Friday, December 07, 2012

Day 6: Decorating a Gingerbread House

I have to say, this whole Family Advent Calendar has been really good.  The boys also have their own individual chocolate/car Cars calendar which they look forward to every day, but they love the family activities more than that.  We are counting down to celebrating Christmas and enjoying time together as a family while doing it.

I will admit that I do go into the calendar and switch what's in the next day to make sure it's something I actually want to do:)  Last night?  Make the Gingerbread House.  Thankfully it was a prebuilt one (thank you Costco!)!  Usually Gary is in charge of Gingerbread Duties but this year he is still quite sick and went to bed at 5:30pm.  He was around for most of it but I was in charge this year:)  




{Koen was in charge of the tree.  I don't think I've mentioned this before but he really does not understand prepositions very well.  He will say `2 is before 1' and if I say `it's beside the fridge', he will look inside it or under it.  Is this an age thing?  Kai never had this.  It was really hard to explain to him where he should put the candy and that's why I just put dots of icing on the tree and told him to put them on the dots.}



It looks pretty similar to the box because Kai and I are rule followers:)

I hope you are doing well.  I am doing much better.  Kai is doing well.  Koen is doing much better.  Nya is still congested and coughing but she is pretty much my happy baby again.  Gary is miserable and sick and tired.  Good thing he has a basketball tourney to coach at all weekend (please read that sarcastically).

Love, Louise


4 comments:

  1. It's a masterpiece. Good for you - sometimes projects like that aren't a lot of fun for the parents, but it looks like it went well!

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  2. Great looking gingerbread house! We bought the same kit and are looking forward to decorating it tomorrow :)

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  3. You're such an awesome mom. xo. You create incredible memories, and you're totally committed a thousand percent to loving your family. It's amazing and I get lots of great ideas from you. I Love this advent activities idea! I'm hoping maybe next year I'll have the energy for it =) So much fun!!!

    For prepositions, it helps if you can teach him. They are difficult to learn and if they don't come naturally they often need help to learn them.

    Prepositions are totally abstract so it helps to have concrete representations or symbols for them to manipulate. For pre reading kidlets use colour coding: black is behind, yellow is 'here', and green is 'in front of', for example. Chose TWO prepositions and start working on those only. Hand him the yellow block and say "This is the fridge. Can you put this one (Black) BEHIND the fridge?" And then "Can you put this one (Green) IN FRONT OF the fridge?"
    [if he still has trouble after a few days, focus on ONE preposition].

    Practice those two prepositions in every context that you notice them. When playing together, go behind him and say, "Where am I? BEHIND you!!" In the bath say, "Where is Nya? BEHIND Kai!" etc. Use people and objects, especially ones he loves. Reward him with praise when he gets it, and get really excited about the preposition you are working on. Notice it everywhere. If you are having trouble convincing him that prepositions deserve attention, play a board game or build a puzzle, and have him 'earn' his turn by practicing a preposition successfully. [reward is for participation] Once he understands those prepositions, you add a new preposition. (as in, 80% accuracy means he's ready for another).

    Hopefully that makes sense. I've taught many ESL kids prepositions, plus my little language delayed boy of course!!
    Good luck =)

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  4. im very curious what the past 3 days of advent calendar have been!!! i love that idea.

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