*there's a method for cleaning hands

Every day Will rubs food in his hair. He mousses with condiments. Last week I had an epiphany - he is doing that to clean off his hands! I know he doesn't like the way leftover food feels on his hands, but I thought the typical toddler thing to do is to wipe them on your clothes. Nope. Will prefers his hair. (This does not explain the time that he picked up a plate covered in leftover ketchup and rubbed it all over his head after his hands were clean, but I stand by that explanation.) He is using his hair as a napkin. 

It gives him a unique look, doesn't it?

*there's his first trip to Cheekwood

Last Sunday afternoon at Cheekwood

 

Every year they have a different outdoor exhibit. 

This year it was trains!

Amazing landscaping and water feature

Peeking at the Ladybug train through a secret window

There were also little models of historic Tennessee buildings all around.

Union Station, Nashville

Thomas coming towards me right before he jumped the track. That got a "Whoa!" out of Will.

Beale Street, Memphis

State Capital Building, Nashville

The Hermitage, Nashville

mini Cheekwood Mansion

Belle Meade Plantation, Nashville

The building behind the stroller is Alex Haley's boyhood home in Henning, but I don't remember what the other one is - something from East TN I think. I mainly wanted a picture of how high those train tracks were. I missed getting a shot of the little Graceland.

Parthenon, Nashville

The bridges were very neat

 

Behind us you can see two little reflecting pools. Between them is a waterfall. I'm describing it because that is the spot where Will sat in the water! It was such a hot day I don't think he even noticed. You can even see him reaching for his water cup in the picture with the stroller. He drank more that day than I think we have ever seen.

*there's a summer Saturday

Will and Daddy getting ready to shop at the Farmer's Market.

Probably checking out a dog walking by...

Then we scarfed down a quick lunch at a downtown restaurant. Eating in public places has to be quick with an active toddler. Once we got home Will made the most of the day by playing in the yard.

Climbing - one of his favorite things to do.

 

Rolling the big ball down the slide

Will's turn

Going down the slide all by himself!

*there's our playing learning creating projects

This post is
a) to make fun of some recent failures and
b) to save some links that I will want to access in the future.

I kept seeing rice as a good sensory activity online and I was familiar with using it for sand tray therapy at work. So I made some colored rice and gave it to Will. He had fun helping me make the rice and did really well with it - sitting and playing for quite a while. The part of rice play that didn't work is that Will eventually started to EAT the rice. And then Katie the dog ATE the rice too. This rice is uncooked and green from food coloring. yuk. Here is where I got the inspiration. Beautiful isn't it? I still plan to do it on a bigger scale like they did one day. In the meantime I will keep bringing out the small box of green rice I've got and will work on keeping it out of his mouth, because unless it spills into a pile of broken glass* it will last a very long time.

That brings me to my other unsuccessful activity - dried beans*. I got a bag of dried black eyed peas and put them in a big glass bowl. It  had a lid so I thought it was perfect for long term storage. Will liked to dig his hands in the peas and hide some of his small toys for finding. After doing this activity only once, I put the bowl up high on a shelf in the laundry room. Just a few hours later I tried to get something off the same shelf and can you believe that bowl of peas fell to the floor and broke!?! I was not about to try to separate peas from glass, especially when they only cost me about $2. So I'm now out one Pyrex bowl with lid (a wedding gift) and a $2 bag of peas. I will do this one again in the future, but I will collect more plastic containers first!

Here is my near future TO DO LIST:
Ice Cube Painting
Playing with Natural Light
Water Beads

TO DO when Will is older:
Giant Bubble Snakes
Hot Colored Rocks - can also use them for coloring
Hovercraft
I Spy Bottles
Bubbles and Light
Snow in the Summer
Street Paint

Things I will probably like more than Will:
Treehouse Play Scene
Puffy Bath Paint
Nature Table

Quick and Easy:
Car Mat
Slide drawing 

Helps with learning letters or numbers:
Squishy Bag
Alphabet and Number Stones
Edible ABCs

These came from several different sites, but I spend the most time on the
Play at Home Moms site at playathomemom3.blogspot.com
(thanks to fellow heart mom Tara for leading me to that one),
The Artful Parent at artfulparent.typepad.com,
and PaintCutPaste at paintcutpaste.com.

Here is our first try with bathtub paint:

 

His favorite part was using the paint on his hands to make bubbly waves.

This will be our next one - Hammering Tees. Since it's 100+ degrees outside we'll be using an indoor alternative. Will LOVES a good round of hammering.

Happy Fourth!

This year we enjoyed another get together with some of my family for the Fourth of July. Will got to play with his cousin Addison who is very close to his age. Getting toddlers to pose for pictures is tough!