Bubbles!!!

A dry day finally. It's been raining for few days with a cold temperature and today was an actual dry day.

I took the boys out to the little courtyard we have in our building. It's not a big space but it is pretty quiet and isolated. They can be quite loud at times and it is good for us to have a space that isn't very intrusive.

I took out a ball and bubble with me. Bubbles are pretty magical. They hold this special hold over little kids; they love to chase them, catch them and try to blow them. Cole haven't mastered the art of blowing bubbles but he does try. And when he does, he looks pretty cute with his cheeks puffed up and sucking them in to blow.




It was pretty fun watching the boys run and chase after the bubbles.

I used bubble solution I bought at a store but I did find this recipe online. I am going to give it a try when I run out of the bubble solution I have at home.


1/2 cup of dishwashing liquid (Dawn or Joy)
2 cups of water
2 teaspoons of sugar

Tracks and Trucks

Despite my attempt to get Cole to like art, he just isn't really into it. He will sit and draw for a minute or two but he won't sit and do art. Yes, I know he is only two and he is like a typical child whose attention span is short.

In order to engage him more in art, I decided to incorporate cars and trucks with paint.

As soon as I got the paint, paper and of course, the cars out, he immediately gravitated towards the paper taped to the floor.

He sat down and I showed him to drive his truck through the paint tray and roll it on the paper. No more explanation was needed after this as he immediately started painting with the cars. He made tracks around, forward and back.

I loved seeing him so focused and interested in the process of creating the tracks on the paper. I tried to point out the different tracks made by various cars.




Materials Needed:

• Paint (washable kind, because you know your kids)


• Roll of paper (I got it at Ikea for under $5.00)


• Trucks and cars ( the ones that can be washed afterwards, so no battery operated toys)


• Tray for the paint

This can naturally progress into water play if you want. Have a bucket of warm, soapy water ready and they can help wash the cars in the bucket.

Today's art project

Few days ago,I vowed to myself that I am going to try a new, fun art idea with Cole. So today, I prepared a homemade finger paint using corn starch and water.

I thought Cole would go nuts over it because it is such a tactile sensory activity and I just assumed he would love it. And this is where a curve ball comes at me and I am totally wrong. He didn't want to touch it at all. He made a face at it like it was something totally gross. All he wanted to do was to smear it using a plastic spoon I gave him.



Oh well. When a life gives you lemon, you make lemonade. Right? So I just gave him a cotton swab and a knife to use as a tool to scoop the paint out and have fun with it.



This doesn't mean I am giving up on this idea of providing him with different experiences. Today may have not turned out the way I expected it to but life is like that. Unpredictable and unexpected. I will just have to try this again on a different day and see how it goes.

If you are interested in knowing the recipe.

1/2 cup cornstarch
3 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups cold water
food coloring

Directions

In a medium pan, mix all the ingredients together to make the finger paint. Cook over low heat 10 to 15 minutes. Keep stirring the finger paint mixture until it is smooth and thick. After the finger paint has thickened take the pan off the stove and let the mixture cool.

After cooling, divide the finger paint into storage containers depending on how many colors you would like. Add a few drops of food coloring to each container. Stir the coloring in to the paint to determine the shade of color. You’re ready to finger paint! Cover tightly when storing.

I got this from this mom who blogs as well. www.amomwithalessonplan.com

Bye bye nana

Yesterday, Cole's great grandma Pat passed away. Cole's too young to understand what that means now and I am relieved that this is the case. However, I do feel a sense of loss and sadness knowing that he will never get to know her or my mother who passed away last year.




I am just so glad that Cole got a chance to meet her this past Spring. She just adored him and I am so happy that she got to meet him, hug him and touch him.

We love you Nana and we hope you are in a good place looking down at us. I will try to tell Cole about you so he knows what a good person you were and how much you loved him.

Tracing Art

Cole and I did tracing art today. I know most boys don't like art. I am being stereotypical here but coming from an Early childhood background, boys tend to stay away from the art table unless there are cars or messy art available whereas girls just flock to art table every chance they get. So I wanted to introduce art to Cole at an early age so he would get used to it and foster his creative side.

We've been drawing with crayons, markers and paint but I wanted to do something new today.

We started tracing our hands and feet with the crayon.



Here he is trying to trace my hand. He didn't get it right away at first but he did get the idea eventually.



I think it is extremely important to foster all the aspects of the development. It's like trying new food with a baby. We should keep introducing them to new experiences even if they look like they hate it, they may learn to love it over time.

Toddlerhood

It has been TOO long since I have blogged about Cole.

Lots have changed since then. He is now a toddler (now 21 months old). I don't know what happened to my easy going, happy baby. He's now a grumpy child who is truly displaying all the dreaded characteristics of a toddler.

But every time he kisses me and hugs me, I melt and I just love him even more….until he decides that he hates his stroller in the middle of a store and want to run around. Then all my patience goes out the window and I am feeling so frustrated.

But I came across this article on 25 things to do with your toddler boy and one of the thing was to tickle him when he is feeling mean or when I am feeling mean. I took that to heart and I am going to try that one instead of just getting mad. I am going to extinguish all my mean demons and tickle him instead.

I am sure all the parents can relate to what I feel. I know it will get better and I know one day I will look back on these times when Cole is much older and wish he would be my little toddler again who fits perfectly into my arms and give me that adoring looks and kisses.

Here is the link to 25 things to do with your toddler boy or girl.


http://couragezone.com/blog/?p=155

Bath time

Cole had his bath with his nephew Noah today. They just looked so cute in that bathtub together. They are still young that it's not weird to have two boys in the tub together.

They didn't really interact with each other but it was still cute to see the boys together, taking a bath together. I am posting a picture of Cole in the bath but not the one with Noah as the picture of them together has to be censored.

I am sure this picture will be used at some point in their future (probably at their wedding). Sorry boys. You can blame me later but hopefully you will find it humorous.