We enjoy making lists here at The Savvy Source. Making a list is an act of hope, and a form of dreaming as well as planning.
These years before kindergarten and the forward march of school years are precious and irreplaceable. Never again will we have so much plain old free time with these adorables of ours. So here's a list of lots of stuff we hope to do with them, make possible for them, show them and teach them before they head off to -- gasp! -- elementary school.
And if we don't get around to each and every one of these items...well, we still have another twelve years before they go to college!
In no particular order....
1. Go to the zoo (Oregon Zoo - August 2008, attempted Seattle Zoo - November 2008)
2. Visit a farm (We visited a pumpkin patch 10/2008, lots of animals there
- does that count? We also visited the family home in Virginia and while there are no animals now, at one time it was a working farm.)3. Go on a hike
4. Play with kittens or puppies
5. Catch a frog (Going to have to be a father/daughter thing, mama doesn't do frogs!)
6. Make a gigantic mess (all the time!)
7. Help clean up a gigantic mess
8. Master the monkey-bars
9. Swing high up into the sky all by themselves
10. Try ice-skating
11. Go sledding
12. Make a snow-man
13. Blow bubbles
14. Plant seeds and watch them grow
15. Have a pillow fight
16. Jump on a big bed (Mama and Daddy's - too often!)
17. Jump on a trampoline or in a bounce house
18. Hang out in a tent
19. Spend days at the beach
20. Build sandcastles
21. Go fishing
22. Go out on a boat
23. Play with blocks and puzzles (Ongoing! Puzzle Time)
24. Read the classic picture books
25. Read a classic chapter book
26. Check out library books with their own library card
27. Get a passport (Working on this!)
28. Carve a pumpkin
29. Hold a newborn baby (to see how much they've grown)
30. Love a special doll or stuffed animal (MeiMei but we also have Brutus the Penguin, and currently several others!)
31. Bake cookies and cakes
32. Help plan their own birthday party
33. Go to the circus
34. Go to a museum on a quiet weekday
35. Play hide-and-seek
36. Play a board game
37. Do nothing whatsoever all day (Ha! we do this all the time!)
38. Try a sport
39. Watch a sporting event
40. Learn to swim
41. Be tickled in hysterics (We tickle, but carefully. I don't believe in the 'too much tickling' thing as it can easily get too be too much.)
42. Paint and draw as much as desired (Emi colors all the time, even has her own little desk in the office. Painting is going to wait until it's warmer and can be done outside!)
43. Have the use of scissors and glue
44. Display artworks and other creations around the house
45. Learn to use a camera (and keep an album of the results!)
46. Play with clay
47. Pick flowers (4/2009 - This just happened last week, Daddy and Emi picked some dandelions for Mama)
48. Climb a tree
49. Gaze at the moon and stars
50. Toast marshmallows
51. Learn to eat an ice-cream cone
52. Watch a sunset
53. Learn to write their own names
54. Learn their addresses and telephone numbers
55. Learn their parents' full names
56. Set the table
57. Clear the table
58. Help wash the dishes
59. Learn to say their pleases and thank yous and excuse mes
60. Watch fireworks
61. Go to the ballet or theater or a puppet show
62. Put on a ballet or play or puppet show at home
63. Face paint
64. Dress up in costumes at will
65. Learn rhymes and poems and songs by heart
66. Have a dance party
67. Enjoy friends at preschool and at the park
68. Invite friends over to play
69. Get to know grandparents (With a grandma in Virginia, and grandparents in Michigan we really work on the 'getting to know' but we do the best we can.)
70. Play with cousins (Emi's cousins are in their mid-to-late 20's! While she does play with them when we are in Virginia, it's more like following them around and mooching food off them!)
71. Become attached to a wonderful preschool teacher and/or babysitter
72. Learn the name of our president (hahaha - actually working on this!)
73. Know the name of their town, state and country
74. Be familiar with a map of the world
75. Listen to music from many different ages and genres (Oh yes, much to Daddy's chagrin, Mama is exposing Emi to all kinds of {scary} music!)
76. Hear and learn words from a different language (Not surprising that we are working a bit on Mandarin, but right now just getting anything out of her is a good thing)
77. Learn the difference between trash and recycling
78. Grow their own vegetables
79. Learn to ride a bike (or try!)
80. Take a road trip (Check! Emi and I have done several of these, and we plan to continue this as I think it's great fun. Jeff isn't much of a car trip kind of guy, but he suffers through them, now and then.)
81. Draw a self-portrait
82. Slurp alphabet soup
83. Learn to twirl spaghetti on a fork
84. Pick apples
85. Star in a home movie
86. Learn a magic trick
87. Try different hair-dos
88. Practice writing letters
89. Practice counting to 100
90. Make up stories
91. Send a letter
92. Receive a letter (4/2009: Emi received her very first postcard last week, my parents are in Florida for April. She loves it!)
93. Ride on a merry-go-round (We did this when we were in Memphis (4/2008), but I am looking forward to do this again with Emi now that she's older {she doesn't remember it}. I think she'd love it!)
94. Give away toys and books to less fortunate children (We do this now, but she doesn't know it. The time will come, however, when she will!)
95. Learn the value of coins and bills
96. Keep a piggy bank
97. Try a musical instrument
98. Have a heartfelt wish granted
99. Have a heartfelt wish denied
100. Receive a million (make that a billion) heartfelt kisses and hugs from their parents!
*Considering the child is only 26 months, I think she's done pretty well. But what a fun list, I look forward to helping her check off more of these.
1 comment:
Love it! And I can't believe how much you have done in such a short period of time... our list when the Tongginator was two would be much more limited. Heh.
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