This activity sort of evolved one week day evening, my toddler had watched Monsters University and was inspired by a scene where two characters race each other, he was posing as if on starting blocks then running up and down from the back door in the living room, through the living room to the front door. I decided to make his running a bit more purposeful by placing a bucket by the front door and a small pile of plastic balls by the back door.
I showed him how he could pick up a ball and run with it to the front door and drop it in the bucket. But his mama didn't raise no fool, he took two balls at a time! Clever boy!
Then I remembered something I had seen on Pinterest with a child dropping balls down a paper towel tube taped to a wall. I had always thought this was quite a fun idea except that my son would probably get board with it pretty quickly, so I decided to adapt this idea by taping a crisp tube to the wall above the bucket. My son loved it! He spent quite a while running back and forth with the balls and even carrying the bucket back to the living room and emptying the balls out onto the floor to start again. He needed a bit of help replacing the bucket to underneath the tube as sometimes he was putting it into the wrong place and the balls were dropping on the floor.
A fun activity that kept him entertained for quite some time, and gave him a good burst of exercise to tire him out! Also built on his fine motor skills and problem solving skills.
Have you come up with any new fun activities for toddlers recently? I would love to hear about them, also share your blog posts about activities you do with your toddler.
Monday 6 January 2014
Friday 3 January 2014
2014 Here I Come!
Before I had children time used to go really slowly, I would be counting down the days of the week till the weekend came, weeks would pass agonisingly slowly as I would tick them off till the next school holiday and months seemed like years. When I went on a diet they would only last a few days because I just could not foresee keeping it up for a month let along any longer. When I was pregnant with Boris it seemed like I was pregnant forever. Time had little meaning, I barely noticed the seasons, there was little change in life. Now time has taken on a new meaning. Since having children it seems I can't keep up, time slips through my fingers like sand and before I know it a month has passed and I wonder what happened! My second son is two months old today! Two months! How did that happen? where was I and what on earth was I doing all that time?
Since having children I feel far better at envisioning achieving goals that could take months than I ever could before because it seems I can see time in new way, it feels more physical, I can see it pass through the changes in my children, through the rapid drift from one season to the next, so as we approached the new year I started thinking about all the things I would like to change about my life and how I can go about making those changes over the coming weeks and months.
I have put together a Pinterest folder of images and links relating to some of the things I want to do and to help inspire me to get them done. I would love it if you clicked on the image to take a look at some of my ideas. Let me know what you think.
Since having children I feel far better at envisioning achieving goals that could take months than I ever could before because it seems I can see time in new way, it feels more physical, I can see it pass through the changes in my children, through the rapid drift from one season to the next, so as we approached the new year I started thinking about all the things I would like to change about my life and how I can go about making those changes over the coming weeks and months.
I have put together a Pinterest folder of images and links relating to some of the things I want to do and to help inspire me to get them done. I would love it if you clicked on the image to take a look at some of my ideas. Let me know what you think.
I love making New Years resolutions don't you? It's a fresh start, anything seems possible, you have the whole year ahead of you, and let me tell you, I have made a few, so many in fact that I have had to categorise them! My first category is Self Care, and I am beginning the year by completing the 21 Day Junk Food Challenge; no fast food, crisps, chocolate, sweets, biscuits, cakes, pastries, white bread, fizzy drinks or alcohol. I have really pigged out this Christmas and feel like I need a bit of a cleanse. It hasn't been a great start though, on the 1st of January I accidentally ate a packet of crisps and a bar of chocolate. I know what you are probably thinking "how on earth could you forget!" I guess it's because eating junk had become so habitual that it was just automatic to pick them up and eat them without thinking. I am not giving up though. My altered perspective on time reminds me that one day out of 21 makes little difference and it is still worth doing in spite of my lapse of awareness.
I will share my other resolutions over the coming weeks (one is to blog once a week!) I think it will help me stick to them if I have shared them in a public arena! Are you sharing your New Years Resolutions if you made them? Leave a link and I will take a look.
Here's to a brilliant 2014 for everyone!
Sunday 8 December 2013
I am back! And a Little Bit on Home Birth
Well hello everyone! I am back! And my little one (lets call him Biscuit) is now 5 weeks old! How time flies, and how chubby he has become! Things have really changed round here, I am gradually adjusting to a totally different daily rhythm, and it hasn't been an easy transition, and we aren't quite there yet, but things are starting to feel like the new normal now and we are coming out of the just-muddling-through phase and are entering the ok-lets-do-this phase. It has been and continues to be a challenge at times and there have been many stressful and teary moments (and many more to come I am sure) but I am trying desperately to savor every moment while chasing my tail with photo taking an journal writing, but I guess that's just what it is like so I am trying to go with it and not get stressed about it.
Looking back to how I felt after having Boris couldn't be more different to how I feel after having Biscuit. Boris was born in hospital and I came home feeling very sorry for myself indeed, but after a wonderful home birth experience with Biscuit I feel totally different, good, happy even. I would even go as far as to say that I enjoyed it if you can believe that! I felt so much more in control and empowered by the whole thing and used positive thinking and breathing to get through the pain, I was lucky that it was quick, I was able to walk around, pee when I wanted, make as much noise as I liked and the little man came out in one contraction, I couldn't have asked for a better experience and am so thankful it went well.
For me, the things that really made a difference were:
Looking back to how I felt after having Boris couldn't be more different to how I feel after having Biscuit. Boris was born in hospital and I came home feeling very sorry for myself indeed, but after a wonderful home birth experience with Biscuit I feel totally different, good, happy even. I would even go as far as to say that I enjoyed it if you can believe that! I felt so much more in control and empowered by the whole thing and used positive thinking and breathing to get through the pain, I was lucky that it was quick, I was able to walk around, pee when I wanted, make as much noise as I liked and the little man came out in one contraction, I couldn't have asked for a better experience and am so thankful it went well.
For me, the things that really made a difference were:
- Knowing what to expect, (I didn't convince myself that it wasn't going to hurt this time!)
- Re-reading Ina May's guide to Childbirth (reminded me that my body was designed to do this, and remembered her mantra of "The creator is not a careless mechanic")
- Using positive visualization (I pictured myself breathing the ocean in and out to help with the breathing, but it also made me feel powerful)
- Being at home (sounds obvious but it meant I didn't have the inhibitions I had at hospital, I could totally be like a wild woman)
- Having a midwife who didn't interfere (this was pure luck, but she other than telling me how the labor was progressing, she did nothing which was exactly what I wanted)
- Saying positive words (I told myself to relax, told the baby to move down, said positive words like "love" and "relax")
It was also incredible nice to be able to have a shower in my own bathroom, a cup of tea in my own mug and the first day with my new baby in my own bed.
Hopefully in the coming weeks I will be able to share a few more "fun things to do with toddlers" posts as well as a few "fun things to do with newborns" or something of that nature. (We are having a lot of fun with fiber optics at the moment!) You can forget all about book reviews as I have no time for reading! And cooking is out of the window at the moment, thankfully we have a freezer full of yummies and a cupboard full of tinned food! Thanks to some lovely friends and the supermarket home delivery!
I really hope you will stick around to continue sharing my journey.
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