Matching Monkeys

I didn't plan or notice I had both boys dressed in almost the exact same colors today. We didn't start off that way, but Baby Monkey messed up his first outfit just after breakfast. Here they are listening to me sing the days of the week song. They pay attention, but must be climbing on my stairmaster at the same time.

As part of our morning routine we've been reviewing our names and address for safety reasons. Big Monkey surprised me today. I knew that he knew his entire name (first, middle, and last), but today when I asked where we live, he did a pretty good job! He always starts with "at the new house" (we've lived here under a year). So I ask where the new house is and today he blurted out our city! So I asked where and he told me our street name. He can't remember our house number or our state, but hey, if he got lost at least the authorities could get him to the right street! We then moved on to our calendar and weather. Big Monkey loves putting in the date. 

Then we sorted apples and leaves, and Big Monkey informed me that we were sorting "things we could eat and things we can't." So I asked him which we could eat and he said "apples." Smart Monkey. We also did cutting practice while I cut out our pattern activity. 

So the pattern activity didn't go as well as the others. I didn't expect it to as Big Monkey didn't do so well with it last time, but I thought I would just let go and see what happened. So I put up two patterns on our new tabletop pocket chart and started talking about the first one. He kept telling me "leaf" when I asked what came next. It took a very long time, but eventually he told me "pumpkin." The next pattern he never did get on his own. As you can see he wanted 3 scarecrows in a row. That's ok. He's just learning the concept and enjoyed putting the cards in the slots. He also made his own "pattern" with his little pieces of paper from our cutting practice in the bottom row. 

I found Baby Monkey getting into trouble as usual. He started with the boys' books. That was fine, but then he quickly moved on to the next shelf of my books. Oh, and he throws them off faster when he sees me coming (and yes, he flings them off the shelf). 

We read about sharing today since Big Monkey is have a small struggle with sharing with Baby Monkey. This was our choice:

We did a little Fall sensory bin time at the breakfast table so I could empty the dishwasher. This only partially worked as Big Monkey kept dropping beans on the floor. I had to make sure Baby Monkey wasn't eating them, so dishes took a little longer than usual. 

Then we headed to the backyard for some fun in the sandbox. Baby Monkey can't seem to keep the sand in the table, but that's ok. Daddy Monkey picked up more sand today. At least we didn't spend the entire morning eating sand!