The Silk Road to Siena: Monsters & Trolls oh My!

Well today was a little different in school, I suppose. Siena got a little scared. To explain, I'll just type out what her teacher wrote in her "take home notebook for Momma."

***Siena tried so hard to be brave while reading The 3 Billy Goats Gruff & while making her ugly troll monster, but I think she was still scared. Poor thing. We tried to get her to hold up her mask & say "I'm going to eat you up!" but she wouldn't even touch it.***

When I picked her up from school, the teacher's assistant told me that she didn't even want to hold her mask. So when we got in the car, the mask had to ride in the front seat with me. Just hope it doesn't all come back to her in a nightmare tonight or I'll be tracking down her teacher tomorrow and letting her have it. (Just kidding, she's a good teacher.) She's really not into scary looking toys either. She was saying"Eeeeuuuww" every time she saw a scary boy's toy in a catalog back at Christmas. And where she picked up that word, I'll never know, unless it was from Daddy. Too funny!

In Siena's backpack was also a handout about the computer game that they played in school, "Feed the Monster ". I asked if she played it at school but she said that Ms. Pam did. She wanted me to play it at home so I did, hoping that she would play with me but I was the only one that ended up feeding the monster. She finally started laughing and telling me what foods to give him.

People are always a little amazed at how much Siena knows already at the tender age of 2. I feel that a lot of it is from her genes of course and we certainly can't take credit for that. But we also tell her about everything. We do a lot of explaining and for instance, it really comes in handy when she starts to get mad about something she wants or wants to do, but not allowed. We explain why she can't get it or do it. I've always been one to pick things up in the store and tell her what it was. Even if it was the boring non infant/toddler items like crafts or kitchen supplies. But I will say this...If she hasn't had her sleep or if she's really tired for some reason..there's no explaining or reasoning to be had at that point! Out pours the Terrible 2 Monster herself!

But for the most part she still continues to be a little sponge. I'm always working with her with flash cards. She loves flash cards. We about a 1000 of them around this house. I'm not exaggerating either. They are great teaching tools so don't go out and buy expensive learning toys right away. She also loves the $1.00 work books that I get from the Dollar Tree. They usually have everything from numbers to shapes & start as early as Preschool issues. Last but not least, we always read to her. She loves books. She started learning her ABC's from a book. Today she can't stop spelling out everything she sees. What does she want in bed with her every night? Her towel (I know that's another story)...her Minnie Mouse & 2 books. So we gladly accommodate on top of the rest of the plush zoo.

I'm certainly not trying to promote myself as Mother of the Year here or anything, but you have to stay on top of things with children these days. Times are not simple anymore. Just look at what is expected by the time a child goes to kindergarten. They have to already know their ABC's. And back in my day...you didn't even have to go to Kindergarten. Of course,now it's required.

I've compiled here a list of some good learning venues for toddlers that Siena likes. I hope you find that your toddler enjoys them too:

Playhouse Disney -Tons of free games & activities http://atv.disney.go.com/playhouse/index.html
PBS channel-Super Why- An excellent learning show.
Ziggity Zoom - http://ziggityzoom.com/ (this is were "Feed the Monster" game is)