Say What?!

Several of my friends write down and save the funny things their kids say. 

I love this idea, but never seem to get around to it. 

Lately Finley has been saying some really cute and funny things. 

Things I don't want to forget. 

So I am going to try to write them here and save them so one day we can look back on them together. 

So welcome to the first edition of "Say What?!" . . .

- While going for a walk around the pond the other day it was nearing dinner time and we came upon a man dressed in a full suit walking his dogs. He had obviously just gotten home from work. When we got close enough Finley declared "Look, there's the prophet".  I guess he thinks the only men walking around in full suits are prophets! 

- Finley has really enjoyed playing doctor lately. I explained to him about hearts beating and how when you exercise it beats faster and you can feel it. Lately he has been telling me "Mom, I hear my heart beeping". It cracks me up every time. 

- Several nights this past week Finley has been getting out of bed after we put him down. One night on our way up to bed we found him asleep at the top of the stairs. I can't believe he just laid down there so quietly and went to sleep! 

- One day while out to lunch we saw a pair of men dressed in their suits for work. Finley also mistook these men for missionaries. This kid has church on the mind these days! 

- Finley has a new song that he likes to sing. It goes "I love mama, I love mama, I love mama, I do love mama". When David is around he tries to get him to say I love dada, to which Finley replies "I don't love dada, I don't love dada, I don't love dada, I don't love dada". I know it isn't nice, but I can't help but smirk. He does love his mama and is very clingy these days! 

- We have been talking about babies lately, trying to get him used to the idea before we have another baby (no, I am not pregnant). When I talk to him about some of the changes that will happen he loves to reply with "I want dada to carry the baby and mama to carry me".  Maybe he's not quite ready to share his mama yet. 

- On the same topic we have told Finley that we have to wait for Heavenly Father to send us a baby and that we ask him for one in our prayers. The other day I walked into the kitchen and he was standing still with his eyes closed while David was cooking breakfast. When I asked him what he was doing, he said he was praying for a new baby. :)

- We have been listening to a lot of Adele lately and Finley has started to sing along. On one song I noticed that instead of singing 'rumor has it ooooo' Finley was actually singing 'no man has it oooooo'.

- The other night in the car the topic of marriage came up. I asked Finley (jokingly) who he was going to marry since he has a billion little girlfriends, but he surprised me by answering 'Jesus'.

- Finley was recently trying to get something down from the counter and I asked him if he could reach it. He responded with 'no, my arms are too little'. 

- Finley has been using the word 'gaug' a lot lately. The meaning of this word changes frequently. Sometimes it is someone's name, or an object, or an action. I am not sure why he calls things gaug, but he thinks it's hilarious.

- Post dental procedure Finley was confined to indoor and non physical activities. After dinner we went for a walk since it was so nice outside. I told Finley he had to stay in the stroller because of his medicine that was still wearing off. As we were walking home Finley started to get more and more upset saying "I need my exercise. I need to run". I hope this healthy approach to life keeps up as he gets older.

A B Cs!

This past fall Finley was attending two pre-schools. One at a local church two days a week, and one in a friends home. My friend discontinued her in home preschool in December because she had too much on her plate (totally understandable!). While Finley was sad not to visit with those friends every week and enjoy her wonderful lessons, it did give us more time at home together. 

A few weeks ago Finley and I started a more vigorous approach to learning at home. We have always been working on things at home, but school was more sporadic and random. My friend Erika turned me on to this great website of a mom who home schools her children. 

No I don't plan on home schooling Finley for his whole life, but it did give us some direction and guidance into what we can and should be working on. 

She has a great "Letter of the Week" program with tons of activities and ideas to do for each letter. 

The great part is that all the work is done for you! You just have to print things off. 

You can download each individual activity for free, or buy the entire program for only $10. I can't tell you how much time this saves me in planning lessons for Finley. I do supplement her ideas and activities with others I find online, but I highly recommend you check out her stuff. 

Even though Finley already knows all of his letters, the program is a great review and jumping off point for teaching him how to read. There are also tons of math and manipulative activities that are helping him grow. 

There are pre-writing worksheets that he definitely needs to work on! 

Writing letters is one of his least favorite things, so when he is not in the mood, I don't push it. He is having fun connecting the dots and tracing things that aren't letters. (I also found the idea online to put worksheets into clear sleeves so he can write on them, then we can wipe them off and reuse them! Genius!)

In addition to review our upper case and lower case letters, we work on counting and numbers. 

We start every week off by finding things around the house that start with the letter that we are reviewing that week. (I think this is Finley's favorite part). He is really good at identifying the first letter of words. Now we just need him to understand that the rest of the letters after the first one mean something. 

And that not every F word says Finley. 

I think one of the things that scares me the most about being a parent is the responsibility of teaching him how to read. I so desperately want him to know how to read before he goes to kindergarten. I am hoping that the things we are working on now will help pave the way as he gets older. The website also has a K4 program that is geared towards 4 and 5 year olds that helps them start learning those reading skills.  

The only drawback from doing our in home preschool is that sometimes Finley gets a little silly with me. He is a pretty smart kid and when something is too easy for him or he starts getting bored, he will begin to answer wrong or incorrectly on purpose just to be funny. That is usually my clue to stop or move onto something different. It can be frustrating at times, but you can't get mad at this adorable smiling face. 

Lions, Tigers, and Bobcats, Oh my!

We went on a wild adventure on Saturday! 

Our friend Sophie turned three and invited us to her party at the Carolina Tiger Rescue Center. 

The CTR is a nonprofit wildlife sanctuary whose mission is saving and protecting wild cats in captivity and in the wild. We were able to go on a guided tour of their facilities!

 Before we left on our animal hunt, we made some toys for the cats. 

We coated cardboard boxes with perfume and spices. 

The cats love anything that is very fragrant. And after making these toys, we were fragrant as well. 

I smelled like Tommy Girl the rest of the day!

The first type of animal we encountered were the Caracals. 

They have really long hairs hanging off of their ears. 

At each enclosure we were able to watch our guide feed the animals some fresh meat. 

This ocelot was pacing and ready for his treats! These are the smelliest of the cats too. 

These guys can really climb! They have fencing all around and on top of their enclosures. 

Next up we visited a tiger! He loves rubbing his face and body against the fence. 

It was so impressive to see these big guys so close! 

They are just beautiful!

Next we found the lions. Our guide started off with her back to the lions, and the lioness quickly got up and began tracking her and came right up to the fence to try to get her! The lions seemed so huge! I don't know if it was because we were so close, or because they were so healthy (at least compared to the lion at the zoo). 

Throughout our tour the guide told us that many of their animals were rescued from idiots, I mean people, who were trying to keep them as pets. Apparently there are counties in NC where this is legal! To keep a tiger as a pet! Without permits in some cases!

Now this little guy is a binturong. He is in fact a cat. 

He loves to eat fruit though and small rodents. 

Finley was very impressed by all the animals, but always anxious to get to the next cage!

Luckily it didn't rain on us, but it was very muddy!

This white tiger was so elegant looking. 

I think this is a serval hanging out in his little house. 

On our last stop visiting the tigers these two were about to get into a fight over some food! 

We very carefully took pictures in front of them. 

At the end of our tour it was time for food and cake! 

Of course it was a tiger cake! 

Later on that day I asked Finley what his favorite part of the party was and he said... the cake!

This child has a serious sweet tooth problem.  

Well David and I both really enjoyed all the animals. It was such a cool experience to see the animals so close. And after our visit I still can't believe my mom grew up in Africa with a lion in their house! Just crazy.