Winter Light

For me, the best days are usually the really fun ones with things like trips to the zoo, concerts and picnics in the park, or visits to museums. But sometimes the best days are the ones full of warm mugs of coffee, jammies, playing dolls and doing puzzles, and never setting foot outside of the house. Today was one of those days. The girls were up from their afternoon naps by 1:30, so my first thought was to gather them up and run an errand to Costco or Trader Joe's. I even put my jeans on. But then I just felt so restrained in my jeans. They just didn't feel good compared to my cozy sweats. And the girls were playing so nicely, Shelby on the floor reading a book to Matilda. And I couldn't get Matilda to nurse and I really hate getting into these situations where I have to nurse somewhere super inconvenient like Trader Joe's. So I put my sweats back on. And decided if the extra long afternoon took a turn for the worse with two sick girls and a sick mom I'd resort to Sesame Street. And I ended up not needing Sesame Street at all.

After a bit of playing and rearranging my bedroom shelves, I decided to do a science experiment with Shelby. I poured a box of baking soda in a container and let Shelby do some finger play. She quickly commented on how the baking soda was like the snow that was falling outside. Then I filled three bowls with vinegar and as I turned to get the paint for coloring the vinegar, Shelby dumped an entire bowl of vinegar into the baking soda. All that fizzing totally wowed her! Luckily I had another box of baking soda to start over with. For the vinegar, I just poured a bit of tempera paint in to color it, and then she used eye droppers to squirt the vinegar into the baking soda and watch it fizz and color it.

After science time, she went outside to play in the snow. See her snow angels? 

Matilda had a ball watching her through the door from her high chair.

After a nice cup of hot cocoa (Shelby's first!, and as she commented, “Just like Charlie and Lola” in Snow is My Favorite and My Best), Shelby played with the lightbox I made for her while I fed Matilda. This lightbox is great because it captivates Matilda as well. It was so easy to make and so worth it since these light tables are so crazy expensive. I just used an IKEA container and first did a coat of spray paint primer and then a coat of metallic silver paint. Inside, I put one battery operated fluorescent light from Walmart. I stole the idea from www.teachpreschool.org. Those are magformers and felt shapes from her felt board on top.