2 days and 3 new puzzles

On Sunday we picked up some new puzzles and Ruth was so excited to see this one. She immediately said it was like the "I spy" book her correspondence teacher had sent her. 100 piece done.

Another 100 pieces. I was not sure if she would recognise the characters (I don't remember her watching Shrek at all) but she immediately told Rachel about the Alice band that someone had that had Shrek ears. I must have a look if the movie is in the toy library.

200 piece finished up today. She enjoyed looking for the different things in each room and talking about the birthday party that they were having.
So 400 pieces done in just 2 days. At least you know I was not forcing her to build that dog puzzle every day. She really is a little puzzle monster. :-)

Spring before September

Ruth is so excited about spring. She was pleased to show me these blossoms that have started budding already.

Writing practice

Rachel has started learning to write in cursive and so I found a website where you can create your own writing practice pages. I decided this would be nice for Ruth to do. She often wants to write her name on her own - so this is good practice (without me having to do dots for her the whole time). And she works so nicely too. Good job Ruth.
Ruth really enjoys Rachel's 96 pieces Egyptian puzzle book. She had no problem building this one even with all that shiny gold.

And she does not get tired of her old puzzles either. I love how she just decides which one (or two or three) she wants to build in the day. I also love how Hannah wanted to copy her big sister. :-)

1,500 done and other stuff

Ruth completed her 1,500 piece puzzle today.
This is a video of the progress over the last 25 days. I took a photo almost every day. She did about 60 pieces a day. She only had about 30 to do today - so it did not take her long to get some more puzzles out.
A picture of the finished puzzle. I look forward to getting it framed for her room.

And just so you know she does not just build puzzles - here she is with Rachel "blowing dye".
She struggled to blow on her own so I ended up holding the end of the straw and moving it around for her. You can see the effort it took. I thought afterwards that I should have cut a shorter piece of straw for her to use. We will have to try it again another day.
She really enjoyed seeing how the colours mixed.
Here she is on a 100 pieces. 30 pieces obviously is just not enough for one day.

And before Ballet she quickly got started on the round 100 piece. So much for thinking we would have a break from puzzles with the dog one finished. She ended up building at least 230 pieces today.

Mixing dye

Ruth enjoyed her first art project with the dye that she got in the last correspondence school posting. The instruction sheet had not been included, so once the teacher had sent that to us she was so excited about getting started. She had to exercise a lot of patience as I had no idea of what to do with it until the info sheet arrived.

Down to just one tray of pieces left on her puzzle. She gets so excited when she gets to finish a dog. But she can't just sit and finish them one at a time because as she looks through the tray for a specific piece she says "oh - I know where this one goes" and then goes back to looking for the other (which she normally manages to find).

Ballet Book and cd

Ruth's correspondence teacher sent her a Ballet book and cd with her last posting as I had told her about Ruth starting Ballet lessons. Ruth loves showing Hannah the book as the cd plays - telling Hannah when it is time to turn the page and pointing at the different pictures. At the end of the cd there is some music for them to dance to. One of the pieces is one that Rachel danced to at her first concert. They girls all love being ballerinas and dancing around.

Posting arrived

Ruth was very excited about her next Correspondence School posting that arrived today.

With Ruth's attention to detail in her puzzle building the teacher thought to send this "I spy" book with each page just full of objects. There is also a riddle on each page with different things for you to find. Ruth enjoys the book a lot but I loved how she first used it. This page looked like a lovely place for her cars to drive. So she fetched the box of cars and had such a fun time.

Puzzles still going

Tuesday, 10th. I just love how she sits with the tray that is so full of pieces and finds one that she wants to put in.

She enjoyed building this 200 piece from the library today. Rachel had built it as soon as it arrived (no surprise with it having a horse).
In two days she has added so much. Down to just the three trays already. Although the brown and black tray is at least two layers of pieces.

Mosaic

Ruth enjoyed cutting up different colours of card in preparation for making a mosaic.

Hannah woke up before Ruth and Rachel got finished so she got to do a flower too.

The finished product. Well done Ruth. It looks lovely.

Another week of puzzles

Ruth was thrilled with the box of puzzles I brought home on Tuesday night.
The first one she tackled was this round 100 piece. Her first round puzzle.

She loved the special shaped pieces (at the bottom of the tray).

60 piece Winnie the Pooh.

100 piece Barbie.

100 piece fairy.
And even though she has gotten those all done she is still working on her dog puzzle. This is an update on what she has gotten done over the last week.

I love how sometimes she will just look through the tray with all the "middle" pieces on (they don't have any white line that separates the dogs - and there are loads of them) and will pick one up and say "I know where this one goes" and puts it right in it's spot.

Not just puzzles

Ruth has been wanting new and more challenging computer games so I got her started on Rachel's Jumpstart Grade 1. She did a couple of the things in the main game but then I remembered the Music cd. I registered her as a pre-schooler when I set it up. She sat and played and played until she had finished the entire game. I will have to set her up as a kindergarten student next time.
It's a great game that teaches rhythm, memory of notes, knowing what sounds different instruments make as well as the basics of music reading (where one note is wrong and you have to work out quick one).
And she continues to enjoy her collage work. She knows that when she sticks heavy things on she has to let it dry before she can do the other side.

This was the other side done a couple of days later.

She had been talking about making one for each of us and so we asked her what we should use them for. Eventually we came up with the idea of Rachel keeping bottle tops in it. Rachel needs to collect bottle tops for Brownies and has found a few sources over the last week. So they are no longer just being kept in a packet but have a special bottle - lovingly made by Ruth.