? A book about groundhog twins named Greta and Gregory. LOTS of Gs, both big and little, to look for in the text!

Glasses: Who Needs 'Em? by Lane Smith. Smith has a fabulous, if slightly offbeat, sense of humor. This book, which has fabulous illustrations, is about a doctor who tries to convince a boy why it's cool to have glasses. Besides the fun story, one of the best things about this book is that the little Gs are normal, not the funky Gs you get with many fonts, so they were easy to recognize.

Grown-Ups Get to Do All the Driving by William Steig. Steig has such a distinctive style to all of his illustrations, and it this book it's combined with all of the things that pertain to grown ups: in addition to "get[ing] to do all the driving," grown-ups also "always have to know what time it is" and "like hands to be clean." Funny and fun. The font is also all upper-case letters, which can make it easier to spot the Gs.

Gingersnaps

Can you tell that we love baked goods? As with our previous ventures, Emma was especially good at dumping the mom-measured ingredients into the mixing bowl. Oh, and she's quite adept at tasting the final product as well. :)

3/4 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
4 Tablespoons molasses
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons cloves
2 cups flour

Cream butter and sugar. Mix in egg and molasses. Combine baking soda, spices, and flour, and add to mixture. Bake at 350* for 10-12 minutes.

Games

Emma is just at the cusp of understanding rules to games, so for our G activity we played "Candyland." She knows all of her colors, so actually playing the game isn't a problem; however, her obession with playing "people" was, sort of. When my mom came to take care of Emma when Madeline was born, they spent a lot of time playing with Fisher-Price Little People. In particular, their Little People would go on pretend trips to the zoo. Hence, any time Emma sees any sort of figurine (such as the playing pieces in Candyland), she uses them to go to the zoo. So we played about half of a game of Candyland following the specified rules, and then it fell into a game of going to the zoo. Either way, Emma now knows that game starts wtih G. Oh, and she had fun too.
PS. Originally I had planned to play "Go Fish"--double points for a game that starts with G! But I didn't have time this week to search out a card game with actual fish on it, and I thought she might get confused if we played with face cards. Maybe I'll find one by the time Madeline is ready to learn the alphabet...

F is for Flowers

Our craft project for F was flowers. I had a lot of ideas to make them fancy, but at the end of the day (or, more accurately, the beginning of the afternoon when I sat down to do this with Emma), I realized that easier was going to work better, so we simplified to using strips of paper.

The supplies:

Construction paper, glue, tape, scissors, pom-poms, and colored straws
We glued strips of paper together:

Added pom-poms for the centers and straws for the stems:

Voila! Paper flowers. Emma has been carrying them around for a few days now.

One hint: the pom-poms stay on better if you use special felt glue. (Elmer's doesn't do jack.) I found some at my craft store for about $2, so we added it to our supply closet.

Fondue

For F week, a friend gave me a great recipe for cheese fondue. I thought it might be a fun way to get Emma to eat some vegetables, as well as learning about the letter F. I was wrong (on the vegetables), but it did make for a fun and delicious dinner.

Simple Cheese Fondue:
2 cans Campbell's cheddar cheese soup
1 fresh garlic clove (whole/peeled)
1 cup vegetable or chicken broth
8 oz.+ Monterrey Jack cheese, shredded

In a pot over medium heat (or a fondue pot), heat broth with one peeled garlic clove. Heat to boiling. Remove clove and add soup--stir until combined. Stir in desired amount of cheese. If stringy, add 1 tablespoon milk.

Dipping ideas: Sourdough/French bread, steamed broccoli, roasted potato chunks, cubed baked or grilled chicken

Here is our spread:

Emma, dipping bread (her favorite, though occasionally she'd dip chicken too; she wasn't convinced that the roasted potatoes tasted like french fries):

F Books

I've decided to condense the books into one post for the week, as I don't have all that much to say about each one.

<First Day by Dandi Daley Mackall. This book is a cute, rhyming story all about the first day of school. Even though she's never been to preschool or daycare, Emma really identified wtih the illustrations and enjoyed the story. And there were plenty of Fs!

Froggy's Baby Sister by Jonathan London. Frankly, I find the main character, Froggy, a bit annoying, but the story line is something we can identify with at our house. :)

Fast Food by Saxton Freymann. This book is all about modes of transportation, illustrated with carvings of fruits and vegetables. An interesting and different book.

Fancy Nancy by Jane O'Connor. I've heard of this book before, but have never read it until now, and I think it's absolutely delightful! The main character is adorable and I love how her family reacts to her quirks. This book is definitely a keeper--for F week and beyond.

The Three Little Fish and the Big Bad Shark by Ken Geist. If you couldn't tell, this book is an underwater take on the story of the three little pigs. Lots of fun.

Finger Painting

For our F activity, we did fingerpainting. Just like when we make the apple prints, Emma was a little freaked out by the activity at first. But she quickly warmed up to it and has asked to fingerpaint again several times since.


PS. I highly recommend Crayola's Color Wonder fingerpainting set, as pictured below. True, traditional finger paints are probably cheaper, but the lack of mess, especially when you have a new baby around? Priceless.

Craft Supplies

I have emerged from my pregnancy/newborn fog with renewed vigor for the Alphabet Project. This week I took the girls to Target to stock up on crafting supplies for a toddler. Here is a random list of things I have stocked in my closet. Is there anything else you would add?

*Beads
*Construction paper
*Cotton Balls/pom poms
*Crayons
*Felt
*Finger paints
*Glitter
*Glue/glue stick
*Markers
*Patterned paper/paper scraps
*Pipe cleaners
*Popsicle Sticks
*Recycled items: egg cartons, paper towel rolls, etc.
*Child-safe scissors
*Straws
*Stamps and ink pads
*Stickers
*Tape
*Ziploc bags
*Tissue paper
*Thread
*Yarn

Eggs

I don't think I ever posted our E cook and do activities, and unfortunately I don't even have pictures! I blame it on pregnancy slacking, though I'm over that condition now and hope to move on with the rest of the alphabet.

For E cooking, we made eggs. Nothing fancy, just scrambled. (I thought of other ideas--enchiladas, eclairs, but they all seemed a bit much for a two-year-old). Emma practiced cracking eggs, though she was a bit vigorous and I had to fish some shells out of the bowl.

For our E activity, we had a practice Easter egg hunt to prepare for the real thing. But unfortunately we never got to do the real thing, because it was raining buckets on Easter and I was too busy cooking the ham to hide the eggs inside.

Alas, I hope to make up for my slackerdom during F week.

The Easter Egg Farm by Mary Jane Auch

Have you noticed a trend for E week yet? This book was a fun story about a hen who lays unique eggs. Instead of being white like the other hens' eggs, her eggs are already decorated, and of course, perfect for Easter. There were a lot of Es, but there was also a LOT of text, which made it hard for little eyes to scan for Es. This book would probably be more appropriate for an older child.

Egg Decorating

For our E craft, I bought some foam eggs for Emma to decorate. It was her first time using markers, and she had an absolute ball. I only gave her 3 eggs to start, but she was having so much fun that I gave her the rest of the pack--it kept her busy for almost an hour! I now have 12 decorated foam eggs; I'm thinking of punching holes into the top and making a garland out of them. This was a fun, easy project and is easy to gear to any age. If Emma were older, I might have bought foam shapes for her to glue on, ribbon, glitter, etc. This was a great E project and is helping us look forward to Easter!

Two Eggs, Please by Sarah Weeks

This book told the story of a busy diner one night in New York City. Patron after animal patron comes in to order two eggs, though each one orders their eggs differently. The pictures are fun, the text is short and repetitive, and there are plenty of opportunites to look for Es (though they're often found in the same word--eggs!)

Peter Rabbit's Easter

The Easter bunny brought this book for Emma's Easter basket last year, and it is a fabulous E book. Based on the works of Beatrix Potter, it's a board book featuring Peter Rabbit and his siblings on an Easter egg hunt. There are pop-ups and flaps to lift up and find the hidden Easter eggs. As you can imagine, a book about Easter and eggs has plenty of E words to find. The text is simple and in an easy-to-read font. Emma and I have read it countless times already, and we'll probably keep reading it until the actual holiday rolls around!

D Week in Review

It's obvious that some letters are easier than others. D week was a great week for books, not so great with cooking ideas (though we really enjoyed our pineapple "drink," and will have to make more special drinks to get my picky eater to try new fruits). Emma sees letters all over. I'm impressed that she can look for letters in the middle of a word, and not just at the beginning. She also frequently asks me what letter something starts with. (Just today she asked me about diaper--it starts with D! Perfect timing). I know I'm a bit of a slacker with the timing of my posts, but my little pupil is learning a lot about letters.

Barnyard Dance! by Sandra Boynton

I've mentioned before how we're big fans of Sandra Boynton. *Barnyard Dance!* is probably our favorite book. The pictures are great and the text makes you want to get up and dance yourself. While it contains only a smattering of D words (dance, dog, donkey), there are some Ds embedded in other words, and Emma is getting quite good at looking for them. This book is a fun wrap-up to D week and a great complement to a dance party.

(Pineapple Crush) Drink

In my cookbooks, there is a dearth of good D recipes, especially ones that I could make with the help of a two-year-old. So we settled upon making a special drink.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup pineapple juice
1 cup frozen pineapple chunks
1/2 frozen very ripe medium banana

Combine all ingredients in a blender. Blend on high until slushy. Serves 2.

We made this on a balmy weekend, and doubled the recipe to share with Dad. Emma, who's a very picky eater and refuses most fruits and vegetables, thought it was "quite tasty." It was a bit thick, though, so she enjoyed hers with a spoon.

Dump Trucks by Linda D. Willaims

Another good D book. This book focused (obviously) on dump trucks, naming their different parts and the different jobs they do. The text was simple--1 or 2 sentences in an easy-to-read font, good for looking for Ds. Emma's not all that much into trucks, but I imagine this would be a perfect book for some little boys I know.

Dalmation Puppet

Admittedly, I was feeling lazy when it came to our craft project this week. So I was thrilled to find this at Wal-mart:

A Dalmation puppet kit, with pieces pre-cut and lined with adhesive, all for less than 4 bucks. Here's what the kit came with:

The kit said it was for ages 4 and up, but I thought it was perfect for toddlers. All Emma had to do was stick the pieces on the little bag. I'll admit I was a little OCD and corrected some of her placements for the vital pieces (ears, paws, etc), but the spots were all her.

We're already having fun with the finished product: woof, woof!

Fun Dog, Sun Dog by Deborah Heiligman

This book, from the library, was another perfect D book. The subject matter (dogs) is a favorite, and the illustrations are bright and fun. The text on each page is short and sweet, consisting of 3 lines with 10-15 words total. The word "dog" is on each page at least 3 times, along with a smattering of other D words, so there are plenty of Ds to find.

Dance Party USA

Emma loves music, and when she hears a good beat, she often commands me to "Dance, Mama." So what better activity for D than a dance party? In fact, we've had several this week, with music ranging from children's CDs to the Jeopardy theme song to 90s rap ("Jump Around" is practically Emma's theme song for life). Our best dance party was on Thursday night when my husband came home after 3 long days of taking the TX bar exam. He found Emma and I dancing around the kitchen as we prepared dinner and joined us for a massive celebration--I think we burned off more calories than we ate for dinner! Emma was a dancing queen, and now she also knows that dance starts with D.

Sorry, no pictures this time--we have to protect the guilty. :)

How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night? by Jane Yolen

This book has been a favorite in our house for quite a while. Long before Emma could talk, she could point out the doggie or ball or teddy bear on each page. In addition to being a favorite bedtime book, it may just be the perfect book for the letter D. The story is engaging with fun pictures. The large (30-ish point?) serif font is easy for little eyes to read and look for letters. The text is simple, with an average of 10-15 words per page. We love it, and Emma has read it at least 10 times by herself this week (in addition to the several times we read it together). This one is definitely a must-have for a home library, alphabet project or not.

Dimity Duck by Jane Yolen and Sebastien Braun

Who doesn't love Jane Yolen? We're big fans of her Dinosaur books, and were happy to be introduced to this one. The text is fun and the pictures are whimsical, telling the story of a little duck who spends the day playing with a frog. (What toddlers don't love ducks and frogs?) The text is printed in a large type and sprinkled with Ds, perfect for new little semi-readers to search for the letter of the week.

C Week in Review

Another good letter week has come and gone. I've discovered the best thing about this project is the awareness of text that it gives Emma. Almost anywhere we go--driving in the car, at the grocery store, at church--she says, "Look, look! Letters!" or she points out the individual letters and says the sounds. I'm no expert, but I'm betting that's a pretty important prereading skill. It also makes for excellent impromptu entertainment ("What letter is that? What sound does it make?").

PS. Sorry for the sporadic posting lately. My husband has been home off work the last couple of weeks studying for the bar exam and monopolozing my (I mean our??) computer. That and a stomach bug that set us back for a few days and delayed D week. Plus, I've got 8 weeks to go and am already itching to evict this baby. Is that enough excuses for you? I'll try my best to update regularly.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

The Very Hungry Caterpillar is, of course, a classic, and we've had it at our house for a while, though it's been a long time since we've read it. Emma enjoyed it a lot more than she has in the past--perhaps because now she knows what cupcakes and lollipops are??? It definitely works as a C book, though we have the board book version and the text was kind of small, which made it hard for Emma to spot Cs.

The Cat Next Door by Betty Ren Wright

This was a random library book find that didn't work too well for us. For starters, it's one of those whimsical picture books with a lot of text--not necessarily a bad thing, just not ideal for a two-year-old. It made it hard for her to look for Cs within the text. It also didn't have too many C words. However, if you're looking for a nice picture book to deal with the death of a grandparent, especially for an older preschooler, this one would work well.

Cards

With Valentine's day this week, what better craft than to make cards? I simplified things by using premade cards, which Emma colored with crayons and decorated with stickers.

The front of a masterpiece:

I helped by writing a message inside:

This was a fun, quick project, and even though we didn't get them done in time for Valentine's day delivery, I'm sure they'll be appreciated!

Cowpokes by Caroline Stutson

This was another random library book that I loved so much I'm thinking of adding to our home collection. Perhaps it's because we're in Texas now? Cowpokes is the story of (what else?) a day in the life of cowpokes. The illustrations are fantastic--the artist created 10 different cowpoke personalities that show up in every picture. The gently rhyming text is fun without being overbearing. And there were lots of Cs!

Just Call Out My Name...

Once again, I felt like I was scraping the bottom of the barrel for our "Do" activity this week. I need to do more brainstorming and research, because all I could come up with was "call," which is what we ended up doing. Emma is a regular chatty Cathy and talks to both sets of grandparents quite regularly, so instead we called MY grandparents (Emma's great-grandparents). She loved telling them about her day, informing them of the sound that the letter C makes, and singing the alphabet song. And I'm pretty sure my snow-bound grandparents enjoyed the call too.

Daisy the Dancing Cow by Viki Woodworth

This was a random library book pick, about a cow who aspires to be a dancer. The story was kind of cute--I didn't think it was all that special, but Emma has read it several times since we read it together. Should I be at all concerned that her favorite part is when one of the dancers "hurt the ankle"??? Plenty of Cs to find and a dancing cow to boot.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

What's a better cooking project for the letter C than a triple threat? :) Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures this time, but Emma enjoyed dumping in the dry ingredients, and I introduced her to the pleasure of eating raw cookie dough. Yum. And I don't think she'll soon forget that cookie starts with C!

We just used the Tollhouse recipe, which I love the taste of, but don't particularly like how they flatten out.
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups (12 oz. package) chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla in large bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.
3. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Counting Crocodiles by Judy Sierra

This is a fun book with a lot of C words (although at first Emma called the crocodiles "alligators"). It is the story of a monkey stuck on an island who outwits some crocodiles to get a bunch of bananas. The illustrations are zany and the text rhymes, which provides a lot of opportunities to look for little Cs.

B Week in Review

Yesterday at church, my husband entertained Emma by writing letters on the Magnadoodle and having her name them. We discoved that she knew the entire alphabet. Once again I'm feeling both extremely proud of her and a little bit useless myself. :) But I take comfort in knowing that she only knows lowercase a and b, and she only knows the sounds for a handful of letters. So we will continue on. Also, we're having fun!

Seeing and saying the names and sounds of the letter are easy for Emma--she is a quick memorizer. And the repetition works well. Reading is also a big hit, but that is no surprise either, considering we are total bookworms at this house. The letter books are adding more variety than our current collection. Writing continues to be a bust for Emma's little hands. But she is beginning to draw some actual shapes--a circle here, a triangle there--so we will keep trying.

Cooking is probably our favorite. Not only does it yield some delicious snacks, but we're having a marvelous time mixing. Art project are hit-or-miss, probably because I haven't really done too many of them with Emma before. She really enjoyed the butterfly this week, though, perhaps because she has a pair of butterfly pajamas that are her favorite. :) Our "Do" activities seem to be a bit hit-or-miss as well, depending on what I think up. I will have to be a little bit better about brainstorming.

Goldie and the Three Bears by Diane Stanley

This book is, obviously, a retelling of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, which I've decided is a story I just don't like. Goldie is kind of a brat, and kind of demanding (to quote: "Goldie knew exactly what she liked--and exactly what she didn't.") Seriously, do I want to make my toddler even MORE picky? But I suppose at 2 she's too young to pick up the subtleties. As for being a B book, it was okay. It has less B words than one would think, especially because the bears don't show up until the final third of the book. But it was okay, and Emma seemed to enjoy reading it.

Banana Bread

Cooking continues to be a favorite activity. Emma loves to "dump it" into the bowl, after which crying with delight, "we dooed it!" (We're still working on pronouns and irregular past tense verbs. :) My husband helped out this week and even tried to get her to crack an egg, though I don't think she liked it all that much. But we all enjoyed the yummy results.

This recipe is your basic Betty Crocker version.
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter or stick margarine, softened
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed very ripe bananas (3 medium)
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup chopped nuts, if desired

1. Move oven rack to low position so that tops of pans will be in center of oven. Heat oven to 350. Grease bottoms of 2 eight-inch loaf pans, or 1 nine-inch loaf pan.
2. Mix sugar and butter in large bowl. Stir in eggs until well blended. Stir in bananas, buttermilk, and vanilla; beat until smooth. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt until just moistened. Stir in nuts. Divide batter evenly between pans.
3. Bake 8-inch loaves about 1 hour, or 9-inch loaf about 1 hour 15 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pans on wire rack.
4. Loose sides of loaves from pans; remove from pans and place top side up on wire rack. Cool completely before slicing.

The Big Bug Ball by Dee Lillegard

Another random library book that turned out to be a great study of the letter B. This book tells the story of all the bugs getting together to have a ball (surprising title, eh?). The rhyming text is fun, as are the illustrations of differet types of bugs dressed in different kinds of dance garb. (Though I must admit that after several years of living in New York City, the picture of the cockroach at the buffet freaked me out some).

Butterfly

Our art project this week was to make a butterfly. I had orignially thought to stick two hearts together as wings, but to emphasize the letter, I took a 12x12 piece of cardstock, folded it in half, and drew a big letter B, with the straight edge on the fold, like so:

Then I cut out along the B with scissors, careful not to cut through the fold. Then we whippped out the crayons, and Emma colored the wings:

To finish it, I punched a hole in the top, and put in a plastic twistie-tie (like from a loaf of bread) to make the antennae. I really would have preferred pipe cleaners, but I didn't have any. I guess I will have to stock up on toddler art supplies. The finished product: