Happy Mother's Day!

Mother's Day didn't start out too great for me. Both kids were a bit owly, and I considered leaving them with Ron so I could go celebrate Mother's Day by myself.

Thankfully, things turned around by mid-day. It was fairly cold yesterday morning, but I decided we all needed to get out of the house, so we bundled up and went to a nearby park with walking trails. I think that was just the thing for Sammy. He was thrilled to discover a fuzzy caterpillar. I picked it up to show him, and he DID NOT want to hold it, but the minute I put it back down, he started talking to it. "Hi, caterpillar! Where you going, caterpillar? You hungry, caterpillar?"

I went over to talk to Natalie, who had just woken up from a snooze in her stroller. "Sammy found a caterpillar, Natalie!" I said to her. A few seconds later, I was shocked to see Sammy walking over, "pinching" the caterpillar between his fingers. "Look, Nye! A caterpillar!" he said. Luckily the caterpillar appeared to be unharmed, and crawled away when we put him down.

Ron & the kids gave me a pair of earrings, and a gift certificate for a one-hour massage. Lest you think, "Oh, how thoughtful!" I should mention that I gave Ron the flyer (on Friday) for the massage therapist, and said, "By the way, this would be a good idea for a Mother's Day gift." He gets points for listening to me, though.

The kids had made a really great present for me at daycare. It was a little throw pillow that had a clear pocket sewn onto one side for a picture. The daycare staff had taken a picture of the two kids together, put it into the pocket, and had Sammy color with marker all around the picture. On the back side were the kids' handprints, their names, and "Mother's Day 2008". A keepsake, for sure.

I think the best gift of all was the 2-hour nap I got in the afternoon. Both kids napped, at the same time, which almost never happens. If it does ever happen, usually Natalie wakes up after half an hour, just as I'm starting to drift off. So that was huge. And greatly appreciated. Odds are, I won't get another nap until 2009, so I will remember this nap with great fondness for months to come.

I know a few of you that read have young toddlers, and like me, you're always trying to think of projects and games to occupy them. Keep tuned for future posts on this subject. I'll start by saying that we have an "art box", which is a large tupperware container filled with all types of art supplies. Right now, Target has a wide variety of art supplies in their dollar section, so I just stocked up again over the weekend. I've ordered a lot of things from Oriental Trading Company, as well. Our art box includes things like: glitter, finger paints, construction paper, "googly eyes", pipe cleaners, and foam shapes. Whenever we finish up a roll of toilet paper or wrapping paper, I save the cardboard tubes and put them in our art box. I get my inspiration from The Toddler's Busy Book by Trish Kuffner, as well as various projects I find on the internet. And, most importantly, imagination. Before throwing away jars and containers, I look at them as potential art projects. For example - we just finished up a sample-size canister of formula. Cut a slot in the lid, decorate the container, and - voila! - you have a coin bank. Anyway, I hope some my research and experiences will help out some of you looking for projects to do with your young children!