Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Zoralee around the house



a perk of whole body dish washing: instant skin-flavored drinking water


getting an early jump on baby-wearing -
(I guess going shirtless makes breast-feeding a cinch)

urban rock climbing
breakfast on the porch


helping Papa make coffee -
(I bought a cute fabric to cover over Spiderman, but I dunno. He has grown on me. Zoralee says he's going potty, and I can't really argue with that.)
This is a brilliant Montessori idea - put tape on the floor in a shape that gives the child a target (M's big into letting kids help around the home, with child-sized tools). Honestly, I put most of those buttons inside the square myself...with the adult broom I accidentally left in the shot. Doh. But Z's still too young to handle the broom well, and I've been itching to try this.
A trick we learned from my mom is to give a kid their food as raw as possible, or, ironically, as packaged as possible. Anything they have to undo themselves keeps them busy and gives them dexterity practice. Plus, at meals, they're at the table longer, with more chances of eating bites! Zoralee loves to pick out each pea with her teeth or fingers.


"Watch cartoons" is a new favorite phrase, now that we have a TV. Isn't there something wrong about her long-day-at-work look in that first shot? And that was first thing in the morning! Although, for somebody of Zoralee's energy levels, a little laying around never hurts. It sure lets me have a breather. I can't BELIEVE how fast-paced television is these days. Commercials are irrationally loud and numerous. We decided to do Netflix, which we can watch instantly online. The only thing I'm cool with is Dora the Explorer, because it's slow and educational, and the lead character wears a backpack and consults a map during each adventure. Right on! But the artwork is super chinsy. Program suggestions, friends?

14 comments:

Unknown said...

I love the varied life Zoralee lives and all the experiences she has. And all the odd foods she eats (odd for a kid not even 2 years old yet.) And I LOVE her sitting up on the counter in her Spiderman chair! And making and drinking coffee. I could go on and on :)

Thanks for the pictures and the little slices of her and your day.

Unknown said...

A program suggestion...you could raise her on episodes of Clean House or Hoarders, then she'd grow up being a minimalist instead of an accumulator like most of our family :)

Christi said...

Your new pad looks classy!

Kurtz boys would be so jealous of the Spiderman peeing chair.

As far as TV shows, I'm a PBS fan. I love Word World (it was the reason Max rocked his kinder assessment yesterday, although she wasn't assessing any higher-level thinking skills). You can't go wrong with Curious George, Sid the Science Kid (you will love Gerald on there), and Sesame Street. Have you seen Sesame Street lately? The special guests make it so great. I don't love that I'm the TV expert on here, but it is a great little part of our day :)

Anonymous said...

Our gals don't watch too many shows nowadays...they did learn some spanish from watching Dora and loved it...but I am not a fan of animation so much. It is really not great for their attention span...all the bright colors and fast pace. Everyone has an opinion you know so just weed out what you don't like here. I record old episodes of Mr. Rogers, and Sesame street is at least primarily un-animated, plus at older ages like mine they watch Shirley Temple and Little House on the Praire (we both know that for active little ones like Z she won't be sitting still for that). We save the animation for DVD's on movie nights (like Nemo etc.). I bet little Z would love Dan Zanes DVD of music? Remember that? It wouldn't drive you crazy to listen to, and it would capture her attention for sure. I am all for things being not so age specific but enjoyable for the family. These are just thoughts for you...

Anonymous said...

Lillian wants you to know how cool that snail is and how cute Zoralee is staring at it :)
She wants to play dress up with Zoralee.
We miss you three...bad-lee. I am a poet and I didn't no-et. We are corny, but you miss us...don't shake your head and diss us. Come dear friend and have tea with me! Rescue me from this bad poetry!

Autumn and Dan's family said...

Oh, I love those shots. Zoralee is just so cute!
We are HUGE Little Bear fans around here. We don't have cable, but we will get videos from the library and now own a couple of our very own. It is by far the most simple and charming kids show I've ever seen. It is also slow paced. The animation and music is great.

Rachel @ Lautaret Bohemiet said...

Love the photos. Spiderman is peeing... ha!

Zor with the remote in her print gown is hysterical. Something I never thought I'd see.

I love you and her so much (and Jason too).

melissa v. said...

The Backyardigans are awesome! And Bob the Builder--there are girls in that one, so don't be put off by the Bob in the title or the builder theme! I'm all for inter or neutral gender play anyways.
Also, the Rubadubbers. So imaginative, and SO cute.

For years we had no kid t.v. channels, so my kids just watched movies. I loved the preapproval by us, the lack of commercials, and etc. Not so keen on the t.v. options we have now that we got cable...

Anyways.

I also loved that montessori trick with the tape on the floor. A went to montessori preschool, and is in a montessori style class now, it suits him very well! M, not so much. He needs the whole group to be doing the same thing in order to focus.

I also like Rena's suggestion (that's your mom, right?) regarding Clean House and Hoarders--AWESOME!! Maybe I should force my hubby to watch those shows....he comes from a long line of hoarders, both sides of his family, and he's a packrat...

Did you know that packrat pee is the worst smelling of all rodent pees? My brother told me that recently.

p.s. have you looked up La Leche League in your area? You might find some like minded mommas in your town that way! I just went to my group this a.m. and I thought of you, in a new town and all.

xo

emili said...

before we got rid of the tv, elijah LOVED blue's clues (and he still will watch it on netflix on the laptop). it's a lot like dora, with the slow-paced and educational feel.

love the montessori idea - i've been reading a ton about this...

AND, gotta say, i laughed pretty loudly about the spider man going potty thing. your little girl's a genius :)

Mars said...

Love these pictures, she's such a little peanut. So cute.
We like the cartoon "Kipper" a lot. It's super slow-paced, the camera doesn't zoom and pan around all the time, no huge flashing lights, etc. I dunno, it's pretty cute. Our library usually has it available to check out - or netflix.

lori said...

I really, really appreciate the program suggestions! Wow. We already watched Sid the Science Kid, an episode about the benefits of brushing your teeth. I was hanging back, fixing supper, and thinking, "Let this soak in. Dear Lord, let this soak in."

Thanks a bunch for the ideas, friends! I will eventually try them all.

The Weems Family said...

Yes, I second The Backyardigans! They are educational on musical styles, and pretend.

We like Little Einstein's (not baby Einstein). Mellow, yet entertaining! Educational on classical music, art and problem solving.

Shana said...

Spiderman does look like he is using the pot!! She is such an amazing child and so lucky to have YOU for her mama!! And, I learn so much and gain so many ideas from reading your blog....and I don't even have kids!!! Yeah, not sure what to say about cartoons. We don't have cable/satellite either. Just the Netflix thing is all we do. Hmmmm....you need to just find some ol' re-runs of the Electric company, Little House on the Prarie and Mr.Rodgers...like we grew up on~stuff like that!!

Elenie King said...

Besides Dora, there's a cartoon called "Go Diego Go." He helps kids learn spanish, just like Dora, and he has a backpack too. In fact, sometimes Dora even has a guest appearance on the show!