I love my little son so much, and I am continually amazed at what he has learned and does, but one speech pattern he has been doing has amused me more than usual.  Noah will often ask me for a snack and it seems like he is always eating.

We have started a shelf for him on the bottom of the pantry that contains snacks that he can access himself and eat when he gets hungry while mom is busy cleaning/studying/writing etc.  He is usually pretty happy with the granola bars, raisins, fruit cups (he even goes to get a spoon and brings me one upstairs too) and other snacks. He also knows where yogurts are in the freezer and cheese and baby carrots in the fridge  However, there are times where the kid wants something a bit sweeter to whet his whistle and he has found a new way to try to get me to give him all sort of treats.

"Mommie, I'm hungry."  I tell him he can go pick something out. "Maaayyybe, something round?"  He motions like a circle.

"Like a carrot chip?"  I ask, knowing what item in the pantry he wants.

"No, something rounder?  And big?"

"Oh- you mean a cookie?"

"Yeah, a cookie.  That's good."  This isn't the first time that he has been able to use his words to verbally trap us.  When he used to be less adept at articulating words he would ask for something he knew we wouldn't normally be about to do, and then we would repeat it to clarify that we were hearing it correctly.

"A movie?"

"Okay."  As if were the ones who had thought of it.  No Buddy, we were just clarifying, not offering.

Now, he has gone a step further and is using adjectives to try to get his point across.  He just walked up to me a few minutes ago and asked of the double chocolate cookie dough I made a couple days ago, but haven't quite made it to the oven, and which I was sampling a little while ago.  "What did you do with the dark stuff?"

It is so interesting to hear how his language is developing, and that he is seeing these words as alternative ways to describe something that he wants, or one reason that he likes the object of his desire.  Yes, the cookie dough is dark and  chocolatey and yummy, and he knows somehow if he appeals to that aspect of the object, he just might have a better chance of getting it.  I'm curious if he is showing this because he is taking after mom in writing, or if he is taking after daddy in his ability to sell.

As anyone who has read this blog knows that i love me a good printable. In fact, by far my most popular Pinterest Board is dedicated to Digital Freebies that have made my life easier, or are just something enjoyable.

Recently, I have been scouring the web for an editorial calendar for my blogs and social media.  I have used an social media calendar int eh past, but never found one that worked well enough for me to stick with it. Until now.  One of the best parts of my discovery is that the graphic designer that created the blogging calendar is a fellow Minneapolis resident.  I always love to send a little linkage to a fellow Minnesotan.

Ekcetera Design Studio is a local graphic designer and creative and she is offering not only a free social media planning calendar template, but she also has a free e-book as well as some great simple tutorials for small businesses and social media for those of you who are newbies to the whole social media management game.

I've changed a few of the fields in my version of the template since I don't particularly use YouTube all that much (hopefully in the future.)  I also prefer to have a printed version of the calendar to work with and scribble on and cross out, so I had to scoot a few things in order to make it all fit on one standard sheet.  For the most part though, the logic of the organization for this social media calendar trumps by far what I was using in the past.  Be sure to check out Ekcetera Design and let her know that I sent you. ;)

The Minnesota Westons have been on the move once again.  We have moved out of our little bedroom community and into a suburb of Minneapolis that reminds us more of our life in MI, and gives us many of the amenities and the lower crime rate that we need in a home.  Now, our old place wasn't a horrible city to live in, but I think that our part of town was a little less nice than others.  Most of us on our street had been robbed at some point-- thankfully just stuff from our cars and yards, although one of the neighbors did lose 2 snowmobiles.  The thieves drove right up into their yard and hooked the trailer to their truck and drove off.

A train derailment happened about a 1/4 of a mile away- thankfully carrying corn and not anything flamable.  Our place was tiny, had termites and after we left we found out that it was near 7 Superfund sites. As you can probably guess, we are very happy and blessed to be in our new home and adjusting to having more space and have happily cozied up for the winter.  We are still getting settled, but I am going to try to post a small house tour on here soon.

Noah has a few new things as well, he has started "School" as much as we are doing it.  He is actually at his local Co-Op right now, which is wonderful because it gives me some time every other week to run errands or have appointments that would otherwise be difficult with him along. Or just to sit and study in the lobby of the church that hosts us. At first he wanted to know that I was in the building with him, but now he barely blinks when I leave and is planning on being a "Daddy" with one of his little girlfriends there.

One further new is for me: I entered Grad School a little more than a year ago.  At first I was reluctant to talk about it because quite honestly, I wasn't sure if I would be able to cut it and to make it through with Noah and moving and all of the other stuff going on in my life, but now I am looking at the home stretch and I have less than a year and my thesis to complete!  Strategic Communication Management is an intriguing field right now as we make the move in online communication from using social media as fun to using in a more deliberate way to enhance our business and social lives.  I am hoping once I am done to get back into teaching at the Community College level, and to continue to consult with businesses regarding their content marketing needs.

After all of those changes it is nice to finally be getting established in our new routine, and thankfully, the new routines are proving to be more enjoyable, productive and meaningful than anything before.

Just a few scant weeks into the beginning of Mommie School/ Pre-Homeschooling Noah I came to a realization.  I was waaay too overplanned for what I was wanting to do with him.  Worked into my schedule were two week and one week themes, which made sense during the planning phase of summer.  I wanted to have one theme per alphabet letter and follow a  lot of the Tot School and other online curriculum for toddlers was guiding me to.

However, with only one child  and the abundance of  activities and games available out there, I was finding it hard to print it all, ready it all and to keep Noah's attention to simple do the number of good activities out there during our daily time down in the family room.  So my choice was to either forget some activities or forget some themes: I opted for the latter.

Not that the information out there on Tot School and other sites is bad, but for us I really wanted to opt for a more relaxed plan for this special time.  I want Noah to know that the time I spend teaching him is, from the beginning, a time for him to explore and have fun, and that I am willing to learn at his pace and in the way that suits us best.  I want to be spending more time with him and less time planning and cutting and laminating (although I do love my laminator that the Hubs got me for my birthday a ridiculous amount.)

So we found ourselves with a second week of Apples in my revised plan, and we had a wonderful time outside playing in the apples at Minnetonka Orchards with a great group I am involved with from Meetup.com.  It is a haul from up here in the north metro of the Twin Cities, but it was a wonderful getaway from our daily routine and Noah loved the trees, the train play-structure as well as the animals in the small farm area.





We rounded out our week's activities with one of the classic preschool apple activities- apple painting.  Noah used the halved apples for stamping, but actually enjoyed using a brush to paint the apples themselves more than anything.  Noah is still somewhat phobic when it comes to getting his hands sticky, so I like to allow him the freedom to use a brush or use his hands when it is time to get messy. 

(This is also one of the last activities we did on our old breakfast table that we recently replaced.  Chair recovering and table refinishing posts coming soon!) :)

This week marks the first full week of my pre-homeschooling Noah.  I have struggled with what to even call it, because obviously he is too young for traditional school, but he is to the point of loving more structured play and games. 

We began last week with calendar, stories and games.  I am keeping it simple and only working with Noah for as long as he is interested in the activities I have planned.  I have been pleasantly surprised with how much he seems to look forward to these times, and with how he is always excited whenever I say, "Noah, should we go downstairs and play some games?" 

"Okay!"  (For some reason this is how he always answers when we ask him if he wants to do something.  We're working on a more polite version, but this is so cute I'm not trying too hard.)

We are beginning with the classic preschool first theme of Apples, and doing apple crafts, counting apples and most of all-- eating apples.  There have been several activities that just haven't happened, either because of Noah's 2 year old attention span, or because he happens to be teething and just wants a, "Cu-ddle," which is the main thing he needs at his age. 

Typically we do an extremely simple calendar, where he puts the number on the calendar, we sing the days of the week, a few other songs and read a few stories.  Then we play a few games which transitions into working in the rest of the room. 

One of Noah's favorite activities is looking in his nature bowl.  We put things that he has collected on recent walks in the bowl along with some magnifying glasses and a couple paint brush.  You wouldn't believe how dirty those stones seem to be and how much cleaning they need.  :)  I will be occasionally adding water to this to add another sensory element and let him brush the rocks, twigs etc. and notice the changes in color and feel. 

One word of caution-- be sure that the acorns, rocks etc. have no bugs or other things growing on them or you could have quite a mess.  Sadly in a few short weeks we will not have to worry as much as temperatures drop and the world outside begins to hibernate.  A nature table or bowl is a great way to avoid having anything hatch in your little one's room and confine the collecting to a reasonable amount.  As a child I was always known for gathering a bit too many rocks and things from the outdoors.  I soon had to keep my collection under the deck of my parent's home, where many of my former treasures remain to this day.