DIY Owl Baby Rattle

For a baby shower, I thought I’d just buy some gifts. But I couldn't help myself I had to make something.

 Diaper Cake, they are easy and awesome and always makes a good impression. I just needed to put something on it. I went to the craft store for supplies with some ideas in mind. I guess I should note that I’m a procrastinator so this was the night before the party too.

I first needed ribbon for the cake. I found the cutest owl ribbon. My inspiration.

Next I sketched out an owl shape on paper folded it in half to makes sure it was symmetrical. Then cut out the little pieces like the wings and circle for the eyes. All pretty basic shapes but I’m still glad for my artistic side.

I choose a golden color for the owl with brow accents

My original thought was to make a mobile but with the time constraint and large size of the owl I decided a different route. A rattle. I cut out a large neutral color and made a handle.

For the rattle to make a rattling sound I used an old hotel shampoo container and beans.

 Its larger than needed but it fits. 

Add some stuffing and sew it up.

Just add to the cake. Cute, huh?

He's such a Doll

Recently we visited a friend. They had a little girl about 8 years old and a 2 year old boy. So there were all sorts of toys and to my surprise I turned around and found Dart sweetly cradling a baby doll. He even pulled a blanket around it and then tried to put it in a stroller. I was in awe.

Light had been given a cloth doll when he was small and it held no interest, in fact it was usually found thrown across the room. Despite my efforts the doll was totally rejected. All played well to my mother-in-laws amusement. She used to laugh and declare the future of baby brother or sister, thrown across the room. Honestly, she wasn’t too far off.

Light isn’t exactly oozing paternal or even simple big brother instincts. He’s a good brother but even his initial reaction to baby brother was underwhelming. Vincent reaction to babies is somewhat different. Currently we been hanging with a sweet set of little twins and Dart seem taken with them. He’s been seen covering with them with blankets and giving toys. Despite his general lacking in gentleness I’ve been impressed. He’s given soft hugs and even gentle whispers. Yes, my super loud Dart lowered his voice to a whisper.

So with all this info and an impending second birthday of my Dart, I’ve decided a baby doll is a perfect gift. Being that dolls are not all that masculine it too a little convincing for husband to shake his immediate reaction of ‘no way’. The conversation went a little like:

“I want to get ‘Dart’ a doll for his birthday.”

“No.”

“Why?!”

“Because…” some macho rambling, I kind of tuned out.

“Did you play with dolls?”

“NO!”

“Yeah, how do you think that help with practicing to be a dad?” This didn’t get any response. Hubby was pretty much clueless when we brought baby home. He’ll even admit that. Smiling I explained how baby dolls are great for boys too. Girl play for pretend as practice for motherhood, dads are just as important. Shouldn’t boys play and practice with baby dolls too? Also seems to be a good idea for a potentially, someday in the not so near future big brother.

What was his response? Simply, “OK”

I love my husband. He listens to me and understands. Kudos to him.

Sooo, now to find the perfect doll. My first thought is a plastic doll. I think life like would be best. Also anything of my children’s is almost guaranteed to get dirty, easy washing is a bonus. I love the idea of practice bathing a baby too. However, PBA and PVC are a concern with anything plastic.  

Sure enough, I did some research on dolls, and anything and everything plastic has BPA. This toy may not be a favorite but if it is and Dart ends up cuddling and carrying it every were I don’t want any toxic chemicals. So cloth it is. Still I want it to look life like and be nontoxic. I could attempt to sew one for him, but my sew skills are lacking. So it was shopping time.

Till next time. Hopefully I will find some good options.

Through His Lens

Light and I took a little nature walk while Dart was napping, just in the empty lot next to us. Don’t worry I could hear him if woke. But Light and I collected acorns;

Even saw one on the tree still.

Walked through the tall grass.

Even located a couple of long lost monster trucks. Fitting for the shirt Light was wear too, yes those are monster riding in a monster truck, I thought it was funny. Especially since kids can be so literal. 

Then I got brave I let him take the camera. I asked if he wanted to a picture of me.

And he did.

Lots.

Every angle imaginable.

Every piece separate.

I love it.

Everything I showed him got a picture too.

This one was fun with the shadow

My hat

    His feet 

Top

to 

bottom

So interesting for me to see what he see and find interesting, I forget to do that sometimes. It's just hard for adults to see and feel like a 4 years. But getting see through is eyes or rather through his lens is a great start. Dare you to give a kid your camera and see what you get. 

Airplanes

Sure, we’re past A week. However, I saw an airplane book at the library and couldn't help myself.  This was a while ago but my camera was being testy but it seems alright now. Yay! I had already explained Lift, Thrust, Drag and Gravity before while letting Light stick his hand out the window when driving. He loved it. So this was a review with a craft.

I didn't know you could fold them so many ways.

On a side note I’ve make a good paper plane anyways, had to my husband how to fold them a couple months ago.

Light loved the ‘darts’ the best so I made a few for him.

Had to test drive them.

Best place from the upstairs balcony, of course.

So much fun, Dart was napping so it was just Light and I.

Even little kitten Loki joined in.  

Happy Days

B is for Bugs/Butterfly…success

Alright so I’m thinking Mondays are going to be a little rough but I got this. So we finished the caterpillar game today. I punched holes in the egg cartons two holes opposite of each other.  I printed out a dice template http://www.teachervision.fen.com/graphs-and-charts/graphic-organizers/52458.html.  Wrote out number 1-6 out and made corresponding dots on the caterpillar parts aka egg carton shells.

 Roll the dice and find the part you need. Count the dots. 

String it on a piper cleaner until it’s full, that takes six pieces.

 I wanted make sure Light could recognize these numbers he did really well, 6 was hard for him to remember. This would easy to adjust to higher numbers too so I have a feeling we’ll play again soon maybe tomorrow. When he was finished we added piper cleaner antennas.

Little bit of music time

Figuring out a toy

Dart and I found some money on daddy’s dresser. … shhh. It’s in Dart piggy or rather dinosaur bank now.

 This took a good amount of skill on his part it was good practice and he was really excited to do it. I did help a bit to eliminate frustration when I saw it building. It’s hard to be little.

Outside to hunt for bugs and water garden turned into a water war.

We learned a bit about the butterfly life cycle. http://www3.canisius.edu/~grandem/butterflylifecycle/The_Lifecycle_of_a_Butterfly_print.html. The pictures of the different butterflies were really exciting for him. Then we watch a video, which made me ‘the best mom ever’. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AUeM8MbaIk&feature=player_embedded

When Dart when down for a nap. I pulled out one of Light favorite past times, an ice cube tray with colored water and a dropper.

 He loves to mix colors, he was ecstatic to figure out how to make green, his favorite color.

To top it off we scrunched up some coffee filters in cloth pins. An oldie but goody still he thinks I’m a genius. Just used the dropper to add color. Super pretty I had to do one too.

Kitten play time with Light

Evening play time, in the water again this time with neighbor too.  They did some bug hunting later.

B Week Fail

It’s okay to fall on your face, right? I mean some days just doesn’t work. Apparently I was unprepared for B week more specifically Bug day. I can laugh tonight but yeah, it was a disaster.

First my wonderful husband painted my kids table this weekend. He spent a lot of time on it and I think it looks wonderful.

I went to bring it into the house but I realize because of the kitten Dart will not leave him alone and, um, we’re working on gentle still. But he will not leave the little guy in his bathroom. So I decided to go upstairs. Sounds good, toys to distract the little one too.

Cover table with paper (which Darth tore off when I went to answer the phone). Let Light tear apart an egg carton and color it to make a caterpillar. Coloring was boring. Dart discovered markers, got a little crazy and a little funny. He kept trying to put the lids back on backward but at lease he try to put them back which is more than Light did. I should mention too that at some point Dart started to try and eat the egg cartons too.

Gave Dart a ‘discover jar’ with rice and bugs inside it. This was met with a chorus of high pitched ‘ewwes’ and squeal and eventually avoidance all of which made me laugh hysterically. I’m blaming that on Light he screams when he see some bugs. Dramatic. Alright I say ewe a lot too with bugs but not high pitched like that, seriously he’s sonar, that was not me.

We did find a spider today, on the stairs. Grass spider it was gross and I couldn’t take a pic, cause I didn’t want to.

Then I tossed them outside. They fought and screamed over toys. Light would not share at all and ended up in time out, total meltdown. After lunch we all crashed and after waking up I managed dinner .Yay me!. But yeah, it kinda didn’t work today.

I'm laughing so much now. To top off the day as I'm nursing  Darth goodnight I asked about his nose and belly button. Hyped up from wrestling with brother and dad he is all to happy to answer then I ask him about the eye. He punched me right in the eye. I don't think he meant to but it didn't feel very good. I didn't get mad but I decided it was time for bed. And for Light (because can't do something odd without the other) as my hubby is getting ready for bed he find Light sitting in the dark on his bed....I don't want to go into detail but it involves poo. I don't know what happened but I don't think he was totally awake. When I figured out what was going on I totally burst into laughter and my husband followed my lead I think this made Light feel a lot better. I'm confident tomorrow will be better. 

New Addition

So after a fun day at Silly Papa’s (He came up with that himself).  We decided to run to the grocery store to pick up a few things. We’ve been talking about a puppy. I want one but I really seriously don’t at the same time. They’re cute and fun, really, it’d be nice for boys to have that. To be honestly I’ve been going through baby withdrawals too. Darth is still so much a baby but he’s getting so big. I guess I should add that he’s about the age Light was when we got pregnant with Darth so I guess it’s just the age.

 I don’t really want to be pregnant right now and even though it would be nine months before a baby arrived I just don’t think I’m ready for that. Still something cute and little would be nice. Sooo anyways back to the grocery store. As we drive in I spot it, a small squeak escapes me and my attentive husband immediate notices my excitement.  He inquires to want made me momentarily sound like an endangered rodent.  For good measure I deepen my voice to a level that would be envied by the evilest of cartoon characters and breath the word. “Kitties”  

Yes I’d seen a box with a sign for ‘FREE KITTENS’ (Yay, I bet you know were I'm going with this). I even saw someone hold a bright orange cat, which has been on my husband’s wish list for ages. We approach and I see six pair of perfectly curious almond shaped blue eyes staring at me from the most adorable faces of a bright orange kitten, a very light orange kitty and a fluffy of gray. I HAD to have one. I’ve never been impulsive so I decide to wait until after shopping to think it over. By the time we were check out I was practically racing out of the store to see if they were still there. My husband was fully on board despite my best effort to talk myself out of it the whole time. Picking ONE was the hard part. I wanted them all, so how’s that for impulse control. I only took one.

He talked to me in his high pitch ‘mew’. Totally melting.

So our house has been filled with an abundance of the word “cute” and a symphony of ‘awwwe’.

The kids are adjusting to the extra gentleness. Although Light thought that tossing him on the couch while I prepped dinner would be fun for him. How would want to thrown up with air to free fall, well, I for one may not,but of course with is not the view of a 4 year old. To add to my disgruntlement, this was after I told him not to pick him up at all. Adjustment; NO flying kitties.

The little guy also has found his fav napping place other than our laps, panda. HE’S SOOO CUTE!!!! Now I just need the perfect name for him....Loki?