Election Day is Tomorrow!!!

I'm sorry I haven't posted recently. I thought I had been posting on my phone, but alas, the phone wasn't actually posting anything. I hope I can get everything caught up.

Don't forget that election day is tomorrow. I've been working hard trying to get Daphne all ready for the election. Bright and early we are going to vote, then we are coming home to get things ready for our own election. You heard right, my two year old is hosting her own election. You and your little one can host your own election too!!!

So...who is running? Well, if you want to know...

I even made little "stickers" to print off. I don't have a way to make them sticky other than taping them on the kids...but that works just as well, I think.

I also made an election book in Microsoft Word. This website won't let me upload documents so I had to cut and paste it into paint for you.

To make the book print it off on a single sheet of paper. (I used the margins 0.5 on top and bottom and 0.3 on the sides in Word.) Fold it in half length wise and unfold. Then fold in half width wide and fold it in half again. Unfold the second fold. You will then cut along the line that is dotted in the image below. (I'm sorry it sounds confusing.) Once you have cut it on the dotted line, unfold it, fold it length wise again and fold the book so that the pages are in order.

I also took a shoe box and made a ballot box out of it. Daphne's friends will be coming over tomorrow to have a cookie, lemonade, and to vote for their favorite character.

Painting pumpkins...and us

Happy late Halloween!  I hope everyone had a safe and wonderful holiday.  We took Daphne to Chuck E Cheese since she is so little.  It was the best idea ever.  There were five other children there so she had free "run" of the place.  (walking really with us a few feet behind her, but we didn't have to hold her hand the entire time like usually because that place tends to be extremely crowded and she's extremely short)

 

Now I'm all about Daphne exploring and expect to have to put her in the bath as soon as she's finished painting because she has managed to get it on her in the process of painting.  This time she had to have a bath because of my other child...ooops...I mean my husband.  He painted all over here.  (lol...just wait for the last picture.)

 

The point was to allow Daphne a chance to make a jack o lantern like mommy did.  (I carved one.)  For some unknown reason, lol, I don't trust my two year old with a knife yet so we compromised with acrylic paint.  She had a blast...and so did Daddy.

 

We usually use finger paints so acrylics were new for Daphne.  She had fun painting herself (and some on Daddy) but she didn't like the paint when it started to dry.  Our activities ended when the paint started to dry because she started complaining it was "sticky."  She doesn't like things that are sticky on her unless it's a sticker, tape, etc.  If it's food or something along those lines, she can't stand to have it on her.  She was whisked off to the tub for a bath.  Then, the tub got a bath.

How are you feeling today?

While Daphne was taking a nap I had an idea.  We were at the store the other day when she heard a baby crying.  With a serious look on her face she looked at me and said, "Mommy, baby sad."  We talked about why the baby might be sad and what makes Daphne sad.  Why not make it a Halloween event?  So, I took the time to find a pumpkin on Google images (thanks Google...lol) and printed them off on paper.  Then I took black construction paper and cut out faces to make an excited pumpkin (She's holding it up to her face right now.  She picked that one because she is excited to spend the night with her Mimi tonight.)...

A sad pumpkin...

An angry pumpkin...

And a happy pumpkin!

I did prompt her on where to stick the eyes, nose and mouth some (but not completely if you can tell on the one she holds to her face and the angry one...lol).  The ones that look closer to perfect I laid out on the table ahead of time and took pictures for the blog.  I plan on having them laminated and then using them more than once.  (Maybe right before a temper tantrum hits to help her explain why she's upset...or to stop one.)

Genetically Enhanced Turkey Time

Before I decided to be a Play At Home Mom I bought up a bunch of crafts from Oriental Trading that I got on clearance.  I'm rather thankful I did.  They provide fun entertainment without needing to think things through or set things up in advance.  Plus, they come with everything you need to complete the task with the exception of glue.  We still have yet to use real glue though.  We use glue dots.  I have to admit, when I was introduced to these things at the library story time it was love at first sight.  Those things are really really sticky and don't make a mess like real glue!  To get things on the type of clearance I did, you have to buy them practically a year in advance.  (think after holiday sales)  This is suppose to be a turkey.  But, as a two year old, her imagination is grand...this turkey is...shall we say Genetically Enhanced?  I will admit when I first started doing these projects with Daphne I would tell her where to stick things, how to do them, and if she put them in the wrong place, I would try to fix it so it looked like the picture.  Letting go of my perfectionism has been hard, but now I'm ok with it...usually.  Yes, I get genetically enhanced turkeys and other creatures, but I know she did them and she did an amazing job!  She's always so proud of herself when she does something on her own.

I know these aren't the best pictures, I take them with my phone usually.  This is a little jingle bell I put a glue dot on her for.  (It's hard for her to see the glue dot on the clear plastic part so I have to help with that part.)  She kept getting it stuck on her thumbs.  She finally looked at me and said, "Help Mommy.  It sticky."  Of course, I would love to help you!

 

"All done!  Look Mommy!"  She was so proud of her genetically enhanced turkey...and so am I.

YES!!!

Are you a yes Mommy?  It's something I'm trying to get better at.  When she wants to do something I try my best to say yes.  She's two and has a great imagination so when she wants to explore something I try my best, within my health and abilities, to help her grow and learn in the most imaginative way possible.  Besides, it makes a lot things a lot easier in our home.  Being a YES mom has decreased temper tantrums quite a bit.  I'm not talking about "yes, you can jump off the roof," or "yes, you can break Mommy's pretty vase."  But why not say yes to wanting to play in the bath outside of her regular bath time or do an extra craft.  She has access to our craft bins so she can grab something out when she wants to do a craft.  My wonderful husband freaked out the other day because she climbed on the ottoman to turn the living room light on and off.  I turned around and asked what the problem was.  He sputtered out about the climbing and I said, "what's the big deal, it's stationary, not that far up (less than 1 1/2 feet) and she's learning.  Watch."  I proceeded to tell Daphne to turn the light on or off.  Daphne did as I asked and giggled.  She learned not only how to turn the light switch on and off, but she learned cause and effect.  She also learned what it means when the light is on and when the light is off.  Anything can be a learning experience.  Plus, if she's tired, now she can go and turn the lights off and curl up on the couch.  (Sorry, no pictures for this one, but I'm sure there will be pictures later on today!)

Animal Sensory Box

Can't get to the zoo because of the weather?  That's ok!  We made a zoo sensory box.  I need to get a bigger tub to make a decent sensory box but for now the 99 cent shoe box size one will work.  We poured oats in it and put in our animals and snakes.  She had a blast playing in the oats and moving the animals over it.  Sometimes she hid the snake under the oats she she had to dig it out.

You can see the safari hat beside her, but she preferred the koala mask instead.  The mat you see her on is a plastic/vinyl table cloth I got on clearance.  It gives her a designated place to play with her sensory box and once she's done I just gather up the sides and funnel it all back into the box...quick clean up.

Gotta love the dollar tree

This experiment we did was with a crystal growing kit from the Dollar Tree.  We put the cardboard tree together in the base right before bed and let it grow.  (Instructions said it takes 24 hours.)  The next morning we checked on it.  It had grown quite a bit...but not enough.  By that afternoon she was so proud at what she had grown!