Lessons from a 2 year old!

I am continually amazed at the lessons that I learn from my two year old!

Today, Teagan and I were playing with some homemade play dough*, and I gave him a pretty good chunk and was playing with my little piece, and I made a little bear. I set it aside and played with the rest of my dough. Teagan kept trying to grab my little bear, so I kept moving it farther away. I like to think that I am pretty creative, and I thought my bear was cool, and I didn't want Teagan to destroy him. (this play dough dries and so you can keep your creations.) Finally Teagan looked at me and said "Phhhh" (or in Teagan language "Please") and as I looked at him, I thought, why would I keep that stupid bear? Yeah, it's cool but not that cool, so I handed Teagan my little bear. He picked it up and gave it a hug, and in the process squeezed it into a little ball of blue dough.

How many times do I move something out of reach of my child, because it's too fragile, or too messy, or too... Whatever? Who cares if the pages of that neat children's book I bought get a little dirty, or maybe bent, or even torn? If my child never reads the book, what have I benefited from purchasing the book? If I don't let my child use the old box of Goodwill clothes for dress up for an afternoon, what little bits of imagination am I shutting out? And why can't I pull that picture off the wall and let him get his little fingerprints on the glass. They are so easy to clean!!! Last night when it was raining (for the first time in months) why did I grab Teagan and run to the car and get him in as fast as I could? Why couldn't I let him run with me and why couldn't we splash in every puddle that we came across? Why can't he stop and examine and pick up EVERY single rock that we pass when we go get the mail every afternoon? Why am I in such a hurry?

Just a little something that I have been pondering today, and I thought I would share it!

*The play dough was really fun, and not very messy.
2 cups flour
1 cup salt
1 cup of water
and some food coloring.

If you want to keep your creation, just bake it 200 Degrees for 2-3 hours or you can set it out and it will air dry. This dough is really good for making hand prints and preserving them.

You know you are a parent when...

Travis and I always joke about little things that happen in our daily lives that only happen because we are blessed enough to be parents!! I thought I would share some of them with you!

You know you are a parent when...
1. You check the disposal before turning it on. Not for stray forks and spoons, but for toy cars, and action figures!!

2. You find random pictures on your camera that you have no idea how or when they got there!!
3. You wish your "big helper" would stop helping so much!
4. It is brought to your attention that the Easter Island statues have belly buttons and your child just has to show you his!!!

5. You make shoes out of Cereal boxes (and other lame things) and think they are "So Cool!!" Mostly so your kid will wear them for 5 minutes so you don't feel like you wasted the last 30 minutes making the dang things!!!
6. When you have to move toys off of toilet seat before you can sit down.
7. Pictures like this are cute because of the mess, not in spite of!

8. Someone else eats the best part of your dinner!
9. Your desk decor is covered in sticky crumbs.
10. You don't want to clean the sticky, smudgy hand print from the sliding glass door, because it's so precious... and you know it will be right back in 5 minutes.

Edible Finger Painting!

Teagan and I wanted to do some finger painting, so we did!! I used vanilla pudding and food coloring. I used sugar free pudding, it's not as grainy as regular pudding (You can also use 1 tablespoon of light corn syrup and food coloring, but we were out of corn syrup)! It was a blast!!
Teagan had so much fun!! Mostly he just ate the pudding, and made a general mess, but when I have to clean the kitchen floor, and it's time for a bath anyways, I thought "Why not?"
Note: If I had a backyard, I would have done it there, and then just hosed off the kids and the table! But kitchen floors work well too!

"Bah Bee!!"

Teagan is officially a Big Boy!!! He was moved to his new Big Boy Bed this week!! We are doing great!! We take all our naps in the big boy bed, and of the the 5 nights that we have had the big boy bed, we have slept in it for 3 of the nights! He loves his new Cars Sheets!!