JOYRIDE WITH MIRAL

Jungle Birth Day Party

2011-06-26T15:19:00.000-07:00

while writing about tinku's ( not the real name) first birthday theme i came to realize that i didn't post on M's 4th party that was on "JUNGLE " theme. will sure do that soon.

First Birth Day Theme

2011-06-23T10:29:00.000-07:00

This is the first time in 4 years that I can be so sure about my kids birth day theme and although there are almost 5 months till the big day tinku's first Birthday theme is ........ THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR!!!

Based on our favorite story by Eric Carl

The theme suite us best because that is what our lil tinku is , a perfect "caterpillar" who has to EAT EVERY THING. I have seen a lot of moms complaining about their babies not eating/trying new things.... while our lil munchkin has to munch anything and everything that comes her way.....hahahah ya she is teething which might be one of the reasons or may be she is in a phase to explore everything through her mouth. But what every it is the fact remains the same :)

Now, what to do with the theme? There is NOTHING on the market in terms of invites, party decorations, cake toppers, gift tags u name it and its NOT there (the only things available are either on barbie princesses or hanna montana :p ) . Though there are a lot of nice ideas on the web, here are a three of my favorites....

1. Gluten free mom

2. Heide

3. Pink pistachio

And as cool as they are I want to try something different, something new, something of my OWN !!!

hmmmmmmmmm lets start thinking ;)

Father's Day Interview

2011-06-19T20:56:00.000-07:00

I thought it would be a good idea to interview Miral as part our father's day activities but was not sure about her response .It was like pulling teeth when I tried this with her last time she was simply NOT interested .But time it was fun and she really enjoyed, actually asking for more questions. I am planning to do that every year I think it will be fun to see how her answers change as she grows.

I am also planning to do an interview about me too, so If you can think of anymore questions, I'd love to ask her more.

I really love it when my baba...... loves me

My baba likes to wear....... shirts and pants and boots

My baba is..... a man

My baba always tells me...... stories and to do house chores

The best thing he does is....plays with me, hugs me, gives me permission to sleep over at nano's

It makes him happy..... when i do nice things

My baba loves to relax by......playing with his cube gift (rubix cube)

I like it when he......plays with me

The best thing he makes is..... chai broti (bread with tea)

My baba's fav. house hold chore...... cleaning things with his daughter

My baba likes to buy.....bread, eggs, garlic

The best thing he cooks is.... vegetables, when i want to play with mommy

Baba watches on TV.....shows, khabrain, animal planet

With my baba I want to go.... shopping

My fav. activity with baba is.... drawing and painting

My baba's fav. song..... I love you , you love me ( barney)

If he could go on a trip he would go to...... hyderabad

I want to tell him..... stories and secrets

I love my baba because.... he loves me

He loves me because...... I am a good kid

How do you know he loves you....I dont know he just loves me

My baba and I are same..... because..... i dont know

My baba and I are different..... because i have hair and he doesn't

Paper Lilies That Smell Nice Too

2010-08-13T13:15:00.000-07:00

Today M and I had fun time making paper lilies and the fun thing is that you don't need a lot of supplies for it, at least not something that's not already available and they smell nice too. We started by tracing her hand, Coloring it with 2 different colors was M's IdeaThen I cut it around the out line. then M helped me roll them ( the palm) around the stems turning fingers into petals and taped them in place. We used colored pencils for stems as well Last but not least we rolled the petals out using pencils again.
And of course our secret!!! we sprayed the centers with our fav. perfume to make them smell nice :)
*There is another tip to make the smell last longer u can add some cotton on the top of the stem and then spray it ;)

Ribbon Weaving

2010-08-13T12:18:00.001-07:00

M and I spend this entire evening weaving ribbons. As some of you might know my true motivation these days is to keep her mind off of the computer games :) but his activity offered us a lot more, including perfect exercise for her tiny fingers; to fine tune her ever growing fine motor skills, concentration, hand eye coordination etc etc but wt could be better than the sence of accomplishment that she had in the end.
I showed her how to weave ribbon through the bars, initially I used fridge rack for obvious reasons and she was so interested that we had to weave through something else too!!!
This basket originally contained some toiletries when M was little but long since used as her flower basket, pencil holder, toy container and what not!!! and now its all decorated to keep her Eid Cards that she is so devotedly making for all her friends and family :)

Flower Crown for Garden Princess

2010-08-12T02:09:00.000-07:00

Now that she is in some princess mode lately, M and all of us had a blast making and playing with her flower crown. Its a simple thing that brought a lot of smiles and is sure a good diversion from her "computer game obsession" that she got like a virus from her recent trip to Hyderabad.
Any way to make this fab crown all we needed was a plain stripe of paper mine was about 4 " wide. Then M and my brother chose leaves and flowers from my fathers ever growing bougainvillea that I simply stapled to the sheet.In the end measuring it around her head I put a few more staples to make the circle of the crown and.....TaaaDaa!! a pretty crown for my garden princess
It was on her head even after hours ;)

Recycle Spring Hat !!!

2010-03-25T01:03:00.000-07:00

Here is our Recycled Spring Hat ... though it has no direct connection with Pakistan Day yet I have a very strong feeling that introducing recyling at this age will eventually help make her a better Pakistani; that this is one GREEN activity ... what do u say??? This is what u need to make this cutie ( Oh no I am not telling you about my cutie...hehe)

1. Old news paper

2. Masking tape

3. Paints ( we used acrylics)

4. Crape paper to make flowers,or you can get sresh flowers, laces , bows and any other old or new stuff u fancy and a very funny kid who cant stand hiding behind paper :)

How To:

Pile up 2 full sheets on top of your kiddo's head in different direction, squeeze it down to form a crown,put masking tape around it. Repeat it for a few times to get a more stable hat. or you can pile up 3-4 sheets all at a time....but for that you need a more patient child that is rare to find these days :)

It would be a lot easier if u get adult help for this stage.

Yup its dark under it so quickly move to next step and put masking tape around the crown a few more times so that its secure enough then start rolling up the sides to make the brim. This is the stage where you can creat a lot of different styles. Then enjoy painting with the lil one. M enjoyed this part best.We chose bright yellow for the base . We need to paint it on both sides esp the brim.

Finally use bows , flowers stickers anything ur kid and u fancy to decorate :)
I made some crape paper flower that M love love loved so she told me where to put them and I just glued them in place. Then she told me to put up some sticker and glitter and Ribbons.... She is going to look so damn cute on her nature walk this evening :)

Do give me a shout if u like it and try with ur lil ones :)

Spring Hat!!!

2010-03-22T02:51:00.000-07:00

This morning I got a massage on facebook from my good friend Anie. She needed some suggestions on her kids spring project, she has to make a spring hat and..... yup u guessed it right!!! that's what I needed :) She GAVE me the idea !!! M and I gonna make a cute spring hat on the 23rd as its a holiday here, though we should be doing a more patriotic craft as its "Pakistan Day" any way do come back to check :)

Have You Ever Experienced.....

2010-03-16T02:32:00.000-07:00

annoyance while surfing the net.... Ughhhh I have. Can u just imagine frustration that I just stumbled across this real creative blogger from Karachi and it was my first one from Paki land that was not about politics and all and ....Ya the power went off .....So,what do u do in a situation like this ??? sit back put all your work aside and spend the rest of your afternoon searching for it .Tadaaaa U live in Pakistan and work in an office where no one is bothered to connect your PC to the UPS!!!
who are u ...oh the "Miss designer" !!!

Lahore Blasts

2010-03-13T04:31:00.001-08:00

left us all N U M B.....what's happening around us what are we gonna give to our children ????????????

Our New Friends

2010-03-11T03:00:00.000-08:00

are supper cool to play and supper fun to make!!! by far these are the quickest craft that i did to this day. As I hardly get enough time to spend with M now a days I am looking for crafts /activities that can be made during 1 hour break at lunch time. So this also is the first "Take Home "gift for her and I don't know if any of you can relate to it but I was.... well... a bit nervous about her response. What if she doest like them as much as I do? so I introduced the mommy bunny first and received a pretty mild response

:( heart broken I showed her the rest

AND

she was screaming with JOY,

filling all the fingers

giving them names

singing

talking to them

asking for more

WoW am I glad!!!!

To Make

To make these supper cool supper cute puppets click here and visit Disney family fun

I don't have a printer attached to my PC so I copied the pic to get my mommy and baby sets I printed in 2 sizes, one regular and one on half scale, then I glued an extra sheet on back to strengthen them, cut them around the edges.And finally to secure them a bit laminated them with 1 inch wide clear tape.on both sides cut extra bits join the extra flap on back and DONE!!

Hey!!! I am Back

2010-03-08T23:23:00.000-08:00

yeah I am alive..... but a lot more busier than I ever thought I would be, no time for crafting, bloging, cooking,but every time I sit on my desk these sweet flowers and wakky mommy makes me smile :) love u meero.
So what I am busy with ..... hmmm creating this
and this...and this .....and this.....and there is a lot more , actually more than 40 designs in less than 3 months... pheeeuHHh if u'd like to check out more visit NishatLinen

Make Mode

2009-11-20T21:53:00.000-08:00

I am so ready to try this and a few cute glove puppets so come back son to check on us :)

Story Blocks

2009-11-18T22:39:00.000-08:00

This post is for those who are making or thinking of making cute ,easy, and quick gifts for their Lil ones. I made these as part of M's Eid Gift This will help kids with their creative thinking as well as develop turn taking and sharing ability. The original idea came from a very cute blog I visited quite a while ago (don't remember the name but they were hand painted and far cuter) But after much dragging the project I finally decided to do it my way :)
For these I got

wooden blocks from a thrift store
a cute book ( in some foreign language... that sure made it easy to cut )

Then sand the blocks smooth,cut images to fit the side and glue and you are good to play or gift wrap them

To play !!

You need two or more participants. The first one rolls the block and starts a story with the picture that comes on top, then the next one rolls it again and adds a sentence or two using the picture that comes on top. and so on.

Baba, and I had to play the game in front of M for the first few times to give her the Idea. Next she started rolled the dice for me and baba. And eventually after a few games she was totally into it. Now she makes stories better than ours :) I feel writing them down sometimes

Why I love this game !!!
Because each time you come up with a different story and the creativity of the simple block never ends
Variation
Try rolling two blocks together and try to come up with a sentence that has both the things in it.

Dance Show and Spiders

2009-11-08T12:20:00.001-08:00

two of her latest masterpieces

the first one is babies "Dancing in a dance show"

and this one is "a spider stuck in the spider web"

This lead to some serious thinking....I think I need to narrate the storeies with these drawings as in writing them on the same page or on back side her thoughts are as intriguing as the drawings themselves.

what do you say???

Family Portrait... A Tutorial

2009-11-05T10:41:00.000-08:00

made by M at 2.8 years of age :) want one too??? here is a simple how to....

Step one

Grab your Materials ...

1. paper (hundreds of them, new, used, recycled)
2. pencil/crayons or markers or anything to draw with

3. Child yours or anyone Else's (that's the prime ingredient)

4. love (note the more the better)

5. praise (at least a ton)

6. Attention 2Tbsp ( don't overdo it)

Step two.

put all the ingredients together and just let them simmer in your love.

Its done when your prime Material says its done

Please Avoid.

1. Criticism

2.Taking over and telling them what to do

3.Telling them what not to do

4.Pushing and demanding for results (color "IN" the lines)

5.Labeling the end product ( if the child says its you it IS you, not a dinosaur not an elephant but only you)

Do link to me when you post your results !!! happy drawing

Sunday Surprise!!!

2009-10-30T04:49:00.000-07:00

Since its been a week that I have resumed the full time job (that I am loving as much as I loved staying home) and already missed out our Library day twice. Think it would be the weekends that M and I will have are our special,very special time and I have all the intentions to make it fun.plus I wont be having spare time during the week for crafting and all. So where is all that leading .... yup to our Sunday surprise. I am planning to make something special every week for M it could be a hand made toy, a costume, a dish that we can prepare together, a special visit and activity related to that visit.... hmmm so the horizon is very very vast and anyone can join in no rules and regulation, no boundaries

And now the drum rolls please for our very first Sunday Surprise !!!

Ta daaaaaaaaaa

ya a royal cape and a crown. The length of our cape is a bit short as I made it from a crossroads shopping bag !!! Though M is enjoying it immensely and calls herself a king in this costume. still I need to make a long flowy gown for my princess next I can put up a tutorial if anyone is interested in instructions on how to.

Block Puzzles

2009-10-29T04:49:00.000-07:00

Here is one of M's Eid Gift that without a doubt is her favorite

The block puzzles to make pictures of her grand parents and phopho

and to entertain us with the mixed up creations

To make block puzzles

1. I made 4 cuboids by gluing together 3 pieces of cube blocks.

I believe in introducing new concepts and activities step by step so wanted to avoid the CUBE puzzle. It would have been really confusing for a 2.8 to put together a picture cut into 12 small pieces, glued to 12 different cubes on all different sides. The first time around that is a sure road to failure resulting in early disappointments. These early disappointments in ones ability can result into low self esteem. Which I am sure any parent would want to avoid. so the formula is to add on step by step.

Any way back to the tutorial, you can also use wooden blocks if available or if you can get them cut on order.

2. Then I measured the size of the blocks all put together and the size of one block that gave me guidelines to adjust my pictures on photoshop.

3. Then I chose 4 pictures. As you can see these are family pics I would suggest something that your child is familiar or close to that will help increase the attention span.

4. Then I used photoshop to adjust my pictures so they kind of fit together when overlapped

5. Print them

6. Cut and glue on them on the blocks

7. I used contact/sticker sheet to protect the final blocks just measure all around a block that will give you the required length and for width simply measure the broad side of a block. Remove the back sheet slowly as you work your way up the sides. it will take some practise and patience.

DONE.

Work Work Work

2009-10-24T03:35:00.000-07:00

is now mommy's motive or may I say motif ...... its my second day and man am I going nuts from going to one design and then to the other, this color schemes or that???, from home fashion to apparel to kitchen accessories and whats with the funny designs with Rosters Oh have you ever heard of a thing like "bridal formal Apron", Oh God who was the designer and who has chosen and approved those aMMazig designs.... hahaha the world is all going crazy man how were they surviving without ME !!!
And No matter how much I am enjoying this crazyness I am missing my Matto Janiya and our cute lil "ac-tiv-ties".It makes me so so happy when I think about going back home and my lil one will hug me with "I missed U Mommy" and that's why today's post is straight from my office. NO MORE COMPTEER TIME at home from now on, all of that would be Matoo's time!! what do you say to new mom unplugged ? well partially unplugged.

Tot Batote....

2009-10-18T13:10:00.000-07:00

Guess the first week of our library and what did I find!!! "tot batot "(that's the best I can spell it in English)....It was my fav character from Urdu poems and was I delighted to find it after ages in Library last week. M liked the rhymes and though the illustrations in this book are a bit below average and there are only 4 or 5 images that are irrelevantly placed on random pages, still we love it.... for Sufi Tabassum's gems

so for now we are just relishing our discovery... its amazing to see how everyone at our home is loving it (the poems NOT the book)

Need to find the old version, The one that we had in our personal collection... anyone any Idea

Marble Painting

2009-10-17T00:06:00.000-07:00

M and I did our first marble painting today , yes it was my first ever as well !!! Its simple and fun and now I wonder why did I wait so long to do it ...May be because I was afraid that I wont be able to stop her using/messing up her hands and fingers without being strict to her and that sure is one thing I want to avoid as much as i can. But I also wanted to show her that there ARE DIFFERENT ways to do and enjoy. and I think we pretty much succeeded.
To do it I measure and cut a piece of paper that fits in our cookie sheet, place the paper in then M put the ball on it.(yes we didn't have the marble so I used a small ball and it worked ) then I poured some paint on the ball and gave the cookie sheet to M to shake and move around. kept pouring more color as required and the results .....ammm really nice.

Magic.... Miracle...or What

2009-10-01T01:02:00.000-07:00

...... how does this compteer of mine came to life just like that ... it had some serious ya S-E-R-I-O-U-S problem for the last 15-20 days... ammm every since my last post I guess and just because I was Extremely bored and missing the blogging dose I switched it on knowing it wot work and to my sheer joy it switched on Ya just like that and now I am awe stuck as to what to wright

may be about our Eid

about M's Eid gifts and

how did she like them

her new puzzles

our new obsession with smartness

or about the poor birds that Irfan rescued like Diego

and what they might be thinking

after spending a few days in M's house

may be all of them are worth individual posts but later I guess right now me need to catch up on so many things before it collapsed again :)

Toys She Likes Best

2009-09-15T02:23:00.000-07:00

are pencils, markers, paints, brushes and a surface to paint and draw on of course, blocks, empty boxes, letters from old scrabbles (that my mom gave her),books ,babushka dolls infact all kinds of dolls, puzzles and ya her most favorite of all "a jambulon rectangle frame".
Irfan saw it in college junk yard and brought home thinking I might be able to use it for model making, little he knew it would become his daughters all time fav. It is her beach , it is her gate its her home and its her window a road for her cars and what not.
You need to see it hehehe its a funny pink frame with an 11 X 8 inches cut out from the center Ya our design major teacher Sir Ghanni was more than right when he said that kids prefer the boxes over expensive toys. Ever wonder why?
yup because their simplicity makes them versatile... just let a child look at it and it could be anything!!!

Another Painting Session

2009-09-15T00:47:00.000-07:00

While I was busy busy making and thinking about the eidi, Miral enjoyed another session of painting. She took all the liberty and painted herself from head to toe in paint ....she was making "body prints" LoLs

thats what we call free art :) Its just that I dont know whats her poor Art teacher gonna do this winter when she starts school.

Besides painting with hands, feet and brushes today she also enjoyed painting with her toy cars though we had a little phadda over using small nesting blocks or a rectangular plate to use as a pallet for the cars, she wanted to paint every thing including herself after all she got her hands on " paints" after a long long time...

pictures comming soon....

W.I.P-2

2009-09-14T20:19:00.000-07:00

Two days later here we are

2:30 - 14 sept

Just came back from shopy shop, have almost ya almost all the stuff we need for making gifts

Still waiting for the print of silhouette

Dress top pattern finalized after quite an effort finally had to go to my tailor master to get it right ... hah i forgot how to cut an armhole and arm for a toddler :( any way now its done . even the embroidery pattern is stamped on it

Got blocks for the block puzzle and story blocks

Also found very nice zippers in funky colors for the busy book.

10:00 pm

Finally got the print of silhouette, but guess its too small book.

11:00 pm

Got it enlarged .Irfan did it free hand will sure put up the pic its really nice.

W.I.P

2009-09-12T00:53:00.000-07:00

Ya work in progress, here is the first update for M's Eidi
come again to check how it goes

1:54 pm - 12 sept.

Silhouette created for the Bag ..... hahaha i know its a year old pic but cant help it , had to find and use an old one as the camera is still not fixed . If it were a recent picture she would have a pony tail and her chin is slightly thinner

By the way I had decided on the color combo and fabric even before putting up the list

5:50-ish pm - 12 sept

Fabric selected and purchased for bag ... ya cant show now :)

3:25 am - 13 sept

pattern finalized for the bag , even tried out

working on a pattern for her dress think it will be a short sleeved A-line shirt with capris ... hmm nothing much traditional this time

Eidi For M

2009-09-11T18:33:00.000-07:00

On this Eid I am planing to make all the gifts/ Eidi by myself as I am on a handmade swing these days and with Eid just 10 days away I think I better speed up and finish off the gifts that I am planning to make for M this Eid .

here I am posting the list that I am planning this Eid.It is actually a reminder to myself :)

1. An Eid dress off course (even the designing and selecting the fabric is taking so much time)

2. M's memory Quilt

3. A goodies bag (planning to make something with M's a silhouette on it, most probably I'll applique on a plain background)

4. Eid Coupons (that she can use later) here are some very cute ones but I want to create something especially for her so lets see...

5. Story Blocks/ where does it come from puzzle.

6. Puzzle blocks

7. A new Sketch book.. ya need to dress this one up , its Eid after all

8. A Busy book ( as with every passing day she is showing more and more interest in buttoning lacing zipping )

9.Stuffed Alphabets

10.Eatable Crayons ... ya she loves sweets

Hmmm A LONG list lets see how much I can AC.COM.PLISH In 10 days :)

Learning About The Surface??

2009-09-02T19:05:00.001-07:00

well that's what your baba thinks you are doing when you Draw on our "not so new" wooden sofa with a chalk in the lounge this afternoon...(alas don't have the camera wanted to show this art of yours to you one day.)
Those were the funny few minuets that I sure want to tell you about. When your baba with an amused expression asked me quietly to look at what you are doing for a a split second I was like what the HELL... "sofa too gaya" and what's next!! You never draw on walls or furniture and it seemed to me like a beginning of a habit i always dreaded and he wanted me to stop you. But as soon as I opened my mouth he was like " kya krr rahi ho cant you see she is learning about the SURFACE" shhhhh (aaH the artist!!)
And you know what ? for a moment the artist Mom in me skipped a beat that Oh I was about to keep you from such a "healthy " activity but thank God my logical/ not so arty/ tiered from keeping the house tidy/sick of your toys everywhere, side of mom took over... other wise you were planing to learn about your tables surface next ...hahaha no I didn't beat you or something just gave you a black sheet to draw on. And I assured my self that I might have stopped you from learning about more surfaces in our home with chalk there are plenty other ways you can learn about them.
Hmm now I have to think about those ways...................

How Can I Forget ....

2009-09-02T18:50:00.001-07:00

... to share this fabulous underwater scene drawn by M on our way to Hyederabad. I just love the way little ones draw things their way, the boldness and confidence of her strokes and I just Wish that she keeps this even after going to school, hate the way they teach them how to draw in the so called art class at schools; that just sucks the Individuality out of it... ammm more on that sometime later, don't want to spoil the beauty right now ;)

Kindness Begins With Me !

2009-09-02T18:20:00.000-07:00

WoW what a thought especially when it comes to share something with kids. As my kiddo is going to begin school coming January I am trying to figure out how to make it special for her and at the moment it seems more important than her next Birthday which is not due before Feb anyway . And in my search I found this really cute back to school idea shared by Wendy @ The shabby nest . I do need to figure out how to add a personal touch to the ideas that are floating in the blog sphere but till then I just love her HAPPY FIRST DAY banner and the concept of a year theme.

I would also like to share a very special blog just found its called Just Something I Made and she shares amazing vintage prints along with other creative stuff. This blog world keeps me mesmerised, cant believe how creative and generous these people are. Not sure even if I am contributing anything at all on my own.

Nesting Blocks

2009-09-01T22:34:00.001-07:00

Now that M is up early today and its our potty training day two I didnt want to sleep while she was up, so reintroduced the nesting cups and this time as with potty issue she seems to understand the concept so easily. Though a lot of practice both for her eyes as well as hands is still requiered its very very nice to see that she wants to use the cups in a fashion that they are actually designed for, does it mean that she has started understanding spatial concepts in the teeniest lil way along with many other benifits this activity offers including

1.Visual and small muscular perception of dimensions.

2. This awareness of dimensions leads to observation of the child’s environment.

3. Helps to make smoother and more coordinated movement.

4. Math readiness by introducing concepts of smaller, larger, prepares for the decimal and number system.

wow am I expecting too much from a simple toddler play ?

Can You Count on Your Fingers???

2009-09-01T21:44:00.000-07:00

Sorry not our original pic but close enough to whats i am going to talk about (don't remember where i got this pic from or sure would have given the ref.)

Yup that's what we are practicing these days never thought it would be that a great challenge for little toddler fingers. And Its adorable to see her putting so much effort and concentrate so much to hold her little finger with thumb to raise the rest of three fingers to point number three :)

we have started practicing in the sequence from index finger to thumb like index finger is 1 , index and the next one is 2 , index and next two make 3 all fingers raised together 4 and the whole hand with all fingers spread makes five But now i am also thinking to start from the little finger as well

I am sure its a nice exercise for her hand muscles that will help in her small motor skills But its lots and lots of fun as well , as for every number we do the high five style clap and it gives her a special pleasure :)

Try it with your lil ones and do tell us about it !!

....And Again We Are Ready For A Fresh Start....

2009-09-01T12:28:00.000-07:00

of course i am talking about potty training what else ... hahaha
but this time the hopes are very high as M decided herself that she doesn't want to wear her diapers any more ( even the extra large size gets too tight)
The reward chart is really working and lot of credit also goes to "Learning to potty with Pee Wee Potamus" its about a little girl Kidzie who wants to grow up... though M still prefers to be a BAiBEE she still like her potty pals
and though we had a few accidents ... still our hopes are very very high this time :)
fingers crossed 0x0x0x0x
Will sure put up a pic of our potty chart as soon as I get my camera fixed.M gets to color a box and put a sticker of her choice in the box whenever she manages to do it in the "cAmmot". Otherwise mom just wrights the time and date in the box, it sure is turning out great!!

The Coolest Picture

2009-07-25T15:06:00.000-07:00

....of our trip to Sindh this summer, isn't it fabulous... especially when its taken by a 2 years old (who manage to trip over the camera after taking this great shot :)

Sad Face Tomato

2009-07-04T15:48:00.000-07:00

Reminds me of the sad face used for theater logo and also of pumpkins that are crafted for Halloween :) Did you look for fun stuff in your veggies today

Nugget Noodle Doll

2009-07-04T14:43:00.000-07:00

Here Is our very first one!! Daan-da-daan (Note: I edited the background to make it more clear)
The empty fun nugget pack in waste bin, half Kg boneless chicken in fridge and an urge to make something fun for M' dinner were the reasons behind this cutie... and it was appreciated to the point of satisfaction :)
Search the recipe and found one on videojug.com it is supper easy,
all you need is

chicken boneless ( half kg makes about 14 of this size)
salt and pepper
all purpose flour
bread crumbs
and an Egg (beaten)

Blend in the boneless chicken some salt and Black pepper (I used 1/2 tsp of salt and 1 tsp pepper) in a blender /food processor, give shape (don't try too hard at this stage, just determine the thickness), dip in flour, then egg and finally in crumbs.
Now is the time to shape your nuggets, I had nothing particular at this stage so thought to go for basic shapes as it was my first tryIt was only after frying the first one I started with a round one to make a face. Then thought of the rest, the picture tells it all so think no need to describe much. I make dolls with triangular bodies when M asks me to make a girl it looks like a dress, next time for boy I am planing to use the square one.

Dress Up Fun

2009-06-30T00:11:00.000-07:00

(Still no camera no pics ...but I know if I didn't put it down now I'll miss it like many other projects)......edited on 10 aug
Here comes the first costume I made for M's dress up chest ... its simple and fabulous .... and its a great delight to see how my lil one loved her Ballerina Tutu

Here is how to make your own

You'll need
Elastic tape (about 20" long)
Net /organza fabric 4 meters ( I used 2 colors so 2 Meters each)
Now....

1. Just measure around your lil one's tummy, and cut an elastic tape 1 1/2 -2 inches less than that2. Stitch the ends and check if it fits3. Fold the fabric till desired length (mine was 18")
4. cut strips 5" wide so that each strip is 36" x 5" . Round the ends if u like
5. Now hold one strip from the middle, slide it under the elastic and loop the ends through it and pull it down .6. Keep going with alternative color strips
7. Put on some Nice music and have fun!!!

Truly .....Madly in Love

2009-06-21T04:54:00.000-07:00

Ya what else it could be..... like an obsessed mom I try to preserve each and every moment of my lil one :) I literally HATE to through away even a single paper that has M's drawings, ya even a even a single line drawn by her is precious to me ,but I know I cant cling to everything and wont possibly be able to keep all the pages that hold the precious journey.
So for fathers day what could be better than something made from my collection of her art and some originals works especially for baba. here is what we did
we made two cards for Baba. I don't remember where did I see this idea first but any way here it is ....I took a small box, cut 6 colored papers that fit into it,(one for each letter) then I cut out bold letters F-A-T-H-E-R, punched and thread them with matching ribbons into a book form and Tadaaaa its ready for M to draw something special for Baba (that's my addition to the original idea that had 6 attributes one for each letter) then we did some collage on the box to match !!!

The second one gave her more freedom as it was a big D and she did some sticker collage, (especially wanted " fish" sticker for her baba that says be mine:) ) some drawings ....have you noticed the OH SO SPECIAL heart on top left...."oh so special" is a new character/stuffed bear on Disney and as we were to make something "special " for baba here it is .... (its kind of funny that it looks more like a heart shape with eyes than the stuffed bear :)

For the gift we made these two way book marks. For this I cut 4 rectangular out of card boards I used 2 different colors that complemented her work. Cut out windows in them leaving 1/2 inch on 3 sides and about 2 inches on one side.Then mounted her artwork between the two pieces. To add the string I punched one hole on top of each one and then using the loop knot added the matching ribbons.

A tool Box (that's still under construction) all painted by M so far.He could also use it to keep the Gifts that he'll receive from her in future....now thats an Idea baba!!!

And M's hand cast it came out nicer than my expectations
anyway while putting M to bed last night I thought of preserving the day with a cast of her Little hand with baba's bigger one I think that would come out real nice It will deserve a new post I believe

Hand Prints

2009-06-20T06:26:00.000-07:00

Painting with hands ....and feet is our absolute fav. Here are some fun pics of my shrek :)

Sayyyyyyy Click

2009-06-19T00:50:00.000-07:00

M is taking pics all the time these days so thought to share some here

ya its me and thats her very first one will update more soon

Sand Paper Numbers

2009-06-18T13:07:00.000-07:00

M can recognise quite a few numbers and can count up to ten and sometimes more on fingers and when I am in washroom (mixing up seven with seventeen most of the times though) so I thought of introducing the sand paper numbers to her. I made the sand paper numbers using instructions from "Montessori at home ". it was very easy. I used a fine nice sand paper from Irfan's tool drawer traced the numbers on wrong side (reverse the numbers ) cut and paste on 6x6 inches mount board DONE

We counted a lot of things with them from beads to animals (Alas don't have a nice pic right now)
This is our second number recognition game by the way, made the first one for valentines with hearts and chocolate beans and missed introducing ZERO. Now I realize it is as important as any other number :)

Daddy I love You ( baba turn you face)

2009-06-10T04:47:00.000-07:00

Now that Fathers day is just around the corner next few posts will be dedicated to that I guess. After alot of bowsing found this cute little poem that M and I will sing for most of our times now on the tune of "are you sleeping brother john"....in hope she'll learn it by the day ...its part of our surprise for baba
Thought it would be nice to share as well :)

DADDY I LOVE YOU

Daddy I love you
for all that you do
i'll kiss you and hug you
'cause you love me,too
you feed me and need me
to teach you to play
so smile'cause I love you
on this fathers day (we've changed it to ....Every day)

by nicholas gordon

More fun I deas comming soon :)

Free Play / Planned Work

2009-06-08T23:43:00.000-07:00

I don't know how many time do I repeat my self but I cant stop wondering how creative the kids could be when left to play on their own and oh the self debate it triggers..... "weather its good or bad to stop them or /and steer them towards the planed activity when they want to use the Montessori material in a different way; other than what they were initially intended to....."

Yesterday while beading these tiny miny beads M started making geometric shapes with them. First of all she surprised me with a diamond shape that she made with 4 beads (I never made any shapes with such stuff ....and a diamond certainly "NOT". Then came circle by adding some more (damn don't have camera all the time....) When I came back with the camera a few min later she was working on this one... any guesses what it is going to be....

Yo its a "tYiangul"that looks like a house :)

any suggestions on the above issue???

Potty Training Day one

2009-06-02T06:24:00.000-07:00

wohoo finally we ventured into the potty training phase.
M is 27 months old and every now and then I find my self wondering if the delay is on my part or hers. Every day I promised my self that this is her last day in diapers and every day I came up with a new excuse I couldn't get myself to take her diapers off for good.So today was the BIG DAY..... 9 accidents and no luck in 10 hours but my hopes are really very high coz after her third or may be forth accident she tried to tell me "mommy washroom mommy washroom" I missed her clue coz and I thought she was looking for me n thinking that I was in washroom :)

Milk Pack Tower

2009-05-25T04:51:00.000-07:00

M loves making towers so every thing and any thing can work as blocks for us these days....

I Love Free play

2009-05-24T10:25:00.000-07:00

I love free play as its where the kid's imagination is at its peek , I don't mind much even if she tries to use her Montessori materials in a different way that they are intended and that's why M is spending more and more time creating her own games with the things she has. A few days ago she made this bridge with Dora stickers ... these stickers are more like paper dolls as they are mounted on a hard board...

See u can even walk on it :)

Punk Rocker With Flowers In her Hair : )n

2009-05-19T11:01:00.000-07:00

I wish I was a punk rocker with flowers in my hair ....yup that's M's first FAVORITE song and my princess doesnt loose a chance to pick flowers to put up in her hair. She picked these flowers from Nana Jan's tarres and with Hassan mamoo's help she managed to get them in her hair ..... itn't it CUTE!!!

Green Day Collage

2009-04-22T15:40:00.001-07:00

Presenting the first page of our color book

This is our second attempt on collage so far and not really bad if we compare the above collage to this... But it was not easy at all to get M to make one even after eight months.We really had to put in" efforts" to make this work attractive to her. I am glad though that at least she was interested in putting on glue to the paper (it was a bit difficult to take that away actually) and then she just pasted the leaf and she was done to finish the thing I had to place the pieces one by one asking my self "Were will it look good ?" "where should I put it?" REAL LOUD and then M would suggest a place and that's how we get here.
I didn't suggest the overlapping of pictures at any point and I am totally exited that it was purely her Idea

we'll try the recycled/junk collage in the morning... so do come back and check it out :)

Happy Earth Day

2009-04-22T03:36:00.000-07:00

CELEBRATE EARTH DAY ....... every day

Celebrate morning
The cry of a loon on a lake in the night
The dreams that are born in the dawn's early light
Celebrate morning

Celebrate living
The laughter that sings in the heart of a child
The freedom that flies at the call of the wild
Celebrate living

Celebrate evening
The stars that appear in the loss of the son
whispering winds," we are one ...we are one"

Celebrate Earth day, every day
Celebrate Earth day , every day
Celebrate land and sea
Celebrate you and me
Celebrate Earth day, every day

words and music by John Denver

Green Eggs and .......

2009-04-21T03:06:00.000-07:00

Never knew Our Green celebrations would start this way....
yup!!! M's latest obsession with Dr. Seuss 's "Green Eggs and ham" lead us to this green treat :) she loved it so much that i know it by heart by now and after reading it for 20 or so times this morning she wanted to eat Green eggs and ham..... Hmmmmmmmmmm ... what to do? what to do?
make green eggs what else !!!

my lil one didn't seem to mind the squarish shap of her eggs a bit

Here is the Recipe:

To make 2-3 green eggs

3-4 bread slices
2 Eggs
3-4 tbs Milk
3-4 tsp Sugar
a few drops of Blue food color
oil for shallow frying

1. Beat eggs, add milk and sugar.
2.Make two toasts by dipping one slice in the batter at a time, turn over covering the other side then fry in pan with 2 Tbsp oil.
3.Add 2 drops of blue food color it will turn the yellow better into green (u can also use green if blue is not available) repeat the above process to make one green toast.
4.Now using a Cookie cutter cut a hole in each yellow bread. Using the same cutter cut 2 circles from green bread now place two green pieces in each hole you can also switch the circles and your green eggs are ready. Yummmy.....Enjoy !!!

My lil one loved them and I would love to hear if you try them :)

Earth Day Celebrations

2009-04-19T08:32:00.000-07:00

Well Now that the Earth Day is just around the corner, here is what we plan to do for this week...Yeah It would be the whole GREEN week

1. Read "From Acorn to Oak Tree " by Jan Kottke, the whole life cycle of a tree is written in simple and accurate way and any other books on Earth that we find .
2. Plant some seeds on our own and watch them grow with time.
3. Make a bird feeder
4. Make a recycled collage
5. Introduce the World Map to M, there are a lot of fun ways (I love this and this the best) .
6. Make our very own world puzzle.
7. Have a Green Day (that would actually be the 22nd April )
8. Make a lot of Bugs (M is seeing bugs everywhere these days)

visit us again to see us in action :)

Are We Going To The Other Extreem???

2009-04-14T16:03:00.000-07:00

After reading a first few pages on amazon I am dying to get my hands on this book. Here are some aspects of gender this book talks about

The brain develops differently. In girls, the language areas of the brain develop before the areas used for spatial relations and for geometry. In boys, it's the other way around. A curriculum which ignores those differences will produce boys who can't write and girls who think they're "dumb at math."

The brain is wired differently. In teenage girls, emotion is processed in the same area of the brain that processes language. So, it's not too difficult for most teenage girls to talk about their emotions. In boys, the brain regions involved in talking are separate from the regions involved in feeling. The hardest question for many boys to answer is: "Tell me how you feel."

Girls hear better. The typical teenage girl has a sense of hearing which is significantly better than a teenage boy. That's why daughters so often complain that their fathers are shouting at them. Dad doesn't think he's shouting, but Dad doesn't hear his voice the way his daughter does.

here are some of the reviews:

....we may have gone to the other extreme and tried too hard to feminize boys and masculinize girls. Sax makes a compelling argument for parents and teachers to tread lightly when it comes to gender and raises important questions regarding single-sex education,...."

"Although Sax repeatedly makes clear these differences do not limit what either sex can achieve, he does contend they play a valuable role in determining the most effective methods for teaching, disciplining and understanding children and young adults."

......Hmmmm now how to get this book???

* B* Eggs Bunny :)

2009-04-14T05:05:00.001-07:00

M is asking for these cute bunnies with chocolate chips eyes every morning for the past few days so yesterday I thought it would be fun if she try making these herself ( she loves to slice boiled eggs anyway). And here is what she came up with.
Well M made a sad face bunny..... probably coz it doesn't have any eyes :) ( our chocolate chips were finished by this time)

note: the egg piece at the bottom is the sad mouth and the yellow yolk is the nose (as per M's description :) )

Dr. seuss and Babushka dolls

2009-04-11T13:51:00.000-07:00

Yeah that's it !!! I know the title sounds crazy ... what does Dr. Seuss has to do with Babushkas, it should be SABUSHKA or LABUSHKA still its plain Babushka . And me and my lil one are in love with them.M just like me fell in love with them at first sight. I unexpectedly saw these cute little babushka dolls in a local handicraft store this evening (which is a rarity in itself) and it was a complete set with ten dolls the tiniest is so so small.... when we presented them to M she went all crazy
she played with them for so long that I don't even remember the hours and still we were unable to part her from them. Finally she went to bed crying because finally the Bushkas were all sleepy and couldn't play with her anymore.
Today even I'm going crazy as I also found 8 of Dr. Seuss books and can you believe they cost me even less than Rs.400.... yeah the price is one thing but I cant get enough of the funny, imaginative characters my mind is racing high on different possibilities and activities that I can plan around them.
By the way I love Green Eggs and Ham the best check it out here on you tube.
it tickles my tongue :)

Pencil and Crayon Holders

2009-04-08T07:00:00.000-07:00

Finished these cuties for my cutie and a friend's a couple of weeks ago. They are high on Montessori philosophy as it has a Velcro fastening the kids as young as mine (I believe even younger) can put their pencils and crayons back with ease then roll them up and fasten with the Velcro fastening.
These are supper easy to make and a sure are a good start for your lil ones even if that are not so little any more these are also fun for kids who are ready to try there hand on sewing as it has a lot of straight lines and top stitches.

Here is the tutorial..... the first one on my blog.

To make one roll all you need

Two 1/4 yard pcs of fabrics (matching or contrast)
Matching Velcro
1/4 yard foam lining (or you can also uses two pcs of fabrics)
Matching threads
A Large button

Cut the fabrics and the lining as shown in the pic 15 1/2" x 11".The measurements are with 1/4 seam allowances all around . The measurements are for the standard set of 12 pencils each 7" long.
Now on mark a 3 1/4" line the outer fabric from the bottom edge , this will fold and make your pocket later on.
Fold the matching strip of fabric on both sides 1/4" as shown in pic.
Set Velcro (the soft/loop piece) in the middle of this using common pins.Then in the center of the upper portion stitch in your Velcro.Here I have used a length of Matching fabric to decorate (as in the one with yellow button) but you can skip it and use Velcro directly as

Then place the Inner fabric right side up on the lining and then your outer fabric right side down, put in some common pins if you like then sew all around (for a beginner mark stitching line 1/4" from the edges). Leaving a small opening on one side to turn it inside out.

Turn and Press. Top stitch the side with opening. Now fold in on the red line (marked earlier) to make the pocket. use pins if required, top stitch all around.
On the inner side mark and draw lines with tailors chalk starting from your left hand edge , first one 1/2 " the thirteen lines all 1" apart that will leave 1 & 1/2" on the other end
Sew on these lines using top stitch closing the last larger opening. This will create 13 small pockets I have added one for a lead pencil

(please note that the picture bellow only has 1/2 " left on right end).

Now set a 1 to 1/2" piece of Velcro (Hook Side) above the closed pocket , right up on the outer velcro and stitch, repeating the stitch on short edge for more security . here's a close up.

To finish up hand sew a large contrast button on the outer left edge (yeah right up on the velcro)
That's how your end product will look like

These are my finished pieces .

VARIATIONS:

The size can be varied measuring the pencils or crayons that you wish to place in it for instances for M's chubby 4 &1/2" long crayons I used 15&1/2" x 5&1/2" (for twelve colors)

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. I value and appreciate constructive feedback. So please let me know if any part of this is confusing, misleading, etc. and I will do my best to make improvements.

More on Art/Drawing

2009-04-08T00:05:00.000-07:00

I don't know if its the next milestone or what but Now a days instead of drawing her complete focus is on COLORING. some time ago she used to ask one of us to draw something saying "wancho buttafly" "wancha cat" etc and then make one of her own Now when its drawn all she wants is to grab a crayon and Color color color. I love the efforts she puts to control her hand movement so that the color doesn't go beyond the lines .....though it still does :)

next one is one of her earliest attempts I colored the bird in this one to show her how but I Love what she did with the Dog

and very rarely we get this from her these days. Just check out that to make a "O face" smile she made another face in her mouth that's smiling . It sure is a long way from this to this and now the coloring

Color Forcast 2010 by pantone

2009-04-06T16:06:00.000-07:00

would never ever want to miss this one so here it is on "how about orange" . A COOL cool find after a whole month !!! but it sure was worth waiting and searching blindly ( actually i was looking for something else when stumbled upon How about Orange !!! still have to dig it .

My favorite is Green Market

I just Love the colors.You can check out Apartment therapy for details and two more cool palettes.

Egg Hatching and Library Books

2009-04-03T00:27:00.000-07:00

M is practicing her ever expanding vocabulary all the time now a days even in her sleep she cant stop. And the experimentation with newly learned words is hilarious. The other day she was "hatching" an egg by holding it in her hands what amazed me was that she knew it will turn into a chicken and then rooshter only that she cant hatch it not by holding it in her hand :)
Her books these days are all"library" books and our heater's pipe is "climbing" up.

Matching Sounds Bottles

2009-04-02T04:46:00.000-07:00

Yesterday unexpectedly I found "the empty bottles" they are just the right size (that I was searching and searching for ages to make the Matching Fragrances Game) There were thousands of them bundled in this shop near the one we go every day for grocery and Yup never new they were there...... got them for 3Rs. each. But once they were nicely sitting on my kitchen counter that I realized, I don't have enough essences! So Instead I made a Matching Sound Activity.Traditionally these are called matching cylinders here you can check out how to introduce them. I made mine my way :)

To make these I used 8 bottles to make 4 pairs, simply wrapped the bottles, I used a wrapping sheet that had a striped pattern, to wrap up the bottles and screw top lids. For half of the bottles I used 3 toned patches and for the other half plain blue to complement them, then I used the regular punch to punch some matching circles to be glued on top to further dress them up. Finally poured 4 different types of grains ( make sure that they all vary in size and quantity) to make one pair of each. Now for every 3 toned we have a matching sound in the plain one. You can put in different things , like rice, small bells, wooden beads etc to make more distinct sounds!

Although I have seen a few similar activities with colored markings on bottom as a control of error I didn't put them under mine as the sound bottles have a fantastic built-in control of error

I love this super di duper game and so Does M, as she listened to them so enthusiastically, shaking them alternatively, making music. She is not interested in making matches yet.To me that is perfectly fine she is never interested in it (never puts things in pairs right or wrong) and I hope that will come eventually.
the best thing is that she is still working with them and making lots of music :)

For David

2009-03-18T18:10:00.000-07:00

( the title should /could be "FOR IRFAN" as well )

Ok Now that really is a record for me ......, and this post is a responce to David from "The Technition" , First of all thanks for joining you are very welcome here. you really are a motivational........ ammmm "element"/ Spirit or whatever is the right word :)
its my 4th post in a row actually I was reading your blog and wanted to publish a comment there but it had some problem the comment page/box didn't open up. Just wanted to say that your last post really is Inspiring and it made me think what am I doing for the person I love Most?No I am not talking about M. Its Irfan my hubby dear and Best Friend :) waisai its difficult to tell "whom do I love Most ..Daughter or her father......??? or may be my 2 brothers and my parents..... Hmmm Can we measure and compare love :-? But Missy that still doesn't excuse you from answering the question. What do I do for Irfan? to show my Love, appreciation and all ?I think I do need to put some more effort and get up early, at least he deserves a decent breakfast !!!!
And then What about the others.....................

Another cool ...NO, Coolest Find

2009-03-18T17:49:00.000-07:00

Ok ok that's not like me... I know 3 posts in one day but i have to save and share this link for sure these guys have such cool ingenious stuff... i am simply drooling LOL. just check this out
for more creative options. These are so simple and most of us (Designers/Artists) use it off and on.... I have just suggested a packing of some painting with these kind of cards yesterday But it never occured to me that they could turn into such amazing toys with just a bit of color and thought of course ...Wow sure gonna make some one day.

So ...Many....Mine

2009-03-18T16:52:00.000-07:00

Actually it was "So Many Mine!!!!" (With a squeal of delight)
Two days ago M was playing, (yup playing not drawing or coloring) with her pencils, she just loves to open up and then roll back her pencil roll.So she opened it up and touching one pencil said "thish ish a mine" then touched another pencil looked at me "o thishish a mine" (this is mine) and the looking at all of them "Oooo So MANY mine!!! mommy SO MANY MINE "

Now a days she is experimenting with words and joining two or three words into sentences so usually its like filling in the blanks all day. "Horsey.... horse ?" (with a certain gesture) means where is the horse? and then "Oooo horsey"..... Means here it is :) so this means she wants to play hide and seek with her toy animals
"baby Goddy mommy goddy" means mommy please take this baby (some one elses) into your lap and keep him with you
Cant help but love my lil bee thats buzzing all the day now.

We eee Did It!!!

2009-03-18T16:23:00.000-07:00

Its cute... Its Cute.... IT IS CUTE..... even if i have to say so myself:)
and it took me solid 7 hours to make it.... ( i am working on a manual machine, without any templates/patterns and after 12 years... remember!!! )
Although the picture doesn't do justice to it, ( the picture is not of a very good quality as its from Irfan's Mobile) The model is not in the right mood either as baba was just home after a long day at studio and she wanted to play cricket while showing off her "baby chef" (thats the name for this hat ) LOL and there are other billion reasons i cant submit it to any award giving blog LOLs (which i think i'll never be able to ) reason being my love of shooting and uploading pics from an angle that clearly shows my lil ones expressions.... cant help it I just love to document her reactions and as they say an action is better than a million words (or something like this) .
So my "home economics" as they call it worked again and I created this pair without downloading any templates, So can you its pretty basic
I did a thorough research before starting one....ya my Montessori love :)
And M is can to put this on and off on her own with ease. It has velcro fasting on stretchable waist band and the neck loop is also stretchable.
i'll sure put up a few more pics later today.... it does deserve a better shoot ;) ok

* pics edited on 4th April

I Love My Lil Helper

2009-03-09T07:26:00.000-07:00

M and I made french toast today and yum yum yum they were Deeeelicious !!!
obviously I did the frying but M poured all the wet and dry stuff and mixy mixy mixy... She didn't like the idea of soaking the bread though coz it obviously hinders her mixing delight
and that reminds me of making an Apron and chefs hat for her ....... oops I am pretty LAZY

pics later!!

An Old Love Affair

2009-03-05T14:16:00.000-08:00

Now that I am home on a long long vacation my long lost love with sewing has started to surface again and the best part is that just like with the bicycle once you know how to you can not forget it. As a kid I enjoyed making little dresses for my dolls, bows and flowers for my clips and headbands. There was a time when I was always making something out of scraps and rags, then when I went to Homic I loved making more challenging Patchworks than the rest of the class. And then there came a long long gap ...for almost 12 years in which I didn't do any serious or non serious sewing and there was no particular reason
And now this Blogging world has once again motivated me to dust my skills and machine (that's my sister in law's) and it was very refreshing. ever since I saw a baby apron at chasing cheerios i wanted one for M and a few weeks earlier I saw this crayon roll project at my Montessori journey and instantly went to try it as it looked very very easy and yes it came out really nice . That encouraged me to indulge into a few more projects and yesterday I Bought these lovely fabrics to start with, have a look aren't they pretty And while I am trying my hand on stitching how could M not follow me so she is practicing her hand on sewing her beads ;)
Moreover I have cut up M's old dresses ( the once that I saved just for the purpose) and these are manly from the second year, to make a memory / I spy quilt. Here is my first attempt to arrange them but I am sure it will turn out a bit different coz I have a few surprises :)

Stringing Beads

2009-03-04T01:25:00.000-08:00

Finally i found a solution to create a Lacing /Stringing beads. I couldn't find them here in local toy stores and cant order from amazon. I saw this cool salt dough bead necklace at slugs on the refrigerator through crafty crow today and instantly I was like OK that's my solution . they are big, chunky,fun and easy to make. M definitely helped me made these big beads though hers were just flat chapatis :) the recipe is here.I painted them individually with acrylic paints.Now that the beads are done my next problem was to find a lacing needle and the solution!!! yes my simple hair pin with a spool and one bead tied at one end!
It was fun and I was amazed how quickly M got the hang of it...only a few tries and NO MOMMY in the room did the trick ;)

Lazy Blogger

2009-03-02T17:52:00.000-08:00

Yup that's me!!! despite the fact that my computer is always logged in and I am on net whenever I get time, I couldn't publish my own posts...
Well there are two main reasons first "I am not a writer... its very difficult for me to put things/thoughts in words (ya written words) and essentially I am a "reader" (if its a proper word) I LOVE reading and cant help it (even have books in my bathroom) and this leads to my second reason, "There are so many creative, inspirational blogs that just needs to be read and it took so much of my time and energies that I find it hard to write anything.
And still I am doing it :) Yes coz i know if I don't do it, there is no other way I could document anything at all and I want to keep some kind of a journal for M....Her first year scrap book is still laying somewhere in my cupboards (yes I am LAZY)

A Blog A Day

2009-02-27T06:26:00.000-08:00

Every day I find at least one new blog that blows my head away with its creativity, simplicity and very recently i found this blog and so so much in love with Montessori!!! she has explained each and every aspect of Montessori in the best way possible and all the down loadable templates ....simply mind blowing.
I have been planing to make an apron and a small I spy quilt for M but the first thing that actually stimulated me to do some machine work was her lil crayon roll while it was very simple I felt no need to search for a tutorial and I used fabric from my bedlinen stash. It came out pretty nice for the first try (only that it had 11 pockets instead of 12)
Now that its done I am planning to keep it for my own pencils/pens and make another one for M with one main change, I want to add up Velcro instead of the ribbon ties (though the ribbon sure looks nice) because I think that Velcro will make it more age appropriate for M as it will give her opportunity to open and close up the roll after using the crayons all by herself.

I Aint gona paint no more!!!

2009-02-17T11:44:00.000-08:00

This week's reading theme challenge was "I Ain't gonna paint no more" ... and yes as expected we didn't get this book either, its about a boy who (just like M) loves to paint and cant resist the MESS. The book we find and read instead was "The Magic Paint box" its a very interesting book that sure triggers the imagination as all the things have colors from this boys imagination and he sure loves to paint with his magic paint brush So the first activity we did was painting... yup plain simple painting..... to her heart's content (I wonder what she was thinking while putting and mixing up all those colors, the other day after a few random strokes she declared that its a monkey) And let me tell you she really REALLY is a messy painter and ever since I tried to take her hand prints, painting her hands became an essential part of painting Here is her master piece...what do u think it is?
Then next morning she painted bread for a colorful snack that was consumed mostly by me and Irfan :) I read a few negative comments about food colors on net but I was not worried about a tiny miny droplet of food color. I was only worried that she might try to eat other paints afterwards as she is still too young to differentiate between food color and regular paint but thank God she had a very clear idea that "we don't eat our paint" and my painter was only interested in painting. She hardly took a bite of painted bread.The paint is made by simply mixing 2 drops of food color in 2 Tbs Milk. M was pretty messy with this too. She tried to paint the bread just like her canvas (all the paint and all the colors go to just one spot) The best thing about this paints is that when you toast the bread it becomes even brighterThen in the evening we painted some more and ended up our day in a messy messy bath with bathtub crayons!!!
the recipe just follows

For bath tub crayons all you need is:

1 cup soap flacks
1 Tbs vegetable oil
3-4 Tbs water
2-3 food colors ( about 1/2 tsp each)
wax paper

To make:

1. Heat up the soap flakes oil and water in a saucepan on low heat
stir constantly
2. When the mixture becomes a bit thick add food color
3. Remove from heat and pour the contents on a plate to cool a bit
then kneed it for few minutes
4. Now give any shape that u or your lil one prefers
5. Wrap them in wax paper
6. Put them in the fridge to harden at least for a hour

you can store these in a fridge for at least 2 -3 weeks

go ahead and make a mess!!!

Paintingsssss

2009-02-12T06:23:00.000-08:00

Yesterday M and I enjoyed painting on canvas.It was the first time that i introduced acrylics and canvas to her.She handled the medium pretty well it was very sweet that she arranged all the color tubes on mat while I was getting the other stuff ready. We started off with two 1x1 feet canvases I gave one to M and painted a green background on the other one. M just loves mixing things up so its was the same brush that went in each color and the same spot that was painted over and over in circles.I think she was fascinated by the mixing and the way it turned into a new color. Funny thing is that she can't resist water actually she tried to paint only with water so I had to remove it. Then came painting with her hands. What I initially intended were canvases with her hand prints one with her painted background as she has just turned 2 and another one with coconut tree for chicka chicka boom boom theme challenge and ended up with these which no doubt are even cuter. She is now obsessed with the idea of painting her hands and printing them

Color Sorting

2009-02-08T10:29:00.000-08:00

Now that I just started getting worried about her color senses M finally displayed very good sense of color. Actually she never seemed interested in colors, while drawing she just picks up one color pencil or whatever medium and keeps on drawing with that and when I name any color she seemed oblivious or started reciting all the names that come to her mind. She never seemed interested in color sorting activities and today when I presented her with 4 plates with Red, Blue Yellow and green papers pasted in them and a tray full of colored balls (to my relief) she quickly sorted them out and she even named the colors :)
I think all the information was getting into that Little brain all that time but the "Balls" -her ultimate favorites- triggered it off. I read it on some Blog a while ago that the best way to introduce an activity is to incorporate the kids favorite theme/object with it now i am fully convinced :)

M's Second Birth Day

2009-02-07T02:23:00.000-08:00

Two days ago we celebrated M's 2nd Birthday. This year M had a Very Simple Birthday yet we all had as much fun.the day before BDay we were in the market till midnight searching for a perfect gift for our Sweet Heart and guess what we've Got? Yep its her fav. play house/tent from Beeka khala and a pack of 100 balls (to go in the tent) Plus an inflatable bop Bag in shape of gorilla from mommy and baba.Next day in the after noon we took M to Park. Today Flowers were the center of her attention and my!! were they Lovely! she simply didn't seem to get enough of them, just like a cute little butterfly fluttering from one pot to the other, from one flower bed to the other On the other hand she was not at all interested (I suspect she was scared) of climbing up the slide she only wanted to slide down so baba and Hassan Mamoo kept on putting her on the top and WhEEEHhhh .... she was as happy as can be to slide own again and again... what else could we do after all it was "Her Day"Then in the evening we went to Nano's ( that's my mom) and celebrated the big day with cake and some snacks. Amazingly for the first time M tried to blow the candles on her own Baba just suggested it, no one pushed her as she is scared of burning candles,( and loved to eat wax when they are not lit...even got a time out on this recently). and she kept on singing the Birthday song :)Nana jan and Nani Jan gifted her a tricycle ( actually that was cash for a tricycle obviously we have to chose it) then she played with her all time favorites blocks till we came back late night.

Spontaneity, Imagination and Cuteness

2009-01-28T01:20:00.000-08:00

I sometimes just marvel at the imagination and quick/spontaneous responses of very young kids. The other day while we were still in Hyderabad, two of M's cousins A and F , 4 and 3 yrs old were playing house. Now A was "mommy" and F was her baby when suddenly the younger one, F, said "OK now I'll be mommy and you'll be "Daddi Amma" (grand ma ) that was quite funny in its own as she didn't ask the other one to be her baby probably coz she is older but A's spontaneous response was hilarious ... She was quick to point out "Oh I am not THAT old"

On our way back from Hyderabad (on 1st Feb.) M also kept us well entertained she pretended all sorts of things we had My shawl tied to the opposite ends of a bunk to make our house and then M got these empty boxes, one on each hand and declared they were Mittens and 2 days later this wooden trunk in college was her horshiii, the turned up part in front does look like an animals head with an eye ain't it

slide !!!

2009-01-27T01:37:00.000-08:00

wow finally M got over her fear and took her first Slide! Yeh I mean real slide she even dared to climb up the monkey bars.... it sounds funny Now But it sure is a big achievment for a 23 months old I Believe
and that sure is the positive influence of her cousins :)
pics will come later!!

Vacations!!! Finally

2009-01-22T04:52:00.000-08:00

After two very very hectic weeks finally we are free and at M's grand parents in Hyderabad for vacation and M is having a blast. A new place , full time available parents, grand ma to appreciate and praise each and every utterance, so many cousins of her age (to play and Fight), open out doors, birds, cats, "baby cows", and dogs and sheep and what not!!! WoW ! so M sure is busy and very very happy :)

As for me I am even happier as i got two books that I longed for, the first one is "Letters for Emily " by Camron Wright . I so desperately wanted this so that i can pass it on to M when she grows old ... Ya it sure is that type of a book...only that i am not sure at what age should i give it to her ? well i guess i have plenty of time to decide that. The second one is "Teaching Montessori in the home" by Elizabeth G. Hainstock again I wanted this for M ( that's pretty obvious) I read its review online and it appeared to be a great book on homeschooling basics but the actual book is even better than my expectations.

Sanam, My sister in Law bought these for me on my request as I could never possibly find them here in Pakistan and the shipping charges were much too higher than the original price so i wouldn't ever dare to order them online..... A big Thank you to Sanam... I love you for this :)

First Reading Theme Challenge: The Mitten

2009-01-08T01:46:00.000-08:00

The first reading theme challenge of the year gave me the inspiration to make my second home made book for M. I found this simple version online and I am still working on Our book as i didn't want to simply print and bind it, will post about our book once its done so stay tuned.
Meanwhile I introduced the mittens to M by getting her a pair with cute lil bunnies on them. She hated mittens as an infant so we were not sure about her reaction this time... but to our surprise she simply LOVED them. so much so that now our "MetOons" are a constant with her :) also our lil "anomOls" can take shelter in them just like the story!!That gave me the clue to make a memory game !!! I am planning to make 5/6 pouches in form of mittens with an animal's paw's picture pasted in the front.I think it would be fun watching M making a guess about the animal inside. Lets see how long she takes to make a link between an animal and his paw print.The other activity that we created for this theme and put out every day is "match the mitten". I made 4 pairs of mitten M decorated them with her favorite mickey mouse stickers and we are ready to play. Instead of plain sorting into pairs of same color M loves to mix'n' match and count them.

please note that the theme continues till the end of this week so we still have 3 days!!! and that means more Mitten Activities :)

Matching Cards !!!

2009-01-02T16:06:00.000-08:00

Wow!! finally i manage to create the matching card activity for M. It was on my agenda for quite some time now. They were supper easy to make I just got two identical wall charts and cut them up into cards and that gave me 15 pairs
You can pick up any theme, I choose "safety measures" firstly because it gave the best opportunity to introduce safety measures (we all die to inject into our lil ones :)) in a very friendly manner. Secondly all the other themes like; shapes, animals, Alphabets etc we already incorporate and stress on in almost all toddler activities that the the theme seemed quite novel to me. then it had cute illustrations that will definitely add her vocabularyThe only problem that I have is that some of the illustrations don't show what they are saying like the one that says "do not play with detergents and medicine" shows the kid that seems very happy playing with the stuff he is not supposed to. Or the one with caption "do not climb trees"First I loved climbing trees as a kid and would never want to stop M from doing so ( of course i would want her to be careful) Secondly it shows a very nasty kid poking a nest which is a different issue all together. so I might skip these.I am planning to introduce these in batches of 4 to 5 sets at a time and our first session will hopefully start this sunday. lets see what happens when we do so. fingers crossed ;)

New Year Gifts

2009-01-02T03:19:00.001-08:00

For the new year i planned to make M an eye spy quilt that i haven't manage to start yet :p
So instead we gave her these " lets learn our first colors " and "number farm" by Paragon Publishing.

that is based on the Old MaDonald's farm and has 15 cute animals. I simply fell in love with this cute set as it has so much potential to grow with. Initially when I presented these to her she was not interested as was busy constructing and re-constructing a "Housh" with the pieces of her shape/color puzzle I made for her a couple of months ago.
She simply loved it and now the "An-ni-mOls" are all over our place :)

December Round Up

2009-01-01T12:50:00.000-08:00

Now here are a few highlights from Dec. 08 ( after 4the Dec. of course)
that's our response to Toddler theme "BLUE" 5th Dec.
and some more drawings by M can you spot a lion on the top left corner :)
and an Apppp-Lh!!!

then we also tried a hand on water colors on 16th. though it was more fun with color trays and water than with actual coloring
On 21st we had a brief and very disappointing (for us) trip to Lahore Zoo... but as it was M's first visit so she was pretty happy just watching the "So dear" (Deer) and elephant Suzi...
one to one chat with her SOoo Deer :)

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T10:05:00.000-08:00

OK so here is the first post of the new year :) so customarily it should be a round up of last month or last year ....but No the first post of new year is dedicated to my beloved friend who left us earlier last month. Though I planned to post at least one entry per day in December but the tragic death of my best friend and cousin Saira on the 7th of Dec. upset every thing..... I don't even have words to express my feelings, and though after a week or so we returned to our routine but still nothing is same.... I miss her every second of my life.Alas I don't have any of her pictures on this PC :(
And despite the fact that I logged on to my blog and kept a follow up of all the blogs that i love to read and learned so so much, still I don't know why I never manage to write a single post.

Now that its the 1st day of New year I just wanted to thank her for all the happiness she brought in our lives, She was a Perfect friend, perfect sister best Khala to M and the Best Girl i have ever known. We calibrated this new year remembering her so do i want to start the blogging year

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERY ONE :)

FunFelt Book

2008-12-04T00:58:00.000-08:00

To satisfy my latest obsession with felt board, yesterday I finally found (surprise surprise coz we usually don't have such stuff here in Pakistan) and right away bought this extremely cute Felt story book "Monkey's Tall Story" by Keith Faulkner. It is illustrated by Jonathan Lambert and has more than 35 felt jungle figures.. initially I was not planning to show this book to M yet because i thought she is too young to understand the concept of creating a story as it is being told.Pluss it had animals that are small and in silhouettes So i was afraid she either wont recognise them or the large number wont let her concentrateBut I was surprised to see that she can actually recognize many animals and had a lot of fun creating her own jungle on the small felt board provided in the book while i read the story to her.
hmmm this just reinforced my interest to create a felt board for her!!
she even put the pieces back after wards isn't that neat !!!

Open and Close

2008-12-04T00:18:00.000-08:00

This morning i introduced "open and close activity" to M . She already knows how to open and close simple stuff; that just needs pulling and pushing back, so i also included a few screw tops as well...though I fear this will make it difficult to deceive M in future ... (when she wants to open something and we want otherwise we pretend that we are pulling real hard and still its not opening) but that has to end eventually. and those screw tops were the ones she was more interested in.
Another thing that i introduced with this is the concept of proper "activity mat" I should have introduced it a long time back but to tell you the truth I was not sure how does it work or why was it so important.
First of all it helped giving a structure to the activity, it was much more focused and there was a definitely neat ending giving both of us opportunity to put things back so i guess it will reinforce the concept of tidying up once done * fingers crossed*And then there was this opportunity to pretend :) Here she is putting roll on deo and in the next one the essence bottle is her nail polish

Book Rack and Toy Corner

2008-12-03T11:05:00.000-08:00

Well I am not much of an organiser my self and doesn't want to pass my bad habits to her M so I guess its high time we get organised and also start her early on it. So the first thing first have to put all my stuff back to there original places after use and the comes M's turn ...but where is the proper place to put her stuff !!!! the answer is "M's corner"we already had this great toy box that holds most of her toys and also serves as a vehicle and a home and God knows what in her pretend play
but her books and other stuffed toys still needed a place of their own. So here comes our nice and simple book/toy rack. It is a simple chip board box which still needs finishing, it is screwed on the wall right beside our computer table in lunge at a height convenient for m so she can pick books and puzzles whenever she wants to and has a proper place to put them back herself .... ( she still needs a lot of practice on the second one)now our toy box has an additional purpose its also a stool now
i am planing to rotate the books and other activities as our collection grows

Birdie by M (drawn on 1st Dec.)

2008-12-03T10:03:00.000-08:00

Life really is like a joy ride ever since we got her in our lives.No day has passed since her birth that she didn't surprise us by something utterly cute and undeniably intriguing, we were still fascinated by her portrait and here she is with her BIRDIE .... don't know what to say about this one but sure it is as cut as M herself !!! cant take my eyes off this cute thing with her small beak ( which reminds me of my sweetie's pout) and the open wing ! The best part is that she knew what she was drawing (the flag on the right is drawn by irfan i guess)

Cool Finds

2008-12-02T07:27:00.000-08:00

Finally i got this very very cute ticker from the ticker factory for our blog and i got another cute one for my facebook account too (i have been trying to get one for a long long time )
And there is more, i found two very nice sites brightly beaming resourse and Hubbard's cupboardwith all the curriculam planned, activities organised and guidlines set even i feel confident to home school....naaaa just kidding :) i dont really want to "home school" M, I am just trying to give her an enviornment that i hope and pray will inculcate the love for learning and knowlege in her ( blieve me its not as dull and boring as it sounds, its a lot of fun for the two of us ) and i guess thats what Maria montessorie's philosophy is all about.

First Portrait

2008-11-28T11:53:00.000-08:00

This morning M surprised us with this drawing of this absolutely cute face, what was more interesting was that she named each part as she drew.... I..eys ( eyes) "mouth" and "Ed" head and finally "FACE"Well yes Irfan drew a lot of simple objects that she recognises most of them immediately like the other day he drew two wheels and a triangle and M cried "CikhaAl" (bicycle). A child's profile is also visible in the upper half of the page with M's rendering ofcourse :) Yet non of us has ever asked her to draw anything specifically exept for the eyes coz she always draw these small spirals and cal them eyes.... so i didnt really pay attention first when she said Ieyes... but was totally awestruck when i saw what she was doing
And when the drawing was finished she had to color it ...right!!! so these strokes are actually an attempt to "colol" (color)ruined my immediate plans of getting it framed :(

One New Addition

2008-11-26T04:09:00.000-08:00

to M's Toy chest is this3 colorful wires threaded with multicolored wooden beads I guess its best for fine and gross motor skills and also an unexpected trigger for her imagination.... i was surprised when i heard wruummmm WRrrRummm... wRUUUm..... coming from M... Oh my!! she was pretending these beads as cars on road or at least it appears so :) but what ever it was , it really was a shock!
she has also started recognising and naming some colors pPhink is always accompanied by Ello (yellow)
She even loved its bigger model in the shop but i am obviously content with this lil one :) Serving its purpose right I guess.

M's Basket Ball

2008-11-26T01:56:00.000-08:00

Irfan introduced this "basket ball" game to M a few days ago and she is so much into it that this laundry basket is now M's favorite toy :)

well we didn't actually "made" anything its just giving a new meaning to the same old stuff at hand..... the game is multi layered, we take turns , or else M plays alone we can set a spot to through the ball from a distance or she can just pop the ball in at the count of 3.... its what i call creative hehe... its Fun and its Free!!

Round Up of a crazy month

2008-11-26T01:12:00.000-08:00

So here we are after a whole month... whole month of craziness....
college... trips to market and tailor and adda walas and again college..... assignments.. and get together and to top it all the craziness of being a mom
Never the less it was a month full of fun, will put up pictures about that from time to time (ya I am planning to update this post from time to time) so keep popping in for wedding pics and a whole lot of activities from this month!!

Toddler Theme Thursday

2008-10-18T14:58:00.000-07:00

Although i know we are late for this post but here is the account of our very first toddler theme Thursday with "black and white animals" never the less.
We overlooked the animal part for most of the time. Despite the fact that she is a great painter M doesn't know the names of the colors except for ED * red* and i think this week's theme is a great way to introduce the names of the two colors, " white" and "black" .
To start with I kept pointing out at things that are in either black or white from time to time and this eventually turned into an i spy kind of a game with asking which color is which"

Then came the part that M liked best "Drawing " yes with black and white or rather white ON black. For this I used a black textured chart paper and white chalk the only thing that M didn't like was the chalk being broken again and again our "black an white" master piece

The third activity was more of my satisfaction than hers :) we did lacing for that .... YES Finally we made a lacing penguin!!! I was waiting for an opportunity to introduce lacing/sewing to her and it was fun. The procedure is simple I drew a penguin,round pot bellied work for me (you can get thousand templates on line if you want!!!) according to that drawing I marked and cut one large and one small black circle, one medium size white circle, two wings in black and two white circles for eyes one triangle for beak and two feet in yellow.Then came gluing n pasting and for the first time M was introduced to glue (mommy's pride she didn't try to eat IT!!!) i glued them all on a mount board the outline of penguin is then cut into mount board and finally the wholes were punched all around the outer edge. The white shoe lace completed it off... simple ! As we were doing lacing/sewing for the first time M couldn't follow the sequence and it was taking her ages to pass the lace from single whole :) so a lot of praising goes with it and she didn't bother to complete the circle either..... but that's Fine I guess!!

Transferring Lentils 10-17-08

2008-10-17T10:07:00.000-07:00

It is a saved draft from last month that i am putting up now

Introduced this work to M today and i was quiet sure that she'll like it as she likes to transfer her food form one dish to other and to her glass during lunch times.

she did prety good job for 10-15 min. but after that the lentils were all over the place as was expected :)
though she is pretty well at coordination we'll sure do it again its a lot of fun for her and she still needs to practice her learned skills

An Amazing Blog

2008-10-11T13:34:00.000-07:00

hi guys I have found yet another exiting blog on kids activities .... mind you its not toddler stuff but our younger siblings or older kids will definitely love this one there are so many mind stimulating activities ,in fact i think even I can give it a try, looks like a lot of fun. Its called "Think " and yes it will make u THINK . Just check it out
http://kidswhothink.blogspot.com/

First Patterns

2008-10-11T04:22:00.000-07:00

I think this one doesnt need any explanation!! like drawing blocks are part of our daily routine (Infact they are almost always out)

These pictures were taken on sept,18th 2008

The Messy Messy Vege Printing or is it Painting ???

2008-10-01T16:08:00.000-07:00

well i need to consult the so called gatekeepers of ART for that ............. na don't have time for that crap so be it art or craft it works for me either way :)

master piece

It was our last fun Activity on Eid Day before M went to bed it started off pretty neat with simple blocks made out of veges. I wont go into the details coz everyone knows how to do it. the new thing was the color pads I didn't want regular stamp pad as they come in the most boring color of all so I created two stamp pads of my own. for this we just needed two poster colors and some spare cotton fabric and of course two plates. Initially I used tissue paper to make the pads they are important to control the runny paint but it didn't work out properly then I tried out some waste fabric folded into small pad and WOW it was amazing. it soaked the color so well and didn't tear and didn't dry out as fast as the tissue. Then I showed M how to put the veges block first into the stamp pad and then onto the paper; One... Two... Three... (dip dip dip)... on paper! but for M it was more fun with One... Two... Three... (dip dip dip) ... and on paper paper paper paper..... till all the color came out It went on for quiet some time till M decided to paint with the pads as well and then with her hands :) it was messy but FUNwell the artist is signing her work .... hehe she cant help drawing with the pen

but i sure need to get her an apron soon :/

First Day Of Eid

2008-10-01T14:12:00.000-07:00

This post is exclusive for the Eid Day Activities and the one and only goal was to have fun! and a lot of dressing up too ;)

sorry I didn't take the photos kind of step by step but it sure was fun watching M today. Her getting Dressed so early and so enthusiastically. For First Day Of Eid she had a gharara set complete with bead work,matching bangles,earrings, a cute dupatta, and matching silver sandals..... what more could a Lil girl ask for ( well she didn't even ask for this :p It was All Mommy's fancy come on ITS HER SECOND EID )

and the missing items were filled in by her cute friends Ummiya and Rayha who gave her a cute lil bag and this very pretty necklace with some stick on hair accessories ( which sadly didn't stick to her short and unruly hair). What amazed us most was that throughout the day she didn't once ask to remove any of the accessories so i assume that like all silly girls she likes to dress up :)

she even took her morning nap all dressed up !!!

and here is a fun picture to complete it all, M is obsessed with mirrors and tooth brush these days so after dressing up she thought it might be a good idea to brush her teeth...... (well in front of the mirror it didn't seem that a bad Idea ...kyoon Miral) lol then in afternoon we went to visit nana, nano and hassan mamoon here are some shots in their

At Nana's place we did a lot of bird watching, building blocks loads, loads of baby TV the best of all was counting and building towers with Apples !!!

we wound up our day with a very interesting block / vege printing that we tried for the first time but that deserves a separate post so

Happy Eid To All !!!

Temperamental Differences

2008-09-19T15:52:00.000-07:00

Today I want to share few very interesting articles regarding behavioral development and its effects. I believe that Parents feel more effective as they more fully understand and appreciate their child's unique personality because it appears that "When parents understand how their child responds to certain situations, they an learn to anticipate issues that might present difficulties for their child. They can prepare the child for the situation or in other cases they may avoid a potentially difficult situation all together".I accidentally came across this article "Different Strokes for Different Folks" while searching for toddler development (though this article is originally posted in tween and teens label and as a mom of a 19 months old I hardly go to areas labeled with age groups above preschoolers.)

And this was so fascinating that i actually ended up searching for the "9 temperamental traits"

and then their are other titles like coping with your child's personality in the same page that are really helpful!

happy parenting!!

Fancy Pens

2008-09-17T14:55:00.001-07:00

well this is not perticularlly a montessori inspiered activity yet as i believe in what maria montesori believed "seeing becoms reading and touching becomes writing" so i labeled it montessori, in fact its not even a planed activity. yet it is somthing that M loves to do at any given time of the day (or even night) and this cute addition to M's beloved stationery is all around the place now!!!

these cute "burrrds" and "haarts" ballpoint pens were gifted by Asma Mos this weekend and since then M asks for them every 5 minutes or so, and now they are out with her sketchbook or any spare paper all the time..... eating , playing with blocks, laying on floor, relaxing ,sitting, watching Baby TV......any time

what interests me most is the fact that she is not apparently fascinated by the soft fathers or the birds or hearts, though she mentioned "burrrds"once or twice in the beginning but after that she didn't touch it didn't play with it, even doesnt seem to notice them while drawing.... strange!

and with a ban on crayons;.... (ya you heard it right! she is not gonna use crayons for some time now all thanks to her taste buds..... she cant resist the tasty yummy (yukky) crayons) this fascination seems to last a bit longer.

Little Cook's First Dish

2008-09-16T18:43:00.000-07:00

I am not so sure if these come into junkies or what but M and I are in love with these instant noodles these days .
This is one dish that M loves to help me with. Whenever i ask her if she wants to help me prepare noodles she has this cute smile on her face that is accompanied by the continuous nodes throughout. this is how it goes......
first thing first..... the ingredients

one pack of 2 min noodles

1 & 1/2 cup water

Miral
and some cooked chicken or veggies (if M allows)

First Mommy opens the packet and divides the whole noodle cake into two then its M's turn to break it into small pieces (mom helps with this too)

then comes the best part we drop the small noodle pieces into water !!! (cold) and M can do it for ages at a stretch ( i simply have to end it with a polite that's enough thank you thingie)
then M usually takes a bath and practice her pouring skills once again while mom cooks and add some seasoning &veggies/chicken
last night she relaxed on her favorite spot and waited for the noodles to cool down

and finally its time for our hard earned meal on her beloved cushion :)

**I still need to get her a few kitchen aids!!!

Ice Cream momy..... what else!!!

2008-09-14T16:43:00.000-07:00

Oh how much I love this dirty face and naughty smile :)

Our Very Own Puzzles

2008-09-12T18:05:00.000-07:00

Its been a month that these puzzles are a part of our daily play,( made 05-09-08) yet I had to force my self to take the pictures and made an entry :) , M still doesn't help me much with this kind of craft but soon i will start involving her in it. I think she can help with the glue now ( it could be messy though) and selection of pictures of course
any way for this one I took mount sheet ( from framer) and last years calender (Iqbal books) featuring cats that M is crazy about and retro backgrounds
then I glued the one that were simple and it had "flowers" M's Favorite and "Khat" in the posture that was simplest. As I wanted to make it super simple I made a super obvious mistake :) M was not interested after attempting it once or twice.

then i realized my mistake !!! I cut it diagonally into four pieces..... it had no keys to give clue and the triangles can fit in so many ways :( ... and she couldn't get her "khat" so for the second one I kept the cat faces intact and divided it into just two piece with two keys

this one is a hit !

she even tried putting it in reverse and side ways and she is as happy with it(her self applause is a clear indication that she is happy with what she is doing)

I never really realized that completing a task (the way they perceive it) is that important for a toddler. (though we read about it all the time)