Getting Artsy

The day before my mom left, we went to a ceramic studio in Linz and painted our own ceramics. I chose a flowered dessert plate and my mom made a door sign.

We spent three hours hanging out together, talking and creating some pretty cool pieces of art. Unfortunately, we discovered the ceramic studio a little late and our projects weren't ready before she went home.

We had such a great time picking out our pieces and then deciding on how to decorate them. My mom is very creative and very artsy. She made my project look like it was done by a toddler compared to her crazy free-handed painting skills. 

I know that paint and sip classes have become very popular in the  U.S. lately. I've decided to try and host something similar at the ceramic shop with some of the other English speaking Expats in the area. I think it'll be a great way to bring people together. I'm not very good at painting at all, but I had so much fun doing this with my mom.

They have two teachers to help with any questions you may have. You can walk in any time during their opening hours and start on a project. The staff is really friendly and helpful. It was a really great experience and I can't wait to go again.

Foam Dough

Monday afternoon after Alexa woke up from nap I was feeling frisky. I decided that it was definitely a messy play kind of day. I looked on my Pinterest wall to see what kind of play dough type recipe I could whip up and found foam dough. You can find the original Pinterest recipe here. I was not interested in making a whole ton of this foam dough without having first tested it out. Believe it or not, there are way too many Pinterest Fails out there. I came up with my own recipe that still allowed us to have a great time, but didn't waste all the shaving cream and corn starch in the house.

In a clean, dry bucket I placed 5 heaping tablespoons of corn starch. I let Alexa pick which color we would dye the foam dough. She chose yellow and blue. I added a little bit of yellow and a little bit of blue food coloring to a glass and poured a couple of tablespoons of water on top and mixed it together. We only have the gel food coloring, so I wanted it mixed with water before adding it to the bucket. I topped it with approximately 2-3 cups of shaving cream (really I just squirted the shaving cream out until I thought it was enough).

Alexa instantly grabbed for the shaving cream and put a handful of it in her mouth. She didn't mind how it tasted, however I told her that we don't eat shaving cream and she was satisfied enough not to do it again. I started mixing the ingredients together and it very quickly started to form a very soft dough. I grabbed some cups and clothespins to add to our sensory bucket. We played for over an hour with the green foam dough. At one point I added more shaving cream and the dough got very sticky and gooey. That was a great change in the sensory experience.

One of the reasons I liked this dough so much was that it changed as you played with it. As the shaving cream foam lost it's airyness, the dough seemed to dry up a bit. It continued to be maliable and soft and fun to play with whether extra gooey or dry. We will definitely play with this again.

I thought clean up was going to be pretty time consuming with this activity, but it wasn't. I dumped the bucket of dough into the garbage and was able to easily sweep up whatever had fallen onto the balcony floor.

Rainbow Fruit Salad

We went to a barbecue over the weekend at my in-laws. I wanted to bring something, but I needed it to be quick and easy because I didn't have very much time to cook. I decided on a fruit salad. It was a big hit with everyone, including Alexa!

Since Alexa is obsessed with fruit, we always have quite a variety in the fridge. I got very lucky and was able to make a rainbow fruit salad for the cookout! I used cherries, cantaloupe, mango, grapes, blueberries and blackberries in my rainbow fruit salad. 

I think this is a great, kid friendly snack to make. The next time I make it, I will definitely let Alexa help pour the different fruits into the bowl. I think it is an easy and fun way to introduce colors to your kids!

What's your go to side dish or dessert for a summer barbecue?

Toddler Tantrums

Okay, I need advice, help, duct tape...something! Alexa has started with temper tantrums. She flails her head back and acts like a complete and total lunatic any time she does not want to do what I want her to do. Two perfect examples: getting in the stroller or sitting in her highchair. She does flip out a little bit if I tell her no, but those whine fests are very short lived. She has also started hitting and kicking. Right now she is only doing it to me, but it has got to stop. Anytime I try to change her diaper she goes totally crazy. A few people have suggested I completely ignore her when she throws a tantrum, tries to hit me or kicks me. I have tried this (and will continue trying it) since Tuesday. So far, the results have been good. Tuesday night, as soon as she started with throwing her head back and flailing about I put her down and turned my back on her. She carried on for a maximum of five seconds and then got bored and walked into the living room and played with her toys nicely. This is awesome! I was very pleased. She really hasn't thrown too many more fits since Tuesday night. She does NOT like to be ignored. However, she has continued to kick and hit me when I try and change her diaper. Wednesday morning I employed the "ignore her" tactic, but what I realized is that I still got kicked and she didn't get her diaper changed...that is not exactly the outcome I was looking for. I ended up holding her down with one of my legs (gently) as I changed her diaper on my bed. This was absolutely not ideal. She is a strong little bugger and can easily get away from me if she wants to. Without a second set of hands, I used my leg. Mother of the year? Probably not. I have tried saying "no hitting/no kicking," "that hurts mommy," "do nice," but none of it is working. I need some other tips or tricks or solutions or whatever you want to call them to try and get rid of the hitting and kicking spells. I have tried time out, but I'm not really sure if it is working. She is staying in where I put her - sitting in the corner, crying most of the time (I leave her there for 30 seconds max.) and gives me a big hug when I tell her she can get up, but she is still repeatedly hitting and kicking me. What else can I try???

Okay, mommy vent over. Thanks in advance for any help.

Does your toddler throw tantrums? How do you handle them?

Our Week in Pictures

Sorry it's been so long...

We've been totally busy with my mom's visit, a trip to Italy and a budding toddler who now throws temper tantrums. It has been a busy week and it's only Wednesday! There's so much to tell you, but where to start?! I guess I'll start at the beginning, way back to when my mom first arrived.

My mom arrived on a Friday morning. I could not have been more excited and it was clear that Alexa knew something was up. The night before my mom arrived, she wound up in our bed...she hasn't left since. Clearly she doesn't do well with change.

As soon as my mom arrived the visiting, traveling and general grandmotherly obsessiveness began. Alexa is loving that her Gramma is here. She even gave her kisses today! A rare gift that she has only ever bestowed upon one other person other than myself, her Aunt Leslie.

We decided that on this visit we were going to show my mom a little bit of Europe. We decided on Italy and hit the ground running! We headed to Lido di Jesolo, a lagoon on the Adriatic Sea just north of Venice, for a short, but wonderful beach vacation. It was perfection. Seriously, per-fec-tion. In Linz, it had been rainy and cold and generally gross for days. When we drove through the mountains it actually was snowing at one point. This totally freaked me out. Who goes on a beach vacation in the snow??? However, as soon as we crossed the border into Italy it was like the gods knew I needed this vacation and the clouds parted and the sun started shining down on us. The closer we got to our location the more beautiful it became.

We had four days of sunshine, beach, eating, touring the area and family time. I could not have been happier with the way things went. Michael even loved it and he doesn't like the beach! I can't wait to plan a trip back to the area in the future.

After our return back to cold, wet and dreary Austria on Saturday night, the weather turned warm and sunny and we have been enjoying taking my mom around Linz, visiting the sites and experiencing a little Austrian culture and food. She definitely seems to be enjoying her trip. (Although I'm pretty sure she'd enjoy it even if we stayed home every day, just as long as she got to spend time with Alexa.)

Oh the tantrums...yeah, that's a whole blog entry of it's own!

I hope everyone has been enjoying the warm weather!

Popsicle Stick Color Matching and Sorting

Alexa has become obsessed with sorting things. She likes to sort pompoms into cups and Legos into bins. She'll sort spoons or blocks or anything else you give her a few of. I came up with a cool popsicle stick color sorting game for her using a small cardboard box, an Exacto knife, some markers and 8 popsicle sticks.

My original idea was that she could pull the popsicle sticks out of the box and put them back into the slits in the box. This would help her with fine motor skills and also introduce colors and matching at the same time. The idea was a success!

I did have to hold the box down for her so she could remove the sticks and then put them back in the slots. I wish I could figure out a way to weigh down the box so that in the future this can be an independent play activity. I'll have to work on that.

She had no problem pulling the sticks out. I was amazed at how easily she was able to put most of the sticks back into the slots. Her fine motor skills really have improved since we started letting her put money in her bank.

I love this simple activity because it is a progressive learning toy. Right now, she uses it to take the sticks out and put them back in. Next we will start working on color recognition and matching using the box. I can even see a mix and match game with this box in our future.

Have you come up with any non-traditional learning toys lately?