Dollar Store Activities

Thanks to my favorite new website Pinterest, I've found a ton of cute and easy crafts and sensory play activities for Shelby. These are great to break out when she's feeling bored of her current books or toys and the best part is, they only cost a couple of bucks! I found the glitter gel activity on Pinterest and then on my trip to the Dollar Store to get supplies, I brainstomed a couple of other easy activities that can be made with stuff you have lying around and stuff from the Dollar Store.

Yesterday I made:

1. Glitter gel no mess "painting" sensory bag - combine glitter, a bottle of hair gel and a couple drops of food coloring into a gallon ziploc bag. Squeeze out extra air, seal and squish to mix up. Tape the top shut with packing tape. You can tape this bag down to a table and your little one can draw shapes and letters with their finger, sort of like finger paints but with no mess! This squishy, shiny bag was so much fun to play with, even I could not help but smoosh and draw on it every time I walked by!

2. Pom pom color sort - Using acrylic paint, paint each square of your wooden frame a different color. Work with your toddler on sorting the pom poms by color. You can also paint on numbers for older kids. Shelby doesn't totally get color sorting yet, but she does like to put the pom poms in the different cubby holes.

3. Glitter water shaker - Remove the label and fill a recycled water bottle with water and some glitter or confetti. Seal the top. I think you can add glycerin for a slower "snow globe" effect.

Here's my Pinterest Play Ideas board for more inspiration!

Dollar Store Shopping List:

Large bottle of clear hair gel

Glitter variety pack

Wooden sectioned frame (in craft isle)

Acrylic paint

Pom poms

Household items:

Food coloring

Ziploc bags - gallon size

Packing tape

Water bottle

Have you made any sensory play activities and crafts with your toddler? What are your favorites?

Spring is Around the Corner

(as with any picture on this site, click to enlarge)

Athens Weekend

Greetings from Stegeman Coliseum!

Shelby had a great time in Athens this weekend! We went to a basketball game and she LOVED it - there was so much noise, music and stuff to look at. I thought she'd get bored and would want to walk around the concourse but she stayed glued to my lap the entire time, shaking her pom pom and cheering on the Dawgs to an upset victory over Florida in an exciting game. She got to meet her latest obsession - Hairy Dawg - and just as I predicted, she was scared of him up close! She also saw Spike - Georgia's inflatable mascot - and she loved him, too, but only from afar. Our seats were pretty close to the court, so she got to enjoy seeing Hairy and Spike from a distance that she felt comfortable with. But anytime they came walking our way, she would curl up on my lap and act scared for a second like "don't get too close, guys!" It was pretty funny. She also had so much fun playing with her friends Luke and Emma Kate.

Here's a video recap of our weekend, including Shelby crying at Hairy! We showed her this video and now she asks to watch "baby cry" over and over again - I guess she enjoys seeing herself get scared?!

Also, if you've never seen an inflatable mascot, here is a video of Spike that Shelby has asked to watch approximately 900 times since this weekend. I must admit, it's pretty funny in a weird way.

Inside a Toddler's Brain

This has been going around the internet lately and it's given me a good chuckle. I'd have to say it's pretty accurate! (click on the picture to enlarge and read everything.)

23 Months Old

Shelby reads her current favorite book "Hello Hairy Dawg" on the way to school.

Shelby is 23 months old today! I can't believe she will be two years old in just a month. She seems to be turning into more of a little girl every day... those baby days are slowly fading away and it makes me so sad! But it's been so much fun to watch her blossom into a communicative, spirited little girl who interacts with us - I still can hardly believe it when I ask her a question and she knows what I'm saying!

Shelby's Funny Sayings:

• It's adorable when I ask her if she wants to do something that she likes (usually color or read a book) and she responds with an excited "Yeahhhh!" or "Ummm hmmmmm" or if I ask her if she wants to eat and she says "Yummmmm."
• The other day on the way home from school, she started saying "Mama, red" and pointing to her shirt - she was telling me I had a red shirt on! Amazing!
• She is also learning more and more play songs, her current favorite being "If You're Happy and You Know It." She can anticipate the words and motions and does them perfectly - it's so funny when she nods her head and spins around!
• The other day I gave her half a biscuit and she pointed at it and said very seriously "butter." My little southern girl!
• She loves to boss us around - "Mama, sit!" is a favorite command.
• She recently learned the word for pajamas and will often ask for her "jammas" in the evening, sometimes asking to put them on before dinner or bathtime!
• In the evenings, she will point to a window and say "dark outside" - she knows when it's bedtime! I don't know how we will explain bedtime during the summer when it doesn't get dark until 8:30!
• We are going to Athens this weekend for a basketball game and we told her she was going to see her friends Luke and Emma Kate. We showed her some pictures of them from Facebook and now she's going around saying "Luke!" and "Emma Kate!" excitedly. We hope we get to see her new favorite friend Hairy Dawg at the game, although she will probably be terrified of him in person - he's quite tall and intimidating. Hopefully she will just see him from afar.

President's Day

Shelby and I both had the day off for President's Day today so we enjoyed some mommy-daughter playtime with friends, a messy but delicious Italian lunch at Bambinell's (she loves dipping penne pasta in tomato sauce and eating it like a French fry) and exploring a new park. The toddler playground at Mason Mill Park in Decatur is amazing! She loved it! And I am really enjoying these occasional stay-at-home mom days, although I can see how it can be a challenge to fill every day with activities.

She also finally started clearly saying her name this week! Hooray! Before, she would always call herself either "She She" or "Baby" and now she's finally saying "Shelby!"

Bathing Beauty

Someone is ready for the pool to open this spring!!

Donald Duck, Names and More Words

Today, Shelby kept repeating "do-na-du" over and over again and I could not understand what she was saying. I thought she was saying "dinosaur" but her word for that sounds slightly different, more like "ni-no-saw" so I was a little confused. (It's amazing how adept you can become at understanding toddler mumblings!) I finally realized she was saying "Donald Duck!" I promise we don't park her in front of cartoons for hours a day, but it really is amazing how she can watch a short video once or twice and pick up new words. She already knows Mickey and Minnie from some books we have and a stuffed Minnie that Mimi brought her from a trip to Disney World. (She loves to say "Minnie bow" and point to her bow). I am constantly amazed at how quickly she is picking up new words - and remembering them!

Unfortunately, she got bit at school today and when we asked "who bit you?" she said a name and the word bite, but we could not understand who's name she was saying. I was amazed that she knew what we were asking and could answer - and each time we asked, her answer was the same! She knows and repeats a lot of her classmate's names, and her teacher's name, but we couldn't decipher this one. This is not the first time she has been bitten and even though we feel terrible, I am sure the parents of the biter feels much worse than we do! One of her other classmates (not the biter) gave Shelby a Valentine card with her photo on it and she loves carrying it around the house and pointing out her classmate's name and picture. And everyday when we leave school, she calls out "bye bye Marci" to her teacher. It's so cute and I think it's so neat that she is soaking up names, faces and words at such a rapid pace.

Mini Mallrat

Here's a cute picture that Scott's mom took of little miss sassypants at the mall. Check out her cute boots (a gift from Scott's mom aka "Mimi"), her mini purse (another Mimi present) and her drink! She's such a sassy little shopper! She loves for Mimi to come over and spoil her while we sneak off to a movie or lunch. I foresee a lot more shopping trips in her future!

Kisses!

I hope your Valentine's Day was full of kisses and love!

Happy Valentine's Day

Shelby is sporting her pink today!

After School

Shelby enjoys some chocolate milk after school today. Her hair looks short here, but it's just pulled back. Cute smiley girl!! (I promise I don't leave her on kitchen counters unsupervised!)

Mother-Daughter Day

Scott was shooting a commercial for work all day Saturday so Shelby and I got to spend the entire day together by ourselves! It was a rare treat, since it seems like the only other time I get to play stay-at-home mom is on days when she's sick and not feeling up to much. At first, I was a little nervous about keeping her entertained indoors all day. The weather report for Saturday was COLD and there wasn't much we could do. But she was SO FUN all day!

We started the morning watching some cartoons in bed on the iPad and she even sat there and watched cartoons patiently while I showered and got dressed. We watched some old Mickey Mouse cartoons and she loved them! She also has a couple of favorite kid songs she likes to watch/listen to and can even repeat a few phrases from Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Old McDonald and Itsy Bitsy Spider.

Then, we went to Chick Fil A for breakfast and to play on the indoor playground. She was such a good girl and sat on her chair and ate half a biscuit like a big girl! After that, we went to the grocery store and came back home for lunch and a nap. She napped for nearly three hours and I felt SO productive! I cleaned, dusted, mopped the kitchen and even started a meal in the crock pot! After her nap, she was content to just play inside and entertain herself. She's really into feeding her baby, as you can see above! We colored, did puzzles and played "nap" (I lay on the floor and pretend to go to sleep and she rubs my back - adorable!) until Scott got home and then we went out to dinner at Local 7. It was a great day and I definitely liked being a stay-at-home mom for a day!

Another Sleeping Picture

She is just too cute!

Sweet Sleeping Girl

I took this picture of Shelby sleeping the other night using the flash on my camera phone in her dark room - risky, I know! But she did not budge. She always looks so sweet and adorable when she's sleeping and I wanted to have a picture to remember it. She is very into lovies and stuffed animals right now, hence the giant pile of stuff in her crib. It's so cute to hear her wake up in the morning and talk to her animals. And just look at all that crazy hair!

Funny Things

Here are a few funny things that Shelby has been doing lately:

• She is really into choosing her own clothing and shoes. This morning, she went to school in a shirt with a cat on it, purple pants and boots! She has a couple of shirts with cats on them and they are definitely her favorite. She even cried one morning when the one she wanted to wear was dirty and she couldn't wear it! We keep her shoes in a basket by the door and she is great about choosing shoes - and picking out a matched pair!
• She also likes to choose her own food and snacks. Of course, we try to always give her choices within reason, but she loves asking for "yo yo" (yogurt), apple sauce, bar (cereal bar), berries, and we sometimes give her her favorite - mini marshmallows! She is getting so good at eating with utensils - especially spoon food like apple sauce or yogurt. She hardly spills anything. She also has started drinking from an open cup, but not all the time. She calls food "nummies."
• We are constantly surprised at how many songs she knows and remembers. She will sing them at the most random times. This weekend, she began singing "E-I-E-I-O" from Old McDonald VERY LOUDLY in the middle of a store. She also sang, in the most clear pronunciation ever, the words "up above" from Twinkle Twinke Little Star the other night at dinner. She also sings a few letters from ABCs but sometimes they are just made up sounds and not real letters, but her tune is spot on!
• Ever since we got our season ticket package in the mail and she looked through the colorful brochure full of Georgia pictures, she has been obsessed with Hairy Dawg and Uga. She wakes up in the morning asking for her book about Hairy Dawg, asks to watch Uga videos on Youtube and is constantly asking ME to wear my "dog dog back" shirt - an old Georgia shirt with a cartoon of Hairy Dawg on the back. Yes, she is not only bossy about her fashion, she also likes to dictate what I wear, too! I usually change into a T-shirt and yoga pants after work and she always asks me to wear a "dog dog back" shirt or a shirt I have that has a picture of a cat on it.
• Scott has a small remote control helicopter and she LOVES for him to fly them around the den. Shelby and I sit on the couch while he flies it and we have to act scared and cuddle when it flies near us. She thinks it's so funny!

Shelby's Funny Faces

The most fun thing about our new iPhones is that the camera can be flipped around so that Shelby can see herself on the screen as we take a picture or a video. She thinks it's so funny and loves to ham it up and make faces! Yesterday, she came home from school with these adorable pigtails and she was having so much fun shaking them around and shaking her head!

Mama's Shoes

Today in mom shoes, Shelby tries my running shoes on to do her best clown shoe impression.