Keeping toddlers occupied - the obsession of every parent with one! What do you do with a ball full of energy, who gets up to all sorts of mischief if there is nothing to occupy them? We've literally had to give furniture away because they were either damaged or too dangerous to keep. Perhaps its just our son, but speaking to other parents we know we're not alone!
We tried out finger painting a few weeks ago and as you can see from the collage, Marc didn't really paint. I read on another mother's blog about some activities she came up with to keep her kids busy. Using the corridor outside her home, she made them finger paint, play with flour, sand and other fun stuff. The pictures showed the kids having lots of fun and I thought what a great idea! So I got together with my neighbour who has a daughter 6 months older than Marc and we decided to have a finger painting session at our lift landing. It started out rather innocuous - we took out the paints and encouraged the kids to paint. S did start painting, Marc just squished the paint between his fingers and smeared them all over his legs. He was very happy, but he wasn't painting. My neighbour brought out a tub of water to let the kids rinse the paintbrushes and to dilute the paints. Marc was thrilled - he started splashing away at the pail of water. Before we knew it, the entire floor was flooded and he had not painted a single stroke. He was entirely soaked, and so was the painting, but he was very very happy. So this week we decided to bring them swimming. Literally swimming. My neighbour bought an inflatable tub and we filled it up with water and the kids loved it! No pictures cos I was in the pool with Marc, but suffice to say it kept them occupied for a VERY long time. So if you are looking to buy a flat - one tip - get a point block or a very private corner where you have lots of space to yourself! We are blessed to have great neighbours with kids around the same age as Marc.
Other things he loves at the moment - escalators! He bugs us to bring him on the escalator at every shopping mall and we lift him off right at the end. He shouts "weee!!!" and lifts his feet in the air, forming a 90 degree angle. Quite impressive I must say. We think he has potential to be a high jumper or long jumper. He also loves the supermarkets. He runs along the refrigerated section and points at every single item, stopping to read out numbers on the price tags that he recognises and scaring all the other shoppers with his shouting. It doesn't take very much to make him happy and its such a joy to see the wonder in his eye at the simple things in life, which we adults take for granted.