Author: Mumsgoneclimbing

Sensory Crafty Afternoony

~ Mumsgoneclimbing ~ Leave a comment

I LOVE craft and Boston likes creating HUGE mess so I am trying to embrace art that allows a bit of both. Art/Craft/Sensory play is a fantastic way for toddlers to explore colour, texture, physics and a whole lot more. I need to be honest here and say we haven’t embraced a lot of art in our house. Boston’s delayed fine motor skills, short attention span and tendency to put everything new in his mouth has presented challenges and at times straight up annoyed the poop out of me (I am human, there I have admitted it). But the benefits and development growth that regular creative play brings are far too important for me to keep putting art on the too hard shelf. Here are two activities that are fun, easy to make with household items and eatable to a certain degree 🙂 IMG_3468_fotorDry Food Exploration We mixed together a little of everything. White rice, brown rice, beans, lentils and barley. Boston loved running his fingers through it all. He is also in the process of perfecting tipping and turning skills (like drinking from a cup). Adding a plastic cup and funnel gave him a chance to test his skills in a place other then onto our kitchen floor. The whole tray or goodies eventually ended up on the grass and some found Boston’s mouth. IMG_3466_fotor   Magical Goop! Has anyone played with cornflour and water?? Oh my gosh my world has been changed forever!! Mixing these two simple ingredients gives you a substance that feels firm when you touch and pick it up… but then instantly turns to running goopey goodness. To be honest I played with it about 300% longer then Boston but I still see it as a success. My wonderful mum helped make ours, I think you can perfect the recipe to your own liking, but here are the basics;

  • 2 cups Cornflour
  • 1 cup Water
  • Mix cornflour and water together in a large container
  • Add food colouring if desired

IMG_3474_fotor Hopefully our fun afternoon of creative play will give you a little inspiration to take art off the too hard shelf and spread it around the lawn.

Let me know of any creative activities you explore with your littles, what are your favourites? what are their favourites? any disasters?

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Anaesthetic, Sleep and Aware Parenting

~ Mumsgoneclimbing ~ 2 Comments

A quick post on a Wednesday evening to share a parenting experience.

Recently our son Boston had to be put under anaesthetic to have a CT scan. This would be his fifth time under and the past has been a bit traumatic for different reasons, whether it was the anaesthetic experience itself or surgery that went along with it. I wrote a post about how those experiences had affected his sleep, more precisely how they affected him falling asleep (What Boston’s Body told us about Sleep).

This time around I had concerns “Would we be back to traumatic sleep times????” but my wonderfully wise friend from Katesurfs.com reminded me of the Aware Parenting Tool Symbolic play! In short;

Symbolic play allows you to make games around situations that may be scary, confusing or traumatic to help children process and release emotions.

Since the CT I have played a little game with Boston before he falls asleep. I sit up next to him on the bed and get him to place my hand over my mouth, to symbolise a mask. Then I take a HUGE exaggerated breath in and flop down on the pillows snoring loudly. HE LOVES IT! Bursts out giggling and gets me to do it over and over, then he does it to himself but is too busy giggling to actually pretend he is asleep. I knew it must have made an impact when he woke in the middle of the night and got me to do it, then went back to sleep straight away.

Hoping this may inspire or help someone else out xo

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The Ocean of Emotion; medical interventions

~ Mumsgoneclimbing ~ 2 Comments

People often hear Boston’s story and comment how strong we must be to go through everything, but the fact  is our challenges are not constant. For our family the medical journey is like a swim in the ocean. Some times it feels like you have just dived under one wave and are up gasping for air as the next crashes on your head. But there are many many days where the ocean is so calm you can see the bottom and surfers sit around looking bored. This extremely sophisticated pie graph demonstrates exactly what I mean.

Ocean of Emotion panaramaWe’ve had a tidal wave recently. Boston has been out of the surgery woods for 18 months now, its been pretty blissful. But last month one of our routine opthamology check ups uncovered that Boston’s optic nerves have mild swelling. This is a sign that there could be intracranial pressure (ICP or pressure in the head). It does not come as a surprise, we always knew this was likely on the cards for our little saethre-chotzen warrior god. But…it still stinks like a week old egg sandwich.

Rewind and the last two months have been choppy waters. In December we found out Boston has fluid in his middle ear, resulting in mild hearing loss and the possibility of grommets (not a big deal, but added to past surgeries its ONE more anaesthetic). Then there has been lots of routine check ups (paediatric, ENT, craniofacial clinic) and new therapists (physio, OT and speech). After six months of relatively nothing we’ve been going pretty flat out.

Fast forward to getting the discovery of swollen optic nerves and possible ICP, we actually get to go straight from the Ophthalmologist to the Cranio team who happen to be having a clinic “Just into the lift and up one floor, they are waiting for you”. There are questions and explanations and possibilities. A CT is ordered (oh great ONE more anaesthetic) and we leave with a lot of if’s, but’s and we have to wait and see’s. My mind races as the possibility of another big surgery hits, our second baby is due in 3 months and I wonder how that will affect my ability to be there for Boston, seven days in hospital recovery with a newborn ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!……This is the tidal wave.

After a couple of days the wave passes. I did a little crying it out…family and friends are there to share the weight…and happy go lucky mindset kicks in. Sure the sea is still rough but we have a life boat… all in all life could be a lot worse, but lets be honest… can not wait to see those bored surfers again.