Monday Fun Day ~ Homemade Playdough

Logan playing with his playdough

It's cold out today.  We needed a good indoor activity so for today's Monday Fun Day Activity we decided to make playdough!  There are tons of recipes online to make playdough.  Playdoughrecipe.org has a decent collection of recipes to choose from.  We chose probably the most simple of recipes.

2 cups flour
1 cup salt
1 cup water

quick and simple recipe

I didn't want to add food coloring this time around because the little guy is a bit mischievous with his dough and I didn't want any red rugs or blue walls! He likes the feel of the dough and isn't into constructing anything with it just yet.  He mainly likes to carry it around and squish it! We had a lot of fun making the playdough and playing with it.

Logan feeling the flour and salt before the water was added

The finished product

Good Days

Today was a good day.  The baby is over his most recent teething experience.  I woke after a full night's sleep.  I felt great.  The sun was shining.  The chores were done.  We played outside and watered our plants (something that does not get done often enough - the watering that is). After my husband got home from work we went out for mexican and although it took forever for the baby to go to sleep tonight, he is sleeping now.  Now I am watching some guilty pleasure television. Yes.  A good day indeed. Thank goodness.  February has been rough, but I think things are finally looking up!

Things Are Looking Up

I'm back! I've been in a bit of a funk lately.  I haven't quite felt like myself physically or emotionally.  Luckily I am climbing out of my funk!  I woke up yesterday feeling great and decided to get to the market right away!  For the past week I feel like I have been doing enough to get by but haven't done anything special.  My house is more messy then it has been in a while.  Meals were not exciting but did the trick.  So yesterday it was time to get my butt in gear!  I bought so many fruits and vegetables.  I don't know what it is about fruits and veggies, but they always make me feel better! Living in southern California we have more available to us than some others and I took advantage!  This morning I made the most amazing fruit salad and cut up a pineapple to make some sweet and sour chicken later!  Yum!

Now it is time for some deep cleaning.  First up: washing the bedding.  The only thing better than good food is fresh sheets!  Ok, so its a toss up, but paired together these two things make me very happy! My goal is to have all the chores done today so I can enjoy the weekend!

It hasn't all been yucky lately.  Some of the good things....

*Getting kisses from my sweet boy
*My baby getting so excited when we pick out books to read
*The morning smile
*Hearing mama, mama, mama, mama

Love him....

Like Father Like Son

Do you have a child that is particular about what he wears?  I know this is common with older children and teens (actually I am hearing that as young as four, children are caring about what they wear), but a one year old?  I don't know about that! I picked out an outfit for the little guy this morning but he wasn't interested in getting dressed.  So I said "ok, I am going in the other room and you let me know when you are ready to get dressed."  A couple minutes passed and Logan came out of his room with a different shirt than I had picked along with a sweatshirt.  I guess he didn't like what I had chosen! I hope this isn't a sign that he is going to be like his father.  His father is extremely picky and I wouldn't even think of buying him clothing.  This is fine when the adult can go and shop for himself, but could prove to be a serious challenge with a young child!

My husband is known for his particularity when it comes to clothing.  He once had to stop at an outlet mall on the way to Disneyland because he wanted new socks to walk around in.  He has taken back every single item that I have ever bought him in the past decade or more (except underwear- apparently I am good at picking out undies or he just doesn't care).  When I ask what is wrong with the clothes he responds with "I don't like the buttons", "It's a little short (or long, or wide)", "I don't like the color", "not stripes"...... the list goes on and on.  Now I only buy him clothing if he picks a specific item out and says "you can get me this."  I don't mind his pickiness.  Most days he looks fabulous.  There are those rare days on the weekend when he will pull out an old pair of pants from 1999 because "he likes them".  Countless trips to donate old clothing and we still can't seem to fit those into the bag!  I simply smile and focus on the days when I am proud to have him as my husband.

It is clear that the little guy cares about what he is wearing.  I am not sure yet if he cares what it looks like or if he cares more about textures and the way something feels on his body.  If a shirt is too loose he pulls on it all day trying to take it off.  If his sleeves hit a little below his wrist he throws a fit until I roll them up or push up his sleeves.  He loves his shoes.  He puts hats on and smiles at himself in the mirror as he admires the beauty in front of him.  Gotta love my kid!!

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Monday Fun Day (on a Tuesday) ~ A Collection Box

Since we are finally feeling better we decided to complete our Monday Fun Day activity today given that we missed the opportunity yesterday.  Recently my son has developed a liking for collecting items outside - rocks, sticks, pine cones, and acorns in particular.  So naturally, we had to create a collection box of sorts for him to store his items in while we walked around.  Today we made a basket to use outside.

I used what I had available in the house which included a tissue box (easy since we all used a hundred tissues this past week), some drawings of Logan's and a piece of rope that I had saved from a package we received.

After we cut out the drawings, we taped them around the box, added the rope for a handle and voila! we had a basket.  We took it outside and Logan enjoyed filling it with acorn caps and flowers today.  The box probably wont last too long, but that's ok.  We can transfer the rope to another box in the future for a brand new basket!

*Variation on this activity:  Try making a personal mailbox to collect valentines in! A shoe box works well for this (you can cut a slit in the top for people to drop the valentines in).  Decorate the box to your liking!

The Icky Sickness Got Us Again

Sorry for the lapse in posts.  Its been well, a difficult week.  First the baby got sick with a cold.  Poor thing.  I knew those few nights of sleep earlier in the week were too good to be true!  After the baby came my husband.  The only thing worse than a sick baby is a sick husband to boot.  Yesterday I finally got my turn with the dreaded cold.  Yuck.  I hear over and over that you are never given more than you can handle.  I think that's why I didn't get sick until last night.  The baby seems to be feeling a little better so at least I don't have to deal with a crying baby all day while I am sick.  That's what I am hoping.  He went back to bed and is sleeping now.  There are no guarantees.


There used to be a time not too many moons ago when I would freak out when my little one was sick.  Of course I did.  I was a brand new mom to my first child and I had little experience dealing with babies prior to that.  So I would react in a panic whenever I couldn't make him feel better with cuddles.  I think it is completely normal to get a little worked up when you first encounter something new and uncomfortable.  Now that I have a year + under my belt I am starting to feel a little more confident that I can handle the illnesses that come our way.  It doesn't get easier to see my baby struggle, but at least I can tell myself that it is going to be ok and honestly feel that way.  I tried to fake it before!

The highlight of my week (other than the full nights sleep prior to sickness):  sleeping until 10am one morning!  Can't remember the last time I did that!  I typically don't like to sleep that late but that morning it felt wonderful!