Bargain-Basement Sandbox (Literally!)

Since the rain cooled things off last night, the big activity of the day was going to be a stroll around the neighborhood to check out the interesting curbside junk that had been set out for the bulk trash pickup truck (on a busy bulk day this makes for an interesting no-cost toddler activity). We did find a few assorted piles of castaway goods but were somewhat disappointed that there wasn't more to see (we walked a long way too and only found about three or four homes who had stuff to toss). At first glance nothing was too exciting so we went home to move onto other adventures. But later, as I was looking at the pics we took, I noticed this little gem of an old bookshelf in one of the toss piles...and having just used a similar item for a toybox, it hit me that the same thing could be made into a great sandbox! I've been looking for a week around my house for something to use for one but everything was too small or impractical. I kicked myself for letting this one get away...surely the trash truck had already come by that time (it was 2 pm!). But just in case (and I don't advocate this practice generally), Little Biscuit and I drove over to the house to see if the bookshelf was still there. Sure 'nuf, it was! So we hauled it away and set up downstairs in Biscuit's basement playroom. I already had a bag of sand that cost me $3.39 at Home Depot. I put down an old bath mat beside the box to catch any big spills but since the floor is linoleum and we have a shop-vac I'm not too worried about the mess factor. I also made Biscuit a little seat on the edge the box out of a bean-bag cube ottoman I already had from Target. Here was his reaction upon meeting sand for the first time!!


A little tentative at first...(some tears, even!)




























Hey, this might not be so bad!

Bring it on!!!

The Case of the Missing Cup: Episode 2

Status: Case Closed!













The perpetrator was apprehended shortly after the search resumed this morning!

The runaway cup was found wedged between the DVD player and the back of the inside of the entertainment center.











Sadly, my own hired eye has been implicated in the crime. He was brought in for questioning but pled the fifth.

I'm not accusing him before the trial but...just look that face.

The Case of the Missing Cup

Agent Biscuit, Spykid...
Well blog time today was cut short by Biscuit waking up from his nap after only 30 minutes. The rest of the day we spent looking for his sippy cup which has vanished off the face of the planet. I searched everywhere including down the stairs where he usually tosses most objects for entertainment; Double-O Biscuit was my personal PI to help track it down. We managed to find a few items of interest over the course of the search, including:

*my checkbook (didn't even realize this was missing until I found it under the couch)
* Big Biscuit's hacky sack
*a dirty spoon under the recliner (of course the investigator I hired to help me track down the cup wanted to stick said spoon in his mouth despite its not having seen the dishwasher in eons)
*an SD card for the camera
*Little Biscuit's toy cell phone

Unfortunately the fugitive cup remains at large and is considered armed and extremely dangerous. Anyone getting near it is in danger of being knocked down by the putrid smell of spoiled milk (you'd think this foul odor would give it away but this guy is clearly using some sort of cloaking device).

Here's a sketchy mugshot (but just to clarify, it's a cup, not a mug). It was last seen in the living room and is described as a green Nuby no-spill gripper); have you seen it? Please report any sightings before 7 am when I will have to close this case (and get a new cup).

Teddy averts tantrum ;)

no apples, mommy!
Well lately Biscuit's been particularly finicky about his mealtimes (okay, he flat out refuses his food most days, especially if it is being delivered on a spoon). Usually if I can get him to sample the first bite he's good to go...but that first bite can be a bear to get him to eat. Well this week one of the strategies that actually does work somewhat effectively (at least for now) had a pretty cute resolution, so I'll share it here (and I'm sure this one isn't original). I started feeding one of Biscuit's teddy bears his apples on a spoon and Biscuit got a little curious: he musta been thinking, hmmm, if Bear doesn't mind the spoon, maybe it's not so bad...so Biscuit ate too, and eagerly too! He just wanted me to take turns feeding bear and Biscuit throughout the meal. After it was over I caught him feeding Bear puff snacks during playtime - he's starting to really like sharing his food too ;) The other day I was working on something and suddenly had a sippy cup shoved into my mouth outta nowhere! :D

Plaid Palace, Quilt Castle, Fortress of Fun...

Since Biscuit loves tunnels so much, we had a little playtime in our own kitchen citadel. We used chairs with backs facing each other and space in between covered with a blanket as the roof and walls. Chair cushions became the "drawbridge," megablocks served as water in the moat, and we made sure to have a sea critter we called Nessie guarding the stronghold just for fun. Biscuit made many appearances as the returning king :)

No-sew sleepytime sack

UPDATE: the new-sew sack worked fine for Biscuit but not for his mom and dad - too big of a pain to get over his head. So when I get my sewing machine back up and running I'll probably just try to make one for him the old-fashioned way out of the same blanket. In the meantime, since we don't want to pay for another defective new one, I just cut leg holes into one of his old sleepsacks (it's zipper works fine, it was just too small). Hopefully that'll help for now.

Biscuit has always slept in a Halo SleepSack since he grew out of his SwaddleMes. Now that he's too tall even for those, he graduated to the
Big Kids SleepSacks. Problem is, the zipper on it is messed up so half the time he wakes up at night all unzipped and it takes forever to get it fixed. I wasn't too thrilled about the $25 it would cost to get another one, which would probably have the same problem. So I (very nervously) attempted to make one for him that didn't require sewing (all my sewing machine needles are broken at the moment and I haven't had time to get anymore or put them on). I got the basic technique for the knots here and then sort of improvised the rest. It didn't turn out terrible but it's not exactly a work of art either. It does fit Biscuit and seems like it'll work just fine, especially when it's cooler outside, without posing any kind of suffocation hazard. Instead of a zipper I just pull it over his head like a big nightshirt. I made it with the bottom open so his feet could breathe if he wanted, from one of his favorite blankets (and mine too) with a fun jungle print. He was rolling around on it all afternoon while I was trying to make it :)

Silly Biscuit! :D

Block party

Puff the magic teacher! :)















We played a little game yesterday using Biscuit's favorite snack (fruit puffs) and 4 rubber blocks. I put a puff under one of the blocks and asked him to find it by looking for the color I named. He doesn't really "get" colors yet but he likes looking under the blocks to find the puff...and who knows, maybe some of it is sinking in subconsciously? :) He already does pretty good finding blue, yellow and red. Orange is more tricky for him. He also has some colored nesting cups that we can do the same game with, and plastic balls. But in a pinch I could just use some colored foam squares or card stock I suppose.

Speaking of colors, Biscuit's having another "gray day" - one of those days where something's bothering him but I don't know exactly what. He keeps showing me the sign for "hurt" and grabbing the back of his head and ears. He was really clingy and upset all morning and not wanting to eat from a spoon much all week. My top two guesses are a molar (there's a teeny sharp corner that's been poking through the last couple days but not much progress if that's what it is) or an ear infection (he's just getting over a cold). But he doesn't have a fever. Any suggestions? Anyone know of teething causing head pain? I gave him some Tylenol but he was out for his nap really early this morning so it could be an interesting day.