One Year On. A mother's journey

 

I'm heavily pregnant, why won't you come out?

I'm desperate to hear your first scream and shout.

We're ready to be parents, come out and you'll see.

We're ready to meet our beautiful baby.

You're finally here, it doesn't feel real

All these emotions I'm starting to feel.

I've known you a moment, yet I'd die for you now

I feel I have known you forever somehow.

I'm exhausted, so tired, why won't you sleep?

Is your sole purpose in life to cause me to weep?

I'm a terrible mother, I have no clue what you need,

My go to solution is to feed, feed and feed!

My baby, you smiled. My heart could just melt.

Such a feeling of joy, I have never before felt.

You looked at me happily, such a pure look of joy,

That moment you saved me, my beautiful boy.

Daddy has a new job and he has to live away.

It is the best decision, yet I wish he could stay.

It's just the two of us now, during the week, you and I.

Until Friday of course, I can't wait, I won't lie.

You're finally sleeping, and eating too,

It was just about time (between me and you.)

Your Great Grandad passed, it's been a sad time,

Yet your laughter is a tonic that lessens the pain.

Buddy, you're sitting, you can roll over too.

You babble all day and love peek a boo.

You're a happy little boy, healthy and strong.

Surely we can't have gone too far wrong?

Ugh, spoke too soon, dude why won't you sleep?

You had it all sorted, the same time last week.

Do we have to do sleep training, do you have flu?

Buddy, what's happening? What do I do?

Thank heavens you're sleeping and eating well, phew!

You're crawling and reaching and playing well too.

You brighten each day with your beautiful smile,

I wish I could freeze frame our time for a while.

Buddy you're standing and attempting to cruise,

You often have falls and easily bruise.

You love the outdoors and you always love play!

Every evening I ask myself "Where went our day?"

Buddy we've started to have sensory fun

Edible chalk, paint and foam are all things we've done.

You love to be covered in messy play goo

We're mess making experts, such a fun thing to do.

Oh you are cheeky, you have a wicked laugh

Whether you're eating or playing or having a bath.

Every day is an adventure, there's fun to discover

My greatest achievement is being your mother.

This month your world opened, yes you are walking

All the time still, you are constantly talking.

Mama, Daddy, Ball, Nanny, Up, Down

Yeah, No and Hiyah, what a joyful sound.

Today is your birthday, a whole year of you!

What do you think Buddy, how did we do?

We haven't been perfect, but is anyone really?

All we can do is guide you, and love you most dearly.

Buddy, you are everything that is amazing and good

You're mischievous, independent, you'd do it all if you could.

You changed us my darling, I'm afraid it is true.

The best thing in our past and our future, is you.

Posted with Blogsy

Large Edible Water Beads

After having fun with our Edible miniature Water Beads we pulled out our other new experiment!

This idea was suggested to me by the lovely Multicraftingmummy via twitter. I was quite excited about it and ordered the ingredients as soon as possible!

I decided to do this one as an under the sea theme.

Recipe

This play uses large tapioca pearls. You can order these online on Ebay or Amazon. Prices vary so shop around.

You can buy tapioca pearls in a quick cook variety. I thought the ones I had ordered were quick cook, but soon realised that they weren't (two hours of boiling later.)

I got quite frustrated making this as the instructions on the packaging were vague - boil until transparent. A quick Google told me to take the pearls off the heat when they became gelatinous, cover them and leave them for 5-10 minutes. This solved it for me and they were ready to use.

I used half a pack of pearls and added some blue food colouring to the water to create an Under the Sea Theme.

I made this the night before play and stored it in the fridge. In the morning it was almost solid! I boiled the kettle and poured a thin layer of boiling water over the beads, left it for a minute and then stirred them. They were as good as new after this! Please leave to cool before allowing your little one to play with them. Burnt fingers are nobodies friend.

Play Time!

These beads look like baked beans to me! However they feel really squishy and gloopy when you run your hands through them. The individual beads feel amazing, almost like a super thick gloppy contact lens. You have to try them!

We pulled this out when Buddy began to get bored with the Edible miniature Water Beads. This play piqued his interest once again and he got stuck straight in!

Buddy had a tentative feel before reaching for the toys.

He enjoyed reacquainting himself with his bath toys for a while, before becoming intrigued by the lovely blue goo. He had a quick taste test (only one this time, this is progress!) before getting his hand right in there.

After a good rummage, Buddy decided to have a dig with his bucket and spade again. He tried really hard to get the beads into the bucket but he's not quite there yet!

Auntie Lulu could contain herself no more by this point and had to join in with the squidging and squishing. Buddy decided to join in!

Once he had decided he liked the feel of the water beads, Buddy couldn't get enough of them!

I love the concentration on his face in this picture. He was so engrossed in the task at hand and was intrigued by the lovely, goopy beads.

This was such a fun play. The texture of these beads differed a lot from the miniature edible beads, but they were just as fun!

Skills we used

Mummy's patience making them

Fine motor skills - picking up objects and individual beads. Touching and squeezing beads,

Gross motor skills - moving around the tray. Standing, squatting and sitting.

Problem solving - he might not have managed scooping into the bucket with the spade but he certainly got some good practice!

Exploring through play - it's a given, but worth mentioning every time in my opinion!

Please be aware

These beads are sticky. No actually these beads are super sticky. Please do not do what we did, if you play with these on a towel you will spend 3+ hours picking blue gelatinous goop out of your towel or you will give up like I did and throw it away. Yes this is wasteful but I was concerned about the pearls clogging up my washing machine!

Next time we play with this we will play on a plastic mat!

This play does have food colouring in it. I use natural food colouring and have never had a problem with staining, however this is totally dependant on the colouring and washing detergent you choose to use. Please exercise caution and play in messy clothes.

So, if you decide to give this a try, please come back and let me know how it went. Comments make me smile.

Posted with Blogsy

Edible miniature Water Beads

 

If I could sum up today in one word, that word would be MESSY, which is one of our favourite words around here!

I have wanted to try edible water bead play for some time after feeling thoroughly inspired after reading this post by Asia at Fun at Home with Kids.

Safe Edible Non-Chokable Mini Water Beads

I finally got around to ordering the ingredients at the weekend and I was more excited than a kid on Christmas Day when they arrived yesterday.

These miniature water beads are made from Basil seeds, sometimes referred to as Tukmaria seeds or Sabja seeds.

I used these Basil seeds, ordered from Amazon uk.

Amazon UK - Basil Seeds

You can buy these online in numerous places (just google) or you could pick them up for less at health food stores.

Recipe

One and a half cups of water - 375ml

2 tablespoons of Basil seeds - 30ml

Natural food colouring

Simply throw all of the ingredients together and leave to soak for five-ten minutes. You may need to stir it a couple of times. I repeated the recipe six times to make a lovely rainbow.

Play Time

Auntie Lulu came to play today and we set the play up outside, knowing it was going to get very messy! As Buddy isn't walking consistently yet I decided to dress him in a sleep suit so that he didn't hurt his knees.

Buddy touched the beads tentatively a few times before getting stuck in!

Buddy enjoyed swirling his hands through the beads, making beautiful patterns and feeling the beads.

After a while we gave Buddy his bucket and spade to play with. He had fun scooping with his spade and tried to fill his bucket up with beads.

These beads feel fantastic. Somewhere between tomato seeds and frogspawn. They move as a fluid gel and cling together, yet you can feel an underlying cellular texture. They are so squishable and touchable, Auntie Lulu and I had to have a little prod too!

Auntie Lulu then scooped some beads up in her hands. After a while Buddy decided to scoop them from Lulu's hands into the bucket.

He then had fun playing with the beads in the bucket, until he lost his balance and we had a little spillage.

Fortunately, Buddy felt it was just as fun to play with the beads on the floor!

This play was so much fun! I've actually saved the beads to have another go tomorrow.

Messiness Factor

This is a VERY messy play. These beads do cling to clothes and hands. I even found one between my toes an hour later.

I always use natural food colouring in our messy plays and have never had a problem getting the colours out of clothing, but please be aware that there is a risk of staining with this play dependant of course on the washing detergent you use and the food colouring you choose to use.

Fun Factor

This was just brilliant. Buddy loved it, Auntie Lulu loved it and I loved it. We had a good forty minutes of play with this before moving on too our next water bead activity (post coming soon!)

Build on it

I read an amazing blog post this week by Multicraftingmummy where she created a giant ice discovery block for her children to explore (with secret treasures hidden inside, how fun!) You can find the play at the link below.

Giant Ice Discovery Block - Multicraftingmummy

When we were playing with the beads earlier, I couldn't help thinking how amazing it would be to freeze a block of them with hidden treasures inside!

So give it a go folks, have fun, make some mess and come back and tell me all about it!

Posted with Blogsy

No Mess Paint!

 

I was having a browse on Pinterest the other day and stumbled upon this little gem from Mummy Musings and Mayhem.

You can find the original post here No Mess Paint Fun

I always welcome a good, mess free distraction so I had to have a go right away.

What you need

Paint

Ziplock bag

Some strong tape

I used some left over edible paint I had in the fridge. If you need a quick paint recipe for this activity you can find it here.

Baby Safe Edible Paint

Make it

Squirt as much paint as you want into the bag. Zip it up and tape it down. Done!

If you are feeling creative you can include different colours, glitter or some small objects to make a brilliant sensory paint bag.

Play Time

I decided to stick ours to the coffee table. I would have loved to have it against a window so that Buddy could see through it as he moved the paint. Unfortunately he has no concept of danger or height yet and would think nothing of head diving from the windowsill with no warning, so I opted for the safe option this time!

Buddy enjoyed having a good prod and poke.

He practised slapping the bag and was thrilled with the results!

Buddy went in for the mandatory taste test, I love the smile on his face in the second picture.

This was a brilliantly simple activity with hardly any preparation and absolutely no mess.

We have left it set up on the coffee table for the past few days and Buddy just keeps going back to it. I'm thinking of making a patchwork of colours all around the edges for him to play with!

This is definitely one I would recommend trying folks!

Posted with Blogsy