Cherish it.

The husband and I were busy doing things around the house. I was cleaning. organizing clothes, and making dinner. The husband was building a new desk.  I could hear myself say "Watch out Rea.  Don't touch that Rea. Get away from the stove Rea." Likewise, husband was saying "Don't touch Rea. Put that down Rea."  Poor baby just wanted to be with us, but we were too busy doing what we thought was important.  She walked back and forth between the kitchen and the living room trying to be involved in what we were doing.

It was then that I heard the husband say "Do you want to help?"  

"Uh huh." said Rea.

I stopped what I was doing so I could listen to husband explain to Rea what she could help with.  I heard him say things like "Hold these.  Hand me one.  Not two, just one. This is a hammer. This is how you use it. Do you want to try? Good job. Which piece says F? Can you hand it to me?"

She excitedly ran to the kitchen to show me what she and daddy were doing. She was so proud of herself!

It is moments like this that I love.  Having Daddy explain to her what a hammer is and how to use it seems like  such a small thing to us, but to a 21 month old it's huge!  It's was one of those times when God was saying "Slow down. Be with her. Teach her. Encourage her. This won't last. Cherish it."

Cheep, educational (and fun) toys!

As I've said in earlier posts Rea (21 months) has grown tired of her plastic, light up, sound making toys (and so have I).  So I've been trying to find new options.  Here are some of our favorites....

Dyed pasta: free. I used what I could find in the pantry. 

Colored ice cubes: free. I didn't have ice cube trays, so I used whatever 

I could find; Tupperware, small bowls, etc.

Colored gems: $3 at Walmart. Rea liked taking them out of the baggie.

Large buttons: $3.50 at United Art and Education. Great for learning colors, shapes, 

sorting, fine motor skills by threading on pipe cleaners.

Black-eyed peas: $1.50 at Dollar Store.  Rea loves to scoop, dump, and shake.

Red and blue color bins: free.  Found objects around the house.

A free classic! Baking soda mixed in warm soapy water.

 Put in different size cups, add food coloring and squirt in vinegar.

Homemade "aqua doodle" made with hair gel: $2.50 at Target. 

Squirt into a gallon baggie, add food coloring.

Water beads/Orbeez: $6 at Kroger for a box of 3 different colors. 

 Each box has 900 beads. Soak in water for 3 hours. Rea's favorite by far! 

(note: they are non toxic in small quantities :)

                                      

Another free classic: Homemade play-dough. We Goggled a recipe. 

Sensory balloons: $1 at Target. Fill pairs of balloons with things like rice, macaroni, oatmeal, sugar, flour, water/cornstarch, cheerios. Great for matching by touch instead of by sight. 

(Balloons usually come in packs of 15.  Throw the extra one in your diaper bag for an easy distraction on the go.) 

Rocks: free.  Throw into a nearby Great Lake. 

Earthworm: free. Rea did not appreciate the educational values of this one ;) 

Sensory Table

Last week I decided to build a sensory table.  The husband had been aching for a train table, but I wanted a light table, so I compromised.

We had a hollow core door that had been sitting around for months.  It had been a desk for the husband (laid across two filing cabinets) but he upgraded to an actual desk. I kept trying to think of ways to recycle it...maybe an art station or a chalkboard?  An idea came to me....

Inset sensory bins on the left, train table in the middle, light panel on the right, toy storage underneath. 

I plunge cut the holes for the light panel and sensory bins.  I just cut through the top layer of the door, then cut out the ribbing inside.  I attached corner molding for the plexi to sit on. I used rope light because it was affordable, safe, and easy.  I've seen others use florescent lights, but I thought it would be too bright.  The florescent lights give a better glow then the rope light, but I think the rope light works just fine. I covered the lights with some clear plexi backed with a frosted shelf liner to diffuse the light.  You could use white plexi, but you need to buy it from a specialty shop.  The big box stores don't carry it. I painted the table with white latex enamel- very easy to clean.  I found the bins at Walmart. They come in different heights and widths. I took Rea with me to see what height would work best for her.  I drilled holes in the storage bins and attached them with zip ties, and used Velcro to attach the table top to the bins. I also caulked around the plexi to make it water proof. 

This cost $150.  It adds up quick! I only meant to spend $30 because I already had the door and an old coffee table base (but we really needed the extra storage, so I bought storage bins).  The bins alone cost $70. Paint $10, lights $20, plexi $10.  Hollow core doors are $25 for a 2'x7' door and they go up from there. 

Sensory bins...colored pasta with foam numbers and green rice with safari animals and scoops. 

Light panel with Easter grass and a plastic egg on top. 

Geo Trax Train.

Storage bins.  I'm going to put pictures of what goes in each bin on the front.

Playing with the sensory bins!

Having fun on the light panel!

Some things I've learned about sensory bins.

I stumbled across these things called "sensory bins" a few days ago.  For those of you who aren't familiar with what a sensory bin is- it's basically a plastic bin filled with rice, beans, pasta, cotton balls, etc. with some basic items like funnels, measuring cups, small plastic toys, anything really. The point is to engage your child's senses, sight, sound, touch, smell (this one's kind of hard), taste (they will put things in their mouth, or up their nose for that matter, so always supervise).

I realized after my first week as a stay at home mom that Rea's toys are just not cutting it. She would stand at her toy closet trying to decide on which toy to play with for the one hundredth time that day, and not be able to decide.  She was getting bored (and so was I) of playing with the light up, noise making toys that entertained her as in infant (she is now 20 months).

I had some spiral pasta, food coloring, and rubbing alcohol in the house already so I decided to dye some pasta and put it in a plastic container. I put the pasta in baggies, added about 1/4 cup alcohol, some food coloring, zipped up the baggies and let them marinate until I was happy with the saturation. Then I cut the corner off of the baggies, let the liquid drain, and laid out the pasta on parchment cover baking sheets until they dried. The entire project start to finish took maybe 90 minutes. Rea loved it! She played with it for an hour.  Here is what it looked like....

                                     Note: the alcohol dried quickly but the pasta still smells like it.

       The next day I went to the Dollar Store to pick up some supplies. I made her a black eyed peas bin...

She loved scooping the peas and dumping them in the tray.  She also loved looking at them (and my mouth) with the magnifying glass.

Last night I dyed some white rice.  I was out of alcohol so I used some white vinegar.  I mixed 1/2 cup vinegar, 40 oz. rice, and the rest of the green, blue, and yellow food coloring that I had.

I spread it out on baking sheets to dry.  The vinegar and rice took a lot longer to dry then the pasta and alcohol did.  I would stir it around with a spoon to keep the air flowing.

It took about 3 1/2 hours to dry completely, but it does not smell like vinegar.  I then put it in a bin and added some bugs, magnifying glass, and an Easter egg filled with rice.

I thought it was cute!  Rea did not think so.  She was so excited this morning when I got the bin out, but once she saw what was inside she backed away.  I thought she would love the bugs!  After I took all of the bugs out and showed her they were just plastic toys she picked up each one and let me hide it under the rice. After shaking the egg and playing with the magnifying glass, she put the lid back on the bin and said "bye bye bugs!" Oh well.... I had fun making it.

The bug box cost about $8 for everything in the picture.  I bought two bins. One to keep the supplies in, the other I use for the sensory bin.  When we are done playing I put the things in the sensory bin back in the storage bin and can then make a different sensory bin.

Visit Play At Home Mom for more fun play ideas!

little bit crunchy, little bit rock n roll

A few days ago my Facebook status said "Any crunchy moms have a good cold remedy?" Since I have become a stay at home mom, I've been trying to get crunchier.

If you know me, you know that I often confuse my words.  I have inherited this from my mother. My Dad often asks my Mom if she has her green card yet because of how often she gets common phrases wrong. This phenomenon did not happen to me until I reached adulthood. Since I have gotten married and become a mother it has only gotten worse.  So, when my husband saw my Facebook post he asked "what did you mean to say?" When I told him I actually meant to say "crunchy," he looked very puzzled. I explained to him what crunchy meant....

Here is urbandictionary.com's definition of crunchy mama

Mother who supports homebirth, breastfeeding, baby wearing, cloth diapering, co-sleeping, gentle discipline, etc. One who questions established medical authority; tends to be vegetarian and/or prepare all-organic foods. See crunchy and hippie. That crunchy mama is breastfeeding in public again!

LOL. My husband used to get embarrassed when I would walk around Target breastfeeding our daughter :)

I am by no means a die hard crunchy mama.  I just want to make the most informed, educated decisions for my children. I want to do what I feel is best for them. Isn't that our job as moms? 

I know what you are thinking... I'm a tree hugging liberal.  (Yes, I do have a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in theatrical design, technology, and stage management, with a concentration is technical direction) But I think most of my friends would describe me as a "Conservative Christian." And that is fine with me. 

Even though my daughter is almost two, I have just recently had the opportunity to become a stay at home mom. My husband stayed home with her until now. It was not our plan for him to stay home while I worked after she was born, but we all know what God thinks about our plans. This is a story of my journey to figure out this whole "stay at home mom" thing.