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!

Licking the spoon

I must admit, I’ve always had preconceived ideas about children. One of the big ones was that every child loves to help cook, and that the part they love the most is licking the spoon. So you can imagine my shock and surprise when I bred a child who refused to taste any cakes, slices or anything else that we might be baking before it was cooked. Veggies before dinner, yes, baking no! Bizarre!

This week, we finally overcame it! We were making a very, very simple chocolate brownie recipe and all I had to do to tempt him was to tell him that before it cooked, it tasted like chocolate icing. Well, that was it… he is converted… see for yourself

Bluesfest Baby!

Yes, yet again…it ‘s that time of the year!

After last years exhausting (but awesome) trip to Bluesfest with a very small Smidge (where we spent a LOT of time in the Kids Club) we decided that we would give this year a miss and enjoy a quiet Easter weekend at home with family.

Of course, at the last minute, after finding out the results of my latest PET scan early (yay, all clear!) I needed to celebrate and decided just to have a quick glance at the line up, and of course, I got sucked right in! After all it was 3 of our favourites all in the one afternoon! We wouldn’t even have to organise accomodation, or camp in the mud- how could we say no? So tickets were purchased and Grandad was roped into an afternoon of Big Adventures with Smidge.

Xavier Rudd was amazing, as was to be expected. Watching him feels a little like you have wandered in the room while he is jamming with his band- it feels quite intimate.

Although being up nice and close made me realise that I am getting a bit too old to be breathed on and pushed up against in a crowd…. hehe, who would have thought I would ever say that!

Next up was Michael Franti and Spearhead. He is such a performer- wandering through the crowd and chatting throughout his set.

He even had a couple come up for a dance… which was code for…a proposal!

And of course at the end of the night, there was the obligatory festival feet shot… My husband JB just can’t cope with dirty feet, he doesn’t understand that I am *being one* with the festival

We arrived home after 3 am to find Grandma and Smidge curled up in bed together- him looking like the cat that got the cream. He had an amazing day with Grandad that included all the elements for an amazing Big Adventure- a drive in the Big Red Truck, seeing a lizard, sharing a chocolate malted milk and chatting to police officers in the city. Toddler Bliss!

Wax Resist Easter Egg Dying

This weekend Smidge wasn’t 100%, he had a temperature and was a bit lethargic. After a sleep in until 2 pm (!!!) we decided to set him up with a quiet egg painting activity. Really, as if anything is quiet with us!

For this we needed:

*Hard boiled eggs

*Crayons

*Food dye in bowls

*Paper towel

We chose colours of food dye, which looked great in the bowls, but just looked so tempting to splash into- I’m surprised that I resisted (geddit? geddit?! Sorry, I couldn’t help myself) much less that Smidge did.

Next we used crayons to draw patterns on the hard boiled eggs. We quickly discovered that the light coloured crayons make the best contrast when the eggs are dyed.

Next, we rolled the eggs around in the food dye, until they were covered in colour.

Dad dried them on some paper towel,

and then popped them in to the egg carton to dry.

As much as Smidge loves collecting eggs from the chickens, he doesn’t like to touch them or eat them, so a lot of the time we had to encourage him to ‘get amongst it’ instead of supervising…

After the eggs were completed and drying we discovered the last one in the saucepan, shell cracked open.I asked Smidge to help me to peel the shell away to see exactly what was inside the hard boiled egg.

You can see the apprehension on his face in this one!

The we delved a little deeper, and Smidge was able to see the 3 parts of the egg- shell, egg and yolk. And no, he didn’t want a taste!

Afterwards came my favourite part- washing the dye out of the bowls.(See, sometimes I don’t mind washing up)

As we tipped them out we got to watch as the colours separated, diluted and faded away.

GOOP!

We woke up to another grey day today, so, sure that we would be stuck inside for the afternoon, we decided to make the most of playing outside while we could.

Goop is so simple to make, so deliciously gooey to play with and so, so easy to clean up! All you need is equal parts corn flour and water and a dash of food colouring.

It's not necessarily an outdoor activity- it can just as easily be played with in the bath, on a messy mat, or in a container over a sink.

It's really intriguing because if you try to pick it up, it is liquid and will slip through your fingers, but if you push it, it becomes quite hard and dry- I was even able to peel some off the camera (of course the camera got flicked with goop ;) )