Discovering shadows

My clever boy has just discovered his Dad's new phone, and that you can use it as a torch. Imainge his surprise and delight when he realised that not only did it shine a light, but that he could create indoor shadows using it!

At first he had to play around a bit- he kept turning around to show us and the shadow would dissapear, but eventually he realised that by shining the light towards the wall it would throw the shadow and we could see it.

His next discovery was that as he moved his hand away from the wall the shadow grew! He spent a fair bit of time explaining to me that this was called his 'Monster Arm' and chasing me with it. I can't wait for him to see what kinds of shapes you can make...

The Treasure Box

The Challenge- 6 padlocks, 18 keys.

Each padlock can be opened by 3 of the keys.

Locks and keys. Treasures to little children, so when I pulled these babies out from under the sink (where they have lived since I stopped teaching) T almost drooled. He couldn't wait to get his hands on these babies.

He started with no method, just picking up random keys and trying them in each padlock. Very quickly he got the first 3 open. Then he got stuck. He wasn't happy about it.

A little bit of encouragement helped him decide to give it another go. I gently asked him which keys didn't work in that lock. He looked at me in disgust and said dramatically "None of them work!" (He had possibly tried three) Isuggested that if they didn't fit, we put them in a pile. Once he had a method it was on like donkey kong. He decided the pile for the keys that didn't fit was on the floor *snicker, snicker* (He has his Mum's temper)

And then a win!

A sweeter victory than any of the other keys, he had to work for this one. But the success was enough to get him through the rest.

My beautiful boy. Such an easy way to learn to deal with frustration.

The countdown is on!

So this week I realised that it's October. Seriously? Wasn't it just October a minute ago? October 2010?!

Well, once I adjusted and remembered that I adore Christmas, I started thinking about what kinds of fun can be had. And so I bribed T to humour me a little and come and help me make a Christmas Countdown Chain (see how that's got capitals? That's because I love Christmas That Much!) which was inspired by this beautiful lady... http://www.71toes.com/2011/10/lucys-big-day.html

As you can see from Shawni's blog, her girls decorate each link individually, but I thought that it might be a bit much for T. so we got started on one big, abstract painting.

I used paint pens for this, because not only are they incredibly vibrant, but they dry in about 5 minutes and no one ends up with green hair! Well, unless we do it on purpose.

So anyway, our painting...

 Next we got the scissors (or as T. calls them, snissors) out and chopped them into little strips. I did most of the cutting and T. pranced about made a big deal out of putting each strip into a basket. It makes me so proud that he can make doing almost nothing look like Very Important Work. That skill will take him places for sure.

Next I showed him how to link them into each other and staple them together to make a chain. This is where I pretty much lost him as he dissapeared off to play trains and I was left to develop RSI  staple the remaining 73 links.

In a moment of genius, I thought to write the number in every 10th link, so that when we are counting down each night we can cheat a little.

I got his attention again when I held up the finished product. T. was thrilled with it. I was paranoid that once false move and he would crush it totally, but he seemed to sense my fear and was very gentle with it.

 The chain is now hanging in the living room, where each night before bed he can tear off one link and see how 'long' it is until Christmas. It also served as a kick in the rear timely reminder to me to start my Christmas shopping.

And now that ball is rolling! Let the wild rumpus start! Christmas art- hit me with your best ideas!

Kids are strange.

Aren't they? I think that's why they are so incredibly awesome.

Today I was wrapping a present for my Mum for Mother's Day and Smidge warned me to be careful of the edge of the sticky tape because- "The edges are shark!"

He's right- the edges are shark, because if you're not careful, your finger ends up looking like you tried to get a shark to cut the end of the sticky tape for you.

The other day he was telling me about stuff he remembered from "when he was a little girl". Confused and amused at first, I then asked him what his name was when he was a little girl. Without missing a beat he told me it was Alice. What freaked me right out was that when I was new-ish-ly pregnant and my baby bump started to stick out, my husband nicknamed me "Alice" from the song "Alice the camel has two humps".

I don't know whether kids are just genuinely strange or whether to assume they have incredible memory or insight.... What do you think?

So, Mums, Dads, Aunties, friends of people with kids... what are some of the strange and awesome things that kids have told you about?