mall rats

The weather’s been super rainy here on the ‘wet coast’ and with two little kids, one of whom is a highly active 3-year-old, spending my days inside entertaining her while juggling the needs of my two month old isn’t exactly my idea of a good time.

We’re keeping busy by trying to organize playdates and go to activities like kindergym and gymnastics. Now that Maya isn’t napping in the afternoons, doing something in the morning isn’t really enough. The other day, I took her to a drop-in gymnastics lesson but couldn’t seem to find anyone available to play with her in the afternoon. So, without wanting to return home in the pouring (and I do mean POURING rain) I decided to brave the mall. I needed a few things and I thought at least Maya could play on those silly little kiddie rides, we can grab lunch at the food court, and there are lots of places to nurse the baby–not to mention the mecca of all toy stores for children: Toys ‘R Us.

Well, who knew that it would go SO well. I ended up wandering the mall with my two little ones for over 3 hours! There’s a part of me that thinks going to the mall for an afternoon is totally ridiculous and kind of terrible, especially since I’m from Calgary where going to the mall is the thing to do in the crummy, cold, snowy weather. I was so proud of our life here on Vancouver Island where we can be outside year round. We don’t have to get sucked into the capitalist ideology that shopping could make you happy–we live in a rainforest for goodness sake… but I give in, because Maya, Morgan and I had a fabulous time hanging out like ‘mall rats’ on a Thursday afternoon.

What do you do to keep your kiddos active on days when the weather keeps you indoors?

full days

I’ve been making it a point to go to the beach more often, especially during the recent heat wave we’ve had here in Victoria. The ocean breeze is such a relief. We have been to our favorite beach twice this week already. Every time we go the tide is at a different height, so the setting is always a little different which means that Maya explores something new each day. Today, the tide was fairly high and it was coming in at a rapid pace. Loads of seaweed washed up in the shallows and Maya spent a great deal of time examining it.

Then, she just plopped herself down in the water and let the waves lap up on her.

She learns so much from our days here, not to mention that she has SOOO much fun. As a rule, I don’t bring toys to the beach because I’ve discovered that the beach is it’s own toy, a toddler’s paradise with so much of the natural world to play with.

This afternoon Maya has a special treat, her good friends (the kids next door) are here for a visit because their day home is closed for a few days due to illness, so I have the pleasure of looking after two of the sweetest kids around! Maya is still asleep, but she’s going to be so excited when she wakes up to find her friends here. With only  two weeks until I return to work, I’m enjoying every last moment at home with my girl!

frog prince

My favorite website these days is etsy.com which, if you haven’t heard of it yet, is a fabulous site that is largely dedicated to the buying and selling of handmade items. It’s through Etsy that I have discovered a mecca of patterns for knitting and it’s where I found the pattern for my latest and greatest knitting creation which only took a week, as opposed to a whole month… and I actually like the little guy:

You can find the pattern to this and other fantastic creations by this seller here. Maya is in a serious stuffed animal craze these days so this kind of thing is very useful right now. I’m even thinking of doing a companion to the little frog prince (a frog princess) in pink. But I have so many things I want to knit that I’m seriously having a hard time choosing what to do next!!

best invention

So, Maya’s been all crazed for watching TV when we’re at home. Her latest mantra: “I want Dora! I want Dora! I wanna watch the TV!”. In an effort to find other ways to play inside on a cloudy day a good friend of mine sent me her homemade play dough recipe… I can’t thank her enough! Who invented play dough anyway? Whoever it was, she was brilliant! (Recipe provided below.)

Recipe:

1 Cup white flour
1/2 Cup salt
1 tbsp Cream of Tartar
2 tbsp oil
1 Cup water
food colouring

Mix in a saucepan over medium heat until mixture sticks together (looks like mashed potatoes). Cool on waxed paper. Store in a sealed continer or Ziplock bag.

Worst puzzle ever

Generally I love Melissa & Doug products. They’re often hand crafted, they’re made of non-toxic materials and they entertain my daughter. She especially adores the Pound and Roll Tower featured in one of the videos from my last post. However, this puzzle, pictured to the left is their WORST INVENTION EVER! In fact, it’s the worst toy in the world. Seriously. At first sight, it seems like a good idea; the animals make a realistic sounding noise when you match up the puzzle piece with the right space in the puzzle. Like a lot of puzzles from my own childhood, right? WRONG! It turns out that’s not only do the animals make noises when you match up the puzzle pieces, but the rooster will spontaneously call out or the sheep will “baa” when we walk by the play area. Even worse than that, when I’m lying on the couch fading out to the drone of my favorite TV show (which I rarely get to do anymore), the animals will pipe up as if to tell me that I ought not to relax and fall asleep on the couch. All this would be livable if there was an off switch somewhere, but it’s NOWHERE TO BE FOUND. For this reason I warn everyone and anyone to please please avoid this puzzle like the plague. It was a gift from one of Maya’s adoring relatives, and while I love the sentiment the fact that we feel obligated to keep it is going to send me over the edge. Note to all toy makers: ALWAYS INCLUDE AN OFF SWITCH. I beg you!

Hammer Time

Thanks for the awesome toy, Baba!