Wednesday, January 23, 2013

14 Months!

First, I can't believe M is already 14 months old.  Crazy how fast time is flying. 

Second, in honor of her this day and because I forgot to take a picture this morning...I thought I would update you all of some of the new things she's doing.  So, here you go!  (Keep your eyes peeled for the next carseat comparison montage!)

M loves to go hide behind things, peek out, and give you a heart-melting smile.  She does it every day at daycare when I pick her up at the end of the day.  I don't think I'll ever get sick of that grin!

M loves to play with her sensory jars.  Each jar is filled with something different -- rock salt, pebbles, Mini Chicklets, elbow macaroni, etc.  She loves to shake them around, stare at what's in them, stack them.

Stevie.  M has always been a fan of both cats...especially the illusive black on that refuses to get close enough to be touched.  But, recently, M has taken to running up to Stevie and giving her ginormous hugs.  The cat loves every minute of it...even the minutes where M is crawling on top of her and body slamming her. 
End of the world crying while grabbing on to your legs.  She's become very demanding about being picked up so that she can walk around with you and have everything at eye level.  We're trying to encourage her to say "up" but so far grandma is the only one that can sometimes get her to say it.  We just get tears and this face.

The Learning Tower.  Since M has such a desire to be at eye level all of the time, we invested in a learning tower so she can be up at counter level in the kitchen when we're preparing meals.  She seems to be a fan, tho still prefers for us to be holding her. 

M is in love with her baby.  Seriously.  She carries it around all.the.time.  She tries to wrap it up in blankets, tho despises if baby ever has a stitch of clothing on.  She has also taken to saying "baby."  She knows what her baby is and if you ask her where it is or to go get her baby, she'll follow the directions happily.

She also recently learned that she can climb up on the ottoman.  Which is now one of her favorite things to do.  Even if it means just to sit up there and play.  Because she can.  We used to have her diaper caddy and a bin of her bibs/socks/shoes/etc on the ottoman, but now they are behind the gate so she can't throw everything all over the floor.

Removing everything from any container.  Everything must be emptied out of anything at all time.  There might even be some sort of law in our house I'm unaware of that says that everything must be strewn across the floor at all times and is under no circumstances allowed to be stored in any sort of container or cabinet.  

She will get into anything that she can get into.  Boxes, bags, Lego containers, toy bins, wagons, etc.  You think it's too small?  Think again cause she's probably going to figure out a way to wedge herself in there.  And then likely cry because she can't get back out because she's stuck.  She is hilariously content just sitting in something she normally doesn't sit in, especially if she has her baby with her.

M has become pretty social with other babies, especially babies smaller than her.  She likes to pet their head, hold their hand, pat their arms.  She also likes to try to quiet them if they're upset and crying.  Here my friend, Rachel, caught a nice shot of M obsessively petting the head of her new friend Sam.

And finally, this is M's new concentration face.  It drives Ryan absolutely batty that she's been walking around with her tongue hanging out all the time now.  I think it's cute and endearing and it makes me giggle whenever she does it. 

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Sensory Rice Bin!

I ran across an idea for some sensory exploration from some of my mom friends and decided to try it out with M.

Sensory Rice Bin

It seemed simple enough.  Color some rice, throw it in a bin, and let them explore.

First up, getting the ingredients.  While grocery shopping today I picked up a 5lb bag of rice (I got extra long grain) and some gel food coloring (neon and primary).  I already had vinegar and the various other utensils at home that I'd need for this project. 

Making the rice was super easy.  I made it in 2 cup color batches.  So each batch was:

2 c. uncooked rice
1 tsp. vinegar
globs of food coloring

You can really use as much or as little food coloring as you want.  I used a lot so I'd get some vibrant colors for M to explore.

After mixing it up, I put each batch on a baking sheet (covered in foil) and cooked the rice for 15 minutes at 250 degrees.  You don't have to bake it, but it makes it dry faster and I didn't really feel like leaving the rice to air dry for a couple hours and have my cats throw it all over the house.

From each color batch I made a small snack sized baggy of the color, and then with the rest I just dumped it all into a tub.  Below is the set up waiting for M to wake up from her nap.  I used some different kitchen items I already had for her to scoop and pour the rice into different containers.  Also, some of her small toys (legos, rings, etc) are hidden in the rice for her to find.


When M woke up she had a blast with the rice.  45 minutes STRAIGHT it held her attention.  Pretty impressive in my opinion.  Here are some shots.  My favorite was when she got INTO the bin to play!











She had a blast playing with the rice.  It didn't end up being too messy.  I had a bit to pick up on the carpet that she flung out of the bin or rolled off the edge of the blanket.  No color came off of any of the rice on anything, huge win! 

Hopefully this gets a lot of use for a while!

Friday, January 11, 2013

Daycare Pictures!


Today I got a flash drive of all the pictures they've taken of Maddie so far at Goddard.  I can't tell you how much I loved looking through these.  I thought I should share some of my favorites with you.


4/12/12

4/18/12 - LOVE

5/29/12

5/29/12 - Scribbling by herself!

6/19/12

6/20/12 - Trying to crawl!

7/10/12

7/20/12 - Oooooh, bubbles!

8/29/12
.
9/6/12 - Finger Painting!

10/2/12

10/5/12 - OMG SPAGHETTI!

10/9/12 - Photographic proof of the pacifier thief

11/12/12 - Playing with water!

12/20/12 - Merry Christmas

And last but not least, a little collage of her playing with all different textures!
Shells, jello, flour, pumpkin, cone & pompon.

Monday, January 7, 2013

Christmas Redux

Trina arrived to town the afternoon of the 26th, so as soon as I got home from work we did Christmas 2.0 at my parents house and then came home and did it at our house!

Maddie was so very helpful with the opening of gifts, and Trina very graciously allowed her to help.












And the big gift....an iPod Touch:
I think it was a merry Christmas for all!

Securing Furniture.

Something to think about.

An Account of a Mother's Loss.

Megan's Hope