easy bubbles

Thursday was the latest in what has been a week of whiny screamy days (and nights).  Zoë is cutting teeth which she does with the grace and discretion of a rhinoceros and Jonathan's mouth erupted in canker sores which have been getting worse and making him cry when he eats anything.  We've going through Tylenol and teething tablets like water and still NO ONE around here is sleeping well.  On Thursday Jonathan got up from his nap and collapsed in tears when he bit into his after-nap treat (a soft chocolate candy).  Zoë was in the other room moaning and carrying on because I had set her down while I was getting Jonathan up.  I surveyed the situation- 2 whiny kids and my tired frustration rapidly turning into anger and rising and creeping up from my stomach into my face.  I love them and feel badly about their pain, but there is only so much of that noise- that horrible scratchy dissatisfied whine- I can take and I had reached my limit.  I knew if something didn't happen I would start screaming. And I really didn't want that.  We needed a plan.  Something out of the ordinary that would distract them.   And then I remembered that Jonathan had asked me to fill our star-shaped ice tray with green ice last week and then we had forgotten about it.  PERFECT.

I dug out a clear plastic bin that was just big enough that Zoë wouldn't be able to dump it over once it was full of water and filled it about 5 inches deep with warm water.  I plopped the ice onto a plate, and scrounged the cabinets for a few toys.   Zoë is in a dumping phase- as in dumping everything onto her head- and so I was looking for anything that wouldn't hold water well enough to be dumped.  I ended up with 2 whisks and 2 small sieves out of the cabinet.

Viola.  Entertainment until the ice was melted- 5 minutes.

With the ice melted and they started migrating away from the bin.  NOOO.  5 minutes was NOT enough distracted time to break our funk.  Desperately I tried and an idea I vaguely remembered from pinterest- dishsoap.  I squired in 3 squirts and used the whisk to churn the water and we were back in business.

Green water with oodles of bubbles.  It was a hit.  They played for a good 20 minutes together.  Enraptured and occasionally giggling and NOT whining or needing to be held.  Then Jonathan ran to the other room to get our entire collection of plastic animals and they spend at least 10 more minutes playing hide-and-seek with the animals under the bubbles.

So easy for so much fun and 30 minutes of mental break time for me.  Not a lot has gone right this week- but this got me through Thursday!  

caterpillar house

I found my first caterpillar in our garden yesterday!!  (I'm sure there will be more- they usually eat my parsley to the ground).  But yesterday I snatched this little guy off of our carrot leaves:

I plunked him with his carrot top into some transitional housing, to wait for Jonathan to get home.

I then had him help me make a new house for our caterpillar.  We filled up the bottom of a big vase with dirt, mulch, rocks, some sticks and some more leaves for our little friend.  He insisted on adding one of his insect sponges too.

We put some saran over the top to keep him in (and little fingers out).  And the caterpillar house is not a lovely centerpiece for our table!  Last time I did this, the caterpillar made it into the chrysalis stage- but he never came out.  Hopefully this time will go better!

science

I can't help it- I love science.  As a high school physics teacher I suppose it has become second nature to me to see the world around me as an opportunity for science.  One of my graduated students once came back to me complaining that I had 'ruined' a ski trip for him because on the slopes all he could think about was acceleration and coefficient of friction and angles and such; I considered it a job well done.  When I say I love science, I do not mean that I love memorizing the facts and learning the equations.  What I mean is that I love the way science sees the world. It observes and notices things instead of taking them for granted; it sees every situation as an opportunity to explore and experiment and understand.  Science engages the world and asks exciting questions and finds innovative ways to answer them.

And so, not surprisingly, one of my FAVORITE things about being a mommy is getting to do science with my kiddos.  Nothing brightens up my day more than getting to explore something with Jonathan from his perspective.  Little people are designed to notice and explore the world around them- it is how we learn everything from our first words to social interactions to how to run and jump.  And the best part about toddler science is that there is so much of the world that is new to them that almost anything you do or see can turn into science.  Yesterday, for example, Jonathan was sliding toys down the small slide we have in our playroom- again and again and again and again the way only a toddler can.  Bored to tears, I finally said "I wonder which one slides the farthest?"   We then started sliding them down 2 at a time and noting which went farther.  He loved the experiment and before long started noticing other things- like that the ones that bounced tended to go further.

Last week, as I pulled into our driveway, I noticed that our wigelia bush was starting to sprout little buds.  So after we dumped backpacks and lunch boxes in the house, I  said "Jonathan, I have something special to show you".
He came dashing over and said "What?!?"  (the boy loves surprises)
I said, "Come with me- we are going to look at a bush!!"
"Oh BOY!!!" he started jumping up and down like I said we were going to the moon.
I grabbed a scissors and we ran out to the wigelia.  I pointed out some bare branches, and the leaves on the ground.  I asked him how the leaves got on the ground.  We talked about what happened to all the leaves in the fall and then I said, "It is almost SPRING! That is when the plants all grow brand-new leaves"  He looked at me like I was crazy.  But I proceeded and pointed out the little buds and asked him if he knew what they were.  He didn't so we cut off a branch from the bush and took it inside.  I let him dump water in a vase with a measuring cup and then we put the branch in it and put it on the dinner table.  He was expecting it to change right away, so I explained that we would have be patient and watch carefully.  I told him that we would have to look at it every day to see what happens to those little buds, but he kept running back into the dining room every 2-3 minutes to check on the branch anyway.

Thankfully they started to bloom quickly and we could notice some buds opening up by the next afternoon.  And by the end of the week viola- science and home decor combined!

ice fish

Almost two years ago I picked up a fish ice tray at IKEA.  It seemed like it had so much potential to be used in a creative, fun way with a toddler.  And for the past two years, I have been trying to figure out how to use it for something fun with Jonathan.  Last weekend it dawned on me to make ICE in it.  Imagine- ice in an ice tray.

But the idea, as obvious as it wasn't in my poor little brain, turned out to be superb.  I filled the try on Friday night- water + one drop of food color in each fish.  And then, after breakfast, I filled an empty plastic container (this one had spinach originally, I think) with warm water and voila- crazy fun for about 10 minutes.

He had no idea what they were at first- I just told him it was a surprise and let him explore.  Jonathan loved watching them melt and seeing the colors swirl in the water.

Seeing the moment that their tails melted off was also a hit.

He was delighted as the water got murkier and murkier and kept asking where the fish had gone.  It was like magic!

He could have thrown 100 fish into that water and not gotten tired of it.  So once we ran out, I let him fill it again with a teaspoon and we put it back in the freezer for after nap-time.  Hours went by between our fish adventure and nap time- snacks, stories, play, lunch, etc. And when he woke up from his nap?  The first words out of his mouth were: Where are the fish?!?!  Awesome.  We did this about 5 times over the course of the weekend and he loved it as much each time.