The Building Zone

Posted on July 31, 2010 by Meghan

Friendly Murals are located at child-level

We took a field trip to the National Building Museum with some of Ian’s buds. Obviously the main attraction was how much fun Ian had and how much he learned while doing it. If you are a resident or visitor to our fine city, you should absolutely take your family to the Building Museum. If the line for the Building Zone is long, borrow one of the Family Tool Kits and wait it out- it’s worth it! Family Tool Kits are available for a mere $5 checkout fee to non-members. If your kid has given up naps like mine, consider timing your visit to the Building Zone around noon, when the line usually clears.

We didn’t have time to explore the entire museum, but the parts we did see suggest that hands on activities are available everywhere you go. The miniature building bricks in the Cityscapes exhibit were a nice surprise, and our gang of two and three year olds enjoyed their visit to this gallery.

Checkerboards define areas of play

Okay, so now that the totally unsolicited ad for the National Building Museum is over, let me tell you why I loved our visit. Other than how much fun my kid had and how beautiful the building is, of course. I obviously spend a lot of time thinking about ideal play environments, being as how I spend a great deal of time with my son. I know there are those who will tell you that they think being a SAHM is fatal to the intellect, but I find that I just direct my creativity and problem solving into other areas.

I know it’s ridiculous to research and calculate how much profit Mrs. O’Brien is making on her cookies until you think about what Ian might be learning from it. Okay, yes, first of all he’s figured out that Mommy is prone to bizarre enthusiasms that come and live in her head for a while and won’t go away until you indulge them, but also he sees that it’s okay to indulge your curiosity even if it seems a little silly. And that you might find out something interesting as a result. But I digress. Other than questioning the motives of fictional old ladies and trying to memorize every smile, giggle, and milestone, my brain does find ways to occupy itself. As I said, with enthusiasms that come and live there. Which brings us to play environments. (Yes, I know we’re getting here the long way around.)

Sturdy benches are seats or tables

When you visit the Building Zone, you’ll notice first that the color is an incredibly friendly sky blue. Attractive, friendly reminders are painted on the walls, like “Please Tidy Up.” And there are these beautiful murals that are simple in design but filled with vibrant, complex color. And they are executed in a scale and location that puts them at the kids’ eye level. The abundance of natural light adds to the feeling of serenity. High ceilings help keep the noise level down. The max occupancy is 40 people, which is a lot for a single room, but it feels very spacious.

The designers took advantage of the practical, environmentally friendly carpet tile often used in public spaces to create a feeling of separate play spaces. They added a couple of checkerboard areas, and, just peeping out under the playhouse, a square of grass-green carpet. If you observe how the kids play in the room, you’ll notice that they seem to follow these nearly subliminal indicators. The “Block Stop” Legos, for instance, don’t seem to wander around the room, but stay together.

Closing the Window

Next, notice that although there are a few large, fabulous items, the space is also filled with the same kinds of toys all kids have at home. There’s a book corner, a dollhouse, some puzzles, dress-up clothes, blocks, and toy trucks. But the furnishings set this play area apart. The room is almost exclusively furnished with benches that are the perfect height either for adults to sit on, or for small children to use as a play surface. They are built of plywood and can be rearranged to suit the pattern of play.

I completely plan to apply some of my observations to the play areas available in my home. Whether you plan to analyze the play dynamics or just want to watch the grin on your kid’s face when he opens and closes the windows on the play house, be sure to put this one on your “to do” list!

The Big Boy Bed, Part Deux

Posted on July 26, 2010 by Meghan

Ian’s first night in the big boy bed lasted sixty seconds before he walked out of his room. After he went back, he was in there for 13 actual seconds (I timed him) before the door opened again. I really don’t think he actually got back into bed at all. I think he just went in there and came back out. Mommy informed him that no, nobody actually needs to go potty more than once a minute and sent him back to bed. An hour and a half later it was apparent that he was actually asleep.

An inspection the next morning revealed half the contents of his bookcase in the bed or on the floor nearby. I can live with that. He is still super excited about his big boy bed, but tonight there was some fussing about not wanting to go to bed. I told him to go get a book but not to let Mommy know he was out of bed. He said, “Okay, Mommy!”

Door’s still shut. I win.

Big Boy Bed

Posted on July 25, 2010 by Meghan

Oh yes, I can get out, Mommy!

I need all of my animals!

Hi Mommy!

Caught!

Posted on July 25, 2010 by Meghan

We took the drop side off of Ian’s crib today, because now that he’s potty independent he needs to be able to get out so he can “go.” He was so, so excited about the idea of getting a “big boy bed,” that I thought this would be the ideal way to try it out without scaring the bejeezus out of Mommy. After all, we could always put it back, right? Not to mention, this crib is one of several million that have been recalled because the drop side was unsafe.

So I popped it right off- it actually disturbed me a bit how easy it was- and took off the protruding metal track from the bottom. Ian said he wanted me to take off the plastic track from the top, but I said no, I wanted to leave it for a while.

Well, apparently I did not secure the screwdriver, because I heard a suspicious noise a short time later. When I went to investigate, I found him in the act of removing the last of the six screws holding the plastic tracks onto the crib. He even stacked the removed hardware tidily on the dresser, just the way Raba would have done it.

I guess we’re committed to this whole “big boy bed” thing.

Ian’s Personal Art Gallery

Posted on July 18, 2010 by Meghan

Small children actually enjoy fine art, and of course there are a bevy of experts telling you that you “should” expose them to it for their “development.” The dryness of that advice aside, we do like to give Ian the opportunity to see and experience fine art without having to practice his “museum manners” at the same time.

Daddy’s idea of how to do this is a good one- when fine art calendars go on sale (usually in January or February) he buys a couple for peanuts, then uses spray adhesive and foam core board to create an art gallery in our hallway that is just at Ian’s eye level.

This latest time Ian helped. Not only was he involved in the construction of the posters, Daddy said, “show me where to hang this,” and Ian picked the height himself. Then the judicious application of a level and adhesive velcro tape finished it off.

Mommy’s approach to this is to laminate 5×7 art cards and put them in thrift store frames. Here’s an example from the “dress up” area:

Good Fences Make Good Friends…

Posted on April 11, 2010 by Meghan

In a perfect world, everyone would have friends like mine. We held a “work party” yesterday to begin building the permanent back yard fence. (Goodbye, hillbilly wire!)

Ian is ready for work…

The posts for the new fence are all in place- the concrete is still curing. Once the panels and gates are in place, we will have an attractive fence that will resist the children’s efforts to dismantle it. (I wish I had video for you of the day Ian and Sophie decided to try to defeat the fence. First they tried to push it down. When that didn’t work, they tried to push it down with the yellow jeep. When that didn’t work, Sophie got into the jeep and drove it while Ian pushed. Then they used buckets to try tunneling under it. When they moved on to trying to remove the bungee cords on the temporary gate, we told them, “No more fence!”)

Chuck, in particular, was a very good sport- showing up at Home Depot early on a Saturday morning to pick up supplies for someone else’s home improvement project, running out to the equipment rental place to help pick up the LAST one-man auger they had on hand, digging fence pole holes out by hand when the auger hit a root it couldn’t get past, measuring, rejiggering, and backing my car up to the side yard to unload six 80 lb backs of Sakrete… you get the idea.

While Chuck and Chris were busy working on the fence (and I’m sure my next door neighbor was thrown for something of a loop when they saw the new gap in the hedge for the first time…), Nathalie, Claire, and Danette kept the collected kids from taking over the world, I made supply runs, and Heather and I made a good start on dismantling the trash pile masquerading as a flower bed in the back yard.

I am convinced that the previous owners put in a flower bed at the front of this area solely to escape the responsibility for cleaning it up so grass could be planted there. It is a very narrow area of plantings backed by some terribly inappropriate, scrubby bushes which are just front-men for a thicket of poison ivy, sticker bushes, rusty metal, tin cans that have been through the lawn mower, dead dog balls, old carpet, styrofoam, and broken glass.

What I OUGHT to do is have a truckload of dirt delivered and bury the whole thing. What we ARE doing is clean it out, trim back some bushes and remove others, and turn it into a “play fort” for the kids now that they’ve reached that imagination age.

The high point of the day for me (new fence not withstanding!) was watching Ian and Jade play with a large tree branch. It wasn’t immediately apparent what they were doing- they’d put it to the ground or a tree trunk and lean into it. Once I got close enough to hear the sound effects, I realized they were “running the auger.” Priceless. Absolutely priceless. A few minutes later they noticed the pile of leaves Heather and I had made and the “auger” was suddenly a “leaf blower.”

Close behind it was watching Ian and Gregory use shovels to move dirt from one particular spot to another in support of a plan known only to them…

I am now more motivated than ever to complete both projects in a timely fashion. Because obviously we can’t allow them to take over the world- which they will surely do if all that’s between them and domination is a flimsy hurricane fence- but they also need fodder for their emerging imaginations!

work party

Study & Living Room Reshuffle

Posted on March 20, 2010 by Meghan

Periodically I reshuffle the toys to keep things interesting. Today I’ve done the study and the living room…

As you can see, we have a fire & rescue themed play area in the living room (soon to include photos of Ian and one of his friends at the fire station), and Pooh & Easter themed shelves in the study, to keep the farm themed area company. The farm is a permanent fixture because it’s by and large Ian’s favorite toy… he says it’s Farmer Pickles’ barn and plays with it with his Bob the Builder toys.

(The Thomas mania has not abated, but we have added Bob the Builder and Big Bird to the list.)

While we’re at it, here are Ian’s tidy, organized book shelves. The half life on this is less than 24 hours, so I thought I’d capture it while I could.

Out with the old, in with the new…

Posted on January 13, 2010 by Meghan

So, what exactly has been going on around here in the new year…

Well, since Ian and his friends decided to look upon the superyard XT we were using to keep them out of Daddy’s desk area as a personal challenge akin to a practice climb for Everest, we were really jumping. Every time our backs were turned at a playdate large or small, there would be two or three naughty little monkeys sitting on Michael’s desk throwing things over the side and chortling, super impressed with themselves.

This led to my decision to play “while you were out” this past weekend and swap Michael’s office with mine. *My* “office” (we actually call this room the “study”) looks fantastic. Michael’s… still needs a little work.

The funny thing? My desk is not secured in any way and they couldn’t be less interested in it. Apparently the challenge was what made it fun in the first place.

Ian is enjoying books that are considered far too old for him. The Frog and Toad series is a huge favorite- good thing Santa had the foresight to drop off the complete set. Along with his taste in reading, Ian’s conversational skills have also advanced. Today at our weekly playdate one of the other children had gotten hold of his printout of a picture I took of my brother’s dog, which prompted a proprietary hissy fit on Ian’s part. (“NO! MY PAPER! NO! MY PAPER!”) So during his nap, I laminated it. When he woke up I said, “Here, sweetie, I laminated your Nico.”

His reply? “Oh, thanks Mommy. Now Gracie not break it.”

Personally, I am enjoying the challenge of planning his preschool “classroom,” and find that planning and implementing preschool lessons is only slightly less time consuming than finding a preschool in this area. If you can imagine, most of them require you pay a non-refundable registration fee to get into their lottery. That’s right, I said you have to pay them money (usually $50 or more) to draw straws and see if you can pay them to school your child. The whole process is about as complicated as applying to college, and no less intimidating. It makes me feel better about my decision to homeschool until kindergarten.

Breaking interruption: Michael made a recent reference to monsters living under the bed. He just stopped into the room to report that Ian went into our room and asked to have the light turned off. Then he said, “The monsters are not comin’ out!” He fell in love with “Monsters vs. Aliens” on our recent road trip and he was hoping that being in the dark would make the monsters come…

In short, every day is an absolute, perfect, beautiful adventure. (And Ian keeps telling me he wants to go on the “adventure train.”) Life should always be viewed through the lens of a 2 1/2 year old’s perspective… because it looks pretty good.

Playing Design on a Dime: Bathrooms under $75

Posted on May 10, 2009 by Meghan

My hallway bathroom has featured some worn and outdated finishes and some less than thrilling details since we moved here two years ago… for instance, although all the fixtures are chrome, the accessories were shiny brass. (WHY?) Also, the advent of liquid soap dispensers and “ergonomic” toothbrush handles have made soap dishes and toothbrush holders obsolete. Check out my reduce, reuse, recycle approach to a bathroom makeover:

Kitchen Makeover

Posted on August 18, 2008 by Meghan

Nothing exposes your organizational shortcomings like emptying the kitchen for a project. We proved this when we managed to trash our entire house merely by clearing the pantry and countertops this weekend.

Here’s the album of our project:

kitchen makeover

As you can see, I have lots of help today with the cleanup. Ian took this all surprisingly well, considering that it was a near total disruption to his routine.

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Category Archives: home organization