Playing pretend driving

I was at the thrift store the other day, and I picked up a few good toddler activity idea books.  I've been sifting through them and jotting notes down about things we could do.  Lily is not at all the kind of baby who can play by herself or play with a toy for a long time.  I realized recently that if I plan out our day, it will help us both manage expectations.

One of the ideas was to take a big box and make a car.  We're at the point right now where she can't wait long for me to gather materials, so instead of making it complicated, I just took a marker and drew on the box.  We both get in (my feet hanging over) and she drives.  She beeps the horn, hits the gas peddle, and puts the blinker on.  She even changes the radio to put on Taylor Swift, though she is also nice enough to let me listen to the news.

Some liquid was spilled on the dashboard, and Lily got upset last night when she saw it. 

"Oh no! It's dirty!  Look, it's dirty!"  Lily said.

"No worries, baby," Mommy said.  "It's just like in our car when mommy spills coffee all over the place."

"Is it red?" She asked.

"No, it's green.  GO! GO! GO!"

Target homeschool dollar bin finds

This month, I ransacked the dollar bins at Target (I was looking for a watering can for the toddler who loves to water the plants), and I came away with a lot of great educational items.

We struck gold with this.  The month marker at top we already picked up from the dollar store.  What I found at Target was this yesterday/today/tomorrow wall poster.  We can change the days and talk about it every day.  It's easy to skip over topics when it's hard to explain them to a toddler, but this really helped us bring the days of the week into our regular rotation.

This is a great activity we've already been doing.  Spin the arrow and then find something of that color or the shape, depending on what it says.

This came in a pack of 4-5.  I'm sure we'll find lots of uses for it!

This clock is shown front and back here.  I bought two, because I knew we'd use it.  I was going to make on of these with a paper plate, but this is great!

These map activities are neat, though probably more for teachers.  It is a pack of 32 of the same worksheet (front and back).  One is a US map, one is the world map.  The US map will be useful, because we can practice filling them in over and over, and the back lists the state capitals and we can fill those in over and over.  The world map we might just use a few times, because it's just continents and the same word find game.  

From the upper left: I picked up a kiddie lanyard, because she loves her daddy's work badge!  Then, there is a pack of travel dry erase letter writing cards!  OMG!  In the center, there are flash cards with rhyming words, because I have a hard time thinking of words that rhyme.  Then, these box games take a skill like multiplication or money and make it into a game!  Those will be great to bust out at some point in the future as just another fun, learning thing to do.

We took our first paddle boat ride!

Daddy had a four-day weekend for the Fourth of July, so we went to the Reston Zoo on Friday.  We took our first paddle boat ride.  With Lily being so intense and kicking/writhing when she doesn't want to do something, I thought it would be a long while before we got to this point where we could have her in a water craft without ending up in the water!  It was a lot of fun.

Escape to Old Town Alexandria

Sometimes it's hard to escape from our routine, because we need places we can walk, eat and do something else fun all in one swoop.  On Sunday, we wound up in Old Town Alexandria.  Lily and I have been here a few times, and we were thinking this is the first time since we've had Lily that Sean and I have been in Old Town together.  That just seems weird, because we used to always be down that way for something.

We walked, played at the Armory Tot Lot, and then took a water tour of Alexandria.

Crazy toddler playdate turns into insane shopping spree

Last weekend, we hosted a playdate for some of the local toddlers and families, which turned into a massive potluck and then eventually into a movie night.  The toddlers were jumping on the bed and screaming in glee.  People kept showing up with food and we were having so much fun, everyone stuck around until long after Lily fell asleep in the middle of the chaos on the couch.  We had to bring in some toddler lawn chairs so the rugrats could watch the movie without sitting on each other. :)

The next day, we wound up at a 50% off sale at Value Village.  Alice spent $10, Cree spent $40, I spent $63, and Heather won with $84.  We came home with a bunch of clothes, board games for $1 ( I Spy Eagle Eye, Break the Ice, Operation, Mouse Trap, others), an activity tray, and two of these dance pads, one being a piano and the other being a number-based dance mat.

Jaimeson and Olivia shopping

We needed 4 carts in the end, even though Alice only bought 4 things.

Dance Challenge Mat

Things Lily says at 2.5 years old

Raiding the cussing jar.

"GET OFF ME!"

"I farted."

"What is he doing?"

"I'm going to run away (from that diaper change)."

"I love you."

"It's magic!"

"I need a hat."

Mommy presented Lily with Lamb-lamb.  "NO! I want MINI Lamb-lamb!"

"I want ice cream/chocolate/beans (M&Ms)"

"Do you want to cuddle with me?"

"I want your phone."

"Give me that phone."

"Let me do it!"

"No, let me try."

"I need more water."

"I need more MILK!"

"NO! I don't want it!"

"I don't want my diaper changed."

"I don't want a shirt."

"Can daddy do it?"

"Oh no!  I lost Lamb-lamb/bottle/it."

"Where is it?  I don't see it?"

"Where is the mall?"

"Where is Whole Foods?"

"I have a boo-boo. Kiss it?"

"I want to go to the pool/mall/market."

"Lay down with me?"

"Bottle, where are you?"

 "Is it dead?"

"Beep, beep - Get out the way!"

"Daddy, I'm all done!"

"Is it poop?"

"I want more milk.  I want a lot."

Lily, you need money for more milk.  (Checks her own pocket) "Where is it? I don't see it."

Lily, give me a big kiss, I am leaving. "Where are you going?" I have a meeting.  (Sweet baby kiss.) "GET OUT!" (Uses feet to propel unsuspecting victim away.)

"Where is Daddy?"  He went to work. (Remembering our conversation yestereday...) "Oh no! He took my go-de-go (stroller)!" 

"TA-DA: It's magic!"

<--- This was Lily on a late family trip to Whole Foods after she slept 5:15p to 7:15p.  It's midnight, and she just went to bed.  What are you supposed to do with that?  Watch Shawn the Sheep, we say.

We stayed in most of today.  Played Mister Potato head and with chalk on the porch.  Eventually, we put together the 50 states puzzle and played Migoga marble run, which took up an hour and a half.

Lily loved Migoga, but we don't play it often, because it's for older kids.  Eventually, she took one of the legs and used it as a cup to drop the ball from.  She then raised it up like a wand and said, "Ta-da!  Look, mama, it's magic!  I need a hat!"

"A magic hat?"

"Yes!" She said, taking the Santa hat out of the dress-up drawer.  She told me to wear the big floppy purple hat.  That could be my magic hat.  It is indeed a magic hat.  There are no pictures of that, so sorry.  We were having too much fun, plus, I needed to hands to hold the marble run upright, as it was missing a leg or two at this point.  We both needed wands.

"Ta-da, it's magic!"