Little ABC Underwear Bag

Stevie is now wearing only 2 diapers a day. One at rest time, and one at night. Today we decided to make a home for a pair of underwear by using a paper bag. That way, he always has a pair of underwear ready after his nap. Strange craft, but kid-inspired for sure. That's really the whole idea.

Materials:

Letter marker stamps

Paper bag

scissors

stickers

undies

Calendar and Separation Anxiety

While my husband and I were away on a "no kid" vacation, we left Stevie with his own calendar. This trip was our longest time away from the boy, so we were quite concerned about how he would react. We talked about the calendar before we left and told our son to "x" out the days until we come back. Because his 2 year old mind doesn't comprehend "4 days," we told him "4 moons" and he actually got it. My mom (Memaw) told me he was excited about marking the "x's" each day and that he seemed to get it. After returning, our son told us not to go away for "4 moons" anymore without him. I don't think I could handle anything more than 3 moons for a while. Mommy and Daddy time is great, but family vacations are super too.

Gift bag and horn

Today Stevie and I made this little gift bag and a magic horn. I didn't take pictures of each step, but I think its pretty easy to make just by looking at the photo of the finished product.

Materials:

-Scissors

-Colored paper

-markers

-paper towel roll or tp roll
-tape

-stickers or other decorations

-paper bag

-alphabet letters

-glue

This is a good kid group project too. Good rhyme for this one is Little Boy Blue.

Enjoy.

Good Night Book

I'm back from vacation with a new camera and a whole list a books that I've found. Here's a good night book that is super charming. It's one of those peaceful lullaby types of books. Soft illustrations, moons, stars, and teddy's. It's called I'll See You in the Morning, by Mike Jolley and Mique Moriuchi. My favorite page:

Don't be afraid of darkness.
Don't be afraid, my sweet.
The night is just a blanket
that helps the earth to sleep.

Brilliant!!!

Caterpillar Magnet

I don't have photo's of the step-by-step process, but here's the result. Stevie and I made a caterpillar after reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. I've seen this done with tissue on the leaf and it's cute too. We used a butterfly stamp for the leaf and glued the pom poms with hot glue (mommy only please) after regular glue didn't work. I also have magnetic tape for the backing of the clothes pin. Great fun

Toddler Cookbook

Until I can save up for a new camera, my post will be a little flare-free. Here's a cool book I checked out from the library yesterday. It's called The Toddler Cookbook, by Annabel Karmel. It has great recipes with lots of photos, demos, etc. You can read it with your tot before you make a recipe. I really like the corn quesadillas and tropical pops.

Book about the Farm

My camera broke a few days ago, so I've been holding back on postings. Stevie and I spent two wonderful days at my mom and dad's farm. He loved feeding the chickens and cows. Our farm adventure reminded me of a great farm book. It's Farmer Will, by Jane Cowen-Fletcher. Farmer Will is a toddler who takes his toy farm animals outside and pretends to play all kinds of games with them. It's one of those really well written "use your imagination" kids books. It's not too long and it's got beautiful illustrations.

Peas on P's Project

After reading Eat Your Peas, Ida Louis, I thought it would be fun to do a craft with split peas. Here's what we came up with. All you need is some split peas, a gluestick, paper, scissors, and markers. Stevie like sorting the peas more than the actual project. Good fun.

Make a Scarecrow

My son loves to collect leaves, acorns, pineneedles, and other outdoor items. Our bucket-o-outdoor stuff was full so we decided to make a scarecrow with it. Stevie and I were inspired by the scarecrow in the book, Up, Down and Around (Katherine Ayres). This one requires real glue, no gluestick, because of the pine needles.