I mentioned a few weeks ago that we took Maya out of daycare because we were worried about her immune system not being able to withstand the winter’s germs. I’m not going to lie, it’s been hard and exhausting, mostly because I’ve been working in the evenings once Michael gets home to take over. But she’s also stayed healthy, which was and is the goal! I’ve written enough about the terrible flu season in the last few weeks to know that we made the right decision. That said, I’ve needed to be a little more creative in keeping her busy and active and learning, and in case you also have a cooped up toddler who needs some action, I thought I’d share a few of our winning activities with you.

While the weather in Houston has been pretty good, we’re still cooped up at home a little because Noah naps so often and (sometimes) for so long. He’s also stopped napping in the wrap or carrier (FOMO much?) so it’s not as easy to just up and go to the playground when Maya starts to get stir crazy. We still try to get out every afternoon, but that leaves some long mornings to fill with educational-ish activities.

In the few weeks since she stopped going to school two days a week, I’ve tried out a lot of new activities with her. Some have been great, and I thought I’d share them with you in case you have a cooped up toddler needing some distraction. We also had one total fail, which I thought was hilarious, so you’re getting that one, too. You’re also getting primarily grainy photos from my phone of Maya with bedhead. Unless we’re going somewhere in the morning, we don’t do hair until after nap time.

Slime

My friend Jamie sent me this recipe for slime that doesn’t require buying a giant box of Borax that we then have to store for the next 10 years. Instead, it uses contact solution and baking powder! At first, I thought it would definitely be a recipe for a giant mess, but she claimed it wasn’t so we decided to give it a shot. Turns out, it’s less mess than play doh! Maya loves to play play-doh but it does leave tiny bits of the stuff everywhere for days. Slime, on the other hand, stays mostly contained. We’ve been able to reuse it for at least a week by keeping it in a sealed plastic bag.

We made this recipe for slime, minus the glitter and halved. It was a cinch and she could do almost all of the stirring herself.

Pouring colored water

Another friend suggested the instagram account Busy Toddler, which I’ve found myself scrolling through whenever we’re feeling a little tired of playing baby dolls or farm animals. Pouring colored water in a giant tub using different size vessels was an idea found there. We have concrete floors, so I don’t worry too much about getting them wet and mopping them up again. We set the tub on a towel and she scooped and poured for a while. She started with blue and red water and eventually exclaimed, “Purple!” so maybe there was a subliminal message in there, too.

Washable markers on giant paper

I haven’t wanted to spend much money on my new daycare project, but I did stock up on some more art supplies, including washable small markers from Crayola. Those aforementioned concrete floors really come in handy. I should really pick up some kraft paper but I used a giant piece of brown paper that came in a package and she drew for a long time.

Flash card mail

We had a set of bilingual flash cards already that she enjoys looking at and organizing into their little pouch. I decided she could “mail” them if I cut a slit in an empty water jug. We’ve kept the same jug around for weeks because she’ll keep going back to it. I just cut a trap door in the bottom so she can take them out again and start over.

Now for the fail: Shaving cream painting

I’d seen on Pinterest (famous last words, eh?) an idea for painting with shaving cream. Essentially, you put the shaving cream into a baking tin and squirt on some paint. Then the toddler can use the paint brush or her fingers to swirl the paint around. Here’s the problem. Once she stuck her fingers in (I’m pretty sure she never touched the paint brush), she couldn’t get the shaving cream off and she got all clogged up. Pretty soon it was all over her stomach from trying to wipe it off and then we just moved the whole ordeal to the tub because it was clearly heading toward disaster levels.  Maybe an older child would do better with the shaving cream painting, but a word to the wise if you do try it. Get unscented shaving cream. That stuff is stinky in large volumes!

Have any toddler activities (minus the shaving cream) that have worked for you?

Maya’s over two now, so we’ve gone through quite a few firsts already. First solid food, first crawl, first steps. Now that she’s older, we’re more amazed by the words and sentences she comes out with (and repeats, for better or worse) and some of the firsts she’s still experiencing are more unexpected. Case in point, Maya had her first time on ice skates this weekend (at a friend’s sweet baby’s birthday party, which we knew we were going to but didn’t realize it was at a skating rink!) and Michael and I were both surprised at what a monumental moment it felt like to us. When Maya and I came off the ice, Michael said to me, “Wow, that was really special, wasn’t it?” And that’s exactly what I was thinking. What a special moment to get to share with my daughter for the first time. And what an amazing thing that we still have so many special moments like that in the months and years to come.

It didn’t hurt that she absolutely loved it and was pretty fearless taking her tiny steps across the ice. Although she did prefer when I would carry/push her across the ice while I skated. No surprise there!

I grew up in Maine, so ice skating was one of the winter sports my family enjoyed when we could get on the ice together. My parents taught me how to skate using M&M’s as a bribe for making the few steps forward on wobbly skates. I definitely have them to blame for the fact that I could eat about a million M&M’s in a sitting now. When I was older, my parents would drop me to the ice rink in the next town over for Sunday afternoon free skate. And when the conditions made it possible, we all used to love skating on the lake down the road.

Maybe next year Maya’s feet will be big enough to use actual ice skates! 

Emily Henderson

Since Noah was born, we’ve had him sleeping in our room at night so he doesn’t wake up Maya when he starts to grump for food around 3am. I think we’re nearing the point when he can reliably sleep through the night and get moved into Maya’s room, but can I tell you how excited I am to have our own space again? Oh, and also? A king size bed. Our own space with a king size bed. That is my dream.

In preparation for moving into our next space later this year, I’ve started saving images that fit the dream — I want it to be light and airy with a big, comfy bed. While my temptation is to paint the whole place white, I like the idea of some color on the walls, especially paired with wainscoting. Apparently it’s easy to install. We’ll see!

I’m starting to pull together photos with the right vibe for our soon-to-be bedroom. Mostly simple and peaceful, with white walls and muted jewel-toned bedding or cushions. It doesn’t need to be fussy or even involve many components, but I want those components to be really comfortable and layered and cosy.

Architectural Digest

 Source

Source

My Domaine

We don’t have a ton of space, and no closets, so we’ll need dressers or wardrobes, and bedside tables and a rug and lamps, but that’s too many decisions to make all at once now. So instead, I’m focusing on the fluffier decisions. the bedding.

While furnishing an entire house at once isn’t exactly going to be inexpensive, I’ve learned that we just can’t skimp on bedding. Our kids are relatively great sleepers, so I can’t really claim any hardship on the time spent in our beds (at least now that Noah doesn’t wake every two hours for a bottle), but we’re fairly worn out by the time our heads hit the pillow that I really want it to be as comfortable as possible.

Whenever I stay at my sister’s house, her bedding always feels like a hotel. Why can’t our bed feel like that every night?

I had a peek at the Brown Thomas website, arguably Dublin’s fanciest department store,
browsing their home décor and homeware living range to put together a wish list for our future,
hotel-like bedroom.

Linen bedsheets are oh-so-popular at the moment, so this deep grey linen Piubelle duvet cover would be perfect. If it’s got hotel in the name, that’s probably a good start for sheets, right? These Frette hotel collection sheets will definitely make the cut. I love a good Irish wool blanket, and this seafoam and grey stripe throw by John Hanly will pair nicely with the duvet but break up the grey. While we’re at it, cosy new robes would really top off the hotel vibe, wouldn’t they?

This post was written in partnership with Brown Thomas. Thanks for supporting the posts that make this blog possible!