So, It Stains...

  I know it's been a hot minute since I've posted anything--but it's been an extremely busy time for our little family. Today, though, I had my nephew, Chase, along with Madelyn, and I pulled out an idea I'd been saving....a jello sensory bin. I love bright colors, so I had stood in the grocery isle for some time contemplating the various pros and cons of every color of jello imaginable. And, now, today, my time had come! It was finally the "right time" to break out the jello!!

 I tried putting it in a mold, but even after several hours in the fridge, it wasn't completely ready to serve. So, I popped one of the little jello cups out and tried that. At that point, Chase didn't have a lot of interest in the goings-on, and Madelyn struggled to pick it up. She tends to grab things very tightly, and it mostly squished through her fingers. Personally, I thought she'd like the feel, but it irritated her more than anything else, since she couldn't seem to get a good grip.

 Madelyn couldn't figure out what I was doing with the camera, so she patiently indulged my attempts to capture her interested expressions. (P.S., aren't our boys handsome in the background?? They were really just being vultures, in the hopes that I would look away and give them half a chance to eat the jello.) I finally decided that the jello in the mold didn't HAVE to be completely ready, since the intention wasn't to eat the jello anyway. Honestly, it turned out way better to still be partially liquefied. The thick, squelshy mess drew Chase's attention, and Madelyn loved moving it all around in the bin.

 It helped that there were some big, thick chunks that were pick-up-able--Chase really liked pinching it off in pieces, and Madelyn was into whatever Chase thought was cool!

Whatever he was doing HAD to be at least as much fun--if not more--than what she was doing. I had a little trouble trying to keep her from taking it out of his hands--and a little trouble convincing him that sharing his clumps was a good plan. But, overall, they played in the bin really well together. Especially considering this was Chase's first go 'round with the sensory bin at my house.





Overall, this was  great game and held their attention longer than I might have expected...one little caveat, though. The jello seriously stains the skin. Madelyn's whole bottom, from waist to toes, was stained bright red, even after a bath. After the second attempt to get it off, though, it was light enough to mostly not notice. :)

Hot and Cold

 Before I even get started--is this girl and her Daddy not the cutest pair you've ever seen?? I love how excited she gets to be with him. :) It's presh. And, an added benefit--she was standing up "all by herself", which always makes her so incredibly proud of herself. You have to kind of watch her when she does, though, because she gets so excited that she starts bouncing up and down and her balance goes straight in the toilet. Sweet baby.

Today has been an especially pregnant-feeling day for me; I've been tired and sick to my stomach and just wasn't feeling up to anything terribly elaborate. Thankfully, I saw on Pinterest that the simplest games entertain the babies, and so I figured a game of hot and cold might be just the trick. I got out our--admittedly Christmas--platter and threw a few ice cubes on it to start. Madelyn was immediately fascinated. They were cold and delightfully wet. She loved touching them, and, at first, even enjoyed how they scooted away from her questing fingers. After a moment, though, that got a little frustrating for her. She kept at it though, because I guess she just knew they'd be tasty if she could get them up to her little mouth. Notice the look of intense concentration on her face when she tried it!

Once that got a little old, we switched it up and put a bowl of warm water in front of her. Sidenote: we didn't put a towel down. Our oversight, I assure you. Thankfully, we have some kind of weird fake hardwood that's a cinch to wipe up.  I really think she preferred the warm over the cold; I'm not sure if that was because it was warm, though, or because it was splashable. Daddy did offer some ice cubes back to her at one point. Those were easier for her to grab, since they weren't trying to escape on a slippery platter. The cubes wound up in the warm water, where they, predictably, melted.  Madelyn really enjoyed trying to catch them in the water, and she looked for them for quite some time after they had melted away.

But, as all things must, game time had to come to an end. Partially because it was nap time. Partially because she was over it, and I try to wrap things up right before she gets bored, in case I need the game for a later date and time. I still loved her look of "Ok...now what do I do? I've touched it, splashed it, tasted it...hmmm." Funny girl!

The Obstacle Course--Sort Of

     So, I know it's been nearly a week, but it has been a happenin' one, and so I haven't gotten the chance to really do a whole lot with Madelyn other than basic care/play. There's been a lot of medical stuff going on in my family, and so, truthfully, she's done more visiting than even being with me. So, yesterday, since her Daddy is currently a gimp--we decided to try something that would be easy to make, easy to play with, and easy to take down with a torn hamstring. And, since the Chicken has been working on her crawling, I decided an obstacle course would be JUST the thing.

  It wasn't.

  Madelyn had zero desire to crawl through all of my carefully crafted ideas--from the Box of Beads over Pillow Mountain to the Laundry Basket of Mismatched Balls. It is my opinion that her desire to move forward failed her, since the first stop (the Box of Beads) was such a hit. We took an old cardboard box, opened both ends to make a tunnel and hung cheapy beads from the top. Since it was a tad dark in there, we went ahead and threw in a couple of glow sticks on the side, like runway lights. (They did not stay to the side.)

 Mostly, I think she thought the beads were wonderful for eating. Matt stood at the top of the box sometimes and shook it, yelling, "Oh, no, Madelyn! It's an earthquake!" She thought that was especially funny.



She spent a good few minutes trying to decide just what the purpose of the glowstick was. This, below,  is her, "What in the gravy sakes is this?" face.

When she got a little fussy, she went down for a nap, but thankfully, the whole idea was still somewhat novel to her when she woke up! (The difference in her hair between before nap and after is significant. Don't judge. :P )

 When she woke up, I made the executive decision to leave her next to the Laundry Basket of Mismatched Balls,instead of going back into box. Without the beads, the balls became far more fascinating.  She especially liked the blue with polka dots. 
Daddy had found a squishy, green, sort of ball with almost slimy green arms. The Chicken has developed a love hate relationship with that sort of ball. It totally grosses her out, so she will touch it and then make the awfullest face! She pulls on the arms, then wipes her hands on whatever is convenient around. And, yet, she couldn't seem to stop touching it!

All in all, the obstacle course as a course was not successful. As individual play stations, however, it was a great game! Definitely Chicken approved!

7 Month Birthday

  So, the 30th was my beloved Chicken's seventh month birthday. It seems utterly crazy to me that she's already getting to be such a big girl--I was considering that just the other night, in fact. I was reading her a story, and she kept reaching out to touch the pages(translate to tear-if-she-got-a-chance), and I was thinking proudly how adept I've become at dodging tiny hands just enough to not damage a book and yet still allow her to touch the pictures. It crossed my mind then that just a few short months ago, my girl was just learning to sit up without assistance and, a couple of months before that, was learning to hold her head up. And, now, my little munchkin is eagerly reaching for pages and grass and anything else her little hands can grab. She's taken to grasping the spoon for bites tightly, unwilling to let you do it all by yourself anymore. (And, mostly, I don't mind--unless we're out and about and her clothes need to stay relatively clean. Then, again--Queen of the Dodge here.) So, anyway--that's where we at: the downhill slide into a year old territory. Crazy.

   To celebrate, Madelyn, her Daddy, and I all took a trip to Cades Cove to take seventh month birthday pictures. Especially since this girl is an outside lovin' girl, it seemed the perfect little day-trip to take. She LOVED it! She happily drank a bottle and kicked and watched all the trees pass. She stared with interest when we stopped to look at deer grazing near the road. Each time we got out was a brand new venture, complete with babbled commentary and smiles.

 Naturally, the very first stop was at the Primitive Baptist Church. We have several cute shots of her on a pew, with the faint light shining in from a window, barely cutting through the black darkness that blanketed most of the church, even in the broad daylight. And, yet, of all of those, my total fave--as usual--was a foot picture. Now, normally, I hate feet. But her little feet and her little hands are so absolutely beautifully perfect that I can't stand it. I loved how she was standing on her little toes.

 I'll be honest: it never would have occurred to me to let Madelyn grab onto this old, slightly rusted wire to hold on to and stand, but it was one of her favorite parts of the trip. The wire had enough give to allow her to wriggle, but enough strength to keep her from toppling. This girl was so stinkin' proud of herself. She'd go back and forth between heart-warming grins (usually straight at the camera, even with little to no effort from Daddy--little ham) to model striking poses where she stared off into the stormy mountains nearby. I swear, she was doing it for the camera.

 It WAS, however, my idea to take little rocking chair pictures in the woods. I have to give credit where it's due, though--the rocking chair was Matt's relative's of some sort, I believe. And, I think when she's old enough to rock in it, she is totally going to dig it. Because she LOVED sitting in it, period. And that was with sticks used to prop it up so that she COULDN'T rock it; with the recent topple from the bed still fresh in our minds, we weren't taking any chances...the frames are so close because I was less than six inches away, poised to catch her should she even think about leaning too far forward. I think my previously posed question--who was more traumatized by the bed incident?--has been answered. She has recovered with absolutely no alteration in her curiosity or hesitancy to her lean. I have not. And, yes, in the picture above and to the left--she is standing totally by herself again. I'm telling you--seven months have passed too quickly. We are so, so proud of our gorgeous girl--she is the brightest, most cantankerous, easily excited, quick to giggle ray of sunshine to have ever shone on my life. She is her Daddy's pride and joy and the sweet little love of my life. Merry Seven Months Birthday, sweet Chicken!