Cold-Rainy Day Activites

What do you do when it's rainy and cold outside and you have a toddler? You think of as many activities to do indoors (that you haven't recently done) before resorting to the TV. With this pregnancy I haven't been able to go more than two days of feeling "good" (let's be honest, most women are never good during pregnancy- we're always at some level of discomfort). So Babycake and I have been spending a LOT of time at home and inside. Today though, I feel only the slight sensation of discomfort. Too bad it's a crummy day outside. What can I do to entertain my 2.5 yr old?

We started our day with making snow flakes to decorate our kitchen with. With it being cold we would much rather have it snowing than raining. So to display our hope for snow we made a ton of snowflakes. Babycake was very excited to do this activity as I let her decorate the snowflakes with glitter glue- a new and exciting crafting material this year. She managed to keep her face and clothes clean while covering her hands and the table in glitter. There may have been more glitter on the table than the snowflakes... Oh well, baby steps.

Babycake placing pom
onto slide

Once snowflake crafting was over, it was still only 10 am. Now what? I mused for a moment  trying to recall activities we did last winter while cooped up in the house. I remembered a fun little activity that kept Babycake and her pals busy for hours. We call it the ball slide. All you need is some tape, scissors, empty wrapping paper tubes (we always seem to use up all our wrapping paper each Christmas and end up with empty tubes which are great for multiple forms of toddler entertainment), and small balls- we use pom balls.

Babycake at top of this year's ball slide
(it is along the bottom of the wall)

When making this fun activity, the first thing you want to do is cut the tubes (wrapping paper, paper towel, toilet paper, etc.) in half. This makes for more length to the slide as well as entertainment for the little ones to watch the ball go all the way down. You also want to make sure to lay the first tube into the second tube at the connecting points. Last year I quickly learned that balls will get stuck on the lips of tubes and become clogged if the second tube is laid "on top" of the first tube. Then you just tape the separate tubes together, tape the slide to the wall at multiple points, and let the balls roll.

Empty tissue box at bottom to catch pom balls

Last year Babycake was much smaller and I so the height and length of the ball slide was much smaller. This year however, we made the ball slide go the length of our stairway, ending with an empty tissue box to catch the balls at the bottom. 

Last year's ball slide

This was a great success! I'm not sure which will come down first, our Christmas tree, or this slide. If it's a huge success it may last until February!

Christmas Card Display

I LOVE CHRISTMAS TIME. I love decorating the house, getting the tree set, driving around finding houses decorated with Christmas lights, and the wonderful smells of cookies and pine trees. Despite my love of all things Christmas, it does perturb me when store have Christmas decorations out way before Thanksgiving let along before Halloween....

If you'd like to try this out check
check out Holiday Kids Crafts

Anyway! On Black Friday we get all the decorations out. We're often at a family member's home (we live out of town from the rest of the family) so I get to decorate their home and then come back to our house and decorate again!

Last year I scoured Pinterest for a creative way to display the Christmas cards we receive each year. I found this really cute DIY wreath that had painted clothes pins to hold the cards. Needless to say my wreath did not look so nice and was a total Pinterest fail. Due to much frustration and failed fixing attempts, I was not eager to search for and attempt another Christmas card DIY display.

I think I waited a total of three days after Thanksgiving to begin this year's Christmas card display search (This is honestly late b/c despite my unwillingness to acknowledge the commercialism of Christmas before Thanksgiving, I do love getting a head start on decoration and craft ideas for the holiday).

After only a few short minutes of searching (again on Pinterest) I found the cutest and most fun way of displaying Christmas cards on the blog Thyme is Honey by Danielle Bruflodt. Now Danielle's tree was a washi tape card tree. I don't have washi tape (let alone have bothered to look into what it is.. shocking I know). So, I used some ornament garland I got from the $ store. I also used the painted clothes pins from last year's failed card wreath. We don't have a large wall with empty space for such a display so I put it on our card tree on our front closet.

I think it turned out pretty well! I look forward to when the cards start to come in and can be put on display! I'll post another pic once the tree is full.

Letter of the Week(s) Mm & Nn

Well we're back in the swing of regular learning lessons and crafting. At this point we're in the middle of the alphabet and have reached letters Mm and Nn. 

Nest, Numbers, Noodles, and Night

Mountains, mouse, and Monster

Amazingly, I've realized (maybe for the third time) that when I prepare the crafts and have them cut, separated, and in little baggies ready to be assembled, they don't seem to take much time (in comparison to Babycake saying "I wanna make a craft," and then having to wait for me to get it all ready.) So I've started preparing the crafts in the evenings, or during nap time, when Babycake will not see me and immediately want to do one and whine that it's taking too long to get ready.

This has helped me be able to enjoy our crafting and learning sessions so much more again. I can focus on Babycake and talk with her so much more than race against her attention span attempting to get things ready, set, and going.

Getting Big!

Well, Babycake is growing up! At around 18 months of age we began the journey of potty training. The initial experience of that is also what prompted this blog. Over the summer we had a huge regression in her potty training experience, which happens to be normal, but I of course assumed my child would never do that "she's so advanced. she's so amazing." Ah, she's a typical two year old. ;-)

I have never liked using candy to coerce a child to go potty (how are you going to stop giving them candy?) instead I've used and liked the sticker reward method. Babycake loves rewards and stickers- so brilliant! Well after her regression, which was in response to Mommy and Daddy "abandoning" her for a two week vacation, the stickers weren't really working anymore (which was surprising b/c before leaving for vacation she no longer needed the sticker rewards to entice using the potty, she'd go on her own and not even mention it). It was a huge battle for about a month, consisting of a lot of "Mama, potty" while standing there and peeing herself- seriously... just to spite me... Anyway, around the same time Babycake discovered Disney's Frozen. Oh man! I can't think of the last time I went  a whole day without singing a Frozen song at some point. So in my desperation to get Babycake back on board with using the potty, I bought some Frozen stickers. In two days time there was a complete 180.

Now after a month of Frozen stickers, I can say with pride that she is again excelling in the potty area. She rarely has accidents. She can clearly express her need to go. She wakes from naps dry, and tonight we are attempting our first diaper free night. Last night we exchanged her bathroom potty chair for a new toilet seat with child seat option on the real toilet. Hurray for no more potty dumping! Babycake loves that she gets to use the big potty like Mommy and Daddy. It's really not that big of a change since it's what she does when we are out and about, but it makes her happy and feel special.

Besides completing potty training, we also took down her bed railing this month. Babycake sleeps in a toddler bed, but when we switched her out of the crib setting (being enclosed) she couldn't handle the amount of freedom to get out of bed and needed the enclosed feeling to get comfortable and sleep. Since her bed in only about 5-6 inches off the ground, I've never worried about her falling out of bed, just her ability to lay there until she passes out. Since removing the railing we haven't had any falling out of bed experiences, though the second night of having no bed rail, we did check the monitor and saw her head on the bed while the rest of her body was kneeling next to the bed. Five minutes later she had climbed back into bed and was curled up comfy as could be. We don't know if she had woken and climbed in or done it in her sleep. Either way it doesn't matter as she was comfortable enough in knowing where she was that she didn't call for us for help and took care of the situation herself.

Next week we begin our big girl classes at the Y. Again Babycake is participating in Gymnastics Together which she happened to have a blast in this past spring. She will also begin taking Tippy Toe Tutus. I can't believe she is doing all these "big kid" things. It's so awesome to watch her learn and grow. I'm so proud, and yet a the same time my heart hurts a little knowing my baby is no longer a baby, and will never be a baby again. Well!.. Let's get tumbling and dancing!

Colors, Shapes, & Sorting

Well, this house has taken a little break from Letter of the Week. Life is slightly more busy now than our crazy summer so I haven't had (or made) the time to make lessons. Instead Babycake is learning on the go, or in the moment. The first "subject" I remember focusing on for a period of time with Babycake around age one or younger, was colors. She loved how I would point out colors of things we saw around us- where ever we happened to be. It was a bit of a game for us. After a while I started including shapes. "Look, that sign is a yellow triangle," "the store has a big red circle on it," etc.

Since I am taking a hiatus from creating lessons, this game we once so often played has returned. We've even made it into our own "eye spy." "Eye spy with my little eye something that is blue," and she runs to whatever blue thing she can find. Being two years old, it's too difficult to understand that when Mommy says she sees something blue, it is not the same blue object that she happen to see, or even the second or third blue thing. That gets very frustrating and the game is no fun. The whole point of our game is 1) to practice our colors and make sure we understand them 2) a little play interaction for Mommy and Babycake 3) a time for Babycake to be busy doing something and not getting into mischief. Really this game is a huge hit and a great game for when some of our little friends come over. Babycake also enjoys being the spyer, though this version is always played differently depending on the day and her present mood ;-)

Another activity I have been having Babycake do in the evenings (primarily at dinner preparation time) is to sit at the table and sort some foam shapes I found in the dollar section at Target. I love that section. My husband won't let me enter it on my own if he happens to be with me. Thank goodness I usually shop while he's at work! Anyway, The shapes are all different colors. So I'll ask Babycake to put all the green stars together, then once she's done that, all the yellow circles, and so on. This game is very fun and it's difficulty can progress after a few of the tasks have been accomplished. Like once she sorts all the shapes into separate piles, I'll giver her some toddler chopsticks (another $ section find!) and a small bowl. She then is to put each group one by one into to bowl using the chopsticks. When we first started this game a couple months ago she had to use both hands to work the chopsticks. Now she is able to use one hand completely gripping it, and eventually she will be able to properly hold and use the chopsticks. This is such a fun way to learn fine motor skills.

Since Babycake knows her colors, and shapes pretty well, this is also a great game for her to understand adjectives. "Put the blue square in the bowl." If you said put something blue, or put the square in the bowl, she would put the correct object in, but I've noticed that saying 'blue square' is really making her stop and think. She is starting to realize that more than one word can describe something- this thing is a square, it is also blue. Shapes have always just been shapes before, and colors have described anything and everything. This is a whole new concept of speaking/describing. We're moving from "the bird is blue," to "it's a blue bird."

As I'm writing this, I temporarily thought "well that's silly, those sentences are saying the same thing. This really isn't that big of a deal." Wow. Um. No. This is big. Babycake is learning our language and the different ways something can be described. Yes the message is the same in each sentence, but to understand that the message is the same despite word order changing, and a couple of words changing, is a very big step. It's also not simply that she hears what I say, sees what I'm motioning to, and understands the message, but she can now verbalize messages of her own in a similar fashion.

Watching a child learn and grow is so fascinating, exciting, and if you're lucky enough to be a part of it, it's incredibly rewarding.

Time to recoup!

Oh man! This was one busy summer! It was filled with ups and downs, highs and lows, and never seemed to provide a breather. We started the summer season by leaving Babycake for two weeks with my parents while we flew across the pond with my husband's family to Ireland, England, and Whales.

Stonehenge

No we didn't visit Great Britain b/c we visited the part of Ireland that is not part of Great Britain- I learned a lot of history and geography on this trip. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you should seriously watch this video. It's informative and entertaining.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNu8XDBSn10

Wedding prep

So, we got back, had a week to attempt a normal routine again, and then left that weekend to Chicago. I had the honor of being a bridesmaid to one of my best friends while she married a really great guy. She of course looked beautiful and the ceremony was lovely. I just wish I had had more energy instead of still suffering from jet lag, and a toddler who happened to be WAY off her normal schedule and totally regress in her previously completed potty training.

Counting cars at snack time

The next week I went from nannying one toddler two times a week, to the toddler and his two older sisters, who were on summer break, three days a week. These kids are all great. They are kind and fun. Babycake and I had a blast spending our summer with them. We had many trips to the zoo and participated in the library summer reading program too. We got great prizes from the reading program- baseball tickets, state fair tickets, children's museum haunted house tickets, toys, and lots and lots of temporary tattoos.

The only downside I found to having four kids three days a week was that my workout routine suffered... a lot. Summer was not only busy in our daily life events, but my husband's work schedule lengthened as well. I was often left home with Babycake until 7 or 8 in the evening. So, after having 4 kids all day I wasn't interested in driving to the Y to exercise, and on my days off, it still sounded exhausting since I was playing single parent all day. This is not the first time hubby's schedule has become 12 hr shifts, but we had gotten used to having him home by 5 or 6 each night. Last summer it was incredibly frustrating when he worked this late as Babycake would be in bed, or getting ready for bed, by the time he got home. This year, she's so big and stays up until 8 or 8:30! (I'm interested in seeing if this will stick once the sun starts going down earlier and we aren't outside playing as late)

A rose for each year
in our marraige.

This summer my husband and I also celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. To celebrate, hubby got me a new computer since my old one was 4 yrs old, and beginning to turn off at random points while I was still working and battery life showed fine. Each year he also gets me roses- one for each year of our marriage. Somehow I always forget he does this and am surprised and touched by the gesture. He claims he does this so one day he can walk into the flower shop and order 50.

Liverpool FC vs. Olypiacos FC

My gift to him was a day trip to Chicago to watch his favorite football/soccer team Liverpool FC. While we were in England we got to tour Liverpool FC stadium, museum, and training grounds. It happened to be the off season for football/soccer while we were there so there was no chance of seeing any players or going to a game. The day in Liverpool was the best day of my husband's life despite not attending a game. I think this summer will go down in our family history as the best ever since he ended up being present at a game (even if it was an international friendly).

Fishin' at the State Fair!

To end the summer our little family went to the state fair. We ended up doing almost every activity/ sight we did last year, and added a few more. It was fun to look at the almost identical pictures from last year and this year and see how much Babycake has grown! Not only is she obviously bigger, but she was able to understand so much more, and follow instructions from the presenters of activities on her own too. Next year we will probably do the same things again b/c she will not remember and will be able to do more and learn more.

Now that summer has ended and school has begun, our nanny friends are all in school full time. It was sad saying bye to the kiddos, especially the little one since I've been watching him for over a year. Babycake had just turned one when I began watching him and can't remember life without him. She still talks about them everyday and saves seats at the table or couch for them. I think she's confused why they are not with us almost everyday anymore.

Hubby still works late, but I'm now going back to the Y. It's really nice to get back on a more relaxed schedule. Sadly this break is just that, a break. This fall we've got four weddings, a few showers, a trip to Lake MI, and to top it off, I've agreed to begin a business with my aunt. So our summer adventures have ended and our fall ones are on the brink. I'm just grateful for this breather.

Letter Weeks Kk and Ll

As were all the weeks of the summer, weeks Kk and Ll were no different. One exciting thing that did happen during week Kk, was that Babycake's Aunt Kelly came to visit. It was fun to see Babycake try to comprehend a person (or their name) beginning with a letter. I don't think she got it, but she went along with it and got excited b/c we were excited. 

For week Kk, we read books about kites, kangaroos, koalas, kings, and knights. Babycake loved reading about the animals, and most of our kite books involved Curious George so that was exciting. However, she didn't really get what a king was, and talking about a knight, but not night time and bedtime and darkness instead of light really threw her for a loop. It was a little funny to watch the confusion and misunderstanding while I attempted to make sense of it to my two year old. 

Our crafts here (sorry for the bad shot!) coloring a kite, and having Aunt Kelly draw one on a scrap of paper, create a kangaroo from the letter K, and color a K and koala and glue the koala on so it can climb the K.

For letter week Ll, we read books about lions, lambs, lobsters, and lamps. Did you know there aren't many childrens books about lamps? hmmm. Yeah, I just got a book with tons of pictures of different lamps from the regular section of the library. That was interesting enough for a two year old.
Here are our crafts of a lamp. lamb, lobster (this one was really exciting) and a lion (also super exciting to roar all day like a lion).