My little baby has become quite the explorer! We are in full baby proofing mode and you can't leave anything on the floor (even a crumb) without this curious George getting a hold of it!

So tonight while prepping dinner, Parker discover a butternut squash seed that I dropped and with high concentration worked at picking it up...to of course stick it in his mouth! So while hollowing out my squash for dinner, I save the seeds and stringy innards for him to explore under more careful supervision while he waited for his salmon and squash to bake.

He found the seeds to be the most interesting part and worked for several minutes using his pinchers to pick up each seed one by one. He also used his hands to smear the orange. slimy squash all over the white butcher paper in a lovely display of artistic brilliance- aka mess!  This is not only a great sensory experience but butternut squash (acorn or pumpkin) are so very delicious and an awesome compliment to just about any dinner.  Dual purpose! Perfect for a busy mom! 

Happy Baby=Happy Mama!

Cold hands!  Parker didn't seem to mind the cold at all! We played with this ice block until we had a mess all over the floor- then moved the action to our kitchen sink! I put colorful ribbons that I used for a previous play activity into the bottom of a round baking dish, filled it with water and stuck it in my freezer for a day.  I let the block sit out for a while so that he could feel and grab the ribbons. Once the ice really started to melt he grabbed the ribbon and made the block move quickly against the side of the pan so that ice chunks and water was everywhere! Definitely worth trying with your baby or toddler! :) 

I had every intention of having a "controlled mess" for this mother's day card making project! I found a cute pinterest photo of two baby handprints made into flowers and tried best to replicate by painting Parker's hand and placing it gently on the construction paper! HA! Parker doesn't do gentle anymore and does not like being controlled so it turned into a messy disaster of fun- I glued a heart on the card that said "Happy Mother's Day" and the grandparent's got an authentic home-made card with pictures of him making the gift. 

We started with just the hands and then I gave him a textured ball to play with as well. I bet we would have only had half the mess without the ball as of course it ended up bouncing and rolling on my floor! Oh my! But my floors needed a good cleaning anyhow and Parker is washable :) You may think that the mess is not worth it but I promise it was so much fun for both of us. There is so much learning that happens when a child gets to see and do for themselves... mixing colors with his hands, watching the cause and effective of the paint splatter when he smacked the ball down on the paper (or threw it on the floor!) and seeing the marks that his little fingers and hands make on the paper and tray. 

Give painting with your baby a try and do not forget to keep the camera close by for some awesome messy shots! 

Happy Baby=Happy Mama!

It seems so fitting that since my little Parker loves cats so much that I get him a ball of yarn!  He very much acted like a little kitten as well- using all limps to grab and hold the yarn, bite the yarn and play chase with the yarn! He practiced using his pinching skills to pick up the thin object as well as coordinating two hands at the same time to put tension on a string to manipulate it in the way he wanted. Oh and of course he also worked on his new "trick" of army crawling across the floor to chase the moving pieces that I attached on to a small dowel rod- just like a kitty!  It is the simple things! And we played with these pieces of yarn for many days!