The Weekly Review: Week 29

Weekly Super Cool Link

About a month ago I solicited ideas about what to do with a sensory table (thanks for the great suggestions guys). This week I found a great web page full of ideas for using a sensory table. There are at least 25 creative ideas here including ice rainbows, exploring spices, and using turkey basters.

Weekly Obsession

Now that I've started, I'm completely obsessed with making a creative busy/quiet book or two. I've completed page 1 and page 2 and have several more in the works. I'm leaving small details like how I'm going to bind the book to figure out later. I wouldn't want to slow down the creativity and enthusiasm with important finishing details. (Please let me not regret this decision later!)

Weekly Landmark Event

First overnight stay in the hospital with one of our children (not counting their births).

Michael's Weekly Adventure

Remember when too much silence resulted in discovering that Michael had half-disassembled the wooden dollhouse in the basement playroom? Well, this week while staying at his grandparents' house too much silence resulted in discovering that Michael had fetched scissors from his grandmother's drawer and used them to cut several holes in his peapod (a small tent he likes to sleep in at their house). We've turned the situation into a learning experience. He's gone on a shopping trip to buy a tent repair kit and they are going to patch the holes together.

The Weekly Ava

Did I mention the croup and the difficulty breathing and the ER and the breathing treatments and the overnight stay at the hospital? Hmm. I did? Enough said I suppose.

The Weekly Kitty Escapade

Remember the miracle where the cat that had been missing for months was returned to us? As we were just coming home from Ava's hospital stay and a brief trip to the grocery store for necessities, I left the door open. Ava was calling for help and my hands were full of groceries and I just missed it. 15 minutes later my husband noticed the open door and we just knew. Cleo was gone again. Just like that. I felt terrible. My husband walked up and down the street calling, but nothing.

We left some food in the driveway and then came back in to settle Ava down for her nap. We were depressed and a tiny bit angry. Why does she want to get out so badly? And why does she run so far away that she can't hear us so fast?

We got lucky. This time, when my husband went back out about 30 minutes later he found her. I am so grateful. But what are we going to do? Cleo is obviously an escape risk. The very first time a door was left open she disappeared again. We have two small children. It is just so hard to watch the door all the time, every time. We'll make sure she has a collar and a current microchip. We'll do our best with the door. Any other ideas?

Busy Book - Caterpillar Page (Numbers and Patterns)

Here is the second page I've made for a busy book. It is a caterpillar. Each segment of the caterpillar's body has a number (1-8). I've made the odd numbers brown and the even numbers purple. They attach with magnets.

When Michael uses the book I would expect him to put the numbers in order. I may also try to teach him the concept of even and odd numbers. When Ava uses the book she may put them on in any order that pleases her, or she could practice patterns. She might do one purple then one brown, two purples and two browns, or all four purples then all four browns for example. I may encourage Michael to play with patterns too.

Here are some brief comments on how I made the page:

1. I used the sewing machine to make the numbers. I did the number one and the number two with a zigzag stitch, but quickly discovered that my skills were not up to making a 3 with a zigzag stitch. So I switched to something easier. It looked fine, but I was not going to go back and re-do the first two numbers because I am simply not that much of a perfectionist.
2. Underneath the white circles I've hidden two paper clips. This is what the magnets are attracted to that makes the caterpillar work.
3. The magnets are sewn in between two layers of felt to make the number circles. Before attaching the two layers I sewed the number on the top circle and tacked the magnet down on the bottom circle so it wouldn't slide around when I was sewing the circle together.

Busy Book - Shapes Page

As I was browsing the web searching for fleece hat patterns I found some patterns and examples of busy books. Busy books are homemade activity books made out of cloth - usually felt. Some people make busy books entirely of pages that are quiet when the child plays with them and then they call them quiet books. They are to entertain a child when you need them to be quiet (at church, in a waiting room, etc...). Here is an example of a completed busy book.

We travel for the holidays on extended car trips and I thought it would be fun to make some busy books to keep the children entertained during the car ride. I finished my first page today. It is a simple shape matching page using velcro to attach the pieces. I'm pretty pleased at how my first attempt turned out.

If I get it done tomorrow I'll show you the second page I'm working on. It uses magnets and focuses on numbers and patterns.