The Happy Scientist

It's funny that this last few weeks I feel like I have finally really gotten into my mothering groove.  Funny, and ironic--especially considering that in 2 1/2 months or so I'm going to be starting this crazy journey all over again--with considerably more chaos this time. No matter though, for the moment I am loving just soaking up the time with my almost-two-year-old girl. 

We have been spending as much time as possible out in the sunshine, which means all art & materials science projects have been moved to the porch until further notice. Or rain.

Sadie's science/art tray this week features droppers full of colored water, an assortment of brushes and measuring tools, cornstarch, baking soda and vinegar.  This girl will spend hours outside in the sunshine dabbling, dropping, mixing, experimenting...which kind of parallels how I feel about my parenting journey at this point.  After a lot of trial and error you have the Eureka! moment when all the pieces come together and make sense.  At least for a little while.

And any mom can tell you, it would be foolish not to treasure every. single. moment. of that little while.

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.