Excellence in S’s and Zs!
When we were on vacation in Florida, the Boogedy convinced his dad that we ALL needed pink sparkle toes, or “toe-ees” as he says.
The funniest part is that I put a topcoat on, and Zach COULD NOT get it off, even with nail polish remover. He got teased on the beach by his old beach buddies!
Here’s a sweet beach photo. You’ll have to imagine the sparkle toe-ees that made them:
The other night we went to an outdoor concert in Seaside. The Boogedy is still singing “Put your hands up!!”.
Today the sky was grey and the water kind of choppy, but he insisted on swimming anyway!
We’re staying in Rosemary Beach, Florida at the moment. We’ve driven west up Scenic Highway 30A so that I could find a coffee shop with wireless, just to post some pictures for you! Tonight we’re at Sundog Books in Seaside. This town is just gorgeous! Can’t write too much though, as the Boogedy is just about sick of jumping off their overstuffed ottoman onto the couch.
A few days ago I went to the dollar store with Cindy. I saw lots of cheapy kitchen gadgets, but these tongs were the best. The spring was very easy to operate, good for little hands. The tips are silicone, so it’s easy to pick up little things.
This bean game has been popular for hours each day (empty! full! little beans!).
Scoops work too…
I read too many blogs by talented stay-at-home-moms and homeschoolers. Too many great, colorful photos of kids painting, coloring, using glitter and glue, and learning and exploring in new and interesting ways. It gets me down. I never seem to have enough time or energy at the end of my work day to think up new things, or collect “ingredients”, or frankly, deal with paint all over the furniture or sidewalk.
Instead, we fall back on familiar bike rides to the park to throw rocks in the river, read books in bed, cook together, and do all kinds of fun, wonderful things that I hope will instill happy memories for my boy, and not just me as his mommy.
If I ignore blogs altogether, I think of myself as a good mother who adores her little boy, talks to him nonstop, works with him on sign language, and helps him explore all kinds of new foods (hence a toddler who loves potato masala, spicy pickled carrots at the taco stand, all the raw veggies at the salad bar, crushed coriander seeds, and sesame-crusted salmon).
But I’ll admit that it’s hard for me to think of age-appropriate learning activities. Even when I find ideas that use “items you have around the house”, I don’t usually have those things (I’d have to specially purchase milk in a carton, or cereal in a box, or glue sticks).
So when I hit upon this idea last week, it was perfect for us. I’m sure it was inspired by the blogs I read, but I don’t remember seeing it exactly. Zach and I went around the house finding small items that would fit into a muffin tin. Two of each thing. We put one into the tin and one into a small bowl. Then we asked the Boogedy to put the mates together. It was a hit for three games, then I moved everything to a new spot in the tin. He had such a hard time finding each thing after it was in a new location. He LOVED naming each item as we went: Bah-bee pin! Yeyow Dog! Guitah pick! Yittle spoon!!
I just ordered a book called “The Toddler Busy Book.” I checked it out once from the library and found it to be full of good info. Here’s hoping I’m inspired rather than overwhelmed.
Do you have this kind of mom-guilt, like you’re not doing enough? What do you do about it?
Zach would like me to title this post: “Two and a quarter years after giving birth, Sara feels ready to hitch up the baby and ride”. Last Friday, I decided that I could take the burden from Zach, the Boogedy’s usual bicycle chauffer, and hitch the trailer to my bike frame to go for a 2-mile ride. It was easy. Piece of Cake. Of course, it was a fairly flat trail along the Jordan River. But now I’m sure I’ll be asked to do it more often.
I have carried the Boogedy in a maya wrap, a sling, dangling in a carseat, in my arms, in a backpack, on my hip, or on my shoulders for a large portion of his waking hours. I have done this even while pushing his stroller or a laden grocery cart because I have a snuggly boy who prefers to “HUGGY”.
Last week I gave my stripy red sling to a friend who just had her baby. As I was demonstrating it with the Boogedy, I was pleased to feel my toddler relax and curve against me again (we haven’t used the sling since last autumn). It was a bittersweet moment when I kissed my heavy baby’s big head, which used to tuck under my chin, and I realized that pretty soon, I won’t want to carry him anymore, and after that comes something worse: he won’t want me to carry him. Then I sighed and put him down, and helped my friend negotiate the wrapping and tucking of her 7.5-p0und treasure, whose head will someday bump against her cheek.
Zach found this awesome little sink and stove play station on the curb on the east side. He brought it home and washed it up, good as new! We got some little pots and pans (a steamer basket!? so cool) and a set of mini silverware at IKEA. We showed the Boogedy how to cook his veggies in the steamer (putta-yid-on!) and saute them on the burner (shake-um shake-um!). We “washed” our hands in the little sink. This toy is wonderful. It even has a little shelf for “cookbooks” under the sink, currently it holds his favorite cardboard books. Thank you anonymous neighbor who put this toy outside for free!
The Boogedy has gotten really into helping me cook lately, and my mom is planning to make him his own little apron. I love having a little guy.
My mom has such a way with toddlers. At the end of a long spring break, when I didn’t know what to do next to keep the Boogedy occupied, mom announced that they were going for a walk around her apartment complex to look for rocks to put in the “rock bag”.
“Rock Bag Rock Bag!” the Boogedy repeated excitedly to himself.
They searched for the best rocks:
They put ‘em in the Rock Bag (!):
Then, we came home and she gave him a bowl of soapy water and a scrub brush to wash the rocks.
After the rocks were toweled and put on display in a plastic bin, I realized that the rock game occupied him for more than an hour! What a smart grandma!
It’s Spring Break for me and so Zach is using this opportunity to completely sand and refinish the hard wood floors downstairs. Here is a photo of him looking exhausted only 3 days into his labors, and a sneak peek of the floors, now sanded and puttied:
The good news is that I get to stay at my parent’s house and they get to have some quality time with the Boogedy. Here is my dad getting fed rice cracker snacks…this is the only time I’ve ever seen my father willingly eat peanuts:
My mom went outside and found a little friend for the Boogedy to examine:
And every night we get to sleep under the most glorious quilts ever made. This one is called Venetian Tiles my sister Jeaka made:
I topped that one with a coordinating “Woodland” throw my sister Marian made:
As the Boogedy says, “PECKY BOO!!”
The Boogedy’s 2nd birthday was actually in February, but the house was in shambles under construction, so we opted to wait and hold the party once the house was decent again. It was part birthday, part grand re-opening of the house party. The theme was snakes and frogs, inspired by this great hat I made for the Boogedy and a cute froggy invitation we sent to everyone.
Here is the awesome coral snake I made using two chocolate bundt cakes and cream cheese frosting. This was ideal for our family, most of whom do not care much for frosting. The dark sections are unfrosted. This snake is enjoying his frog dinner.
We played a great balloon stomping game where everyone tied a small balloon to their ankle and took off their shoes. Then, they tried to pop everyone else’s balloon while keeping their own balloon safe. The last person to remain unpopped is the winner. This was really fun, but the little kids in attendance were a bit overwhelmed.
Then, we played pin the fly on the frog, using a frog face modeled on the invitation we’d sent out and using hand-drawn flies.
We had visited the wine store the day before and picked out wines based on their labels (the wine specialists on-site do not approve of picking wine by our criteria). Here were some of the possibilities:
We couldn’t find any with snakes on the label! Lots of bicycles and kangaroos. Lots of estates and abstract color blocks. Lots of hoofed animals. But no snakes. So we went with the Nathanson Creek because they had white and red wines for a good price.
We put out some decorations:
And I made a baked potato bar with lots and lots of toppings. About halfway through the evening, Zach lit a bonfire in the backyard firepit and sent someone to the store for s’mores fixins. The weather was just right for sitting outside at night, just nippy enough to appreciate a fire.
It was the nicest (and biggest) party we’ve ever held, and the Boogedy received so many adorable presents. Thanks everybody!!
