The world of a toddler

Goodness, I had some laughs with my littlest one last night.  Once again, our pace of life was slow enough for her to experiment with the world and things around her.  Last night, she learned ways to transfer items from one place to another.

I was measuring out chick peas so I could soak them overnight.  She is my constant companion and was right by my side wanting to help.  Slowly, we poured the peas onto the scale.  Then, I was simply going to pour them out of the scale and into my bowl.  But Astrin is a helper and wanted to do it her way.

First was the one-at-a-time method.

Then she dug out a spoon and found out that they move from the scale to the bowl a wee bit faster.  Some also roll all over the floor.

Eventually, she dug through most of the items in our utensil drawer.  By the time she moved half of the peas, she was through with her experiments and onto other pursuits.  Still, it was interesting to step back and watch her mind make connections between actions and results.  Plus, in a little way, I think we validated to her that it is okay to do experiments in this house.

This week

Things I loved about this week:

  ~ getting outside more days than we stayed in
  ~ listening to Astrin "read" me a book
  ~ enjoying poetry written by Jaelyn
  ~ skating for the first time this season
  ~ introducing Jaelyn to needle-felting
  ~ experiencing the creations of the Birds of Prey and Nature Clubs.
  ~ making maple syrup taffy from the mountain of snow that fell today
  ~ a night out with a great gal...my mom

Enjoy your weekend!

Club Day. The Nature Version.

I write this blog amidst the shrieking that apparently accompanies supper dishes when Papa is around.  While I am thankful he is back home, I could do with a little more quiet.

I also found that competition can work wonders for children in need of putting their clothes away neatly.  As the Nature Club burst into the house on this chilly afternoon, I casually mentioned how messy the Birds of Prey Club left their outside clothes when they were here earlier in the week.  And what would you know - all coats were hung up, boots were standing in pairs, and there was not a single mitten, toque or hat laying on the floor.  Hmmm...I'll save that trick for a later date and see if it works again.

Today, out Nature Club made some beautiful art with the flowers, leaves and grasses that we picked at the end of summer.  We've had them between layers of cardboard and a stack of encyclopedias on top of them ever since.  They turned out beautifully.

Before they started, I read them Story of the Root Children by Sibylle von Olfers.  We thought back to the summer and all the lovely colours that lived in our garden, and where they might go for the winter.  We talked about whether Mother Earth is real, and how the Earth provides everything we need to be happy and healthy, much like mothers do. 

Then we moved on to our craft.  I gave the girls a couple of ideas for what they could do with their pressed treasures.  I showed them a painting our family picked up when we were in Prince Edward Island this summer.  The artist is Elizabeth Ghiz-Fay, and it is watercolour on paper, with natural found objects arranged in such a way to create familiar beach sights (for example, rocks arranged to look like a sailboat or duck).  The other idea was straight out of Green Crafts for Children, where we cut out a fairy figure (a root child, perhaps), then dressed it with the flowers and leaves.

The children created lovely art with their summer treasures!

Staring down the Christmas list

When I was young, I was a big fan of Christmas.  I still am - I just love some aspects differently now, and there are some aspects I could pass on altogether.  Perhaps it's a sign of growing up.  Perhaps it's a sign of values that have shifted over the years.  Perhaps it is just a sign of time management!

My mind has been on Christmas a lot already!  Each year, as we allow ourselves to follow our intuition a little more and mindfully consider of the kinds of experiences we want to leave with the young ones in our lives, I spend much time contemplating the list of presents for nieces, nephews, and our own little ones.  Lists of things I'm capable of making for them and that they might find useful.  Lists of suggestions for others who show their affection for our children by placing an item under the tree for them.  And separate lists to help those loved ones avoid duplicates, as those wish lists tend to be quite short.

Every year, we are delicately dancing through the holiday season, trying to ensure balance.  We want our kids to feel in their hearts and souls how special the winter holidays are.  We feel the desire to show them how much we love them with thoughtfully selected gifts.  We want to maintain those activities or treats that the children look forward to.  On the flip side, we are also keenly aware that the season is also about togetherness and not just stuff.  Looking back on Christmases past, my husband and I each fondly and vividly remember the events and not so much the tangible stuff.

So today, I attempted to get organized.  I put together a chart listing who will be getting what and from whom.  It's nothing fancy - just pencil put to a piece of paper from our recycling bin.  It includes everyone - parents, grandparents, nieces, nephews, brothers, in-laws, gift exchanges - everyone.  I've noted what needs to be made and what needs to be purchased.  It allows me to see a few things.  One, whether we've hit what feels right in the "balance" department.  Two, it helps me make sure I only order one time from our favorite online stores.   Third, it makes me very aware that I'd better get started!

Club Day. The Birds of Prey Version.

Oh, what fun we had at our Birds of Prey Club meeting today.  For today, we merged the boys passion for birds (or animals, or things with guns) with their theatre talent.  We created puppets and put on an improv puppet show.

There were no patterns or designs to guide the club.  We simply laid out materials - fabric, felt, old socks, sticks, paper, beads, pipe cleaners, googly eyes, and more - and the kids dug in and created as only they can. 

Most made some form of finger puppet, and some of these were later glued onto a stick to turn them into stick puppets.  Some didn't feel like birds - there was a musketeer and a raccoon in our puppet show, as well as a rabbit (so the owl and eagle had something to eat), and they all added amazing detail to their creations.

The puppet show was...interesting.  The boys invested so much time on their puppets that they really didn't have time to put together how the show would evolve.  Which was fine.  There were rabbits and fish eaten, various animals in a duel with the musketeer, and other events that shall remain nameless for now.  Perhaps we'll pull out a stage at another club meeting and spend more time on the story part of the puppet show, now that the characters have presented themselves.

Mister Golden Sun

Oh, how it takes extra energy when my husband goes out of town for work.  I arrived home from errands at 5:00 and wondered what would be for supper, and was welcomed to the phone ringing and toddler frantic to be the one doing the talking.  Fortunately, all is well now...the children are content to play while supper cooks, and I have a few spare seconds to write this post.

We're continuing on with our solar system theme this week.  Last week we had an overall glimpse of the solar system.  For the next couple of weeks, we're diving into one planet at a time.  We will be mixing facts about the celestial bodies with ancient mythology to make for some interesting storytelling.  We'll also be working on a felted solar system swag that the children will be able to hang in their doorways - our version of the classic solar system mobile.  Today, the focus of our attention was the Sun.

We started off with a poem about the Sun from, you guessed it, The Waldorf Book of Poetry.  Then we read a page from The Planet Gods, which introduces both myths and facts about the solar system, with really amazing illustrations.  We gathered Sun facts from One Million Things:  Space.  Lastly, we read Apollo, which shared several stories about this Greek (and later turned Roman) deity.

Lastly, we wet-felted the first of our solar system orbs.  Large, yellow, and fluffy, all three children were happy to dip their wool into the soapy warm water and roll it between their hands until it formed a ball.  Later, we noticed that the yellow fluff just barely visible on our felt balls could resemble the Sun's atmosphere - it's corona.  There were also a few bits of debris in the wool that became sun spots.  We had fun with this one.  Once the balls are dry, we'll add just a hint of orange to give our suns "granulation" - what makes the suns surface look like an orange peel and is caused by hot gases rushing from the core to the surface - by needle felting some orange over top.

And what would you know - as we finished up our felt balls, the real sun actually popped its head out from behind those grey clouds and bathed our kitchen in light!  Apollo must have known we were talking about him!

Snow

Finally!  It snowed!  The clouds had been trying and trying for weeks, sputtering out little bits of snow and freezing rain, but still remaining in the sky with that dark grey hue that surely meant it wanted to let more fall to the ground.  Yesterday, the clouds finally opened up and dumped some real snow upon us.  Snow that remained to greet us this morning.

Along with the snow was the arrival of our firewood!  Finally!  We eagerly piled outside this morning for some snowy firsts - making snowball, shoveling, playing, and moving the wood to our empty woodshed. 

Skates were found and hockey sticks were purchased too - they are being cut and taped as we speak.  And to top it off?  The children found our stash of Christmas CD's and have been playing them nonstop.  I think we're ready for winter!