Life with Toddlers

No, I don't have toddlers of my own but I babysit two of them. Above is a photo of Miss H. Isn't she sweet? She's 22 months old and busy as all get out. I also watch Miss L who is 24 months old & is even busier at times. When the two of them are here on the same day it's a "mine" fest all day long. Such fun. ;-)

But today Miss H reminded me of the importance of always carrying a diaper bag with young children. 

We began her day here (at about 7:30am) with a diaper malfunction of magnificent proportions. Seriously. I don't think I've ever seen a blow out that bad. It required me to wash the quilt on my bed, the small blanket I use as a changing bad (thankfully or my quilt would have fared far worse), her shorts, plus Miss H herself!

I put on the change of pants in her diaper bag. Then we all finished getting ready for the day & headed out to do my grocery shopping & pick up a new home for our baby chicks. I threw one diaper in my purse - one diaper. I thought we'd be home in a couple of hours so why bother with the whole big diaper bag anyway.

I started towards town. I stopped at the small grocery store on the way to grab a soda. Traffic was stopped (which is unusual and yes, there were only two cars ahead of me but trust me - out here - that is a traffic jam). I have no idea where they are going but for the last two days there have been tractor trailer trucks using this major route to transport over sized, gigantic tubes. It requires a state trooper vehicle before and after each truck & it was taking up both lanes of traffic. Nope, I was not going to follow that the 30 minute drive in to the store so I took "the scenic route" which probably added some time but at least I was moving. And I'll even admit to getting to the light at the store's entrance to find the trucks waiting at the light.

We arrived at the grocery store & I had the boys get out & grab my returnable bottles (I use these as coupons at the store) plus my fabric bags. I grabbed Miss H who was wet through her pants & on her shirt. Diaper malfunction #2.

Okay, bottles & boys back in the truck. Bags back in there. Diaper change for Miss H. minus the pants. I threw an extra sweatshirt I had in the truck on to the car seat so she wouldn't have to sit on the wet spot. We all got buckled back in & I headed out to the thrift store. I came very close to just going to Wal-Mart (which is in the same parking lot as the grocery store) to get her something to wear but remembered there was a thrift store close by & I hadn't been yet. Surely they would have some something for a toddler girl to wear that would be cheaper than something new at Wal-Mart. And they did. The dress she is wearing in the photo above cost me all of $2.25. Bargain.

We did eventually finish our grocery shopping. I even manged to come in under budget there. I checked out the local Chapter 11 store (which closed earlier this year & is now reopened & much nicer looking inside) where I got a new tub for the chick's home plus pine litter for it. Each boy also got a pair of sunglasses ($0.99 each) & Miss H came out with a Candyland coloring book. All in all a better ending to a stinky morning. 

Field Trip: Children's Museum

We had a great time today. One of the homeschooling moms on our state-wide Yahoo group put together a field trip to the Children's Museum. I am always so thankful whenever someone else does things like this & I can just pay & show up! She even booked us a great "Creature Feature" which is how we started.

They brought us as a group to a room on the third floor & had the children all sit in a circle on the floor. Then they brought our three different reptiles. It was really neat to see the kids & learn about these animals.

First up was a bearded dragon...

All the children were given the chance to touch each reptile (and they had a big jug of sanitizer handy for them to clean their hands with after).

This is my nephew touching it. I missed the shots of my boys doing this.

The woman doing the Creature Feature than asked if anyone was feeling "brave" & my nephew piped right up! He was allowed to hold the bearded dragon & even have it on his shoulder. I'm pretty sure this was the highlight of his morning.

Next up was a blue-tongued skink. I kept trying to catch a photo of the tongue but it was just too fast and not interested in eating with all the kids watching it.

Again, the kids got a chance to touch it. Here is a photo of my oldest doing just that.

Lastly they brought out a leopard skinned gecko. Of course, all I can think of is the Geico commercials. LOL I even briefly considered getting one of these as a pet, but not at the moment.

The feature lasted not quite an hour. After this point we were allowed full run of the museum. I'm pretty sure our group made up the majority of folks there that day. My sister (thankfully!!) came with me & was able to help me ride herd on the children. Our plan was simple...we waited to see where everyone else went & went in the opposite direction. ::wink:: It worked as we had most of the displays to ourselves for the most part.

We were on the top floor for the creature feature & it seemed that is where most people stayed, so we went all the back down to the first floor. Down there is a water area where the kids can explore current, water pressure, and just play in it. There is also a two story tree house that they love to climb! It goes up to the second floor but they can't get out up there - they have to climb back down to the first floor. My boys love this. There is also a beaver house that the kids can climb up in to. I really like how interactive the museum is for the children.

Just outside the nature area is a display of fish & turtles that are real but also some dioramas. There was one of a loon that Miss H thought very cool. She plopped herself right down & kept pointing out the bird to everyone!

N is pumping water

to fall on the big wheel.

This was a great area. It's a big Lite Bright! N made a train & Miss H just had fun putting the pegs in & taking them out.

The top floor has a whole human body area. There is this fantastic mouth bed. B & Miss H each posed for me. Miss H even leaned way back & got comfy.

One of my favorite spots in the whole place is the Goodnight Moon room. It's set up to look just like the story book & the little ones always have a good time in there. They have tons of copies of the book in various languages too. Here's J in the little play house in the Goodnight Moon room.

There are obviously far more areas to play in the museum. However, I either 1) didn't get there with the bigger boys or 2) didn't snap a photo or 3) I was chasing a toddler. ::grin::

I'm actually considering buying a reciprocal membership to the museum for Christmas this year. It's only $125 for the entire family. If we just go back to this particular museum four times over the course of the year, it will pay for itself. However, I'd really like to take the boys to the Museum of Science in Boston in the spring (via the Amtrak Downeaster train). It also gets us in to the other two children museums in the state plus a few in New Hampshire and some more in Massachusetts - all within a day's drive. Anyone out there have one & did you use it enough to make it worthwhile?

Tot Time Fun

I'm been working on adding more things for J to do when we have school. I did a workshop last year for my mini-homeschooling conference about adding in games & fun during the day for your children. One thing I discussed were activity bags. I even made up samples & handed them out to everyone. Anyone attending my workshop walked out with two toddler activity bags, some game bags for older kids, some craft kits, plus a CD full of file folder games to print out & make.

One of the samples I had put together was called "Snip 'N Cut". It was part of a free sampler I had received through CurrClick I think. The items included in the bag were about a dozen one inch strips of construction paper, a pair of safety scissors, and a paper bowl. The child is to cut the strips of paper in to small bits making sure they land in the bowl.

J loved it. He is getting better & better with his cutting skills & really enjoys using his scissors. This was a fun activity for him. He did 2-3 strips before he was done.

I also had both girls today so I was switching them up with us. Miss L had some table time with us & she had fun playing with the Busy Bugs. I think the texture always throws her & she has fun putting them & taking them out of the nut can.

Something new that I added today was stickers. Oh.my.goodness! It was a blast watching her with these. It took her about five minutes to figure out how to put them on the paper and they are teeny-tiny ones. I was working with the boys & could just hand her one. One side of the paper was practice (i.e. I helped place some) but after a few minutes, she had it down & put about a dozen on all by herself.

She also loves to color but will eat the crayons so twist-ups work great. I gave her a crayon & she had fun adding green to her sticker page.

In the afternoon, I was attempting to snap a photo of both girls together. For some reason, they love sitting on the dog bed. I have no idea why. They will plop right down & sit & play and if one girl is there - watch out - because the other will join her quickly. They are so very competitive!

I kept trying to snap the photo, but one of them would always get up & move. Finally, I plopped Miss L down & told her to "stay!" and snapped a quick photo but it really doesn't show how they usually do this. They literally almost sit on top of each other. In fact, Miss H was trying to sit on Miss L & I had to move her.

Then a few minutes later I look over and saw this....

She's sitting all nice & pretty for her picture. Say "cheese!"

How to Eat a Cookie - Toddler-Style

The "clean" approach. Note that Miss H is the one wearing a bib....

The "messy" approach - yup, I forgot the bib on Miss L. Oops!

Okay, in defence of poor Miss L, I will say that I think her cookie had way more chocolate chips in it. I used my mixer to do up a double batch & then added in the bits - stirring by hand. It was hard going there for a while but the end results were certainly delicious.

Foto Friday: Share Your Homeschooling Photos

I Said Yes

A couple weeks ago I read something on a blog that has stuck with me. I can't remember which blog (I'm now following 84 - yikes!) and I just tried to find it, but it's almost like looking for that proverbial needle. So, if you recently posted something on your blog about saying "yes" to your children instead of "no" without really meaning it, please let me know....

Yes, that was the gist of it all. The mom took the time to say "yes" that day. Yes, to playing with her kids. Yes, to listening to them. Yes, to just having fun. Instead of just saying, "no" all the time which you all know becomes a habit with us moms.

Today I decided to try an experiment. I really didn't want to sit down & do school today with my kiddos. I'm getting a cold & I'm taking lots of elderberry to fight it (works GREAT usually) but I'm still fuzzy headed and stuffy nosed. I just wanted to veg today. But I didn't.

I did start the school day with a project though.....even Miss H joined us.




I can give credit for this project. I saw it over at No Time for Flashcards. I spent some time first thing this morning cut up a pile of paper to make this cute candy corn project with. I apparently WAY over estimated how much I would need for each of the kids to make one. I saved it all though & plan to bring it to our next homeschool meeting for the kids to make one there.

They had a great time doing it. This is really a "yes" moment for me. I'm not one for hands-on stuff even though I know my kids love it. I even added in a 15 month old toddler. Although, Miss H really just preferred the paper....


She did put some of the paper on her candy corn, but I did a large amount of helping with this. She seemed to love it though. I think in another couple months she'll do much better with something like this.

I only had Miss H today & she only slept for about an hour this afternoon. N has been begging me to go for a walk. I had been doing this daily but I got out of the habit. I said "yes" to day to the walk. I did turn it in to a nature walk though. N needs a nature walk so he can have a section signed off in his AWANA book for a green jewel. We'll bring in his collection bag and rubbing sheet and observation sheet next week so that this can be done. The boys had a great time (for the most part) on the walk. They did pose for me at least.




On the way back home, N was really asking for me to play a board game. This child simply loves board games. It doesn't matter how hard they are, what they are, or how to play. He loves them ALL. I said "yes" again. I'm not a huge board game fan, but I decided I need to invest this time in them. J joined us & we all played Rivers, Roads and Rails.

It's a domino style game. Each game piece has either a rive, a road, or a railroad on it or a combination of any of them. The object is to match up the pieces to create a big link. We played until we couldn't expand anymore due to the table being small. ;-) This took about 30 minutes. The boys loved it & I declared N the winner as he placed the last piece before I called the game.

So today I decided to say "yes" more instead of just saying "no" for no reason. This is my new goal for my family. Just say "yes."

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My Daybook

For Today...

October 20, 2008

Outside my Window...

A little overcast with the sun peaking through. Another cool & crisp fall day.

I am thinking...

Of the things I should be doing rather than the things I am doing.

From the learning rooms...

A bonus day. My middle son is sick but felt well enough to play this morning so we did a full day of school. We even managed to get in geography, music, & history along with the basics.

I am thankful for...

a loving God who continually gives me multiple second chances to get it right.

From the kitchen...

nothing yet but I have a busy week of baking planned. N's soccer team is hosting a round robin of games on Saturday & I volunteered to cook up a bunch of goodies to be sold to raise money for our rec department. It sure beats hanging out in the booth selling it all! ;-)

I am wearing...

my favorite socks knitted for my by my wonderful MIL, my comfy jeans, a favorite blue t-shirts.

I am reading...

too much. I'm working on The Stone of Tears (book two in the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind), I Second that Emotion by Patsy Clairmont, and I just got Winning by Losing by Jillian Michaels from The Biggest Loser.

I am hoping...

that I am wrong and N doesn't have strep throat but we'll find out this afternoon. I'm 99% sure he does.

I am creating...

I'm thinking of setting up an Etsy shop again so I've been thinking of what I could put in there.

I am hearing...

nothing but the dryer humming. I love this time of day (naptime!)

Around the house...

Hubby finished our storage shed yesterday afternoon so we need to get things moved out of here & in to there. I put my flower garden to bed for the winter yesterday as well. Now we need to start getting air conditioners out of the windows, plastic up, and this place winterized. Winter is fast approaching.

One of my favorite things...

my pumpkin candle I'm burning. I already went through one. This is my second one. Yum!

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week...

A relatively quiet week. Just the usual things...two Bible studies (one Tuesday night & one Wednesday night), MOPS, AWANA, and the soccer thing on Saturday morning. I've been working on re-evaluating my priorities and seeing what I'm involved with. I need to learn how to say "no" at times I think.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you...

Miss H was snacking at the table this morning so I pulled out this foil muffin tin & dropped in some goldfish. She loved it & ate all but two. I showed her how to move them around. She liked that. We did use it with milk caps as well (save your milk caps - great toddler toys!) I took the idea for the muffin tin from Sycamore Stirrings who does a "Muffin Tin Monday." I love the idea & will be using it soon for lunch & for play time.

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A Good School Day (+Tot Time)

J is thoroughly enjoying doing school this year with me. We are working on writing skills & doing some preschool things. He enjoys his little workbooks & willing sits with me for a bit to work. I had been doing his school first & then having the older boys do their school. However, lately I've had him sit at the table with us & it's working so we'll keep trying it that way. Above he is working on his writing readiness workbook which is a lot of tracing but he likes it.

I discovered that Miss L loves to color. She gets very excited when she sees crayons or a coloring book. I let her try it one day but she kept eating the crayon - literally! I mentioned it to her mom who said that twist up crayons minimize the eating. I happen to have a bunch of little packs of those that I picked up for $1 each so I tried that with a page torn out of the coloring book. She's doing much better with this & will keep up with it for quite some time. She does try to take the crayons apart but can't do much since there is only a bit showing. That is until she figures out how to twist them.


Here's N working on copying his AWANA verse. I have him say his verse and write it out each day. He's doing very well with this. It also acts as copywork.

Miss H was so funny on this day. I gave her an empty margarine container and a regular spoon. She sat there for a good 15 minutes and "ate" - feeding herself her imaginary food. And apparently it was very good as she made sure to get all the bits off the spoon that were there. ::grin::



Overall it was a good school day.

Busy Boxes

Yesterday marked the start of our homeschool for the year. This year I have two toddlers in the house. I haven't had those in a while. I knew I should have a plan in place to help keep them busy & entertained otherwise it would be a difficult year so I started putting together some toddler "busy boxes."

I went to Wal-Mart on Sunday & picked up some clear plastic shoe boxes & one other larger tote. I also bought some large alphabet blocks (very cute!), and some inexpensive measuring cups & plastic mixing spoons. I had a large list of ideas of boxes to put together.

• Blocks (check - just got them & they even came with a handy little storage bag)
• Large duplos
• Real phone (check - dug it out of the yard sale items)
• mixing bowls/spoons/cups (check)
• widgets (check - although I need to go dig out the last couple to complete the set)
• margarine containers & lids (will continue to add to & they'll go in the "kitchen" box)
• tape & paper
• toddler train (made out of shoe boxes)
• dolls (like I have a ton of those around - ha!)
• bean bags (plan to make from odd socks & beans & yes, I will be sure they are tightly secured)
• contact paper
• texture touch items
• sensory bottles
• shakers
• Velcro box

Now, I may not do ALL of these items & I may add to them. I also was blessed by my older sister yesterday who came for a visit. I mentioned what I had bought at Wal-Mart & she showed up with a large tote full of appropriate toys - include a small tub of Duplos. I know I have them - somewhere - so this saved me time in looking for mine. She also brought some more toy phones (which were a HUGE hit today), a Lamaze brand soft stacking ring & miscellaneous other baby toys.

I also pulled out - okay for some reason J did this today but it was perfect - the Aquadoodle pad we have. The girls LOVED it as evidenced below.

They were also thrilled when I pulled out the "cooking" box. It had two small plastic containers, the measuring cups, measuring spoons, & mixing spoons. Miss L even dumped a bowl & spoon in to the playpen for Miss H to play with. I think it was an accident but I'll take it.

I did not "de-pants" Miss H - she did that ALL by herself! She's such a big girl & yes, I did put a different pair on shortly after this. ;-)

The hardest part of today was not having both girls while we did school this morning. It wasn't that I slept in a bit later than I wanted so I missed starting my day the way I wanted to. It wasn't even doing preschool with J before tackling the rest of the school day with the two older boys. No, all that was easy. The hard part?? It was getting J & N to let the girls play with all the new toys!!! Shheessh! I had to lay down the law with them. The new rules are:

• These toys are for the babies only!
• They are only for school time!
• They are NOT to disappear in to their rooms with them as I know they will be gone forever.
• They can only play with them with my permission.

We'll see how long it lasts. The bins are stacked in my hallway so I can monitor their use both with the boys and the babies. Tomorrow I'm going to try Plan B & we'll see how it goes. I'll be sure to post.

Of course, lunch around here is ALWAYS highly anticipated. I'll leave you to check out this grin....

Tot Time

It was an unusual day here today. I had a MOPS Steering Team committee meeting this morning and yes, I took all the kids with me. Traveling with five kids is a bit different for me but we all did well. The meeting ran over by a half hour & ALL the kids were tired and hungry.

Miss L fell asleep on the way home after the meeting and I mean she was OUT! We tried waking her up & she was just totally conked out. Miss H though was all smiles & giggles & J playing peek-a-boo with her kept her wide awake.

I parked under our big maple tree in front of our trailer with tons of shade and all the windows down & left Miss L right in the truck. She slept for an hour in there. I fed the rest of the kiddos & kept looking out my kitchen window. She hadn't been awake long when I went to get her.

At this point it's close to 1pm and Miss H STILL hasn't slept and I know there is no way Miss L is going to sleep again for me. I ended up putting the pack-n-play in my bedroom. It did fit! I turned the fan on and settled Miss H down. It took her about a half an hour before she finally fell asleep.

I no longer had my "gate" of the pack-n-play to keep Miss L close. I figured it was a good time to try some "tot school." There are some really awesome ideas over at these two blogs... 1+1+1=1 (Tot School) and No Time for Flash Cards. I highly recommend checking them out if you have any little "tots" running around your house. I'm even planning to use some of the ideas for J & he'd be the first to tell you he is not a tot!

I will be using those resources to set up some sort of "school" time for at least Miss L if not Miss H. I know they would enjoy the structured play time.

Here are my attempts at winging it with Miss L though....

A bowl full of Cheerios & three measuring cups on the blanket in the living room. She did great keeping it all on the blanket for at least 15 minutes. She thoroughly enjoyed sampling her measuring medium. Even N had to get in on the fun of it all & show Miss L how to pour & measure. She was very cute to watch as she figured this all out. She really did a great job with it.

Once the Cheerios began migrating off the blanket & Miss L was trying to see what would happen when she stomped on them (I can only handle so much mess! LOL) I cleaned those up & handed her some poker chips. These were part of an activity bag swap item for counting. I didn't bother with the numbered index cards at this point but I gave her a new bowl with the chips & let her put them in & out of the bowl. This kept her occupied for at least another 10-15 minutes.

Getting her attention long enough to have her look up at me was tough! In fact, I think I actually touched her leg for this photo!

Finally the chips were loosing their appeal (and starting to fly around my living room - she has a great arm!) so she helped me pick those up (really!) and I pulled out this "big deck" of playing cards. I think this may have been her favorite (but the Cheerios would be a very close second). She spent at least 20 minutes checking this over & trying hard to get them back in to their container. She couldn't quite get them to line up just right but I think given the chance to play with them again, it wouldn't take her long.

All in all my impromptu "tot time" kept Miss L occupied long enough for Miss H to get in an hour nap. I also was shown just how much Miss L can do & what she enjoys learning. I'll definitely be trying to fit in some "tot time" this fall when we start back to school. Messes here we come!