What child doesn't love to pretend play? Honestly, the best thing I ever did was move my girls' wooden toy oven in the room right next to our kitchen. It's loaded with wooden fruits and veggie, utensils, pots & pans and mini oven mitts (of course). It has saved many of my dinners from becoming disasters by being the best distraction for Clara. Plan Toys has got to have the best array of wooden toys and that little grocery cart might be coming home with me.
Well, we just made Easter eggs and I thought I'd write a mini-post about them because they turned out better than I had imagined and we had so much fun making them. We started with hard-boiled eggs (of course) and opened the package of traditional egg coloring tablets that you can buy. We added a tablespoon of olive oil (though I'm sure any oil will do) to the colored water bath. The oil makes a beautiful marbled pattern on the eggs. Ms. Bean dipped the eggs into several colors to see what would happen. That was the best part -- the element of surprise! I think they're almost too beautiful to hide in the yard now...*wink*
Ms. Bean brought this fantastic toothpick and marshmallow sculpture home from school a couple of weeks ago and I just loved it's organic shape. It's a fun and easy project that can be done at home with a bag of marshmallows and a box of toothpicks. Any shape, size or structure is aloud -- creativity at it's best! Unfortunately, because of it's edible nature, the one pictured to the right was nibbled on until it's structural integrity broke down (we had to bid farewell to it). So, the one on the left was a replacement model that we made at home. Obviously, there should be an age requirement due to the sharp toothpicks -- so I will defer to you to make the call as to whether it's age appropriate for your child. Instructions are simple: connect the toothpicks to the marshmallows to build the structure of your child's imagination.
Over the last couple of years, we've created several crazy charts to inspire Ms. Bean to accomplish various things...potty training, teeth brushing or sleeping in her own bed. You name it and we have probably charted it! And it works! So when I saw my friend Jana's chart that she illustrated for her daughter, I loved it! A picture to inspire the task is a great idea and something that you could do together. When Britta has accumulated 20 stickers or stamps, she gets to choose a reward. (Jana's got some great crafty projects and I'm trying to convince her to share a few of them with KidsHaus someday).
Because it's winter and there's a major decline in outdoor activities, it can be a recipe for hyper or bored children. I've got a secret weapon and 9 times out of 10 it works like a charm...kids yoga! Before you imagine me instructing my daughter how to do downward dog, I'm happy to report that GAIAM has produced several well-made kids' yoga DVDs that keep my daughter utterly entranced. We even bought her a yoga mat. Let me tell you how cute and satisfying it is to see your child doing yoga -- there's something about it.
I recently purchased this Laptop Lunch Bento Box for Ms. Bean to take to school. I was becoming alarmed at how many plastic baggies we were going through and I was feeling guilty each time I had to throw one away. I could have washed them out but, seriously, one has to prioritize and the baggy just didn't make the cut. I was pleasantly surprised at how well this little box went over with Ms. Bean. It might be the teeny little container that can hold an Andes mint but I really think there was something about the separate, brightly colored containers that perked her interest. For the first time, she's having fun helping me make her lunch in the morning. She likes to make sure each container has something in it and, to my surprise, she's been eating everything.
On a whim, about 6 weeks ago, I splurged on these Ugg Boo Baby Booties for the Mini. The weather was starting to turn and finding a matching pair of socks every morning was starting to wear on me. Hands down, these have become the best $50 I've spent in a long time. The mini wears them every day and even she asks to put them on, "boo" -- I even use them as slippers in the morning. They're incredibly easy to slip on and slip off her tiny feet (bonus: no socks necessary!). Plus, there's nothing better than soft, warm baby feet after they've been toasting in a woolly booty.
