Humor: Cloud Dough-Paste Sensory Activity

Lucan is having more and more fun doing “activities,” which is great. He wants to play and interact and use his imagination – all good things. I know that sometimes it’s easiest to just plop him in the living room and tell him to play with his toys, but activities that require a little planning and momma forethought have been really good for us. I’ve been really thankful for Angela at teachingmama.org for ideas. Angela is one of those fantastic moms who always has something fun up their sleeves. Me, not so much. Angela and her family used to attend the same church as us before moving to a new town. She’s fantastic!

Anywho, Angela is one of my go-to resources for things to do with Lucan on Saturday mornings. One of the preschool sensory activities that I’ve seen floating around was Cloud Dough. Two ingredients: flour and oil. Easy peasy. Angela recommended using baby oil as it smells better. No problem, baby oil comes cheap and isn’t hard to find (unlike liquid watercolors, another story for another day). There was a weekday I was home with a sick Lucan (day two of antibiotics so technically he wasn’t “contagious” so I didn’t feel awful about dragging him out in public ) so we decided to head out to Wal-Mart to purchase some art supplies to keep us occupied. Baby oil was an easy addition to our cart. Much easier than the contemplation that took place in the tempera paint aisle.  

But a batch of cloud dough is ½ cup oil and 4 cups of flour and then mixing it up with your hands. No problem. Easy. I got a couple of containers, measuring spoons and a set of silicon ice cube trays (which I bought over a year ago with the plan to make crayon shapes) for Lucan to use to play with the cloud dough. He enjoyed it well enough. It wasn’t exactly life changing, but it was fine. Messy, but fine. We played on the deck so the mess didn’t really overly concern me. 

Cloud dough while it was still "dough."

 However problems started later that day when Lucan went out (unsupervised) to the backyard/deck to play with his water table and water table toys. Generally speaking, no problem. I can see his water table from our kitchen window while I’m washing dishes. On this particular day, Lance and I were trying to finish up some salsa canning and had put our huge vat of canning water out on the deck as a measure to NOT heat up the house even more. Unbeknownst to me, Lucan started transporting copious amounts of water using his watering can into the plastic tub we had used earlier for cloud dough. We all know that flour + water = paste. 

Cloud dough as glue paste. Just add water!

Sticky icky paste. Paste that was everywhere. While I didn’t have the massive conniption that Lance did (because how much harm can come of flour paste that’s being played with outside?), I certainly wasn’t happy that we weren’t going to be able to have a second cloud dough playtime. Lance, on the other hand, saw the sticky paste that was getting all over our wood deck that was going to have to be sprayed off with a hose to get rid of the gunk. This is probably where Lance deemed the cloud dough as the WORSE IDEA EVER. Talk about drama queen. And people say I have a flair for the dramatic. 

So in the future if you want to play with cloud dough, go for it! Just don’t add water.

A disaster of a music class.

Don't let the smiles fool you. No one was smiling here.

 

The other day I wrote a review on DesMoinesParent.com about a recent music class I attended with Lucan. If you read between the lines, I didn’t really say anything favorable about the experience. While I didn’t want to write anything discouraging because it wasn’t really their fault that we had a HORRIBLE time, they didn’t really help the matter either. 

In hindsight, I probably should have done a different Saturday. Lucan had just finished his first week at his new daycare/school and every morning had been rough. Lucan had spent the previous week in transition (i.e.: we had no daycare) at his grandparents and getting back into a routine had been difficult, especially mornings. Mornings are always hectic trying to get everyone out of the door on time and in a good humor to boot. Add in a new daycare routine and coming off of a week of sleeping in, everyone was spent. I should have taken that Saturday to just bum around the house and chill. Instead I committed us to a mommy and me music class so I could write my review and not feel delinquent. BAD IDEA.

Picture a circle of well-dressed moms and baby Gap kiddos all patiently clapping their hands and humming along to some asinine Irish folk song. Then insert reluctant Lucan and sweaty Kara (I swear the room was like 200 degrees) and you can start imagining how things started. Lucan then proceeded to ask multiple times where his snack was (LOUDLY I might add) and refuse to climb off my lap. The group leader had everyone rise and dance around a circle. I, on the other hand, while sweating, was forced to drag Lucan. When he refused to be drug anymore, I had to pick up and carry his suddenly limp, unable to-stand-on-his-own body and gamely smile with the rest of the moms. At that point I was managing. Even with the annoying Celtic music that everyone else seemed to know the words to while I was still wondering what ever happened to “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.” (for real – how much cultural awakening do two year-olds need?)

But things started to really unravel when the parachute was brought out. You know the parachute in which kids flop it up and down and have a blast? Yeah, Lucan got really excited by it too. Until the folk song ended and it had to get put away. Lucan wasn’t done playing and was super pissed when it was put back. And when I say “super pissed” I mean “the-world-has-ended-and-my-mom-told-me-the-tooth-fairy-isn’t-real” pissed. 

It was at that point in Lucan’s wailing that we got asked to leave class. Fantastic. Mom-humiliation at its best. So Lucan and I stepped outside and he finished his tantrum. I wanted to sneak back into the sweat room to retrieve our stuff but the door was locked. I had to bang on the door to get back in and gather up our stuff (so much for slipping in unnoticed). And the icing on the cake: being asked at the end of class if we wanted to sign up for classes for the rest of year. Ha. NOT ON YOUR LIFE. 

Again, it wasn’t the music class’ fault we had a terrible time, but rather an accumulation of bad circumstances. If you want to read my review, check it out here. Besides, you might happen to have an affinity for Irish folk songs. :)

Favorite Gifts for a First Birthday

I had the pleasure of spending some time last weekend hanging out with some old friends of my parents. They are getting ready to celebrate their first grand child’s first birthday asked for some ideas about a good gift for the occasion and it got my thinking cap going. Granted, they were working around some pretty tight guidelines (no clothes, no toys and no books) and I wasn’t able to come up with too much, but here are a few things that I came up for those who don’t have such stringent restrictions:

1.       Cozy Coupe – hands down Lucan’s favorite present he got when he turned one. I love that the newer ones come with a removable floor board so littler kids won’t fall out the bottom. Perfect for parents who are going to be the ones pushing the coupe around until the child is old enough to move the car with their feet.

2.       Melissa and Doug puzzles. Actually most of their toys are fantastic. I love the workmanship, the story behind the company and quality of their products. The majority of their toys has some sort of education spin to them and made out of wood. Love, love, love.

3.       Ball Popper toy. It’s noisy and throws balls into the air. Lucan thinks this toy is the best and whenever we’re someplace that has this toy, he makes a beeline for it.

4.       Stacking cups/shape sorter. Lucan still loves playing with this toy. I think it gives him a thrill to get everything in the right place. It’s also a good way to practice learning shapes and colors. Stacking allows Lucan to work on his spatial coordination.

5.       Mega Bloks! This is a timeless gift that will engage kids for hours. Lucan loves building towers and knocking them down to the ground. That might just be a boy thing J Mega Bloks are great because they are large enough for toddler fingers to work with them easily.

6.       Musical instrument set. Because every child should have the opportunity to make music and irritate their parents at the same time J

 

7.       A swing. Not a baby swing, but a real life swing. I wish we had a place at our house for one because Lucan loves swinging and we would probably spend a majority of our time outside swinging if he couls.

8.       Push/ride-on-toys. We have a tricycle that we borrowed from a friend and Lucan loves playing on it. I love that it has a handle, so we can push him around. Now if only we had more sidewalks and ones that didn’t end by running into a hedge … Daycare had this particular toy and Lu enjoyed it immensely.

9.       Singing stuffed animal. My aunt gave Lucan a version of this for his first Christmas and he still enjoys hugging the puppy and singing along with it. Kind of adorable.

10.   Kitchen items. Lucan’s friend Bridget has this musical teapot. If he wasn’t playing with her ball popper, he was pouring tea for everyone. Lu also has a mini kitchen for him to concoct creations as well as a mixer. What can I say, momma is a foodie!

And with all of these things, you better ask for a bigger house because you’re going to need it once you get all of this!

I Love a Parade

We took Lucan to his first parade a couple weeks back. It was a big hit! Probably had something to do with the opportunity to eat candy all morning long combined with the chance to point out "trucks" and "cars" and "tractors." Lu doesn't get too much candy unless we are a) bribing b) too lazy to put up the fight and Lu finds some on his own. Usually it's option b and we're too lazy/tired to deal with the inevitable tantrum when we take his treat. So the parade provided a good chance for Lu to munch all morning long on tootsie rolls, suckers, starburst, etc. Super healthy stuff. He did eat a few animal crackers and a box of movie theater popcorn.

Lu and Lance were anxiously awaiting for the parade to begin. They didn't have to wait long as we got there basically as the parade was starting and snagged ourselves awesome curbside seats.

Lance taught Lucan how to wave at the floats and the people throwing candy. Let me tell you, bringing a cute two-year-old to a parade who is waving a little hand at you will elicit a lot of toosie rolls. A lot. And before people just automatically assume that we took all of the candy for ourselves, Lu had his fair share at the parade. 

But how adorable is he? He was enthralled by it all. And notice how his shirt, shorts, sucker and blanket all match. Totally intentional. Just kidding. 

 

 Lance was pointing out the shiny red firetruck. I tried to frame a family picture in the shiny steel. A fun twist. 

It was the perfect morning for a parade. Slightly overcast and not overly hot. No one baked, which was a relief. Lu had fun going after candy in the middle of the street (which made my heart stop a couple of times) and we had fun seeing a parade through his eyes.

I'm glad that we are having these experiences as a family. Lu's learning about life!

A Hungry Caterpillar Birthday Party

Is it too late to be posting about Lucan's June 2 birthday party? Probably.
We switched it up a bit this year and had Lu's party back at my parents home. I decided that a big first birthday party is fun, but subsequent parties for at least a couple of years would be smaller. Just family. And by having it at my parents house, not many people had to travel - just us really. Which is a little annoying, but the trade off was I didn't have to prepare a full meal. I'll take it. I know that it doesn't necessarily look like a smaller party, but it was. Just fruit, cupcakes, tortilla roll-ups, coffee, lemonade and gummy worms - some printable decorations - and a lot of popped balloons.

I had all of the printing done here locally. I used a blank template I found online (sorry - I've forgotten the source, if someone knows, let me know) and added our party details.

A sweet friend had purchased a printable party pack on Etsy and she kindly shared it with me. So cute!

We set out the book so people could understand the party's theme if they hadn't already picked up on it already. My mom had also bought gummy "worms" to pose as caterpillars. I eventually had to put the bowl up higher because Lucan had eaten waaayyy too many.

I had leftover paper straws from Lu's first birthday party. I printed out food labels for everything. It's kind of my party thing. But we had all the corresponding food that the caterpillar ate each day. With an exception to Sat. I wasn't about to buy salami, swiss cheese, pickles, etc. The party garland, which is hard to see, had all sorts of different things on it - all the different foods, munch munch munch, the caterpillar, the butterfly, etc. I cut each circle out by hand (I should have borrowed a punch!) and Lance assembled the night before. Lucan had fun ripping the garland down. So typical.

Lucan was hiding in the "jungle" plants. He needed a break from the festivities.

The "Happy Birthday" banner was left over from last year's party. My intention is to reuse every year! A funny story about the balloons. I originally started with a balloon bunch of 12 balloons. It was a little damp and windy and three balloons popped in the parking lot before I even got them loaded into our suv. But by the time the party started, six more had popped when Lucan was playing with them. He cried. But he wasn't annoyed like his father - who just saw wasted money on over-inflated balloons. I just saw a funny story! 

I had printed off Hungry Caterpillar coloring sheets and bought small boxes of crayons as favors. I got told this was probably a waste of money, but to my delight, each little one colored. SO THERE HATERS.

It's hard to talk over shrieking. Just ask the grandpas.

I could blame the three two-year-olds, but Andrea got her fair share of wrestling in too.

I printed off and assembled all of the cupcake toppers. I hired the cupcakes out to a girl I went to high school with and they were really yummy. White with raspberry filling, peanut-butter filled chocolate and cookies and cream!

Lucan liked the candle. Mesmerized.

I had made the suggestion to my parents to buy Lucan a knock-off Pottery Barn Kids "anywhere" chair. Lu loves Lucan-sized furniture and this chair was no exception. He got a lot of nice gifts from our family!

This was taken on June 3 - Lu's actual birthday. We had a leftover cupcake to commemorate. And the obligatory picture with the party hat. Lance didn't like the hat because the butterfly was too "girly." Pshaw. I bought the hat and printed the butterfly out from a printable from Pottery Barn.