Salt Drawing

Here's a super simple activity that Smooch loves.  For those moments when I just need her to sit still for a few minutes. So I can attend to WeeMan, or start dinner, or just take a little sanity break.

Items needed:
1 jelly roll pan (or other large pan with sides)
Salt
dry hands or Q-tips for drawing
IMAGINATION!

Just doodle in the salt with fingers or Q-tips, then shake the pan to erase and start again! Voila -- quiet toddler!  

as you can see, wet/ damp hands = a little more clean-up

Ring Cleaning

Why I love my Ergo

I got my Ergobaby Carrier right before Smooch was born. I did extensive research into different carriers/ slings because I planned to use one instead of the "traditional" transportation system of an infant bucket seat & stroller.  There are a bunch of reasons for this decision:  1) I have carried the bucket seats and they are heavy, bulky, and extremely inconvenient to carry. 2) we had a small 2-door hatchback with limited storage space that was our exclusive mode of transportation, so a big stroller wouldn't fit. 3) I saw the developmental benefits of carrying Smooch as opposed to transporting her. 4) I'd like to think of myself as a fairly active individual, and I loved the idea of bringing Smooch along, particularly hands-free.

Here are the top 5 reasons why I chose the Ergo:

Just one of those days...

Ever had one of those days where you're so tired you realize that partially full dishwasher you're loading dishes into was actually a partially cleaned out dishwasher that got interrupted earlier when your toddler decided to "peekup" the baby & you looked up in time to see nothing but the baby's head still on the floor -- and now you can't tell what's clean & what's dirty, so you decide to just run it all through again, but there's not room for everything, so you've still got a sink full of dirty dishes that are just going to have to wait because the baby is screaming in the bedroom with his 3rd poopy diaper and the toddler is melting down in the kitchen about not being able to scoop her own spoonful of peanut butter?

Yeah, me neither. 

Reading Aloud

Before Smooch came along, I was an ESL tutor for about a year.  I worked with Korean students who were brand new to the country, sometimes brand new to the language.  Without 'formal' ESL training, I relied on my own experiences growing up, and on my tools and strategies from my teaching days back before I got married.  One thing I insisted on doing was reading out loud to the children.  Several of the mothers were concerned that this was a waste of time, so I compiled a few quotes on the benefits of reading out loud, as well as a list of books we read, adding on as we went along.   I thought I'd share it with you here.  It is not a complete list, but reflects about 2 or 3 months of lessons.