tot school gets a makeover.

We're two weeks behind on Tot School. Two weeks. It's been killing me. The truth is, first we had strep and then vacation and then I've just been having a flat-out hard time staying motivated (with anything) and then our Tot School space had just become such a disaster zone that I couldn't bear to look at it. So I didn't. And then I blinked and two weeks went by (life, it's funny like that, isn't it?). Ethan and I both miss our Tot School time very much and so I took this long weekend to totally transform our Tot School room from disaster zone to an updated learning-and-play haven. I thought I'd never get out from underneath the overwhelming piles of rice and mashed potato flakes and cotton balls and coffee grounds but I found myself rich with the desire to just get this done and so I did.

There were many aspects of our Tot School room -- which I set up back in October -- that Ethan had simply outgrown. Our activity wall was set up to teach him facial feature recognition, which he's long since mastered, and things like the weather and colors. Weather he's got down and colors? Well, we're just about finished with those. Our new Tot School set-up is finally complete and ready to be unveiled tomorrow when we kick off another new week of Tot School! I can't wait for Ethan to see his new space, all the changes and get back into the swing of things.

One of the new changes I made was to create a little "music listening to" space. I fully admit to hoarding a ridiculous amount of vinyl in this Tot School closet and Ethan absolutely loves sitting with me and playing the old records. He loves to select an album of his choosing and watch it spin as the music plays. I figured integrating music into our regular Tot School curriculum could be a great thing and really warm up the room!

I also jazzed up the closet doors with some fun decor -- things like colors and shapes. Posting these photos made me realize that our triangle shape seems to have gone missing so I need to reprint that, but otherwise I think it adds some color and life to the boring closet doors! It will be fun to sit and point out the shapes and colors with Ethan to keep him refreshed and up to date with them as we move onto other things, like letters and numbers.

All set to kick off pink week tomorrow -- if only I hadn't somehow lost every dry erase crayon other than blue!

Another new addition has been Ethan's reading nook! We typically keep his library books and his beloved Bumpidoodle cushion in the living room. There is a lot of distraction happening in the living room, so I thought it might be nice to make a space for his reading nook inside tot school. His reading nook contains his Happy Family tote bag to carry his books from the library in and a cozy place to sit and read with mommy and daddy.

I feel relieved and excited to get the ball rolling with Tot School and cannot wait for Ethan to see his updated Tot School space when he wakes up tomorrow!

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