Little Seeds

Freida came home from Gan Chai this morning all aglow from Birthday cheer. The trees birthday, that is. She marched proudly into the house sporting a birthday crown and showing off a petite potted gift.

The excited was so uncontained that I decided to harness it and we head out back to fill up some uprooted areas in the backyard with soil and seeds.

While we'd love to start up a real live garden - dreaming of the Berkowitz's - we're starting off slowly, and began by hoeing and filling up the empty areas with fresh soil, and heaps of little Forget Me Not seeds to grow alongside the outer brush against the fence.

Freida enjoyed the sensory experience of working the earth, not to mention the thrill of getting muddy and grimy without a nay say from her mama. :)

Dirt pellets are a fantastic way to show kids how the earth "drinks" the water. Tightly packed dried out soil turns to volumes of moist soil instantly once watered, and the look of discovery on little faces watching is sheer deliciousness! (The Target $1 aisle has heaps of these little potted pellets for Valentines Day right now!)

P.S. Kids can play with mud forever!! Best way to keep 'em entertained in a jiffy! :)

Weekend Round-up!

Happiest weekend wishes!! We're going for the homestretch here - each time I open my planner, my heart skips a beat seeing how close my due date is (12 days!) - so right now I'm all about last-minute pre-baby tasks. And there are heaps of them! My lists don't stop, but thankfully I've been crossing plenty off recently, and I'm starting to feel settled enough to go at any moment (besides for the unpacked hospital bag!). It was so much fun opening up boxes of stored baby gear - some things made me feel like it's been ages since my last newborn, and other things had me reeling at how recently I stored them away! Yesterday, Freida and I went through a huge box of baby things (plush rattles, swaddle blankets, newborn rompers etc.) - it was so special to be doing that with her; feeling like I've got this beautiful big girl on my hands, helping out with the newborn chores... :) So while I go through and fold this basket of freshly-laundered baby items, here are a few things I've been meaning to share over the course of this week:

- These popcorn bird-feeder garlands are such a charming fine-motor skill activity for Shabbos Shira! (Plastic needles will do the trick!)

- A whimsical read + a wonderful recipe for french toast.

- A $200 bubble blower. Baby keepsake, anyone? :)

- 2012 in Nail Laquer.

- This insanely-awesome playhouse has left me dreamy....

- This bathroom-themed survey made me laugh out loud.

- This hot-pink number got me thinking about my right to bare arms.

- I loved this honest + beautiful piece on parenhood.

- Ever wonder how much you'd earn if all your housework was done as a paying job?

- Hilarious (and ridiculous!) Super Bowl cupcakes!

Have a wonderful February weekend!!! I'll be back to share some of my hospital-bag-packing necessities next week!

Lava Lamps: An Oily Exploration

I know it totally bites that I'm posting Chanukah activities after the holiday festivities have ended, but I was so not used to my new big-city life that I really couldn't keep up over holiday break!! And some crafts and activities were too fun not to share - even if you wait until next year to utilize them! Freida had her first little chemistry lesson this week: water vs. oil. She was mesmerized!

I initially made these "lava lamps" for Babyccino, and while those little guys sure enjoyed shaking the bajeebers out of these contrasting elements, there was another slightly-larger part of the lesson waiting to be explored by a little lady at home: add alka seltzer to the mix!

To make these lava lamps you'll need a water bottle with the label removed, oil, water, food coloring, and alka seltzer tablets. Fill the bottle with 3 part oil/1 part water. Add 10 drops food coloring (and point out the balls of color as they slowly go from floating in oil to bursting in the water at the bottom - way cool!!). Once the water is fully colored, break an alka seltzer tablet in four pieces and slowly drop them in one at a time (wait until each piece stops bubbling) - then watch the magic!!

Afterwards, keep the bottles around for the kids to manipulate and discover the properties by shaking, straightening, and observing.

Freida took this whole thing very seriously, and I was blown away by how long she explored the whole thing!! Definitely a great way to teach the properties of oil/water to a kid around Chanukah time, but would make a fantastic rainy-day activity for any ol' time of the year!

Holiday Cookie Art

Freida had some serious Chanukah fun with this box-of-cookie-crafts that her Zaidy sent her for Chanukah (thanks Ta!). It was such a fun and simple way to engage her in the holiday prep (peeling potatoes is exciting and all but doesn't hold a little candle to making and decking-out a tray of holiday desserts!), and get her creatively involved in hosting a Chanukah dinner. She was literally able to do the whole thing on her own (with a little help from the Kitchen Aid), and the box included everything you need to make a super-cute sweet and edible Chanukah display.

The instructions were written out with little icons making the recipe reading skill-free.

It was basically just a regular sugar cookie mix (you add margarine, eggs, and water), Chanukah cookie cutters, and a mix of white royal icing.

After the royal icing hardens, the kids can literally "paint" onto the cookies with the most adorable little food-coloring paint palette and water color brushes!

Basically, 'twas a super-fun way to deck the holiday table! Just thought you might want to keep this in mind for a great pre-Chanukah gift next year! :)

Playing with Pie

Just wanted to drop a line to those of you heating up your kitchens in preparation for some Thanksgiving bounty!! I've been having deep pregnancy-craving dreams of fresh cranberry sauce dribbled over slices of juicy turkey...and sweet potato casserole topped with just-browned marshmallow...and oven-roasted brussel sprouts and fresh-herb-infused stuffing...mmm! Right now I'm feeling grateful that our Thanksgiving will be spent amongst family and friends (not to mention grateful that we got invited out to an old friend's legendary kid-free feast! Thanks Sariti - looking forward!!)

Freida came down with a bout of autumn cough/cold this week (I'm giving thanks that she held off on the illness until we were settled post-move and not in the interim of it all!), so we've got our own version of seasonal bounty cooking up on the stove. I'm all about attempting to "heal through foods", and I've got chunks of root vegetables (butternut squash, rutabaga, turnip, garlic, leeks, and parsnips) simmering in vegetable broth waiting to be processed into a velvety, sick-banishing, chock-full-of-vitamins soup!

Anyways, for those of you hosting Thanksgiving feasts, and planning on entertaining families with children (not to mention your own), I thought I'd share a little delicious tactile activity that is sure to keep tiny hands busy (for a little while, anyway). 3 words: pumpkin. pie. playdough. Yep, you read that right. And just wait til you actually try this stuff out - it's such an insanely yummy (not to mention stress-relieving!) activity - you will just want to keep some on you, available for relaxation and manipulation, all day long! Plus, making the stuff is easy as pie!

Use a general playdough recipe like the fool-proof one I posted here. While mixing it all up over low heat, add in:

- 2 Tablespoons Pumpkin Pie Spice

- 1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract

- 1 teaspoon Maple Syrup

- Drop of Red and Yellow Coloring

Just kneading this stuff (I made it the night before the Babyccino launch - the class was "pumpkin" themed, and this dough went into one of the sensory tables), had all my senses in overdrive. It was warm and fragrant, and I simply didn't want to put it down!!

Not that you need anything extra to cook, but if you make it around to this, you can set up a kids table with pumpkin pie playdough, cookie cutters, empty pie tins, tart dishes, cupcake liners etc. and let the kids mess around with this tactile and olfactory activity while the grownups get started on cocktails! :)

Also, in case your looking for some more kid-busying activities for tomorrow, I filled another sensory table with pumpkin seeds (still shelled), and left out some measuring cups and spoons to play around with. Another 15 minutes of happy occupation makes all the difference while entertaining! And don't forget last year's hit popcorn turkey kid tablescape!!

Happy holiday of thanks to you all!! Wishing you heaps and heaps to be grateful for...!