This morning, I noticed that one of our apples in the bowl was looking a little rough. I decided that our learning activity today (he paints on Mondays) would include an apple stamp made from the bad apple.  I scrolled through some ideas on Pinterest and saw this gem.  Isn't that smart?!  So, I sliced our apple like that one above to give him a handle to hold. After I got him all set up at the table, I drew a tree on the paper, and we talked a little bit about what kinds of fruit grow on trees, what colors we might see on apples (he was determined that purple was one of them, haha!), and where the apples grow (on the branches, but sometimes they fall to the ground before people pick them).  Then, I showed him how to use the apple stamp and let him get to work while I fixed lunch. He had fun mixing colors and decorating the tree, and I had fun watching him get so excited about something so simple. Sweet boy told me the finished product was "pwetty," and I agreed....

I've seen lots of posts on Pinterest with questions people (probably mostly moms) ask their kiddos each year.  I would have started when Jack turned two, but since he wasn't terribly verbal, I just would have ended up with a lot of nods and hand gestures and sign language. He's very smart, and he understands so much, but he's still not as verbal as most children his age. That being said, I still wanted to attempt this because it's such a great idea and such a wonderful way of keeping track of "the little things."  I looked through and jotted down questions from many, many sources on Pinterest, and I decided that these 15 would do. I set up my phone to record his responses, and I had him sit at the table with me to conduct our interview. This was super unsuccessful because playing with his Backyardigan friends and beans was wayyyyy too much fun and far too distracting (and messy) to answer any of my silly questions.  So, I waited until right before his nap ...