Getting Ready For Halloween!

Hi again,

If you still remember, we don't celebrate Halloween here but I can't deny there are a lot of fun ideas all over Pinterest about Halloween. Sarah helped me prepare a ghost jello, the jello was blue and we added whipped cream for the ghosts (Nutelle for the eyes and mouth :).

Here is the sensory tub I prepared for her (she hasn't seen it yet):

Here's what's inside:

• corn
• spiders
• rats
• house (hunted house)
• pumpkin
• ghost stickers
• googly eyes
• carving tools
• skeletons
• spider webs
• snakes

We also celebrated daddy's Birthday, I did the cake. Not very talented but it was so nice that we were all together. You can see how big Farida has gotten and how proud daddy was :)

Thank you for sharing our fun moments. Please come back soon.

Love,

The Very Hungry Caterpillar!

Hi,

As you knew from the previous post, we'll be one day late in our posts so for instance, Mad Science Sunday will be written on Monday morning. 

So what happened yesterday? A lot of fun and giggles :)

I had this idea in my mind for some time now and finally got to implement it. I asked Sarah to bring her book "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" and brought our sensory caterpillar (brought from the dollar store) and began. I got some sources from Here and Here.

Mommy began telling the story, Sarah shared the caterpillar with Farida. As they were touching it, I pointed to the different textures.

An egg on a leaf.

I then asked Sarah to bring the fruits that were mentioned in the story if she had any in her toys :)

Searching for them.

Matching the items with the cards.

Mommy was still narrating the story and Sarah pointing to what mommy says in her card.

And then, she told me to wait, went to her hair accessories and brought her butterfly :)

We made the cards into a chain for later use ;)

And then, I gave Sarah coloring pages and asked her to hole punch each according to the number she finds on it which the caterpillar has eaten. She did pretty well. 

p.s. Sarah couldn't use the hole punch in the beginning so we practiced some before even reading the story until she got the hang of it.

Now, it was coloring time of course. I was very determined this time to make Sarah try to color in between the lines and she did. Here's a tip. Before, when Sarah did anything she considered wrong and panicked, I used to tell her that there was no problem. Sarah started saying "No problem" for every and anything so we switched these words and they had a magic effect. Instead of saying "No problem", we say now "we'll be more careful next time:)" It really helped make a huge difference.

Very focused.

She was tired by the fifth coloring page, lol.

But mommy wasn't tired and knew how to get the spirit back ;) I don't like relying on theoretical studies only. We had to put them into action so we headed to the supermarket looking for all the things that the caterpillar ate with the cards chain in our hands (I told you, we'll use it later). We touched and smelled every one and to make it more fun, we said we'll run and see who spots it first. Of course, I knew where everything was but I pretended I did not and let her see it first. Here you can ask many questions about the colors and the numbers that the caterpillar ate (for memory purposes).

The only thing that we didn't find was "plums" and it was my opportunity to ask her to see if she noticed. She did notice but couldn't remember the exact word but now she does :)

To have some more fun (which turned out to be torture for mommy, thanks to you Liz, lol), we decided to make some cupcakes using marshmallow fondant. Well, I didn't imagine that it has so much sugar (I told you I sucked in the kitchen), I'm sure this is why I hate cakes. Second, after finishing, I came to huge appreciation for you guys who can do it (including you Liz) and for the bakers, I'll pay for the next cake with no regrets :)

of course, there had to be lots of tasting :)

Forgot to mention, in the kneading process, we both hated it. Sarah was about to cry from the very sticky texture. I knew I must have done something wrong but didn't care anymore because I wanted to be done :( 

Finally back to some fun :)

Our sick Caterpillar, lol.

She liked it, mommy almost puked from this much sugar.

Note that Sarah doesn't eat that much sugar ever (except with grandma and aunts ;) but I don't mind giving it to her from time to time so it was her treat for the hardworking day.

Thank you for being with us and again, I hope you enjoyed.

Love,

House Chores!!!

Hi,

We are back! Can house chores be any fun? Yes, with a curious and helping toddler like mine, it can be. The three of us are alone most of the days, grandpa (my dad) is working most of the day so it's our responsibility to keep the house clean, do the laundry, do the dishes, cook and get the groceries. I am no super woman so I won't be able to do all of that all by myself everyday and entertain my toddler and take care of my baby all at the same time all by myself so I had to ask for some help and Sarah was up to it. This child is hungry for learning, learning everything, her curiosity has no limits and I think this is the best advantage in all kids. In Egypt, a lot of moms, my mom included, think that teaching their kids house chores at young age is not required. Later, when mothers ask their children to help and they do, the children are slow because they were never trained, moms get frustrated so they dismiss the idea in order to finish in time and the children who eventually grow up learn nothing and can't take care of themselves. I'm struggling in cooking because of this, I struggled in organization because of this, I struggled in the beginning of my marriage because of this, I couldn't peal a potato, chop an onion, iron clothes or even fold the laundry BUT I don't want this for my kids so they will learn and they will help.

I am so happy to announce that sarah now can take care of herself to a great extent. She brushes her teeth on her own, changes her panties and pants, takes off her T.shirt, jacket, ..etc, puts on socks and works on the shoes, feeds herself (although sometimes lazy;), washes her hands and dries them and uses the toilet. I taught her to help me sort the laundry long ago by engaging her, she gives me the clothes item and tells me who it belongs to and its color while I fold it and she loves this job. Every morning, she helps me tidy the beds and helps me changing Farida's diapers. She also helps me bathe Farida. Today, she helped me chop apples (to prepare apple sauce) using butter knife and she diced the potatoes with me. She also helped me wash the dishes, we used two trays, one soapy and one with water only and she was extremely happy and focused. She also helped me in mashing the apples. We still have a lot to work on but so far, we are happy and Sarah feels responsible and is so proud of herself when I talk about what she does to her daddy, grandpa and grandma. She is my big girl:) Pardon me, I didn't take a lot of pictures because we were really busy and I had to be very careful watching her using the butter knife, ...etc so here is the pictures I got for today:

And for the record, we cooked the best meal ever today. Here is the recipe for you Liz,

chopped onion with some butter until it turns golden yellow, add ground beef (don't hate my, Liz) until cooked, add green peas and diced carrots with 1/2 cup of water, leave until half cooked and then add the diced potatoes and zucchini with more water until well cooked, add tomato paste and add some lemon juice, salt, black pepper and cumen, cook some more. Scatter some mozarella on the top and move to the oven. leave for about 15 minutes and voila!

Thanks for reading.

Love,
Sherine