This week I am grateful for…
…painting decorations for the little one’s new space-themed bedroom.
I am grateful for sunny days,
and I am grateful for the horses we say hello to every day,
and for how much the little ones love seeing them.
I am also grateful for hugs,good friends,our wonderful family in England and abroad, and for days at the park.
What are you grateful for?
Wishing you a lovely day!
♥
Monday night Emily cut her own hair.
Before I had children I didn’t know about this. I would hear someone say that their child gave themselves an awful haircut and think “Why on earth was your child unsupervised anywhere near scissors?!” , but here I am, and here is my wonderful,smart 5-and-almost-a-half-year-old with a stylish new haircut.
I asked her why she did it, and she said she wanted to look like a Barbie.
That’s my fault. I make an effort to point out that Barbies do not look like real people, so when we went to a shop on Monday and Emily picked up a doll, I think it was a Bratz doll, I said “It doesn’t look like a real person at all!” Looking back I can see how that backfired. Live and learn. Emi’s hair being a whole 30cm shorter is definitely something I won’t forget.
At first there were tears, (mostly from me.) but we made plans to buy some new hairclips and make some headbands,
and in the end all was well.
Emi, of course, is very happy with her new haircut, she loves having short hair, and she loves that it now looks a lot darker than it did before.
She asked me to show her picture to everyone because she was wondering if they might say “Wowsers!“, and, of course, they did. (Thank you!)
I’m getting used to Emi’s new hair, it suits her personality, and she is very happy.
What more could I possibly want?
Wowsers!
Wishing you a lovely day!
♥
Georgie loves to post postcards,flashcards and bits of paper, so we thought it might be fun for him to try and post something else.
We made this simple little toy for him, and it’s easy to make your own,too!
All you need to make your own is an empty tin-can, scissors,spare change and one of those plastic lids that fit on cans. (You can find those in the pet-food isle.)
To my surprise Georgie knew immediately how to do this, and he has spent a lot of time since doing it.
He didn’t need any help at all, not even the first time, and I’m so proud of him!
Of course George still tries to eat a few coins once in a while, so it’s not a toy for him to play with on his own, but it is definitely a new favourite.
It is so good to see George making progress ,and even though we have a few difficult days now and then, seeing him grow, practice and learn makes it all worth it.
Wishing you a wonderful day!
♥
I still remember my teacher introducing this fun ball to us when we were seven years old. We begged her to explain the secret behind it to us , but she never did.
Many years later,as a grown-up, I met that same teacher again and, of course,asked about the Wibbly Wobbly Ball.
This fun balloon wobbles all over the place and I promise you that your little ones won’t be able to stop giggling!
The Wibbly Wobbly Ball
You will need:
Two Balloons
Water
How to:
Fill one of the balloons with a bit of water. Don’t make it too big!
Squeeze the water balloon into the other balloon.
Now blow up the second balloon with the water balloon still inside.
That’s all!
Now play a game of volleyball with your children, or just a game of don’t-let-the-balloon-touch-the-floor!
Have fun!
♥
We have had a few unusually quiet days around here.
Being ill with thankfully-not-measles and having just received a rather fun magazine about space from the toothfairy, Emily decided to build a spaceship.
This is the steering wheel,
and this is our window out into space!
Of course we had a lot of space adventures, and we even met a silly alien!
Wishing you a lovely day!
♥
We have had a difficult few days. You know how it goes, things don’t always go according to (my) plan, and some days are just not as brilliant as others.
We needed a change in pace, and certainly in everyone’s mood, so we decided to do something fun instead.
(Repeat after me: I choose joy.)
Today we surprised the little ones with a little party.
Of course there is no fooling Emily, she is five-and-almost-a-half, after all,
but she was more than happy to keep the party a secret and help us prepare the cake.
Everyone loved the dairy-free,gluten-free chocolate cake!
It was so good to just have some silly fun for no reason at all.
We need more of this, I think.
Every day a celebration, every day full of joy, that is how I want to live my life.
I have got a lot to learn from these little ones.
Wishing you a happy day,
♥
This week I am grateful for..
days full of fun and sunshine,
and Arthur’s new love for noise.
I am grateful for looking at books with sweet Georgie,
and for early morning pretend-picnics with Emily and her favourite doll Lotta.
What are you grateful for this week?
Wishing you a lovely day!
♥
As some of you might already know, Georgie doesn’t talk. He communicates with us in a whole lot of different ways, but talking just is not one of them.
We feel very blessed to have a wonderful and patient speech therapist, and even though we see her weekly we do a lot of speech work at home,too.
Georgie’s speech therapist has kindly allowed me to share some of the things we do at Speech Therapy,
so that you can recreate them at home. Of course I am not a trained professional, and doing these things at home with your child is not something to do instead of seeing a speech therapist, but you all know that already.
Today I would like to introduce you to what’s inside our Speech Therapy Basket and the first Speech Game.
I am hoping to share ideas with you weekly, so you will have time to gather the supplies you need,most of them you will have at home already.
The Speech Therapy Basket:
The basket is where I keep most things we need for working on speech.
In our basket there is..
One small doll (our’s is the Batsinarai Doll)
One knit square
A little bowl
A wooden banana
Two wooden eggs
A wooden strawberry
One paper towel tube
First Word Flashcards
Three small cars
Balloons in green,blue,red,purple,pink and yellow
A stainless steel straw (any straw will do, but the plastic ones don’t last long in our home!)
Small plastic animals,
Small,colourful feathers,
A Candle
A Noah’s Ark playset
The book Peek-A-Boo by Jan Ormerod
Bubbles
Georgie’s favourite thing to do is playing with the bubbles, so I thought it would be nice to start with them,
and most of you will probably have bubbles at home already.
The Bubble Game
The way this works for us is this:
Sit on the floor opposite your child and show them the bubble bottle.
Say “Look, Bubbles!” to get their attention.
As you open the bottle say “Open” loud and clear.
We like to count up to things, so I will hold up the bubble wand and say
“1,2,3, Go!”, then blow the bubbles, saying “Bubbles!”.
Now pop the bubbles with your finger saying “Pop” as you pop each one, encouraging your child to do the same.
You can also practice “Down” as the bubbles are slowly floating downwards.
When all bubbles are gone say “More Bubbles?” before starting to count again.
You can modify this game to meet your child’s unique needs, some children might even be able to count the bubbles or make different noises for each popping bubble.
Wishing you a wonderful day!
♥
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I am grateful for such a beautiful year , with a few downs but many,many ups, too.
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
I am wishing you all a wonderful,amazing new year.
Much love from us to you.
♥
This week I am grateful for…
new favourite books,
and a little one who is finally feeling a little bit better.
I am grateful for bright colours and happy days,
I am grateful for our home, and for Christmas decorations safely stored away for another year,
and I am grateful for rainy days spent reading stories in front of the fire.
What are you grateful for?
Wishing you a lovely day!
♥
(ps// If you have not been matched with a swap partner yet please let me know!)
These few days between Christmas and the new year are such a strange time, aren’t they?
We spend it together, playing even more boardgames than usual, cooking together and going on long walks by the beach.
Sweet Arthur and George were wrapped up in lovely handknits to keep them warm.
Emi is growing up so quickly, she is such a confident, strong little one,
generous,kind,and definitely a free spirit!
I hope you are having a lovely time in-between, I will be back in this space in a few days.
♥
Our Christmas celebrations started with a lovely Christmas Dinner followed by a few presents under the tree, including matching pyjamas.
Very early on Christmas Morning sweet Emily woke us up , saying “Mama, Daddy, do you think it is Christmas yet?”
We went downstairs to discover that Santa had left glittery,snowy footprints all over the floor,
as well as a picture of himself standing next to our tree!
Of course dear Santa left some presents for the little ones,too!
Wishing you a wonderful Christmas!
♥
(I know it’s not Friday yet, but I won’t be around tomorrow, so I thought I’d share my Gratefuls with you already!)
This week I am grateful for ..
.. a new gingerbread house because “If we build a new one we will have to eat the other one, isn’t that right,Mama?”
for sweet little decorations sent all the way from Germany,
for a lost tooth and a proud girl,
(lost on the 15th of December already!)
and for a little snowstorm of paper snowflakes that has been making our home feel a little bit more wintery this Christmas.
What are you grateful for?
Wishing you a lovely day!
♥
Brushing everyone’s hair in the morning and before bed can be a bit of a struggle sometimes,
and even though I know we are so lucky because we don’t really have to hurry at all, sometimes I do wonder how it is even possible for hair to be so very tangled!
The answer to that question arrived in our home not so long ago and I’m really surprised to say that it has made hairbrush time a lot easier.
The Tangle Fairy
The Tangle Fairy is a beautifully illustrated book written by Seema Barker.
It is a charming story about a little girl called Jaya who wants to find out where the knots in her hair come from.
When her Mama tells Jaya about the Tangle Fairy , Jaya is determined to stay awake and ask the fairy about the knots and tangles.
The Tangle Fairy makes up some very funny excuses , but in the end she tells Jaya the truth, and from that day on Jaya really doesn’t mind the tangles in her hair anymore at all.
What I really like about the book is not only that it gives a fun reason for early-morning knots in your hair, but it also rhymes, which makes it a great book for little ones to read on their own, too.
Another book we have been reading a lot recently is The Day the Gogglynipper Escaped. It is written by James McKnight and illustrated by Mark Chambers, who we really,really like.
The book is part of the McDoogle’s Monster Farm book series and begins with a little boy called Diggle rounding up all the Gogglynippers on the Monster Farm only to find out that one of them had gone missing.
Using all his expert knowledge Diggle follows the Gogglynipper up and down hills and finally finds him hiding in a dark cave.
The Gogglynipper is happy to see Diggle and can’t wait to go back home to the Monster Farm. Who would have thought that even monsters can be afraid of the dark?
We really liked reading The Day the Gogglynipper Escaped, it is a funny and sweet book, and even though it has big words in it, it was still a fun book for the little ones to read on their own,too.
I can’t wait to collect more McDoogle’s Monster Farm books!
What are some of your favourite books?
Have a lovely day.
♥
We are so blessed to have lovely friends who take the time to see us.
Today we shared a bit of Christmas fun with our fantastic friend Kristin and her adorable daughter L and my best friend Rosaleen and her sweet daughters K & L . (Rosaleen blogs over at MamaUK, go take a look, she is wonderful.)
We spent some time decorating our own baubles with glitter and glue,
(Names of Jesus Paperchain can be found here.
threaded some colourful beads onto sparkly pipecleaners to make tree decorations,
made sparkly tissue paper snowflakes, and decorated cookies!
Emily had so much fun with her friends.
(K, Emily and L decorating cookies together. Emi is not huge,she is standing on a chair!)
After the party was over we found ourselves with a rather happy mess,
and a rather happy girl!
(and two very tired little boys who really tried their best to keep up with their sister and her friends!)
Thank you, lovely friends, for spending the day with us.
♥
