Progress Report (1): All by myself

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Well one week into the plan and all is well.  I was bowled over the first day because “M” didn’t come downstairs once.  Not once.  This after the day of ten visits.  Of course post sticker-issuing, and me kicking myself that I had not decided to do this ages ago (and thinking I had completely underestimated my amazing daughters alone time ability) I discovered that she had gone in to visit her dad in his “office” three times during the hour and half she was up there (riiiiiight, novelty of dad, aka favorite person in the whole world, working from home in his office/laundry/play room three steps away from her room, not ideal).  But he assures me she was just in for quick visits and didn’t linger or disrupt him.

The second day “M” clearly thought she was doing an excellent job because she gave herself a sticker.  I did have one visit from her telling me about the sticker issuing during which she quickly realized that neither the sticker initiative nor the visit were good ideas.  Once the threat of said sticker being removed was mentioned she skiddadled.

Day three went well. I let her play outside for a bit and then she went to her room.  Clever girl fooled me about 15 minutes from the end declaring that her clock had broken and that the alarm had gone off and then stopped.  I innocently thought perhaps I had set the wrong time and that somehow simultaneously the alarm went off and the battery died…..silly mom.  I went upstairs to discover that apparently the clock was just moving too slow for her.  Three minutes later when she attempted to pull the same joke again I was wise to the act.  Again the threat of no sticker, and again full compliance from that point on.

Day four not so great.  About half way through I calmly declared that there would be no sticker given today and she instantly relented and admitted she was “having a tough time today”.

Day five.  Stroke of brilliance on my part.  Although part of the goal is for Maddy to come up with things to do herself, sometimes she just needs a project.  To be honest this is what I had been attempting to do pre-chart but I had always given her art projects which eventually became my downfall because she would want glue, scissors, glitter, etc.  Not only did this result in a million trips downstairs to get said art supplies but I was not at all wild about the idea of any of the mentioned items being used without supervision and in “M’s” room.  But today I gave her playdoh.  I set up the playdoh bin on the office chair mat (a giant hard plastic sheet).  ”M” spent the entire time upstairs playing and using her imagination.  She came downstairs when time was up with an entire backstory about what she built and how it all worked.  Definitely not something I plan to give her on a daily basis but a good idea.

ICE CREAM REWARD!

Results after week 1: A solid first week of alone time improvement.  I actually think it’s a good thing that there was at least one rough day/no sticker because she learned that she would only get rewards for having “successful” quiet time days.  I’m hopeful that with more time she’ll get even better about alone time and, who knows, even look forward to it.  Conclusion: Reward-based plan working.

A very happy unbirthday to you! Fish cupcakes (decorated as, not made of….)

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Here Fishy-Fish

“M’s” birthday is in the middle of the summer which I’ve always thought was glorious.  (Think of all the pool/beach parties!!!)  Clearly I was thinking as a 30-something year old rather than a 4 year old because all “M” cares about is people singing to her like they do at school, which apparently includes a special birthday song.  Thankfully all kids with summer birthdays had an early party at school.  Since “M” is the only one in her class with a summer birthday she is essentially getting two parties this year.  Two months apart.  It could be a rather tedious two months considering she is now already actively planning her actual birthday party.  This week I asked her how she would like her school cupcakes decorated, and after giving her several options she chose fish (kind of random considering one of the other options was flowers).

The fish cupcake theme is a great idea for an end of the school picnic (being in “school” with you has been great) or birthday party (beach or under the sea theme), or a pool party.  This idea and many others can be found at the familyfun website.

To decorate the cupcakes you’ll need:

  • 1 large bag of M+Ms
  • 1 12oz can of vanilla frosting
  • food coloring
  • Candy tail.  We used Airheads Extremes Rainbow Berry Sour Candy, but only because it was $1 and the first thing we saw when we walked into Target….and a rainbow (no 3, almost 4, year old girl can ignore a rainbow candy!).  You can use fruit roll ups, or candy shaped like fruit slices.
  • toothpicks (Make sure to warn people that there is a toothpick in the cupcake.  I tried to think of a better way to get the tails to stay upright but was too tired to be that clever.)
Quite possibly the prettiest rainbow I’ve ever seen
  1. The first step is to make the cupcakes.  While cooling we sorted the M+Ms.
  2. Divide frosting into several different bowls.  I used a dallop of frosting in 5 different bowls and then just added more when we needed it, but I would guess that it was about 1/3-1/2 cup of icing for each color.
  3. Add food coloring to the white icing and mix.
  4. Once the cupcakes have cooled frost the cupcakes with the various shades of frosting (we did 4-5 cupcakes per color) and now you are ready to decorate.
  5. Cover half of the cupcake with M+Ms for the scales, add two M+Ms for the mouth, and one brown M+M for the eye.
  6. Lastly, cut fruit candy into triangles for the tail and then attach it to the back of the fish with a toothpick.

The design team and I differed on the exact design for the fish.  For instance A-type me thought that the scales of the fish had to be the same as the icing color.  My color-blind husband and full of sass daughter felt otherwise.  Hmpf.  (And yes that is a highchair tray that they are on.  I need a bigger kitchen.)  Of course, regardless how they were decorated they were awesome, the kids loved them, “M” couldn’t have been more happy to have them as her unbirthday treat.  In fact she was so excited for her school birthday party to reveal the cupcakes that at the very first sign of dawn she woke up, ran downstairs and woke up my husband and I.  Coffee, where’s my coffee?

The bubble master

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Our backyard is essentially a water-centric fairground these days.  We have a baby pool, sprinkler, home-fashioned water table (ok it’s a large tupperware), there are bikes, wagons, and balls everywhere and last but not least, bubbles.  Well today was certainly not warm or sunny enough for the pool BUT I have been hoping to try out something I saw here.  My life would be easier with a sous chef (or mommy-helper equivalent).  Like on tv when they are baking something and they show you how to mix it and then instantly pull the finished one out of the oven.  I need that.  Instead I get an idea and then attempt to set things up with kids in tow.  Which sometimes is enough to get me to rethink my idea ten times over.  But persistence won out today and this was soooo much fun.  I found myself (no other way to put it) squealing with joy.  And I’m sure at one point I might have yelled out “I am the bubble master!”.  It’s official, I’m delirious.  Oh well.  It was fun nonetheless.  Ladies and gentlemen I give to you bubbles as big as your child.

I wrapped a hula hoop with yarn to soak up the solution.  

I then made my normal bubble solution but while wrapping the hula hoop my children helped themselves, and the yard, to half of it.  Not to be deterred I just poured the remaining cups (about 3) into our baby pool and then added enough water (hard to say how much but it is a rather large pool) to have a thin layer of soapy water on the bottom of the pool.  All this to say, no real bubble recipe is needed this was definitely a dilute solution and it still worked, although I recommend using a bubble solution with corn syrup for tougher bubbles.

My daughter then attempted to put herself in a bubble and “go for a ride in the sky” for the next thirty minutes.

While she was doing that I entertained “J” making bubbles.  Using what was readily available I tied some leftover yarn into a circle and used that to make bubbles.  Forget bubblewands, going oldschool rocked.  I highly recommend both the hula hoop bubbles, just for the crazy experience, and yarn bubbles, which actually was a good way for “M” to work on coordination and kept “J” and I busy for at least half hour.

Homemade puff paint

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I’m all about mixing science and art time.  ”M” is so into science/art projects that every time we do one she ends up inspired and attempts to create something new long after we’re done.  Like today she mixed the remaining paint with the leftover ingredients, asked for some Cheerios (that was a no), and stirred it all together to make…..glitter glue!  Ok, not so much.  In fact it was just painty saltwater.  But I love that she is always thinking and imagining and coming up with new things (FYI “M” is of the mind that it just needs to rest awhile and what she’s made will certainly work….we’re checking on it’s progress tomorrow).

To make puffy paint I used this superfantastic housingaforest.com recipe.  This is a must-do activity.  It is so much fun and the results are great.

What’s great is that this paint is made with a grand total of four completely kid-friendly ingredients.  Even better you already have all of these ingredients!

Instead of bowls I let “M” mix everything in baggies.  Let me just say that this recipe results in paint with the consistency of cookie dough.  Lovely raw cookie dough…..love….cookie dough….Here’s what you’ll need:

  • plastic baggies
  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 2 tsp salt
  • food coloring
  • A little more than 1/3 cup water (or a little less than 1/2 cup)
  • construction paper, cardboard, or mat board
Put all of the dry ingredients in baggies (one for each color), mix well.  Shake and squish to your hearts content.  Then add the water and repeat.
I initially tried to snip the corner of the baggie and pipe it on to the paper.  Worked great for me, not so much for the 3 year old, but squeeze bottles can be found/purchased in any craft store (usually in the food area).
After you’ve finished your creation microwave for 20-30 seconds (maybe longer depending on how much paint you use) and…..POOF!  Bonus the “paint” is now basically rubberized, so you can touch it (it feels like soft plastic) and it will last!
“M” and I made self portraits:
“M” prebake…..
POOF!
Moi:
Poof!
Seriously how great is this stuff?

PUFF! LOVE!

Go ahead, go make some.

I should mention that the above recipe was our second attempt.  Our first attempt at making homemade puff paint used this recipe:

  • 1 cup salt
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 cup water
  • food coloring

FYI this recipe makes a ton 3 cups of paint.  I only realized that once we had added food coloring.  Thankfully we started with yellow so split into three containers, added some blue dye to one, added red dye to other and there ya go, three colors.  The problem that I have with this recipe is that I was never able to get the flour/salt clumps out.  So putting it into a squirt bottle was torture for “M”, they kept getting clogged and she lost interest pretty quickly.  Not to mention there was not a lot of puffing going on here.  It’s quite possible that I added a little too much of one thing, not enough of another, or just didn’t mix enough.  So if you stumble across this recipe somewhere else and it looks as if they are having a wonderful time, go ahead and give it a try (then tell me if it worked out loads better for you).

Afterwards I let it dry out and this is the end result.

Garden party flower cake

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As a relative newcomer to “school snack matron” I have struggled with what to send in for snack time at “M’s” school when it’s our turn.  I can’t say for sure but I think it’s gone a little something like this: apples and goldfish, bananas and goldfish, grapes and goldfish, blueberries and goldfish.  But wait! Not just any goldfish.  The wheat kind.  See?  I can do healthy.  (Ok, goal for next year, go organic and be wonderful.)  Ironically I have actually fretted about this “problem” and have assumed that all the other moms of course came up with wonderfully healthy options for the class far better than my own.  Then came the day that “M” came home ecstatic about eating dirt.

Instant thoughts included: So the teachers keeping a close eye on you then?  You’ve taken up a vegetarian lifestyle that includes dirt?  What no twigs?  Need more fiber?  But instead I went with the ever-clever mom default: “Oh?”

“Yeah mom!  Dirt!  And worms!  Gummy worms!”

Oooohh, the good old dirt cup snack.  What a minute.  You mean all this time I could have been sending in sugar?  (goal for next year, go organic and be wonderful)

“M” was so eager to share this wonderfulness with me that she wanted to make them at home.  I should just come clean now and admit that I have never made, nor eaten, a dessert dirt cup (sadly I cannot say the same thing about actual dirt, according to certain sources).  While going online to research the ingredients I got inspiration from thepioneerwoman a site I recently discovered and will likely be returning to.  Daily.  I decided to make what I’ve named the “garden party cake” which I like to think of as a dirt cake with class.

Ingredients:

  • Pound cake.  Here’s a tip, two words, I’ll whisper it.  Sara Lee.  Using it frozen is perfect.  Bonus: It comes with its own “planter”.
  • Ice cream (or pudding, next time I think I’ll try pudding)
  • Oreos
  • Gummy worms (optional)
  • Fake flowers and butterflies
Cut the cake in half using a serrated knife (be a little more generous on the bottom half, about an inch of cake).  Put this half back into the container.  Go ahead and nibble on the top half or be responsible and save it for some other wonderful dessert idea.
Add ice cream (or pudding).  I let the ice cream thaw for a few minutes beforehand so that it was more cooperative.  You can put worms in this layer as well.  Put back in freezer to firm up, no one wants runny ice cream.
Make dirt by crushing the Oreos.  I pureed mine in the food processor.  Outside.  What can I say?  Little man needed a nap and I wasn’t willing to do anything to jeopardize it.
Add a healthy layer of “dirt” on top.
Add worms.  Actually now might be a good time to interject a more boy-friendly cake.  Skip the flowers, add more worms.

Add flowers.  I bought two bunches at Michaels for $1 each and then trimmed each stem into individual blooms.

Add some butterflies and you have yourself a delectable and fancy* garden party cake.

* In the eye of the child beholder.  Your mother in law might not be too keen on eating ice cream and Oreo dust in a tin pan but my daughter thought this cake was the “most fanciest” dessert she’d ever seen.

Homemade bird feeders: If you make them, they will come

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A few months ago we meandered into the cleaning supplies aisle at the grocery store in the search for Borax.  Wouldn’t you know that also happens to be the pet food aisle?  Quite possibly my kids favorite trip to the store ever.  ”J” went from bag to bag making the various animals noises that he spotted in each picture (he also claimed a dog bowl as a souvenir that I let him carry until check out).  ”M” went from bag to bag daydreaming about all the pets she may someday have.  Sadly for her kitten dreams, daddy is sooo allergic.  But after about 30 minutes, the terms of compromise, in order to actually move out of that aisle and finish shopping, were to buy a bird feeder (bonus-it was on sale for $2).  We watched intently as the birdy-word spread about the promise of food in our yard.  And were sad to see it go after awhile.  So I was really excited by the idea of making our own birdfeeders.  Coincidentally I now have enough birdseed to last the year sitting in my pantry.

I used the recipe I found at jugglingwithkids.com.  We made a double batch since the recipe is enough for only two shapes.  We made several large and four small ones (“M” called them birdy appetizers).

Proof positive that if you build them, they will come our 1/2 acre (generously) lot is literally littered with bird nests.  My favorite is the one under the awning.  I believe crazy birds live there.  Ones with zero housekeeping skills.

Things I might do differently next time:  Although we do have a box of 100 plastic cookie cutters that are adorable, they are pretty shallow.  Getting the bird feeder out of the cookie cutter resulted in a few casualties because several of them were either stuck or frail from being so thin.  Also I noticed that the gelatin pooled on the bottom of the bird feeder, perhaps turning over the cookie cutter periodically as it is setting would help prevent this.  Lastly getting the string through the bird feeder proved to be challenging even with the hole, especially with the smaller ones (yes I should have tried something other than yarn, but it’s what we had).  For the next round I might actually embed the string into the bird feeder; pour half, place a string loop, cover with remaining food.

Happy Mothers Day!

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I picked “M” up from school Friday, looked into her bucket (which is used daily to carry things back and forth)  and saw this green blob with yellow spots.  I started with “so what’s this?” but not wanting “M” to be self conscience about her mini masterpiece, as she does when she can’t recall what exactly it was she drew days before, I quickly followed with “Oooohh is it a frog? A turtle? Are these it’s eyes?”, so that we could retrace and reinterpret the drawing together.  Her reply: “Silly mom, it’s you!  I painted your picture.”  (I choose to see the good in this.  As in she was trying to make me feel good at that precise moment when instead of admitting that what is clearly a happy blob frog she painted me.)  But now that I think about it, hmm, I guess I can see it.  Mom on a really, bad, awful, no coffee kind of day.

Bad day mom….yet still smiling (albeit in a green blob frog kinda way)

Alternatively, she drew this one of me just a couple of weeks ago.  It’s one of my favorites.  (I’m dancing and surrounded by a rainbow)

Mom on a good day

The kids made Mothers Day treats at school.  ”M” already loves school but apparently this craft has been providing extra motivation to be there.  She’s been quietly (and not so quietly) whispering about it to her dad usually followed with an excited giggle.  One day in the car on the way home she was looking a little down and the cute patoot just couldn’t help herself, she said: “I’m sorry mom, I tried.  I just don’t think I used enough glitter on your secret treat.”  Silly girl, I love it almost as much as I love you and it’s perfect.

This morning “M” took to calling me a queen.  Which, on Mother’s Day, suits me just fine.  While in hot pursuit of something or other that she had displaced, I, in my infinite wisdom, suggested she look in her room.  And she looked at me and with complete sincerity said “See mom, that’s why you’re the queen, because you are so smart.”  And then she gave me the sweetest kiss and hug.  I then looked over at my son who promptly dropped the book he had been engrossed in (and beating the floor with) and toddler-ran over for a snuggle.  It’s good to be queen.

“Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.” — Elizabeth Stone

Happy Mother’s Day!!!

A tisket, a tasket, a watermelon basket!

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Years ago my husband and I traveled up to Maine for his stepsisters wedding.  We arrived the night before the big event and as soon as I walked in my Step-Mother-in-Law exclaimed “Oh I’m so glad you’re here I have something for you to do.  Can you carve this watermelon for tomorrow?”  Oh sure, what would you like?  A swan?  Perhaps two?  Kissing?  Oh wait, you’re serious.  Um….ok.  By default I decided on making a basket and filling the watermelon basket with fruit.  It actually wasn’t difficult (other than squelching my constant desire to even out the sides until everything was perfectly level) and was a big hit.

This week “M” had her end of the school year class picnic (how can there only be two weeks of school left?!?).  Weeks ago she decided we should sign up to bring fruit and after making such a big and difficult decision she proudly told just about everyone we came across what she would be bringing to her school picnic (jokes on you for making eye contact with a chatty 3 year old).  In order to live up to the hype, of course a watermelon fruit basket was in order.

This is a watermelon

Step 1: Buy a watermelon.

Make a basket

Step 2: Try to find center, leaving an inch or so for the handle, cut down a few inches on both sides of the handle and then in from the sides.

Hollow the basket

Step 3:  Empty out the basket.  I like to use a melon baller for this step.  I mean if you’re taking the time to make a basket clearly you want cute fruit.  What’s cuter than little balls of melon?  (Mental note: when recruiting your 3 -almost 4- year old daughter to help right before bed time be prepared for flying fruit.  Grrrrr.)

Fill

Step 4: Fill the basket.  I did all of the basket making and hollowing the night before.  Right before the picnic I filled it up with melon and grapes and tossed them together.

Bassinets Recalled by Kohlcraft

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A recall has been issued on bassinets made by kohlcraft because of a potential fall hazard.  Stop use immediately and call company for repair kit and instructions for securing the latches to the metal frame.  For the full report click on the link above.

KB021-ARC- Tender Vibes Travel Bassinet (lime green cover)

KB022-VER- Tender Vibes Travel Bassinet

KB039-CMR1- Tender Vibes Deluxe Rocking Bassinet (polka dot cover)

KB043-BNT1- Light Vibes Deluxe Rocking Bassinet