Tot School at the Beach! (and Daily "Chores")

 Sophie is 12.5 months.

Tot School at the Beach

We spent the last week at the beach with my family, so we didn't have our standard Tot School.  But Sophie had lots of fun experiencing sand, the ocean, and the pool for the first time!  (Well, she had been in the pool as an infant, but totally different experience now!)

She was very curious about the ocean, but would get scared whenever we got too close.  She didn't even like it to touch my feet while I was holding her.  But everyday when we went out she wanted to go look at it. 

She absolutely loved playing in the sand though - a natural sensory bin!  She would sit on her little mat and play with her bucket and shovel for a good fifteen minutes, just scooping, transferring, raking, and ultimately throwing the sand.  She also explored the difference between wet and dry sand and felt sea shells.  She had a great time and would point to go outside with her bucket several times each day!

She loved the pool as well.  This girl has turned into a regular little fish in the past week!  By the end of the week she had learned to kick her legs and splash.  She was still timid when it came to sitting in her floaty and preferred to be in someone's arms instead.

 She got lots of quality time with my family (who is normally 14 hours away).  They taught her to make monkey noises and say "ewwww!" while scrunching up her face and shoulders, and she learned how to give her baby a bottle.  She also got lots of silly time with Grandpa, tea parties with Grandma, and lots of love and attention from Great Grandma and aunts and uncles.  Next week with just Mommy to play with is going to be boring! ;)

 Our Daily "Chores"

One of Sophie's favorite parts of our day is when it's time to do laundry.  Seriously.  In fact, I have to be careful not to say the word "laundry" or she gets disappointed if it's not time!  Whenever the buzzer for the dryer goes off, she points to the laundry room until we go get started.  I started having her help me do laundry when she was about 8 months old.  I would hold her by the washing machine and hand her one clothing item at a time to drop it. 

As she got older I would have her help me take the wet clothes and put them in the dryer the same way.  The she learned to take the clothes out of the dryer and put them in the laundry basket, which she pushes to our living room and pulls out the clothes for me to fold.  I joke that all I have left to get her excited about is putting them away for me! 

This daily activity is how she learned the concept of "in" and "out" and feels the differences between wet and dry.  If only I could keep her loving this as she gets older! :)

Places I'm linking up:
Tot School Gathering Place at 1+1+1=1 
Tot School Tuesday at See Vanessa Craft