Since I am a work-at-home mom, some days I find myself grabbing at straws (often, literally) trying to find activities to entertain my 16 month old. Some days we color, go to the park, take long walks, feed the ducks, build towers, or play dress up. However, my toddler's 20 minute attention span is hard to keep up with most days. I try to keep a flexible schedule and find new things to expand her experiences.
Lilli loves to watch us cook, she especially likes to see and touch each ingredient. Sometimes, it seems, that she is more open to trying new foods if she watches it being made from it's parts. So last week we made homemade play-doh and a huge mess.
At first, Lilli just looked from the lumps of dough and then to me with curious eyes. She seemed afraid to get messy, which isn't surprising since she's a pretty tidy kid. So I had to take things into my own hands. I made my best Elmo replica, letters of the alphabet and a few other recognizable animals and slowly she became interested. It took some coaxing and plenty of explaining that it was alright to get a little messy, but by the end of the day she was elbow deep in exploration.
Though I shouldn't have been, I was surprised that she was more interested in the texture and composition of the dough rather than creating something from it. She squeezed it between her tiny fingers, made tiny crumbs, and mashed lumps of dough with all of her might. While clean up was less than fun for me, it was worth the experience for the both of us. Since I love crafts, it feels like this is the beginning of an exciting new phase of being a mom. I finally am starting to teach her something I truly enjoy, a part of myself that she wasn't able to with me before now. It will be a little while before we're doing sewing projects or making jewelry together, but this beginning is inspiring and exciting.
"Song of the Entry"
(song and blog go out to Aunt Meghan for her play-doh recipe and awesomeness)
