Easter Party

Here at Baby MacBean we were delighted to see everyone that was able to come to the Easter party on Saturday. It was so great to have an exciting egg hunt, food, and meet and see the live bunnies and ducks :) It was such a blast for us to see all the children with their families and friends, and there were lots of fun pictures from the party, so please enjoy the slideshow below!


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What's up at Baby MacBean?!

There were just too many cute photos this past week to only pick a few, so enjoy this fun slideshow!

San Francisco Zoo Field Trip!

Baby MacBean went on a field trip to the San Francisco Zoo yesterday. It's nice to be able to go during the week since there aren't many people there so it felt like we had the zoo all to ourselves.  Caroline and Shay strolled through the park holding hands like a little old couple. It was so adorable!

Here's a photo slideshow so you can see all the animals. Hover your mouse over the slideshow, then click on the button in the lower right corner to expand the fill your screen so you can see the photos up close...

Art and Sunshine

This week at Baby MacBean we got to take advantage of the beautiful January sunshine here in Benicia, which all of the babies loved! They got to play on the outside toys and it was even nice enough to use the art board and paint with the new spray paint bottles.

Everyone was having a fun time going in and out of the house.

Gabriel exploring the sophisticated workings of the spray paints.

  

 

 

Even though it was nice outside, the sit and spins were also popular.

Baby Tovi finding a new place to play!

 

Everyone at Baby MacBean loves the slides!

And just because it was nice outside, didn't mean that there couldn't be just a little snow somewhere.

Slip-N-Slide

It's officially summer! That means it's time for the slipperiest fun of all: the Slip-N-Slide! Ryan was by far the most adventurous of the bunch. He just couldn't get enough of the water fun. Shay enjoyed the water...from across the yard! That was close enough for him. He would come cautiously close, then run back. It was so cute! 

 Ryan and Shay decided to form a band together while everyone else was changing back into their clothes. They're called "The Swim Diapers"!

Painted Faces

The children had so much fun painting their hands and making Mother's Day hand prints that they wanted to do it again. A few of them were a little apprehensive that we wanted them to get their hands "dirty" and covered with paint when we were making the presents, but they soon warmed to the idea and wanted to paint their arms and faces, too!

 

 Impressive goatee, Ryan!!

"Hey guys, am I putting this on right? I can't see..."

 Shay's hands, after...

"I feel pretty, oh so pretty..."

 The painting table, afterwards...

 Caught red-handed...literally!

Pizza Party!

Baby MacBean hosted, with Miss Marla's Building Blocks Child Care, a pizza party at Pizza Pirate in Benicia. It was so much fun! All the children were pleasantly surprised to see their friends in a different setting. The parents had a chance to chat and get to know each other better, especially since some parents had never met since their children attend on different days of the week. We even had a few prospective parents come so they could meet all of us and ask questions and chat with other parents. We're so glad that everyone took the time to join us for a fun evening. We're planning several more parties for this summer - so get ready for more fun!

Here are some photos from the party:

Color Time

Joey, Madison and Shay really loved Color Time today! We covered the toddler table with scrap paper and let them each use a special color-wheel crayon. These crayons are super easy for tiny hands to hold and since they have several colors on each wheel we don't end up with piles of crayons all over the floor to clean up. Truly a win-win. :)

Here's a video of how we teach the colors. When children are first learning colors it's important to NOT ask them, "What color is this?" They obviously don't know that yet and these types of questions can lead to disinterest or frustration. We gather solid-colored objects to represent each color, then tell them the color for each object and ask if they can find something else with this same color. this helps them learn associations and that colors can be found in many shapes and sizes and items.

All Aboard!

Claudia surprised the babies with an early present = a train table, complete with waterfall, airport and the Golden Gate Bridge!

The train tracks and buildings are glued to the table, but we left all the street signs, trees, cars, airplanes and trains untouched so the babies can exercise their little fingers and practice their dexterity as they play.

 

Moving and Grooving!

 Today seemed to be all about movement - moving our bodies and streching our vocal cords!

We started with an outing in the stroller. All bundled up, they loved seeing the neighborhood and hearing dogs bark and birds chirp.

 When we returned the kids wanted to act like birds themselves.

They started "chirping" and yelping as well. They were like little songbirds in the backyard.

All that yelling made them awfully thirsty. Joey and Madison both signed they wanted water, after they finished their milk.

I gave them each a cup with a little water and was pleased to see they didn't spill a drop!

After lunch, what could be better than running in circles yelling?

How about bouncing and yelling!! :)

 

Not to be outdone, Shay added his two cents to the mix.  

Ryan was still sleeping.

Even though the windows were open in his room, he slept through all the "singing."

We practiced our hopping skills next. Joey is getting quite good!

Even Shay was trying is hardest to hop. :)

 Ryan finally woke up and joined his friends.

He showed them a thing or two about chirping at dinner time. :)