The last few days have been a little nuts around here as we’ve tried to regroup not as a family unit, but also begin homeschooling again.  I re-introduced the clothespins activity (where she empties a jar of clothespins and puts them back in…a favorite of hers), as well as some new activities.

Late last week, Lorelei and and I took a walk outside and picked up some of the colorful fallen leaves.  Inside, we practiced our *tearing* skills.  Many of the Montessori curriculum recommend tearing paper, but at 18 months I’m thinking that’s not a medium I want her to get too used to tearing.  She’s too young to totally grasp why she can tear paper A but not the stack of papers on the coffee table – and, we have LOTS of paper around here.  Using a black marker, Lorelei drew her “trees” and the “trunk/stems” with a bit of help.  She helped use some Elmers glue and then she placed the torn leaves on her trees.  Fall trees, real leaves.

We’ve been practicing a lot with primary colors.  I’ve pulled out the books, toys in vibrant colors, and have been trying to use colors to describe almost anything we can.  Lorelei has just begun repeating colors like “blue” and “re(d),” although she doesn’t necessarily seem to understand (yet!) that the ball in her hand is red or blue.  We’ve also been practicing naming animals and imitating the sounds they make.  We’ve made visiting live animals, as well as looking at them in books a huge part of our days.  I feel it’s hugely important for real life experiences, as well as learning from a picture book.  She can easily identify a “kitty” and has demonstrated well that she can easily hold a small kitten and gently pet it.  She can identify and imitate a dog, and has no trouble with playing and sharing toys and petting it – although, all bets are off if they start licking her (she retreats).  Cows, pigs, sheep, and ducks are not as easy for her to identify as she tends to call anything larger than a cow, a dog!  BUT, she does seem to know them when she seems them and can also imitate the sounds they make.  She LOVES animals.

She’s shown that she somewhat understands the concept of counting to 3 by using buttons on a shirt, although she has still not yet begun to vocalize it (which is fine).

Clipping clothespins onto box edges and jar edges is still a great challenge we’ve not yet mastered, although she has become quite skilled in taking apart the clothespins (I really need to get some plastic ones).

We’ve also been practicing coloring with crayons on paper, and she seems to enjoy that for limited periods of time.  She’s still working on her fine motor skills, so she hasn’t completely gotten the hang of that yet.

Today, I introduced 2 new activities: playdough and using a sponge to transfer water.  Unfortunately, I tried to introduce the sponge and water activity while I was trying to do dishes, so I don’t think I spent enough time with her on this one.  The playdough, however was a hit!

Here’s the recipe for the playdough I made:

1 c. flour

1/2 cup salt

1 T. cooking oil

1 T. cream of tartar

1 c. water

1 packet of your choice of koolaid

Mix all of the following together and THEN (after it’s mixed) add to medium heat (on the stove).   Stir and stir and stir.  You don’t want to leave it.  The liquid will begin to clump where it is most in contact with the pot, and begin to draw up and away.  Keep stirring it until you have a large clump.  It should look really doughy, and once it does turn off the heat and remove your pan.  Spoon your concoction onto the counter and knead it until it’s completely smooth throughout (like store bought playdough).  It’ll be a little warm, so be aware of that.  Next, put it in a sealed container or resealable bag (think ziploc) to let it cool.

Instead of/in addition to koolaid, you can also add liquid food coloring, powdered food coloring, glitter, scents, etc.

Our playdough was actually “grape” but turned out blue!  And, if your kidling tries to eat this, no worries.  It’s nontoxic (do you see the ingredients?)

Welcome back!

There. Those were our pumpkins. Taken with a cell phone because our camera didn’t work. And, now our pumpkins are all shrivelly…

This past weekend, we decided to declare it a “quality time” weekend – chock full of fun activities and LOTS of time with L, doing things she likes.  In the past month, the kid has had it kind of rough; mommy went from being a teacher and playmate and MOM to really sick and daddy had to stay behind when we moved in with MY parents.  It pretty much left her really confused and you could tell she was having a bit of a hard time processing it all.  When we first got back home, she would wake up in the middle of the night – only wanting daddy.  She needed to know he was still there, and this went on for a week.

So, this past weekend was about her, about our family.  We did a lot, and had a lot of fun….  We visited:

THE HOMEPLACE:  This is a local interpretive learning interactive farm based from the mid-19th century.  It’s an entire farm area with buildings constructed as they were in the 19th century, as well as costumed “inhabitants” that you can find spinning, knitting, feeding the animals, etc.  The farm animals that you’ll find are all actual breeds that were around and common back then on farms.  It was awesome, and L had fun running around on the farm and watching the many animals.  Above, you can see a photo of her in a period dress and bonnet that was part of a display where children can try on the different clothes.

GRAND RIVERS:  We also hit up a favorite lake spot.  It’s this little community with tons of quaint shops by the lake.  We found a new bakery that had just opened and got a cookie to go as we walked and explored some more.  L got to see ducks, geese, and more kitties here too!

THE PARK:  First, we visited the local farm store to see what sorts of farm animals they had for this time of the year.  Their were some kittens up for adoption and when we picked L up to see them in the cage, she grasped it with all of her might.  Despite our attempts to remove her from the cage, she held on for a good while.  She wasn’t crying, she was just determined to not leave them yet.  After we finally pried her fingers free, I got one of the laziest kittens out of the cage and Lorelei held her hands out – she’s never held a kitten but she knew exactly what to do.  She held it’s front half, and I held the bottom half up so she wasn’t just dragging it around.  Every kid in the store was instantly magnetized to the spot at that moment and they all wanted to pet the kitty while L held it.  We were finally able to pass it off to another kid, and Lorelei didn’t even shed a tear!  I was so proud.  Then, off to the park where she played in tunnels and went down slides and ran around like a little crazy.

By Sunday evening, we were ALL tuckered out and ready to just go to bed (even at 6 pm).  Heck, I’m still tired.  But, it was an awesome weekend…

Just to recap, I had a giveaway for a couple of great Chicken Soup for the Soul books.

The winners are

Jessi L who said “I would love to win the Like Mother, Like Daughter one because my mom is going through a really hard time in her life and the only person she has to rely on is me and I think this book would bring us closer.”

herrinfamily who said “Copy of Chicken Soup for the Soul: Moms & Sons: Stories by Mothers and Sons, in Appreciation of Each Other by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen and Amy Newmark, because i have a son.”

Please email me by Wednesday, the 5th (November), or I’ll have to choose another winner.

*Winners were chosen randomly.

I have this HUGE stubborn streak in me…

When people tell me I can’t…I laugh, and do it anyways.  When people tell me “that’s just not how things work,” I ask “Why not?”  When people tell me that there’s not another way, I find one.

And, although I don’t mind sometimes being dependent on someone else for something, I like to know that at any time I would be JUST FINE should I cut off that tie that binds us.  And, so…one day as I stared at the rising prices of things, I wondered what would happen if retailers across the world should decide to inflate prices in something so simple, so “needed” as laundry detergent.  What would happen if Laundry Detergent EVERYWHERE went from $12 a box/jug to $30.  Would you still pay it?

I wouldn’t, and I wouldn’t be wearing dirty clothes either.  Why?  Because I can make my own.

And, not that our prices will be inflated like crazy any time soon, but making your own detergent can not only give you a sense of pride and power, but it can also save you quite a lot of money – and, did I mention it’s HEALTHIER?  (It is.)

Here’s how to do it:

LAUNDRY DETERGENT 

Here’s what you need:
- 1 bar of soap ( I bought Zest.  And, next time…I think I’d get something else…you know, after I use up what I have)
- 1 box of washing soda (In small towns, this can be TRICKY to find.  It’s Arm and Hammer brand and you may have to call around to smaller grocery stores (mom and pop variety) if you can’t find it at your local shopping stops)
- 1 box of borax (You don’t have to use this…but it kicks it up a bit.  Just be careful with it.)
- A five gallon bucket with a lid
- Three gallons of tap water
- A big spoon to stir the mixture with
- A measuring cup
- A knife

Step One: Put about four cups of water into a pan on your stove and turn the heat up on high until it’s almost boiling. While you’re waiting, start making soap shavings with that knife of yours.  Keep the heat below a boil, add the soap, then stir the hot water until the soap is dissolved.

Step Two: Put three gallons of hot water (11 liters or so) into the five gallon bucket (think three 1-gallon milk jugs).   Then, mix in the hot soapy water from step one, stir it for a while, then add a cup of the washing soda. Keep stirring it for another minute or two, then add a half cup of borax if you are using borax. Stir for another couple of minutes, then let the stuff sit overnight to cool.

Use one measuring cup of this stuff per load (or so).  Out of 3 gallons, you’ll get about 48 loads of laundry.  If you make more than one batch, you’ll start seeing some HEFTY savings.

We used this recipe and I thought it worked fine.  Although, admittedly…it turns out I don’t like Zest that much (the scent).  So, next time…I’d definitely use something else.  Steven, of course, prefers HIGHLY PERFUMED soap so he was a bit miffed when his shirts came out smelling like fabric and not the Queen’s garden.  Next time, I may just keep some body spray near the dryer and spritz his load.  He’ll never know…until the alcohol in it begins leaving marks (or he reads this post).

For the past …week or so? I’ve been promising photos of my tummy…and our pumpkins, and our art projects, and whatever else. But, then my camera died. Actually…the BATTERIES died. And, instead of heeding my simple instructions to PLEASE GO TO WALMART (ON YOUR WAY HOME FROM WORK) AND GRAB ME SOME DOUBLE A BATTERIES, he took it upon himself to go ahead and buy standard rechargeable batteries.

Which, would be great if my camera were a Hello Kitty plastic piece of crap. Alas, it is not. And, even after waiting a gazillion days for the batteries to charge, they kept their charge for 20 seconds and then died. Again. You can insert death stare to husband and his batteries, here. He also tried to lie and tell me they were only 4 dollars more than the non-rechargeables AND had more batteries, therefore THIS was a deal.

Dear sweet man, do we not shop at the same Walmart? Because the batteries you just bought cost TWICE as much and now I have to call Energizer and tell them what crap their (re-chargeable) batteries are in hopes they’ll send me twenty dollars. So, if you were wondering, don’t buy normal re-chargeable batteries for stuff that takes 6 batteries anyhow. They have special batteries for that stuff.

I personally went out and bought my own batteries today, and should have a working camera as soon as I get unlazy enough to remove myself from this couch to put the batteries in the camera. (It might be a while)

In other news, my skin might not last this whole pregnancy. My sides, back, legs, and boobs itch like something crazy – You know, where you scratch so hard you are scared to look beneath your fingernails, and you wonder exactly how much skin you left behind? It’s a pregnancy thing (it was last time), and so far the lotions aren’t helping. Unfortunately the one I did try and sort of liked was about 15 dollars BEFORE shipping and…well…15 bucks for 8 oz of lotion? Are you for real? I’ve tried olive oils, almond oil, pregnancy oil, pregnancy butter …of all sorts of brands and types. Mostly I just want to go lay around on a bed of nails and scoot along on my back.

You’ll see a photo as soon as I can photoshop out the lovely claw/nail marks…

PS – I’m totally doing the NaBloPoMo, so be sure to come by EVERY STINKIN DAY this month… I ALWAYS have something to say…pretty much, anyways. Ask anyone.