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Tot School

~Smiley is currently 13 months old~

The puzzle was a big hit this week. Almost everyday Smiley pulled out this toy and proceeded to take out all the animals, study them, take them in his mouth, bang them together and TRY to put them back in their spot.




This was the other toy Smiley could not get enough of this week. He loves this leapfrog Spinsingalphabetzoo. He plays with it for a really long time.

Later in the week he played with his Fisher Price ring stacker. He is doing pretty well with it now. He is able to take off all the rings; however, he still has some trouble putting them back on ;)

He is also a big fan of his leapfrog fridge farm. He actually started being able to put the animal parts into the farm this week. And of course, he is very proud of his accomplishment.

We played with the xylophone he got from auntie Julia for Christmas. At first he thought he could use his hand to make music, but he soon figured out that he needed to use the stick :)

Playing with his puzzle again later in the week.

He practiced walking a lot this week. He stands up all the time now, takes a few steps and sits back down. It's adorable.

And the leapfrog toy again...

He really enjoys driving on his leapfrog fire truck these days. Up until a couple of weeks ago, he would only push it around, but now he is actually riding on it :)

Tot School

~Smiley is currently 12 months old~

Smiley was really into balls this week. He had a blast rolling this ball off the table, retrieving it and rolling it down again. He played this game on several days during the week.

Smiley had fun playing with his German finger puppets. His favorite part was to take them all out of their pockets :)


He still really enjoys this playskool toy.

Mommy came up with a new game for Smiley. The idea was to take the cheerios out of the baking tray and to place them in blue cup in order to work on fine motor skills. Smiley's idea was to take the cheerios out of the tray, place them in the cup, take them out of the cup and eat them :)

Smiley actually took his first steps last Sunday, February 1st. He has taken 3 steps at a time every day since. There might be something about taking more than 3 steps that still seems a bit scary :) Anyways, he still loves pushing around his leap frog fire fighter push toy. He's gotten really good at it and is able to turn it around when he walks into something and to maneuver it with only one hand.

He really enjoys playing with his sensory balls, particularly taking them in his mouth. What better way is there to explore different textures ;)

We had quite a few rainy days this week, which is very unusual for SoCal. We decided to take Smiley to the indoor playground. It was our first time there and he absolutely loved it. I am sure we will come back many more times to escape from the sun during the summer months. We were even able to sneak in several educational moments...

Playing in the kitchen.

Steering the fire engine.

Working on gross motor skills by riding on the doggie.

Driving around in the fire engine.

Practicing fine motor skill with this fun toy. He really really enjoyed this and came back to it many times throughout the afternoon.

Some more steering.

With daddy on the big slide after jumping around in the jumper for a very long time. He actually likd it, despite his not so excited face in this picture :)

If you want to read more about tot school, please check out Carisa's blog at 1plus1plus1equals1.

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Tot School

~"Smiley" is currently 12 months old~

We had a great time with tot school this week. We started out by working on Smiley's puzzle, which he received for his first birthday. He had a great time taking out the pieces and trying to fit them back into their spot, which he didn't succed at yet ;)

He is very intrigued by wheels lately, and loves spinning them. Here he is spinning the wheels of his Little People airplane.
He also enjoyed playing with his Fisher Price stacker. He figured out that he can actually put the rings back on the pin, rather than just taking them off :)


Later in the week, he again enjoyed putting little toys into this box, closing the box, opening it back up, and retrieving his toy.

We enjoyed making music with two lids...

He spent some time playing with this toy that has many things on it that he can manipulate.

He enjoyed hunting after his crawling ball later in the week...

Smiley has enjoyed "reading" lately and we've been spending a lot of time reading every day. He particularly loves his Karen Katz' "Where is Baby's Belly Button".

We spent Saturday afternoon at a family party and Smiley had a wonderful time with many tot school opportunities. He was very intrigued by his cousin's toy car. He loved pushing down on the driver to make the car drive away.

He had a fun time playing with this toy together with two of his cousins...

He managed to climb these long stairs all by himself. He had a blast doing it and couldn't get enough of it.

He had a great time playing the drums with his daddy. I think his daddy is secretly hoping that Smiley will share his passion for this instrument.

If you want to read more about other mom's experiences doing tot school, please check out Carisa's blog at 1plus1plus1equals1.