Baby C. is walking everywhere and babbling constantly now. It’s so funny when she comes waltzing into the kitchen, because she’s so tiny, she just seems too little to be walking! Her babyspeak is so funny, I just had to write it down, lest I forget:
Supper-”ZooPA!” (emphasis on the last syllable)
Cracker-”KacKA!” (said with great enthusiasm)
Clifford the Big Red Dog-”Clipper!”
Butt cream-”Bott Kee”
Naughty-”Nonny”
Potty-”Poppy”
No-”Nah”
We know that the cow says, “Mmmm,” and the duck says “Kack Kack.” “Sss Sss Sss” means juice, and also Lucie. Pretty much any word with an S sound in the middle. Other favorite words are cup, hot, sock, poop, yucky, and especially a very enthusiastic “Hi!” We hear that one many times each day.
Now that she’s walking, C. is into mischief even more than before (which is hard to fathom). There are days when I can’t get a single thing accomplished because I’m too busy chasing her all over the house. I often wish that she were just a little bit older so that I could sit her at the kitchen table with some play dough.
Homemade play dough is, in my opinion, the best toy ever invented for kids. It’s loved by boys and girls alike, develops hand, eye, arm and body coordination, and stimulates creativity and imagination. Bee will play contentedly with play dough for hours. Best of all, it’s cheap!
This homemade play dough recipe is the best! I store each color separately in a clean, recycled Deli Select container. Stored this way, it will keep for a year or more.
3 cups flour
1 1/2 cups salt
6 tsp cream of tartar (this is much cheaper if bought in bulk)
3 cups cool water
3 T vegetable oil
food coloring
Mix dry ingredients in a Dutch oven. Blend all liquids together in a bowl. Combine with dry ingredients and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat when dough pulls away from sides, and can be pinched without sticking. Turn onto counter and knead until smooth.
If making only one color, you can add the food coloring to the liquids before combining with the dry ingredients. We always make several colors, so I divide the dough into 4 parts and knead a different color into each part. We have a box of cookie cutters, molds, plastic utensils, small rolling pins, and other fun stuff. I purchased the whole works at a garage sale for a dollar–another awesome frugal find!
I’m sorry to say that I had to remove the “EMAIL ME” link from my profile because I was becoming a spam victim. Those spammers are a real pain in the butt! Unfortunately, I can’t use a free email button generator because they don’t support my email client. Until I figure out a solution to this problem, please post your questions as comments. I’ll try to answer as many as possible.
DH took the girls for a Daddy-Daughter day, so I’m looking forward to some child-free reading and relaxing. Hope you’re doing something fun too. See you Monday!
