Telling It Like It Is

You know how you have that friend that is always brutally honest with you when you need it. She tells you if you look fat in your new jeans. She will call you out if you were the one who was in the wrong in your big fight with your husband. She is a straight shooter when you need it. I have one of those friends. She is my 3 year old daughter.

She does not sugar coat for my feelings.

“Mama, you have a fat belly.”

That means it is time to do crunches.

“Mama, your breath is so stinky.”

I have got to lay off the coffee.

Kids are honest. Sometimes that honesty is brutal, but they call them like they see them. The other day she said something to me that I was not expecting.

“Mama, I noticed you are cranky a lot. That is not OK.”

Out of the mouth of babes folks. Having your child make a statement like that is eye opening. She was not lying. I have been dealing with some difficult issues lately and I guess I have not exactly been a ball of sunshine, but I thought that I was putting on a happy face for my munchkin. Children of course are much more perceptive than we think. There is not much that you can get past them. Mommy has been cranky a lot lately baby & you are right that is not OK.

Thank you for being that honest voice in my head. Whether you are calling me out for breaking one of my own rules or telling me that I am the best mama in the world, you make me want to be better. Keep telling it like it is.

Toddler Science Made Easy

I must have lived a very sheltered childhood because there are so many things that I never did as a child. Having a child of my own, I have been introduced to so many things that I missed out on when I was young. It is as if I am reliving my own childhood vicariously through her. My husband on the other hand has the inside scoop on all sorts of fun stuff that I never heard of, mostly in the form of science experiments. He introduced me to baking soda volcanoes last year & then the other day when I came home from grocery shopping he was working with Mai on another one.

I walked in the door to see my husband & daughter playing with a Cartesian Diver. I am sure many of you have heard of this, but this is one I missed as a child. I must have dozed off during science class that day. It was such a simple concept and I was as fascinated by it as my daughter was.

Cartesian Diver

All you need is a clean soda bottle, water, & a ketchup packet (or in our case a duck sauce packet) Do a float test first on the packet to make sure that it floats.

Fold the packet in half the long way to insert it into the bottle.

Fill the bottle all the way to the top with water & put the cap back on.

Squeeze the sides of the bottle. The little ones will need two hands. Squeeze the bottle & watch the packet sink.

Let go of the bottle & let it float back up.

Mai had so much fun that it inspired a few more experiments.

Salt & Ice Experiment

All you need for this experiment is some ice, salt & food coloring.

On a baking tray, lay out some ice. You can choose to use a large sheet or cubes.

Sprinkle salt on the cubes. The salt will cause the ice to beginning melting where sprinkled.

Squirt different colored food coloring onto the ice & watch as it seeps into the ice and follows the melted tracks. It makes a lovely effect.

We also had some fun experimenting with oil & water this week. For more on our oil & water experiments please check out our latest article in SEEK MAGAZINE.

Thank you as always for stopping by. Please follow us on Facebook as well.

7 Fun Cleaning Day Activities For Kids

When you have a toddler, cleaning your home is not always the easiest thing to do. Having an only child, I am in charge of my daughter’s entertainment, so when I am busy, she wants my attention. Today our house needed a good cleaning, but Mai wanted to play.

On Cleaning Day, there is a lot of potential for fun. Here are some fun activities for your kiddos while you clean.

1. Cushion Mountain-  Is it time to clean your sofa cushion covers? While they are in the washer, pile up your cushions in a safe, clear area & let them have some fun.

2. Let Them Help Out- We may not like our chores, but give a kid a broom and they are tickled pink. There are many chores your child can help you with, sweeping, dishes or wiping down tables.

3. Loose Parts Play- Cleaning out a junk drawer or throwing out other odds & ends around the house? Give them to your child to play with, provided that they are clean & safe. Playing with loose parts is a fabulous way for a child to work their imaginations.

4. Sheet Forts- Are you stripping your bed to make way for clean sheets? Use your dirty sheets to make a monster sheet fort.

5. Laundry Basket Or Hamper Fun- Laundry day is always fun for our daughter. Kids love to jump into an empty laundry basket. Our daughter has a pink collapsible hamper. When it is empty she likes to pretend that she is Sheriff Callie & ride it like a horse. “Giddy up, Sparky!”

6. Obstacle Course- If you clean the house anything like me, you tear it apart & trash it before you put it back together. With all the moved tables & chairs, cushions & laundry baskets lying around, it is a great opportunity to build an obstacle course. Climb over the ottoman, jump over a broom, crawl under the play table and climb your cushion mountain to victory.

7. Imaginary Beach- Before you throw those sheets and blankets in the washing machine, lay them down on the floor for some imagination play. We placed a blanket down for our water & a sheet for our sand. We broke out a few shovels & beach toys and our daughter’s mind did the rest. Lunchtime? Let them have a beach picnic.

You don’t need to wait for cleaning day to enjoy these activities. These are fun on any day.  I have to admit that I stopped cleaning to join in on some of the fun too. Before we put our couches back together, we let our princess do one more thing. The princess did not feel the pea on her royal bed, but then again I had just swept the floor. Happy cleaning.

Thank you as always for stopping by. Please follow us on Facebook as well.

Paint Scrape Art

One of my favorite things about my daughter is her creativity & her imagination. I love her ability to think outside of the box. Give her a box of random odds & ends and she can turn it into hours of fun. We have a container full of plastic forks & spoons that have become her most recent source of fun. A while back she traded in her paint brush for the day & attempted to paint a picture with a fork. While the fork did not quite do the job that she wanted, it did create a nice textured effect. So when Mai asked me to do a project a few days later, I thought we would pull out those forks again & create a pretty craft.

You can of course create a figure of your choosing, but for our purposes we chose a flower & peacock.
Using several different colors of construction paper, cut out different colored shapes for the petals, leaves, stem & center of your flower as shown below.

Paint over one shape each at a time.

Mai works ahead of me on the peacock, while mommy does the flower.

Before the paint dries, use your plastic fork & drag it across the paint to scrape off some of the paint & reveal the under color. Do this for all shapes & let dry.

Mai’s little hands are hard at work, scraping the paint off in various designs.

Glue your pieces into place on top of a piece of paper.

Let dry & proudly display your artwork.

For the peacock, we used the same method. We cut out different colored construction paper, 9 teardrop shapes for the feathers, 3 hook shapes for the head feathers & one the shape of an eggplant for the body. All steps were followed as above & then googly eyes & a construction paper beak & legs were added at the end.

Thank you as always for stopping by. Please follow us on Facebook as well.

Sunday’s Best Link-Up #6-Love Is In The Air

Welcome to Week 6 of  Mother 2 Mother’s Sunday’s Best Linkup.  Each month we will feature a theme, this month the theme is Love Is In the Air. Smooches! Please share your favorite posts on anything or anyone that you love. This can be recipes, Valentine’s crafts, scrapbook layouts, how you met your husband or significant other, your children etc. You decide.  

Don’t have posts that fit into the theme, link up whatever post you would like to share. Anything goes here. You may link as many posts as you would like. Each week a post will be selected and featured the following week.  An image from your post will be used on my blog the following week with a link back to your blog.  Be sure to check back to see if you’re the Sunday’s Best featured blogger of the week. 

Please meet my new co-host, Kim, and her beautiful daughter from Pinterested Parent. Kim shared a great post last week Pasta Love Bug Crafts. They are adorable and perfect for rainy or snowy day. Please check it out and connect with her.  

           Rhonda – Mother 2 Mother                                  Kim – Pinterested Parent

If you are interested in co-hosting the next Sunday’s Best linkup, please contact me for details.   

Get your post(s) ready for March.  The theme is Spring Forward. We’re looking for spring crafts, Easter decorating ideas, Easter tablescapes, recipes, anything that you love to do in the spring and would like to share.  

Here’s the rules, please connect with Kim and Me on social media before you leave or subscribe to our blogs:  

Mother 2 Mother: Please like my Facebook Page, follow me on Twitter,  Google+, Pinterest, BlogLovin or subscribe/join my blog on the right before you leave.   

The Pinterested Parent: Please like Kim’s Facebook Page, follow her on Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, Bloglovin before you leave.  

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One last thing before we get the party started, please grab the Sunday’s Best button above and place it on your sidebar or Tweet the linkup using the hashtag #SundaysBest. I appreciate your help in promoting the linkup with Re-tweets and shares.  

The Sunday’s Best Posts are:

 

Kim selected Pottery Barn Inspired Cork Wine – by Purple Hues and Me

and 

 I selected Easy Cardboard Letters – by Redo It Yourself Inspiration
All of the posts were great, and I appreciate each of you linking up.  We honestly had a hard time making selections, and would like to invite all of you back to linkup your post again this week. While your’re here take a minute to visit these great blog and connect with Gail and Robin.  These ladies are quite crafty.   

Now, lets link up those posts and be sure to visit a few other bloggers who have posted while you’re here. This is a great way to meet and connect with new bloggers. Be sure to PIN or share any posts that you like, we all appreciate a little love.     

 

An InLinkz Link-up

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