Friends and a drawing

Jeanne refused to nap today, so we played with beads and pipe cleaners, then she wanted to draw with markers.  I set her up and left her be.  After 15 minutes,  I wandered over to see how her drawing was going.  She usually doesn't sit and draw too long, ends up drawing all over her body (thank you washable markers!), but today, for the first time, she was drawing a picture.  Her first, she told me, was of her musical balloons (yesterday I filled 6 balloons with different items to make noise, rice, bells, beads, etc)

Then she drew this:

This is her story:
(on the left) is the mother, she is very tall (she has eyes and a mouth, legs, feet, then all belly).  In her belly is all her food she ate, she likes food.  (the center character) is the daughter (she has eyes, a mouth, hair, arms, and lots of legs and arms), she ate lots of  things with holes and salt, she loves salt and she's so happy!  (the dots around them) are birds in the air and on the ground.

Also today, we watched a couple of friends while the Mom ran to a meeting.  I brought out two bins with colored rice, measuring cups, a funnel, and some safari animals.

Still engaged after 20 minutes      o_O

Lovely girl loved the animals the most, she had me name them all at least 6 times.  If any of them lost their way, she would gather them in a pile and ask me to name them again.  

Lovely girl corralling the animals in a bucket while Loki chills in his car.

They all played, used the sidewalk chalk and the sensory bin for over an hour.  Success!

I am trying to teach myself french braiding.  Someone recommended I cross the hair under, that it would keep the stray hair better.  I am still trying!

water beads, floating and sinking, walk in the woods and a new haircut

Water beads and my stupid, crazy, cheap, homemade light box

 (string of star night lights under a tupperware top).

Light shining through the water beads.

 Scent containers.  

This one is an old spice container and cotton balls with peppermint essential oil on them.

The other two have fake flowers with lemon EO, and the little one has whole cloves.

We keep them in her kitchen, and both kids love to 'cook' with them. 

 Lots of soups have been created lately.

She liked it.

"You smell mommy."

Science 

We've been trying to find opportunities to talk about science in our everyday as often as possible.  Recently we've had lots of balloons in our house, some sank and some floated.

We talked about gases, helium, oxygen, broke out out periodic table.  We observed the floating balloon over a couple of days and discussed why it started to sink after having it only1 day.  We talked about the size of gases and how they move.  We 'moved' like gas (fast and bumped into each other a lots, which she thought that was tons of fun).

Then I had her search through the house for things she thought would sink or float in water.  Here is what she brought me.  Her hypothesis was that the things in holes in the would float. 

 I thought it was a fantastic hypothesis for a pre-3 year old.

Oddly enough, she really didn't like the sinking things.  She seemed worried about losing her items and wanted me to take them out as soon as she saw them sink.  So we only played with the floating items.  Still, she had a blast playing in my sink, and that's really the point.

(I got to fold the laundry)

(I got to put away the dishes)

"I can't look at the camera mommy, I'm busy".  Yes, she really said that.

(I got to get lunch all ready for the kids)

Washing her giraffe balloon.

 Hanging out with Daddy.

Sitting together playing one of Jeanne's video games, which she apparently already outgrew. 

I was having a horrible day.  I felt horrible, tired, grouchy, short and just plain blah.  I needed to de-stress so we went for a walk through the woods.  I brought an empty egg crate for Jeanne so she could collect things to observe later. 

As soon as we got on the trail, she grabbed a big stick to walk with.

When I took Loki off my back for lunch on the trail, 

he decided he wanted to go for searching for a stick too.

I deliberately didn't take too many pictures.  I needed to breathe.

Hubbers has been asking me to get Loki's haircut for a while now.  I resisted knowing he would be a screaming mess.  But, after a very stressful month of lots and lots of working, I surprised hubbers with a short haired boy.  And yes, he was a screaming mess.

Before.

After.

After.

What do you think hubbers said when he saw Loki?  

"Oh, I think I miss the long locks"!

UG!

Sensory bins are a big hit here

In just the last 48 hours, Jeanne has requested the 'rainbow rice' 20 times.  I'm so glad I am now able to sleep and organize these things for her, she loves them.  She was actively engaged for over an hour with a single box of rice, some spoons and a couple of bowls.  Go figure, Loki digs them too.  Although, for my sanity, i made larger sized objects for him.  Rice just worried me too much.  Here's a photo shot of the last 48 hours.  It's been a blast for all of us.

Loki and Jeanne pour and dump blue rice

Realizing the baby spoon feeder can become a rattle

"Look what I did"!

Never to be left out, she wanted to take pictures too.

She perfects her aiming.

Showing Loki how to play the 'right way'.

A very unhappy Loki.  He didn't like being told "Not in the mouth" about the rice.

I see this as "but mommy, please"?  Alas, no.  No food coloring for you little dude.

Seriously, this went on for over an HOUR.

Later that day, we played with ballons filled with unknown substances.  I thought this would be really cool, and it was.  But it took Jeanne approximately 30 seconds to guess correctly one was filled with water.  O.K.  I'll need to do better than that I guess.

You see, she squeezed the ballon so tightly, you could see the water.

She wanted to play with them again as soon as she woke up. 

She asked to cut them open to see what was inside.

One had yellow rice in it.  Here Loki has also just woken up, he's still trying to rub the sleep out of his eyes, but won't stop playing.  

Ohh, the yellow rice and the water make yellow water.  What fun!

I, however, didn't "love" picking up the thousand pieces of blue rice all day, so made some colored larger pieces of pasta.  When it would get dumped, and I knew it would, it would only be a hundren pieces or so, not the thousands of teeny rice.

So far, Loki's favorite place in all these activities in right in the middle.  Literally.

 

In an attempt to "let go" and allow the children to explore a little more, I have stopped correcting Jeanne about playing with her food.  Now, she just isn't allowed to throw it or touch the walls with dirty hands.

Here, she made a "house" out of her cheese and sliced carrots.  She was quite proud.  

She asked me to take a picture.

I let Jeanne play with the rice while Loki napped.  She at least helps me clean up the rice.  Loki will, in a flash, dump the entire bin.  I also let her mix all the colors together.  She about flipped her gourd when I gave her all the colors.  So simple, so much fun.  Bowls, spoons, some 'things' and she is occupied for a long time.  Although, I am with her.  She is much more interested if I am by her than if I leave her.  She also sings to herself the whole time.  She sings what she is doing in the moment.  It's really kinda cool.

The next day, she wanted to play with her HEX bugs and the 'grass' aka rice.  It didn't work as she thought, but I suggested we glue down some pinwheels  and make a path for them.  I told her to clobm her chair and I would get the glue.  Once there, she told me her chair was dirty, and wanted to clean it first. 

 OK, no problem.

Then she saw that Loki's chair was dirty and wanted to clean it.  Yep, sure can sweetie.

Then she saw some spinach on the wall from last nights dinner ans asked for a wet towel to clean it. 

Oh, yes my dear, let me get that for you.

On Wednesday's we pick up our CSA at the farmers market.  On our return, she asked for only one of the items from this box of goodies for lunch.  Can you guess what it was?

Our CSA box included the following: (left to right):

Butter lettuce, radishes, spring onions (the beets were purchased at a separate vendor for $3), bunch of Kale, 2 quarts of strawberries, and a pint of sugar snap peas.  We left the famers market dishing out a total of $3.  I pre-paid for the CSA, but this box is $20 worth.  Not a bad spread if you ask me.  

Now, can you guess which item she asked for lunch, and it was the only thing she ate for lunch too....

...

...

...

...

...

....

....

....

It was the KALE.  And she ate it, raw.  That bowl is vegetarian shepard's pie made with yukon gold potatoes, spinach, spring onions, peas, corn and portabella mushrooms.  It is AMAZINGLY good.  She didn't touch it today.  Yesterday yes, today, not one bit.  The kale though, she ate that.  

She was the one who jumped for joy when she saw the kale at the market too, 

and she picked out most of it, 

"All by my seff".

Yeah, that does feel good.