How 2 Cups of Flour and 2 Cups of Water Saved My Sanity April 22, 2013

By the time the milk paintings were complete, I thought that B was ready to calmly face the world. HOLY MOSES WAS I WRONG!!

What to do? What to do?

Then I remembered reading a post a while back about “Magic Playdough” The woman who wrote the post makes astronomical amounts of plain play dough every year for the first day of school. She separated the dough into individual balls (saving two balls to use later), pushed a well into the top and added 7-10 drops of food coloring into the well. Then, she took took the two balls she had held back, and used little pieces to plug the hole in the others. The goal is to have a collection of plain colored balls that look like there is nothing special about them. She then wrapped them up, added a little note about “mix and mash and if color should appear, it will be a great school year”. I thought this was adorable and wanted to try it at home…sort of.

We obviously did not need 50 balls of play dough so I scaled the recipe WAY back and added a little extra something to it. Here is what I came up with.

Magic Play Dough

2 cups of flour

2 cups of water

Lavender Essential Oil

place all ingredients in a pan on the stove and cook slowly (while stirring regularly) until it comes together and looks like dough. When it is done, place it on a piece of wax paper and knead it until it is nice and smooth. Divide into 6 balls and put two back. With the remaining 4, use your thumb to push a well into the balls. Add 7-10 drops of food coloring per ball. Fill hole with pieces of dough from extra 2 balls and GENTLY form them so that they look like a plain white ball of dough.

As the dough was cooling, I lined the table with some wax paper and taped it down and got some plastic silverware and other small things that would make fun imprints in the dough.

Then I unleashed the wild child on his first real encounter with play dough…

We mushed, and folded, and mushed and folded and mushed and folded and mushed and folded…

And ended up with these (I would add more red food coloring next time)

It took no time for him to discover that it smelled good (and all that lavender helped calm him down…like, whoa)

And it felt good

And because I made it, I knew exactly what was in it and I didn’t freak out when he did this…

Let the games begin…

And THAT is how 2 cups of flour and 2 cups of water (and a little Lavender Oil)  saved my sanity!

The dough will store nicely in ziploc bags and keep for quite some time. Best use of flour and water I have seen in weeks!

~C

PS: As I sat, enjoying the quiet stillness that this activity blessed me with, I couldn’t help but think that this would make for a GREAT party favor for your little ones birthday party…especially if it is a Magic theme!

Milk Painting

I knew this morning when I woke up that it was just going to be one of those days. When the boy woke up he solidified the fact. He was INSANE all morning! I decided to take to my arsenal of kid projects (aka pinterest) and occupy every possible second of his day. I stumbled across “Milk Paintings” (http://flutterflutter.ca/2012/03/17/spring-break-diy-milk-art/). These were fun and a great way to use up some old milk that we had sitting in the fridge. They were really easy as well.

 

All you need is:

Milk (2% or whole)

A plate

food coloring

cheap liquid dish soap

 

 

Pour a thin layer of milk onto the plate

 

Add a few drops of food coloring to the milk

 

Slowly drip a few drops of the dish soap onto the plate and get ready. The magic happens quickly. You go from the picture above to this:

 

To this:

 

to this:

 

When the swirling stopped, I handed the little one a fork and let him experiment with mixing colors:

 

 

 

 

We made three or four different paintings and he enjoyed every second of it!

~C

 

A Home with a Gun? April 14, 2013

Guns are a big thing down here. Most of the time, if you ask someone why they carry a gun you will get the response “because I can.” Knowing this, when Brennan is asked to go to someones house to play, I ask if there are guns in the house and if so, are they locked up so that the kids can’t get to them. Fair enough, right? Apparently not. I was told tonight that it’s none of my business and I had a lot of nerve asking. (Only in not terms not as nice as this)

 

So, I ask you…do you ask?

 

I ask because I am trusting that other parents are going to protect my child as I would their child. I ask because I know my child well enough to know that if he saw one, his curiosity would most likely get the better of him. I ask because I feel it is my right as a parent to know. But is this right?

I never knew when I became a parent that there was such a HUGE gray area and very little black and white. I am learning I operate better in the black and white.

How do you handle the gray areas when it comes to your child and their safety in the home of someone else? How do you ask the tough questions without coming across as judgmental or rude? Do you care if you DO come across that way?

Leave your answers below…I am truly interested.

 

~C