Leave-Behind a DIY Aquarium

If you've been seeing our pattern, every couple of posts are about ideas to leave behind a thoughtful play environment for kids while mom works all day at the office.  I like to change up the shelf displays in her preschool playroom now and then with super-easy ideas that keep Ladybug Girl away from the iPad learning with fun.

Now I'm sorry but you're going to get another bad photo of me taken by my daughter after a stressful work day.  We Filipinos call this the basahan look:

It's Aquasand.  I finally bought this stuff because it went on 50% off in toy stores.
For an easy alternative you can use colored sand found in National Bookstore.
Buying two colors and seeing them mix would be fun.  Heck, plain sand would work.

Here is the invitation on her shelf:

Aquasand + Plastic box + Plastic ocean animals.  Add an imaginative suggestion and that's it.
She knows how to get water from the faucet herself, otherwise I would add a plastic pitcher of water. 

Here it is all done just one day later:

She loved it so much we did it together after work one day.

This was nice so that we could name the animals one-by-one as she put them in.

As Ladybug Girl says: easy-peasy lemon-squeezy!

See our gallery of leave-behind play on the upper right side of page.

Is Your Husband Behind You? Get Him Out Of There.

When we took our vows, we promised that we would always be kampi.  To me this meant more than just 'being on the same side'.  It meant we fought the world back-to-back, like in the movies.  

The best part of the action: cameras pan around the duo and you absolutely know they are going to win.

When I looked out from my end of the team, I liked being attached-yet-separate.  I thought dividing the work made us a great duo.  It turns out I was wrong.

For some time now, my husband has felt we were not kampi.  He missed doing things together apart from our limited date nights.  Errands.  Grocery.  Set weekend plans.  It sounds small, but in a marriage with both of us working, I realise I have been neglecting his language of love: time and service.

At some point, our marriage had become an assumption.  I assumed we had the same style, that "you do this, and I do that" was the way things worked well.  It didn't.

Can errands and romance go together?

Nevermind that I'm not a nagger wife, nevermind that we had new parenthood to navigate, nevermind that he was better at his share of the work.  I just had too many excuses and I was resistant to changing my style.

Last month, Jenny from My Mommyology invited me to join her in a #BetterMe life coaching session with Coach Pia Nazareno.  I fully expected it to be about parenting, but it was about strengthening your relationship with your spouse.  One of the first questions asked was willingness to change.  I whispered my thanks for Jenny's timing, and texted my husband half-jokingly "I am so sorry for neglecting you!!"

I am sharing this because a couple of sweet, generous hearts have written reassuring messages and questions on what I try to do for my daughter at home.  I am filled with gratitude.  But while I am all for involved parenting no matter what your circumstances are, I borrow the words of the wise, funny woman behind Scrollwork:

There is no formula.  There are only people who want to sell you theirs.

As for me, some formula changes are in order.  The first and most important one is in my head: my husband is my love, not my teammate.  I don't want him behind me, I want him beside me.

Preferably holding my hand with flowers, and 'Before Midnight' be damned.

Make Rainbow Jars

This is how bad I am at cooking: I can collect six expired spice jars twice a year.  I am much better at using them for playful learning than I am at using them in the kitchen.

I always mean to throw them away to declutter but every time I come close to it, an idea strikes.  Here's one to do on a weekend with an older toddler to learn colors, or with a preschooler for crafty art and hand-control.

There are a few ways to do this.

We watered down the paint, used the dropper to put the color in, capped it and shook the bottle.  This makes a fun process! But don't expect the paint to dry because of all the water.  We left ours out for a week and nothing happened.

The next time we used bigger bottles and didn't add water.  This was a better end-result and spreading thicker paint is a nice exercise in concentration for a preschooler.

Pour paint directly from the bottle, cover the opening (I threw out the lids), and tilt the bottle here and there to spread the paint.  It goes sloooowly so it's a different kind of hand control.

She didn't always pass the patience test.

Here's how much paint it took to go fast enough to cover the bottle:

Finished!

The paint was dry when we checked it after a week.

Poster paint washes off in water, so when we get tired of this we can start a new idea again, but if you want it permanent and non-streaky use acrylic paints.

Right now though it makes me smile.

For more weekend play ideas, see the gallery on the top right of the blog!  

Explaining The Million People March To My Daughter

I woke up confused whether to go.  There was so much to do before a four-day business trip the next day, and already so little time spent with Ladybug Girl on regular working days as it is.

What pushed me to go was a memory: my parents.  Scrambling hurriedly through their things to grab flashlights and supplies to go march on Edsa in 1986.  They were ordinary private citizens and they could have so easily said "we're doing naman our share" or "I believe in it, but...".  My parents left five little girls behind in their humble home.

I am still so proud of them today. 

So what example was I setting for my daughter, being wishy-washy at home and worrying about a to-do list? 

But first I had to explain to my four-year old girl why we were leaving.  How did you explain it to your kids?  Mine went something like: "There are some bad leaders in the government who stole the people's money.  We are going on a rally - which is like a big parade - so that the government will listen to us, put the bad leaders in jail, and stop stealing the country's money."

Yeah, not too smooth. 

But the absolute very best way to connect to children?  Play!  

We made our own rally sign:

"Stop Steal" footprints and letters by Ladybug Girl.  PvZ2 partylist by Daddy.

And then we rallied around the house chanting a heartfelt cry:

"Stop stealing money!  Plants vs. Zombies 2!"

She couldn't understand that we would be gone for two hours:

            Her: how many minutes are you there?

            Her: (listens) but I can't count that big!

            Her: I wish it were seconds na lang

            Her: I am not going stop counting until you. come. back!

I set up a countdown timer on the iPad and she was fine after that, secure in the knowledge of where her parents are, why they were there without her, and when they would come back.  Isn't that what every child just needs?

And so we went. 

We found the flag of our University of the Philippines, who taught us to act for our country 

This was sissie #5's first time to rally.  Sniff!  I took her to her first vote at eighteen too!

Every parent there was marching for their children.  Thinking about how to teach them well.

I brought home this message : 

And she sent me one of her own:

Link

Her reassurance made it all worth it.

Our kids make us proud to be their parents everyday.

May we make them proud to be our kids, too.

source

My Favorite Toddler Workbooks

I use the term "workbooks" loosely.  Because I'm not a fan of workbooks.  I think they're boring, and to me they bring back distasteful memories of homework.

But when I came across these workbooks for 2-3 year olds, I thought ingenious!  These workbooks are perfect for working moms, and let me tell you why.

Kumon's The First Steps Series

At first I couldn't believe that they were from Kumon.  Because I'm also not a fan.  Two summers ago, I witnessed a 6 year old being told to do his Kumon worksheets by his yaya.  And oh my, was the poor little guy in pain.

But I love these workbooks because they're fun practice on beginning fine motor skills of cutting, folding and pasting.  Best of all, they're perfect for leave-behind activities while momma is at the office.

This is a cheap two-tier tray which holds activities torn from three workbooks

Top view.  The left side is the folding work (done), and right one is cutting:

So simple and intuitive.
We did a few together during floor time play and then started the leave-behinds.

I leave three at a time, and each workbook goes from super beginner...:

Folding

... to a gradually increasing skill level:

The sticker-and-paste (completed) worksheets :

These are more time consuming because you need to cut out the puzzle pieces first.
I leave them in a bowl (the purple one, five pictures ago) , ready for pasting.  

And my favorite one for my little leftie: cutting work!

The good news is that it's only ~350 pesos per book.  So it's a nice way to mix up cutting practice leave-behinds.

The bad news... I found these in Hongkong and Singapore only.  So this post is a shout out to the Manila bookstores to please carry these discoveries.  You guys only have the versions for 4-5 year olds which are way too hard for toddlers:

We've tried them all when she was 3 and a half and shelved them.

I wonder why they don't carry the First Steps series locally?  Kids have to start somewhere.

Moms, too.

Working moms, more.