We usually don't do too many planned activities around the house. I'm not the kind of mom with tons of brilliant ideas that make my child a genius while we have fun. I do normal things... you know, read books, play with his toys with him....have them play while I clean. =) The thing we do most though is play pretend. Caleb LOVES it. So some days I may wake up as Kanga (he is roo and asks to go in my pouch...), turn into Mrs. Aspargus (he's usually junior), maybe I'll be Tigger or Pooh for a while.... and sometimes I'll even be Uncle Alan. A few weeks ago, I decided to be a "good" mom and try and do something we've never done before in the Kappers' house..... PLAYDOH! Of course I had to make it since I'm a cheapskate and avoid going to the store with both kids at all costs (if I have them both in the cart WHERE do I put the food??). I have a Vitamix as I've mentioned before, and in the recipe book that came with it, there is a playdoh recipe. I figured I couldn't go wrong with that, so I used it!
I made four different colors and even put them into bowls that MATCHED. I took a picture because I thought it was so fantastic. I felt pretty cool at this point.
I put a bowl down on the table (see below) put some flour down, and was ready to knead it!
Unfortunately, the playdoh was sticky. Like... I couldn't get it off my hand sticky. Like... I got playdoh all over my phone trying to take a picture sticky....
It was hard to hold the bag of flour with my hands full of sticky mess. Here is the flour bag. It still looks like that in my pantry. And, that was with me dumping it out with my elbows. Neat.
It was a huge mess. Finally, after messing with it FOREVER, (and getting better with each color...) I was able to get it off my hands and into something that resembled playdoh....
Here is Caleb playing with it.
He acted like he really liked it. BUT, for the most part he was just sitting there staring at it sucking his thumb. .... I kept saying, "Should we get down and do something else?" And he said "No, I want to play with playdoh" He just wanted ME to build things with it.
But... I didn't make playdoh so that I could play with it. (I feel like I've heard my mom say those words before in other situations....)
Also notice his hair? I totally cut it. I've received a lot of flak for it... but it WAS my first time cutting HIS hair. It's a little funky in front... and it seems to be growing out a little weird. Ben suggests I seek professional help.... not for me... for Caleb's hair. He wanted me to leave it at "professional help", but I'm too smart for that.
That's what I get for trying to be a cool mom. Note: Buy the playdoh next time. (or get a better recipe... or have someone else make it with me...)
Next topic...
In case you're wondering how potty training is going... #1 is going well, #2 is not going well at all. So, any tips are welcome.
My kids were sick a couple weeks ago, and I took the opportunity of staying in the house to clean out my basement! YES, YOU DO SEE LABELS! I'm so excited!
Grace sat in that swing some while I cleaned. =) I had a box of toys that I set aside that were either just to take a break from or not age appropriate anymore. Caleb got a hold of those and LOVED playing in the basement. He started requesting "Can I go down to the basement?"
Our Guest suite. ;)
If you could see it before, you'd be amazed. =) Sorry, no picture.
Finally I will leave you with a sideways video. I'm not sure how to flip it?? (if you know how, feel free to let me know....) Every morning at breakfast we read the Proverb of the day, work on a memory verse (currently Psalm 119:9-16) and then we sing a song. I try to pick songs that we might sing in church- or just hymns that I think are beautiful. A few weeks back we were going to be singing Oh for a thousand tongues to sing in church, so I taught him that one. That's what he picked to sing after breakfast, but this time had "Grace" singing instead. Caleb often speaks for Grace in an extremely high pitched voice. Yesterday he decided to SING for Grace in that high pitched voice.... Of course, when I pulled out the camera, he stopped doing it. We had to egg him on a bit, which is why Ben is saying "that doesn't sound like Grace" He turns into a broken record partway through too-- not sure what that was about???
I laugh so hard when I listen to this. I think he'll be a soprano for sure.
-Melanie
