Bath Fun with Paint

A few weeks ago I came across some bath paints on sale at Target. I grabbed a pack and put it away. After playing with the sand today Louis asked to take a bath. I grabbed the paints and off he went.

Sand Play at Home

The weather has been unseasonably warm but Louis still prefers to stay at home most days. He can be a bit of a homebody. I've been trying to put together outdoor activities to do indoors.  It helps to break up the day. I try to use as many things we already have at home versus going out to buy more things. Our house is packed enough as is.

I came across this recipe for moon sand/cloud dough online at one of my favorite blogs, Play at Home Mom LLC. and thought it would be perfect for us to try out.

Louis mixed it up on his own. I helped him count out the number of cups he needed.

 Louis decided to empty his box of animals because he said they needed to play at the beach with him.

Gabriel eventually ventured over to play as well. 

Fingers for Painting

We finally have a pretty decent daily routine down. Most days I set up various projects/activities around the house and leave the choices up to Louis as to what he wants to do. He doesn't always choose to do everything or even any of it at all. 

Today he went over to the finger paints I had set up on the floor. He insisted on wearing a smock. At first he hesitated and was unsure of using his fingers versus his usual paint brushes but after some experimenting he was over it.

 He figured out how to leave hand prints on the paper.

  Finished --- hung up over art table. He is very proud of this painting. I am too. I think we'll frame it soon.

 I spent the past week rearranging the playroom and setting up an arts & crafts area.

The Ls & the Oobleck

One of Louis' favorite Dr. Seuss books is Bartholomew and the Oobleck so we made some today. It's the perfect activity to do with kids, of all ages. It's a solid...it's a liquid...It is also a good opportunity to talk about the properties of fluids and solids and learn about matter. Oobleck is an example of a Non-Newtonian fluid and even without all the neat scientific facts it is just plain fun.

I used this article from Scientific American as a guideline.

My Big Helper

One of Louis' favorite things to do is feed Gabriel. It has been this way since the day Gabriel was born. Louis will come over & 'feed' him while I nursed. He also helped Matt feed him one of the first purees he had, bananas.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Louis wanted pancakes and I was running behind this morning so this was what I got together for Valentine's Day. Not my best work. Added some strawberries and Louis? Thought it was the best thing ever.

We baked red velvet cupcakes for dessert. Leah and Louis worked really well together.

Big Boy Decisions

Louis was pretty much diaper free most hours of the day before Gabriel came along, then Gabriel was born and he wanted to be back in diapers. It didn't really bother me as at the time he wasn't even 2 years old and if I'm changing 1 diaper every hour or so? Honestly another is not a big deal. I knew eventually he'd come around to wanting out of diapers. Regression in sleep, pottying and other behaviors are common when a new sibling is introduced-especially when children are closer in age.

My attitude with most of these so-called milestones has been to take things in stride. No use stressing about it because it will only happen when Louis wants it too. Much how I feel about when/where the kids sleep, how long they sleep for, when they eat and what they're eating. It all works out and demanding/pushing on the children doesn't make it happen any faster.

This week he saw his underwear sitting in his dresser drawer and asked me to put it on him. I talked to him about what the purpose of the underwear is and he told me "I know. I use potty." So off we went.

It went pretty well. I noticed that if he is diaper/underwear free he goes on the potty right away when he feels like he needs to go. When he is wearing something it tends to be the actual peeing/wetting action that sends him to the potty. I know he'll figure it out so I didn't stress out over the few misses I had to clean up. I don't want Louis to have this whole potty learning thing be a source of anxiety for him. He's having fun with it so I'd like to keep it that way.

A lil more craft time

Louis wanted to put together a cut & paste picture today. This is what he came up with. I wish I was more creative but he seemed happy with the results.

Have a heart...

Louis enjoys cutting and pasting, making things. Crafts have become part of our daily routine. Today he put together his own 'Heart Man' (what he called this craft). He makes sure everything is lined up and tries to make it all symmetrical. He did not like having the glue get on him so I had to help him wipe it off every so often.

I Dream of Painting...

and then I paint my dream...- Van Gogh

Louis loves to paint. He goes about it in a very calculated manner and then as he paints some more he lets go a bit and gets a bit on the messy side.

Cleaning for Play?

Louis loves to clean. Needless to say he didn't get that from me. I am the world's worst housekeeper. I can keep the cleanest restaurant, organized work office but my own home? Eh not so much. I'm working on it and Louis? Is amazingly helpful. He's on point. For FUN he likes to take over my daily removal of the cat hair from the couches.