Love Books Exchange

We recently participated in a book/activity exchange through The Educator's Spin On It.  It was so much fun!  We got our package from Michelle and her kiddos over at Having Fun at Chelle's House!  It was amazing!!

We got the book  Harold and the Purple Crayon along with all of these fun activities:

Purple/Not Purple sort

A really liked the purple ring from this.  You can see her wearing it in the other pictures!  :)

1-10 numbered moons 
We lined them up in order (because she will not stand for anything out of order!) and she hopped from one number to the next as we counted.

1-10 numbered moons and crayons
She put the correct number of crayons on each numbered moon

Purple Star Crayon (how cool is this?)

Pom Pom transfer with tongs

Sandpaper and string
We practiced making shapes with the string.  There was a little card with suggestions, "can you make a square?" etc. 

Lacing Moon
I let her do this any way she wanted at first, then we practiced again and I showed her how to lace from hole to hole in order. 

Baby Sister even got an activity!  She really loved pulling the fabric squares out of the wipes container.  I'd been meaning to make this for her and now I don't have to!  

Jell-O
A actually wanted to make this with me.  I was surprised since she has never shown an interest in eating Jell-O.  She was very excited and then I gave her a little bowl.  She had fun stirring it, but then told me, "Mama can eat it."   Ha!  We tried!  At least I enjoyed eating it.  

Blank Books and doodle cards
We haven't gotten to these yet.  The idea is to write stories/pictures in the books and the doodle cards are for us to pick a card and then draw a picture that includes the doodle. 

We also got purple play dough that I didn't get a photo of, but A was very excited to play with it!

This was so much fun and Michelle provided us with so many activities we threw half of them in our tot school drawers and A played with them for days.  I still have the other half to switch them out with.  We'd love to be a part of this again!

Soothing those gums!

Okay, so this is a strange photo, yes...but it serves a purpose.  When A was teething, I would freeze bananas for her to eat.  She wouldn' eat them unfrozen, but enjoyed them straight from the freezer.  The pacifier is in the photo to show the size of the banana chunks.  

Here is what you do:

-Peel a banana and carefully run your thumb/finger down one of the long indents of the banana.  This will split the banana lengthwise into three long banana pieces (this is how they prepare bananas for banana splits!)

- cut banana into three sections (you'll end up with 9 pieces)  Don't just take a banana and slice it; frozen banana slices (round ones) are a choking hazard.

-put some cereal into a plastic baggie and crush it with a rolling pin

-put the banana pieces a couple at a time into the baggie and shake to cover.

-freeze the banana slices on a cookie sheet until frozen

-store in a plastic freezer bag

Then cereal is added so the bananas aren't too slippery to handle when your child is munching on it. It's very soothing to those baby gums when they are teething!

Heart Monster

This was last year's Mama-made gift for A for Valentine's Day.  I made it out of two very long socks I got from JoAnn Fabrics.  I thought it was perfect for her, because she liked to growl at the time.  She still growls when she sees it.  :)

Popsicles

We have Annabel Karmel's ice lolly molds.  I'm not a huge fan, since there is a well at the bottom, so the popsicle pieces get stuck at the bottom and A ends up sticking her fingers all around to try and get every last bit out.  Also, our set broke quite easily where the pieces connect to each other.  However, I do like that they have handles A can hold on her own.
We make popsicles using baby food.  We started doing this when A was much smaller, teething, and not eating very much.  We found that when she wouldn't eat anything else, she'd eat a popsicle!  And, knowing that she was eating baby food, allowed us to give her more than one without feeling guilty about loading her up with sugar.  With these molds, one container of store-bought baby food fills all four molds.

If you know of any better popsicle molds with nice handles for toddlers, please let me know!

Valentine crafting, anyone?

If you're anything like me, you are thinking weeks and months in advance for something perfect to make for your little one.  OR, maybe you wish someone would just give you the ideas so you didn't have to go looking for them! 

I saw these adorable Valentine chair backers on an episode of Jon and Kate Plus 8 one year and LOVED them!  Pottery Barn used to sell them, but not anymore.  I searched the internet and found the perfect pattern and here it is!

I followed their non-ruffle design and put A's name on the flap between the two buttons.  I cut them out of fabric, used wonder-under and then sewed to reinforce the letters.  It's very durable and oh, so cute!  I put this on the back of A's dinner chair and stuffed it with a few goodies for Valentine's day.  I plan to make it a tradition.