Baby Squared : activities for toddlers

Activity of the Week: Happy Birthday To You

Roper — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 11:06:00 GMT

I haven't done an 'Activity of the Week' in a while, I guess because with the weather being better and the girls being more self-sufficient, it hasn't been as much of a challenge to figure out ways to keep them entertained. And actually, this particular activity is one that they pretty much came up and do all by themselves. I just keep them supplied with the necessary materials, and suggest helpful enhancements from time to time, when they'll let me.

See, Clio and Elsa are obsessed with birthdays. This began shortly after their own birthday, back at the end of the December, and kicked into high gear when they went to their friend Amelia's 2nd birthday in Februrary. The obsession has manifested itself in a variety of ways: first, they just sang the Birthday Song constantly. Then, they started constantly asking for / calling everything sweet "Happy to you" cake. (We successfully introduced the idea of *pretend* happy to you cake, as well.) Then, for a while, they wanted us to draw birthday cakes for them. If you looked through our recycling bin anytime this March through May, you would find page upon page of crayon drawings of birthday cakes -- usually double tiered, with lots of fancy, squiggly decorations, and candles, of course. (I really honed my birthday cake-drawing technique. If for some reason you ever need a drawing of a birthday cake, I'm your gal.)

Now, the big birthday activity is making "Happy birthday to yous" -- their term for birthday presents. It's quite simple: you take a piece of paper, draw on or a put a sticker on it if you like, and carefully crumple it up. Then, you hand it to the nearest adult and say "I made you a happy birthday to you!" As the lucky adult recipient, it's your job to say, "Oh, wow! It's beautiful! Thank you!" and carefully unwrap it to reveal -- nothing. (I tried, once, to introduce the idea of wrap little things up inside their "presents" --- toys, legos, etc. -- but that just pissed them off. They obviously know what they're doing.) One thing I have contributed to this game, which they like, is giving them new materials to work with -- aluminum foil, construction paper, wrapping paper scraps, pages torn from old magazines, bows, etc. This, they like. But pretty much, they just like me to hang out and do my own thing -- check email, do the dishes, sweep the floor, etc. -- while they work, then act very excited when they hand me the treasure they've created. It's a pretty freakin' good activity.

We added birthday hats to the mix yesterday, which as a hit, until Clio snapped herself with the elastic.

Happy to you!!

Thanks, by the way, to everyone for your sage thoughts and advice on my last post. It's great hearing about different people's experiences and perspectives. I think those who said that a happy mom = a better mom really hit the nail on the head. I am definitely more patient and focused with the girls when I feel like I'm getting the time and space I need for my writing. It would make me so proud -- and I hope it would make them proud, too -- to one day be able to show Elsa and Clio a book and say, "Your mommy wrote this." And tell them that they can and should do what they can to follow their bliss in life, too, whatever it may be. (Birthday party planning, perhaps?)

Our Celebrity Play Date

Roper — Sun, 17 May 2009 13:00:00 GMT

You know, I love being a world famous blogger and all. The parties, the award shows, the late night talk show appearances...I can't complain. And I don't mind it when fans -- I mean, readers -- come up and tell me how much they love my blog or ask for an autograph, or take pictures of the girls. But sometimes it gets awfully tiring not being able to go out in public and just enjoy ourselves like any other family, you know?

You'd think that, of all people, other celebrities would understand. As we found out this weekend, however, that's not necessarily the case. At least not when it comes to the Affleck family.

We were at a Spring Fair fundraiser at a co-op nursery school in Cambridge that one of Alastair's (adult) guitar students invited us to. She thought it would be fun for the girls, and wanted Alastair to play a few tunes with the band. While he played, I was doing some magnet-on-the-end-of-a-string fishing with the girls when I noticed this pumped up dude in a Celtics t-shirt gawking at us from a few feet away. I didn't recognize him at first, but realized it was Ben Affleck. I gave him a quick smile/nod thing -- it's something we celebrities do when we see each other in public. Sort of a secret handshake, if you will. Like, "hey, I know you, you know me, everyone knows us, it's rough but, what can you do?"

But Affleck decided to take my gesture as some kind of invitation. He comes up -- he's got Violet with him; cute kid -- and starts stammering something along the lines of, "Oh my God, Jane Roper, Jen and I love your blog, it's so great, and we should have you and Alastair over for dinner sometime, and can I just say, you're even more beautiful in person than you are in your pictures, I have to tell my buddy Matt, he's got a huge crush on you, blah blah blah..." Then he starts telling Violet, "Hey look, that's Elsa and Clio, the twins from the website! Go see if they want to play with you!"

And I'm thinking, whoah. Slow down, buddy. I've never even met you or your kid, and we have a strict policy about not letting our girls play with other celebrity children. We don't want them to end up like Lindsay Lohan, OK? Of course, you can't say these things. You have to be polite. So I said something like, "thanks for reading, I appreciate your support, loved your work in Dazed and Confused, Violet's adorable, tell Matt to call me, etc."

I let him take a picture of me and the girls and Violet with his cell phone and at that point I'm thinking, OK, maybe he'll go away now and we can hit the bake sale, when all of a sudden, he's waving at Jen to come over. Then she's gushing all over us, saying how cute the girls are, telling me how much she loves reading my blog, and how much she can relate to it and what a wise and brilliant woman I am, not to mention hilarious, and by the way, who does my hair?

Now, Jennifer Garner really is a lovely person, and she's a fellow mom, so I actually enjoyed chatting with her -- for the first fifteen minutes. But she just would not go away. She kept asking me for parenting advice, and then she started telling me what all her favorite blog posts were, and eventually she asked if I thought she could get a blog on Babble, and could I put her in touch with the editors. It started getting very awkward. Meanwhile, Violet had tugged Ben off to do something else, and Elsa and Clio were whining at me to get them cookies and juice boxes, and finally I just had to say, "I'm sorry Jen, I'd love to talk more, but I really have to get these girls a snack." To her credit, she was very gracious -- even apologetic -- and said she'd love to get the girls together for a playdate sometime. I told her I'd have my people call her people.

The rest of the morning was more or less fine. One time, I spotted Jen pointing me out to a bunch of other moms, which was slightly embarrassing. I'm also pretty sure that at one point she was trying to get pictures of Elsa and Clio on her cell phone without my noticing, which I don't exactly appreciate. And a couple of times, I caught Ben staring at me from across the playground with what I can only describe as a look of unadulterated, adulterous longing. But it's not like he's the first.

Anyway. I know that this is what I signed up for when I started writing for Babble, so it's not like I have the right to complain. I just expected a little bit better from the movie star set.

* * *

What really happened:

We went to the Spring Fair at the nursery school in Cambridge as reported. I spotted an incongruously jacked up, handsome guy in a Celtics t-shirt and jeans, who totally stood out from the crowd of normal-looking, artsy/preppy Cambridge types, and I was sorta kinda checking him out. I admit it. I didn't realize it was Ben Affleck until the exact second that he caught me looking at him, and he sort of uncomfortably looked away, looking a tad annoyed, and I thought: Shit! He thought I was looking at him because he's Ben Affleck! But I wasn't! I swear! I was just looking at him because he was incongrously striking-looking and hot! And now I feel like such a dork!

Turns out, Ben went to this particular nursery school as a kid, and now Violet goes there. For the rest of the morning, in the midst of running around after Clio and Elsa, I tried to resist but couldn't help stealing furtive glances at him and at Jennifer Garner (who really is gorgeous, and seems awfully nice). Several times, we got within a few feet of them and I was kind of hoping Elsa or Clio would go over to Violet and start, you know, trying to grab a toy out of her hands or something, so I could share a genuine, parent-to-parent "oh ho ho, kids, what can you do?" moment with them, but it didn't happen. I briefly considered asking them for a picture with the girls so I could post it here, thinking, "they must know Babble, right? They're on Strollerderby all the time!" I soon realized...um. No. probably not.

It's got to be all kinds of challenging to raise a normal kid when you're such recognizable celebrities. But these guys really did seem as natural and normal as could be expected, and I think it's pretty cool that their daughter is in a co-op nursery school in Cambridge. And if you're reading this, Jen and/or Ben....playdate? Your place?

* * *

One more thing: a handful of times, the girls and/or I actually have been "recognized" around town by people who read this blog, and I always find it surprising / cool / fun / etc. Once, a woman who came up to me to say she read the blog was actually apologetic, saying "I'm sorry to bother you!" as if I really was some kind of celebrity. I find this hilarious. If you ever see me or Alastair or the girls and want to say howdy, PLEASE do! I really do love meeting people who read this blog.

Excuse me, now. I have to go get the girls dressed for another damned birthday party at Brad and Angie's.

Activity of the Week: Play-Dough Sans Pants

Roper — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 12:07:00 GMT

We've made home-made play-dough a few times before in the Baby Squared household, but today was special, because we did it without pants. That is, the girls did. Elsa started it. We were all just hanging out in the living room, reading books and doing puzzles and stuff, and she suddenly decided to pull her pants down. (Her very favorite pants, too -- the black pleather ones her grandma scored from the thrift shop!) I asked her if she wanted to go to the potty (not like she ever does), but she said no, and started shuffling around with her pants around her ankles, grinning. "Elsa funny?" she asked. "Yeah," I replied. "You're pretty funny." She eventually took them all the way off, and Clio decided that this seemed like a pretty good idea, so I helped her take her pants off too. Both girls suggested that I follow suit, but I declined. My legs aren't nearly as cute as theirs are.

The pants stayed off all afternoon. I think this made the play-dough making experience extra special. The girls got to feel more connected to their medium, while at the same time saving their pants from wet flour paste and food coloring stains. (This is especially good for Elsa, who asks to wear her black pleather pants almost every day.) It was also gave the whole thing a summery sort of feel, in spite of the fact that outside it was 29 degrees, with a foot of snow on the ground.

So, without further ado, here you go: Play-Dough Sans Pants. Or Pantless Play-dough, if you don't like the French. (Apologies to my French readers. I like you.)

Age range: 2 years - adult

Materials needed: Flour, salt, water, measuring cups, bowls, spoons, food coloring (optional)

Materials NOT needed: Pants

Prep time: None, not counting time required to remove pants.

Time it will keep your kids quietly, safely occupied: A good 20 minutes, at least

Developmental benefits: Enhances small motor skills, encourages creativity, fosters body-image self-esteem

There are a zillion different play-dough recipes out there, but I like this one because it's so easy, and there's no cooking involved. Just mix 1/4 cup salt and 1 cup of flour, then add between 1/3 and 1/2 cup water. (Add it slowly to get the consistency you want, and add more flour and salt if it gets too wet.) If you want, you can add food coloring to the water. Of course, the kiddos can help pour the ingredients into the bowl / onto the floor and mix to their hearts' content. It may take a little adult muscle/coordination to get the final mixing done, so you actually get a nice big glob of dough.

In the past, I've done most of the making myself, so that the focus of the activity was really more about playing with the play-dough. And not as messy. But today, I don't know -- the whole pants off thing got me feeling kind of crazy and loose, and I let the girls do most of the pouring and mixing themselves. The results were gloriously messy, and the girls loved it.

Elsa's intense, hands-on culinary technique.

Clio doing something she knows she's not supposed to do -- without pants on. No doubt it won't be the last time.

Activity of the Week: Ice Cookery

Roper — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 00:54:00 GMT

This weekend I went out to western Mass. overnight for a friend's bachelorette party, and returned with precious little voice. This was mostly on account of my having been sick (I'm currently host to a roving virus that's been making a leisurely tour of my body over the past week, wreaking havoc everywhere it goes -- latest stop, my larynx) but the nonstop gabbing and laughing, the wine, and the dip in the outdoor hot tub probably didn't help either.

In any case, yesterday afternoon when I got home, I was in search of an activity that would require minimal talking on my part. Play-dough was one option. We've made some of our own recently, and the girls have enjoyed the process of making it and then "cooking" with it afteward -- shoving it into measuring cups, mashing it with the potato masher, stabbing it with spoons. But yesterday, they were very emphatic about the fact that they did not want to play with play-dough, but they did want to cook. I was not feeling ambitious enough to undertake an actual cooking project with them, and so, Ice Cookery was born!

Age range: 18 months - 3 years

Materials needed: Non-breakable / valuable kitchen utensils and containers (bowls, measuring cups, colanders, mixing spoons), a good quantity of crushed ice (Our fridge has one of those cool crushed ice dispensers, but you could also just put ice cubes in a plastic bag and whack them against the floor until they're broken up a bit.) Towels, broom and dustpan for clean-up.

Prep / Clean-up time: Minimal prep, ongoing cleaning recommended to avoid flooding / slipping. A drop cloth of some sort wouldn't be a bad idea, but that borders on taking us out of the low-to-no-effort zone.

Time it will keep your kids quietly, safely occupied: At least 15-20 minutes, as long as it's not too hot. (To my readers in the tropics, this may not be for you.)

Developmental benefits: Enhances small motor skills, increases likelihood of your child getting on "Top Chef"

What to do? Allow Clio and Elsa to demonstrate:

As you can see, there's all kinds of scooping and pouring and mixing to be done. Yes, it's a little messy, but it's only water, so it's not, like, stressful messy. In fact, our kitchen floor was decidedly cleaner when we were done, owing to the fact that I'd had to wipe up all that half-melted ice. The only possible drawback of this activity is the fact that your child(ren) will most likely attempt to eat the ice. Granted, this isn't a big deal if it's well-crushed and made from non-questionable water. But you do need to be vigilant about weeding out larger pieces of ice so no one chokes. And, I suppose there are are some -- dentists, mainly -- who would say that chewing ice is not a great idea. They may be right. I may be crazy.

At one point, while the girls were playing, I asked them "What are you cooking?" I guess I was expecting them to say eggs or cookies -- both things they've helped "make" before and watched me make.

Elsa's reply? "Ice!"

Of course.

PS -- This is my second "Activity of the Week" (the first being the one on clementine oranges). But I want to reserve the right not to make it a weekly feature, just because. Think of it as one of those little segments on the Daily Show or the Colbert Report that gets its own name and logo and stuff, but may only show up a handful of times, until such time as the writers get bored of it and forget it completely. Is that OK? Thanks.

Activity of the week: Clementines

Roper — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 22:30:00 GMT

As some recent articles here on Babble have attested, it can be tough to think of things to do with your young'uns when the weather outside is frightful. (And even when it's not) I, too, struggle to come up with new activities to keep our gals occupied, and am always looking for new ideas, so when I hit on this little gem of an activity this week, I thought: I must share.

What is it? In a word: clementines. You know -- those super-easy-to-peel, seedless little oranges that are in season now somewhere, that you can buy by the pound or by the crate.

Age range: 18 months - 3 years

Materials needed: At least one clementine orange per child

Prep time: None, unless you count buying the clementines.

Time it will keep your kids quietly, safely occupied: Up to 10 minutes per orange, depending on level of manual dexterity.

Developmental benefits: Enhances small motor skills, prevents scurvy

What to do: Sit your child(ren) down at the table and say, with great enthusiasm, "Hey guys! Guess what? We're gonna have some delicious ORANGES now!!" If your children are like mine, they'll smile and say "oranges!" (But it will sound more like "anchis.") BUT, instead of peeling the oranges and breaking up the sections for them per usual, give them each an entire, unpeeled orange! Say something along the lines of, "I bet you guys can peel these oranges all by yourselves!" and let them have at it. You may need to start the peeling process for them, but they should be able to take it from there. And oh, how proud they will be of themselves, and you of them.

WARNING: once the peeling process has begun, do not attempt to "help" your child, unless he or she specifically asks for it. Otherwise, s/he will scream like a banshee for you to put back on the piece you just peeled off, and you'll be forced to pull a Zu-Zu's petals maneuver (pretend to put the piece of peel back on, but actually stick it in your pocket and hope the kid doesn't notice), which will then lead to your child attempting to put all of the pieces of peel back onto the orange -- because if you can do it, why can't she, right? -- which will frustrate her immensely.

PLEASE NOTE ALSO: that while clementine orange pieces are generally easy for small children to separate and eat on their own, sometimes the fibrous inner skin and rinds can be a little yucky and cumbersome. If your child starts making hacking/gagging sounds and saying "Mommy, clean up!" and when you ask her where, exactly, she wants you to clean up, and she says "In my mouth!" simply humor her by wiping her tongue with a moistened washcloth. She'll be fine. And think the whole thing is pretty funny, actually. (And if there's a sibling, chances are she will want you to wipe her tongue with a washcloth, too, because it's obviously a hoot.)

The activity ends when your child(ren) have eaten their oranges and your floor is covered with small, aromatic bits of orange peel. But the fun continues: at bedtime, if you ask your child to describe what she did that day, she may very well grin and say "Peel-a big orange!"

Clementines: a transformative experience for the whole family, packed with vitamin C.

(PS: Sorry for the lack of accompanying pics. Alastair bought a new battery charger for our camera on eBay but failed to notice that the seller ships from HONG KONG. So God knows when it will get here.)