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.

Trip to Korea

I took Cole to Korea to visit my mom and my sister. It was supposed to be a month trip but got extended to 2 1/2 month trip. Ryan was sad to have us gone for so long but he understood that I needed to be there.

I was worried about taking Cole on such a long plane ride but it went fairly smoothly. He did fuss and cry for abit but I think he handled it pretty well.

I was so glad that we bought an umbrella stroller for the trip. I could take the stroller up to the gate and check it. I was worried that it was going to get damaged during the plane ride but I didn't have to worry. They had it ready for me by the gate when we got off the plane. We got the Uppababy g-lite umbrella stroller and it was fantastic. Easy to carry and so light and plus it reclines so it was great to use when Cole feel asleep in the stroller.

I also brought my Beco baby carrier onto the plane and I ended up using the carrier quite abit on the plane. I put Cole in the carrier and he had an easier time falling asleep snuggled next to me. It's also great to have if your baby is fussy and you need to walk around the plane to sooth the baby. Way easier than carrying the baby in your arms the whole time.

And one more tip I have for the parents when travelling is to make sure to have a bottle or a soother for the baby to suck on during landing and taking off or just breast feed if possible. Cole handled it pretty well.




Here is Cole with his first stamp in his passport. I hope it is first of many to come in his life.

Seattle Trip

We took Cole on a road trip to Seattle during the Easter weekend. Holy Moly, the line up at the border was over 2 hours. But luckily Cole didn't have a problem sitting in his car seat..thank goodness. I can't imagine how horrible it would have been if he started crying in the car during the wait. Thanks Cole!

We haven't been out of of town since our last trip in the summer when we went camping in the interiors. I just needed to get away, it didn't matter where we went but since the dollar is so good, we thought it would be fun to go to the States.
We stopped by the outlet mall and Target on the way to Seattle and what fun it was. We ended up purchasing 3 purses and a wallet from the Coach outlet mall. The deal was absolutely amazing. And we got Cole his bumbo chair with a little tray from Target for $40.00. They would have cost us $80.00 in Canada. I can't believe how things are so much cheaper in States. It's really silly and they are robbing us blind when we shop in Canada.

We stayed at Renaissance Hotel the first night and Westin on the second night. We met Martin, Heidi and Parker for dinner at Cheesecake Factory. The dish I ordered was okay…should have order the Gumbo.

We visited the Pike market place and ended up buying few toys for Cole. The one he is holding while sitting in the bumbo is pretty cool. He loves gnawing on that.

We also visited Pike Market place….how can you not go there. I wish I had taken pictures of the tulips the vendors were selling because they were so beautiful. But we did line up for Piroshky (Russian pastry). I didn't know what it was but there were people lined up for it so I decided to check it out for myself.
It was pretty yummy. I probably didn't need the extra calories in the sweet pastry I got but oh what da heck, I am on vacation.






Overall, it was a fun trip. I can't wait until summer when we go back to catch a ball game.