Toys - making accessories

Rustic fence

Toys are expensive. As much as we'd all love to buy our kids full sets of things sometimes it's just out of the question. Here are a couple of things we've made to accessorise our little man's toys. Small fences to go with his farm and scenic boards to put his toy animals/cars/trains etc on.

Sanding down the sticks

Glue gunning the lolly sticks on

The fences and gates are very simple. While out enjoying a walk we gathered some sticks. We sawed the sticks to similar lengths and sanded them down (our guy loved having a go at sanding)! Then we glued lolly sticks onto the sanded sticks to make the panels, then the fences are ready (sometimes a lolly stick needs to be glued to the bottom of the fence to stabilise it). 

The scenic boards are made using a piece of cardboard and some material. I used felt for the farm animals board accommodating a muddy area for the pig to roll in! We have used plenty of TNT which is really cheap and works very well for these boards. Sometimes we just lay some material over the coffee table and play there which is a quick way to create scenes and can be changed to suit the game.

Cooking - cookies

We love cooking here so thought we'd share our fun cookie recipe. Our little boy still doesn't eat sweet food but he loves to join in the preparation (and it's a great treat for mummy when he's gone to bed) and I'm sure they will go down wonderfully at birthday parties and on special occasions.

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup sugar 

1 egg

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 packet chocolate - smarties (UK) or Lakka confetti (Brazil)

Cream the butter and sugar, beat in the egg, fold in flour and baking powder and add the chocolate. Make small balls (I usually get 8 cookies from the recipe), cook on medium heat (180oc) until they are brown underneath. Cool and enjoy!

PROBLEM SOLVING - when a close family member goes travelling

In today's busy world there will come a time when somebody close to your child has to go travelling whether for business or pleasure. It can have quite an adverse effect on your child but there are ways to help.

I once had a boy in the nursery who lived with many members of his extended family including his aunt. He was close with the whole family although mum was the primary care giver. In this particular scenario it was the aunt who had to travel and when the boy turned up at nursery that morning he was tearful and mum explained that he was upset because his aunt had left. Without thinking too much of it we took him and gave him some cuddles and he was soon off playing with his friends. A little while later we saw that he was upset again sitting in a corner sobbing. I went to see what had happened. Through his tears he said 'auntie' and so I replied 'oh yes your auntie is away, but she'll be back soon'. He looked up and asked 'when?'. I had no idea! So I told him i'm sure she would be back soon but I didn't know exactly when. This brought a new flood of tears and nothing would calm him down. As I knew his mum well and knew she was home I gave her a call and asked her a little more about the situation. She explained that he wasn't so attached but seemed to have been really affected by the absence of his aunt. I asked her when she would be returning and she said in three weeks. I returned to the boy and told him that his aunt would be back in three weeks and that he had lots of time to play before she got back. He settled a bit and went off to play and was picked up soon after.

The next day he returned to nursery red eyed with a tired looking mum in tow. I asked her what had happened and she said he had been up half the night fretting about his aunt and she said she just didn't understand because he would only spend a little time with her each day and it wasn't for a special reason or an important part of his routine. I said i'd have a chat with him and let her know how it went.

I went to have a chat with the sad little boy. He again told me auntie and when I said she would be back soon he asked when so I told him in three weeks. At this he began crying a little harder. I was puzzled. I asked him why did it make him sadder to know three weeks. He said he didn't know. I was at a loss! I decided to get down the calendar and mark off when she would be back and asked him if he would like to help me. His eyes lit up and we sat down and looked at the calendar together. We marked the day she would be back and I told him every day he could come in and we would mark off a day and count how many more we had left. He seemed quite content with this idea and I suggested he went and painted a nice picture so his aunt knew he was thinking about her. Off he went and not a tear from him the whole day. 

The next day he came in with his big smile and asked to mark the calendar. We did this for the following weeks and finally the day came. He marked it off and I said he must be excited that his aunt was coming. He didn't really respond but went off to have some fruit. Later that afternoon his aunt came to pick him up. She had heard the story from his mum and thought he might like her to come. Well, he took one look at her and started to cry. 'What's the matter?' I asked him. 'I want my mummy to pick me up' was his reply. After a bit of persuasion we got him out the door and off home to his mummy!

The next day his mum came in with him and told me how he hadn't been bothered at all that his aunt was back and she just couldn't understand what was going on. She said when he woke up every morning he was asking  her what day it was and if he was going to nursery and she wondered if he wasn't enjoying himself. I reassured her that he seemed perfectly happy throughout the day and since we had started the calendar exercise he had been fine. I went to have a chat to him. I asked him if he was pleased to have his aunt home and he said yes. I asked him if he knew what day it was and he said it was Thursday, he was right! I asked him if he knew what day it was tomorrow and he said Friday. Then he told me then its Saturday and I don't come to nursery. I asked him if he liked nursery and he said yes. The more he said the more inclined I was to think he was dealing with a time and day issue. He seemed to want information on his routine and what days he did things on. I decided to teach him a song about the days of the week and make a small diary so he could draw a picture on each day. He was so excited about the activity and ran home showing his whole family.

The story here tells us that the absence of a family member can be painful to a child for many reasons. 

Recently my husband had to travel for 9 days. It is the longest he's been away from our son and I was wondering what the reaction would be. I tried to keep his routine as normal as possible and not mention daddy too much. The first two nights I had 40 minute tantrums to go to bed and when he woke in the night. I faced them as I would if my husband had been here but it's much harder when you don't have back up! Needless to say he settled down and accepted daddy was away. Technology helped us a great deal as he was able to see daddy at breakfast time via Skype and this really seemed to help as he had a big smile and shouted daddy. The day my husband was coming home I got my son to do some painting telling him it was for daddy and that daddy was coming home today. He painted singing 'daddy daddy' so I think he knew what was going on. Daddy got home and for the following few days we tried to make time for the two of them to do more things together. So instead of me putting him to bed my husband did, he got him dressed and played with him while I made breakfast or dinner. He tried to get home a little earlier from work to spend a bit more time with his boy and all these small things seemed to work wonders for him (and for me as it is nice to have a little rest after being the full time carer for 9 days!) 

We can't evict these trips but we can take steps to prepare our children and ease the stress of separation a little.

Gardening - Making a herb garden

Our herb garden

If your child enjoys gardening why not try out a herb garden. It's a great way to get into the gardening scene as the herbs grow easily and it's cheap and easy to do and the herbs make for a delicious addition to any meal.

Today we decided we would get ours going.

Yesterday when we were out at the park we passed by the garden centre and got a small bag of compost and three packets of seeds. The grand total being R$7,35 (roughly £2.60). The seeds we chose were basil, coriander and parsley. We had an old bucket at home which we converted into a planter so that was one extra cost we managed to avoid (do have a good look around your house before buying expensive plastic garden pots - it's amazing what can become a herb garden!)

Putting the soil in

Watering the herbs

I left my son to put large stones at the bottom of our bucket which he really enjoyed then he spent about 20 minutes scooping the compost into the bucket. At this point he lost interest so I did the actual planting but he was game to water them afterwards. 

Now we just water, watch and wait. Keep a look out for our photo updates here and on Facebook.

PROBLEM SOLVING: Throwing toys

Throwing toys is part of a young child's development. They try and test many things as they grow strong and the ability to throw is one of them. But what do you do when the throwing gets out of hand? It's one thing to throw balls in the garden but what about those big chunks of lego that are aimed at the new baby or the truck flying at Grandad when he visits?

When parents used to ask me how to deal with throwing, I would recommend that they remove the toy for a period of time. This is exactly what we are doing with our son. We have a box which we keep on top of the work surface to put the thrown toys. When he trows a toy he is given a warning 'if you throw a toy again it will go in the box and you won't be able to play with it anymore' then if he trows it again the toy goes in the box. It works wonders and he is often upset that the toy has been taken away or asks for the toy later in the day. For now we leave the toys in the box until he has gone to bed that night then we replace them. As he gets older and understands we assume the throwing will become a lot less frequent but also when we take a toy away it may be for a much longer period of time. On a day where the box seems to be getting a bit full its clear he needs the opportunity to throw so we either get outside in the garden with the balls or invent some indoor throwing game. Beanbags in hoops are great.

This tip was brought back to me by one parent. He said his son had begun throwing toys and I talked him through the process. A few days later he said it was working well and I thought that was the end of it. But, a week or so after, he came back to me and said his son was now playing with his toys for a while then saying 'daddy, look' and throwing one of them then saying 'away'. At which point the dad was taking the toy away and the child was happily moving onto another toy. I suggested he sit the child down for a couple of minutes when he threw a toy and remove the whole lot, so , for example, if he was playing with lego and threw one piece then that was the end of lego for the day and the child would sit down for two or three minutes before being allowed to play again. He gave it a go but was back before the week was out. I'd had time to think and I suggested that perhaps the problem wasn't throwing but tidying up. Did the child simply want the toys taken away so that he was free to play with the next thing? So we came up with a new plan. When the boy threw his toys he would go immediately and sit down. When his time was up (a minute per year so if a child is two they sit for two minutes) he would have to tidy the toys away then they would be taken away. Well, it did the trick and the child stopped throwing his toys (even if he still disliked tidying up).

This is definitely a scenario for a slightly older child as there are several processes and the child needs to be able to comprehend the situation. But if a child has worked out that throwing a toy means they will be tidied for him and he can play with something else, then he is probably older anyway.

Learning where food comes from - planting our vegetables

After reading an article on Yahoo! this week about the shocking ignorance among children regarding where their food comes from, I felt it was time to start showing our boy in a serious manner. So the vegetable garden has begun! 

We have already planted basil in little pots in the kitchen (see post when babies become toddlers - practical life activities) but I felt it was time to get things going outside too. Gardening is great for gross and fine motor skills and gets children touching dirt and caring for a living thing, not to mention the fresh air! 

Before we got to the garden we selected our potatoes and I talked to him about the process. I know he is too young to understand but it gives him vocabulary and is always nice to tell your child what and why they are doing something.

We got our big planting tub out and had a great half hour filling it with soil. I really just sat back and watched after he got the hang of what he had to do. He and the rabbit enjoyed getting the mud and when he was tired I helped him finish off. Once the tub was full we made the holes and planted our potatoes. We used two large baking potatoes that had just started to sprout. Then we covered them up and had another fun 10 minutes watering them! We also planted an onion that was sprouting although I have read that this may not work but i'm game for a try.

Now his work is to water the plants each day (while I hang out the washing) and watch them grow. The potatoes usually grow large greenery and should be left for around 4 months before harvesting. We will update this post with pictures as our potatoes grow!

What are your best gardening efforts and what have your children enjoyed most? Any ideas are gratefully received.

First update: 

Onions (left) Potatoes (right)

Our potatoes have begun sprouting shoots and the onions are really taking off!

 

 

 

 

 

Harvest time!

The onions were a disaster and really didn´t grow, but the potatoes were magnificent and really yummy for tea tonight!                         

Product review - Quinny Zapp Xtra

Today we give our opinion on the pushchair we have used with our boy since he was a few months old - the Quinny Zapp Xtra.

We, like most families, spent a long time deciding on our pushchair of choice. We took many things into consideration such as size, mobility, comfort and positions. Cost was also a consideration but a little lower on our list. 

As we live in Brazil we decided that we would be using our pushchair for walks around the village and when we would go to the shopping centres. It is not normal for people to use pushchairs in restaurants or town centres so we would fit in with the culture and do as others do (also the streets and shops are not prepared for pushchairs).

We knew we wouldn't be using our pushchair on public transport as there are no adequate ways to do that in our city.

With all these considerations in mind we settled on the Quinny Zapp Xtra. One thing we really love about this pushchair is that it is suitable from a very young age and with the inlay can be used from birth. The pushchair has 5 positions both front and rear facing which is great for when your baby is tiny and also to recline an older child if they have a doze. It is easy to recline and doesn't disturb a sleeping child. 

One drawback to this pushchair is that it is in two parts. The base folds down very neatly but the seat is quite bulky. For us it is not a big problem as we use the pushchair in select places but I can imagine having to fold it down to get on a bus would be quite a challenge if you are alone. I do know that Quinny have now released the folding seat so I assume this would solve the problem but as we have managed for our first son we will just manage for our second son too!

All in all we are really pleased with our pushchair and have had no desire to trade it in. It has done 18 months for our first guy and is still in really good condition. It is simple to clean and hasn't scuffed around the frame at all. To find out more visit the Quinny website.