More Autumnal Fun and kicking up leaves – 17-18 months

Posted by Caroline Elliott

The clue is in the title really but Monkey loves kicking up leaves! My regime of making sure I tire him out enough to nap well and sleep well is working and involves a lot of time wandering about outdoors. Actually I think that was just a blip as his naps are basically back to normal now, yay! Sorry, sidetracked, yes lots of time walking outdoors. When my mum (Nanny) and I first showed him kicking up the leaves he looked at us like we had gone mad, but lately he loves it! As you can see in the pictures 🙂

Not much else to say about it is there really! So cute though! In fact I am finding this to be such a cute age. I have pretty much thought that at every age but his personality is really developing now and he is such a funny little monkey. He’s playing so much more independently, babbling away constantly (though still no words) and just chuckles and grins all the time!

Posting pipe cleaners – 17 months old

Posted by Caroline Elliott

I’ve seen this activity or similar activities on a number of blogs and have been waiting to try it out! One of my favourite Stay at Home Mummy blogs does it here. The basic idea is that you post pipe cleaners in the holes of a colander. So I bought some pipe cleaners and got out the colander so Monkey could have a play.

He loved playing with the pipe cleaners, waving them around all over the place, although they were longer than I thought, they were all folded over in the pack so they looked short. They were too long for him to post through the holes really, as he was holding them at one end and when he tried to push them through the holes they just bent over. I tried it too and if you held them like that even I couldn’t get them through the holes! He did manage to post them through if I got him to hold it half way down or near the bottom, which I was really impressed at, but he just kept trying to hold them at one end and it led to quite a bit of frustration so we put it away for another day.

Try, try again though! Because it was the length that was causing him problems I decided to cut a few of the pipe cleaners to see if he had more luck when they were shorter. One day when Nanny was here we got them out, had another go, and he loved it! It was still a bit of a challenge for him to get them in the holes, but that’s good for him you know, helps with those fine motor controls! He did manage to get them in the holes sometimes which I was really impressed at!

Hopefully as time goes on we can use longer pipe cleaners and it will help with problem solving skills too 🙂

Monkey-led play – 17 months old

Posted by Caroline Elliott

I realised a few days ago that I haven’t had to come up with many new play ideas recently – and the reason is this: Monkey decides what we play with most of the time these days. He is growing up in front of my eyes and has a mind of his own. I don’t want to stifle that so most of the time our playtime is very much Monkey-led. We are still out and about and busy a lot so when we do have playtime at home, it is very much up to him what we do.

We have different things in different areas, all of his brio wooden train stuff is in a red box under a chair, which he can pull out. (He can’t actually build a track yet but he loves playing with his trains on the track) We also have an area behind the sofa with a lot of toys, and they are divided up so he can get his duplo, or his cars etc. He is just learning to put his duplo bricks together now, and he loves cars. There’s a drawer in this area with his puzzles in and another little cupboard with musical toys. I have to say I find having the different areas is such a help when it comes to tidying up at the end of the day! A good way of keeping all the little bits of toys together! I got the idea from a friend who had something similar at their house and it makes life so much better, we are lucky we have the space for it I know. What storage solutions do you have for toys?

Then we have the conservatory where there are crayons and chalk for drawing, and then in a corner of the dining room is his kitchen, we recently got the smallest, cheapest tea set we could find and he is loving learning to pour the tea and stir the tea :).

So it is pretty much up to him. Obviously he is still little, so sometimes I lead him in one direction or other and help him out. The funniest things and the things that keep him the most entertained, are the random toys, which aren’t really toys. When we were clearing out some junk the other day, we randomly found a pack of jumbo playing cards. I think these must have been Hubby’s as I had never seen them before, but he doesn’t remember them either! Anyway they have become one of Monkey’s random fave toys. His favourite game is the 52 card drop haha!

He also, absolutely LOVES putting the cards back into the box for them. I think they call this fine motor skills or something, but whatever, I love it as it shows how good his coordination is getting these days! He can do this for ages (well, ages in toddler-time anyway, we aren’t exactly talking hours :)). I’m also using them to talk about numbers and shapes. He may not understand this much yet but I don’t think it hurts to start early.

The other day monkey managed to find a new box of crayons that I was keeping for him, but I didn’t mind because actually he spent ages with his granddad putting them back in the box neatly, taking them out, and repeating. Kept him entertained for ages which is always brilliant 🙂 They are quite good crayons too actually as you don’t have to put a lot of pressure on them to use them. I thought they may be a bit old for him but actually they seem perfect for him at the moment.

He got into my wool bag the a few days ago too, and although my immediate reaction was ‘noooo!’ I soon relaxed as he found a ball that was already a big jumbled tangled mess, so actually I didn’t mind him playing with that too much. As it was he had great fun pulling it apart and playing with it, very cute 🙂

There are a few playtime things I want to try out with Monkey, but for the most part he is so happy with choosing what he wants to do that it’s nice to encourage his independence and ideas of his own!

Aaah back to normality and some muddy autumnal fun

Posted by Caroline Elliott

Much as I love my husband and loved him being at home last week, it was nice to get back to normal this week. Last week didn’t exactly go as planned, and with us both feeling so poorly we were shut up inside the house more than we would normally be, so by Sunday we were getting on each others nerves a bit (especially with a healthy dose of PMT added to the mix!). I think if we had been able to get out and do all the things we planned last week it would have been different, but as it was, by Monday morning it was nice to get back to normal.

Monday is normally a Nanny day (and Grandpops if his shift pattern allows) and we went for a lovely autumnal trip to a local play area, which was great fun. Mummy and Nanny were having lots of fun kicking up leaves, though Monkey didn’t really see the fun in that as much as we did! hehe

Tuesdays was tumbletots, which he loves, and then just some general playtime and a trip to the shops. Wednesday we were supposed to meet some friends at a soft play place, however one of my friends little girl has chicken pox! She is a year older than Monkey and we did consider a chicken pox party so he could get it out of the way, but I am sooo not ready for him to have it yet. My other friend’s little ones are also poorly and they were off to the doctors so we had to come up with another plan.

It was a bit grey and gloomy but not too horrible out so we made an impromptu trip out to a local country park to have a run around, and bumped into Grandma and Granddad! Which was a lovely surprise! We had lots of playtime with them, a nice cup of tea in the cafe when it got a bit cold, and some running around in the mud. After deciding to sit down in a big muddy puddle Monkey was very muddy by the end of it but lots of fun was had so that’s all that matters.

Thursday another friend and I took our little ones to a soft play centre we hadn’t tried before, and although Monkey was nervous and clingy to start with (as he can be in new places) we had a really love time. Monkey warmed up and started playing by himself so my friend and I got to have some good mummy chats which was very much needed for both us, so it was really lovely. Her little ones really enjoyed it too .

Friday is a day with the grandparents which is always lovely and a really nice way to end the week. Nice to all be well and happy and just generally, back to normal! 🙂

A busy old week and bringing the fun back to bathtime.

Posted by Caroline Elliott

Phewwww it has been a busy old time the last week or so, hence the lack of posts! Things will hopefully be calming down a bit again now thankfully!

So, what have we been up to? Well, last weekend I went to visit some friends in London fro a proper girls night out! I love my Monkey and Hubby and I love being a stay at home mum, but sometimes it’s nice to get back to being me again, do you know what I mean? Anyway was just lovely to have a good girly catch up with them.

The downside to last weekend (aside from the hangover) was that Monkey came down with a bug or something. We realised he had a temperature just as I was about to leave, and although of course it made me hesitate, I knew he was fine in Daddy’s capable hands. He did get really poorly though bless him, and while I was on the train home the next day I was getting updates of sobbing and sweating and couldn’t wait to get home and help out.

So he was poorly for a few days, and hate to say we don’t really know what was wrong, just high temperatures and really unhappy and not at all his usual self. Could be his last big teeth starting to come through? Isn’t that what all parents think when there is an unexplained illness, oh it must be teething! He he anyway no idea but he’s been up and down all week and threw up all over me Thursday, seems better over the weekend though, fingers crossed anyway!

We’ve also had the delivery of one of our new sofas this week, which is very exciting! Though it also meant a lot of work as we needed to shift furniture around (and therefore empty out a unit, thoroughly clean everywhere) to get the old sofa into the conservatory etc. etc. To complicate things even more I had invited my friends and the kiddies round on Thursday, and obviously wanted the house to be nice and clean and tidy for that!

The sofa came and looks fab but Thursday with a house full was a bit chaotic. A few of the little ones had been under the weather recently and weren’t quite themselves, so there was quite a bit of crying and whining and fighting with the toddlers, and crying babies! Phew! Was lovely to see my friends as always and nice to catch up but it was pretty mental for a while! I don’t know how nursery staff cope with all of that going on! I love being a stay at home mum but I couldn’t do it as a full time job with lots of other people’s kiddies, I would go insane!!

What else has been going on…. oh yes, bath time! Monkey has always loved bath time. He has always had so much fun in there. We have video after video of him chuckling in the bath and having a whale of a time. But lately, he hates it. No idea why, he will stand next to the bath and play with the water happily, but put him in and he screams! Play at his usual favourites, distract him, even get a smile, but stop and he remembers where he is and he starts wailing again. So weird!! I am sure it is just a phase and maybe he would get over it naturally but we thought we should try and make it a bit more fun for him again.

I vaguely remembered seeing a whole bath toy display at a local garden centre and thought I had seen some sort of bath crayons or something. Monkey loves drawing so I hoped that would work. We got the crayons but also got some little boats, just to make a change. Anyway Day 1 of the bath crayons and he did so well! As soon as he saw the crayons he was straight in there and had a really long and happy bathy with his Daddy. So, yay!

The only slight problem is that it has stained the grout a bit, it does warn you on the packet so it’s a decision you have to make, and well, we can live it. I will maybe try and bleach it off or something but it’s not coming off with regular bathroom cleaner. Ah well!!

Playing with a Pringles tube and much happier mealtimes 16-17 months

Posted by Caroline Elliott

This was another idea I got from Pinterest actually, but again I cannot find the place where I found it initially. So annoying as I don’t want to take credit for other people’s ideas! Oh well though anyway, the idea is that if you take a Pringles tube, (or any other tube of crisps, with a lid) and cut a rectangular slot through the lid so that business cards etc. can be posted though. This helps with fine motor skills apparently! Monkey loves it though anyway, he loves it putting the cards in the slot, and he really loves shaking the tin around afterwards!

He pretty soon discovered how to take the lid off the tube and that it was much easier to get the cards in… and lots of other things.

He basically loves this tube, but he also loves posting thing everywhere. He has a tunnel that granddad made for the brio train set, which he loves posting things through, and he spent ages posting crayons down an old wrapping paper tube with his Nanny the other day!

He also loves to post things under the sofa, behind cushions, under my legs, behind my back, through the bars of the door-gates, through the fire guard… you get the idea! The good thing about the Pringles tube though is that it is handily arm sized so he can get things out again, some of his other posting favourites lead to a lot more frustration, so I try to give him the Pringles tube whenever he is in a posting mood hehe!

In other news we have had a whole week of Monkey eating his dinner! Woohoo!!! I know that these things can change at a drop of the hat but please, please, pleeeeease let him be growing out of that phase! Even if not though I have enjoyed this week as it has made it so much less stressful that he has eaten his meals. Don’t get me wrong I have had to put in a lot of effort to get this to happen but at least it has paid off, so I am v happy 🙂

Cardboard box playtime and a slightly more independent Monkey – 16 months

Posted by Caroline Elliott

Another bit of inspiration from Pinterest today, although randomly I can’t find the page I found it from! Anyway, as I may have mentioned, Monkey loves colouring at the moment, so this week, when I got a new hoover (which, by the way, is brilliant) I thought we should put the box to good use.

The idea is simple – let them draw in the cardboard box. What happens is hilarious and keeps him entertained for ages!

We also then had great fun by opening up the box so he could use it as a tunnel, hilarious! Especially as it isn’t that big, and definitely not sturdy so it kept collapsing on him, which he actually quite enjoyed. Anyway lots of fun with this activity.

I mentioned before that Monkey has a slightly longer attention span now, and, well he is also getting a bit more independent! Which I love! Yesterday afternoon I was able to sit in the conservatory and write the baking blog, while he played around in the garden with his chalk and the dirt, and he popped in now and again to play with his box and a sheet that he draws on, then went out again. We played peepo behind my laptop screen a few times and generally he was just totally fine!

Then even better than that, the other day we were playing together in the conservatory when I realised I needed to go and make dinner. So I told him I was going to make dinner, that he should stay here and I would be right back. I have tried this soooo many times and normally he just makes his “I’m not happy about this” noise and runs after me. But this time, he stood up, looked at me and then waved! I went off and popped back and he was so happy. I did it a few times, popped in and out to check on him and it was just no problem at all! Brilliant!

Lovely boy, playing all by himself 🙂

It is good timing as Monday I start Jury duty… I just hope that doesn’t set him back as we have come so far and he is much less clingy now… anyway more on that in another post!

Playing with Cloud Dough – 16 months old

Posted by Caroline Elliott

As I mentioned in my last post, I have been searching for playtime inspiration, largely on Pinterest, lately. So this is the first post of ideas inspired by things I have found on Pinterest – Cloud Dough!

Now I have never heard of this before but it is genius and fills a hole in our playtime perfectly. With the change of the weather and the rain recently Monkey’s sand table was getting really gross, so it got washed out last weekend and we haven’t bought any replacement sand for it, but you can see he misses it. Whenever we go out in the back garden to run around and chalk he goes to where the table was and looks lost for a few seconds before moving onto something else.

So anyway, I came across this stuff called Cloud Dough. Simply you mix 8 parts flour with 1 part baby oil, until it is like the consistency of breadcrumbs. What you are left with is flour that is quite silky and resembles wet sand, in that you can press it together and it stays a bit firm.

When Granny came around the other day I decided to give it a go with him. I had thought it may be ok to use indoors but I am soooo glad we decided to use it in the garden! Thankfully the weather has been a lot warmer the last few days too so he is really enjoying it.

As you can see in the pictures, he loves it!! Yes our garden is a mess and flour now seems to be infiltrating every part of our lives but he is loving it. Having said that if we still had the sand pit I am sure he wouldn’t need this. Makes a change though. Oh and he is very much in a transporting faze, which means he picks things up and then drops them somewhere else! I think when he is a bit older it may work more indoors as he may not be so intent on carrying it around with him!

We’ve also had fun burying toy dolphins etc. so he can find them, and all the usual things sand is great for 🙂

Parcel Tape play and a slightly longer attention span! Age 16 months

Posted by Caroline Elliott

I had to share this random half an hour of playtime we had yesterday!,I had to tape up a parcel to send back and Monkey was intrigued by the parcel tape. He used to be scared by tape, of any kind, he hated the noise of it, so I was a bit surprised by his interest!

Anyway as you can see in the pics, he loved it. Pulling it out to hear the noise, swinging the tape round, scrunching it into balls, and yep stuffing my shoes with tape! Comfy! Cheap and fun way to spend half an hour!

In general Monkey’s attention span has definitely grown and he can play with things for a lot longer which is great! We still try and get out of the house as much as possible but playtime in the house is a lot more fun these days as it lasts longer! Chalk is possibly still his favourite thing and as long as the weather is ok we let him loose in the garden with it. He also loves colouring with crayons, although colouring is limited to the conservatory at the moment to try and avoid crayon marks throughout the house! Let’s see how long that lasts eh? hehe

Monkey is also massively into playing with cars these days too, which we love! Hence buying the toy garage with a big ramp on ebay. He is dead cute pushing cars around the floor and down the ramp it’s brilliant.

His coordination is also so much improved and he is doing really well with his stacking rings and the various puzzles he has. He understands so much more of what we say now too, even though he still says no words himself.

I have been scouring the internet, mainly on Pinterest to be honest, looking for other mummy’s great ideas for playtime. I have a few and will hopefully be sharing them soon if I organise myself enough! 🙂

Containing the mess – finger painting in the bath – 15 months

Posted by Caroline Elliott

We recently moved Monkey out of his highchair and onto a booster seat at the dining table for mealtimes. He is loving sitting at the table and meal times have been a bit better so it was definitely time to make the move. One of the problems with this though is when it comes to messy, creative, activities. While he was sat in his highchair, the mess was basically contained to him and his tray. At the table it gets spread all over the place. Plus he used to sit so comfortably in his high chair but now is such a fidget bum (one of the reasons we made the change to booster seat) and once he’s eaten, he wants to get down. He’s not really happy sitting anywhere for any length of time really!

So what to do? I don’t want to stop doing all the creative, messy things, but my heart flutters when I think what those little hands can do with a load of finger paints in our lovely house! So I have been trying to work out what best to do. Obviously there is outside. We play with his chalk outside, which he loves, and he is learning that it doesn’t get any further into the house than the conservatory. We also play with sand and water etc. outside. But finger paints add a whole other layer of mess don’t they? If I get a bit of sand or water on me while cleaning him, then no big deal, but I don’t really want to get covered in paint. Also, where do I clean him? The outside tap is on the front of the house so it would mean running round the front with him, but let’s face it, that water is pretty darn cold! Do I try and carry him in the house, hands under his arms, dangling him in front of me trying to avoid paint getting on everything?

It is these things that have led to the finger paints staying firmly shut away for a while! Then after getting a comment from Gill last week (I hope you’re reading Gill :)) I had an idea! The bathroom! If I set him up in the bath with the paints then he can make as much mess as he likes and then I can just hose it (and him) down afterwards with the shower! Definitely worth a go,

Note: I do this with homemade paints where the colour is food colouring and so washes off things easily. I can’t recommend doing it with bought paints unless you want to do a tiny patch test somewhere first to see if it comes off!

I set aside some time at home one day to give this a go. Unfortunately though, because the finger paints hadn’t been used in a while they had gone mouldy in the cupboard (yuk). So whilst Monkey ate his snack I quickly whipped up some more. The recipe is here, sooo easy.

Anyway, I have to say it really was a success, as you can see in the photos! He only lasted in there about 15-20 minutes, but that’s about as long as he does anything for, so not too bad. I know it’s a lot of effort to go to, both before and after, but it was definitely a lot of fun. He also hated being cleaned afterwards, but then he never likes to be cleaned so nothing new there.

Most importantly though, it came off the bathroom tiles with no problem. There are some ever so slight colour stains on the grout but nothing that concerns me or hubby too much. I’m sure it would probably come off if I bleached it anyway but you can’t even see it unless you really look. I used a load of old towels for the rest of the bathroom and had to wipe my hands on those a bit but basically the mess was contained! Woohoo! Here is our little artist having fun with his paints in the bath! He ended up a bit blue afterwards but again it’s only food colouring so I’m not too fussed 🙂

Becoming a Stay at Home Mum

Can I really do this?

playtime ideas

More Autumnal Fun and kicking up leaves – 17-18 months

Posting pipe cleaners – 17 months old

Monkey-led play – 17 months old

Aaah back to normality and some muddy autumnal fun

A busy old week and bringing the fun back to bathtime.

Playing with a Pringles tube and much happier mealtimes 16-17 months

Cardboard box playtime and a slightly more independent Monkey – 16 months

Playing with Cloud Dough – 16 months old

Parcel Tape play and a slightly longer attention span! Age 16 months

Containing the mess – finger painting in the bath – 15 months