Roadworks Heaven!!!

Roadworks heaven was right outside Polkadots Headquarters door the other day! We were all busy working away on all things Polkadotty when the house started to rumble! The whole road was being resealed and I just couldn't resist but have "Girl Jordan" (our Polkadots Nanny) bring the children over to see all the action! I don't know if the workers were use to such an interested crowd, but it put a smile on their faces and I'm sure it made them feel very important!

Ashton was sooo taken with all of the different pieces of machinery that he barely said a word the whole time we were out watching! Then as soon as we got back inside he just couldn't stop talking about everything he saw. It was such a great opportunity for the children to see the whole process in action, especially after reading our recent library book, "Roadworks."

We got to see the roller!

The big Asphalt Machine. 

Ashton loved watching the truck tip out its load with Papa!

Who would of thought I would ever pose for a photo in front of roadworks! ha ha.

Ashton's favourite thing to do at lights at the moment is
shout out STOP and GO each time he see the lights change
colour, so he loved seeing the sign doing the same thing.

Blacked Out

Every time the All Blacks have a game day our family has been blacking out! It doesn't matter whats happening that day, everyone wears ALL BLACK for the day. Even to both of the birthday parties we had on this Saturday, we wore our black outfits. I went shopping in the morning before the parties and it was so cool to see so many others wearing all black as well. One man even said to me, as I caused a traffic jam, "Its all good, at least your wearing the right colours!" LOL!

It was a big game on Saturday as well... All Blacks vs the French! It was a bit nerve wracking for me, as last time I watched the All Black play the French, was back in the last rugby world cup, at the quarter finals! It was my first ever All Blacks game I had gone to watch live and THEY LOST! I was devastated, as was the rest of the country, and I just didn't want to relive those feelings all over again! But I'm happy to report, THE ALL BLACK WON! WHOP WHOP! 

THANK YOU ELMO!

I had a big Mummy Moment this week!

Ashton strongly detests brushing his teeth and every time we do it, it is a HUGE drama! So finally the other night, (while Ashton was running in the oposite direction from his tooth brush) I said to Kris, look up "Elmo brushing his teeth on YouTube! There has to be something!". . .  AND THERE WAS!

I brought Ashton over to the computer and showed him Elmo brushing his teeth and after the initial excitement of seeing Elmo and once he realised what Elmo was doing, Ashton picked up his tooth brush and started brushing his teeth! When the clip had finished he said, "More Elmo teeth!" so we did it again and he brushed again!

Since then Ashton asks "Elmo teeth?" while reaching for his tooth brush. I still have a little battle when I ask if I can have a turn (to make sure his teeth get a good clean) but all in all, thanks to Elmo, our teeth brushing experience is a lot more pleasant!

Ashton checking himself out in the mirror while brushing his teeth with Elmo!

Photo of the week!

Capture a moment that just makes you fall in love with your precious little one all over again!!!

He read himself to sleep! Soooo cute!

Roadworks

"Tip the stones. Tip the stones.

Lift and slide and dump.

Lay the groundwork for the road.

Crash! Roar! THUMP!"

I am very lucky that Ashton loves books! So it is the one thing he will sit and do for ages that doesn't actually have to revolve around vehicles. But on our library adventure yesterday I found this fabulous book "Roadworks." Needless to say, Ashton loves it too, as it means he combine his two loves of reading and vehicles together!

Story Summary:

The roadworks team is out to make a new road. From the very beginning of drawing up the plans, to the end when the cars drive on the road for the first time. . .  the reader is able to follow the vehicles that are needed and the process that takes place to complete a road.

Loves and Likes:

I love that this is a story book about vehicles rather than always having to get the non-fiction books out to fuel the interest.

I love the rhyme and use of language used in the book. Also a lovely consistent and predictable writing pattern that the children find easy to follow.

Teaching Points:

This book would be a great point of reference to have alongside you and your child as you made your own "play road" whether it be down on the beach, on a cardboard box or out in your back yard. Turn the page as your ready for the next stage of building the road and see what you need to do next.

World Cup Fever!

Last Friday the Rugby World Cup finally kicked off here in Auckland! This is something that doesn't happen every day in your home town, so we, with our friends, decided to go into town (crazy) and get in amoungst the celebrations!

Straight out of the car park and we find ourselves right next to the bar where all of the All Black Old Boys are hanging out before they headed off to the game. You can see Buck Shelford just off to the side of the picture there!

A few more of the Old Boys over in the back of the photo.

A bit of the Party Central Craziness going on behind us!

Down on Quay St, where we got stuck in a bit of a mosh pit... you can see the giant rugby ball behind us there too.

Me and my Hottie! All Blacked out!

Us girls stuck in the mosh pit!

It was pretty crazy in town, but it lots of fun seeing everyone all dressed in black or sporting their country colours, with flags flying everywhere! Now all I can say is "GO THE ALL BLACKS!"

Readkiddoread.com

I love visiting the library and I always have the best of intentions of going, but something always seems to bump it off my list of places to go! So, the other day I decided to start a little group, on Facebook, with a bunch of my friends called "Library Adventures" This was all in the hope that going with others would make me go to the library on a regular basis.

Purpose of the Library Adventure Group:

• Establish a regular routine of going to the library
• Find new books
• Catch up and socialise with friends
• Explore different libraries in different areas
• Find places to explore and play in each new area

Now that we have our regular routine of going to the library set up, I was finding it hard to find the GOOD books from the average or really not so good books. I decided that I need to go a little more prepared each time by researching some good titles before hand. I remembered a site a friend of mine told me about that would be perfect for my pre-library visit prep! 

readkiddoread.com

This site is fabulous! And this is why:

• You can chose the age range you are catering to
• It brings up the latest or most loved books for this age bracket
• Click on a book you like the look of and it gives a parents review and an educators review 
• It also recommends other similar books to the title you are looking at
• It even has links right there as to where you can buy the book

I have now discovered lots of books I have never heard of, have gone in and requested them via my online library service and will be able to check them out when I go on our next library adventure!

Parsley Rabbits Book About Books

Children love to write their own stories, and its a great way to get their imaginations flowing. 

So when I found this book on our trip to the library, I was very excited to do a little book review on it. 

Story Summary:

• As Parsley Rabbit takes the reader on a little trip through the book, he tells "You" the reader what each part of the book is for and how it is important to the story. 
• Parsley also explains why books are so wonderful and how you can use them in different ways, how you can share them, where you can read them, and even how there are different types of books for different purposes.
• The Author & Illustrator have done this really well. . .  not using too much text, but using the illustrations to really get the main teaching points across!

Likes and Loves:

• Like that Parsley engages the reader throughout the story by telling them to do things and asking them questions.
• Love the illustrations! The are so endearing and cute!

Teaching Moments:

• Little did I know that this book would come in very handy in helping me to break down the various elements of a book, to my niece Anika, when she wanted to write her own story. After reading this, I was able to remember the key points that she should incorporate into her story. Unfortunately, I didn't have the book with me at the time. Otherwise we would have been able to go through each little element with her and decide how she wanted to make it her own! She ended up writing a very cute little story about "The Fancy Little Mouse" who loved to get dressed up in beautiful things. 
• I LOVE HOW CHILDREN THINK! We have to make sure we capture it! 

Welcome to the world Baby Charlotte

I'm an aunty again! I now have 39 nieces and nephews!!!

Congratulations to Lincoln, Dez and Brooklyn. I can't wait for more cuddles, she's just so absolutely huggable!

Charlotte Dionne Reid

Ashton-Paul very excited to get up close to his baby cousin!
He is very intrigued with babies at the moment!

The Secret to Constructive Discipline

We all go through stages where our children produce behaviour that is less than desirable and we feel at the time that everyone is looking at you thinking, "Control your child will you!" But most of the time, everyone is just thinking, "Been there, dealt with that!" or "Been there, still trying to figure out how to deal with it!" I'm a teacher and have training on behaviour management strategies, but I am always looking for new ideas, and I have found when dealing with your own child. . .  its a totally different story! 
So i found this article titled, The Secret to Constructive Discipline. I don't totally like the way it is written, but I definitely like most of the sentiments of the articles and general approach to helping children recognize and move forward from the "less desirable" behaviour.


Quick points/quotes that I liked from the article:

• The secret to constructive discipline is a positive conclusion." - I totally agree with this, too often children are left feeling in discrace about what they have done or they are stopped in their tracks and moved away from the situation, so that the bad behaviour can't continue. When we respond this way, the issue or behaviour is never really addressed or dealt with.
• "The positive conclusion turns what otherwise might be punishment into a constructive learning experience." - So often, when we do the quick and easy "moving of behaviour" the child goes back and does the same thing all over again and the adult is left wondering, "Why do they keep doing this?" The fact is, the adult has fallen short in using this moment as a teaching moment, by talking them through it and helping them to see clearly what behaviour is acceptable.

4 things that I try to do when redirecting and addressing behaviour, which I feel fits in with both points above:

1. Get down at their level and get their attention (the first step in distracting them from continuing the bad behaviour).
2. Bring to their attention what  it is you want them to stop doing. 
3. Reinforce the desired behaviour. (You want to spend most of your time and effort on this step. This is what you want them to remember as they get back into play.) 
4. Praise when they behave well! (So often we forget to praise our children for their GOOD behaviour, so all they ever remember hearing, is us telling them off for their bad behaviour. If they know they will get attention for doing the good stuff, they are likely to do it more often.)

Read the article at the link above for a more in depth look at their approach to constructive discipline. 

Back To Nature

Children just don't seem to play like they use to! We feel like we have to plan every minute of their day with activities that are going to make them smarter. In the process we are totally over working ourselves and overstimulating our children!

A couple of weeks ago I did an article review in the Polkadots Blog about children returning to nature. After reading this article I got this obsession with wanting to take Ashton out for a bush walk. . . Since then we have been on three!!! And they have been the best play dates ever!

Here are some pointers for having a successful NATURE ADVENTURE!

* Dress appropriately! Wear clothes that can get muddy, or grass stains!

* Take a change of clothes. . . just in case! You're more likely to explore more deeply and be more lenient to your child going exploring into that puddle if you don't care about the clothes.

* Don't be in a rush. . . The more time you have to just relax and go with the flow, the more likely you and your child are to make new discoveries.

* Don't take toys! . . . Your child will be heaps more creative with their play and their surroundings then they don't have toys to distract them.

* Explore and enjoy alongside your child. . . follow your "inner child" instincts! If you want to roll down that big hill . . . ROLL DOWN THE HILL THEN!

If you see or hear something that fascinates you, share it with your child. The more you share with them, the more the will share with you!

* Celebrate even the most simple discoveries. . . Ashton loved the feeling of the gravel as he swished his hands over it, and also discovered that it made a pretty cool sounds when he slid his feet over it too! So we all took a minute to make music with the gravel!

* Don't be scared of yucky stuff. . . it all washes off! Just keep some wet wipes handy!

* Take time to just sit and watch, listen, smell, touch. . . You will be surprised at what you'll discover when you activate all your senses.

* Have FUN! . . . Make up stories about the animals, insects or trees. Ask the children what they think they will see before you go in to the bush walk. Sing songs while you're walking. Take photos while you go!

Some people may think its a lot of work to try and organise a bush walk. But ITS NOT! Just find a walk and go! Your child will guide you and dictate the rest of the walk. Its just up to you to facilitate and extend their discoveries as they happen. Ask them questions, share your knowledge with them, celebrate discoveries and get excited with them about all the wonderful things nature has to offer!