Daytrip to Wrightsville Beach

Chris took a day off from work last Tuesday. Why? I think it was the "I need to get out and breath some fresh air" kind of situation. So we packed loads of food, a picnic blanket and swimsuits and headed off to Wilmington, NC.

Mr. M was all excited about going. He's been enjoying Berenstein Bears vacation story in which the bears go to the beach and Sister and Brother play in the sand and cover Dad with the sand from head to toe. M wanted that exact experience or as he nicely put it, "закопать папу в песок".

We've never been to Wilmington which is funny 'cause it's the nearest ocean-side town from us. Turns out, it's the loveliest one as well. But first, the beach. We chose Wrightsville Beach instead of Carolina Beach because on the map it seemed that there was a big pier at Wrightsville Beach. Piers are exciting and, in case M refused going into water or walking in the sand (like the entire last season), we'd at least enjoy looking at the beach from on high.

Well, at first things looked pretty bad. I mean, we snagged a great parking spot just steps away from the beach. But M refused to change into his swimsuit or take shoes and socks off. Then he refused to walk in the sand or sit on it or have anything at all to do with the beach and the ocean. He cried and wailed and raised hell about wanting to go home. Not even an offer of snacks helped.

I was in tears. Yet another year without even dipping our toes in the ocean! Well, maybe we could take turns and go for a very quick dip in the ocean before heading back? So Chris went first and M and I stayed in the shade under the pier.

Next thing I knew, M started crab-walking in the sand. Turns out, sand is ok! He kept walking like that for a while and then wanted to dig in the softer sand. But we didn't bring any digging tools or sand buckets. So he used his hands. Found a chicken bone (yeah, the area under the pier isn't the cleanest, I s'pose).

We then moved to the water's edge just to show him that he could draw lines in the wet sand. That worked out great. He kept drawing lines and watching them being erased by the waves. Then we kicked it up a notch by handing him a shell and playing "throw the shell and run for it before the wave gets you" game. Got him in the water alright. Except now M's jeans shorts were wet and heavy and kept falling off of him.

Finally, we pursuaded him to change into swimming trunks (he kicked off the shoes and socks even before then). Things kept getting better and better - walking into the deeper water, jumping in the ways, sitting in the sand and rubbing sand all over us (so we don't get sunburned, M said - such a thoughtful kiddo). 2 hours later, shivering and lips turning blue, he refused to leave the water and kept asking to jump in the waves just a bit more! This was HUGE!

But our parking meter was about to expire and we were getting hungry. So we left the beach, changed, got into the car, handed out sandwiches - turkey breast on a roll for us and PB&J in a pita for M - and drove off toward the Historic Riverfront. Even before we left the beachside, M fell fast asleep, still holding half-eaten pita and smearing PB&J all over his face.

Playdates Overload - Outdoors Edition

Hooray, the spring is finally here - warm, even hot, sunny and just totally awesome. And so this past week we've tried to spend as much time outside as possible. I think our record was set last Tuesday with a 4-hour monster playdate at a park.









First, we met with a friend of ours who has a son M's age. These two get along so well together (I wrote about it earlier). Boy, you should've seen them playing at the park together and in general being as happy as they could be. Then we all had a small picnic and M's friend had to go home.


We, on the other hand, didn't have to go anywhere.











So I called my friend who has a little girl M's age. They were on their way to the park. While we waited for them, we wandered off the playground and to a nearby creek. M really liked watching the water and throwing pebbles into it. There's also a nice little grassy area next to the creek and I think next time we'll just have a picnic there. (M's in his picnic stage now - wants to have a picnic every day, real or pretend one - doesn't matter).

Unfortunately, by the time they got to the park it was already lunch time. So they had lunch first (M was invited and scored a cookie and yogurt). Then he played some more. But he was already tired and it was time for us to go home by way of a nearby toy store.


The next day we met up with my friend Lana and her husband Patrick and their little almost 2-year old son for a stroll around the farmers' market. After lunch we decided to head over to the Yeats Mill for a little walk. There's no playground there, which is just fine with me. I feel that while playgrounds are great for gross motor stuff, they simply aren't designed for diverse sensory input and quiet games of discovery. So I like to mix it up a bit by going to places with no playgrounds.




M and his little friend loved the mill. We walked along the trail to the mill (saw some wild turkeys foraging just a few steps from us). It's a watermill with all the trimmings - a dam, a waterfall, a small bridge over the creek, big slimy boulders... Great place! So we walked around and took some pictures and let the kids run around.


Everything was just fine until I slipped on one of the slimy boulders, fell and pulled M with me (he was holding my hand). I got off with a light bruise and some dirt on my jeans. M wasn't so lucky. He didn't get hurt, but he fell right into the water and the slimy algea and his clothes got wet, dirty and stinky (and that's something he doesn't tolerate easily). And he got scared too.


So after the fall, he didn't want to hear anything about going around the pond. All he wanted to do was to get back to the car. So we all headed back to the parking lot.


Except, of course, him and his little friend got very interested in a water pump and splashed around a bit (with our help). Then they got busy running around an old grinding stone. Then - throwing pebbles from the picnic area into the pond. Then M started arranging the pebbles around the trash cans. Next thing I knew, he didn't want to leave and insisted that his clothes weren't wet after all!






But it started looking like rain and we pursuaded the kids to head towards the little visitors' center where they got to rock in the rocking chairs on the big porch. Now, this little visitors' center has a little museum, all about Yeats Mill, with an old hand-crank machine for cleaning corn off the cobs and with a short video describing mill's operations. Well, let me just say that by the time M and I left the building 30 minutes later, he was totally into corn grinding and mill operations.


We got home and assembled his marble run (ex-chocolate factory) which quickly became his corn mill. He then proceeded to explain to me and all his friends - Winny the Pooh, Tiger, Rabbit, puppy, frog and duck - the basics of mill operations: "water goes here, woosh, zoom, turn gear turn gear shift and come flour". He also kept mentioning how he fell into water at the mill, but he didn't sound scared any more, but rather proud.

Ice Painting

A very quick, simple and frugal art project M and I did the other day when I just couldn't think of anything else to do (after we role-played Honey Cake Mixup story 10 times in a row).

All it takes is an ice-cube tray and food coloring. Oh, and of course some water. Pour, mix colors, freeze, then paint with colorful ice-cubes. And they look utterly delicious too. Actually, M ended up eating a couple of them after cubes melted down to a more managable size.

The result was very messy and cold, but after drying looked like watercolors. And believe it or not, this arts-science-sensory-fine motor skills activity kept M occupied for a whole half an hour!

Snow in the Kitchen

Back in NC, it's cold, but no snow. Which is kind of a bummer for M. since he loves the stuff so much. So we had a little snow-y game, inspired by Carol Stock Kranowitz's The Out-of-Sync Child Has Fun: Activities for Kids with Sensory Processing Disorder.

The setup is super-simple and requires no prep work. All it takes is a tray or a baking sheet, shaving cream (the foaming kind, not the gel), and some toy cars and building blocks. Then you're all set to play the "snow in the city" game.

When that got a bit old, I just handed M. all sorts of kitchen utensils, an old toothbrush, a little paintbrush and a second baking sheet for some "paint with snow" activity. It's been ages since M. wanted to do any kind of painting with regular paints so this was nice for a change.

Then things got a bit out of hand as M. staged a monster-truck rally (lots of smashing of little cars into pretend buildings and toy trees). Thankfully, heavy snowfall (M. and I clapping and waving our shaving cream-covered hands wildly in all directions) put an end to the carnage.

I Am Thankful for Shaving Cream

Once again, my sensory little Mr. M surprised me. At first he didn't want to even touch the shaving cream foam.

So we played a little "it's snowing in the kitchen" game...

and 20 minutes later I had to get Mr. M into the tub for some much-needed washing up.

I Am Thankful for Corn Cobs

Last week we ate corn on the cob. Nothing remarkable about it. Except that I washed and saved one of the cobs. You're thinking it's not remarkable, just weird. Well, I was going to use it for one of the art projects (cover the cob with paint and let the little one stamp the designs or roll it on paper).

Yesterday I asked Mr. M if he wanted to paint with a corn cob. He was excited (has to do with a particular episode of Word World where Chef Pig gets stuck in a pot). And so he painted and stamped a bit with the cob and, of course, got some paint on his fingers.

And that's when things started getting remarkable. He didn't insist on washing the paint off right away. Instead, I showed him how to do hand prints and he loved it! He got so into the project that next thing I knew he was covering his hands with thick layers of red paint and requesting more paper.

Yes, my little sensory Mr. M was finger-painting and LOVING it for the first time in his life! Nor did he mind some paint getting on his clothes. I have some more corn in the fridge and you bet I'm saving the cobs!