Getting toward the end of December!

We're getting to the end of December - crazy! I have been having so much fun with Eliana doing holiday things each day, though. Next year I'd really like to do an advent calendar / book or advent tree. I didn't grow up with advent, but I have a few friends who are doing it with their kids this year and I really like the idea. I have a few ideas for making an advent book, but it will take me a while to put it all together, so hopefully I'll get to work on it throughout the year and have it done by next December! We'll see. =D In the meantime, it looks like I'm going to have to start planning our activities out so we get them all in!

December 14 - we sang Christmas carols. I played the piano and sang, and then Ellie and I just sang together. We also listened to carols as we drove around on our errands!

December 15 - Peppernut Day!!

December 16 - Our 9th anniversary - we are going to go out to dinner tonight. Ellie and I are also baking gingerbread snowflakes to use as tags on our gifts this year. =D

December 17 - We read "The Gingerbread Baby" complete with a gingerbread hand puppet that added to the fun!



December 18 - We baked sugar cookies with Erika and Zoe!





December 19 - We might go see Santa at the Children's Museum and have Ellie's picture taken. She knows Santa isn't real, but it might still be fun! We should also take our family Christmas picture this weekend!

December 20 - Sunday before Christmas - Ellie will get to wear her pretty Christmas dress!

December 21 - Leif is home from work this week, so I hope he will take Ellie out to make a snow man!

December 22 - More Ellie and Leif time, I hope they make snow angels or go sledding!

December 23 - Hmmm... Salt Dough Ornaments? Ice ornaments?

December 24 - Leif's Family Christmas in Roundup, Christmas eve dinner of crackers and cheese

December 25 - Christmas!! Christmas morning gifts followed by a plane ride to Texas to see my family!

Snow Cones

When your yard looks like this on April 24:

I am pretty sure this is the best response:

Snowcones! Made with real snow... It's a pretty good way to make a little girl happy!

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. But when Spring gives you snow, make snowcones!

Daily December

This year I am going to do Daily December activities with Eliana. We're going to spend time doing something for the holidays every day, and I'm going to do my best to take pictures and record what we're doing. I made a little Daily December album last month in which to record these memories so that we can look back on the things we did to celebrate Christmas this year.

And wouldn't you know it, but today is December 3 and I haven't yet recorded what we did on the 1st or the 2nd. The good news is that we DID something those days, though! Here's what we did:

December 1 - Drove around the subdivision looking at Christmas lights. It turns out that Eliana is a big fan of decorated houses and calls the houses with lights on them "castles". As in, "WOW! Look at that big castle over there!" It's cute.

December 2 - Eliana and I bought some Christmas books to read this season (including How the Grinch Stole Christmas and S is for Star) and we put up a new little Christmas tree in her room. It doesn't have any ornaments or a star on it yet, but it does have some red garland on it, which she picked out. I hope to use the Christmas tree this year to talk about the symbolism of the different decorations.

And today? Well, we'll have to see what we do today. She has friends coming over this afternoon, so we might bake cookies (in the shape of ginger bread men!) or we might make salt dough ornaments, or we might make cinnamon hard candy (in the shape of ginger bread men!) or we might play in the snow and learn to make snow angels or we might do something entirely different. We'll just have to see how the day goes. =D

Ellie's Handiwork

We did some hand art last week for Thanksgiving. The turkey card is obviously holiday specific, but I really like the thank you cards for any occasion! Plus, Eliana had a great time stamping with her hand! I just gave her a blank sheet of white cardstock and let her go crazy with the stamp pad and her hand, and after she was done I cut the sheet in half, then folded those in half to form two cards and stamped thank you across the front. I think they turned out really cute!

Daily Activity Guide

I am organizing the box of activities I have for Ellie right now, so I figured it might be a good idea to write down what activities work well for each day. Then when I am at a loss for an activity to do I will have a reference guide to look at.

Musical Monday

• Kindermusik (September through December)
• Recorder*
• Piano
• Guitar
• Singing songs and doing motions
• Tapping out rhythms
  

Tactile Tuesday

• Playdough
• Match the Bead sorting game*
• Clip the Square sorting game*
• Shape matching*
• Puzzles
  

Wordy Wednesday

• Alpha spoons*
• Alphabet puzzle*
• Tracing letters on the alphabet placemat*
• Letter puzzles*
• Starfall
• Alphabet coloring pages (print from starfall)
• Puzzle Number Shapes
• Word flashcards*
• Read books
  

Theatrical Thursday

• Children's Museum playgroup
• Dress up
• Puppets
• Little People

Fun Friday

• Tissue Paper Collage*
• Paint
• Coloring pages*

This week in review...

Musical Monday - we played the piano (We would sit together on the piano bench and she told me what songs she wanted me to play (mostly the ABC's) and we'd sing together or she'd sing alone and she "played along" at the high end of the keyboard) and I got out the guitar for her to play with. We did a little bit of guitar playing where I held the chord and she strummed. That was sort of fun, I just have to figure out how to play some children's song on it. Most of the guitar songs I know are praise and worship songs from college.

Tactile Tuesday - I have to admit that I didn't do much with this this week. I had ideas, but she mostly wanted to play the piano and guitar again, so I let her. Maybe next week we'll pull out the playdough or something. Leif did try to teach her somersaults today, so I guess that counts.

Wordy Wednesday - Leif (who is home from work this week) played starfall with Ellie, and we did an alphabet puzzle on the floor. It is a new puzzle for her and it might be above her skill level, but it was good practice at matching up letters.

Theatrical Thursday - I didn't do anything specific with her today, but she spent a good deal of time at the Children's Museum playing with the other kids, including dress up. So I count that as good imaginative play.

Fun Friday - No art projects today, just a couple hours spent at the splash park with the Danielson and Morales kids! She was pretty worn out after that so she actually took a nap today!

"Sand" Art....

I think sand art is a fun idea for a kids project. Unfortunately, it also sounds kind of messy (in the sand-stuck-to-your-foot-all-the-time way, not in the goopy way) and with all the glue and designs and whatnot, probably not the best project for a 2 year old. But then I found this solution from Lazy Mama Designs. She suggests letting kids doodle sand designs on the sticky side of contact paper (if you use clear you can hang it in the window as a sun catcher) and I think that's a BRILLIANT idea! I also think it's a little more toddler friendly as a project. I think I'll vary it, though, for Ellie, because she will undoubtedly eat some of the sand. So... I'm thinking I'll use a little food coloring to color some sugar and let her use that for her sand project. If she eats it, she'll be hyper, but no harm done. And if I'm lucky I'll remember to do this project outside so I can just sweep the deck and be done with cleanup. =D

Need a quick, easy, cheap outdoor activity?

I'm not sure why I didn't think this up on my own, but I saw this idea on parenthacks.com. It's brilliant! When you want an activity for your kiddo outside on a hot day, give him a cup of water and a paintbrush and let him "paint" the house, the driveway, the deck... whatever he fancies! It's cheap, easy, doesn't require any cleanup, and keeps him cool all at the same time!

If you wanted to do something similar inside, this would be a great idea for a chalkboard. I'm in the process of turning Ellie's new easel into a chalkboard and am thinking this is a great activity until she's actually old enough to paint responsibly. Water I can clean up off the floor. Paint, not so easily.

4th of July Project

Isn't this cute?! I'm not sure Eliana is QUITE old enough for the whole project yet, but I think I'm going to try it with her anyway. I just think it's cute and I'm feeling particularly patriotic this year. =D

Rainy Day Fun

Up until a few days ago, we have had a very rainy few weeks! We got all geared up for summer and got Eliana a big inflatable pool for the yard and then it turned dreary out. So to make the best of the situation (and provide a little diversion for indoor play after being cooped up for so long!) here's what we did:

We blew up the pool in the basement!! It's on a mat so it is less likely to get scratched along the floor, and the mat also provides a softer floor for little knees and hands to crawl on in the pool! We didn't, obviously, want to fill the pool with water right there in our basement, so we filled the top section with the next best thing for indoor play:

Balls!! We made Eliana her very own little ball pit! She thinks it's great and played in it all afternoon, affording me a little time to get things done without her whining that we couldn't play outside because it was raining. She had a blast racing the balls down the slide...

... and then retrieving them...

And now that I know we can do this indoors, we have a winter activity just waiting for us once the summer sun is long gone! I'm excited to have another activity to pull out for her and think I'll use that basement corner as a place to rotate activities every week or so once we're inside more due to weather. Plus, it means I can use the pool all year long, which makes it a little more cost effective, and that is nice.

(By the way, if you're going to do this, I highly recommend using a vacuum that can be put on reverse to blow up the pool. I used my Kirby to do that and it still took a good long time, so I can only imagine how long it would have taken if I tried to blow it up myself! Eek!)

Outdoor Activities: Big Bubbles!

We got a couple big bubble wands at the Target $pot a while back and I put them in the 'outdoor activity bucket' while we waited for a sunny day. Well, the sunny days finally came last week, while Ellie's grandparents were in town to visit!

I have to admit, these big bubbles are SO MUCH MORE FUN than blowing regular bubbles! Easy for toddlers to reload and run around with themselves. No constant fear that they're going to dump all the bubble solution all over themselves or try to drink it... No fights because you insist on holding the container while they dip the wand in... Just independence and running around in the back yard! It's great!

Activity Review: White Mud

Do you remember when I said I found that list of toddler activities from the Family Fun website? Well, we tried one of them, so I figure I should let you know how it went! One day last week, while I was sick, I needed an activity that would keep Ellie busy, but wasn't TV. So we made "White Mud."It was fun, really. We sat on the bed and she had fun tearing up a roll of toilet paper and putting it in the bowl. She really likes destroying things right now, so it was fun for her to be ALLOWED to tear something up for once.

Once we had the right amount of toilet paper torn into bits and put in a bowl, I shaved a bar of ivory soap into the tp. If you're not familiar with Ivory soap, it's really soft, so you can just shave it with a regular old table knife, like I did. Easy peasy. Then I added the right amount of water, as per the directions, and mixed away. I didn't really have Ellie help with the mixing part, which was just as well since she was still having so much fun tearing up the rest of a roll of toilet paper.

Even after I mixed everything up, I still felt like it was too soggy, so I squeezed the excess water out of the mixture into the sink. When I got done, this is what our "White Mud" looked like:

It sort of reminds me of cauliflower. Yuck. But it smells like Ivory soap, so that's okay. Now for the real test...

I gave some to Ellie at the kitchen table, though the article recommends using it outside. Since I was sick and wanted to be in bed, outside wasn't really an option for us. At first Ellie wasn't sure what to think of it.

She sort of poked at it a bit before she finally picked some up and started squishing it about. Then it was fun.

She has since asked to play with it a couple times and I am happy to let her. It doesn't require much cleanup, it doesn't stain her clothes, it doesn't get ground into the carpet... really, as far as dough goes, it's great! You can't really make anything with it, other than little snowmen, but she doesn't really care about that right now, so it's great for sensory play!

Sidewalk Chalk

With the nice weather we've been having, Ellie and I have been spending more time outside together. On one such day last week, (Tuesday, I think) we raided the "outside activity bucket" and decided to play with the sidewalk chalk from Ellie's Easter basket. (That's why the chalk is shaped like eggs instead of, well, chalk.)

At first Ellie was more interested in the packaging than the chalk itself, even after I'd shown her what to do with it.

After a while, though, she got into it and drew lots of little lines all over the driveway. Though all she really drew was lines, she told me what each thing "was". She'd draw blue lines and say, "Heart." and draw pink lines and say, "Butterfly." It was precious. She loves to draw and color, so this is a great way for us to get outside and still do the drawing and coloring.

Cookie Time!

On Thursday it was snowing and I just didn't feel like going into town for our playdate at the Children's Museum. I'm so tired of the snow at this point in the year, and I just wasn't in the mood to drive in it. I was just plain in a bad mood. Instead, Ellie and I stayed home, and while she was down for her nap I decided we should do an activity together, since I deprived her of playtime with her friends, just because I was in a foul mood. So I decided that we would make cookies together, for the first time ever.

I started by measuring and setting out all of the ingredients while she was still napping. That way they were ready to go when she woke up, and she could help me dump them into the mixer.

When she woke up from her nap, I went into her room and asked if she wanted to make cookies with me. She seemed to like that idea, so I put an apron on her (it was one of mine, so a little big, but it worked nonetheless. I need to make her one of her own now!) and she was SO HAPPY to be wearing an apron! She stood in front of the mirror and said, "Cuuute!" so many times. Then we headed out to the kitchen for some baking.

Ellie had a great time dumping all of the ingredients into the mixer, and she did a good job with it, too. Very little got spilled, though she did snitch a little of the sugar! Silly girl!

Once everything was mixed, I scooped the dough up with my little cookie dough dropper (which is a lot like a mini ice cream scoop) and Ellie would hold onto the handle and say, "SQUEEZE!" and squeeze it as hard as she could. Of course, she couldn't actually squeeze the dough out because her hands are too little, but I was also holding on and could do the squeezing in such a way that she thought she was doing it. She didn't try to interrupt me while I was reloading, or get in the way, she just seemed happy to know that the reloading was my job and the squeezing was hers. And she was delighted to have a job.

Once the dough was on the cookie sheets, I put them into the oven and turned on the light, and she stood there and watched them bake. I was shocked that she stayed focused on the project from start to finish, but she did! This was her project and she was very excited about it.

Of course, once the cookies were out of the oven and cooled, we sat at the table and each had one. What a great time to spend together!

Activities for Toddlers

As summer is approaching (at least in the rest of the northern hemisphere... I have my doubts here in Montana!) it's time to start thinking about outdoor activities that will both encourage curiosity and learning and delight the senses. I found this article on the Family Fun website with ideas for outdoor toddler activities. A lot of them look really neat and I'm hoping to give them a try! There are a few that stand out right away as things that appeal to Ellie's interests right now, like the colored salt shaker art. She loves to shake out the parmesan cheese at the pizza place! So I'll give them a try and report back. If any of you try them out, too, I'd love to hear how it went!

Filling the Activity Tote

I made Ellie an activity tote to help give me ideas and diversity in the activities we do each day. So often I want to do something with her other than just letting her watch a Baby Einstein or Blue's Clues, but I just can't think of any ideas. When I reach that point now, I reach for the activity tote. It has helped so much! Inside the little pink tote we have...


Little popsicle stick puppets. When Erika and I were at Hobby Lobby in Billings we found these cute little felted wood shapes. They were around 50 cents each, so I bought a bunch and glued them to tongue depressors for Ellie to play with. She really likes them. She usually puts one in each hand and plays with them, making them "walk" (aka hop) around on the table. I ask her things like what each of the animals say and stuff like that. I have a set of jungle animals and a set of farm stuff. Someday I hope to be able to make a felt board backdrop for puppet plays, but I haven't gotten around to that yet.


But I have made her a felt board and a few felt shapes to play with, and that's the next thing in our activity tote. It folds up, but then can stand up or lay down on the table for her to play on. She hasn't played too much with it yet, but I hope to get a few more shapes made that are a little more up her alley. Probably more animals, and perhaps a head she can put eyes, nose, mouth, ears, hair, etc. on.


You've already heard me talk about the wonders of Color Wonder markers, paper, and paints, so you shouldn't be surprised to see those in here.


And of course we have to have the traditional coloring books, crayons, and colored pencils, too.


I also have some foam stamps and stamp pads in the activity tote, for those days I'm feeling particularly brave. =D It occurs to me that I don't have any paper in here for her to stamp on, though, so I might have to remedy that. I think I was planning to have her stamp on cardstock so I could make cards with her creations, sort of like I was planning with the Color Wonder creations. I want to foster a spirit of giving and thankfulness in her, so having her make pictures FOR other people, and then using them as a way to say thank you for gifts, etc. is, I think, a good way to emphasize that, even as young as she is.

So there you have it. Our activity tote. It really has been helpful when she is restless in the afternoon and I am trying to get dinner going and we just need a little activity. She usually sits at the kitchen table so I can interact with her and still get dinner made. And it isn't TV.

(I should add that these are all INSIDE activities. I have a different solution for OUTSIDE activities that I'll share later.)

Planting seeds...

On Friday I decided to plant a few seeds since it looks like Spring is finally here. A while back I picked up a few things at the Target $pot for such a day as this and these are one of the things I got:

I thought perhaps Ellie might be interested in the little pots and it was an activity we could do together. It was quick, easy, and we could watch them grow together before we transplant them in the garden for summer.

The little pots came with a soil pellet (which Ellie dropped into the water so it could rehydrate) and a packet of seeds. Once the soil was rehydrated, Ellie helped me scoop it into the little pots. We did it in the sink to minimize the mess, and it worked really well!

After the pots were full of soil, we counted out five seeds for each. She helped me squish the seeds down into the soil, though she didn't seem to like getting her fingers dirty. It didn't take long to plant the seeds, so it was the perfect activity for her short attention span. Now the little pots are in the window sill and we're waiting for them to grow. As soon as they sprout I'm planning on having her help me water them with her little bitty watering can. She helped me water the outside plants today, so I think it will be a good job for her. =D