Topple Over

Pre-inked sponge painters. This is the forth time we've used these three and they are still going strong. Awesome deal.
Don't you wish you could sleep like this? Sleep through a cottage cheese covered, naked two year old with a sock in her mouth, chasing a screaming dog around with an empty diaper box?

I'm feeling unmotivated lately like the giant mound of things I should be getting done, has gotten so tall it is bound to topple over and crush me. I'm too lazy to buckle down and really figure out how to get it under control and too tired to run away so I pick at it. I handle a few things every day but the mound is growing faster than I pick. When I get like this there is too much tv watching and too much whining in my house. I need more inspiration and more organization. We are a happier family that way. Anybody out there have any brilliant organization plans? Not the fly lady. Her emails don't work for me. They just irritate me and don't motivate me to do anything. Maybe it's because she starts by having a shiny sink. A shiny sink just doesn't even come close to being on my priority list. I make a terrible fly baby.

It's a good thing I have a wild banshee two year old with the cutest chubby legs and a sweet little baby with that great baby smell. If I get crushed beneath the laundry I will still be grateful for chubby legs and the smell of clean babies.

Marbling With Shaving Cream

Red Fish has been painting the shower and bathtub with shaving cream pretty much everyday this week. It's amazing how long a dollar can of shaving cream will last. It has been so easy to clean up and fun for Red Fish that I decided maybe we should just start doing a bunch of painting projects in the tub so I don't have much cleanup. My plan to paint in our unfinished basement hasn't gone that well because it gets freezing down there and I don't have warm enough clothes she can get messy in. Plus I can't take New Fish down there. Today I put Red Fish in my tub (it's much bigger) and we tried something new with the shaving cream.We filled a baking pan with shaving cream and then Red Fish took several colors of liquid watercolor and squirted them into the cream with an eye dropper. You could probably use food coloring too but I hate that it stains your hands.
After she had added all of the color she swirled them around in the shaving cream with the eye dropper.
We pressed a thick paper over the top of the pan to make a print. We left the watercolors to set before we scraped the shaving cream off the top. I thought it looked awesome with the shaving cream on. I kind of liked it better than the final product. I would have made more than one print but Red Fish was too excited.
She had fun using the eye dropper and swirling the colors but she didn't care that much about the final product. The part she enjoyed the most was the aftermath. Apparently colored shaving cream is even more fun than just painting with the white cream.

Here is the final picture. I'm curious if the marbling would have worked a little better if I hadn't used watercolor paper and used posterboard or something with less bleed. We will have to try again and see.

Kid Art

I've been thinking a lot about art and creativity and raising my children. Today was a rough day for art projects. There was a lot of collateral damage and I used my magic eraser and carpet cleaner way too much for my taste. I also tried to "help" a little too much with the artwork and Red Fish let me know it. I should be ashamed of myself on that one. I nearly had a seizure when one of my highschool teachers "helped" one of my drawings by redrawing something after I left for the day. Nobody likes being told their work isn't good enough.

I think that sometimes it's hard as a parent to appreciate scribbles and fingerprints. I find myself getting caught up in a project and trying to show Red Fish just how it should be or try and push the project to turn out as I envisioned. I have to stop and remind myself that the process is more important than the product. I have to keep the big picture of self expression and creativity in mind. Red Fish is getting more value out of the experience of using the materials and tools than she would if I tried to force her into turning out a "pretty picture." (Although I think her artwork is beautiful.) The cognitive thinking skills she is gaining, the freedom to express herself, her understanding of spacial relationships, color, and so many other things are growing in leaps and bounds.

On Sunday she spent hours painting and I could actually see her learning as she experimented with the paint. It was so cool. She was using sponge brushes and stamps and after awhile she stopped using the ink pads and started painting the stamps to see what shapes it would make. Then she would put the brush on the paper and squish it with her hand and see the splotches it made instead of lines. I could just see the wheels in her little brain turning. When I looked at a painting she made in July compared to the ones she did over the weekend I could see a ton of growth. By growth I do not mean the painting was of an actual object. I've never understood why so many people think that makes art great. I feel bad when people can't see anything else. Why does the picture need to be a realistic rendering for it to be appreciated? I think this is where a lot of elementary kids get jipped on supposed "art" in school.

I distinctly remember being in third grade and being forced to cut out a pre-printed haunted house and glue it exactly like every other child in my classroom. I thought it was completely pointless and a stupid waste of time. I still think that it was a stupid activity now. I refused to do it and told the teacher I didn't want a haunted house and it wasn't art anyway. I got in big trouble (probably for having a smart mouth.) I've heard from several people I know how pleased they are that their children finally learned to color in the lines in their coloring book. Has coloring in the lines ever really been a useful skill in your life? Did you gain some incredible artistic vision from coloring in a drawing someone else made? That said, Red Fish does have a couple of coloring books that she likes. She also loves stickers, but coloring in the lines isn't the point. The point is to enjoy herself and learn how to use different mediums.

Scuba

I'm starting a new dive class on Decenber third if anyone wants to join. Send me a message and I will send you details!

New Dress

The new dress Grandpa bought Red Fish in Milan. As you can tell, she likes it!

Happy Halloween!

Little Doggie

Red Fish has a habbit of trying to drink out of Blue Fish's water bowl. It's nasty. I have to drag her away pretty much every day. Now I've started getting her a bowl of her own to drink out of. Then she insists I praise her and tell her what a wonderful little doggie she is. She is such a funny kid!

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

It was a decent read. It kept my attention but I didn't enjoy it as much as I have liked Brown's other books. I thought The Lost Symbol was a little bit of a weak followup to the Da Vinci Code. I think Mr. Brown got a little too caught up in all the controversy that was sparked by his last book. The Lost Symbol is too much research and too little story. I felt like Brown was trying to prove that his research is sound instead of just weaving an interesting story. I've never understood why people took the last fictional novel so seriously instead of just enjoying an engaging tale.

One great thing about Brown's writing is his sense of timing. I love how he tells multiple storylines and leaves you hanging over and over. It always tricks me into reading one more chapter...just one more chapter before bed. Unfortunately his writing just wasn't as convincing this time around. I didn't feel as drawn into the story or as concerned about the characters as I have in Brown's other books.

I felt like a lot of the dialogue was forced between the characters. They don't have as much chemistry and their relationships feel sort of insincere. It's difficult to care about what happens to them. The writing has cultural references to technology and popular websites that seem lame. The mysteries just aren't that interesting. The historical references aren't as convincing and the final "conspiracy" falls flat. The religious implications seem disingenuous and smack of an underlying distaste for religion.

So overall, it was an okay book but didn't live up to my expectations.

Foam

Mommy was too lazy to paint today so Red Fish painted with shaving cream in the bathtub. Fun for everyone! Red Fish loved the foamy texture. When she was finished painting the walls of the tub she lathered her legs up good and squished the shaving cream between her toes.

Pumpkin Carving

Red Fish scraping the first pumpkin.

She didn't think much of the goo inside but she loved the purple scraper. She started transferring the guts back into the pumpkin after awhile. This was the first time we have carved pumpkins as a family since I got married. Two Fish always wanted to wait for kids. Now we actually have one old enough to appreciate it a little bit.

New Fish of course had no idea what was going on but she needed a picture anyway.

Red Fish got tired of scraping so she made Daddy do the rest and she painted hers while I fed the baby and tried to supervise. We used Elmers squeeze and brush paint. She made me do the squeezing for her but she liked the brushes and I could still feed the baby while she used them.

My cute girls.

I know our pumpkins aren't very imaginative but we were going for easy. Turns out carving pumpkins with a toddler is harder than I thought but totally worth it. It was fun for all of us.

Heads Up and Color Mixing

Little New Fish has learned to hold her head up for pretty long periods of time. She's getting so much bigger so fast.

Today was a pretty laid back day. Red Fish spent a whole bunch of time coloring, playing with stickers and playing with her play dough. She requires a lot of stimulation and pretty much always has to be doing some sort of project. I was looking for something easy to do with her and found this project on my list.

We decided to mix colors together in bags.

1 cup cornstarch
1/3-cup sugar
4 cups cold water
Combine in a pot and heat. Stir constantly and when it starts to thicken, remove it from heat. It makes sort of a white gel. Divide it into three bowls and add food coloring to each bowl. We stuck with the primary colors. Put some of two colors into a seal-able sandwhich bag. I taped the top shut because I knew Red Fish would try and open it. Then I gave it to her to start squishing and mix the colors. She loved squishing the bag. I'm not sure she even understood that we were combining the color to create a new one but that will come later. For now it was just a nice clean project. She was especially excited about the purple. I let her squish the bags for quite awhile until she popped them. There is a color mixing experiement with different bottles of liquids in one of my art books. I want to try it out but I think we will wait until Red Fish is older and can understand what we are doing. Mostly she just enjoyed squishing the bags this time around. Who knows though. She learned her colors without my knowing so maybe she got more out of our project than I really know.

My Dog Wears Chapstick & Other Randomness

Red Fish is obsessed with wearing chapstick. She steals it from Two Fish. When she gets a hold of it she insists on applying some for every member of the household. The other day I caught her applying some chapstick for the dog, Blue Fish. Two Fish wasn't pleased. She also tried to brush the dog's teeth with Two Fish's tooth brush. Luckily his nice wife bought him a new one. Red Fish and Blue Fish have been best buddies lately and tease eachother like siblings. For some reason Blue Fish was afraid of this little wagon Red Fish has so she spent a good half hour chasing him around with it and giggling at the top of her lungs. We have a lot of chats about how to treat the dog. Now I just have to convince Red Fish that Blue Fish is not to be used as a step ladder and that he doesn't eat people food. (Or rather shouldn't eat people food.)

It's scary sometimes how closely a baby watches you sometimes. Red Fish has started knocking on the window when Blue Fish barks and shouts NO! She has even drug him to his kennel and locked him in a couple times with a stern no no. She knows how to wrap New Fish up in her blankie the exact way that I do it. She dabs milk off of New Fish's face when she dribbles. She copies things I do all day long.

Red Fish now knows all of her main colors. She likes to play games with colors. Whenever she colors she has to hold up each crayon for me to name. She held up a maroon crayon the other day and when I told her it was red (trying to keep things simple -silly me) I was chastized because it was so obviously NOT RED. I received a stern no no and a finger shake. When I changed my answer to maroon she clapped and patted me on the head. We also take the cards from candy land and when I hold up a color she finds something else in the room that is that color. It is her favorite game right now. Red Fish is also learning her shapes. She has ditched her beloved Little Einsteins to watch either the first half of Cinderella (she likes the mice and hates the princess part) or a Baby Einsteins video about shapes.

We've had some jealousy around our house lately. New Fish is old enough to enjoy a few toys and Red Fish doesn't want her to have them because they just look like too much fun. The baby swing, the tummy time mat, all things baby just look like too much fun and Red Fish wants to use them. Red Fish has also been wanting to be wrapped up in a blankie and held like a baby for awhile everyday. It's pretty funny.

One fish is starting to get some chub on her legs. She has her first thigh roll. It's tiny but it's cute. She is also developing a double chin. Pretty funny because the rest of her is still super skinny. She is lifting her head up a lot and enjoys watching her arms wave around.


All Aboard The Potty Train?
Red Fish has become a nudist. She disrobes anytime she can. Everytime I come to get her out of her crib after a nap or in the morning she is always in her birthday suit. Sometimes she is in her birthday suit and all of her baby dolls are in theirs as well. Lately this has escalated to removing her diaper along with her clothes. I can handle the lack of clothing but the diaper is mandatory. Yesterday I put her diaper back on no less than 15 times and Two Fish put it back on her three times while I was at the grocery store. Red Fish has even been known to take off her diaper and then put her pants back on so I won't notice. Yesterday she came out of the toy room with her clothes all on backwards and no diaper. I can only think of two soultions to this problem. 1) I could start duct taping her clothing and diaper on. I've seriously considered this. 2) I can potty train her. Oh how I loathe the thought of potty training her right now. She isn't even two years old yet. She doesn't talk yet other than sign language and a few words. Most of all, I'M NOT READY! I thought we had more time. The one upside is that Red Fish does seem to have impressive bowell control evidenced by the fact that she has had few accidents while streaking around our house. Now if I could just get her to produce something while on the pot I would be convinced it is time to board the potty train.