I have been void of silly mom stories lately. There’s a great deal of noise in the world and even when I try to tune it out with a trip to the park or a stroll through the farmers market, I h…

Source: Let’s just play pretend …

Occupying 3 year olds during days and days of rain is a challenge to say the least. I admit that we are spoiled out here in SoCal and its really just a handful of days through the course of a year …

Source: Minutes and Minutes of Fun

Occupying 3 year olds during days and days of rain is a challenge to say the least. I admit that we are spoiled out here in SoCal and its really just a handful of days through the course of a year where going outside is not an option. Thank goodness the sun is out again, but seriously those days inside were TOUGH .WHAT CAN WE DO IN HERE ALL DAY?!

The truth is my daughter is not going to sit still for 15 minutes of a stationary activity, let alone a half hour. She’s a mover and a shaker and literally bounces off the furniture if not able to run free outside. I owe my rainy winter sanity to indoor playgrounds and my supermom sister for always giving me the best ideas ! Thanks to her I now know  this easy idea to melt crayons in little heart molds for school Valentines! Thanks Babe!  This actually kept Issy’s  attention   for….MINUTES!  I gave my daughter the best job – peeling all the labels off of the crayons – something she does normally and with great pleasure!  We went through all the broken crayons in her pencil case, peeled off the paper and broke the bigger ones into small pieces so they could fit in the molds.

By the time we had put the crayons in the molds about 15 minutes had passed. Sure it wasn’t an entire afternoon’s worth of activities where she was stimulated, with all of her synapses firing rapidly while  using fine motor skills for hours on end- BUT it was enough for me to feel a little less guilty when I caved to the requests to watch Peppa Pig in the late afternoon!

This is how easy it is to make these little crayons:

Place the broken crayons in the mold on top of a cookie sheet and bake at 230 degrees for about 10-20 minutes depending on your oven , (I did mine in the toaster oven and it took 13 minutes.) Make sure you let them cool completely before you pop them out.   Now hows that for a nut free, sugar free, allergy free, food free treat to bring into school!

 

Aren’t these so cute!

I have been void of silly mom stories lately. There’s a great deal of noise in the world and even when I try to tune it out with a trip to the park or a stroll through the farmers market, I have this constant feeling of fear in my gut. I just imagine the Statue of Liberty crumbling a little but everyday in the New York harbor …shes coming undone …we’re coming undone…. I think. How long until she is just a pile of rubble that once was…

Social media used to overdose us on kids and selfies and food porn and now it’s all very serious. I’m very serious about it all too. I am doing what I can to stand on what I believe to be the right side of history. But I’m worried for the future – the immediate future really… I’m worried about health care, public schools, the safety of the Muslim community, the  the LGBTQ community, the African American community, any non white male community really… I worry about  my rights as a woman… I worry about it all just being deleted from existence . It is just so much. I am trying to breathe…to meditate. Yoga is helping. I am trying to exhale all that isn’t serving me ...but..it’s hard.

I am playing more make believe with my little Issy. I am looking to my 3 year old to take me away from it all. I want to play pretend more than ever these days. Her favorite game is Mommy and Baby. I get to be the baby and she loves to be the mommy. She makes me nap  and hands me a plate of food from her little kitchen and whispers, pretend you don’t like vegetables Baby.  She says things like, you can’t have cookies ! that’s a treat, and candy makes your teeth fall out!   (so she IS listening to me). Yesterday at the park, she didn’t want to play with her friends; she wanted to play with me and I really wanted to play with her too. We played soccer and  I chased her around the trees. We played hide and seek and got on the swings together. I lost myself in her giggles..her innocence…I love her so much.. I love her SO MUCH, I could weep. Why am I so upset about the world? Because of her . Because of your son and your daughter and your niece and nephew and because of your grandchildren…. Because their kindness and love and purity  is deserving of a beautiful planet full of like minded humans and when we hug them close and say, its ok…its all going to be ok, I really want to be able to believe that.