E and F Week

This week we focused on the letters E and F. We read Ten Friendly Fireflies, and it was a huge hit with Charlie because all the little fireflies light up when you press a button. Charlie just loves things with lights.
We also examined the texture of feathers. The babies loved when I brushed the feathers up against their faces, but they were a little hesitant to pick them up themselves.

And when I did get one in their hands, they tried to eat it.

But the cats really enjoyed the feather activity. They were swarming around the whole time, and ended up running off with a bunch of our feathers.

For our art project we stuck with the feathers and Charlie and Lily helped me glue them to pictures of a bird.

We also sang "Do Your Ears Hang Low" and worked on indentifying our ears. Over the course of the week Charlie and Lily got very good at pointing to their ears when we asked where they are. (And if you're wondering why Charlie and Lily are usually in their pajamas in the pictures that go with these learning week posts, it's because I usually do our activities early in the morning when the babies have the best attention span. I do get them dressed after breakfast, I swear!)

In other news, we've been working hard in general on getting the babies to identify objects and body parts, on the recommendation of the occupational therapist we saw at St. Peter's, and they are both doing really well! They can now easily go and get a ball, the baby doll, their cups, etc. when asked. Both know where their ears are, as I mentioned, and Lily can also identify her nose and belly. We also spend a lot of time looking at picture books and telling the babies what the pictures are - dog, cat, train, apple, etc. We're also working on songs with hand motions, and Charlie and Lily now jump right in to the do the spider movement during "The Itsy Bitsy Spider."

They've also started picking up some more words! Lily says "night night" now, which is super cute. Today we had some visitors in our house who went upstairs, where the nursery is, and when Lily saw them going up she said, "Night night!" which is what I always say when I'm bringing her upstairs to bed. Love it! Charlie's only word is "Dadda" right now, but we noticed today that he's starting to make some more sounds so we're hoping that words aren't far behind. He has started clapping all the time recently, and this afternoon he lifted his feet up when Joe was putting his shoes on to make the process easier. He also FINALLY got his first tooth! Yay!

Charlie and Lily also had a visit from Uncle John this past week. They had a lot of fun showing him all the new toys they've acquired since he's last been over.

And finally, I thought this picture is so cute! On Friday Lily and I were dressed in matching outfits, although I didn't realize it until John pointed it out when he was over. But really, who wouldn't take fashion advice from Miss Lily?