2 Years of Learning on the Job

Today my first born, Tanner, turns 2 years old.

2

It is cliché and it is said by every mother everywhere but seriously where did the time go?

Seriously.

The soft baby fuzz wisps have been replaced by the ever growing, sweat-filled mop of a constantly busy toddler.

The cries and whimpers to tell me what he needed are now “Please, Mommy.” and “No!”

The countless hugs and kisses that have been given are now being returned with an “I Love you!” that brings tears of complete and utter JOY each time I hear it.

And then there is his smile…ahhh…that smile.

And his laugh. 

I was telling friends this past weekend about the seriously indescribable amount of love you can feel once becoming a parent.  It is mind blowing.  However, these moments of complete and utter love are not in every moment of everyday.

They are not present in the moments when he is “practicing” his tantrums, or when he hits his sister after being reminded over and over again to be gentle, or when all he seems to want is “more Thomas the Train please Mommy,” or when I am counting the minutes til Daddy is home.

Oh…but when those moments of complete love and adoration come, boy you’d better watch out.

It is consuming

visceral

unstoppable

I can’t even count how many of those moments I have had in the past two years since becoming a parent but each time I want to stop, breath it all in, live in it forever.

I read somewhere that parenting is a learn as you go type of job and I couldn’t have asked for a better teacher.

Happy 2nd Birthday to my sweet, funny boy!!!

 

    

Note: This last picture was snapped this morning as the birthday boy was just getting up for some morning cartoons.  I don’t think he was too please to have a camera toting mommy in  his face.

Creative Kitchen- Homemade Playdoh and Flubber Recipes

As you may have noticed from my pictures, Tanner and I do a lot of “cooking.”  He helps me make edible food along with some creative creations.  He loves pulling up his step stool, dumping in ingredients and stirring things up.  Since he is Mr. Independent, this is a great way for him to feel much older that his (almost) two years.  If you ask him, most of the time he will tell you he is five.  Occasionally he is four, but never two.  In the neverending world of Pinterest, here are the best playdoh and flubber recipes I have found.

Just Like the Real Playdoh (so they say)

1 cup Flour

1 cup water

1.5 tbsp oil

1 tablespoon alum

1/2 cup salt

2 tablespoons vanilla

food coloring

 

Mix all dry ingredients.  Add oil and water.  Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until reaching the consistency of very thick mashed potatoes.  Remove from heat add vanilla.  Split into balls and add desired drops of food coloring.  Work color in by kneading the playdoh. 

 

 

Tips:  While cooking, the goop goes from soupy to thick very quickly. I may have had my burner on too high, so just watch out.  Also, when it was in the pot, the playdoh appeared a little lumpy but as soon as I started kneading it, it became smooth.  Also, I store the playdoh in sandwich baggies in a gladware, in the fridge.  I read somewhere it stays better if refrigerated.  I don’t know if this is true or not but our playdoh is a week old, been played with everyday, and still soft and good as new.  Also, any food coloring stains left on your counter can easily be removed with a Mr. Clean Magic eraser.

 

 

Flubber Recipe

Mixture 1:

3/4 cup warm water

1 cup Elmer's glue

Food Coloring

Mixture 2:

2 tsp Borax

1/2 cup Warm water

  

 

Stir mixture 1 in one bowl and mixture 2 in another.  Make sure both are mixed very well.  Pour mixture 1 into mixture 2.  No need to stir, just reach in and pull out a glob of flubber.  Work it for 2-3 minutes.

Note: 1 cup of Elmer's glue is almost exactly what is in the big bottles you can buy.  it might take 2 of the regular sized glue bottles.

 

This was a fun one.  Tanner liked reaching in and picking up the slime.  I have this stored in a gladware container as well to bring out and play with.  Not sure what the shelf life is of Flubber but we will see.  Tanner calls it “mud” and likes to put his animals in it.

 

Play Cooking

Another thing T-man likes to do is just pretend cook.  I will put a small bowl of flour, a small bowl of dry oats, and a small cup of water out for him that he can then dump into a larger mixing bowl and stir it to his hearts desire.  This will keep him busy for literally 25-30 minutes.  It makes a nice pasty concoction that he thinks is really cool.  I add food coloring drops for him so he can mix it up and see the color spread.

If you don’t feel like making anything real, try having your kid do some pretend cooking with real ingredients.  I bet they will LOVE it too!!

 

Happy creating!!

Simple Sensory Bin

Keeping up with a busy toddler is FULL TIME work.  We are always doing activities that are both fun and help to mold his little mind.  Today after Tanner asked (for the 50th time) to watch Thomas the Train I knew I had to whip something out of my mom bag of tricks. 

(Yes, I do let my children watch TV but in limited amounts and only specific programs- For a while ONLY Sesame street was allowed in our house but now my almost 2 year old has acquired a taste for Thomas and Bob the Builder)

I looked in my pantry and whipped up this sensory bin:

Supplies-

Big container (dish pan or large Rubbermaid work great)

Dry oatmeal (you could also use rice)

Assorted dry pasta (I used large ring noodles, and broken up spaghetti noodles)

A set of measuring spoons

a wooden skewer (with the point cut off)

2 cupcake wrappers

a few favorite toys

This kept Tanner busy for a good 45 minutes.  He scooped up the mixture, buried his toys, pretended they were eating,  and threaded the ring noodles onto the skewer.  I’ve seen fancier versions of sensory bins on Pinterest but honestly this works just as well as those snazzy glittery bins.  This also sweeps up in a jiffy.  When we were done, I got out my broom, Tanner got his and we cleaned up together.  This is a great activity to keep your toddler busy on rainy days or during this home-stretch of winter here in the Northland.

 

Happy playing!!

Homemade Felt Board

Here is another project I have done recently that I LOVE!!  Tanner loves it too. It gives him a space to practice his letter and numbers, which he loves.  Seriously I know it is a little freaky to have a not-even two year old know his alphabet and count up to 12 but the kid just likes it…weird.  I have a feeling his interest might go down just a tad.  He recently discovered Thomas and Friends and is OBSESSED.  Maybe I can make some Thomas Felt shapes…I’ll try.  Note: I decided to free hand it but I am sure there are plenty of stencils and silhouettes that can be found online then traced onto felt.

Front :

Back: 

1 piece of foam board

1 large piece of black felt

many sheets of multi colored felt

Hot Glue

Clothes pins

baggies

 

Hours of fun for under $10.  I would say this is perfect for 2-5 year olds.  Depending on the age of the kids, you can make different cut outs.  So far I have just done the letters and the farm.  Some ideas I have in the works are: Dinosaurs, Dress the Boy, Food and utensils, Face and parts, Counting sets (ex.1 ball, 2 trees, 3 apples, etc) and Fish/Under the Sea.  As I add more, I will just glue more clothes pins on the back to store the sets of felt.  Cheap, homemade AND organized!!  Love love and LOVE.

99 times out of 100

99 times out of 100 I will catch Tanner in the act of digging in something, playing, or just plain old exploring like a 15 month old should and ask,

“Whatcha doing??”

This is the look I get. 

It’s his- I’m so cute and couldn’t possibly be doing anything destructive- look.  This morning’s adventure included an open case of Diet Coke and a camera…Oh the possibilities in the world of a toddler.