A Place All Her Own

In an attempt to provide Little Bit with more independence, we decided to give up some precious real estate in our kitchen (actually, it was only being used to hold the gazillion phone books that we've somehow accumulated over the past six months). She now has her own cabinet filled with her own stuff.

I didn't have any shelf-liner handy, so I cut up some empty cereal boxes that were just waiting to be made useful, and put some poster putty on the bottom to keep them from sliding around. Then, I cut about an inch off the bottom of an oatmeal box and used it to hold her forks and spoons.

Now, she can get her own dishes out at dinner time and put them away when they're finished being washed. She loves being helpful like that :).

My next goals are to teach her to fold laundry and dust. Don't you just love the "Mommy's little helper" stage?

Bird Watching with Binoculars

I had a flood of ideas going through my mind when I read that this week's Unplugged Project theme would be birds. There are so many possibilities when you consider projects involving eggs, feathers, seeds, or birds themselves.

I concluded that I could get rid of some of the garbage I've been collecting by making binoculars out of toilet paper rolls. From there, I thought it might be neat to gather a collection of photos of some of the birds who frequent our backyard and chart how often we see them.

Little Bit has gotten better about differentiating between ducks and geese and some of the other birds we see regularly, so this seemed like a great way to get her to start really looking for differences between the various bird species.

Daddy-O obligingly went around and snapped some photos of birds that were hanging around. Within about 45 minutes he had photographed geese, Mallard and Muscovy ducks, coots, several finches, a crow, and a woodpecker.

Once they were printed, we glued them onto our chart.

As for the binoculars, Little Bit got to pick out some wrapping paper around which to wrap the TP rolls. Not surprisingly, she chose the pink with polka dots paper.

We affixed the paper to the TP rolls, then roughly followed these instructions to make the binoculars. Once they were complete, I took Little Bit outside to show her how to use her new toy.

 

She caught on quickly!

Each day Little Bit will put stickers beside the pictures of birds that we see while we're outside. I will continue to add photos of birds as we come across them.

Thanks, Mom Unplugged for this week's bird theme! Come on over to Unplug Your Kids to see what ideas others came up with!

Flattery? Or Blatant Disrespect for Copyright?

So, what do you do when you find out somebody out there in Bloggy Land decided to copy an ENTIRE post off your blog; links, pictures, and all?

No credit.

No links back.

Absolutely no mention of your original post.

I have no idea either. The blog-keeper doesn't provide an Email address, so I left a comment requesting that they credit the "auther." Apparently I was in such a rage that my nostrils were flaring and I couldn't see what I was typing. So now I have this idiotic comment hanging around some plagiarizing blogger's site saying, "Hey, look at me. I'm the moron who wrote this to begin with and I want you to know it."

Yes, it is nice to know that someone had an interest in what I wrote. But I need props. I need recognition. I need a link back to my original post and ToddleBits displayed prominently either before or after the text.

So, Mr. or Mrs. Plagiarizing Blogger, if you're reading this, you should know that if you don't credit my work I will probably....do nothing- because I avoid confrontations like I avoid eating shrimp and chocolate during the same meal. But you can be sure that I think what you did is very, very wrong.

And that's all I'm going to say about that.

The Crafty Crow

Need some interesting new craft ideas for your kids? Go check out The Crafty Crow! This is one of my new faves. I found it while clicking around on Craftzine.com and I've been hooked ever since.

And...toot-too-la-looo...sound the bugles! Right now the Edible Finger Paints project that we did recently is being highlighted there! Go check it out and see what other fabulous ideas you come away with. I guarantee you'll be back again!

WW: The Shirt Says It All

Earth Day Round-Up!

Since the '70s, Earth Day's environmental significance has continued to grow. While it's true that "everyday should be Earth Day" sometimes we need a little reminder to stop for a moment and take a mental inventory of what we're doing to help .

Over the past few weeks, we have tried to engage in activities that would instill in Little Bit an appreciation for the natural beauty and wonder that surround us.

We:

• gave some of our birdies a yummy snack.
• enjoyed a laid-back nature walk.
• learned how to plant seedlings here and here.

We also read this very sweet Little Golden Book:

Aside from it being a little wordy at times, this book perfectly explains to little ones that everything we see around us is a gift from God.

Simple activities like such as these can have lasting impacts on our children.

Did you do anything with your family to commemorate this day? If so, please feel free to post your link to share with others!

Scissor Flowers

Our theme for this week's Unplugged Project was scissors. Scissors? What in the world can I do with a child just shy of 2 years old with scissors? She can't use them to cut with...I tried and she is nowhere near ready. So, I decided we would try to turn the scissors into flowers and make a garden!

I figured we could just use a pair of old-school safety scissors, separate them, and use each side as our flower structure. It sounded easy enough, but getting the scissors apart proved more difficult than expected.

Daddy-O had to break out the power tools.

Once the scissors were separated, I used pipe cleaners to shape flower petals around the handles. I then got an old shoe box and put florists foam on the inside.

I poked some holes for seeds.

Little Bit was responsible for sewing the seeds and watering.

 

She looks like she's trying so hard to water her little seedlings well without spilling anything!

And voila! Instant blooms!

   

Here is our finished flower box. We added some moss to help hide the unsightly florists foam, and overall I think it turned out rather nicely!

While this isn't a project I would do again, due to the difficulty of breaking the scissors, I was glad to be able to reiterate the steps in planting seeds with Little Bit.

To see what others did with scissors this week, click here!

A Seed Has Been Planted

Yesterday we planted a few seeds...

We got some annuals and followed these directions on using eggshells and toilet paper rolls for planters.

Little Bit did a fantastic job at pouring the potting soil into our tiny planters.

In fact, she didn't want to stop handling the dirt; so soft and fluffy!

I helped her use her new snail-shaped watering can.

And now we wait!

Seeds. Soil. Water. This was all it took to hold my little girl's attention longer than any of our projects thus far. What is it about gardening that is so attractive to youngsters? Is it the getting dirty part? Or is it that on some level we are all drawn to the natural world?

The flowers we planted will sprout, bloom, and die, but my daughter will learn lessons to last a lifetime: responsibility, patience, and an appreciation for God's creations.

Yesterday we planted a few seeds...

Mountain of Pillows

Here's a little boredom buster that we do around here sometimes.

Collect as many pillows from around the house as you can.

Put them in a big 'ol pile in the middle of the room.

Then let the kids go at it!

It'll wear your little one out and buy you a few minutes until you can think of something else to do!

Have fun!

Finding Nature

As Earth Day approaches, we've been trying to do more activities that focus on appreciating nature. We recently made a special treat for our backyard birds, and today we went on a nature walk!

The weather was perfect: clear skies and light sweaters!

As we began our walk, we came across a fence blanketed with lusciously sweet Jasmine. Delicious!

We walked some more and soon discovered a school of happy tadpoles wriggling around in what was little more than a puddle of water. Little Bit wanted to hold one, so my cuz fished one out to show it to her. I was thrilled to come across the tadpoles. I can't remember when the last time was that I saw one...perhaps not since I was a kid myself and actually took the time to look for such tiny beings.

We tried to let Little Bit set the pace as she stopped here and there to examine a weed or admire a flower.

  

So often she sits relegated in her stroller and I push her along steadily forward. Today we paused, listened to, smelled, and discovered the world. Our world. Our beautiful Earth.

Wordless Wednesday: A Little Crack

***I know it's a little blurry, but I couldn't resist!***

Themed Activities

I had always envisioned that once Little Bit got old enough, we would do fun projects together all the time. I got books and looked online for ideas, but we never really did anything...until...I started participating in Mom Unplugged's weekly themed projects.

For some reason, having a theme and a deadline every week has made all the difference in coming up with ideas and actually following through with them.

We planted a rock garden for the rocks theme,

made a memory book for the books theme,

and painted with pudding for the food theme.

It has been a blast! This week the theme is scissors. Since Little Bit is just shy of two-years-old, it will be a fun challenge to come up with something for her!

Even if you don't want to join the Unplugged themes, it would be really easy to do your own weekly themes. Just take some concepts, either as specific or as general as you wish, put them in a box and pull one out every week. Once you have the theme, you've got some direction on what to focus on in your search and the fun can ensue!

This is what's been working for me lately, and I have to give a shout-out to Seeking Imperfection for sharing it with me! To see what works for others this week visit WFMW at Rocks In My Dryer!

 

Lemme know: How do you come up with ideas for activities to do with your kids?

Seven Random Things

I've received my first tag from Jenny at Bits and Pieces to share seven random nuggets of information about myself. I'm a newbie at this, so bear with me!

Here are the rules:

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share seven facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Here is some very useless information about myself:

1. I am a disaster when it comes to keeping things neat/tidy/organized. I've lived in this house since October and have yet to dust- anything. I've mopped 3 times. I come to terms with this when I think of the reputation that really smart people have of being messy; like a scatterbrained professor. That's what I am. I'm a scatterbrained stay-at-home-mom. I've got too much going on inside this smart brain of mine to keep up with tedious things like sweeping. This makes me feel better about my unkempt home.

2. I'm in the process of coining a new term: "Laptop Coupling." It's what Daddy-O and I do (or did when I actually had reasonable battery life on my laptop) once we've gotten the kids in bed and we're ready to spend quality time together. We sit next to each other on the couch with our respective laptops and tell each other about what we're doing. We share funny You Tube videos. Sometimes we will look at each other's screens and sometimes we will just IM the links. One time we played Scrabble online like this. But we were in bed, not on the couch. I'm telling you about this new term so that you can start using it, and if you hear someone else use in in a few months, you will know it came from here.

3. Since I'm talking about words, I will tell you that my least favorite words are "interim," "plethora," and "random." These are words that have been overused by either the general public or people very close to me, and I would be extremely happy if I never heard any of these words again. I will put aside my disdain for "random" for this post ONLY!

4. My dog is whining to go outside but I am putting it off because this is my free time and I don't like it to be interrupted.

5. I used to be a very big animal person...before I started making babies. I've had dogs, a horse, cats, rabbits, a snake (very briefly), birds, guinea pigs , and a little green tree frog. Actually, the frog lived in my shower and I would talk to him while washing, so I consider him a pet.

6. I just shared with Daddy-O that I am on number 6. I said, "Woo Hoo! I'm getting there!" He thought I said, "Woo Hoo! I'm beating you!" It was funny for both of us (because we aren't racing) and a nice moment of sharing. This is all part of Laptop Coupling, even though I'm not sitting right next to him.

7. I'm collecting garbage because I have this idea that I'm going green and that I'm a crafty person. Neither of which is really true. So I have a growing collection of garbage that I will one day use for crafts. But probably not. It will probably still end up in a landfill somewhere because I am neither green nor crafty.

Now, here are seven happenin' folks who can either play along or not. But these are fun, so you should totally do it!

1. Seeking Imperfection
2. Music Mom of 2
3. Mudpies to Dragonflies
4. What Works for Us
5. Springtree Road
6. This Recycled Life
7. If I Only Had Super Powers

If you want to play, just jump right in! Leave a comment and I'll come over to your place!

Edited (4/17/08): And one more for good measure...Jennifer!

Fun with Food

We had a blast doing this week's Unplugged Project. I was so excited about the theme, food! There were a ton of projects that I wanted to do with Little Bit, but ultimately I decided on painting with edible finger paints and making an ice cream cone bird feeder. I know, I've done painting in the past (here also), but it's fun, so why not?!

Pudding Paint

I saw the edible finger paint idea here and I thought it was the perfect trifecta: easy, messy, yummy!

What you'll need:

• Vanilla pudding
• Food coloring
• Paper plates
• Bowls for mixing colors

First I mixed the vanilla pudding with food coloring.

Then I stripped Little Bit down and let her start painting. She painted some...

and ate some...

 

and painted some more...

and ate some more...

 

and by the end she was strangely reminiscent of McCauley Culkin in that one movie:

But, she had fun

and created a masterpiece!

 

Ice Cream Cone Bird Feeder

This was actually one of our Earth Day projects, but it fit in perfectly with the food theme so I'm posting it here.

For this project you will need:

• Ice cream cones
• Peanut butter
• Cheerios
• Bird seed
• String (we used zip ties)

First I spread the peanut butter onto the cone.

Then I put the cone onto the plate of Cheerios and bird seed. I love Little Bit's expression here! It looks like she's pleading with her Daddy to please get her out of another one of Mommy's wacky projects.

But, she was a good sport and helped get the bird food onto the cone!

With a little bit of my help, we ended up with this:

I can't wait for the birds to catch wind of the sweet treats hanging from our trees!

 

We have so much fun doing these projects. To see what others did with this week's food theme, visit the Unplug Your Kids blog.

Earth Day 2008: Activities for Toddlers

April 22 is Earth Day! What are you going to do to introduce your toddler to this very important day of awareness?

Here are a few activities that we're thinking about doing!

Sort Recyclables

One of the skills that Toddlers continue to improve upon is sorting, so why not give them some more practice? Depending on your child's ability, offer him several of two or more categories of items such as cardboard, plastic, and aluminum. Of course, you'll want to ensure that all items are safe and clean.

For the littlest sorters, keep it on the simple side with two types of items. For example, toilet paper rolls and empty water bottles. For older kids, try providing a more varied selection.

Build a Birdhouse

Birdhouses can be a great way for youngsters to see how nature is working right in their backyard. Build a house worthy of nesting and your tot might even get to see eggs and, later, baby birds! (Of course, you should not tamper with bird eggs or babies).

You can make your birdhouse from recycled materials such as a milk carton, a coffee can, a juice container, or a gourd!

Make a Bird Feeder

While you're providing a cozy home for your backyard birds, why not give them something munch on as well?

You can use everyday household items to make this bird feeder.

Or use some of your toddler's favorite foods...Cheerios and peanut butter! (but don't forget the birdseed ;) ) You can find instructions for this feeder here.

Plant Something

The rewards of growing live plants are far-reaching.

Plant a tree with your child and explain to them that as the tree grows it will provide shade for us and a home for birds and squirrels.

Grow any kind of edible plant: a tomato, some cabbage, or even a few herbs. Once the plants are grown, your toddler can then experience the satisfaction of eating the fruits of his labor!

Plant some flowers! Flowers are especially intriguing for our young ones simply because of their aesthetically pleasing qualities: they are colorful, often fragrant, and have interesting textures to explore. Or, take advantage of the Spring bulbs that are popping up this time of year. Give your toddler a daily peek at the flowers and anticipate their "grand openings." We just had some lilies shoot up and every day I would explain to Little Bit that they would soon open into beautiful flowers. When they finally did open, she was overwhelmed with excitement as she brought me to the patio door to show me!

Go on a Nature Walk

Little Bit is always excited to walk as opposed to being strolled or slung. She always finds things she wants to stop and look at, but usually I'm in too much of a hurry to let her.

For your nature walk, try to let your little one set the pace. You can bring along a checklist of things to keep an eye out for, or bring along a camera and snap shots as your child makes new discoveries on her own. Later, you can print the photos and make a nature catalog for your youngster to peruse.

Put on Your Green Shoes

Get some plain white tennies and die them green! Then slap them on the kiddos and play music from the 1993 CD Put on Your Green Shoes. Here are the lyrics to the title track (by Cyndi Lauper):

Gather 'round children and you will hear
The sound of a cricket crying in your ear
That's Mother Nature, she's crying out loud
This old earth needs some loving now, so

Chorus:

Put on your green shoes
Put on your green shoes
Mother Nature, she's calling to you
To put on your green shoes

Put on your green shoes and walk with me
We'll go around back and plant a tree
Help it grow and you will see
The way the world was meant to be

Chorus

Wonder how the world would be
Without the shade of a redwood tree
Without all the fish, the birds and the bees
Springtime would be lonely, so
Chorus

I may wait another year or two to do this one, but my nieces did it a few years ago at school and I just loved the idea. It was a great way to get the kids in the spirit and music always has a way of leaving a lasting impression. Plus, every time they don their flashy green kicks they'll remember the importance of taking care of the environment!

Read a Book

Here are some titles we'll be keeping an eye out for at the library and bookstores:

This Is the Earth That God Made

I Love Our Earth

The Earth and I

The Whole Green World

Baby's Book of Nature

I'll post our projects as we complete them then do a round-up of them all on Earth Day. And, if I can figure out how it works, I'll try to post a Mister Linky so you can join me in sharing your Earth Day activities! (If I don't figure it out, you can still share your ideas in the comments).

Fun Songs to Sing Throughout the Day

Singing is such a huge part of our day. A day at our house is much like living in a musical, with somebody spontaneously breaking out in song at any given moment. It's great fun, but it also serves several purposes:

• Singing helps to break up the running dialog we try to maintain for language development.
• Sometimes singing is the only way to calm a fussy baby or a screaming toddler.
• Singing is a very useful tool for teaching many concepts.

Use Songs for Daily Activities

I like to sing to my babies when they wake up.

Good morning, good morning, good morning to you!

Good morning, good morning, good morning to you!

Our day is beginning, there's so much to do.

Good morning, good morning, to you.

We sing the Hokey-Pokey song while getting dressed.

You put your left leg in

You put your right leg in

You put both legs in

And you shake them all about

(etc.)

We use the Mulberry Bush song for everything else.

This is the way we wipe our mouth,

Wipe our mouth, wipe our mouth.

This is the way we wipe our mouth,

When we get done eating...

Or

This is the way we take off our shoes,

take off our shoes, take off our shoes.

This is the way we take off our shoes,

Before we go inside...

It's a very adaptable song!

Use a Stand-In

We also enjoy singing motion songs throughout the day, but I rate pretty high on the lazy factor, so I often resort to using a stand-in (might accidentally start burning off calories otherwise).

I use a monkey or a bear to act out the motions, and Little Bit loves seeing her stuffed animals come to life!

I'll often use a stand-in for the following songs:

• If You're Happy and You Know It
• Hokey Pokey
• Head and Shoulders

Make Up Songs

We love singing the "I Hear Thunder" nursery rhyme (to the Frere Jacques tune) during thunder storms (quite often here in Florida).

I hear thunder, I hear thunder,

Oh don't you? Oh don't you?

Pitter patter rain drops,

Pitter patter rain drops,

I'm wet through, I'm wet through!

And Daddy-O made up a similar rhyme for when we hear sirens (he's an ex-volunteer fire fighter):

I hear sirens, I hear sirens,

Oh don't you? Oh don't you?

Reeooo Reeooo, honk honk,

Reeooo reeooo, honk honk,

Let them through, let them through!

We've also added extra verses to some of Little Bit's favorite lullabies.

After singing the first verse of You Are My Sunshine, we added:

You know I love you, I'll always love you,

And I will hold you all night and day,

And I will squeeze you and give you smooches,

Oh I love my Little Bit (child's name)

OR

After singing through one verse of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, we sing:

Night night my little baby,

Won't you sleep and dream with me,

Up above the earth and sky,

Singing this sweet lullaby,

Night night my little baby,

Won't you sleep and dream with me.

Singing little diddies throughout the day is fun and easy. Whether they're made up on the spot, or classic rhymes from you're own childhood, the songs you sing will have a lasting impact on your child.

You can find many more great children's songs here (thanks Jenny!)

Lemme know: How do you incorporate songs or music into your child's day?

A Day in Pictures

 

 

Memory Book for a Toddler

For this week's Unplugged Project theme of "books," I used our weekend trip to the beach as an opportunity for Little Bit to make a mini-scrapbook. It was a great chance for her and Aunt Patty to have a few more minutes together before we had to leave.

I did most of the prep work like cutting the paper, choosing and printing the photos, and coming up with a layout. Little Bit is usually happy to have the job of "Glue Stick Engineer."

Aunt Patty helped with the gluing and talked to Little Bit about what was going on in the pictures.

Here is the finished product. We kept it nice and short with only 4 pages (including the cover). We also embellished the cover with a few shells that we had collected. Little Bit decided on the placement of each shell. Unfortunately, they are also the first things she grabs for when we look at the book, so we're already missing one. We were going to add some coordinating beach stickers for more of a scrapbook feel, but decided against it since she had pretty much lost interest in the project once we had gotten this far.

Overall, I think the greatest benefit to a project like this is not necessarily the creation of the book, but the nostalgic nature of it. It will make a great keepsake and I know that Little Bit will want to see the pictures of her trip to the beach over and over. It will just be that much more special that she had a hand in creating the book!

Thanks, Mom Unplugged for another great Unplugged Project! If you're interested in seeing what other's did for this week's project go here!

A Glimpse

My brother's daughters were in town last week during their Spring Break. They're 10 and 11, respectively. Smart. Beautiful. All grown up, but still so young. Tweens. Now they're all about, "This guy I like," and, "That's for little kids."

I always love seeing them, but this time was different. Now, I have two of my own and I can draw so many parallels between my nieces and my daughters. Their age differences, their personality types, even their physical attributes.

Every time one would talk about a particular crush, I would immediately imagine myself having the same conversation with one of my own girls. And then wonder..."Why am I having this conversation with such a young girl?" And then hope..."Surely, mine will be older when this happens."

Subsequently, I would start to think about what my nieces would have in store for themselves over the next few years. Middle school, high school. Ugh. I don't want them get older and lose any more of their sweet innocence. I don't want them to see the things that I know they will see. I don't want them to feel the things that I know they will feel. I don't want them to grow up any more than they already have.

The irony is that I spend much of my day thinking about how much nicer things will be when my girls are older and more autonomous. I selfishly long for the days when I won't have to sacrifice sleep for personal time, and I dream of a more simplified existence that doesn't revolve around nap-times and snack-times and bed-times.

Spending time with my nieces this past week has opened my eyes about what is to come for my own daughters. As cliche as it is, they really do grow up fast. I need not rush the precious childhoods that lay before me, as I know the time will come and go in front of my eyes and before I know it my little babies will be big girls.

*Sigh*

 

 

Good Lord, What Happened?

We're going to the beach this weekend...Yay!

We're visiting family with a swimming pool....Woohoo!

I get to buy a new swimsuit....Rrrreeeehh (it's the sound of record needle being abruptly taken off of the record while in play...work with me).

Little Bit was born in June, almost two years ago. We never went swimming that summer since she was just a tiny newborn. Last summer I was about halfway through my pregnancy with Bitty Baby and was sporting a cute little preggo belly. I was curvy, but in a good way.

Here I am last summer on a babymoon with Daddy-O.

 

This is me about a month before Little Bit (BB #1) was conceived.

 

Here I am preparing to paint rocks last week, 5 months after the birth of Bitty Baby (BB #2).

So, this is my first summer bearing my new skin. It's skin that has been through two pregnancies back-to-back. Skin that has been stretched past it's limits from having 8 and 9 pounders on a petite 5'2" frame. And I'm just not prepared.

I don't know what I thought would happen, but it wasn't this.

I remember seeing the I Heart My Body challenge here, and later here, and thinking about how cathartic it must be to just stand tall and bare it all. I commend all of you ladies who posted photos of your beloved body parts.

Alas, I am a coward, so I will resort to using representations.

This sad, partially deflated balloon is pretty close to what you'll find underneath the myriad of baggy shirts I am now compelled to wear.

As for this weekend of fun in the sun...I bought an ill-fitting, hot-pink, paisley one-piece from Wal-Mart yesterday. It was the best they had. I tried it on this evening. It preempted this post.

And so it is.

I have a new body, a new bathing suit, and two babies.

Perspective always helps.

Wordless Wednesday: Learning to Puff

 

April Fool's Day: Practical Jokes for Toddlers

Never too early to get your budding pranksters into gear!

Here are some fun pranks to play on your babies:

• Pull the chair out from under your little one right before he sits down...it'll be really funny!
• Leave the house for a long time without telling your kids where you're going...it's like an oversized game of hide-and-seek!
• Make the day into a "Freaky Friday" theme and pretend you're switching roles...your two year old will think it's hilarious to see you in a diaper (until it's time to change you).
• Show them how exciting it is to call 9-1-1 and hang up...always a winner!
• To really get them into the April Fool's Spirit, skip the above and see this awesome idea.

Have a fun-filled April Fool's Day!

ETA: If your read this post on April Fool's Day, you were Rickrolled. If you are reading this post on another day, please notice that this is an April Fool's post and is simply a reflection of my sick sense of humor. It is not to be taken seriously (Read: Don't do any of these things).