Seeing the world from a new perspective

In today's post I wanted to talk about the changes that happen to us as adults when we become parents. When our son was born neither me nor my husband had any idea of the things our child would teach us and how we must take full advantage of all the natural beauty in the world. 

Last weekend we had a family trip to a nearby beach and fishing town. It is called Laguna and is about a 2 hour drive from us. We wanted to show our son some traditional fishing and Laguna is a special place to do this as the fishermen have expert help in the form of dolphins. Our son is really in to sea animals at the moment and we thought it would be a perfect place to take him to see some big sea animals in action and for free!

The moment we arrived he was off like a shot out of the car and running along the sand, happy to be free of his car seat and sitting position. He reached the edge of the water and while me and my husband were scanning the horizon for a glimpse of the dolphins our boy was already shouting 'whale, whale' (his word for anything in the sea) at the top of his lungs. We were so impressed with how quickly he could see them and identify them as something he knows. 

We spent a few hours enjoying the dolphins and seeing the fish that had been caught before making our way to our hotel for a rest. While our son took his nap me and my husband began discussing his fast perception of things. We've noticed how he hears birds when we would hear nothing. He sees diggers from miles away and often tells us where the moon is at night. 

The next morning we were up early (we are now very early risers) and as breakfast wasn't going to be served until 7.30am we decided to take a walk and see the sun rise and occupy our little guy to take his mind off food! The sun was just coming out of the sea as we reached the viewpoint and our little man got very excited before turning around and showing us the moon. He then went from the sun to the moon about 20 times with an expression of sheer pleasure. We too were thrilled to see such a beautiful scene which was enhanced by his joy.

As we walked back to the breakfast room our boy started telling us something. We stopped and listened and my husband said he could hear an owl. We listened for a while and realised it was coming from the ground. We glanced around and saw three small owls on a grassy patch. We would never have seen them had our boy not pointed out the sound. 

When we got home we took the dog for a walk and continued to discuss how much our son is showing us. So much that we miss. While we were stood in the field watching our dog and boy running free we decided to listen hard and see how many sounds we could hear. Its amazing. I think we counted around 9 different sounds in what could be considered a noiseless field. 

How often do we stop and listen? How much are we missing by staying in bed another hour or putting the TV on instead of sitting at the back door? It really made us think and we'll definitely be getting out the door and opening the windows to see what the world has to offer us.

Watch the dolphins in action on this BBC clip

What's right for you is RIGHT!

We have recently announced that we are expecting our second son and this news has been greeted with mixed comments from friends and family. Hence I have been impelled to write a post regarding the decisions you make as a parent and what is right and wrong.

Firstly, some people felt they needed to give us their opinion on the fact that our two children would have a small age gap between them. Then others inquired if we had planned the pregnancy. Well, yes we had planned him and the age gap between our sons is what we decided was right for our family.

Where children are concerned everybody seems to have an opinion of what is right and wrong and are only too eager to offer their ideas on the matter. Basically I say to all these helpful advisers... what is right for me and my family is right. Every loving parent wants what is best for their child and strives to provide them with the life they see fit. As a parent you work hard day and night to help your child adapt to the outside world and the structure of your family and society. This may include how and when you put your child to bed, the food you decide to feed them and the toy you choose to buy them. All important decisions and all unique to you and your family.

My main point here is that the choices we make as parents are right if they are made consciously and for the best of the child and the family as a whole.

So to anyone who may be doubting their decisions or to those who feel others' decisions are not 'right' i'd like to remind you that no caring parent would carry out something that would deliberately harm their child or family and that every person and family is different. 

We can all agree on one thing and that is that we want what we consider to be the best for our children.

Art activities - chalking

Like drawing, this is another simple activity which aids the process of reading and writing. It is good to give a child different materials to do their mark making and chalk is another cheap option to crayons, pens and pencils.

We have done chalking both on a small chalk board where he can rub out his marks and repeat several times, as well as outside on the pavement or walls. 

Art activities - drawing

A very simple activity which begins the journey to reading and writing. We usually have a quick drawing session each day. I try to sit down and do some drawing with my boy or write something while he has his crayons out such as the shopping list.

We have done many variations of drawing from small pieces of paper to giant ones to opening cardboard boxes on the floor and having a drawing marathon. It's all good practice for the future and our little boy just loves to scribble. He now sends daddy to work with a new picture each week and when he visits the office he can see the value his dad gives to his art work.

Art activities - gluing and sticking

Children love glue! It's another messy one but with the right planning you can reduce the mess stress and let your small people have a lot of fun. 

We use pvc child-safe glue. Ours came in an easy dispensable bottle but a tiny pot and a small paintbrush will do the job just as well.

We used different shapes as our boy is very interested in his shape sorted at the moment and we decided to use the opportunity to enhance his learning of shapes. You can use almost anything. Free magazines, flyers from the supermarket, wrapping paper or like us just some cut out shapes.

To make the activity even richer, we made one of the gluey pictures into a bookmark to give to our boys grandmother for her birthday!

Art activities - playdough

Today's post looks at playdough. 

This wasn't a very successful activity in our house which I believe could be down to the texture of the playdough. But don't let that put you off trying this cheap and easy activity! We'll be giving it another go in a week or two. 

The recipe

2 cups of flour

1 cup of salt

2 cups of water

2 tablespoons of oil

food colouring

Heat the ingredients in a pan over a low heat until they form a firm dough. Remove from the heat, allow to cool then add a few drops of food colouring and kneed the dough until the colour is spread evenly. 

This activity is great for teaching colours and when the child is older you can show them how to make new clours by mixing primary colours together!

Art Activities - Finger painting

To start our set of art activities we're kicking off with finger painting. This is a nice way to introduce your young child to paint and you can control the mess by limiting the amount of paint you use and by having a bowl of soapy water nearby!

I always give my boy one colour at a time as he is still young and gets a bit overwhelmed with more than one ending up with the paint going everywhere! This is an activity we have done with him since birth when we took hand and feet prints on a regular basis.

As Easter has been in the air we decided to use the finger prints to make little cards. It's always lovely to follow up an activity in this way as it makes it more purposeful. Even if the child knows they are painting a picture for someone, they will be more motivated with any activity.