Dying Diapers

For those of you who know me, I am a cloth diaper addict! I love using cloth, shopping for cloth, showing off my cloth, and talking about cloth diapering! Kenna potty-trained soo early (14 months) so my diaper stash had been sitting unused until December 2010. Before Christmas, Bill and I became licensed foster parents, and opened our home to our first set of foster babies! They only stayed 5 weeks, but four days later, we got our second placement, Little Man. He was 12 weeks old when we got him, and we are so in love with him! He rocks cloth diapers, and although he ends up in pink every now and again, he has a nice boyish stash of diapers built up now.

I'm due with my second daughter in June, and so this week I dusted off my newborn stash of cloth diapers. It mostly consists of prefolds, which are usually plain white and kind of boring. Since i can't really justify buying MORE diapers (though I'd LOVE to) I decided to spruce up my stash! I got some Dylon Dye and got to work!

I was able to dye 3 diapers at a time in each color. Then I dyed 3 more in the same dye bath, and although the colors came out lighter with the second batch, they still look great. :) I am soo happy with them! I even dyed some newborn lap tees to match! I can't wait to get my newbie in these cute and tiny diapers! :)

Alphabet Texture Tub

We love playing with our Texture Tub. This week's tub theme is Alphabet. The tub has great northern beans, colored pompoms, alphabet foamies, and alphabet beads. (Kenna added some rocks from our nature table, all the dice from our math center, and some quarters from her purse.)

I started a Texture Tub as soon as Kenna stopped putting EVERYTHING in her mouth- maybe when she was around 13 months? I started with simple tubs themes- just Lima beans, or just black beans and white beans.

At first, when she was littler we used a much larger tub- one of those under-bed rubbermaid tubs. It was big enough for her to sit in, and had shallow sides for her to lean over. We would sift the beans with our fingers, pour them with big cups, and frankly- throw them everywhere. When she was that little, texture tub time was reserved for our deck, where I could sweep everything away when done playing!

These days, Kenna's Texture Tubs are getting a lot more exciting. She is interested in sorting, hide and seek, and using tools. She likes a variety of items in each tub, and she LOVES it when I surprise her with a new tub-full of stuff. :)

These are the tools we are using this week. A pair of tiny tongs I found at Walmart, and a large pair that I got at the dollar store. I also have a mini-muffin pan, a tiny mesh strainer, and a little ladle. Each time I pull out the tub during the week, I provide different tools to make the play new and interesting. ( I had them all out to take pictures, and Kenna took full advantage!)
Kenna loves to pour the beans from one scoop to another. Big mess.
She loves to scoop the beans into piles.
I've been trying to encourage sorting- "let's put all the rocks in one section. Let's put all the pompoms in another." Some days she sorts with zest. Some days, she has her own ideas!

We are picking out letters, sorting hard vs soft, and sorting by color. Just scooping and using tongs are great motor skill activities. I love Texture Tubs!! (be ready with a broom and dustpan- cleaning up is half the fun!)

Easter Squirrels!!

Easter was fun, and we did lots of fun Eastery things, but the highlight of our Easter morning was when we discovered a plastic egg in the front yard that had been nibbled on by a SQUIRREL!!

Kenna asked a bunch of questions, we googled squirrels, looked for them in the trees, and we checked out the cool teeth marks on the egg!! Mr. Squirrel got a Hersheys Kiss and some Easter fame for his efforts.
Happy Easter!

Easter Cards

Kenna and I went on a watercolor painting spree the week before Easter. We made 20 cards for all of our family and friends, and included a little note about the happenings in our life, and a Easter pic of the kids. All I did was print out the cards with the bunny pictures, and the note on the inside, and let Kenna go crazy! I would put a card in front of her, let her paint paint paint, and then whip it away and replace it with another! It was silly and fun, and she got crazier and wilder with the paint as we went. It was simple and fun, and really personalized the cards. :)
I read her the contents of the cards, and she watched me write the greeting on each card so she knew who we were sending them to.