A Fundraiser in V's Memory

My best friend, who is holding and meeting V in the picture above, approached me with an idea a few months ago.  What if we could raise money in honor of V to donate to one of the foundations that helped us when we were pregnant with her?  I immediately agreed, knowing how therapeutic it would be for me (and others) to help future families in our situation.  Because, unfortunately, the idea haunts me every day that other parents are learning right at this very minute that something is not perfect with the baby they are expecting.  The baby they already love and want so much.  My husband and I have discussed how the day we received the news was the worst day of our lives, far worse than the day that we lost her.

In order to help these families, I am thrilled to announce that we will be doing a Zumba Fitness fundraiser on Friday, April 6th.  Since this is on Good Friday, we are hoping for a great turn out from local friends and family that don't have work or school that day!  You can join us by pre-registering to Zumba from 9:30 - 10:30 am for a $10 donation.  We are asking all participants to wear purple in honor of V.

We will also be raffling off prizes donated by local businesses that I love.  You can purchase tickets for the raffles at the event or before since you don't have to be present to win!  Tickets are $1 each or 12 for $10.  I will be listing our donation prizes here soon!

All money raised will go to Sustaining Grace, a non-profit that provided us with a non-medical ultrasound when we were pregnant with V.  This allowed us time to bond with her since we were unsure of whether or not she would be born alive.  We also got videos, pictures, and a teddy bear that plays a recording of her heart beat which are now priceless and so comforting to us.

We also have opened up a PayPal account to accept donations from long distance family and friends.

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Our First SPLAT Studio Visit

While our Kindermusik class was on semester break, we went to SPLAT Studio's The Art of Reading preschool class one Wednesday morning.  At first, E was a little hesitant because she saw the Kidmazium play structure downstairs and thought we were going to play there.  Okay, she was a lot hesitant, throwing a full blown tantrum.  But the teacher at SPLAT were amazing at getting her to settle down by showing her what we were going to be making and asking her what color clay she wanted!

We started by reading a book which tied in with the art lesson:



Linking art to literature?  The teacher in me was getting very excited. No Two Alike was a great pick.  The assistant teacher who read the story was fantastic at engaging the kids by asking them questions and pointing out the illustrator's style.

After the story, we compared 2D shapes to 3D shapes using real examples the children could manipulate.  By this point, I was ecstatic.  While E was handling the shapes she was saying words like, "cone, sphere, cube, and cylinder" in an age appropriate way.

Finally, the teacher tied in the 3D shapes we were discussing by showing us how we were going to use them in our sculptures.  We were each going to make a bird (parents included, yay!) and, of course, no two birds would be exactly alike.  They pointed out that while our child's bird might not look exactly the way we (or they) want it to, we were going to concentrate on the experience of creating the art.  Process not product!  Yes!

We watched the teacher model how to roll spheres and cylinders from the clay and pinch cones into beaks.  We ended the class by making clay nests and eggs for our birds.  E started blending two shades of brown clay for the nest which was beautiful.  What a fun technique!

Sadly, I have to report that one of our cats thought that our birds looked so realistic that he should try to eat them.  Here is a picture of them, beakless and a bit chewed, still protecting their nest and eggs from the scary cat!  I will have to get some clay so we can fix them.

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Snowy Play Dough

We made snowy play dough using the recipe I found at Ten Kids and a Dog.  Only we didn't have plain glitter so we used blue.  It was so pretty!  

We sprinkled some glitter on each kid's piece and had them knead it in themselves.

Play dough is a great way to work those finger muscles for pre-writing skills. 

We played with cookie cutters to make fun shapes and chop sticks to practice pencil grasps.

Pounding...

 poking, poking, poking...

pinch and pull!

Kids' ages: 18 months - 2 1/2 years

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Snowman Abstract Art

After we scooped cotton balls for fine motor practice, we gave them to the kids to make a snowman on blue paper.  This was E's first time with glue!

We gave them paper hats and let them choose their own googly eyes.  I really enjoy when kids pick two different sizes!  We used sequins for buttons and decorations.

The glue was a sensory experience, too!  I love art that focuses on the process and not the product.

The kids had to aim their cotton balls right at the glue dots and then press down with their little hands practicing fine motor control.

Here is the finished art!  E's is the one on the bottom right.  I love how hilarious artistic they all turned out!

Kids' ages: 13 months - 2 1/2 years

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Bringing Snow Inside for Sensory Play

Snow is a plentiful and free resource for sensory play where we live but at times it's just too cold to keep the little ones outside for long. We often bring snow inside for fine motor and sensory play!

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Shaving Cream/Ice Sensory Fun

This was a simple, but messy and FUN addition to our snowman play date.  We started with three glass baking dishes on the floor on top of a blanket to manage some of the mess.  

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2011 Goals Revisted

The following were my 20 goals for 2011:

1. Take a family vacation (preferably to the beach) Went to Avalon, NJ.

2. Visit Oma regularly or, if she refuses to see us, adopt a "grandparent" from the local nursing home. Oma did refuse to see us in the beginning of 2011 and sadly, she passed away in the early Spring. We miss her so much. Adapt for 2012 goals.

3. Read about and use my bread machine. I read about it, I used it, and I decided I don't really like it. I plan to sell it on Craigslist.

4. Complete framed photography project for living room. We did this and I love it. It was a lot of work for both my husband and I, but so worth it. He mentioned the other day that we should add more and then change the photos out every 6 months.

5. Read 20+ books, with at least 3 being non-fiction. I know I didn't get to 20, but I did read 3 non-fiction. V's diagnosis made it very hard for me to read, which was sad because that is one of my favorite past times. I couldn't even keep up with People magazine. I had no attention span.

6. Walk to library story time when above 40 degrees, take E to the playground on unscheduled days above 50 degrees. We quit going to story time when they got a new teacher. But we did go to playgrounds a lot.

7. Do a random act of kindness for a stranger once a month This was very difficult to do. I did it for a few months, but it was hard to spontaneously think of an appropriate thing to do that a stranger would welcome!

8. Paint E's bathroom It's bright blue and I love it.

9. Learn more sign language We took a Sing & Sign Kindermusik class and both became pretty active in signing.

10. Stretch daily and find an exercise regimen that I like Last year E hated the child care room at the gym and I got pregnant in February. Move this goal to 2012.

11. Add 10 vegetarian meals to our regular dinner rotation I need to count to see how many we found, but I KNOW it wasn't 10.

12. Travel to Ohio so Grandma can meet E We didn't get to Ohio, but E met her at a graduation party in May. =)

13. Start volunteering for a homeless pet shelter again I emailed several places but couldn't find a good fit for regular volunteering. Adapt for 2012 goals.

14. Organize and clear out the spare bedroom It's cleaned out. It was going to be a nursery, but for now it sits empty.

15. Get a professional massage Must keep doing so regularly!

16. Put jewelry away properly after taking it off I'm better than I was at this, but it still doesn't happen constantly.

17. Meet 3 neighbors I love having neighbors nearby that we like!

18. Continue fruits for AM snack and veggies for PM snack for both E and me We aren't consistant with the AM/PM thing, but E is definitely a fruit and veggie eater and I join her! Yum!

19. Complete fabric project for kitchen Move to 2012 goals

20. Get pregnant Got pregnant, had the most beautiful daughter who taught us so much about life, and we also lost her all in 2011.

12/20 complete, 4/20 adapted for 2012 goals, 2/20 partially completed, 2/20 abandoned. Not bad!

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Snowman Lunch

When the kids came over for a snowman play date, we had a snowman themed snack and lunch planned.  In both cases, I gave the kids all the ingredients to make snowmen, but it was pretty much a flop.  They just wanted to eat without building.  Then once we modeled it for them E didn't want to eat and essentially "ruin" her snowman so she asked for more food.  

I had some prepped bread left over so the other day, I tried again.  This time I built it for her and presented it to her as a finished product.  

Originally, I thought if I gave the kids the snowman already made, it was not as fun for them because they didn't get to build it.  Just the opposite happened, though.  She ate his raisin eyes, M&M buttons, grape hat, yogurt mouth, and carrot arms and nose.  Then she asked for more to rebuild him!

We talked about how many eyes she'd need, so we were counting.  She liked the buttons to match so she was sorting by color.  She delicately added more yogurt to his mouth, using the spoon like a paintbrush.

In the end, observing her work taught me so much more about how to better present activities in the future in a developmentally appropriate way.

She was so proud of her finished snowman!  She ended up eating more this way.  

E's age: 24 months

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"Snowball" Cotton Balls Fine Motor Activity

Winter days may technically be shorter but with lots of hours indoors we need to fill our time with engaging and motivating activities for our little ones. We set out this "snowball" cotton ball fine motor activity at our snow themed sensory play date!

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