.@TeddyOutReady: June 2012

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Teddy's first haircut


So this day finally arrived, Teddy had to have his first haircut as we are going on summer vacation and Teddy was the only guy in our family who did not go to a hairstylist for more than two years.

We postponed his first haircut as long as possible saying that Teddy was not ready, or he was going to cry and refuse to sit quietly. And since we are going to visit our grandparents and other relatives his handsome haircut had to be done for sure.


So we found an awesome children's hair care salon Melonhead close to us and last week we booked Teddy's haircut. Before our appointment we prepared Teddy saying that he is going to have a haircut, a lady is going to work on his hair. I also gave my little boy a Melonhead sheet to colour with his crayons  to get familiar with Melonhead ( 10% off his first haircut too).

On Father's Day we walked into Promenade Mall Melonhead, a nice salon with planes, cars, ponies to sit in. Teddy decided to sit in a plane, then our hairstylist covered him a cape with characters.


Our stylist was a very nice lady, she was fast and the haircut was over. To our big surprise Teddy was very quiet during the haircut, may be he was ready for it or it was just new experience to Teddy and he was not sure how to behave.

Then our hair lady styled Teddy's hair and we were ready to go. We took home a cute Certificate with a few flocks of hair. And before leaving Teddy had a ride on a pony.


So here our cute little man Teddy, can you see how a haircut makes a baby look much older.



I think it is opposite for us adults, we look younger with a haircut.
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Sunday, June 10, 2012

Teddy learning ABC


What is the best way to learn the alphabet? Every parent asks this question many times.  Nowadays we have a lot of different toys that were created to help kids and parents. Some of them are simple; other ones are fancy and quite sophisticated. We did not know exactly what we need at the beginning and when Teddy became a toddler we started buying for him toys for learning the alphabet.

First it was wooden cubes with letters on each side. The problem was that each cube had only lowercase letters and they had different colours. Since the difference between lowercase letters and capital letters is significant for most of the letters, it was a lot of confusion in addition to a colour distraction that affected Teddy’s learning process as well.

Last summer we bought big capital letters curved from wood and those one were nice to play with, but it was difficult to use them as a learning material, since they are big and only capital. They occupied much space just to store them as well.

A while ago we bought ‘Fisher Price’ phone with letter and number modes. However letters were only capital there and they appeared more than one at a time which made it just a fun toy and Teddy was not able to concentrate on particular letter at one time.


After that Teddy tried ‘VTech’ laptop, but only small letters were there on the screen, but you have to find and type capital letters on the keyboard.
So I can continue the list of all these alphabet toys we got spending lots of money until we found a winner. Actually we had it all the time at home and didn’t realize it. More than a year ago we went to “Samko & Miko” warehouse sale and bought there for Teddy among other toys alphabet cards. We put them aside until he becomes old enough to use them and completely forgot about them. They cost only loonie and it appears they are able to do the magic.


We found them one day and gave it to Teddy to play with. Every card has a Capital Letter, a hidden lowercase letter on front and a hidden word and picture on the back. For example for letter A there is a picture of ant and word ant.


As soon as we start using cards, Teddy starts learning alphabet very fast. We put all cards on the floor front side up and tell him every letter, explaining difference between capital and lowercase letter and that even though they look different they are the same. The biggest fun for Teddy was to hear an alphabet song. He liked it very much and sings with us how he could.


It didn’t take more than a month to learn the whole alphabet and Teddy started reading letters in words.

From our experience – simple cards helped Teddy much better than fancy expensive alphabet toys. The cards are also tangible and portable so Teddy can hold all of them in one hand and then take and explore them with another.
Now we have a new challenge to overcome – Teddy has a problem with pronouncing some letters correctly. But that is another story to tell you about how we deal with it.
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Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Little break - Wordless Wednesday


Happy boy after spending hours outside. No sign to stop and relax, only a little break for lunch and then continue having fun.
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Monday, June 4, 2012

Summer Camp & contest from #Pioneercamp


When I was a kid my favourite season was summer because I did not need to go to school, I loved sunny days, warm evenings without any assignments. And with ages my love of summer did not change.

I still remember the games at the camp, our wilderness adventures, bugs and campfire. Even now when I explore and gather information about camps for kids, I check camp activities and locations and imagine how I spent my summer vacation as a student. I was impressed with  Pioneer Camps, welcoming youth, students and graduates every year, programs and activities they offer.   

Pioneer Camp is a Christian summer camp that is committed to helping children and youth grow physically, intellectually, socially and spiritually.  Pioneer Camp is one of a collection of  Pioneer Camps that are uniquely serving their regions and communities in Alberta, Manitoba, British Columbia and Ontario and today they host more than 5,000 boys, girls and families each summer and have an Outdoor Education program through the off-season.

I wrote recently about #Circlesquare summer camps, and the contest they are hosting. Even more exciting to learn that #Pioneercamp also has a great contest to win:  prizes from Mabel's Labels, crossroads prize packs, free weeks at #Pioneercamp (this one is my favourite) and an awesome Grand Prize - a trip for two to Punta Cana .

So check it out today, there is still time to enter, spread the word and get more chances to win. This contest is open to Canada, excluding Quebec and runs until June 15. A full list of rules and regulations can be found here: http://www.PioneerCampContest.com/Rules-and-Regulations

Good luck and enjoy your summer!
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