Does anyone else's child wake up from nap (or time spent in their room not napping) super whiny and cranky? Both my girls did today and I knew the only thing that could fix that was heading outside.
We headed to the back yard and Sam immediately wanted to pull out the tree blocks again. I grabbed a piece of rope that we had in the garage so that we could try stringing the blocks.
She got right to work but was a bit confused because she thought she could jump rope with it once she got the blocks on. That didn't work out so well.
We (as in me with the girls watching) cut some more, bigger blocks with a hand saw. Daddy had been given this task the day before and got about 20 done but I wanted to show them how he did it so we cut a few more. I realized how covered some of the blocks were in fungus and mushrooms so once we got some additional ones cut I grabbed some sand paper and we cleaned them up a bit.
Avery even got in on the action today and enjoyed knocking over the towers that Sam and I built. Hard to get a picture of that when you are the one making the towers!
We also played with leaves while we were out today. I saw a leaf bracelet activity today and thought I would give it a try. Go here to see the original from Natural Kids.
Sam was not such a fan of wearing the tape and most of our leaves were brown and dried out but she had fun filling up my bracelet!
This was super simple. You just take packing tape and wrap it around your arm sticking side out and then fill it with all kinds of fun stuff. Would be so fun to do on a walk. I was not about to leave the yard today with kids that couldn't stop crying and whining.
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The Nitty Gritty!
I need to sand down the tree blocks some more because Avery really loves chewing on them and I am just not sure what the mushrooms and fungus will do to her. Most of the time when we are outside I don't rush to her to stop her from chewing on things (grass, leaves, sticks) she figures out pretty quick on her own that they don't taste good. But fungus and mushrooms, yeah that I don't want her injesting!
Anybody know of a safe way to treat natural wood toys so they can be preserved and chewed on?
I don't know of a treatment for wood toys but I admire your gumption for creating your own wood blocks!
Both of my kids usually wake up cranky from their naps. I've learned to wake them in a dark room. Then I leave for a few minutes. They usually lie there (even when they were tiny babies) for a few minutes and adjust to being awake. Then I get them up and we have some quiet cuddle time on the couch for as long as they need to adjust. If I have to get them up quickly and take them somewhere, they always remain cranky for the rest of the day.
Posted by: Marilyn (A Lot of Loves) | 10/19/2010 at 12:22 AM
That is SUCH a clever idea for *real* wood blocks! It never crossed my mind to make your own.
Fresh air really can do a lot to change their grumpy moods. :)
Posted by: liz | 10/19/2010 at 02:34 PM