Visiting Nini

My mom has been in and out of the hospital for the past month after some major complications to what was suppose to be a routine surgery. So we've been spending a lot of time at the hospital lately. As you can tell, my child is unfazed and makes himself quite a home anywhere. He's definitely  been a trooper!

Wordless Wednesday

Learning curve

Last night was not one of my finer moments as a parent.

4 days of whining non stop. Multiple time outs. Belligerence. Defiance. Yelling. Throwing.

A lovely cold on top of it all.

It all came to a head at 12:30 am, screaming in his bed. And then he charged me. And kicked me.

Twice.

And I kind of lost my cool.

Awesome.

This morning when he woke up at 6:15 Shaun asked me if I was okay.

I asked him if it was too early to start drinking.

He told me it would probably be frowned upon.

I guess he's probably right.

I hate getting mad at my kid. I hate it. Its the worst.

I always thought I would be the disciplinarian -

but I down right suck at it.

Its not that I need him to be my best friend,

I just expect more from myself than that.

That and I don't want to raise a serial killer.

At breakfast, I told him I was sorry.

That kicking was wrong,

but what I did was wrong too.

That its never okay to hit,

even when we're mad.

That I made a mistake by doing what I did.

He said he was sorry too, and climbed into my lap.

And then he did something he rarely ever does anymore.

He fell asleep.

Exactly the way he use to lay on me when he was a baby.

I guess neither if us slept very well.

My chest was heavy,

hot and sweaty with the heat coming from his head -

but it threw me back, instantly

to those first months,

that first year,

holding and holding

and holding him.

I don't think I put him down the first 4 months he was here.

I thought it would be so easy then.

It would be a walk in the park.

But the truth is, this is the hardest job I've ever had.

He pushes me, in so many ways.

He pushes my buttons and to the edge sometimes,

but he also pushes me to be better at this,

to be a better mom, a better person.

They always seem to leave out of all those parenting books about the times you're going

to fuck up.

And you will. I think its inevitable.

I guess we're all growing through this process.

And as he tries to figure out his world,

the kind of person he's becoming, and will be -

I'm trying to figure out my world as a parent,

the kind of parent I'm becoming,

The kind of parent I will be.

That I want to be.

And its a giant learning curve sometimes.

So I said I'm sorry.

Because I don't want to be afraid to hide my flaws from him.

My faults, my mistakes.

And because most importantly,

sometimes I get it wrong.

And that's okay too.

Its why its a curve.

... We laid there.

I think he needed to know that we were okay.

I think I needed it just as much.

Coloring hearts using recycled crayons

I've been seriously hoarding crayons in my purse for some time now. Every time we go out somewhere, or he gets a little gift bag from some party, they've gone into this giant Ziploc bag in the bottom of my purse.

It was seriously weighing it down. I felt bad throwing away all those perfectly good crayons but we already have enough crayons, markers, colored pencils and chalk to choke a horse.

So Sunday night while Shaun was gone at a Super Bowl get together (I stayed home because frankly I could care less) Sully and I did a trial run recycling crayons.

We made fun hearts for Valentine's Day that he will hand out instead of candy! They came out super cute. We'll do another bigger set, and I'll put them in a small Ziploc baggie that I'll staple shut with a cute little label/card I'll make from him to his friends.

Taking the paper off the crayons was a pain in the butt! As my dad would say, I cut off all the pookie ends if they had them and then broke them up into different sizes.

I sorted them into primary colors, and then had a separate bowl for the purples, oranges and greens. The darker colors didn't make the draft unfortunately.

I found this cute heart shape tin at Target for $9 bucks. It was a little more than I wanted to spend but one, I'll reuse it a ton and two, I like that it had a hole in the middle for something little fingers can hold onto when coloring.

Sully mixing all his creations up. We had to resort them into the hearts a couple times to get them as full as possible which left us one short. Next time we'll fill them up to the top for a heartier crayon ... Get it? Anybody? Okay next ...

All ready to go in! I found it interesting watching him and how he sorted them. He didn't throw all the colors into a mix, which surprised me a little. They kind of got grouped by like colors.

A child after my own heart ...

Anybody? Nothing? Luckily I'm out of lame play-on-words.

I put them in at 275 for 7 minutes. Honestly I could have taken them out at 4 minutes, which is what we'll do next time. (They melted a little too much this time around and had to set for quite some time before we could pop them out.)

Sully's finished creations! They color pretty great still and make some neat new color combos. Looking forward to doing it again for Valentine's Day!

P.S. My favorite is his Rastafarian crayon.

So much for spelling

Yesterday when I was on the phone and Sully was up my butt to get on it and talk - I asked him to walk away because he was being a real bear with an attitude to boot.

"I don't like it when you talk sassy." I told him.

"I'm being a S-H-I-T." he retorted as he walked away from me up the stairs.

Yes, he spelled it out.

And yeh, yeh you are you little S-H-I-T.

You know everyone keeps telling me that he's too smart for his own good, too old for his little body, too big for his young age. Mouths drop when we say he's two (and a half)and it's always followed by the statement that we're in trouble. Like all the time.

I'm starting to believe them.

FML.

DIY Children's Light Box

What you will need:
Storage bin: $2.00 at Target
Large piece of black cardboard paper or black paint: (I went with the cardboard at Target for under $2 bucks)
Push lights: $11.00 at Target
8 AA batteries: If you don't already have some laying around the house
A sand machine or flocking spray: (I went with the sander)
Once I had all the stuff, this project only took me 20 minutes if that - and no crazy measuring or use of tool are required. Its completely, totally simple and hassle free!

Step 1: Take your storage bin (it can be any size, but remember you want it big enough to have a good amount of surface space for the kiddos to work on when you're done) and flip it over. The bottom is going to end up being the top.

Step 2: Take your handy dandy sander. It takes a little bit of elbow grease to buff off all of the labels in the plastic. It also takes quite a few times of going over it to buff up and "flock" the bin. I would do this outside or make sure you have a mask. I found going in circles worked the best for me.

The most important thing to remember is that it doesn't have to be perfect.

You can use flocking spray but you'll have to remember to tape off the other sides of the plastic to make sure it doesn't get everywhere, and you'll still have those labels on the bottom to contend with.

Basically I used the sander because it was fast and free and easier.

Step 3: Buff the heck out of the bottom of your storage bin. You can see the top part is where I have already gone over multiple times. The middle has been gone over just a few times and the bottom has not been done at all. Its important to buff the plastic up to help diffuse some of the light coming through, so you get a soft glow and not a hard flashlight look coming through.

Step 4: Totally forgot to get a picture of this step, but you want to measure out all 4 sides of the container and then cut strips from the black large cardboard to fit. I used tape and I am definitely going back this weekend when I have more time and gluing it down with clear plastic/Styrofoam adhesive. The tape has already started to come up a little in places and I think glue, once dried, will give it a much cleaner look. Its important to black out the sides so all the light comes up through the top of the container.

Step 5: Get your push lights out and place the batteries in. The push lights come with Velcro strips that I placed on the lid. As my lovely assistant can show you here below, press those suckers on once they are placed on the lid.

Step 6: Take the bottom half of the container and flip it over and lock it over the lid. Dim the lights or close curtains in the room for the best results.

So far we've used wooden blocks with color inlays (Oriental Trading company for $20 bucks) We've also used some glass rocks that I found for $2 dollars at Michael's. I also bought some colored see through paddles from OTC for under $5 dollars and Sully picked some red sand from Michael's, as well as cat-eye marble rocks. (Sand works great for them to practice writing in as the light comes up through it - but it gets messy so beware.)

Some other great ideas are glass beads for stringing, wax paper and paint art on the top of it, setting another smaller bin on top and filling it with water for a water activity, drawing on parchment paper ... pretty much the ideas are endless when you really start thinking about it.

And better yet, it cost me under $20.00 to make (and that's including the cost of the batteries because I was out). A light panel box from Lakeshore cost $139.00 and a table top light box from Children and Kids goes for $231.00!

There are all different ways to make them for cheap if you google DIY light box and sort around. And maybe down the road when I'm feeling adventurous I'll try one of the fancier techniques that require power tools, trip to the hardware store and most importantly - a husband.

He has spent hours playing with this thing! The best part is you can take all the stuff you use to play with on the top, and store it in the container when you're done so its always there when you need it. This was quick, cheap and its getting the job done wonderfully. He loves it!

Wordless Wednesday