Mama Loves No-Spill Bubbles

 

So this week Sam and Anna were at their new daycare, and when I picked them up, they were in the yard blowing bubbles.  But yet, hardly blowing bubbles at all because they are 2 1/2 years old and once the bubble solution spills a little on the outside of the container, it becomes a slippery mess that eventually gets spilled.  Our new daycare person was having to do a lot of managing the bubble bottles and helping Sam and Anna keep them upright to avoid losing all the bubble solution.  Not her fault, really, because Sam and Anna aren't used to regular bubble jars.  We've had no-spill jars that I picked up from Target wayyyy back as Easter basket fillers and that's what Sam and Anna are used to.

I didn't realize the full awesomeness of these no-spill jars until I saw the basic counterpart in action in Sam and Anna's hands.  When we blow bubbles together at home with the no-spill jars, I hand 'em out and they completely manage them on their own.  That means I have two free hands to happily play with my kids, take pictures, or just simply enjoy watching them play.  Sam and Anna don't become wet, sticky messes and so they enjoy it more too.  In turn, they blow more bubbles and are entertained for a longer period of time.  The result:  Anna's become quite the master bubble-blower over the summer.

 

I know they have a big bucket version that has slots for 3 wands- i.e. for three kids to use at once and even a bubble machine, but for us the regular version works great so each kid has one to hold on their own and the bottom of the tumbler is about the size of a cup so it's easy to hold too.

Mama Loves Splat Mats

Our dining room is carpeted (yuck, I know).  We've been planning on replacing the flooring in there since we bought our house... 6 years ago.  But well, when we first bought it, we had just started TTC, and you know the story: 4 years and over $20,000 later we accomplished that.  Meaning no spare moola for home upgrading.  Now with two small children, we've put off installing new flooring because I want to get all the spilled food and potty accidents pretty much behind us before we get new stuff.  That doesn't mean I don't want to keep what we've got as nice as possible though.

When Sam and Anna first started eating solid food, I got two Splat Mats to put under their Space Saver Highchairs.  I had first planned on just using plastic hand cut to fit under them or one of those office mats for under chairs, but these were round and I liked the brown one I saw a picture of online.  While I know there is a huge variety in the kind of mat you can use under highchairs (or boosters), we have the BogginHead Brown Flourish Splat Mat. It blends in a little bit better in our dining room, and I like that it isn't a hugely obnoxious kid print.

These mats have saved us many times from scrubbing some pretty amazing messes out of our carpet and rug that is placed on top.  I know I've mentioned how much Sam and Anna love pasta with red sauce.  I do not love it on my cream colored rug or carpet very much.  Now that we're done using sippy cups and Sam and Anna use regular cups at meals, the Splat Mat also keeps milk from sinking into the carpet when it gets knocked over.  It is definitely large enough to catch most food, except maybe if your kid launches it on purpose with a good throw of course.  I don't think there's a product out there that will help with that!  It wipes down well and nothing stains it, including the red sauce.  Ours do have some small tears, so the material could be tougher, but that's my only complaint.  If you have an entire plateful of food dropped, I bet you could pour the mess into the garbage by folding it- but I've never had a chance to try that because we have a dog that helps out in that department.

This week I took a mat out from under a chair and used it to contain rice spilled from a sensory bin we were playing with.  Once we were done I just lifted it up and poured the rice right back in the bin. Very handy! When we graduate from needing a Spat Mat under chairs during meals, I'm sure it will find a new home under our art easel for messy art projects.

So even if you aren't lucky enough to have a carpeted dining room like I do, I bet a Spat Mat would be one of those things you didn't know you could use until you had one!

Mama Loves Dot Markers

Do-A-Dot Markers were one of the first art experiences Sam and Anna had.  I remember taking them to the Children's Museum art room and seeing their delight in making dots all over the paper when they were about 1 year old.  This was before they did much with crayons.  As they got older, dot markers were a quick art project to bring out when they got tired of crayons.  Now that Sam and Anna are older, we use dot markers to make letter shapes, but they still love to freely explore and create with them too.

I can attest that dot markers are also a hit with the kindergarten aged crowd as well.  One of my favorite beginning of school activities to do is to make dot marker names:  I print each kindergartner's name as large as I can on paper and then each child "traces" the letters in their name making dots along the lines.  It's guaranteed successful and gives them practice recognizing their unique name.  Plus, they look nice too.  I bet Sam and Anna would enjoy that too... so don't be surprised if you see that project show up in my letter N post, ha!

Dot markers dry easily, wash out of clothing, store well, and clean up fast.  It's like using paint and markers at the same time but without the mess of either (I'm not a big fan of using markers with Sam and Anna because it seems like they always get marker all over themselves and they get frustrated if snapping the cap doesn't happen easily.)  They are quite large- easy for little chubby hands to grip.  Pressure on the tip releases the marker ink.

All in all, dot markers are one of my favorite art materials to use with Sam and Anna!

Mama Loves Puddle Jumpers

We've only used our puddle jumper lifejackets a few times and I'm already sold.  I really wanted to get them last summer for Sam and Anna after reading lots of great things about them, but my little peanuts were nowhere near the bottom end of the weight range.  This summer, Anna still doesn't meet the weight range of 30-50 lbs (and Sam may not either, but I haven't weighed him recently), but she's close so I got a pair of puddle jumpers for my duo anyway (always used under close supervision, of course).


Sam and Anna have regular life jackets (from last summer) that we still use on boat rides, but for swimming the puddle jumpers are much better by far.  With the other ones we have, Sam and Anna seem so restricted in them.  They seem so much more comfortable in the puddle jumpers even when they aren't in the water yet.  After one trip using the puddle jumpers, I can picture taking Sam and Anna to a waterpark now, even though they can't swim yet.

If you are not familiar with these life jackets, they are sort of a cross between a traditional life jacket and water wings.  They are sturdy, comfortable, and cute. I like that the Puddle Jumper is short in the front and open in the back (except for the strap and buckle) and therefore much less restricting than a full life vest, yet is still categorized as a Type V US Coast Guard Approved Life Jacket with Type III performance (which means that it must be buckled in the back and is good for general boating in calm, inland waters, or where there is a good chance for fast rescue).  You can get them just about anywhere lifejackets are sold from Target to Amazon (where I bought ours).

Mama Loves Plastic Placemats

(This is not the one we have, but a similar one sold by Amazon.)

Sam and Anna have been in booster chairs for a while now.  For a long time, I used our cloth placemats under their plastic plates at the table for meals, and it was amazing how quickly I'd have to turn around and wash them again because they were caked with food.  (My duo love their pasta with red sauce and tomato soup, which have got to be the two messiest foods for toddlers to eat.)  When I cleaned and organized my classroom at the end of the school year, I came upon a few plastic mats that I never used with the kindergartners in my room so I brought them home with me.  Two of the plastic mats have numbers to 20, while the other two have the letters of the alphabet in order with upper and lower case letters together. 

I cannot believe it didn't cross my mind to use something like this at mealtimes with Sam and Anna sooner!  Not only are they 1.) way easier to clean and 2.) a lot more protective for our wood table (sometimes Sam and Anna are a little rough with their forks and have left marks on the wood in the past) but 3.) they give them daily exposure (3 times a day now that I'm a SAHM for the summer and most meals are at home) to visually see numbers 1-20 and all the letters of the alphabet.

I usually ask my two at breakfast, lunch and dinner if they would like numbers or letters/the alphabet that time to give them a choice.  Doing that also has the added advantage that I'm reinforcing what goes into the catergories of letters and numbers.  I can't tell you how many kindergartners I've had over the years that don't know the difference when the school year begins.  I've definitely noticed a difference with Sam and Anna in the less-than-a-month since we made the switch.  They consistently use the labels "letters" and "numbers" correctly to describe them when we see either where ever they come up throughout our day.

Once they get their mats at mealtime, we do a quick practice of counting to 20 or singing the alphabet song while pointing, usually while finishing the food prep.  This practices one-to-one correspondence too; an important precursor-to-reading skill.  It doesn't take long, but the quick practice for a minute ensures that they are getting daily exposure to all the letters or numbers visually every day. 

Sam and Anna like them a whole lot more than our boring blue cloth ones too.

I am so glad we started using these simple mats a few weeks ago!

(Check out the mat under Sam's plate.)

Mama Loves Great Books

We have some new favorite books in our house these days.  Sam and Anna are straying farther and farther from the board books with no or minimal plot, and are much more interested in the plethora of picture books we have with an actual plot.  This is great, because it makes the time we read books at home much more enjoyable for me too!

Here are three big hits for our terrific toddler two year olds these days:

1.) Duck On a Bike by David Shannon
     Every year I read this book to my kindergarten class, the 5 and 6 year olds make it a fast favorite too.  The other day I caught Sam rereading the story to himself:  "Duck rode past horse.  Duck rode past cat.  Duck rode past dog..." etc.  It swelled this teacher mama's heart to see my little one do what I work so hard to get kids more than twice his age do during the school year.  It has such a cute plot and the illustrations are fantastic too!  My one complaint is that in the illustration of kids riding bikes not all are wearing helmets.  We always point out the ones that are, and say how smart they are.  Now Sam and Anna will say "Helmet, smart!" and point out those kids without prompting from me.

2.) I Know a Rhino by Charles Fuge
The rhyming lyrical text and fun animals make this a super book to read with little ones.  Sam and Anna especially love how the giraffe page gets turned vertically in the middle of the book, while I enjoy the slightly unexpected ending.  Sam requests this book by it's title, even if it has been out of sight for a little bit.  It's a great one to grab for bedtime!

3. Where's My Teddy?  by Jez Alborough
Can you believe that I had this book in my classroom library for years and never read it to my class?  One day I read it to Sam and Anna and it instantly became part of our read-often rotation because I realized what a wonderful book it was.  It has two elements paramount for a stellar picture book- excellent illustrations and rhythmic words that are fun to hear read.  Sam and Anna still have huge grins every time I change voices for the large bear and the small boy, even though I probably have read that book to them close to 50 times.  This book is one that you will memorize, but won't get annoyed that the words get stuck in your head.

Mama Loves Shutterfly

I use shutterfly a lot.  Our holiday cards always come from there.  I have a share site through them that I upload the thousands of photos I've taken for grandparents' viewing pleasure. The past two years we've used calendars filled with Sam and Anna pictures from shutterfly.  Father's Day and Mother's day cards for grandparents frequently come from shutterfly (because what grandparent would rather have a generic store bought card when they can have one with pictures of their grandchildren?)

But my favorite thing to do on shutterfly is create photo books.  I've made a bunch of photo books:  one in remembrance of our first dog, one for my husband as a gift with pictures of just the two of us B.C. (Before Children), Sam and Anna individual birth-1year old books, and a photo book or two for grandparents.   My mother-in-law likes to take photos from the share site to make her own photo books of Sam and Anna.

I don't think I've ever shared the first year photo books I made.  (Both have been edited to remove personal identifying information)

Click here to view this photo book larger

Click here to view this photo book larger

Shutterfly allows you to customize your photo book just the way you want.

Last year I made a photo book using a free code (with freebie codes on shutterfly, you still pay shipping and for additional pages, so the book wasn't 100% free) of relative names and photos to prep Sam and Anna for family visits and traveling.  Shutterfly often has codes out there for free or other good deals on their products. I put minimal time into making this book because the code was expiring that night, and  especially compared to the time and effort put into Sam and Anna's first year books.  An hour maybe?  Regardless, it was awesome.  All those cousins and aunts and uncles we see a few times a year weren't unfamiliar faces for Sam and Anna when we travelled, they knew them all by name.  That books is still an often read book in our home.

Click here to view this photo book larger

I've been waiting until this summer to make Sam and Anna's 1-2 year old photo books so I had a good chunk of time to devote to them.  I'm excited to get started, but glad I waited because I recently found out that Pampers Gifts to Grow rewards (the stuff you can get with the points from codes you collect from diapers and wipes) are 25% off right now, which meant that I had enough points to get a code for 20 free pages in a 12 by 12 hard cover book.  (There are lots of shuttefly products you can get with pampers points) I would not have had enough et without the 25% off.


I'm also planning on making a alphabet A-Z book of photos from this summer for Sam and Anna at the end of summer.  (A is for apples.- with a picture of them eating apples, B is for bubbles. - with a photo of them blowing bubbles, etc.)  I have a feeling that book will become a often read and treasured part of our library too!



*disclaimer: While shutterfly often has some pretty good incentives for free publicity on the internet, I was not compensated for this post.

Mama Loves Our DIY Learning Tower

Have you seen a Learning Tower before? A Learning Tower is a safe way for young children to be at counter height to participate in cooking or whatever activity you are doing.  Learning towers have adjustable shelves so that as your child grows you can lower the shelf they stand on and the counter can continue to be at the perfect height. It's like pulling a chair over to stand on, but so much better. Google them and you will see that they sell for around $199 most places.

This one by Little Partners is $199 on Amazon

A $199 price tag is pretty hefty for me, especially since I'd need two for Sam and Anna.  So when I saw plans to build your own learning tower on pinterest (claiming a material price tag of only $20!), I quickly had my husband forward the plans to my very handy father-in-law.  He had it completed in time for a birthday present... with one slight modification:  twice as wide for double the kids to stand on it.  I LOVE it!

This thing is ridiculously awesome.  Before the DIY learning tower, we tag-teamed Sam and Anna for counter top projects:  one of us would be the spotter to catch kids that might topple off the chairs we had them stand on, while the other adult got to participate in the fun.  This also meant that I wasn't brave enough to have both Sam and Anna stand on chairs at the counter unless both adults were home. Not an ideal situation.

Best things about it:  It has an adjustable height with the shelf.  Non-tipping!  The sides make it extremely difficult to fall out.  Fits flush with the counter.  Easy for toddlers to climb into and off on their own! And did I mention the materials only cost about $20???

Our tower (the other side has Sam and Anna's names stenciled on it.  I didn't realize it was facing that way until I uploaded the pictures.)

I will admit that it is large, especially since ours is made to be roomy enough to fit two kids at once.  We don't permanently keep it in our smallish kitchen, but we store it against the wall on the other side of our breakfast bar.  100% of the time Sam and Anna can have counter top viewing if they want, but if we do a project or they help with cooking we move it over to the other side of the counter.  The plans on Ana White's website  do include directions for hinges to make the structure foldable, but we chose to forgo that part to make the tower more sturdy (since it would be twice as wide and hold two times the kids, we thought that was important).

I can't wait to use it as a fort with blankets this summer, too!  Or gosh, even a puppet theatre as they get older.  This thing is going to be around for many years to come.

Two Terrific Two-Year-Old Toys

Since Christmas, these have been the top two favorite toys in our home:

Both Sam and Anna love the My First Dollhouse by Fisher Price.  The house was a Christmas gift from their Grandma Roxie (at my asked-for suggestion) They got additional furniture sets for their birthday, and two more in their Easter baskets.  This toy is played with daily- even on the days when only 30 minutes of playtime occurs indoors at our house.  It's so cute to watch them act out the family sleeping, the daddy cooking, or the dog on the couch watching tv (not that our dog does that around here, of course.)  My favorite is when the daddy figurine kisses the mommy figurine- it just shows that our actions are being witnessed all the time.  I'm glad that our toddlers see their parents in loving roles to each other, not just to them.  Although I wonder what it means when the figurines walk around on the roof all the time...

The next top favorite toy has got to be our Mega Blok collection.  Sam has always been a block builder, but with these blocks, he can stay focused on one thing for longer than I've ever seen him do- and he does it all the time.  If I need him to calm down because he's getting wild and all over the place, I'll pull out the Mega Bloks.  If this mama needs 20 minutes to get ready in the morning, the Mega Bloks are a sure hit to keep both kids engaged for the entire time- and since there's a large amount of pieces and plenty to go around, scuffles between toddlers are pretty minimal.  Anna loves them too!

Signing With Toddlers

I always knew I wanted to sign with my children.  I think I've shared before that while growing up, my mom took care of a deaf child for a little bit and so signing was a part of my childhood.  I have memories of my mom signing "yes" or "no" to me when she was on the phone and I was bugging her with something.  I took a course on sign language in college.  I incorporate signs into my classroom.  So when I started signing with Sam and Anna, it wasn't because I was having difficulty understanding them, or because they were not communicating well for their age.  It was just another tool I used to help my children in their language development.

I think Sam and Anna's communication has always been advanced for their age, and I can't tell you how relieved I have been that that has been the case.  Typically, twins are at a higher risk for language delays because the attention gets shared from the very beginning, and because there's someone to babble along with that might decrease the desire to learn harder how to communicate using words.  Even though speech concerns haven't been the case for us, I continued signing with Sam and Anna and I still teach them new signs as they come up.  Signs aren't replacements for words for them; they accompany the words for us.  Sam and Anna rarely make signs without saying or attempting to say the words while doing them, even from the very first signs they learned.

As their vocabulary grows daily, some signs they've learned along the way have been dropped.  I never see the "milk," "all done," or "bath" sign anymore... but it's probably more because of me than them, because somewhere along the way I stopped using the sign when saying those words.  However, some signs like "Thank you" have stuck around.  Anna and Sam never say the words without signing it as well... as far as I know, they might think they both have to be done for it to make sense!

Even though Sam and Anna are now over 2 years old and saying sentences with 5+ words regularly, I don't have any plans on dropping signing from our daily life.  Right now, Anna is very interested in signing color words along with saying them.  If that helps her make the connections to retain identifying all 11 basic colors, I'm all for it.  We've also been practicing letter signs lately.  While Sam definitely seems less interested in learning signs these days, Anna is as into it as ever.  She'll hold out her hands after I model a sign with my hands, requesting that "Mama do it"- meaning, "please show me how with my fingers too."

Here's my reasoning for carrying on with signing, even though my children are proficient speakers for 2 year olds:

1.) If we are out and about and one is misbehaving, I can communicate a stern "no" without yelling, even if they are across the playground.. or if I am on the phone or talking to another person.   In a loud place, I'll be able to communicate with my children, even if they can't hear what I am saying. I can communicate in places we need to be quiet... like church or the library.

2.) I look at sign language as learning another language, like Spanish or German.  Two languages reinforce each other.  I vaguely remember hearing studies show that bilingual children have higher academic abilities, or something like that.  Since kids can talk AND sign at the same time, they both work together to help children that sign get better at both.

3.) There are words that Sam and Anna don't say perfectly yet.  Orange being one of them.  Some sounds are later developing, and some aren't even typically expected to be mastered until age 7 or 8!  If my children can sign words that are more difficult to pronounce, I have a greater chance of accurately interpreting what they are tying to say.

4.)  I think sign language will help them learn to read.  Many signs are finger-spelled (like park), and many signs use the beginning letter to make the sign (like yellow).  Plus, I think signing the alphabet decreases the chance that Sam and Anna will think LMNOP is one letter!

5.) Signing will continue to help Sam and Anna increase their vocabulary.  Often signs look like what they represent.  This helps them grasp the meanings and remember new words based upon that.  For example, the sign for hippo looks like the hippo's big mouth is opening while the sign for rhinoceros mimics the rhino's horn on his nose.  I am confident that Sam and Anna make this connection when they seen pictures of those animals- that a hippo has a large mouth and and rhino has a horn on the end of its nose.  Without learning those signs, I am not sure they would be making that connection.

6.)  Toddlers like to move!  Signing can definitely get a child moving... and it also can help a child focus if they have to play attention to what they are seeing, not just hearing.

7.)  This is a stretch, but, I also think there is a chance that knowing how to sign as an older child will help Sam and Anna accept differences in others.  They won't be uncomfortable if a deaf child is playing on the playground and stare... and who knows?  Maybe they will even communicate and play with them.

My mom signed "I love you" to me even in the teen years to give me courage when I was doing something that shook my nerves, when the space between us was too far to say it out loud.  I can bet she signed it to me when the bus I was riding on to camp for the first time pulled out of the parking lot in elementary school.  I hope I can do the same when Sam and Anna are on a sports field, standing on a stage, or wearing a graduation cap and gown. 


(My thanks to Kerri, who inspired this post and got my brain thinking about why I still sign with Sam and Anna!)

* edited to add: that we still watch Signing Time DVDs at least once a week.  I've found that typically they are the least expensive on Amazon. 

Mama Loves Water Beads

Water beads = so much fun!  To be honest, I typed a huge post extolling how awesome water beads are, explaining them in detail, and how much Sam and Anna love them... like how we have to hide them when not in use but they still ask to play with them all the time and how they still cheer, jump up and down and clap when I say they can, after playing with them for several weeks now BUT blogger ate my darn post and I don't have the patience to redo it. 

So here's the short version:  Sensory Play is great for young children.  Water beads are a great sensory experience.  You can get them in the floral department at craft stores (or Walmart) for cheap.  Add water to the tiny beads, and voila- they grow into firm jelly-like marble-sized balls after a few hours.  Sam and Anna love 'em.  They love 'em so much I bought more and upgraded to a larger container than what is pictured here.  Water beads are fun to run your hands through.  Or feet.  Fun to scoop and pour.  Fun to squeeze.

Go get some.  Maybe your kids will jump up and down cheering and clapping too.

Mama Loves Foam Stickers

I've used foam stickers in my classroom in the past, but I underestimated their worth for the toddler set until just this last month.  I needed a quick and easy way to make a card for Daddy for Valentine's Day (and earlier this week I already mentioned my fear of painting with twin toddlers at the same time), so I broke out the foam heart stickers and let Sam and Anna go to town.  It was easy AND quick and turned out cute too.  I do have to peel the paper backing off for them, but unlike regular stickers, there was no accidently folding over or creasing with the foam stickers. 

Both kids self selected their hearts and placed them where they wanted.  At first, Anna's was a AB pattern of same sized hearts, but the she started layering them on top of the others.  Sam's was completely random, but I think nicely balanced overall.  I love how both of my little ones had completely different styles that reflect their personalities so much.

So a few days later we played around with foam ocean stickers, and it was just as fun for them.  Sam and Anna love pointing out their art and discuss the animal names, colors and counting them while they hung on our refrigerator.

I've seen that you can glue smaller foam stickers to milk caps for a really inexpensive instant stamp, but I haven't tried that yet.  I'll have to add that to my list of future artsy projects to try!


You can get foam stickers almost anywhere: the Dollar Store, Target, Walmart, craft stores, etc.  I got the heart ones from Michaels for a school project, and the ocean foam stickers I've had for a long time so I'm not sure where they came from.

Think of the other possibilities!  Stick 'em to Easter eggs for an easy and fast decoration.  Stick 'em to craft sticks for instant puppets!  Stick 'em to a rolling pin and with paint, make a large scale piece of artwork (or kid-created wrapping paper)!  Sorting by color, shape, matching game...

I'm linking up with Julia's Mama Loves today!

Mama Loves Pipe Cleaners

I'm really trying to make an effort to do more things with Sam and Anna this year that require more than just the toys we have laying around already.  I've had to expand my horizons into learning through play experiences for the young set.  Although I'm only a student teaching experience away from being a licensed teacher for birth through pre-k (I currently hold a teaching license for kindergarten through 5th grade, but could expand it to 8th grade with a class or two as well), teaching toddlers is a little out of my usual comfort zone.  Hooray for pinterest, for really helping me out with an idea or two... or 50.

Idea #1:  After seeing this pinned over and over, I sat my wee ones in front of our colander and pipe cleaners and witnessed just how much fun sticking colorful sticks into little holes can be.

Idea #2: I brought home some lacing beads form my classroom, to see how Sam and Anna could do with the fine motor skills needed to lace a string through the holes.  It was a huge challenge for shoelaces, but pipe cleaners provided just enough of a help to make it challenging, but still do-able to put several beads together without help.

Idea #3: I made this project out of an oatmeal can and page reinforcers after seeing a similar one using a pringles can.  Sam and Anna had a ton of fun poking the pipe cleaners into the holes, even if they aren't getting the matching colors aspect completely yet.

Idea #4: I also put the pieces I snipped off the pipe cleaners to make them the right size for the oatmeal can in a empty water bottle for my little ones to manipulate with magnets.  They had so much fun with this that I need to hurry up and make another one so they can each have their own to use.

Idea #5: Finally, I'd love to make these phone number bracelets for my wee ones  on a pipe cleaner for the next time we are out in a busy public place, but I just can't find any number beads to use.  I've tried several craft stores in our area.  If you have a suggestion of a place to check for number beads, please let me know!

Pipe cleaners are more awesome that I ever realized.  I wonder if the inventor of the pipe cleaner ever had any idea where his idea would go!

I'm linking up with Julia's Mama Loves today!


* Disclaimer:  Some of these ideas contain small pieces that would be considered choking hazards.  Sam and Anna were under strict supervision during this activities and of course, I would suggest that any child that uses similar projects be under supervision as well.

Mama Loves Cute Curls

I find it incredibly ironic that Julia over at Pontification of a Twin Mom shared a fabulous hair detangler for her mama loves product/idea yesterday, because I fully intended to also discuss my love of hair detangler spray this weekend.  Her girls have straight hair, and it works great for getting those tangles out.  For us, I love our hair detangler for a different purpose.

Anna's hair has been curly since it was long enough to amount to anything (which was at about 16 months old).  My hair was straight until a God-awful perm in 6th grade and it hasn't been straight since then without lots of effort from a heavily used flat iron, so I really was clueless about what to do for toddler curly hair versus adult curly hair.  I'm smart enough to know that brushing curls=frizz and is about the worst thing you can do to curls, but of course I didn't want to product up my little girl's baby-fine hair like I do my own curls from time to time. 

Maybe I'm the only one that didn't know this, but after my daycare provider clued me in to the benefit of hair detangler and curls on Anna's hair, I watched it work its magic.  A few sprays of the stuff on dry or wet hair and Anna's hair was non-frizzy, curls defined, but not greasy or dirty looking.  Plus, it is still so soft!  I love winding my fingers in her corkscrew curls.  I only wish I loved my curls as much as I love hers.



Her hair is longer than it looks.  When wet and straight, it is well past her shoulders

I haven't been using a fancy hair detangler spray... but I did buy some California Baby Calming Hair De-Tangler after reading Julia's suggestion and have tried it out with great results.

So hair detangler spray= safe curl enhancer for baby and toddler hair.  Who knew?  Certainly not me!

I'm linking up with Julia's Mama Loves today!

Mama Loves... Lowes?

We took Sam and Anna to their first build and grow workshop at Lowes yesterday.  I had my doubts, since the info I read said the recommended age first grade and up- but it was free, so I thought it was worth a shot.  Yesterday's project was a build-a-saurus, and my duo certainly love their dinosaurs (thanks to the How Do Dinosaurs... books by Mark Teague) so we headed over there at 10 am after signing up online a week or so ago.

It was fun.  It was entertaining.  It exceeded my expectations. Did I mention that it was free?  And although it was too difficult for my not-quite-2-year-olds to do on their own, it was entirely possible to "help" them build a dinosaur out of pre-cut wood and nails with one-on-one adult help.  You couldn't wipe the smile off of Sam's face. 

My biggest beef was the jerk dad across from us who said a slew of negative comments to his kids (because they weren't "doing it right") and then when Anna was roaring like a dinosaur with her completed project, asked me if she was making "baby noises" or really trying to roar like a dinosaur."  Yeah, dude- she's a baby.  Pretty sure if she's old enough to walk and wield a metal hammer, she can comprehend an animal noise and recreate it. 

Sam and Anna humored us by wearing the aprons and even tolerating the safety goggles for awhile.  How awesome is it that we were able to even take them home and add the aprons and goggles to our play workbench set that was a Christmas gift?  They also each got a patch and certificate, which I'm sure as they get older, will be more of a bigger deal to them.

Did you know that Lowes holds free building projects for kids every other Saturday?  You don't even have to sign up online, you can just show up- but since each location is limited to 50 participants, I would recommend signing up online beforehand.  By checking online, you can see each session ahead of time to determine if it would be a good fit for your child.  I decided to skip the castle building project before this one, because I wasn't sure if Sam or Anna would get it.  I'm sad that we missed the wooden train project last month.  We are also skipping the next project- a valentine card holder, but as soon as I got home, I signed us up for the one after that- a wooden race car.  I'm sure they will have tons of fun at that one too!  I'm excited to see what projects they have in the future!

Don't have a Lowes near you?  Home Depot also hold kids workshops, on the first Saturday of the month.  As long as I am on a roll, Lakeshore Learning also holds free kids projects on Saturdays, if you are lucky enough to live near one (Sam and Anna's grandparents do, but unfortunately for us, it's a 3 hour drive away) and Michaels does some weekends, too!

I'm linking up with Julia's mama loves today!