"But we are all fortunate in one way or another. The task for most of us is to identify in what way that is, would you not agree?"
- Alexander McCall Smith
Well, I missed another week somehow. We have been really busy though. Between swim lessons twice a week, music class, plus the usual life/mom things (cleaning the house, food preparation at least twice a day, play time, the list goes on. As I'm sure all you parents know). We're here now and have some fun things to show you!
Take a peek:
B is for Bird! Another Pinterest find that we made our own. We're down to our last 10 or so letters so I'm trying to spread them out some. Luckily, with our busy-ness, that's been the easiest task of my day!
I figured I could include this since it is taking up a couple of our days each week. My sidekick is a FISH! He loves swim class so much! So much so, that we have to stay, at least, 10 minutes after class just to avoid the tears of leaving the water. He's doing great though! He can kick from one side to the other with just a pool noodle under his arms for support!
I've wanted to get back into more artsy things. So we tried some new things this week. The first being coloring sweetened condensed milk with water flavoring packets and then painting with marshmallows! Talk about SWEET! While he wasn't too interested in it, really, he did like stamping the marshmallows once I showed him what they could do.
We hadn't marble painted in a while so, I got out our paint box and stepped it up a notch. Instead of just the normal box shaking, I only added blue and yellow paint and we talked about color mixing. When he saw the green, he was so amazed. Apparently, we're ready for more color mixing experiments!
Oh playdough! This is our homemade batch that I made in May of 2012. Yep, 2-0-1-2. That's almost 2 years ago! It's finally starting to crystallize a little so it's definitely time to make new. We played with our cookie cutters, made different shapes, but we also worked on big vs. small, tall vs. short, longer vs. shorter, over and under ("Is the long playdough over the short one or under?"). It was fun to work those in, as well as, 3D shapes.
Pinterest find! Pour milk into a shallow dish, add drops (just a couple) of food coloring, then touch the spots with a toothpick that's been dipped in dish soap. Oh man! His face was priceless. After a few times, the colors stop being so amazing and just run together. But, it was fun while it lasted.
We needed something to do. We were bored and I didn't want to just let him sit and watch TV. So, I made up a game. I had him sound out each word (one-ten) and then find the match with the dots of the same number. It took some patience but, he was starting to remember the sounds the letters make by end of it. The beginnings of reading! Hooray!
One of the amazing things about Italy, are the little farms. They have milk machines (Seriously. It's a vending machine that you can buy fresh from the farm milk, cheeses, and yogurt. Hello yummy!). At some, you can visit with cows, chickens, and the farm cats and dogs. It's a pretty good time on a sunny day.
Hooray for gelato season! While we seemed to find the random places that served them year round, the best are the ones that have just opened for the Spring and Summer seasons. Oh so good! Definitely, on of the things we will miss most about Italy.
Mommy and Sidekick art projects are my favorite! I try to let him do his own thing for the most part, but sometimes, it's hard to not join in the fun! This was one of those times. I love our little masterpiece. Simply dip straws in watercolors and blow out, close to the paper. (Do not in! Although, for us, it didn't move quick enough up the straw to leave a nasty taste in our mouths.).
There you have it! A week (and a half) worth of fun! Onto the next adventure! See you soon!!
