Running from the Law

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Blogger Busy Bag Exchange

Anyone with a toddler knows the importance of finding something (ANYTHING) that will keep their interest and attention for a few minutes so you can get things done around the house. Having a two year old is intense...they require a lot of hands-on fully-engaged participation nearly every second they're awake (or is that just my two-year old?). Now that we also have a baby in the mix, it's SO important for me to find a few activities that can occupy my wild child so I can tend to the newest member of the family.

Enter busy bags!

I'm sure you've seen these types of activities all over Pinterest. The idea is to come up with a activity that will entertain your toddler, as well as teach them basic concepts like matching, sorting, fine motor skills, sequencing, alphabet, counting, colors, etc. Busy bags can be elaborate or simple, home-made or store-bought. Just so long as they do the trick of holding your kid's attention for a few minutes.

Once again, the fabulous Erinn of Strawberry Swing and Other Things came up with a great idea to do a busy bag swap with a few other moms of toddlers. The traditional busy bag swap usually requires that each person make a bag for everyone participating the swap. That's a LOT of work. So, being a busy mom of two and respectful of everyone's time (thank you, Erinn!), she only asked that we make one busy bag for another mom and receive one. This was my saving grace and gave me the opportunity to make a fun busy bag for Ethan (son of Natasha from Schue Love). Head over there to see the busy bag activity we came up with for him and come back next week for a tutorial on how we made it.

We hit the busy bag swap jackpot when Emily from Dear Own & Co. drew our name. Emily went above and beyond and created the most amazing busy bag/box I've ever encountered! Prepare yourself to be blown away...

Emily created a sandwich shop for Mac, where he can put together fancy gourmet creations for us.

The shop came with an assortment of felt sandwich fixings (everything from 2 different types of bread, pickles, onions and cheese) with matching food pieces (with velcro on the back) that he can attach the the awesome clipboard while taking orders.

I love that Emily thought to include Mim on this. Mac loved that he was making a sandwich for the baby.

She even included an adorable apron for "Chef Mac."

This busy bag does it all and there are so many different ways to use it. It teaches how to follow directions and take an order. It helps him learn sequencing, by putting the ingredients in order on the sandwich.

It also helps him with identifying foods and categorizing them. It helps him with matching, by finding the food that matches the picture. And teaches him assembly and fine motor skills.

I can't even tell you how much we love this busy box. Mac thinks it's the coolest thing ever and has requested to play with it a dozen times since we opened it a few days ago. I love that it's safe for him to do all by himself while my hands are busy with the baby. Although he has tried to eat the food a few times. Silly boy. He's now requesting sandwiches for lunch more often too and willing to try some of the fixings (like bacon and pickles).

Thank you SO MUCH for this amazing activity, Emily! You are THE BEST. I can't even begin to tell you what a lifesaver this is going to be for us.

Make sure to check out Emily's blog next week for a tutorial on how she made this busy box and all the amazing things it can do.

Since this is an idea swap (we need all the ideas we can get), we'd love for you to participate as well! Today we're sharing all about the busy bag we received, next week (Monday, September 15) we will be sharing how we made our own busy bags and we'd LOVE for you to link up a busy bag idea as well. If you'd like to join in, just post your busy bag idea next week and link up on any of the blogs listed below.

And make sure to check out these other participating blogs to get some new ideas on fun busy bags to entertain your toddler.

Erinn at Strawberry Swing and Other Things

Colleen at Meet the Sullivans
Emily at Dear Owen
Julia at My Life in Transition
Natalie at Nat Your Average Gal

Julie at The Girl in the Red Shoes

Michelle at Ten June

Vanessa at Sunflower State of Mind

Sara at Running from the Law

Natasha at Schue Love

Erin at Hello Erin

Have you ever made a busy bag?

What's your favorite busy bag idea for entertaining a toddler?

Monday, September 8, 2014

Preparing for Potty Training

Well friends, it's about that time. I guess I'm officially adopting the title of "mommy blogger" with this post and there's no going back. I was sure that I'd never be one of those moms that talks so openly about my kid's private bathroom activities, but here I am...destined to embarrass him for all eternity with this post. Part of me is horrified, but really, I knew this day was coming. I've gone to the dark side, folks. There's no going back now.

So, yeah. Potty training time 'tis nearly upon us. We've been talking about potty training Mac for a while now. When he was about 18 months he started showing some interest in peeing in the potty. We knew he was too young to seriously start potty training, but we figured it couldn't hurt to get one of those little potties to put in the bathroom and let him use it whenever he wanted. Occasionally he'd go in it - usually right before bath time when he was in there and saw it. That lasted a few months, the novelty wore off and he really didn't care about using the potty anymore until about a month ago.

As much as I sometimes dread Mac growing up and becoming so independent, this is one area I'm actually excited for him to master. I'm SO over diapers these days. However, he just turned two years old, so we know that he's not quite yet ready to seriously begin potty training. Some kids may be ready to start potty training at this age, but we're not quite there and he tells us he's not ready. With the new baby, me at home on maternity leave and all the changes we've gone through this summer, I think we'll probably wait another 4-6 months before we "officially" have the time and energy to begin potty training boot camp. However, that doesn't mean that we're not already working on getting him prepared and thinking about it. There are definitely things we can do now to help us out in the future.

Right now, we're working on getting him to realize that he has to go potty and tell us about it. We talk to him about it throughout the day and try to get him to recognize the signals that he has to go. As a boy, he has zero qualms talking about pee and poop (which he finds hilarious), so that's going well. We also got a seat that goes on the big potty and a step stool, so he can get up on the toilet himself and use the real deal, like we do. Apparently that's a big deal to him. He definitely does not want to use the "baby potty" any more. We encourage him to use the "big potty" throughout the day and sometimes he'll take us up on it and sometimes he wants nothing to do with it.

However, when he does want to go, he insists on doing everything himself...which includes taking all his clothes and diaper off (even if it's not wet). So, recently we started trying him out in Pull-Ups. The Pull-Ups are great because he can take them off and on by himself. Well, he takes them off himself - they don't always make it back on before he does a lap or two around the house stark nakey, which he also thinks is hilarious. Toddlers are very easily amused. These Pull-Ups have Jake and the Neverland Pirates on them and he loves to look at them and say "Look mama, Jake!"

I'm also preparing myself for what to do when it's officially time to begin potty training. I know a lot of other bloggers have had a lot of luck with the 3-day training method, which I intend to check out. I've also signed up for Pull-Ups Big Kid Academy, which has a ton of really great information on potty training. There's a great article on "How to Tell if Your Child is Ready for Potty Training" and another called "Potty Training for the Working Parent" that immediately piqued my interest. Other topics include things like: how to talk to day care providers about potty training, the best clothing for potty training, solutions for nighttime and how to potty train on the go. If you've got a kid anywhere close to potty-training age, definitely check out the Big Kid Academy.

So even though we aren't fully into training yet, I've done quite a bit of reading on the subject and wanted to share my top 5 tips for potty training a boy:

1. Wait until you know he's ready. This is where we are. We know our kid well enough to know that he's not quite ready for full-on potty training. He's interested in the potty, but not enough. More often than not he'll say no when you ask if he wants to use the potty. He has no interest in wearing "boy boy undies" and is not overly uncomfortable in a wet diaper. In this regard, Mim is probably closer to potty training than Mac - she can't go 5 minutes in a wet diaper.

2. Offer incentives. In this case, bribery works! Use whatever your child is interested in as a token of good work on potty training, whether it be a piece of candy, a sticker, pennies, a matchbox car, an army man or just a lot of clapping and praise. You know what your child responds to. Reward your child not only for potty training successes, but also for trying.

3. Make it fun. I think this is particularly appropriate and easy to do for boys. My mother-in-law raised two boys and suggests putting something in the toilet for your little boy to "aim" at, to avoid accidents and keep them from making messes. She suggested a Cheerio for them to use as a target. Also, she said that boys love peeing outside, so feel free to let them skip the potty occasionally and take their business outside in the bushes or on a tree. Be one with nature!

4. Prepare in advance. We're doing this now, well before we're ready to move on to actual potty training. As I mentioned, we have a potty seat and let him use it whenever he wants. We have a few books related to going potty that we read at bedtime. We've watched the Daniel Tiger potty episode (and every other episode) at least a dozen times. And we even have a few apps that talk about potty time.

5. Be patient. I'm including this one for my own sake - I'm sure I will need a reminder of this continuously once we make the decision to start potty training. I'm going to write it in lipstick on the bathroom mirror in giant letters when the day comes. Keep calm and carry a giant spray bottle of carpet cleaner.

What are your favorite potty training tips?

Have you tried the Big Kid Academy?

** Thanks to Pull-Ups for sponsoring today's discussion. For more potty training advice and activities, check out the Big Kid Academy.

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

End of Summer Recap - July & August Instagram

Now that it's September (how did that happen?!), I was going to post our August Instagram recap and realized that I never even posted our July recap, so you're getting a double dose of photos today. As you'll remember, I've been trying to post at least one photo a day each month to Instagram, with the idea that I'd print a yearbook at the end of the year with all our daily memories. It's still going pretty well, however I do miss days here and there, but I'm trying not to be too hard on myself about it. I just post whenever I remember. I love looking back at these photos and remembering each story/moment and seeing how quickly our family is changing and growing. Just two months ago I had a giant baby bump and now I have a six week old that smiles at me! Amazing. If you want to follow along and read details about any of these photos, you can find me @sara_mccarty.

Anyone else addicted to Instagram or doing an IG photo project?

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Mim's Coral, Gold & White Nursery

I am so excited to finally share Mim's nursery with you today. This room has been a labor of love and I couldn't be happier with the way it turned out. I hope that Mim loves it as much as I do!

As soon as we found out we were having a girl, I knew I wanted to do a room in coral. I considered matching the coral with an aqua/mint, then moved on to grey, but ultimately decided that gold was the way to go. I started scouring the internet for coral and gold inspiration and put together an idea board based on a few items I purchased. I also started a secret Pinterest board and became mildly obsessed with adding to it and changing it daily. Seriously, how did we live before there was Pinterest?

Anyway, there's a lot of great inspiration out there and coral seems to be a hot color right now, so I was slightly overwhelmed with possibilities. I could not make up my mind and had so much trouble figuring out which direction I wanted to take the room in. Why is it so hard to make choices while you're pregnant? Then I started working with Natasha Schue (from the awesome blog, Schue Love), who helped me make some major decisions and guided me in the right direction. We emailed back and forth for weeks with different ideas, items and suggestions. It was so nice to have someone with excellent taste to bounce ideas off of and provide feedback. She's got such great style and was so much fun to work with. Natasha put together this inspiration board for me below and then it was up to me to turn it into reality.

Coral, Gold & White Nursery Inspiration Board

{inspiration board created by Natasha Schue}

I immediately got to work on the room. It needed a fresh coat of white paint to make it look clean and bright. We had a ceiling fan installed, because the room did not have any overhead lighting, babies like fans and it would provide better circulation in the room. We had an old dresser of mine in the room that I wanted to paint so we wouldn't have to buy one. I decided to paint it white with ombre coral drawers. I chose three shades of coral (all Behr paints: Cool Melon, Youthful Coral and Coral Expression) and fun crystal/gold knobs from Home Depot. It took forever for me to find the time and energy to get it sanded, primed and painted, but I'm really happy with the way it turned out.

DIY Painted Dresser - Coral, Gold & White Nursery

Other DIY projects included lots of painting. I was surprised how hard it was to find anything in gold, so most of the gold items in the room were spray painted gold (by my dutiful husband). The curtain rod, the lamp, the bookshelf, the doorstop and multiple frames. Other frames were painted coral with the same Behr paints, as was the wooden name above her crib. The gold dots on the wall are decals from Urban Walls on Etsy. While super easy to apply, it took me forever to figure out how I wanted them placed (straight lines vs. random). I decided on a random rainfall type patter that was top-heavy and I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.

So without further ado, here is Mim's nursey!