Bedtime Chart

We are working on improving our 2 1/2 year old's bedtime routine.  He does well until the end, but lately has been hit and miss for him.  So I collected clipart of what we do and night and we printed it and made a chart with it.  He created the order (with our help, of course) and now the chart is the boss.  So far, it has helped a bit.   I wanted to share to save someone else the work:  Bedtime Chart Clipart.  

Sleep tight!

Managing Time

It has dawned on me that I know a whole lot less than I wish I did.  I glean things from different sources, but have discovered that real people are often times a whole lot better sources than books for real-life, day-to-day knowledge.  So I have a question for you and I would love, love, love any and all ideas, tips, anything. 

How do you manage your time as a mom?

With two little boys to take care of I am constantly trying to reevaluate our schedule to fit in naps, meals, chores, exercise, me-time, one-on-one with each child, play time, grocery shopping...  How do you do it all and keep things in balance?  What have you found that works for you?

Here's one that sometimes works for us:
I noticed a recent trend, melt-downs often happy while I am making dinner.  Everything catches up with my 2-1/2 year old, he is hungry, I can't play with him and he just melts down.  So we bought a simple notebook and we started having he sit at the table and talk while he colors what we did during the day.  I am lucky, he can focus pretty well for a little while and he loves to color.  Sometimes I label what he drew or write the date and what we did like a little journal.  It has been working nicely and it is nice to have a go-to plan for both of us.


So what tips do you have for me?



 

Learning Letters - Ideas from Babycenter.com

* Practice writing each new letter in sand or fingerpaint.
* Form the letters in play dough, cookie dough, or pretzel dough.
* Cut the letter out of sandpaper and glue it on cardboard. Trace over it.
* Make a large letter out of paste on construction paper and have your child stick cereal, beans, dried noodles, or buttons on the wet paste. {Or draw a large letter on a paper and have your child cover the letter, following the lines, with a treat like chocolate chips, mini marshmallows, or cereal.  After they finish, they can eat the treat!}
* Look for each new letter on cereal boxes, signs, newspapers, and books.
* Circle the letter on the pages of magazines or newspapers. Start with capital letters and then move to lower alphabet case.
* Make a matching game with pairs of cards made of the capital and lowercase letters.
* Start an alphabet book allowing a page for each letter. Count how many times you see your letter during the day or during a car trip.

 Original post at babycenter.com

Hitting

What do you do with a two-year old that hits?

Bean Box

 

Fill a  storage bin with dry beans and popcorn kernels, throw in some old pans and spoons, measuring cups and an old table cloth and you have your very own "sandbox" to go.  The hardest thing for my two-year old is keeping the fun to stay on the old table cloth.  But half the fun is using his dump trucks to scoop the run-aways back up and return them to the proper area for play.  He loves it.  The table cloth eases the cleanup at the end.  Simply slide the beans back in the bin.

Edible Peanut Butter Play Dough

  

Ingredients:

1+1/2 cups natural peanut butter

1/2-3/4 cup powdered milk

Steps:

Mix! Enjoy! Eat!

(Last two steps in no particular order)

Thanks again goes out to Megan, who sent me a great list of ideas for toddlers.

I didn't have natural peanut butter on hand, so I am wondering if mine turned out a little softer than it should have.  It was still perfectly entertaining for little hands and perfectly yummy for little mouths!  I even cut up matchstick celery to stir with and got out sprinkles to roll little PB play dough balls in.

Emotion Faces

Not a new idea, but a good one.  Use paper plates and whatever else you can find to create different emotion faces.  Our public library has kits that you can check out.  It is a little themed backpack full of books, a DVD or CD, and a card full of activities and songs on the subject.  We checked out one on emotions to go along with this art project.  Great fun and super cheap!

Lunch Idea: Muffin Tin Meal

 

An idea borrowed from Megan over at The Foods We Love. 

Fill each little cup of a muffin tin with foods little fingers love.

My two-year old loves this idea because it is fun for him and I love it because it is fun for me.  It forces me to serve a variety of foods.  Megan also said it is great because you can serve a treat and if they choose to eat it first, they can, but then the only other choices are healthy ones.  She has some great theme ideas.  Give it a try!

One favorite in our house is an orange themed muffin tin lunch:

macaroni and cheese, fish crackers, oranges, carrots (+dip) and orange juice

Celebrate the Boy!

 

So inspired.

Cozy Car Caddy

I want to make one of these.

Tutorial found here on Homemade by Jill.

Cottonball Snowmen

Supplies:

Contact Paper

Pen

Scissors

3 different circles to trace (cups, bowls, etc...)

Cotton balls

Snowman accessories

Steps:

1.  Trace 3 different size circles on the contact paper and cut them out.

2.  Stick them together to form a snowman with the sticky side up.

3.  Cover with cottonballs.

4.  Accessorize.  I used scraps of felt and fabric, but you could do the same with paper.

I put magnets on the back and stuck them on the fridge.  Enjoy!

And yes, my son does have pen on his forehead.  That's a toddler for ya!

Addendum

I would like to edit my previous post.  In the "I am" series of things, I would like to insert: 

I am covered in spit up. 

It is my new scent.
Reduces the chances that another baby will join the family too soon...

Observation

I am fairly positive that onesies have a built in button down by the snaps that makes children immediately spit up when pressed.  Do you ever just say oh well and leave your child in a slightly dirty outfit just so you aren't changing them 15 times each day?  Cause I do.

When Sidewalk Chalk Meets Bathtime, A Romance with a Disappointing End

Thought this it was a great idea at the start.

The chalk made bright bold marks on the walls and the tub.

Color was everywhere.

It was fun.  It was exciting.  It was different.

And it was very hard to clean up the mess left behind.

(Nothing that Mr. Clean magic erasers couldn't handle though!)

I recommend the idea, but perhaps a different location would have been better.  I want to try dipping chalk into water and then drawing on paper.  I think it just might be a perfect match!

A Deep Breath

My husband has started having our 2-year old take a deep breath when he is starting to get upset in a way only a 2-year old does.  I tried it today and it helped!  It gave him a second to calm down and then we were able to talk through what was going on.

Maybe I need to start trying it on myself :)
What do you do to help your kids calm down?

Salt Art

You will need:

•  Salt (any kind is fine)
• Little cups or bowls (however many colors you want to do)
  
• Food coloring
• Elmer's or similar craft glue
• Construction Paper, cardstock, or poster board
  
• shoe box

Steps:

1. Pour a small amount of salt into each cup, about a 1/4 cup or so.
2. Mix in a few drops of food coloring to create the colors you want.
   
3. Cut your paper the size of the bottom of the shoe box and put it inside and give it to your child.
4. Help squeeze the glue as your child directs the motion creating a glue design.
5. Have your child dump one of the colored salt cups in the box and jiggle the box to have the salt cover all the glue.
6. Take it over the sink and pour the excess colored salt back into the cup (if you want to do it again).
7. Then add more glue, another color salt and continue to repeat until you have your desired design.

We had fun in our "salt box" afterward-- simply pour in all the extra salt and enjoy!