DIY Memory Game

Posted on February 25, 2016 by playinghousewi

I wanted to come up with a fun DIY Valentine’s Day gift for Charlotte this year. I searched the Internet high and low and finally came across this Custom Memory Game.

Of course I didn’t want to just order it, so I decided to make my own version using Adobe InDesign.

Instructions:

Open up an 8.5″ x 11″ document
Create (6) 3″ x 3″ photo boxes per page – I used 18 photos total, so I had 3 pages.
Start to fill each photo box with close up photos of family, friends, and pets.
Find a background design that will go on the back of your card. I chose hearts. I snagged the image from Google. My image was too small to spread across the whole backside, so I used the image three times, spread across columns that were slightly larger than the fronts of the card.
Once everything is all set up in InDesign, it’s time to print. My printer isn’t amazing, but it was definitely good enough. I printed the front sides first onto cardstock. Remember, you need to print TWO COPIES of EACH PAGE.
Then, I put the printed-on cardstock back in my printer to print the back side.
Once the printing was complete, I started to cut out my cards using a paper cutter.
Then, I used this corner rounder punch to round all of my edges and give my cards a slightly more “finished” look.
Next, it was time to laminate. Again, we don’t have a fancy laminator, so I just used a standard 5mil thick lamination sleeve to laminate my cards. I was able to fit 12 cards per sheet.
Once everything is laminated and cooled, I cut the cards out and was done!
I ended up buying a little zipper pouch for card storage. I ordered this one (I used the small one with the little heart cut out) from Amazon.

The final result was well worth the effort and tediousness of all that cutting. Charlotte LOVES the cards. She doesn’t understand how to play Memory quite yet, but she matches the cards and loves pointing out all of her friends and family. Definitely a success!

Charlie & Toby

Posted on February 22, 2016 by playinghousewi

The babes and her puppy had quite the time playing this afternoon. They’re really becoming buds 💙

Our Little One is 19 Months!

Posted on February 17, 2016 by playinghousewi

2/16/16

This past month has absolutely flown by, but in terms of our little girl, has also been one of the best. She’s really coming into her own and developing this contagious, happy, silly and fun personality.

Every day (literally), either Mark or I (or both) will come into the room just to tell the other how amazing our little girl is. She’s constantly laughing or exploring with her little perma-smile. Now, don’t get me wrong… she’s still got her sour sass, but her sweet is just so incredibly sweet.

She plays this game where all of a sudden she’ll “target” me and start running towards me for a tackle hug. <MELT> And she gives the best hugs and the best kisses. She just loves.

She’s a total talker now. Even when she doesn’t have the words, she’s babbling non-stop.

Her obsession over babies (real or dolls) has hit an all-time high that has me so deeply excited for our little guy to arrive. She’s even stopped throwing baby as much (baby steps, right?). She sits quietly for long stretches just feeding her baby and rocking her and reading to her. She does the same with her teddy bear. It’s absolutely heart warming to watch.

Our car rides have become pretty silly. We have a lot of dance parties. A lot. Charlotte loves music. She loves a good acoustic song, but you should see her head pop up and her body and arms bounce when a rap song comes on. Oy. Maybe they have Kidz Bop – Rap Edition.

New Words: Honestly, I feel like she surprises me every day and I constantly forget words I’ve heard until she says them…

Nana – any time the dog barks, she whips her head to look at the door and says, “Nana?”
She’s currently working on Toby. I can’t even remember what she says… maybe Bobo or something like that. She’s been working on that one for a couple days now.
Bir – Bird (she loves to point out the birds)
Neiggghhh (Yes, what the horse says. It’s kind of a word… might even count as a foreign language)
Moooo (cow’s language)
Baaaa (sheep)
Boo – I’m not 100%, but I feel like she’s saying blue.
She can point out hearts! She can’t say heart, but she knows the shape!
Shhh – lotion
Liii – Lights
I’m sure there are more new ones, but I’m blanking.

New Tricks:

She “counts” items in books… she uses her little pointer finger to “count out” the items
She counts with her fingers and noises that sound like 1 -2 – 3
She can do the hand motions and dances for SO many nursery rhymes
She can climb up and down steps (assisted)
She loves to talk on the phone
She peels her own banana and orange
She literally LOVES to carry items that are entirely too big for her to carry (little person chairs, push toys, her baby stroller, etc)
She loves to twirl and dance
She can climb onto the couch by herself
She recognizes songs even if they are new versions – this sounds like a weird one, but my point is that she actually listens to the lyrics of songs. In fact, even if it’s a new song she’s never heard, she will pick out words and do a corresponding hand motion or action. IE: Stomp your feet, clap your hands, face (she will point to her face), up and down (she will lift and lower her arms), etc.
SHE STOPPED USING HER PACI!!
She still totally loves to clean up. In fact, she helps put her toys away without throwing a tantrum. She seems to enjoy being helpful (YESS!!!!).
She’s become very responsive to us disciplining through choice, “Would you rather leave that toy on the bench or on the chair? If you don’t decide, momma will choose for you.” – We used to have to take the toy to put it down, but she’s become very responsive and will just put it down herself.

Favorites

Book: Where the Wild Things Are (this makes me so happy because I just love this book)

Toy: Teddy & Baby… and probably her stroller.

Food: Fruit. Lately, bananas. But she loves fruit. And we’ve had a lot of luck with Almond butter and no-sugar, fresh jam.

Size

Clothes: Still 18 months, although the pants are decently short in many brands

Diapers: 4 (I think she’s on her way out of size 4. She keeps leaking through her night diaper.)

Shoes: Oy. I don’t know. She’s wearing a 4.5, but hubs measured her with a print out from Stride Rite last night that said she’s a 6. That just makes no sense to me because she clomps around like she’s in clown shoes in a size 5.

Daily Schedule:

7/8:30: Depending on when she goes to sleep and what her plans for the day are, she wakes up between 7 and 8:30
8/830: Breakfast
10: On non-school days, Charlotte takes a morning rest; although, she has not been napping lately. We are debating getting rid of this.
12: Lunch
1/2: Depending on her mood, Charlotte’s afternoon nap falls somewhere between 1 and 2/230. She will typically sleep anywhere between 2-3.5 hours. Usually it’s around 2.5..
6: Dinner, Bath (on bath days – she bathes every other day and on swim days)
7/8: Charlotte goes to bed most often around 7:30/7:45ish

School Schedule: Charlotte goes to school from 9-12:30 on Thursdays and Fridays (on these days, she eats a snack and lunch at school and does not nap)

DIY Glitter Sensory Bottles

Posted on February 17, 2016 by playinghousewi

With Charlotte in school this year, I thought it was the perfect time to make DIY Glitter Sensory Bottles as Valentines for her class. My intention was to have us do the project together.

Yes, I thought a project that involves glitter glue, GLITTER (excessive amounts), hot water and a hot glue gun would be a great activity for my toddler and I to complete together. I was wrong. In fact, Charlotte’s only real participation was shaking a few of the bottles up for mommy.

So I did what any improvising Momma would do… I put Charlotte to bed and binge watched TV while I finished making TWELVE glitter sensory bottles.

Instructions to Make ONE Bottle

Materials (there is a bit of a trial and error that needs to go into this, but here’s what worked for me):

Plastic Bottles (I used 11.5 oz Fiji water bottles because they’re cute and small and sturdy – NOTE, I didn’t want to waste the water, so I drank about 80 ounces in one night and then saved the rest. I had to pee fiercly all night.)
Glitter glue (1/3-1/2 a X ounce bottle)
Extra fine glitter (I bought an X ounce bottle and could have literally used it for all 12 bottles. You really only need about a teaspoon… in my opinion.)
Hot Water
Glue Gun
Tiny Figurine (I added one tiny animal figurine per bottle because I thought it’d be cute. My toddler and her friends confirmed. The figurine is a fun addition.)
Essential Oil (optional – I used lemon)

Instructions:

Consume water from water bottle.
Peel off the label from the water bottle. This was a HUGE pain in the ass for me. I tried using this Goop Off Soap, soaking in HOT water, a scrubber sponge, vegetable oil, prayer… nothing was working. So, I Googled ways to get label adhesive off of a plastic bottle and found the most effective solution. Simply put a couple drops of essential oil on a paper towel and rub the adhesive off. It was SO much easier and so much faster. Just make sure to use a child-safe essential oil.
Put the glitter glue into the bottle. Then, fill the water bottle to about 2/3 – 3/4 full with HOT tap water. Add the glitter.
Cap it and shake, shake, shake.
At this point, you may need to add glitter or glue (the glitter glue will help slow down the flow) depending on how your bottle is shaking.
Note that at this point, my bottle filled with bubbles. So once I perfected my glitter to glue to water ratio, I waited for the glitter to settle at the bottom and squeezed all the bubbles out.
Then, I filled my bottle up with hot water the rest of the way. Leave enough room to shake the bottle, but honestly, you can go pretty high. My water line was at the little plastic seal from the cap.
Add your figurine, cap it and shake again.
Once you’re in love with your bottle, put some hot glue on the inside of the cap and twist the cap back onto the bottle. Voila! You’re done!

Tips:

At first, my glitter was totally sticking to the sides of the bottle and just not working. Turns out I had used too much glitter and too much glue. I simply poured my mixture out into a paper cup and then added a fraction of the mixture back into my bottle and added hot tap water until my ratio made sense.
Make sure to glue the cap onto the bottle. Otherwise, babe might unscrew the top and either a) make a huge mess or b) drink glitter. Both are terrible.

Toddler-Made DIY Gift Tags

One element that Charlotte helped with was the little gift tags used on each of the bottles.

Facilitate child painting or drawing on cardstock (we used cardstock that was finger… well, hand-painted a few days before)
Use your favorite paper punch (I bought the cutest dang heart punch ever on Amazon. I’m obsessed.) to cut out shapes from the best areas of the artwork.
Write your note!

LATE Weekend in Review

Posted on February 17, 2016 by playinghousewi

2/11/16

I’m all sorts of tardy with my blogging. Remember when I was 25 weeks pregnant? Yeah? Well, don’t expect to see a photo or update because somehow it’s already Thursday. BUT, I will post this very late update from our fun-filled weekend!

This past weekend was busy busy and Charlotte was just perfection. She is in this stage that’s literal magic. She’s still very much a sour patch kid, as my husband and I like to call her (a name we once used to describe me), but her sweet moments are just SO sweet and frequent.

Anyway, Friday we laid low. Our internet was out, so I’m pretty sure we ended up going to bed early that night. On Saturday, I took Charlotte to gymnastics class while Mark installed the new light fixture in the nursery (for baby boy) and waited for the cable guy. When we got home, it was time to pack up right away to meet our friends at our local nature preserve for the Winter Frolic.

It was absolutley adorable. There was a story time, a petting zoo (which was actually VERY creepy… it was reptiles and dead animal furs… C was creeped out by the furs), an indoor farmers market, a horse drawn carriage, and more. We had a lot of fun!

Then, after the frolic, Mark left right away to go have a little boys night and left Charlotte and I to fend for ourselves 🙂 She napped and when she woke up, we went to my parents’ house for dinner. Charlotte had a blast carrying her tiny person chair all around the house and loving on her teddy (who has become even more of an obsession since we ditched the paci).

On Sunday, we painted in the morning and did lots of playing. Then, post-nap, it was superbowl time! We headed to our friends’ house to watch the game and spend time with their little kiddies. The whole thing was great.

Charlotte and their oldest, Ellie, are at a really good age to play together. They’re a year apart and always seem to be on different pages, but on Sunday, they played so well! AND, our friends have a new little one, too! You know how C feels about babies… so you can imagine how excited she was to sit with mommy and baby Ari and rub little Ari’s back. The whole thing was great!

Playing

Look at that hand holding..

Hugs!

I can’t even… so cute.

Dancing ladies

Hugs for Ari

Dancing Queens!

Holding Daddy’s hand

All in all, a total whirlwind of a weekend (that left me feeling like I needed another weekend on Monday) and a total blast!

A Busy Valentine’s Day Weekend

Posted on February 16, 2016 by playinghousewi

My Vday weekend update starts with a mini celebration this past Tuesday. Like the geek that he is, the hubs has spent 12+ hours over the past two(ish) months re-watching (in order) all of the Star Wars movies to refresh his memory before seeing the new movie on the big screen.

Now, if you’ve been to our house, you know that we have a pretty small TV. So, each of these 12 Star Wars Hours were spent curled up about 2 feet from the TV. Anyway, I told Mark I needed him home early so I could workout on Tuesday night, but instead surprised him with tickets to go see Star Wars at the iMax 3D theater. He was very pleased 🙂

On Thursday, Charlie brought in a little gift for her classmates. Because this is a religious school that does not celebrate Valentine’s Day, we kept it nice and general. But of course, I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to give valentines 🙂

I’ll do a full blog on the sensory bottles “we” made for her class, but the gist is that while I had hoped it would be something C and I could do together, it turned into me binge watching “The Fall” and making 12 sensory bottles until around midnight. BUT, the kids loved them!

On Friday, we went to my parents’ house for dinner with my bro! As always, it was great being able to see him and giving C the opportunity to fall even more in love with her quirky uncle.

Saturday morning, C went to gymnastics (where she was a little gymnast rockstar, according to Daddy) and then we went to our favorite spot, the Betty Brinn Children’s Museum, for a Valentine’s Day Ice Cream Social with our friends.

Charlotte loved it! She pointed out every single baby she saw, she peeked into every stroller, ate her first cup of ice cream and about 2.5 cheese sticks, she discovered Mr. Potato Head, did her first exercise class, and played with her best girls, Ellie & Ari.

C’s face when Mommy says, “Say Cheese!”

And when Mommy says, “Say puppy dog!”

That evening, it was time for Marky’s VDay date that he planned for me. Not only was I surprised that he had planned anything (no offense, love), but I was so pleasantly surprised by our activity.

We went to Sur La Table for an Italian cooking class and it was fabulous! We had so much fun. (Thanks to Milly for watching the tiny one and giving us a night out!) We cooked a tasty salad, tenderloin and pasta carbonera… with custard for dessert. We had such a great time cooking and enjoying each other.

Definitely a perfect Valentine’s Day celebration.

On Sunday, the actual Vday, I decorated the bathroom mirror with little hearts (cut out from Charlotte’s beautiful artwork) that listed just some of the ways I love my sweet man.

Then, we were off! It was Baby Day!

First stop: the hospital to visit my beautiful friend who just had a tiny little man on Friday. Will. Oy. How cute, huh?

Then, we played cupid fairy and dropped off some cupcakes at a friend’s house who just recently had a little guy.

With all the driving (probably 2 hours total), I decided to give C her Valentine’s Day gift from Mommy early. I’ll do a separate post, but I made her a memory game with cards featuring our family. She LOVES THEM!

And our next stop: Another baby visit! This time we were off to our friends’ house to meet their newest addition, Mackenzie, and play with their older daughter, Madison. We brought lunch and caught up and watched the girls play. Charlotte is finally at an age where she’s really playing with her friends. It’s a blast to watch.

By the time we got home, it was 2 or 230 (we left the house at 9am). Thankfully, Charlotte napped right away so we could all get a little rest in. Then, Mark’s dad and step mom came over to see the little lady and brought us some dinner on the cold snowy evening. It was great!

All in all, a total whirlwind of fun and love.

Visiting with Nana & ZoZo

Posted on February 2, 2016 by playinghousewi

This weekend we went to Nana’s house for a delish dinner and some play time with Charlie’s favorite “normal size” dog, Zoey.

We had a blast!

Charlotte’s favorite way to communicate with ZoZo.

Smiley love.

Too close and in need of Nana to save her.

Reading Mickey a bedtime story.

Heart Flutters

Posted on January 21, 2016 by playinghousewi

Our little pie was quite the sweetie tonight. After she drank her milk on my lap while we read stories, and daddy took her to brush her teeth while I sat in the kitchen zoning out, I heard a tiny voice calling my name.

“Maaa!? Momma?”

“Yes, Charlie?” (As I get up and walk into view of my little bunny – who is in daddy’s arms)

And to my heart melting surprise, Charlotte has her tiny arms reaching out for me.

“Awww! Are you asking momma to put you to bed?”

She nods with a big smile as I scoop her up.

I don’t know if you guys remember a few weeks ago when she kept demanding daddy (by crying and reaching towards him)? Well, I haven’t forgotten. Not that I haven’t put her to bed pretty consistently since then… But tonight was different.

Tonight was so sweet.

When we got into her room, she said, “mom mom” in a very giddy way and squeezed me for a big hug.

Excuse me while I melt.

Date Night

Posted on January 14, 2016 by playinghousewi

Last night the hubby surprised me with a date night! He had scheduled his sweet momma to watch Charlie and took me out for a delicious Ramen dinner (my recent obsession).

When I arrived home from work, hubby had picked up flowers for Charlie, his mother and for me. So sweet, right?

Charlie loved her flowers. She carried them all over, put them on her baby, put them in the vase, poured them out of the vase, etc. She’s since ripped all of the petals off, but man did she enjoy them… as did I.

My pretty flowers!

Our ramen date did not disappoint. We had this delicious “Bratsticker” app… essentially a brat-stuffed potsticker. Mmmm! It had a mustard/horseradish sauce. YUM! I meant to take a picture, but I devoured it too quickly.

Mark and I had been to this restaurant a couple weeks back, so I was fully prepared to order. I had really loved what Mark ordered last time, but had a few tweaks. And let me tell you, my adjustments were perfection. Tochi Ramen with Tofu & Crispy Pork and a Fried Egg (cooked most of the way through) on top.

Holy cow was it good. In fact, I have leftovers at home and literally have not stopped thinking about it.
For dessert (I know, I know… was dessert necessary? Well, is it ever? Yes. The answer is yes.)… anyway, for dessert, we had Japanese Cheesecake with Carmel Sauce and Toasted Coconut. YUM. That’s all I have to say. So. Much. Yum.

Needless to say, this morning was most definitely a workout day!

Morning Coffee

Posted on January 13, 2016 by playinghousewi

This morning I finally made it to “Morning Coffee” at Charlotte’s preschool. Morning Coffee is an hour chat hosted by the preschool for (mostly) mommies and (maybe one) daddy to discuss parenting challenges, successes, etc.

Today, the administrator’s “mentor” / school advisor was there. She’s this adorably quirky lady with some sort of foreign accent. At first I thought French. Then I thought Israelli. Guys, don’t ask me… I’m from Wisconsin. She’s not local, how about that?

Anyway, she was wearing this Mary Poppins(ish) outfit with a more modern spin. Black dress with a crisp white collar under a black cardigan and black tights. Immediately I equated her to the Supernanny.

Everyone went around and introduced themselves (to me, as it was my first time attending) and then a couple of women brought up some issues they’ve been having. The gist of the discussion was disciplining. Surprise, surprise!

One woman was dealing with her typically sweet two year old acting out by beating up/tackling his older sister and randomly kicking her (she’s pregnant). Another woman had just lost her live-in nanny who left mainly because she said her son was “too difficult.” One other woman talked about her child throwing a mega tempertantrum in public and how she dealt with it.

First, let me say how much I loved the Supernanny. Her advice and suggestions were SO “Love and Logic,” which is a parenting technique that has really resonated with Mark and I.

Second, here were some takeaways…

Child Kicking Mom: Supernanny says, “The best way to address this is to calmly and sternly say, “No, stop that now.” This is unnacceptable behavior and we must create a framework immediately that this is not okay.” So the very interesting part is that she said not to threaten, “if you don’t stop, then… ” whatever the consequence of the moment might be (you’ll lose this privilege or that). She said we just sternly tell them to stop and hold their legs or whatever until they do. We don’t have to explain that it hurts. Nothing. Just draw the line at unacceptable behavior. As she was talking, I drew this conclusion that by saying “if you don’t stop kicking, then blah blah” you’re almost giving your child a choice. You’re saying you can kick me but you won’t have XYZ or you can stop kicking and have XYZ. Versus what Supernanny advised, which is simply drawing the line. Interesting, right?
Tempertantrum in Public: In this instance, the mom carried the kid out kicking and screaming. Once in the car, mom told the kid that he has now lost his tv privilege for the day. Later in the day, she gave him an opportunity to earn the privilege back. It’s unclear if he did or not. Supernanny’s response: no, no. “What relevance does the tv have to the tempertantrum? The consequence is leaving. There does not need to be further punishment.” This is interesting, too. I feel like the tantrums stay with a parent longer than with the kid. We’re still fuming well after the tantrum ends. Maybe that’s why we feel the need to further punish past the natural consequence.
Kid Beating Up His Sister: “Actions are the venue for our children’s questions.” This is a fancy way of saying that little dude is picking on his sister to express something else that’s going on. She said in this case, it was most likely that the little boy (younger sibling) is trying to gain some dominance. His role as “little brother” was obvious when he was a baby, but now as a 2.5 year old, he’s looking to be more of a leader. Supernanny suggested addressing both children at one time. Making sure to treat them as equals. Discuss how it’s clear that the way that they play together is different and ask them to talk about that a little. Ask questions to promote conversation. What I really liked about this discussion was the stress on talking to the children at one time. When you address your children individually, you’re playing into the tattling. You’re rewarding the behavior by picking a side.

All in all, it was a very interesting and thought-provoking discussion. I’m definitely looking forward to attending more. I love hearing all of the issues, which will likely soon become my own. I think knowing potential solutions prior to experiencing the problem will be very beneficial.

Oh! One more interesting comment… it kind of relates to the last one… make sure you are addressing the problem, not the symptom. Dig for the why behind the action.

What are your thoughts?