Logan's bow-tique

Pretend play has recently become something that my little guy loves. It all started when he watched "Minnie's Bow-tique" on Disney channel. I'm not sure what it was about about this movie that spoke to him, but suddenly, he has been reenacting the scenes from the show. He sings the songs in his "Minnie voice" (which is very high pitched). He loves pretending that certain areas of the house are his bow-tique. He drags many of his stuffed Mickeys and other stuffed friends down the hall to sell them bows. Of course, I am his favorite customer. Our two unsuspecting cats are also enlisted to play too.

When I was young, my middle sister and I would spend many hours playing these detailed games that went on for days. It is amazing to suddenly watch the beginnings of a love for pretend play develop in Logan. In  an effort to encourage this, I am thinking that I may try to set up a little center that changes every week or every few weeks. Currently, he doesn't seem to need much in ways of encouragement, but perhaps a few things here or there will help him to stretch his imagination even more. I'll be sure to post a follow up if it is a success. For now though, it is sure cute to watch Logan try and put a "glow bow" onto of my cat's head.

Things to do with a roll of tape #1

It was another gray, rainy day around these parts. Cabin fever has struck us hard. I didn't want the peanut to watch more television, and he was acting sick of all his toys. I searched my cabinets for something that would keep him occupied. I came back with a roll of masking tape. In a matter of minutes, I had created this on my floor. (Sorry for the poor contrast in this pic. I have beige-ish rugs which seems to blend right in with the beige tape. Side note: If you chose to do something like this activity, painter's tape would probably be a better idea for hardwood floors).

Logan has known many of his shapes for about a year now. But I like to have a frequent review so that he can keep them fresh in his mind. If I had been adventurous, I would have worked on ones he does not have down solidly, like octagon and pentagon, but I didn't think I would be successful creating these with the tape.

We did a few things with this set up. I called out things like, "hop to the triangle" or "crawl to the square." This was a great way to get out some pent up energy. We also had him move his Little people to a certain shape. Eventually, once the novelty of this activity wore off, he transferred into pretend play with his Little people and farm house. Each shape became a pen for different animals, and the farmer went around feeding the animals. He had a blast!

Have you ever used a roll of tape to keep your kids busy? Get some out today and try it!

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Springing into Spring

Here are some of the fun activities that I hope to accomplish with the little one with spring. Some are from old lists. Others are new. But they all offer an opportunity for a bunch of fun. (Completed items are in italics).

1. Have a picnic outside
2. Look through a telescope (Logan has been loving outer space lately).
3. Visit the nature center
4. Go to the zoo
5. Meet some baby farm animals
6. Visit 3 new playgrounds 2 out of 3
7. Take pictures with the Easter Bunny
8. Go on an Easter egg hunt
9. Visit tall ships
10. Walk around down town
11. Paint a bird house
12. Make bird treats
13. Plant a vegetable garden
14. Plant sunflowers
15. Visit a new children's museum
16. Feed the ducks
17. Eat an ice cream cone (with sprinkles)!
18. Go strawberry picking
19. Decorate Easter eggs
20. Go on a trip
21. Celebrate W's tenth birthday
22. Read at least 50 books
23. Create play centers that change every few weeks
24. Make really big bubbles
25. Paint outside
26. Fly a kite
27. Play outside in the rain
28. Plant strawberries

What are your plans for spring? I'm always interested in adding more to our list!

Edited: I stumbled across Little Wonders' Day. She likes to make bucket lists, and will be hosting a summer bucket list party. Go check her out! 

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My first attempt at learning how to coupon

If you remember from my New Year's resolutions, one thing I wanted to attempt to do is learn to live more frugally. One of the ways that I am trying to do this is by learning how to use coupons. We live near a CVS. I never shopped there, until I started looking into couponing. I was blown away with the fact that people were spending hardly anything and getting loads of goodies. So, I figured I'd give it a whirl. I used some coupons and Extra Care Bucks (which can essentially be used to buy stuff on a future trip) that I already had. This was my first buy.

I paid a total of eight dollars out of pocket, BUT I received five dollars in Extra Care Bucks back. This brings down the actual total to THREE dollars! Considering that the Dove body wash is usually around six dollars alone, this is not too bad!

P.S. Would you check out one of my kitties, Scout, in the background? I don't know if those of you who own cats have the same issue, but my cats are always sooooo nosy about everything I bring home. They rub against my shopping bags, and they have to smell every new smell that they possibly can. It's really cute!

We are ready for Spring

Over here, we are so looking forward to spring time. Despite the cold temperatures, we have been trying to go outside everyday. We like to inspect our flowers to see how much they have grown. We lay down on the grass and let the new blades tickle our hands. The breeze brushes by our cheeks as we swing on the swings. We find left over acorns and make a pile of them for the family of squirrels that live nearby. Stray sticks become drumstick or microphones. Our nature bucket is filled with small rocks that are extra sparkly or slightly pink. We are ready for warm temperatures. Come on, Spring!

The Last Snow?

Today we woke up to a bit of snow on the ground. For the area we live in, it is unusual for this time of year. We've had a hard winter, and everyone is sick of snow at this point. Well......almost everyone.

I had one happy little camper this morning, when he looked out the window. He wanted to go out and play immediately. But we had tumbling class. I knew this was the type of snow that wouldn't stick aroud. So I promised him that after class, we would go out if there was still snow.

There was just enough for throwing a couple of snowballs and making lots of footprints. Of course, there was still plenty to eat. In the kiddo's book, that is the most important thing.

Rainy day activity: Making colored pasta

The past couple of days, Logan has been getting in some of his two year old molars. He hasn't been sleeping well at night, and he hasn't really been napping during the day. Around four every afternoon, he starts to get overtired. Sometimes he gets a bit grumpy; other times he gets extremely hyper.

So I decided to do this project with him to keep him entertained and to stop him from trying to throw his toys down the stairs for the fifth time. I googled "how to dye pasta" and a million websites came up. Everyone of them has the same basic idea. Gather your ingredients. (The rubbing alcohol is not shown, because I was too lazy to go get it. I used the hand sanitizer by the sink instead).

Would you look at this kid? He has no idea what we will be doing, but he can tell it is going to be awesome!

In each plastic baggie, put a couple of drops of food coloring and a couple squirts of hand sanitizer. If you have a kid that might be tempted to sample some of the pasta, you might want to forgo the activity. Or not add the sanitizer. If you chose to add nothing, the dye will come off on the child's hands if they get at all wet. I have also seen versions that use vinegar, so that might be another alternative. Add some pasta and seal the bag. Hand it over to the kiddo to shake to their heart's content.

Next put it on a pan with paper towel over it to dry. The hand sanitizer version dried pretty quickly for me. I believe it was about a half an hour. Then repeat to make as many colors as you so desire.

Finally once it was dry I put it into Logan's sensory bin and let him play with it for a while. Remember, this type of stuff needs to be supervised play. Even while I am supervising, Logan tries to sometimes dump the whole thing out! I actually have another idea for this alphabet pasta, so stay tuned for another post in the future.

This was SIMPLE and fun. I imagine it would work just as well for rice. It lasted just enough time to keep the peanut occupied until dinner time and even for a little while after. I think I might love this small, colorful, alphabet pasta.

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