Point + Shoot–Water Play

Water + Paint Brush + Warm Weather = Toddler Fun!

It was early on Sunday morning and Pebble as keen to get outside with Daddy, who was getting ready for some hard work. The weather was just warming up, slowly making it’s way to a top of 31 degrees. As you can see, it was perfect weather for party shoes and that ever present tutu! I just shrug my shoulders and say, sure kid, knock yourself out! If wearing a tutu keeps her happy, then I’m happy.

We used a teeny tiny bucket of water to paint stripes, spots, and shapes, then to make little “puddles” for jumping in. Then Pebble discovered the nearby garden bed filled with wonderful, filthy dirt! She dipped the wet brush into the dirt and was amazed to see the dirt stuck to the brush. Daddy suggested that she rinse the brush in the bucket….. she was delighted to see the dirt wash away and that became the game for the next few moments.

More fun was found in rinsing out the dirty water and replacing it with clean water. I tipped the dirty water into the edge of the garden, where Pebble found another muddy puddle to poke the brush, as well as a down pipe to explore.

These are the corners of our garden that I never pay attention to. I would never have noticed that perfect little spot, right on the edge of the lawn, that was just waiting to be made into a muddy puddle. In fact, I had never noticed that the down pipe was chipped … how did that happen?

Thank you Pebble, for opening my eyes up to a whole new world, right outside our back door.

You can join in with Point + Shoot at Lou’s place.

Point + Shoot: Boo

Yesterday Pebble and I hung out at my dad’s place. That’s Grandad and Nana ‘Nette to you. Her cousins invited her to play Hide and Seek. It’s her favourite game. Still, she needed a little persuading. The poor kid was in a mood, perhaps just tired, maybe teeth, maybe she had her period. Who knows? Still, she joined in eventually. It was her turn to hide. The cousins counted as she dashed inside and found her hiding place. Are you ready? Here it is:

I love how pleased with herself she looks.

Just to be clear, we were all outside in the courtyard, where the cousins were counting. Pebble was hiding behind the screen door. The glass screen door. Which is made of GLASS.

Her eldest cousin, age 6, was so perplexed by this hiding spot that he walked right up to her, stared at her, then walked away. This only made Pebble grin wider, as she thought she’d found the BEST hiding spot EVER! She was invisible!

I’m playing Point + Shoot with Sunny + Scout. Make sure you go and see what others are Pointing + Shooting too. Lou has an AMAZING peacock photo this week. Such a clever lady.

30 Second Craft

Get one dolly peg.

Shove some tissue paper in it’s crack.

Draw a smiley face on it’s head.

Play.

Bagged

Pebble received a little gift last week. Her Nana ‘Nette made her a library bag, made to just the right size so that Pebble can carry it over her shoulder all by herself.

Pebble has been loving her new toy and today we toddled around the house pretending to be at the shops. She bought some ‘nana’, ‘beetbix’, corn, ‘muk’, and ‘bed’ (banana, weetbix, corn, milk and bread). She put her groceries in the bag and paid the ‘yadee’ (lady) with money and then repeated it all again. And again. And again.

Thank goodness she understands and follows the “just one more” law. Last one. Just one more. I love me some play time but that kid can keep going and going and going.

Playing Cubbies

It’s freezing outside today and I’ve been instructed by the docs to keep my very active toddler as inactive as possible. Yeah right! To try and help myself as much as possible I helped Pebble make a cubby house. She has made her own cubby before by hiding under bed sheets or in the clothes horse, but this was on another level.

We pulled all the cushions off the couch, grabbed a couple of dining chairs and blankets and created our little hidey hole. Of course Pebble demanded that I get in there with her. It was a tight squeeze, but the two of us, plus a couple of Tombliboos, made it in there. Next Pebble went in and out of the cubby finding other mates to join in. She found the rest of her Night Garden gang plus one of her favourite rubber duckies, and a cushion.

We pretended to have naps and wake up, sleep, wake up, sleep, wake up….. it never ceases to amaze me just how long a toddler can do the same thing for, over and over and over.

Cubbies are a great winter weather activity and so creative, you can pretend you anywhere, doing anything with anyone! I’m just glad to have someone to play cubbies with again, it was always one of my favourite things to do when I was stuck inside as a kid.

What do you play with your kids when you’re stuck inside?

Colour my world

I’m embracing the craft bug whole heartedly this week. Pebble and I had our first painting adventure after I fell over in the $2 shop and bought a bunch of nifty craft bits and bobs.

Tip #1 – $2 + $2 + $2 + losing track of $2 = $56.

Tip #2 – don’t invite a toddler to paint before setting up said painting experience.

Tip #3 – don’t leave the room to get cleaning supplies and leave a toddler with the squeezy bottle of paint.

Tip #4 – one size does not fit all (refer art smock pictured above).

Tip #5 – $2 shop paint may not be as washable as the label implies.

Tip #6 – don’t expect toddlers to be happy to clean up.

Mum: Do you want to do more painting?
Toddler: No.
Mum: Ok let’s pack the paints away.
Toddler: No
Mum: Put your hands in the bucket, wash, wash, wash, see?
Toddler: No.
Mum: I’ll get you a flannel.
Toddler: No.
Mum: Ok, let’s have a bath!
Toddler: No. No. No. NO.

Was it worth it? Yes.

Blessed

Today Pebble and I had an amazingly wonderful day. We spent every minute of it together, playing, enjoying, lapping it up. We started with some nice long cuddles in bed before finally getting up to go and pick up some necessities from the supermarket on our way to another Toddler House visit (read more here and here). Pebble was even more ready to join in the play today, and within 15 minutes of our visit she was running laps around the yard with only the odd glance to see that I was within easy reach. By the end of the visit she had toddled off to the sandpit area on her own, leaving me in the yard with some of the other kids. I am really pleased with how well she’s settling in – the squeal of delight when we get to the car park and the cries of dismay when I say it’s time to go are a good sign. This will be tested when I attempt my first proper drop off on Thursday this week. I will say goodbye to Pebble for half an hour, while I go and sit in the car and fret about her emotional well being. She will be fine. I may need a big hug.

Following that successful and happy morning we dropped into mother’s group at a local cafe and met the first new baby #2 of the group, along with two of the newly pregnant mummies. It seems that making second babies is all the rage in this particular group. Nope, not for our family, thanks for asking.

After mother’s group Pebble fell fast asleep on the way home and stayed in bed for a long nap, letting me get on with some chores. I finished the ironing, washed the clay out of Paul’s gardening clothes from the weekend, and cleaned the kitchen. Didn’t I just feel like Super Susie Homemaker?

When Pebble woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed I decided to follow on from one of this week’s episodes of Play School, where they made cars and raced them. Pebble helped me to make a box car for her to ride in. We used an old nappy box, four paper places for the wheels and one for the steering wheel, ribbons for ‘seat belts’, a few stickers and a bit of lace for decoration and LOTS of strong tape. Pebble helped with the folding, sticking and decorating.

Unfortunately the finished product was nothing but mildly terrifying to poor Pebble. I tried to fit her into the car but I’d made the seat belts too tight the first time around, so she got a little squished and quite put off the whole thing. After adjusting the belts and giving all the toys a go in the car Pebble was quite keen to have another. She was soon zooming around the house in her super cool new wheels, looking quite pleased with herself.

With the afternoon looming ahead I thought it would be good to get some fresh air. We grabbed wellies, beanies and a bucket and went outside for a nature treasure hunt. We grabbed interesting bits and bobs from around the garden, venturing as far as the play ground across the road to find the most interesting pieces. Of course, that meant we had to PLAY!

Feeling ready for a nice snuggle in front of the fire with a book, we went indoors and did just that.

Today I am feeling very grateful for all the happiness and health that I and my family experience every day. Blessed are we if we are lucky enough for this to continue into the very distant future. I wish the same for all of you.

Toddler Craft

It’s the first official day of the school holidays and I thought it was about time that I organised some fun things to do around here. Mostly we just play with whatever Pebble wants to play with, and there is nothing wrong with that. Nothing at all! In fact, that’s my preferred play style. However, if I’m honest I’m definitely hiding behind my computer a lot more these days, while plonking Pebble amongst a sea of toys….. or perhaps, sometimes, occasionally….. in front of ABC Kids. *sigh* Mummy guilt right there. Work is demanding, draining, constant.… anyhoo, I digress….It is school holidays!!! Yay!

I did a quick google for some toddler craft to see if Pebble would be interested in this kind of thing. For an early childhood educator I have a pitifully low supply of crafty bits in my house. However I managed to scrounge up some plastic plates, ribbons, stickers, glue, and scrap paper to make…. paper plate maracas!!!

It’s not the product, it’s the process, right? While these maracas turned out mighty pretty and have a fun secondary play use, it was fun just exploring this craft activity with Pebble. The tricky toddler bits:

• be very careful if using a stapler to connect the two paper plates, make sure there are no hard metal bits sticking out. Also, Pebble didn’t enjoy this part – where mummy had to take control and do some making with out her.
• Make sure you use a kid safe glue. I had a weird moment where she used her fingers to touch the glue stick, then she sucked on her own fingers (as a 17 month old is prone to do). About five minute later I thought I noticed her upper lip was slightly puffy. Was I imagining it? I don’t know. Yes, deranged mummy of one called the poison information line and after washing it off thoroughly and observing for a couple of hours there was no noticeable puffiness. Phew! (I used Bostik Blustik which is non-toxic).
• Pebble preferred the stickers to the cutting and pasting of scrap paper. She’s very familiar with stickers and is able to take control herself, instead of someone else cutting and helping to spread the (potentially lethal! ha!) glue.

All in all it was a fun crafty moment, and hopefully will lead to some fun music play later. For now Pebble won’t have a bar of them herself - she is totally uninterested in them unless I’m madly playing them and waving my arms and head about like a crazy woman. Then they’re hilarious.

Moments

It’s often the crappest photos that are the best. Poor light, blurry motion – but they capture those moments that we treasure. This is one of those photos. Pebble had *just* woken up from a much needed three hour nap (love those). I heard her wake with a loud “baaaaa, baaaaaa” coming out of the baby monitor. When I got to her room Pebble was standing in her cot with her arms outstretched for her toy lamb. I picked her and the lamb up and she gave lamb lots of noisy “baaaaa” cuddles while I changed her nappy.

Then it was a cuddle fest for all. Every toy on her toy shelf was given a kiss and a cuddle by Pebble and by each other. Panda kissed Lamb. Lamb kissed Bunny. Bunny kissed Max. All of this was very new and unexpected. The “baaaa” sound is a new favourite whenever a sheep or something sheep-like is spotted, but the level of kissing and cuddling here was a delightful little moment of love and happiness. The chosen ones, Panda, Lamb and Max, were carried out to the living area where they were swiftly put to work at our new table and chair set. Max was even given a crayon to hold.

These are the moments that I never want to forget. They are parenting gold, probably only really significant to the two people who brought this kid into the world, but so easily they will slide away into the fuzzy sleep-deprived parenting fog.

That’s one of the reasons I love blogging. It’s a place to collect and display all these moments so that they don’t get lost. I’m going to try to blog them more, because it seems that every day there is another little Pebble moment that I want to keep and one day share again with her.