Tot School- On the Fly!

I always planned to do Tot School with Lion Cub this year, and by "planned" I mean this is actually the only thing that I didn't plan but intended to do.  I figured it would be on a fairly small scale since he is still so young, but fun none the less and would help him feel included during school time.  After all, with Rhythm it was a fun thing to do but never something that ended up being terribly consistent (as much as I wanted it to be!).  It just wasn't my priority... until this last week!  I had no idea that Tot School wouldn't just be a fun thing to do- it would be necessary to my survival and the survival of my children (specifically Lion Cub)!!

You see, without something structured to do Lion Cub has a tendency to... well...

get into mischief (yes, that would be the kitchen sink, a lemon and a box grater!)...

or scream uncontrollably (or haven't you noticed?!).  

So, after Monday, when I literally thought I was going to loose my mind (see below), I got so far as to realizing that we needed to do the bulk of school at the kitchen table, hence enabling me to tie down my wild child kindly strap Lion Cub into his table seat.

Awww... what a difference!

Happy little yogurt face!

For a good part of school on Tuesday I was able to keep him busy with snacks, but when the interest faded there (which took a while- this kid eats more than I do half the time!) I realized that I was going to have to get creative, and fast!

Thank goodness for Dutch Bros kid's cups and toothpicks!  Once he got the hang of it, this silly little project kept him busy for nearly 20 minutes!  A total savior!  Throughout the rest of the week we broke out the stacking cups, his little recycling truck that you feed cards into while it counts, and some fun "tearing" time with the remnants of some of Rhythm's projects, but none were so popular as this cup and toothpicks!

Check out those monster paws of his!

So, needless to say I am feeling the urgency to get more on the ball with Tot School!  Hopefully within the next few days I will be scouring the Tot School section of Carisa's blog and perusing the link-ups to get inspired and more on the ball.  If not, I may soon be posting from Betty Ford- I'll let ya know!

Despite my lack of planning, Lion Cub did work in a little bit of Life school of his own this past week that was rather fun (and sometimes frightening- keep an eye out for Wednesday's post!) to watch!

Don't ya just love boxes?!

Maybe mama should look at the actual camera and not just her boys!

Sweet Smiles!

If you too are in need of some awesome ideas to keep your little one busy, then head over to Carisa's Tot School Link up on 1+1+1=1!