Play and Learn Every Day

Another Successful Play Date

22:43

As of today, things are very different in our house...the Grandparents have all been and gone, we've had lots of visitors and helpers over the past few months, but now we're on our own! It's time to get into our routines and for me to figure out how to manage with two little ones on my own most days. I'm feeling completely outnumbered already, so it was the perfect day for friends to come over for a play date (who were of course very helpful as well, made my job a lot easier!) I was able to pass Ivy over for cuddles with the other Mums, which is great for her to get used to other people, and enables me to get things done. She's not quite ready to play on the mat with the other babies, but I'm sure that's not far off.

I am sure that every play date will not be such a success, and they're still a novelty for us to host as our previous house just didn't have the space. Ethan just impresses me so much with his sharing and letting his friends play with his toys. He happily watches them play, sometimes just observing and sometimes trying to join them. Mostly I think he just enjoys showing off his toys and watching how others play with them. He also sat really nicely with them at his little table for lunch, which I find very impressive as he won't sit still for two seconds when it's just us (he still has his meals in his high chair to prevent him wandering off). It's so nice to have friends over so that he can pick up these social skills from them, feeling very proud of my little boy today!

2 1/2 years old

An Easter Get Together

22:18

Today we met up with some friends for a pre Easter lunch. We had an area of the pub reserved so that the kids had room to run around and play, there were party bags and an Easter egg hunt to keep the little ones busy and lovely food for the adults. It was fantastic, a lovely family day out, and all planned by lovely friends.

Ethan had such fun playing with all the other children, opening up his party bag to discover all of the lovely things inside, making a mess of himself with chocolate eggs (he rarely gets chocolate, this was a real treat!) and hunting for Easter eggs. We had an Easter egg hunt last year at home, but he doesn't really remember, and I hadn't explained it him before today. So he was a bit unsure and hesitant at first...but once he discovered that there was chocolate in those eggs he was really into it! Can't wait for the Easter Bunny to come to our house now!

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2 1/2 years old

Cars Colour Wonder Colouring Set

22:09

A very kind friend of ours gave Ethan a big brother gift (to go with Ivy's new baby gift) of a Crayola Colour Wonder colouring set with pictures from the Disney movie Cars. It's a bit like this set that you can buy from Amazon. It's a great little set that comes with colouring sheets and special markers that will only mark on that type of paper, so they don't make a mess on the table (or anywhere else!) Ethan is really getting into drawing and colouring, and it's great for his Creative Development.

The only problem is that he loves the set so much that he just wants the next picture and the next picture to colour in, without really finishing them off. So I'm actually just putting them back in the pack after he 'finishes' them and then re giving them to him later on, he doesn't seem to mind!

2 1/2 years old

Car Tracks in Play Dough

22:05

Today Ethan got some new toy cars, and I noticed that they had different textured wheels so this was the perfect time to drive cars through play dough to see the tracks. A great activity for Ethan's Physical Development in making the tracks and observational skills as part of his Knowledge and Understanding of the World.

We got out the play dough and Ethan used the rolling pin to roll it out flat. We then started driving the different cars through the dough and seeing the different tracks that they made. We talked about pressing harder and softer on the car to make the tracks deeper and compared all of the tracks before rolling out the dough and doing it all again. I'll be honest, the activity didn't last very long, Ethan was a bit distracted and wanted to drive his cars on his road mat, so the game quickly changed to racing around with his new cars!

2 1/2 years old

2 1/2 Birthday!

22:03

Today Ethan is 2 1/2, I can't even believe it! He is officially closer to being 3 than 2, my little boy is growing up so fast! If you read this blog you'll know that we like to celebrate everything, so of course we have to do a little something special for half birthdays as well. We got Ethan a few little toys to open and we made a cake this afternoon. All a part of his Personal, Social and Emotional Development as he learns about special occasions.

It's really fun because as much as he loved his 2nd birthday, he was the first of his friends to have a party so I don't think that he really understood it until we'd been to a few other friends' birthdays. I did keep emphasizing today that it wasn't his real birthday, so that his expectations weren't too high, but he was happy with everything that we did. And really sweetly this morning I was asking him about what we do on birthdays and what he might get, and he said "a card!" Of course that's the one thing I didn't get him. He absolutely loves the little cars that he got and had a great time making (and eating!) his half birthday cake. He even took his cars with him at nap time and had them sleep beside him, he is so adorable and I am so lucky to be able to share these special days with him!

2 years old

Pimp My Ride - Making Ethan's Little Tikes Car into a Police Car

22:29

A few weeks ago Ethan got a Little Tikes ride in car, and has been loving playing with it. There are a variety of different models of the Cosy Coupe cars available, but Ethan has the Union Jack one. We decided that we could make his car into any type of car we like, just by creating some additions to it. Today we made the car into a police car by adding a siren for the top and a walkie talkie inside.

I used one of the small flat Amazon boxes for the siren, it worked perfectly with flaps that could stick up. We painted with part red and one part blue, then the rest of the box white. Ethan did a lot of the painting himself, but I won't lie, I did fill in the rest so that it would clearly be a red and blue siren. Then I found a small plastic container to use as the holder for the walkie talkie, we decorated it with star stickers, then I tied a string from the box to a toy phone and stuck it into the car (with blue tac so it wouldn't leave any marks).

Ethan absolutely loved the whole process and couldn't wait to put the things we'd made onto his car. I had to put the siren on while the paint was still dry, he was so impatient. Now he drives around talking into his walkie talkie and making siren sounds, it's fantastic!

2 months old

Tracking a Toy

19:24

Ivy is 2 months old today, and becoming more alert and interested in the world around her everyday. Today we tried tracking a toy with her eyes, seeing if she was able to watch the toy as I moved it in front of her. A good activity to help develop her senses and focus her attention, as part of her Knowledge and Understanding of the World.

Ivy was laying on her mat and happily looking around the room, then I started by holding the rattle in front of her and shaking it a little bit to try to get her attention. Then I slowly moved it from one side to the other. She didn't move her gaze the first time that I tried, but on the second go she followed the toy with her eyes as I moved it to both sides then up and down. After doing that a few times she started to move her head as well, following the toy intently. I also tried putting it in her hand, she was able to keep the grip and wave it around a little bit before dropping it. It's so exciting seeing the beginning of her learning to play.

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Another Successful Play Date

An Easter Get Together

Cars Colour Wonder Colouring Set

Car Tracks in Play Dough

2 1/2 Birthday!

Pimp My Ride - Making Ethan's Little Tikes Car into a Police Car

Tracking a Toy

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