Buckle Buddy...(or Fine Motor Friend...or thing with face and buckles)

I have fallen in love with pinterest! SOooo many great ideas and inspirations!! Most recently, I was inspired by a picture of a buckle toy.
Since buckles are one of my 17 month old's current fascinations, I decided to give it a try. (Disclaimer: I am NOT a seamstress...I'm happy to sew a straight line!) I used fabric I had on hand and cut buckles off of a backpack headed for Goodwill. I reused plastic grocery bags for the stuffing- makes a nice crinkly sound! Anyway, it turned out ok, but Shayde cannot undo the buckles himself at this point...Only buckle them back. He does enjoy the keys! Oh, and I thought it needed a head and arms ;)

Baking Bread and Saving $Dough$!

The boys and I like cinnamon raisin bread for breakfast. After seeing the $3.69 price tag at Target and not having any coupons, I just couldn't buy it yesterday. Instead I grabbed a large conatiner of raisins for around $3 and decided I'd try and bake my own. I had all the other basic ingredients on hand. I haven't done an exact price break down, but I know it's A LOT cheaper to bake our own. I got a 5lb bag of flour for $1 in November (recipe uses 8 cups). The recipe used maybe 1/5 or less of the raisins. Add a few eggs, little milk, yeast, etc...Surely under $1 for the ingredients used...And it made 3 LOAVES! Turned out pretty tasty too! :) I used this recipe.

We devoured half of the first loaf this morning (with a bit of butter!), so I'd rate it a success! Changes: I may add some cinnamon to the dough next time...not just in the swirl.

Let Them Play!!

I was inspired by a blog I came across recently :
http://playathomemom3.blogspot.com/2011/10/find-it.html?spref=fb


It was water for my early childhood education roots! After reading through some posts, I put in my teacher eyes and began observing my children and looking around our environment with fresh perspective.


For several months now, Shayde whines and cries whenever he sees one of us with a water bottle. Is he oh so thirsty?? No. He wants to take the lid on and off the bottle...which he needs help with and which makes a huge mess unless the bottle is empty. We've had some pretty good fits in the middle of a store...and also a really wet baby a couple times when a weak mommy gave in.


He also loves the Desitin tube. Diaper changing time became much more pleasant once we had an empty tube to give him. He likes to open and close the cap.


It occurred to me the other day that he is showing us an area that he is ready to explore and develop further. Hence, the container box was created!

Putting foam shapes/stickers into the containers is even more fine motor practice! Even big brother got in on the fun! ;) A Welch's squeezable grape jelly container has the perfect lid for older children to practice inserting objects. **Note: We did have a couple glass containers in the box. It seemed safe enough on the carpet...until Shayde threw one of them into the kitchen and it shattered on the tile. RIP salt shaker. We now have only nonbreakables!

I'll be watching for my children to tell me what they are ready for next!