Rainy Day Play

I am not a crafty mom. I will pull out the water colors or, if I'm feeling adventurous, the finger paints when weather keeps us indoors, but I don't have the patience to dye rice or make my own play dough. You parents who do are so impressive to me. After you've gone through all the effort to make that green slime for sensory play and your toddler squishes it around until their heart's content - how do you find the time/energy to clean up the mess? I think that's a huge part of my general fear of DIY projects across the board.

Here's a little taste of how we do rainy days in our house with a 2.5 year old and an infant. You'll notice the clean up is minimal.

Vintage kids records. We sing along to the songs and act out parts of the plays, like this one: The Muppet version of the Frog Prince. 

Dress up box in full effect. I cleaned out my closet and put all the old scarves I never wear in a box with Beck's cowboy hats and some felt super hero masks a friend made for him. Endless combinations of fun.

Quiet, solitary play. Marlowe nurses...a lot. There are just some times that I need Beckett involved in something that doesn't require more than hands off supervision from me. He plays very well by himself, not always at the moments I need him to, but often the stars align and his imagination takes over as his playmate.

Puzzles. Big ones. You'd be surprised at how after a time or two with your help, a two year old can put together semi-complex puzzles. Or, at least, I was. It's also awesome to watch how proud he is of himself when he gets the pieces to fit together.

And sometimes rainy days don't mean inside play at all.

 

Gardening Efforts

In addition to growing a baby this spring, I also started growing a garden. It's my first and I'm certainly learning what works and what doesn't. Here is a few photos of what it's looking like today.

We've got kale, arugula and beets in this first one. The arugula is supposed to be super fruitful, but I'm not finding that to be the case. I think I'll plant more next year. My husband made these awesome raised beds out of palettes last fall. I am quite fond of them. 

Besides needing to be weeded, I think the carrots are doing rather well. I am going to pick the lettuce this week sometime. 

Cucumbers love us. It's our heartiest plant by far. 

Gorgeous daylilies that we transplanted last fall from a neighbor. They require little from us, which I like. 

I am so in love with these zinnia. I planted them from seed and they've just shot right up. I couldn't be more pleased.