Christmas Calmer

Let's face it:  Christmas may be the most wonderful time of the year, but it can also be stressful.

The stress, of course, isn't only for the grownups.  Kiddos feel it too.  Their routines are a little changed and they also pick up on the adult edginess.  With all the excitement of Christmas - seeing Santa, buying presents, decorating the tree, seeing twinkly lights - also comes a few moments of over stimulation    And that's not even considering the sometimes late nights.  Or the yummy treats.   Overstimulated kids are about as fun to be around as a lost Wise Man wandering through the desert.

To combat a little of this stress, today we made what I am calling the Christmas Calmer.  Basically it is a meditation jar with a Christmas theme.

Christmas Calmer Directions

1. Gather materials.  You'll need a plastic bottle with the label removed, glitter and/or confetti and a hot glue gun.  If you want to make the jar move more slowly you'll also need clear glue (see step 5 for more ideas). 
2. Head to the backyard and find a pine bough.  This is a good time to talk about evergreen trees and notice the difference in needles.  In just our backyard we found four different varieties of evergreens!
3. Stuff the pine branch into the bottle.  
4. Add a few teaspoons of glitter.  We also added star confetti for more sparkle and visual interest. 
5. If adding glue add it now.  You'll need almost the whole bottle of glue to make it slow down.  You could alternately use glycerin or liquid soap.  I didn't have any of these things on hand, so we skipped this step.  
6. Fill the bottle with water. 
7. Use hot glue gun to secure the lid. 
8. Hand to your child and let him know if he is ever feeling a little overwhelmed he can get his bottle, shake it and watch the glitter settle until he calms down.  

This has been a huge hit at our house.  Milo has been asking for his Christmas Calmer.  Leo loves watching the glitter, too.  Even I enjoy shaking it and just relaxing as I breathe and enjoy the season. 

Go Ahead and Touch

As the mother to a curious two-year-0ld, I spend a lot of time saying don't touch. I don't particularly like saying don't touch, but many things in life aren't for touching and some objects are just plain dangerous. So don't touch it is, at least most of the time. One afternoon after nap, I thought we would do an activity particularly made for touching and tactile exploration.

Several of the blogs I read are really into sensory boxes, so I thought I would give it a try. A sensory box is simply a container full of various textures - typically dry rice or beans and then whatever else you want to add (I used felted wool balls, quarters and larger beans amongst green split peas). To be honest, at first I really didn't see the point of these types of activities (plus I don't like the idea of food - no matter how cheap - going to waste). Milo wasn't a fan at first either, but the more we played and talked about the different objects we were feeling the more he liked it. The part he liked most though was getting a spoon and stirring it into a "soup" and then dividing into smaller bowls. While also an interesting activity, it didn't meet the goals of sensory, so I tried to direct him back to using his hands and searching for the different objects amongst the split peas.

All in all, it was a fun way to pass an hour, but I'm not sure sensory boxes will be a mainstay at our house. I'll keep trying to incorporate new textures and perhaps he'll come to like the activity more as he gets older. In the meantime, I am trying to think of a new craft to use all those split peas.

When in Doubt: Shrug

After the fourth and final trip to Lowe's, Chris finally got the new dishwasher installed Monday night. I would like to say alls well that ends well, except that upon filling the dishwasher for the first time, we discovered our dinner plates do not fit in the bottom rack (or the top for that matter). Our dinner plates are over sized and as such I try not to use them much. We use the salad plates much more frequently, which fit fine as they are a normal portion size. (Note to self, do not buy Emeril brand dishes and think these are normal sizes).

Much more disappointing to me, is that the wine glasses don't fit in the top rack unless it is in the lowered position. Before the whole leaking thing, I really just wanted a new dishwasher because I hate to hand wash wine glasses. And the wine glasses in our home do get put to good use. Thank goodness for the stemless.

As Chris was finishing up the dishwasher project, I put my excess energy into cleaning out my closet. It always feels so good to pack bags of no longer worn clothing off to Goodwill! This year, I took my repurposing of clothing one step further and decided to make an old tee shirt into a cute little yoga shrug. So cute and so in the spirit of the Earth Day. I can't find the link to share the directions, but the project was easy and sewing-free. I'm looking forward to trying the technique again. This was my first effort:

Creating

Today we found out some bad news about the health of one of my very cool aunts. Because doing a search on stage IV ovarian cancer was doing nothing to lift my spirits or ease my mind, I decided to just do something else.

Several years ago I went through a beading phase. Well, actually, more of a buying beads phase as only three bracelets were ever made from those few months. Today I pulled out my stash of beads along with some funky felted beads two of my cousins gave me for a wedding shower. I have been meaning to do something with these colorful and textured nuggets since August, but today the time seemed right to put that thought into action.

So I spent the afternoon matching colors, swearing at knots and wondering why my bracelets always turn out a little big or a little too small. I lit my healing candle and sent good energy to my aunt. Because while making bracelets won't help the situation, it can't hurt either. And creating something is better than feeling sad and helpless.