Sunday, March 31, 2013

Dying Easter Eggs

I think we might do this every season. Why not make Fourth of July eggs?

Here is what we accomplished with our egg dying:

  • Learning about process and order
  • Learning about colors
  • Exploring the foods we eat
  • Hand eye coordination
  • Being gentle
  • Stirring without spilling
  • Patience
  • We have gorgeous eggs!



Mixing the dye

Fitting the egg in the wisk

Practicing patience









Sunday, March 24, 2013

Here's the the Hiyas

Zayd loves loves loves elephants. He has known for a very long time now that they are permanently on Daddy's arm and I think that is where it all started.  In a very particular order, we have the following hiyas with us most of the time:

  1. Big hiya
  2. Baby hiya
  3. Rock hiya (A rocking horse-esque elephant)
  4. (Zoo) Other hiya
  5. (Puppet) Other hiya
  6. (Humidifier) Other big hiya
Oh wait! I am so IN IT I forgot that the aren't called hiyas. We have covered this before but in Sesame Street Episode 4176, Grover gets a new sidekick Horatio the Elephant who LOVES karate. He bursts through the doors that I remember from my child hood and "Hiya!"s away. So, we call them hiyas.

Let me tell you a little about Big Hiyas travel's. He has been to:
  1. Central Market
  2. Home Depot
  3. Mommy's Bank
  4. All of our friend's homes
  5. The zoo
  6. Houston!
Basically, if you see us out and about, check the car or the stroller. If we are in a store, just check the cart. He's there. And he sleeps with Zaydie every nap and bedtime. How big is big hiya, you ask? Well, let me tell you that big hiya is actually a fair trade wooden statue that I bought from 10,000 Villages circa 2007 for one Mr. Sam Mammen. He used to grace our mantle until Zayd saw him up there and fell in love. Now, he has a broken nose with a lot of carpenter's glue and one sizable bandaid so I suppose we are never getting him back.

Once, only once, Mommy let Zayd take Rock Hiya to a backyard playdate across the street.

Don't believe me that these guys are EVERYWHERE? He is our last trip to Houston.





We read books about hiyas. Well, we turn to the page about elephants and stare at only that page. Thank you Eric Carle for including elephants in "Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What do you hear?" and "Does a Kangaroo Have a Mommy too" and to Sandra Boynton for having an elephant on every page in the "Getting Ready for Bed Book".

See if you can spot the elephant in these photos FROM MARCH!








And speaking of things Zayd loves, lets just talk about Zayd's tuck in ritual. Big hiya gets his own blanket and the coveted spot next to Zaydie in bed. On Zayd's other side, baby hiya (who gets to sit in the rocking chair with us before actual bedtime) pink monkey, blue monkey, green lantern, and iron man all get a blanket to share. Zayd sidles in the middle with a blanket of his own, though he's been known to share with Big Hiya. Oh! And don't forget the the elephant humidifer must be running and Rock Hiya gets his own blanket as well. Mommy has stood firm that Rock Hiya MUST sleep on the floor.

And the most perfect bit of all, Zayd now sleeps with one song on repeat ALL NIGHT! What song you ask? The choo choo song. See if you can guess why he loves it so much. Thanks to Auntie Payal for including this lovely song on Zayd's birth mix. I actually love that he loves it.



What (weird!) thing do your kids love? Or what did you love as a tiny tot?


Saturday, March 23, 2013

Monday Morning

This week I had a terrible Thursday. So it is nice to look back and remember that I had a wonderful Monday morning. We all played outside, we enjoyed the last whisper of winter here in Texas, we had NEW activities, and we learned while we played. 

Notice that Zaydie was able to fill little containers with a scoop of rice and two beans each. Learning through play!


Zahra can't wait for her turn in the rice bin!





 Then we enjoyed a little sun.






Then we worked on following a process by washing our legos. Zayd took each lego, plunged it into the soapy water, scrubbed it with a washcloth, and set it in the colander to dry.



Zayd played by himseldf (independence!) while Zahra and I watched on and offered support for legos well scrubbed!







Saturday, March 16, 2013

Potty Learning

Nowadays hippies like me call it potty learning, vice training. I am really ambivalent about what it's called but I don't see a reason to jump off the hippie wagon now.

Today was our first day of potty learning. We decided to start this process today just yesterday evening and our success rate probably reflects that. Here's the deal: when Zaydie was with Nani last week he was playing his new favorite yet-to-be-titled game. It involves crawling out the doggie door, running through the back yard to the human door, through the kitchen, repeat. Nani was enjoying her morning coffee on the patio. When it was time that go meet Nini and uncle Jon for lunch, Nani came inside, found a diaper on the ground, scolded the dog for a pulling it out of trash, and off the duo went. You can guess how this ends, nearly three hours later, Nani goes to change his diaper and hark! He isn't wearing one and hasn't been all morning. But whoops except he had no accidents. Hrmmmm.

Zayd has been trying to potty learn for months but I thought with the new baby coming we shouldn't even try. Changing his diaper has become a huge fight and that means he has spent a few hours naked in the living room. Then yesterday he refused a new diaper but willingly peed in the toilet. Hark! So, today we started.

We had a good morning. We took a morning drive to Target, and picked out ten pairs if underwear: Sesame Street and Thomas the Train. The one hour trip there and back was diaper and accident free UNTIL we pulled into the driveway. The second we turned onto our street, he fell asleep. And you know what happens when a little boy who is holding it falls asleep? The carseat gets wet!

We had one successful potty pee, two bathtub pees, two extra potty attempts and six dirty pairs of underwear.

I'm doing laundry and going to bed.

If we could stick to five accidents a day, we would be able to go two consecutive days...

Also, without a big fluffy butt, I had to pull some twelve month shorts out of the garage and buy belts for his pants. Skinny Minny.

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Springtime Tea Party

Tea and biscuits! This tea set is one of the best toys I have ever purchased! And what an educational afternoon. We practiced hand-eye coordination, how to pour, sharing, table manners, using utensils, and Bodhi learned how to stir! And with the child-size settings and a focus on self-feeding, this counts as a Montessori afternoon thanks to Miss Tahira and Miss Jess!