Skiing and Snowboarding

See his skiing in action here

We went to Lake Tahoe for Christmas. We are very blessed to have a family vacation home in such a beautiful place!

Levi went skiing again this season, he started last spring (at 2.5yrs old) and did great last year, but this year was even better! He is doing very well with his turing, and has good control over his skis. He can start/stop/turn/get off the chairlift all on his own (he needs help getting on because he is so short!). He can even "make a pizza" (wedge) without using an edgie wedgie now (an aid to help kids make a wedge shape, last year he just wasn't strong enough to put his legs in the right position without it!)

He also insisted on trying snowboarding, after using a box lid as a snowboard for several days, I let him try it out at a tiny resort with a great beginners kids area. He is 10lbs too light to make a snowboard flex (the starting weight is 35lbs), so he could pretty much only go straight. But he thought he was SOOO cool. I'm hoping he will stick with skiing for a while, he is good at it and its easier to teach!

Also he got a new helmet - a MUST for winter sports (skiing, snowboarding, sledding, ice skating).

Lowes/Home Depot Kids Program

Both Lowes and Home Depot have kids programs on Saturday mornings. Kids are given an apron, safety goggles, a kids size hammer and a kit to make a wooden toy. They hammer it together, and add stickers to decorate. When they finish a project, they get a certificate to take home and a badge to glue onto their apron.

Kids get to use real tools to create a cool project, all while following directions provided (with pictures for non-readers!), following safety rules (watch where that hammer is going!), and using fine motor skills (to pick up those tiny pieces). The constant hammering is a little annoying to listen to, so get grandpa to take them if at all possible!

Bonus: Its free!

Click here to see it in action

(see what I mean about the noise level in there!?)

Creative Movement - Ribbon dancing

You need:

A ring (wood or metal, big enough to hold)

ribbon any kind

Tie the ribbon through the ring, at whatever length you prefer. Thats it!

Supervise use closely as ribbons can be a strangulation hazard.

Let the child try it out! Turn on some music and dance, or go outside and let the ribbons blow in the wind.

Jumping Boy!

Levi likes to jump on everything, so he was excited to try out the bungee trampoline!

Here is my jumping boy:

Levi jumping when he first got on

And here is when he got to go super high!

And today I entered to win some boys patterns! Check out the give away here

Some random pics of other activites

Kids Yoga

Giant Magnifying glass

Writing practice

Space man

Working with Real Tools

Levi learned how to use a hammer and screwdriver.

We got this peice of foam from a packaged mailed to us, and its perfect for him to practice using tools. I demonstrated what to do, and reminded him to watch his fingers and he hammered away! When he ran out of nails I taught him how to use the back of the hammer to remove them, which was even more challanging.

Later we used a screwdriver to put screws in. He ended up using the hammer method to remove the screws as well.

He did these activites multiple times over the week, until I got tired of picking up styrafoam bits and recycled it!

Let's go Fly a Kite

Levi's first kite! This one cost $1 at walmart, and has a HUGE tail. But I held it up and it took off right away! Levi ran all the way down the beach and back again and had a great time.

Skiing in Tahoe

Levi learned to ski! I was expecting to just get him used to the equipment and ski with him between my knees, but he got the idea very quickly! He was riding the lift, getting off on his own! And he was able to stop and turn and do blue runs (green is easy, blue is medium). It is VERY easy to teach such a young child to ski (he is 2.5 here), because he is so low to the ground. My first job when I was 16 was teaching kid's skiing, and I learned how to ski at this resort when I was little.
The weather was beautiful and we had a great time!

Video here (Click me!)

The Skuut Bike

The Skuut bike - No pedals or training wheels, just his own feet for balance. Levi still hasnt really gotten the hang of this thing, he is supposed to 'push off and glide', right now he just walks (or runs) with the bike between his legs, he still has fun though. Levi always wears his helmet when he rides any type of bike, no helmet = no ride. Saftey first! Its much easier to enforce this rule now, so hopefully he will stick with it in the future.

(same thing as in the car, no carseat = the car doesnt go!)

Snow Play

Here is Levi exploring the snow next to our house in Tahoe

Brussle Sprouts

Here is a way to encourage kids to eat something new - make it interesting and have them help prepare it!

We found this giant brussle sprout stalk at Trader Joe's and Levi had a great time pulling off the sprouts. He was more than willing to taste the final result once we cooked it, and even liked it! (welll this is a kid who's favorite food is brocoli...)