Heuristic & Sensory Play Time!

In a nutshell, I've been really interested in Heuristic play, aka Sensory Play.  This way of playing is mainly about letting your child interact with natural things that are part of your life without all the electronic noises, lights, etc.  It's about letting them explore, feel, lick, smell, taste and play with things in the same way we did as children and our parents did as children.  Who remembers filling up buckets with rocks, banging on kitchen pots, making mudpies and the like?  I know I sure do!

This way of developing your child's mind and imagination just speaks to me.  I want to encourage creativity with Easton.  I want him to figure out how things work or come up with his own ideas of how things work.  I truly believe it will make him a more independent thinker with an urge to imagine a world of possibilities!

You can read more about this way of playing here and here.  If you don't know much about it, I highly recommend that you read up on it.  Cheap fun, good fun, creative fun, learning fun.  Win, win, win, win!

So, now that Easton is sitting up all by himself, we've decided to make up a few sensory baskets for him to play with.  We started yesterday with a water sensory bucket.  It's not all natural like his other baskets b/c I literally just grabbed a bunch of his and his cousin, Reaghan's, bath toys, tossed them in a plastic tub and raced out onto the porch.  He was BORED out of his little mind and fussing nonstop, so out we went without ever planning to do so.  He had a BLAST.

"ooooh!  What's THIS?"

I laid a few towels down, soaked him in sunblock and let him play and splash to his little heart's content!  He wasn't shy about the splashing, let me tell you!  He wacked the water and the bucket and the toys so hard, he left a big red spot on his wrist!

Soaking wet!

This morning, I spent a few minutes scouring the house for things to put into a few additional baskets.  The idea is to put them in shallow round baskets so that they can be accessed from all sides by short arms.  I have TONS of baskets from where I made gift baskets a few years ago!  Perfect! 

Finding little treasures throughout our house was a fun activity for me.  It definitely triggered my imagination when I would hold something in my hand and try to see it through young, fresh eyes.  Imagine never seeing a wooden spinning top before?  Or a tiny wooden bowling pin?  I may or may not have ganked that one from one of Daddy's trophies.  :)  I could hardly wait for him to play with all these items!  In his basket, I included two wooden utensils, a top, wooden stacking blocks, part of a wooden quilters hoop, the tiny wooden bowling pin and one of those grindy pedestal thingy's that I can't remember the name of right now!

FUN STUFF!

Then, I moved on to the textiles basket.  I'm still not 100% sure what qualifies as a textile (Rik and I have this conversation a lot, actually) so I just threw in a bunch of things that were textured and interesting.  This basket includes t-shirt bands (from an old t-shirt necklace fail), an organza pouch, feathers, a crocheted fish I made years ago and never could bring myself to toss, quilt pieces in the shape of butterflies, a magazine necklace three feet long from Africa, a ball wrapped with twine (glued on very securely) and terry cloth squares.  Some of these things are potential choking/strangling hazards so naturally, I won't be leaving him alone to play with these baskets.  It's definitely going to be a supervised playtime.  If you make your own baskets, use discretion when it comes to what you add.  I had a very large cork in this basket but couldn't shake the nagging feeling that it was just a bit too small for his young age.

Textile fun!

So, that's what we're up to today. He's napping now, but I'll be sure to take lots of pictures of him playing with these so that I can show you what a hit they were!  I'm doing my best not to run in there and wake the little scrip scrap up so he can play with his new treasure baskets!  :)

If you make a basket for your little one, let me know how it goes!  I can't wait to hear all about it!

Hope you guys have a fantastic day today!  It's going to be another gorgeous weekend here so I have big plans for our little family!  What will you all be doing this weekend?  Anything fun?

Thanks for stopping by to read my little piece of the internet!  

Love to you all!

Shannon

Birrr-duh

Rik decided to take Easton out for a little early morning birdwatching this morning. I swear, they really do a number on the heart! Not too bad on the eyes either!

We're Still Here!

Well, hello there!  It's me again.

So much to say and so much to update with Easton, but goodness.  Let me start by saying that I have NO idea how some of you stay on top of blogging.  I mean, if I have a second free, I sit in relative silence for a few and then usually tackle the housework that never seems to end.  :)  I've missed you all though and truly, I appreciate all of you checking in on me/us!

I suppose I'll update you about Easton and what's been going on with us.  Our son is adorable, stubborn, alert, happy, observant, feisty, hungry and most of all, hilarious.

We are still nursing and that's going as well as can be expected when your son has the attention span of a gnat and can't seem to stay latched on for more than a few sucks before quite literally yanking his head backwards to look around for something new.  He hates the thought of missing anything.  My nipples have requested a vacation.

Easton is a long, lanky fellow.  He was a little pudge but now that he has worked out the jumper, he has trimmed down a bit.  He is 15 1/2 lbs and is 26 inches long as of his four month appointment one month ago.  I believe he is even taller now b/c all of his clothes are too tight length-wise.  He wears 6 month clothing comfortably, but now and then, I squeeze him into a 3 monther if I am in the mood to show off his stellar physique.  Or if I want him to wear jams.  Do you remember jams? They rocked in the 90's.  He is clearly a fashion icon already.  Lil' trendsetter.

He rolled over from his belly to his back very early.  As in before he was 3 months old.  On Feb 5th.  It was crazy weird.  Once he did it once, it was a non-stop thing.  He HATED tummy time.  He is getting more tolerant these days in his older, wiser age.  He is almost going from his back to his tummy but he still seems to have trouble with the arm being in the way.  I have a feeling once he realizes what he's doing is putting him on his tummy, he will never do it again.  Our son is stubborn and set in his ways.  FOR REAL.

He ended up with colic pretty bad for a few months and that, paired with acid reflux, made one fussy little boy.  We had our days, trust me.  Thank goodness, those days are mostly a thing of the past.  I'm thankful for every single one of those days, but I'd be lying if I said I'm not glad they are mostly a thing of the past.  I remember someone telling me that once they turn 4-6 months old, it would pass and thinking I'd never make it that long.  Look at me.  I made it.

He just suddenly started sleeping through the night one night and going to sleep on kind of a schedule.  We thought about doing some type of strict schedule but it was never right for us.  He was noncompliant, his belly made it even more miserable and when it came down to it, I wanted to feed him  based on when he was hungry and needed to eat.  That to me was more important than having him sleep through the night very early.  I'm all for it and had hoped it would work out for us, but honestly, it just didn't.  I'm hoping that we're starting to get our own routine down now that he has pretty much made for himself in the past month or two.  So far, he is pretty happy now that his tummy and such feel better.

He started cereal a little bit before he was four months old b/c he was starving every two hours it seemed, sometimes sooner.  It started at about 3 months and I did everything I could to make him wait, then to accommodate him but finally, I decided to call the doc.  I knew my milk supply was fine but he was still hungry.  He was also starting to stare longingly at us while we ate and so I knew it was ok to ask the doc.  She said go for it.  They recommended feeding him from a bowl and spoon instead of cereal in the bottle.  We tried, it didn't work.  We tried again a week later and he was ALL OVER IT.  He was even grabbing the spoon and jamming it into his own mouth.  Poor chunker.

I've given him vegetables in the past two weeks.  He loves peas and carrots.  Not so much green beans. He enjoyed his Japanese sweet potatoes and apples.   That's all he's had so far.  He only had green beans once and since then, we've decided to stick to peas, carrots and apples for now.  I only give them to him once a day and even then, not every day.  I am terrified of causing him to be seriously constipated.  So far, that only happened once and it ended with him suddenly and delightedly pooping in my hand for about a solid minute between diaper changes.  Who knew poop could cause such joy? Especially when you catch it in your hand?  Ok, back to food.  What do you all know about Baby Led Weening?  Have I already screwed up by feeding him from a spoon?

Luckily, I was able to spend the first 3 1/2 months at home w/ the little scrip scrap.  Now, I'm working part time and it's been great.  I pump while I'm there and so far, he's only had to have a few emergency formula bottles, but I'm ok with that and he has been too.

To wrap this up before he realizes I'm not solely focused on him, I will share some pictures with you that you missed if we aren't hooked up on instagram.  :)  I'm @shannononthefly if you want to follow me there and catch up on some seriously adorable shots of my little guy, my dogs and pretty much nothing else.

I'll write again soon.  Getting over the hump is always the hardest part!  :)  I hope you all are doing well.  I will do my best to catch up with all your blogs now too!  I've missed you all.

One month old!

Two months old! (What a difference!)

Three months old!

(Four months is still on the camera! BOOOO MOMMY!)

Some time at the park on a cold day! Brrrrr!

Hey there, ladies....

A little baseball, of course.

Welcome Our Son! Baby Easton is here!

LOOK WHO JOINED THE PARTY!

Easton was born 11/8/12 @ 7:16 pm to two VERY proud and exhausted parents.

(Thank you to Daddy for delivering him safely and soundly!)

He weighed in at a sturdy 8 pounds 5 oz and was 21 1/2 in long!

So new and so alert.  I was amazed by this little face.

Fortunately for him, he favors his father.  Check out these profiles.

Deep (space) discussions with Daddy inspired by adorable space jammies.

Mommy & Easton falling more and more in love by the minute!

Our first day home is a success!  Maybe they will let us keep him after all?

Allow me to show you my surprised face! Ooooooh!

Daddy has never claimed to be stylish.....at least we have stripes as a constant here?

Showing off the Herrmann nose and lips.

When it comes to saving the world, he's your man. Check out those muscles!

There just aren't words....  "Love" is so inadequate a word.

Ok, so sorry for the delay in posting this gorgeous piece of news out here.  I honestly have no idea how you all do it the day of or the day after delivery.  I was busy trying to recover.  Yikes!  I will post his birth story in the next few days.  Now that I feel less like a swamp monster, I think I can squeeze it in!  We have his newborn photo session tomorrow so maybe after that, I'll take a little time and jot it all down before I forget (or block it out).  I am 100% amazed at how much my heart has grown in the past week and a half.  I never knew.  I thought I knew.....I had no idea.  My friends have all told me, just wait till you have your own.  They were right.  It's honestly a religious experience to look at the face of your child and KNOW that God blessed you with them and that your body was just a vessel in the process.  I've never been more thankful for anything in my life.  The relationship that Rik and I have is forever changed, deepened, opened, strengthened.  It's amazing.  It's like I went in to the hospital one person and came out two days later someone completely different.  The world is a whole new place.  This little boy has made me new/whole again.  I can't wait to share him with all of you.  I hope you love him too.  :)

Finally a Mommy,

Shannon