mamaUK

Making birthday flower pots

 
(Little L holding some snowdrop bulbs we are planting this week)

 It can be difficult for young children to grasp the concept of the passage of time. Parents sometimes measure it in a "number of sleeps" until the arrival of a special occasion. Growing birthday flower pots with your child can be natures way to visually show that his or her special day is getting closer and closer. When your child spies the first shoots coming through they can be assured that it won't be long until their special day is here! Be sure to place your pots somewhere you pass daily to make sure they can keep a check on their plants progress, we find the front doorstep is a good spot!

Here are some ideas of easy flowers for children to plant to get you started:

• January- Crocuses usually flower in January, they signify the end of winter and celebrate the approach of spring. The bulbs need to be planted in the Autumn in full sun to partial shade.
• February- Snowdrops are the classic flower of this month. There are over 500 varieties, so choose carefully, to ensure they flower in the first year of planting. They prefer the shade.
• April- Daffodils are the classic spring time flower and are very easy to grow. They need to be planted in the Autumn, like full sun to partial shade and should  be placed in well drained pots, otherwise the bulbs will rot.
• May- Tulips are very easy bulbs to grow. They need to be planted in the Autumn. They grow best in full sun but we have a lot under our apple tree at the end of our garden and they do well despite being in full shade!
• August- Sunflower are such lovely, cheerful plants to grow with children! They can be planted in Spring and started on a sunny windowsill in your home before being taken outside and left in a sunny position.

Window stars

 

 
We're experiencing some really wet and windy weather this week in the UK! Even though window stars are usually made/used in the winter in the Waldorf tradition, I thought I would make some to cheer up our indoors and bring back some warmth using colour. This is the first time I have made them and the kite paper was very relaxing to fold. I made some rainbow stars as I thought they would match the rainbow colour theme we have in the play area. I think I might make some more in whites and blues and also a two tone yellow one ready to go behind our Ostheimer nativity at Christmas. You can buy the kite paper from here. I used this tutorial here.

Folding play frame

 
 
 
 

I  have wanted a play frame for the children for about three years now but have never quite got around to actually buying one. I first saw them on the My-Kea website but as it is based in Brighton, it was too far for us to go and pick one up and postage would have been pretty expensive for such a large item. I was so pleased to see one in the new Myriad catalogue that came out at the beginning of October and ordered one that same day! The jumbo play clips are perfect for attatching the silks to the frame and are a nice size for little hands. The girls love to make little play houses to hide away in and create little play nooks around the house, perfect for dreaming and imagining.

Ostheimer mini nativity

 

Our Ostheimer mini nativity arrived at the end of last week! We finally bought it after wanting it for the last two years. Christmas decorations are very simple in our home, we usually just have a 'real' christmas tree with bows and baubles in cream, silver and light blue and light candles in the evening and that is it. I wanted something over in the children's play area (which is in our living/dining room so they can play near me) to signify Christmas and I thought this would be perfect. While I grew up in a Quaker family, we don't follow any sort of religion now with our children. K has always been very drawn to baby Jesus though at Christmas time and loves anything to do with the nativity. I remember we had a little handsewn nativity which used to sit under the Christmas tree each year, which the fairy lights cast a soft light over.

It really is such a beautiful nativity which will be put out every December for years to come. I'm sure it will become an heirloom, I just hope my two girls won't fight over who has it!

We bought this nativity from Playfull Toyshop which is based in Bristol. Next time we're in the area I would really like to go and visit the shop in person. They don't have a website, but are setting up a Facebook page very soon with updates of new stock and lots of pictures.

 

Rainy days

(K with her new umbrella today)

It's pouring with rain here so it feels very cosy being indoors. L is upstairs having a lunch time sleep which she hasn't done for the past four days, because, really, she is growing out of the need to sleep at lunch time. So I am getting used to my days having my tiniest one at my side all day long while we both get used to a new rhythm. We both get grumpy at one another sometimes, as she is adusting to less overall sleep and I can't have a cup of tea in peace and quiet anymore. I need to drink in all her funny little ways while I still can. In six months time she will be starting her pre-school part time which I think it going to be heart- wrenching for me and a difficult adjustment for her too. It will be a new rhythm for our whole family to get used to. The moment both my girls get out of school at the end of each day will be even more cherished as we all head for home. Marina from A Small Tribe is going through a similar adjustment right now with both her boys in school and I appreciate how hard that change must be for her. I take comfort in her words about focusing on being fully present with her children...turning off the computer, no running errands, and just being there for them. Right now, I am preparing for the change by making sure that dinner is always cooked and all the neccesary jobs are done before my older girl K finishes school so they can sit climb,jump,scramble on the sofa together and fight,pinch read and I can spend time with them before our evening routine starts.

Tidy up basket

 

We love the wicker baskets in our home. The children's toys have separate baskets so when it comes to tidy up time, so they know which items live where straight away. We have lined wicker baskets for:

•  Ostheimer figures
•  Play kitchen enamel ware
•  Wool felt fruit and vegetables
• Crystals, shells, stones, conkers, wool
• Wool finger puppets
• Wooden dolls house furniture
• Evi dolls for dolls house
• Tree blocks
• Book basket

The baskets aren't too big so the children are able to easily pick them up and carry them where they want to play with their toys. We also have a little wicker shopping basket, but that always stays empty ready for play.

The most important basket in our home though is the large tidy up basket. I read about the idea several years ago in this article here. The author of the article calls it a clutter- clearing basket. During the day, if I am doing a quick pick-up down stairs of things left lying around, they get tossed into the basket straight away. At the end of the day I can carry the basket around the house returning the items to their rightful homes. The children know exactly where the tidy up basket is (at the bottom of the stairs) and quite happily toss things in there if I ask them too.

conkers

 
On the way to school this morning to we found our first shiny conkers this year. I think K ended up taking her conker into the classroom and L held on to hers all the way home ready to put in their basket along with pebbles, crystals, feathers, sheeps wool and shells.

I love Friday's, the day always seems full of promise for the weekend ahead. This weekend, after the children have gone to bed, we plan on watching the beautiful french film Seraphine. Apparently the cinematography is beautiful so I can't wait to see it.

I also plan on ordering a copy of Juno magazine. I didn't know about this magazine until my sister came across it last week. She know's I love to read The Green Parent magazine and thought I would love this too. I am going to order one copy first and then think about putting in a subscription for the next 12 issues.

Play kitchen flowers

 

 

 

 

L has been filling her play kitchen jars with dried flowers. We bought four different types from Neal's Yard, marigold heads, lemon verberna, rose buds and hibiscus. I told the sales assistant that we were buying flowers for the girls play kitchen and asked for dried flowers that are not poisonous, just incase any got eaten by little L. The pretty blue flowers were picked by L from our garden. We leave them to dry inside the jar so we can make our own dried flowers. 

Autumn books

 

 

 

(These are the seasonal flowers we have had on our dinner table for the past few days)

Today has been a busy day. We drove into London so I could go to my annual appointment at the hospital to check if I'm still in remission from Hodgkin's Disease. They do lots of blood tests and check my neck (where I had the tumour) and it looks like it is all OK which is always a relief. The two and a half hours drive each way was tiring. It's nice to be back home again. I always forget just how busy London is. 

I wanted to say thank you to my readers who left me a comment yesterday. While I was waiting to go in for my appointment, I went on-line in the cafe and read your comments which kept my mind off feeling nervous!

So, to get back to yesterdays post about the seasonal book basket, these are the books I have dug out so far to see what we already had for Autumn:

Woody, Hazel and Little Pip by Elsa Beskow

Autumn by Gerda Muller

Autumn Story by Jill Barklem

The High Hills by Jill Barklem

I guess if I'm going to rotate the books, I am going to have to put the other Gerda Muller  and Brambly Hedge seasonal books away which I am actually going to find quite hard to do. The illustrations are so beautiful. We have all the My First Little House books which are seasonal but I just cannot bear to put any of those books away. They are looked at every day by the children. They are my favourite children's stories! I think I will simply shift County Fair and The Deer In The Woods over to the special book basket ready for the new season. I haven't decided which two new books to choose for Autumn yet. 

 

Seasonal book basket.

 

 

Yesterday we took a trip to the Waldorf book store. While the girls looked through all the beautiful books I began to think about how wonderful it would be to have a seasonal basket of books. This is something I have wanted to do for a couple of years now but never got to sorting it out. With the next season in mind, I am going to choose a couple of Autumn books and a basket to start it off and as each season comes around I will buy two books to match the season. This way, we should gradually be able to build a collection for Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter without it being too expensive all in one go. The three seasons that aren't being used will all be put away until it is their time be bought out and read. I have never rotated books with the children before so it will be nice to see their reaction when the books come back out after being put away for nine months!