Gifts of Summer

108. A cool shower after a hot, sweaty run

109. Splashing in the kiddie pool on a sweltering afternoon

110. Watermelon

111. Anointed men and women of God

112. Counting down the days until the whole family is together again!

113. Picnics by the river

114. Dipping canoe paddles into still waters

115. Babies smelling of sun and sand

116. Cheesecake from Black Honey

117. Catching up over coffee 

118. 'Seeing Heaven's Realities'

119. Packing away the winter clothes

120. Wesley's animal sounds
121. Children worshipping the Lord

Shall I Compare Thee...

I took Wesley to a playdate last week with a lovely group of moms with little ones right around his age (16 months)... we had a great time, but somehow, inadvertently, we got into an awful session  of 'kid-comparing'. You know, when moms sit around and say things like, "Billy isn't walking and talking yet?? Well, Johnny could run 5km and recite the entire alphabet backwards by the time he was 9 months old!" It really is the worst! I came home from the playdate with many motherly worries taking root in my mind and inundated Brian over dinner with my concerns about Wesley's language development, and his ability (or inability) to eat with utensils. Later that night, after a little time, and a healthy dose of perspective, I felt so silly for falling into that trap again. I'd already dealt with the baby comparisons when Wesley was tiny. I'd put a bit of distance between myself and the people who constantly compared my 'not-yet-sleeping-through-the-night' child with their miraculous 'slept-12 hours-straight-at-one-month' baby. And I had to put away the books that told me my child was developmentally behind if he didn't roll over by exactly 16 weeks. All that stuff wasn't healthy, and it took away from the joy of watching my son grow and develop at his own unique pace. Plus, without fail, after I would spend a week stressing about what Wesley wasn't doing - he would master that skill the very next day!

We take for granted that adults are individuals - with their own personailities, and preferences, strengths and weaknesses. We still consider these people "normal". Yet we often hold our kids to a different standard and worry that if they're not just like everyone else they somehow fall out of that normal range. Every precious baby is born with his own individual personality and temperment and will do things at his own pace. General guidelines for what to expect at each stage of development can be helpful - but they can also cause worry when our baby doesn't fit that picture exactly. As I've gotten better at this parenting 'thing' I've come to trust my mother's intuition. I'm the only real expert on my son - I spend the most time with him and know him best. Advice from doctors and books and friends can certainly be helpful and has it's place, but because I know my son and trust my intuition, I know when it's appropriate for him.

I think the baby comparisons are one of those things that every first-time mom has to deal with and I'm slowly but surely learning to take it all with a grain of salt. In that little 21.5 pound body lies limitless potential, boundless energy and heaps of personality. He is fearfully and wonderfully made. And besides... he was walking before all the other babies (!!!).

100 Gifts and Counting

92. Restored health after illness

93. Reading board books on a rainy day

94. Juicy mangoes

95. Colourful cloth diapers flapping on the clothesline

96. The first campfire of the season

97. S'mores

98. Picnics in the park

99. Hiccups from laughing too hard

100. Moms

101. An unexpected, but perfect, surprise

102. The Velveteen Rabit

103. The promise of summer

104. Blowing bubbles

105. His tangible presence

106. Freshly picked wild asparagus

107. Wesley's endless delight over pots and spoons

'No-Bake' Baking

We're coming up on the deliciously warm summer months... and who feels like turning their oven on when it's 30 degrees outside, right? But you might still want/need a yummy homemade snack to make it through the afternoon...something that tastes naughty but is actually pretty good for you!

Here are my favourite 'no-bake' treats for those hot summer days. Most are perfect for grab-and-go type days at the park!

No-Bake Energy Bites

1 cup old fashioned oats

1 cup toasted coconut flakes (ok, so you need to turn the oven on for 2 min to toast up some coconut... but watch it carefully because it burns FAST!)

1/2 cup raisins or chocolate chips

1/2 natural peanut butter

1/2 cup ground flaxseed

1 tsp vanilla

Stir all ingredients together in a medium bowl until thoroughly mixed. Let chill in the fridge for half an hour. Once chilled, roll into balls of whatever size you like (mine were about 1"). Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to one week. 

Makes about 20-25 balls.

Nourishing Protein Bars

(from Passionate Homemaking)

2 cups almonds

1/4 cup flax seeds

1/2 cup dried prunes (or dates)

1/2 shredded coconut

1/2 cup natural peanut butter or almond butter

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 cup coconut oil

1 tbsp honey

2 tsp vanilla

a few squares of dark chocolate (optional)

Place almond, flax seed, prunes, coconut, peanut butter and salt in a food processor. Pulse briefly for 10 seconds. In a small sauce pan, melt the coconut oil over very low heat. Remove from heat and stir in honey and vanilla. Add the coconut oil mixture to the food processor and pulse until ingredients form a coarse paste. Press mixture into a greased (I use a little coconut oil) 8 x 8  baking dish. Chill in fridge for an hour, until mixture hardens. In a small saucepan, melt chocolate over very low heat, stirring continuously Spread melted chocolate over bars and return to fridge for 30 min until chocolate hardens. Cut into 12-15 bars. Store in fridge or freeze. 

Frosty No-Bake Glo Cakes

(adapted from Oh She Glows)

2 bananas

1 cup oats

1/2 cup crisp brown rice cereal

2 tbsp maple syrup

4 tbsp peanut butter

4 tbsp dark chocolate chips

2 tbsp cocoa powder

shredded unsweetened coconut, for garnish

Mash banana in a small bowl. Add cocoa powder, peanut butter, and maple syrup and stir until fully mixed. Now stir in oats, cacao nibs, chocolate chips and rice crisp. Divide into 8 muffins tins, sprinkle with coconut and place in the freezer for 60 minutes. These melt fast so serve right away!

Sunny Days Small Style

We had beautiful weather this past weekend so we spent most of our time outside soaking up the warm sunshine. Wesley loves to be outside - collecting rocks, playing with his fire truck, chasing the neighbourhood cats. He'll go find his shoes and stand by the back door waiting not-so-patiently to go out! Brian and I were working on a top secret project for Wesley (more on that later) but he was happy to run around us, eating his apple slices and trying to steal Daddy's drill!

His favourite 'toys' - a bowl and spoon!

T-shirt: Carter's, consigned

Cords: H & M (most of their pants come with adjustable waists which is perfect for my slim & trim little man!)

Hat: Old Navy

'Crocs': Children's Place

Keeping Little Hands Busy

When I was in sixth grade, my teacher told me I had the attention span of a toddler (I've always remembered that... a perfect example of how hurtful words can stay with you!), but it's not until recently that I've come to  understood just how short the attention span of a toddler is! For Wesley, it's about 3 minutes max - if he's really interested in something! And apparently that's right about the average for his age. 

Nothing challenges your creativity like being a mother... I feel like I have to constantly be on my toes, coming up with new ways to keep my little busy-body entertained and out of mischief. You know that eerie, 'it's much too quiet in here' feeling you get when they're up to something? That happens far too frequently if Wesley is bored. Last week mommy's favourite slippers went in the toilet. 

Anyway, I thought I'd share some things that Wesley and I have been up to lately in attempt to keep the little man entertained and engaged. Oh, and if you're interested, a GREAT resource for other fun and creative activities for toddlers is The Toddler's Busy Book by Trish Kuffner. Wesley is still a bit young for many of the activities (it's for ages 1.5-3) but I can't wait to try them out on him soon!

Moon Sand

This is a really weird/cool-textured sand that apparently is something akin to what sand feels like on the moon. It almost feels wet, but it's not, and it clumps together really easily so it's great for moulding. I made this today and Wesley had a blast with it.

Moon sand - not a great picture; it looks much cooler in 'person'!

You can buy it, but it's pretty pricey and so easy to make yourself!

It's just:

2 cups fine sand (I used craft sand from Michaels)

1 cup cornstarch

1/2 cup water

Mix the ingredients together with your hands until you get the desired texture. Store it in an open container (it will dry out quite a bit) and then just add a tablespoon or so of water when you want to play with it again.

Felt Boards

This really takes me back to my elementary school days! We had a fantastic librarian who would always bring out the felt board for storytime. It really brought books to life for me as a young child. Wesley takes after his mom and loooves "reading" so I thought this would be a fun addition to our storytimes together. 

Characters for the wonderful book 'Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?'

For my felt board I bought a large art canvas from Michaels and then just covered it with a flannel receiving blanket using staples. 

I've made a few sets of props and, not trusting my artistic abilities with felt and scissors, I chose to use interfacing (sometimes called pellon) which is a transparent, stiff material you can get from the fabric store which is used to make things like collars more rigid. It works so well for felt boards because it sticks beautifully to the flannel and is see-through so you can just trace your pattern, cut it out and presto - ready to go! I coloured my characters in with crayons as well.



Old Macdonald Had a Farm

There are tons of sites online offering free felt board patterns, but here a couple I like:

http://www.dltk-kids.com/type/felt_board.htm

http://www.makinglearningfun.com/themepages/FeltBoardPrintables.htm

Homemade Playdough

A classic, with endless hours of creative possibilities ... or about 3-5 minutes, if you're 16 months old!

Here's the recipe I use which makes really soft, perfect-every-time playdough:

2 cups flour

2 cups water

1 tbsp cooking oil

1 tsp cream of tartar

1 cup of salt

food colouring

Place all the ingredients in a large pan. Cook slowly on medium-high heat and stir until the playdough thickens. Let cool. Place in an airtight container and put in fridge. Enjoy!