Big Concept - Time!

Recently the little guy has been showing some understanding of time. It's a big thing when kids figure out yesterday/today/tomorrow or even just earlier/now/later.
Daddy had to go on a business trip so little guy and I made a picture calendar to help him understand when Daddy left and when he's coming back. So far it's really helping. It gives me a way to answer the inevitable "Dada doko?" (where's Daddy) questions.

The top line of stickers is for Daddy's activities while he's away. He has meetings most days so it really isn't interesting to look at. The bottom line is our plans for each day. The little guy seems to like knowing what will happen that day so maybe we'll extend this into a regular calendar activity?
Sometimes the little guy will go and get the calendar from the fridge and bring it to me to talk about it. He keeps telling me "Daddy, plane" and then signs the plane flying away. It will be interesting to see if he understands when Daddy walks in the door after being away for a week!

Fruit and Veggie Work

This morning the little guy watched me make meat loaf for lunch. He tried to help out with the mixing of ingredients and taking things from the fridge.
About a half hour after we put the meat loaf in the oven he asked for his "cutting". He loves to play with toy food. These pieces are made of wood and connect with magnets so I keep them in a special place for special times.
Once he got his hands on them he set up a little place to do his cutting He even tried various chopping techniques.

The food, knife and trays are kept in the little bag so nothing gets lost.

After playing for he crawled into his boat with the food pieces. He was "washing" the fruits and veggies so they would be clean enough to eat!

Little kids really watch EVERYTHINg we do!

Fish Puzzle

Puzzles are good for the mind in so many ways!
We've been working on learning colors recently with the fish puzzle.

Budding Guitarist?

This is from when he was 16 months old. His love of the guitar continues today.

Cloth Blocks

One of the first toys I wanted for the little guy was a set of cloth blocks. I hunted all over the internet and in stores for a set that I liked and could afford. When he was about 6 months old I gave up the search to start making my own.
I found 30cm x 30cm x 10cm foam pieces at the 100 yen shop. The covers are made from fabric in my scrap basket. Over a year later I'm still working on piecing together the last few blocks. When I'm done there will be about 18 total.
The first blocks have ribbon "taggies" for small hands to grasp. The later blocks have more thoughtful design/pattern combos. There are also a few double-sized blocks for making the roof on a tunnel or house.
Originally I wanted to have the letters of the alphabet and related pictures on each block but I realized I just don't have that much time!