They said....

They said it would only get better. Who are they? Random people and more often men who where talking to my husband as he strolled around wearing our baby or pushing the stroller. I didn't really believe it at the time or rather couldn't. I LOVED the baby stage, loved it so much I could not imagine it got much better. I thought they were just trying to make baby-daddy feel better about this little bundle that was not as attached to him yet. Well  fast forward one year and a bit  and  it so has gotten better and it just keeps getting better for our little family.


Just the other night as baby-daddy and I were getting in bed baby T stirred (we have a family bedroom and Taya sleeps next to me in her crib which we have as a sidecar). She must have seen her dad as all of a sudden she started to say "daddy? daddy!". I replied with "shh yes daddy is coming to bed, back to sleep" as baby-daddy creeped to the other side of the room to try and sneak into bed. Well that was not good enough for baby T she stood up and in a mater of fact tone said "HI Daddy!" then plopped back down to lie next to me. Baby-daddy could not help it and began to laugh, so did I and then Baby T started to. We laughed for five minutes and then as it got quiet again baby T fell asleep :)  I wouldn't give this up for the world!


So yeah unbelievably it gets even better and more rewarding. If we won the lottery I swear I would have a very big family, maybe we should buy a ticket! 

It's cold, go play outside.

It is still cold were we live and I mean windy and wet kind of cold. In the last few weeks we have had snow, which I love though this last snowy rain - yuck, cold windy rain, which I hate. When we get a day that is not too rainy I insist we go outside.  As my lovely mother in-law says "your not made of cheese" and that we are not so out we go! 

Baby T in her full rain suite dubbed the muddy-buddy,these are so great! Here she is exploring some crabs we found at the beach but she would be happy to just examine the rocks and sand for hours if we let her... hmm maybe we should, though I might get board after an hour. 

Baby T most always enjoys it outside regardless of weather even if it seems miserably cold. The only negative would be that she won't keep gloves or a hat on but I don't blame her it gets in the way of her exploring. Maybe to some I should be a better parent and put those gloves on and slap no that hat repeatedly, meh maybe.


I would love to have a set up where she has her naps outside. Might sound crazy but there is one daycare in my area that has an out door nap area so kids do sleep outside in an undercover area. My cousin's son slept outside in his old style pram surrounded by snow, he was in a snow suite and covered with a feather duvet, had the best naps and I was jealous.To me this sounds wonderful!  

on a little hike exploring a creek, logs, leaves, birds so much to see and do! 

There have been many studies which sate that children are spending less and less time outside. Does being charted around in a stroller complete with rain shield count as outdoor time? I think this is a good question as more and more families push kids around whilst someone is jogging behind them or pull them around while someone is biking in front. Ironically the adult is getting all the exertion, the wind through their hair but were does this leave the kids? This is not to say that afterwards a family does not spend an hour running around after their kids in the park but it does make me wonder. What do kids need from outdoor play?

"As all children frequently experience anxiety, disappointment, and even anger, a vigorous outdoor play activity can help relieve the child’s boredom or stress, and satisfy the child’s natural urge for adventure" CLEMENTS, R. (2004). An Investigation of the Status of Outdoor Play. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood , 5 (1), 68-80.

And what learning or development occurs through outdoor play? 

"Natural experiences such as collecting leaves, throwing stones in a pond, jumping over small brush or logs, building sandcastles, collecting sticks or nuts from the ground, or creating hiding spaces challenge the child’s imagination and reasoning abilities." CLEMENTS, R. (2004). An Investigation of the Status of Outdoor Play. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood , 5 (1), 68-80.

For me the best par of physical exertion and fresh air is that we all get good naps and night time sleeps in this house -score! 

Here is a little video of our puddle play. I can't stand my voice in this and it was initially made for Baby T 's dad to give him a snippet of what we did that day... so please forgive the whinny voice and my ridiculous directions for Baby T to reenact her dancing.  

This and that

Thought I would write a quick post with some photos which shows the current play going on in our house. 


The other day I myself felt a bit board and I am sure Baby T was not board, she always finds something to do and things figure out in her growing world. Anyway I decided to set out a provocation for her to see what she  would do with it. This is what we did : 

I had acquired this great plexiglass tube from a beloved open ended art store in my area, I have had it for years knowing it would be fun with kids and it soooo it! So I pulled out the tube, gathered all the balls we have and put them in a basket underneath. Voila an hour of fun! Not everyone is going to find a tub like this but you could easily use a ramp. I have made them out of cardboard before and at the preschool I taught at we used a pice or baseboard or moulding from the hardware store. 

We ended up switching the balls for our pom poms and then used our blocks too! 

Aren't pom poms beautiful! 

I caught Baby T trying on a hat whilst looking at herself in the mirror so decided to put all her hats (man she has a lot of hats!) in  a basket by the mirror.

She spent a fair amount of time the first day trying on all the different hats and a hair band as well. She goes everyday or second day and tries on the hats. I love watching her. 

Her skill at putting on hats has improved a ton and watching her figure out the mirror and using her reflection to help her has been priceless! She has one hat that has ears, I called it her bear hat and she growls every time she wears it - cuteness! Will try to get a photo of the bear soon. 

Taking a breath and letting the moment happen

The moments I love in teaching and in parenting are those moments were I force myself to bit my lip sit back and watch what happens. These little snippets of time are magical to me and I marvel in the learning that happens without any intervention.  

Baby T trying to figure out the clasp. She was struggling, I let her, it that's part of learning. There needs to be that dis-equilibrium sometimes. 

All to often as adults we narrate "what do you think would happen if.......?" and intervene "why don't we try it like this..?" It's not that narrating or intervening are incorrect when interacting with children but perhaps there is a time and place for both. Maybe we need to do less interrupting?  It's picking the moments to either sit back and observe or get in there that can make the difference to how those moments play out.


To put this into perspective, have you ever tried to learn something and another peer who already has that knowledge takes over to 'show' you or 'tell' you when you really wanted figure it out for yourself? Now thinking of that experience when do you absorb and remember what you learned more when you were told or shown OR when you tried or did it yourself? It might not be an all or nothing approach there is a time for both ways and some learn better with more involvement or less. Sometimes with children our great intention to be part of their learning actually detracts of what they were actually doing, sometimes in our haste we don't see or can't see were they were going with their own learning an we hijack their moment of discovery. 

Baby T discovered that books can stick of the wall at bath time. This was the first thing she did with them so rather then correct her and say 'there books you can read them!' we watched her satisfied face at what she accomplished. 

It is so easy to correct and stop a child from their exploration with a comment like "this is how you do it" then showing them the specific way to do something. This interaction puts a stop to what they were doing and the possibility of you both discovering something new. 

I didn't see this as it happened but when I saw it I thought it was brilliant! The origonal puzzel peices had been set the the left and the lacing block set had been moved over to the puzzel board... but of course! Holes are holes why not try this version out. 

When you do sit back, still engaged but as an observer, amazing things happen. Things you never would have thought of doing yourself. Perhaps it is because we have already learned so much as adults, maybe it's because we have gone to school were we have learnt the 'right way' to do something, to complete tasks certain ways, maybe we have forgotten to think out of the box? In these moments children teach us and that is an amazing thing. They aren't programmed to follow the 'rules' yet. They may teach us how competent they actually are all on their own without our help no less! They may teach us a new way to look at something but best of all by us sitting back we are teaching them how to learn on their own and to love learning. 

Open Ended Toys

Open ended toys... say what, toys that open? Ok so this is a common term used by teachers, particularly preschool teachers but it should be a common term to everyone involved in play.  These are not toys that open, well not literally open anyway but toys that open ones brain, imagination and creativity. Stay with me folks this is important! 

Open ended toys = toys that can be anything. Easy right?? Hmm well let me  give you some examples: rocks, sticks, blocks, jewels (one of my faves - these are the glass beads used for flower vases), scarves. With a little imagination all these items can be tons of different things. Neat hey?! 

This was our shelf of open ended recycled items at the preschool I worked in. Mainly used for art and dramatic play set ups. The children often would help themselves and pretend the items where whatever they needed them to be - money, binoculars etc.

A set up that could be whatever you wanted it to be. 

So what toys do toys that are not open ended look like? For Baby T's age group it is often the toys that have specific functions sometimes accompanied by lights and sound. The ones that you push buttons and things happen. So what if you push the red button and it says red in four different languages, it does not really engage the child beyond that. Others have a link to media and characters like Elmo - Elmo will always be Elmo it least once a child knows who Elmo is. As strange as it sounds Elmo has rules. Rules?? Well yes he is a defined character and try telling child who knows Elmo then tell them his name is Greg you will be met with 'no ELMO, ELMO, ELMO". 

push a button something happens - nothing wrong with it but it's not open ended

For older children batman as lovely as he is he is not super open ended. Sure you can make up a million stories about him but there are rules about batman and these rules are often pretty strict when it comes to kids. Let me give you a few examples of batman rules: he is a man, he is strong, he is a 'good guy', he is fast, he always wins.... you see what I mean. Having said that as a parent you can help create a more open ended Batman play by getting involved with your kids play and breaking some of the 'rules' but often kids get a little upset when you 'break' the rules and they correct you. 

So what is so great about toys that are open ended? For one they foster creativity. You have to come up with all the idea of what you are going to do with them, are their going to be rules, what are they etc. For the children who are playing together this requires dialog, communication often negotiation and other social interactions to explain what the items are and what you want to play. In the preschool I taught in there was never  your typical 'toy food' in the dramatic play area, it was a mix of random things. The purpose in this was so children had to imagine what they were going to turn these items into (eggs, berries, a sandwich or perhaps it was not a kitchen and it was gold?) and even better they had to communicate this to their peers and have a dialog.  I thought this was genius when my colleagues explained it to me and it was always funny to watch the expression of those who visited our school when they looked in our dramatic play corner filled with random things like plastic lids, bowls, pine cones etc. 

Open ended toys are timeless, by this I mean you can play with them infinitely through childhood or beyond and they will always be interesting as they can be a zillion different things. So as a mom who lives in a small apartment, needs to work on a budget and who would prefer to have a few quality toys that can do a lot -this is were it's at!  

There is nothing wrong with toys that are not open ended (hmm there might be ethical issues with some of them actually but they won't harm you! - I might get back to that another time, another blog post) but there is so much that is wonderful with toys that are open ended. I personally feel children lack open ended toys as they are not as flashy or gimmicky and often are not even viewed as toys. 

I am working on a post about our favourite toys to hopefully bring to you soon!