Originally posted via Instagram January 16, 2020 by @raisethemreading
A day in the life of #raisingareader. My toddler has been going to Mother's Morning Out two days a week for the past few months, which he loves and affords me precious 1:1 time with the baby. The other mornings we have structured learning time while the baby naps using Busy Toddler's Playing Preschool curriculum.
This morning he uncharacteristically didn’t want to go to “school.” I was worried about sending him anyway since the flu has been going around so we decided to keep him home. This meant that what I thought was going to be a quiet morning got a lot busier.
We managed to make it to the park for a walk before the baby’s morning nap but when we got back I pulled up my curriculum to see what was next.
We were supposed to read “The Very Busy Spider” by Eric Carle. But he didn't want to read... 🙄 so we skipped ahead to the activity part where we made a spider from construction paper, counted eight legs and glued on some eyes, then he asked him if he wanted to read about a spider and got a different answer. 🙌
That took us all of about 15-20 minutes. Now what? 🤷🏼♀️ The next activity was about painting with yarn but then I had the idea to make a web out of yarn on our baby gate instead. I must have forgotten that I have a toddler who takes me being on the floor as invitation to climb on me... so I gave him his own piece of yarn and “together” we spun our web, referring back to the book as our model.
We were almost finished when he climbed into my lap and told me he loved me, then asked me to read him the book again. I thought my heart would burst. 🥰
While I read, he sat in my lap and spun a web around and between his toes. Then he got a toy tractor (did I mention we are doing the “on the farm” unit?) and spun a web around it. Just like that, we transitioned into #independentplay time until the baby woke up and he suddenly needed all my attention again. 🤦🏼♀️
We read (and re-read upon request), 3 more books during lunch. 📚
I may have looked at the clock 511 times this morning, but we made it to naptime. He was very fragile by then so I’m glad I kept him home. It was not the “easy” thing to do but it was meaningful.
For more on how I use Busy Toddler's Playing Preschool curriculum start here: Introduction to Playing Preschool with Busy Toddler