Hazel's Eye Update

Over the winter months, Hazel came down with three consecutive eye infections caused by normal winter sickies and a blocked tear duct. After the third infection, we decided it was time to head to Delaware and have her eyes looked at by an ophthalmologist. Her tear duct just wasn't opening enough for her tears (as well as bacteria) to run out as they should. We noticed that her eye was a puffy after waking up, and crusty almost every morning.
Heading down to the hospital for her appointment on Friday was a little nerve-wracking. I was fully expecting to schedule surgery to open up the tear duct. But, as always, the friendly staff at the hospital calmed all my fears and anxieties. We are so blessed and lucky to have access to such a wonderful facility, less than 2 hours away.
Because Hazel's appointment was scheduled for 1pm (right after lunch), we arrived early so we could grab a bite to eat in the cafeteria before being seen by the doctor. It also gave us a chance to meet up with a Brave Little Warrior, Jude and his family. I always love meeting with other families in the LP community FAMILY.
After our delicious (yes, I referred to hospital food as delicious.) meal, we made our way up to ophthalmology. I admit, I was expecting the worst. You see, Hazel does not like doctor's offices. Even when she's not the patient, I have to reassure her that it's not her turn this time to prevent the waterworks. Also, she typically falls asleep for her nap by 1:30. However, she did surprisingly well. With the exception of the dye they used to check how well her tear duct was draining, and the drops used to dialate her pupils, she was very compliant.
Even though she almost got away with swiping a toy from the office. Oops!
While her tear duct is indeed blocked, Dr. Hendricks decided to take a wait-and-see approach, unless she requires anesthesia for anything else in the near future. As long as her tear duct stays healthy, she does not want to put under general anesthesia unless absolutely necessary.
We did find out something else, though. Hazel's vision is not what it should be at this point. Her left eye is far weaker than the right, and left untreated, could lead to lazy eye. She also has a slight astigmatism in her right eye that needs correction.
We are so thankful that Dr. Hendricks was so thorough with her eye exam, and was able to catch her vision problems before needing further intervention. Hazel will be getting her first pair of glasses very soon. I'm pretty excited to see what a difference it makes.
Oh, and not to mention how adorable she is going to look.

I'll just leave you with a few pictures I took while we were waiting to see the doctor...

Goodbye Winter

As Winter waves farewell with one last (hopefully) snow storm, we are stuck inside once again. Usually, we would do winter-themed crafts and embrace the falling snow. But not any more. We have had enough snow and Winter-y crafts this year. And it's March!
So we said our goodbyes to Winter by greeting Spring with some fun crafts.

First, we made some fun fork-printed tulip flowers. For Annabelle's tulip garden, I drew the flower stems, so she knew where to print the flowers. For Hazel's, I let her stamp freely, and added the stems later.

Annabelle had to take a quick break from doing her project to talk on the phone though. Grandmom called.

Our next project was popcorn cherry blossoms. I traced each of their hands onto a piece of brown paper and cut it out to use as the tree. Annabelle did a great job gluing the popcorn onto her tree. Hazel, on the other hand, was upset that I wouldn't let her eat the popcorn that had glue on it. I couldn't resist that little pout, so I just let her have a little snack.

And just like that, all was well in Hazel's world.

For our third project, Annabelle did a number matching activity, gluing leaves to carrots.  The carrots were numbered 1-5 and glued randomly to a piece of paper. Annabelle was then instructed to identify the numbers, and glue the correct number of leaves to each one.

While she did that, Hazel played with a container of magnetic  letters and a cookie sheet. I love using these Pamper's wipe containers, as they also allowed her to practice fine-motor skills, sliding each letter into the small hole at the top.

We hope you all enjoyed one last snow day this year. Spring will be here soon, and so will more fun activities. We cannot wait to get outside and enjoy the park, sidewalk chalk, bubbles, and more.

Bubbles, Bubbles

This never-ending Winter has trapped us inside for yet another long week. Cabin fever setting in, the girls becoming increasingly antsy, I had to come up with something new for them to do.
Bubbles!
We haven't broken out the bubbles in months! I don't usually like blowing them inside, since they leave soapy, sticky spots all over everything. But I didn't care anymore. We needed something fun to do.
And it was a blast.
Yes. Just a cheap little bottle of bubbles that Hazel got from her Sunday School class kept both girls entertained for a while.
Annabelle had a great time blowing the bubble for Hazel. And Hazel had a great time trying to catch them.
Squeals, giggles, and joy filled the living room.
All because of a tiny bottle of bubbles.
What's better is that Hazel was able to really work on her core strength. Reaching, leaning, and stretching to get the bubbles. It was beautiful.
I had a great time just watching the two of them interact and play so nicely together. These girls absolutely love each other, but it was especially nice to see Annabelle taking the time to patiently blow bubbles to make her baby sister happy.
And she even added a new word to her vocabulary, "buh." Okay. Not quite a word. But when I asked her today if she wanted to do bubbles, she responded with a very emphatic "buh."
Now we are working on encouraging Hazel to stand with her back to the couch, and blowing bubbles for her to reach from a supported standing position. She tolerated this for a little while this morning, but I ran out of bubble solution, and she ran out of patience as I desperately tried to catch the last bit of the bubbles from the container.

Library Book Review

Every week, we try to make it a priority to visit our public library. We always come home with a bag full of anywhere between 7 and 10 books to enjoy together. From board books, to easy readers, and everything in between. Since going to the library and reading stories has become such a big part of our routine, I thought it would be fun to start a new series here on the blog, reviewing our findings.
This week's books:

"Pomelo Explores Colors" by Ramona Badescu; Illustrated by Bengamin Chaud
"A Cars Christmas" (Step Into Reading) by Melissa Laongero; Illustrated by The Disney Storybook Artists
"Lots Of Spots" (Classic Board Book) by Lous Ehlert
"Legos Mixels" by Shari Last
"Animals In Underwear ABC" by Todd Parr
"Blankies" by Carol Thompson
"You Are (Not) Small" by Anna Kang; Illustrated by Christopher Weyant
"Vacation's Over! Return Of The Dinosaurs" by Joe Kulka

Rather than getting into reviewing all of these books, I will just go over our top three of the eight books Our top three favorites were: "Vacation's Over! Return Of The Dinosaurs"; "Blankies"; and "Animals In Underwear ABC".

When we pulled into the parking lot of the library, Annabelle informed me that she wanted to get a book about dinosaurs. And before I even had a moment to look for a Jane Yolen dinosaur book, she had already found "Vacation's Over! Return Of The Dinosaurs." This book, written in a cute couplet-style poem, toys with the idea that dinosaurs never went extinct, but rather went on vacation... to outer space! It was a very playful story with wonderful illustrations, as well as mini-biographies on several different species of dinosaurs on the inside of the covers.
If you know our family, you will know that blankies are a big deal in our house. We always have a mountain of blankets in the living room for everyone to pick off of after dinner, while we all snuggle up on the couch to wind down for bed. Annabelle has no less than 3 blankets on her bed (even in the Summer), and Hazel is following in her footsteps. So this book was very relatable for the girls. Cute, descriptive language makes up this little story about loving and sharing blankies. It was a wonderful read for Hazel.
This next book somehow flew under my "potty humor" radar, despite the title "Animals In Underwear ABC." I'm a big fan of Todd Parr's simple, colorful illustrations, and allowed Hazel to put it in the library bag without one look at the title. But maybe that was a good thing. Annabelle loves reading the book to Hazel, turning the pages, lifting the flaps, and singing the alphabet song. And yes, the underwear part is very silly.
As Hazel is big enough to reach the board books at our library, and is starting to really enjoy reading, I am excited to see what books she chooses next week. Annabelle loves picking books, and reading them together every week, and I look forward to what she wants to read about next week as well.

Groundhog's Day

This week, we learned all about Punxatawney Phil, and his special day, Groundhog's Day. Annabelle learned through gross motor games, work sheets, and projects. It was a very successful week. Here are the activities we did.

Wake Up Groundhog Game

What you need:

• Large Blanket
• Light Switch

How To Play:

Wrap child up in a blanket, and instruct her to hibernate. "Good night, groundhog Annabelle. Enjoy your hibernation!"

• Leave the light on, or turn it off.
• Shout: "Wake up, wake up groundhog [insert child's name]. Today's your special day!"
• Child pops up from blanket, and looks for her shadow.
• If the light is on, she sees her shadow, and hides away for six more weeks.
• If the light is off, she does not see her shadow, and she jumps up, proclaiming that Spring is here.

This game can be adapted for a group of preschoolers, by allowing all the children to hide under their blankets, and choosing one groundhog. The other children wait to hear the groundhog's proclamation. Children can take turns being the groundhog, or even the Mayor who wakes the groundhog from her sleep.

Lego Shadows

What you will need:

• Legos
• Flashlight
• Large paper
• Pencil
• Markers or crayons
• Grey or black paint

Hazel enjoyed playing with Annabelle's tower

What do to:

• Instruct child to by build a tower with her Legos
• Turn the lights out and demonstrate how you can move the flashlight around the tower to change the size of the shadow.
• Allow child to do the same, and choose where she wants the shadow to lay on the paper.
• While the child holds the flashlight in place, trace the shadow on paper.
• Then, lay the tower down and trace.
• Allow child to color in the tower, and paint the shadow.

Silhouettes

What you need:

• Large paper and easel
• Adjustable light source
• Pencil, crayons

What to do:

• Instruct child to sit still by the easel and trace her shadow silhouette
• Allow her to color it in

Groundhog tunnels

What you need:

• Tunnels, boxes, blankets, or whatever you come up with to create your tunnel

What to do:

• Play! 

The girls had so much fun chasing each other through the tunnels, playing peek-a-boo, and just being silly. Hazel even discovered that she can sit up in the tunnel.

For Annabelle's worksheets, I found these templates, and printed out about a dozen of them. I'm sure I will be making more copies, and using them as her handwriting improves, and she begins to tell more stories. For this activity, she practiced writing the letters "W" and "S", as well as writing the words "Winter" and "Spring". After practicing handwriting, she drew what she likes to do in the Winter, and what she likes to do in the Spring. She drew a picture of herself making snow angels and grass angels. She also drew herself having a picnic and eating an apple in the Spring. And yes, she did use a yellow marker for the snow.

Dollar Store Fun: Sponge Ball

Ever since I first entered the world of Pinterest -- you know, back when you had to be "invited" to join because it was some crazy elitist internet sensation -- I have been seeing this on my feed:
Sponge balls.
They looked way too good to be true. It really can't be that easy to create something so cute and fun. And for only one dollar? No way!
I pushed it off, and pushed it off.
Finally, at my most recent dollar store trip, I bought a few sponges. They came in packs of two brightly colored sponges for -- you guessed it -- one dollar.
I picked up three packs, each with one green and one orange sponge. Not everything has to be pink, okay?
I cut each sponge into 4 long strips, trying to make them uniform in size. Then, I stacked them together to create a checkerboard pattern: 4 across, and 2 high.
I secured each stack in the middle with a hair tie, and voila! I was done.
Annabelle headed out to her water table, ready to play with her new toys.
She had a blast.
She loved squeezing the water onto the sidewalk.
And just throwing the sponges into the water.
After about an hour of play, one of the sponges tore. It was only $1, so no big loss there.
I'm sure more expensive, sturdier sponges would hold up to more abuse, and would be more appropriate in a larger group setting.
But it served its purpose for us.

If (when) I do this again, I may do a few things differently:
1. Involve Annabelle in the stacking and patterning of the sponge strips. Allow her to build sponge structures, and learn about patterns in math.
2. Use an actual rubber band, rather than hair tie for better elasticity and tighter hold around the sponges.
3. Stack together 3 sponges for a fuller look.
4. Maybe add scraps of pretty ribbon or fabric for additional flair.


Hazel also enjoyed the activity, since I let her ride in the Moby wrap while we played.

The Power Of A Smile

Summer is my busiest time of the year. Since Annabelle was a baby, I have babysat through the Summer months. Having children in the home who are in different age groups can be a challenge. This Summer has been no exception. This week has been no exception. This is the first year that I have three different age groups in my home: Hazel, being a very needy infant; Annabelle, being an independent pre-schooler; and this year, Gretchen (name has been changed for protection, since she is not my child). Gretchen is 6 years old, so that gives me my third age-group. School-aged.

So we have three very different sets of needs, schedules, and interests.

We have managed so far with walks, visits to parks, and reading books from the library.

This week, Gretchen has been at day camp!

Great. I will be loaded up, and out of the house by 9am every day, ready to run my errands. Then I can come home for swimming, lunch, and naps.

Hah!

Who was I kidding? It's been more like: running out to the van, racing against the clock, breakfast half-eaten and shoved in my bag, jamming more into my morning than I accomplish in an average week, late lunch, and fighting an over-tired pre-schooler down for her afternoon nap, praying she doesn't wake the sleeping infant in the next room.

Three days in, and three out of four of us simultaneously ran out of steam.

I struggled to get out of bed by 7:15, Annabelle struggled to follow simple directions, and Gretchen struggled to get excited for camp.

We talked in the van about how much fun she would have with all of her friends, but I wasn't getting anywhere with either of the two girls.

If I didn't figure something out fast, we were in for a long, grumpy day.

So I did what any Mom would do in this situation.

I cranked up the radio, and danced like a fool at a stoplight. I I think I embarrassed the girls, as they begged me to stop.

"I'm not stopping until you both give me a great big smile!"

Finally, they cracked. Big, bright smiles crossed their faces, as they started to giggle.

Then Annabelle said something insightful.

"Smiling makes me happy."

Wow.

So simple, and so true.

Smiling makes me happy.

If we would all wake up, and greet the sun with a smile, our mornings would go much more smoothly.

I held onto those words for the rest of our day, as we smiled through a near-empty gas tank, late lunch, and rough nap routine.

We all need to smile more.

Because smiling makes you happy.

Children can be out best philosophers, as they have the freshest, most innocent view of their world. They don't add caveats to their thoughts, or complicate them in feeble attempts to be poetic. They are just straight-forward and simple.

Smiling makes me happy.

Let's Get Messy!

This morning, the weather was indecisive. One second, the clouds began to form an ominous cover over the sun; and the next second, the sun prevailed, and brightened up the whole sky. I decided not to risk it, and skip the pool today. I have been watching a friend's kid this week, so it's been 3 against 1 since Monday (with a sleepover last night). Getting all three girls fed, pottied (or diapered), sunscreened, and suited up for swimming takes nearly 30 minutes from start to finish. I was not about to risk a full-out melt-down from Annabelle over not being able to go swimming because the weather decided to rear its ugly head, and rain on our parade at the last minute.
Instead of swimming, we spent time in the air conditioning, making a huge mess of the dining room. And it was FUN! I recently bought a huge bag of baking soda for $3 at BJ's, so I knew that I had plenty of that on hand. I searched for activities to do with baking soda, and found some very fun ideas. Armed with my supplies, I got to work setting up for Annabelle and her friend, Bella. Set-up was a breeze, and I was ready for them within five minutes.

For each kid you will need:
Jelly roll pan for your work area
Desired amount of baking soda (if I had to guess, I'd say I used about 1/2 cup for each girl)
Plastic utensils
Vinegar
Food coloring (optional, but extra fun)
Dixie cups for each color desired
Pipette, straw, or eye dropper
An art smock (I used my old t-shirts)


I started off by letting the girls explore with the baking soda in the pan. They used a fork to draw patterns and designs, and tried to ball the fine powder up like snow balls. When they started showing signs of losing interest, I introduced the next part of the activity.

 



I gave them each three Dixie cups with a few drops of food coloring, and filled half-way with vinegar. In hindsight, I used way too much food coloring. Annabelle is currently sporting bright purple hands. Oops! Next, I demonstrated how to use a straw to drip the vinegar over the baking soda.



Then Annabelle got creative. Instead of dripping the vinegar onto the baking soda, she took a fistful of baking soda, and dumped it into a cup of vinegar. She was thrilled with her discovery.

 

The next hour was spent stirring, pouring, and smearing the mixtures. While the jelly roll pans contained most of the mess, I still had my work cut out for me.

But it was worth it.



I loved allowing Annabelle to be a little scientist, and make her own discoveries and observations. When we do activities like this, I give her ideas and suggestions, but allow her to control the situation. What if I had stopped her from dumping the fistful of baking soda into the vinegar because that's just not what we're doing right now? What if I had decided that food coloring was too messy? What if I had decided the whole activity was too messy? She would have missed out on so much fun and discovery.



Don't be afraid to get messy. Kids are washable. Clothes are replaceable. You only get one chance at today, so make memories of fun and exploration.

Oh, and it never rained.







Summer

After the brutally cold Winter we endured, I refuse to allow myself to be a couch potato this Summer. It has been way too cold, for way too long, to waste time watching PBS Kids all day.
So I made a list for my oldest. With the help of some suggestions from friends, I came up with a long list of fun activities to do before Summer is over. Having a preschooler can be a challenge, but the busier she is, the less trouble she gets into. Annabelle is excited to check off each task on our list: from learning to swim, to writing to missionaries, we will never be bored.
After making my list, I wrote down the things we can do inside (build a book fort, bake a treat and deliver it to a friend) on index cards, and put them into a bucket. I then wrote the words "It's raining, it's pouring, but today won't be boring". This is our Rainy Day Bucket. We can use the ideas when the weather is too rainy or just plain miserable to go outside.
My list also includes activities that can be accomplished in an afternoon: "make lunch for a friend", and "make homemade ice cream", as well as activities that will take much of the Summer to accomplish: "learn to pedal a bike", and "count to 30".
Some of the activities involve meeting with friends: "try a dish from another country", and "play date at Jumpin' Jacks", while others allow for one-on-one time between us: "build a book fort", and "learn to write my name".
Some of our activities are educational, and others are just plain fun.
No matter what activity we choose to check off the list in a given day, I'm sure this Summer will be one to remember.
Added bonus: most of the activities are free, or almost free.
What are some of your favorite things to do in the Summer? What do you hope to accomplish this Summer?
I encourage you all to make Summer Fun Lists (even if you don't have kids). Feel free to share them below.
As always, thanks for reading and sharing.