sifting sand

I read somewhere that if you can keep the day pleasant till 10 am, the rest of the day will make itself.  So when Sadie dragged out the giant "miscellaneous" art bin at 9:45 this morning, saying "oht, oht! MAMA OHT!"  I couldn't think of any reasonable excuses for not setting her up with a project...something a little different compared to the markers and crayons that have been our staple project for the last several weeks.

Enter...colored sand.  Sadie has been big-time into colors lately, not just labeling them, but mixing them.  What better way to integrate the senses of sight, sound and touch, right? (and taste--this is my kid who puts everything in her mouth after all.  Happy to say though, after one try she abandoned that one)

 This girl was like a mini maestro conducting an orchestra of sand mixing and "dir dir diring" (that's Sadie speak for "stir." She really got into this project.

As you can see... it required intense focus, and precise scientific measuring (hence the measuring spoons).  After a while, all the sand got pretty mixed together and Sadie told me with a big smile that she was "plowd" (proud).  It's her new word.  It kind of melts my heart when she says it.  We used the now multicolored sand to make a sand table to practice doodling letters and shapes in.  Good times.  And you know... starting the morning off with a good focusing project really does make the rest of the day go better...even if the project involves a little vacuuming up afterwards.

Catching Up

It's been a crazy month, hence my recent absence from the blogosphere. Lots of things going on around here: teaching pottery classes at the college, a trip to the big town for doctor's and dentist appointments, the ripping up old and putting down of new flooring in most of our house.  Packing our stuff into boxes, moving it from room to room, and finally unpacking it. To add to that I have been watching a new little one, most days.  Then of course, last week was Iditarod madness, which came with all the excitement and busyness of a houseful of family and friends, a few late nights and early mornings, a trip to UNK, and lots of admiring of the beautiful four-legged athletes.  Today the house is relatively quiet, and all the excitement has died down to a dull roar. Sadie and I are catching up with a cup of hot chocolate, and I am blogging while she reads the Sesame Street news.  That's our March Madness in a nutshell.  Hope all is well in your worlds.