Slugs on the Refrigerator

To The Beach

Saturday was one of those days where nothing got done, no one could get along and then ended with tears for 3 out of 4 of us. And so, when Sunday dawned bright and warm (ish), there was just one thing to do...go the place where we are all our best.

 

 

Rather than our usual haunt, we headed to the John Muir Country Park on the East coast...and it was just gorgeous.  Highly, highly recommend this stretch of beach and general area for things to do...play park, huge adventure farm thing, pick your own berry farm.  But for us, there is really only one draw:

It never ceases to amaze me how the near constant demands that a 4 year old, 1 year old, and 4 month old place upon us when we are in the house fall almost completely silent as they play and explore the seaside.  

Even the Theo-bug who is in the "I CAN NOT BE PUT DOWN" phase of babyhood, was happy just to lay on the (made my me 10 minutes before we left the house) picnic blanket, look up at the clouds and accept visitors as and when.

But mostly they played and Ellis realised his lifelong dream of "building a sandcastle with a moat and a river to the sea"...surprisingly hard to accomplish with a 1 year old sister who is hell bent on destruction.

As we left, I my mind travelled to a life where we could head to the beach every day...and of course in a place where such adventures could be met by packing less clothes, instead of more and iced tea, instead of hot cocoa.

 

Now, That Was Awesome

 

Of course, there were inherent lessons about colour theory.

Naturally, there was experiments in viscosity.

Sure, there were discusions about smells and diffusion.

But really, it was just awesome to get naked and paint in the shower with food colouring and shaving foam* and then pretend he was a monster.  

Even better? He pretended to be a fireman and hosed the whole shower down afterwards.

Awesome**.

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* idea from here via pinterest

** I've begun using the word "awesome" with increasing frequency. Its possibly a sign of my mental decay. Or a deep connection to my Americanness. Or maybe because its just a good word. Awesome.  Though, if I start using "dude" too much, please send help.  

 

 

When Inspiration Strikes

As any parent of small children will tell you, when inspiration strikes, you gotta move on it OR ELSE

So when I saw this post from Angry Chicken, Ellis was out and Georgia was sleeping for the first time in weeks on her own in bed. I seized that inspiration and ran with it.

Literally.  I ran out into the garden and grabbed some paint left over from painting Ellis' ikea table. I also had a big sheet of plywood that we inherited with the house that had been laying across the roof of the shed. A couple of coats of paint later and we have a 7 foot long outdoor chalkboard. Of course we LOVE it.

Ellis loves to write with wet chalk, as my upstairs windows will tell you. But its messy, so this is the perfect solution. The spray bottle was a BIG hit and we did all eventually get a shower.

Fun, easy and cheap...my 3 favourite things!

Intrepid

It really is the little things, isn't it, that make a life?  No one reminds me more of that than the children I have been blessed to have in my life.

 

My own little man teaches me everyday about the small and subtle.  The excitement that charges through his entire body when he hears an airplane or a helicopter in the distance. The complete reverence with which he views taxi drivers. 

 

This weekend saw us stop in a small craft shop to collect a new pair of children's scissors to replace ones that had gone missing weeks previously.  All other items in the shop were forgotten the moment Ellis saw his plastic beauties.

 

Insisting that we go home immediately to do cutting, Ellis has hardly put his scissors down since he got them.  We have been cutting paper, card, playdough, leaves ("weebs"), staws, eggs, bread, and made various attempts at the cat's ears and fur.  Oh and of course, he has been sleeping with them.

 

We probably should have seen it coming.  Since getting a hair cut a few weeks ago, no one can mention the term without Ellis launching into a full blown story about how he got his hair cut with his Dada at the barber shop.  How he sat on his own and got a lollypop from the hairdresser when he was done.  We can't even walk towards the barber's without requests for a further haircut.

 

I thought the fascination was about the hair and the lollypop, but it looks like it was all about teh scissors.

 

You see they aren't just scissors.  They are red.  They occassionally double as an airplane flying in the sky.  They came in a pack of three so both his father and I can "do cutting" when the mood strikes. They are the first thing he asks for in the morning.  All for 99p. Bargain.

Friday 5

5 things we are loving this spring Friday

1. Spring Scene Body Art

With feet for blue bells and tulips, hand prints for tree leaves and re-purposed painting for a kite, this scene now graces the wall of E Man's bedroom.

2.Resurrection Fern.  Amazing and whimsical art.  I love whimsical.

3. Solar Powered Toy Helicopters. How brilliant are these?

4. The Noticing Project. I love the simplicity of it.

5. Some thoughts on creativity

- Elizabeth Gilbert on Nurturing Creativity

- Can domesticity be feminist?

Chaos Collage

So what do you do when you have the morning off, a clean house and a toddler? Intentionally create a gigantic sticky, seedy mess that spreads throughout your entire house, of course!

Messy play is definitely Ellis' favourite thing.  Be it jumping (and sitting) in every puddle he comes across, pouring water here, there and everywhere, or painting with his entire body, Ellis and mess go hand in hand.  Thats why this activity from First Art: Art Experiences for Toddlers and Twos was such a hit (In the book, its actually called Touch, Pour and Explore, but in our house it results in chaos, hence my retitle).

Anyway, the basic purpose is to let little one explore a whole range of textures and then make a collage out of the materials.  I gave E man a number of bowls filled with bird seed, oatmeal, breadcrumbs, rice, and died beans. You can use other things, such as cotton balls, fabric scaps, yarn, etc, but for some reason E doesn't like the feel of them. Of course as soon as he got his hands on them, they were all mixed together.

The biggest "trick" with this activity is to just give them a lot of time to play with the materials.  It is not for the faint hearted.  Stuff goes everywhere. 


Since I am quite keen to let E man dictate how something works, I don't interfere much.  I did give him some utensils, like spoons, measuring cups, and old egg cartons to play with and showed him how they might be used. Of course, children have their own ideas about goes well with mess.



Once there has been plenty of opportunity to play with the materials (ie most of it is strewn around the room), its time to break out the glue.  I have E hold the bottle and squeeze while he runs around his table. For the first time, most of the glue landed on the paper!

Then its all about the throw.  think of it as really big glitter.




Uh, I did mention this is NOT for the faint hearted, right?

 We've done one in the past for the birds using smooth peanut butter for the glue and just bird seed and other bird-friendly nuts mounted on cardboard or a small piece of wood.   

Happy Mess-making!

Yesterday's Lessons

Everyday is supposed to teach you something, right?  Well, yesterday was full of lessons:

1. Peeling and stacking carrots is interesting work:

 

2. All forms of painting, even dough painting* must be done with one's feet:

3. The same applies to doing the dishes.

4. Toast is best when it has been left in a bus for who knows how many days and then eaten.  When one's mother asks, "Where did you get that toast?" Its best to run away.

5. Reading is an aerobic activity

 

6. Mischief is usually pretty easy to spot and almost always involves silence.


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I have to say that I am thrilled with the response for yesterday's post. Thank you so much for sharing them. The comments had me alternately in tears and laughing throughout the day! What wonderful simple pleasures. You are all invited 'round for a cup of tea:

 

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*Dough Painting (From First Art):

1 part water

1 part salt

1 part flour

Mix until smooth.  Separate into squeeze bottles (I used condiment bottles from the pound shop).

Add a squidge of paint to each bottle and mix.

Let LO squeeze onto heavy paper or cardboard.  It dries puffy and sparkly from the salt.

Our paint turned out a bit runny.  It should come out in ribbons.  I added a bit more flour to the bottles and it worked better.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day.  Love is definitely in the air around here.  Other than my lovely boys, I am in love with making felted crochet bowls. 


 
I made all of these last night!!

Ellis is in love with cutting playdough with plastic toddler scissors.  Hours of entertainment! 


Which is good, as its a busy weekend. Hint:

Craving Green

Remember how I said last week how much I love repurposed stuff?  Well, we have had a huge old ikea bamboo blind sitting in the garden for ages.  On Monday, I woke up to find:

Kev made it for me on Sunday.  Its for growing my beans up.  You see, I love beans.  Who needs flowers when you have runners, french, peas, and broads inhabiting your garden.  I even grow borlotti's out front because they are so beautiful, I couldn't bear for them to be hidden away.  At the height of Ellis' fussiness and constant crying as a young baby and I could cope with nothing else, I could grow beans.

Year after year, we struggle with the bean teepees being knocked over by errant cats and soccer balls.  Not this year.  It is secured into the ground and across the top with an extra clothesline (plus it gives me another 5 feet of hanging space!) I just love it.  I am going to weave some coloured fibers through it to add some flair. I can not wait to grow some things up it!

It seems like everyone is longing for spring.  A number of the blogs I read are planning gardens, planting seeds and just generally thinking about green. Its hit here too (I know, I know, it doesn't really get cold here and the grass is green all year round, but I still LOVE spring!).  We have been attempting a number of spring-like activities.

Forcing crocuses (I wanted to write "grow" with letters, but I couldn't find the "R")

 

A glue and yarn bird's nest for one of my (20) Spool birds.  This activity didn't go very well.  I don't know if I didn't soak the yarn long enough in the glue, if the yarn was too heavy but E hated doing it and they didn't turn out... I am pretty picky about the crafts I do with the wee man and it has to be very participatory and this just was too complex for him at 22 months.

 
And drawing flowers on the glass with wet chalk...well, we tried drawing flowers, but then Ellis wanted choo choos.

However, my current favourite bit of spring is my new bird brooch that my lovely friend made for me at the crafternoon.

She has more in her etsy shop...I may need more than one!

Whose Idea?

Whose idea was it to offer Ellis a snack everytime he gets into his pushchair so that now even when he sees his stroller he demands, "SNACK!"

Whose idea was it to set up water play right AFTER I'd cleaned the kitchen, including the floor?

Who put "earrings" on her son who now demands to wear earrings whenever his mother does?

Oh and who promised their best friend that she would make sour cherry brownies, when she has none of the ingredients in the house and now has to truck to the grocery first thing on Sunday before Crafternoon?

I think it might be her:

 

She is clearly absent minded enough to do all of these things. 

And who wrote on this banana?

I'll give you 2 guesses...and it wasn't me!