The Bub in the Belly

There was a door, which could open and close. And just as it should be for all good playhouses, membership was very exclusive - not everyone had the right of entry.



"Who goes there? What's the password?"

Ryan's nanny had some family matters to attend to yesterday, so I took the day off to take care of Ryan. Here's a rundown of our day.

Breakfast was a "muffin tin meal" (except that I used a silicone cupcake mould!).

Top row from left to right: Elmo fruit juice, biscuit sticks, cornflakes.
Bottom row from left to right: more biscuits, boiled carrots, honeydew.

Guess what was the first thing Ryan went for?



After that, there was lots of time for books and little cars.




While Ryan hung out with his little cars, I tidied up our little storeroom and our handyman came during this time to fix a leak in our bathroom sink. With the storeroom all nice and neat, and our sink leak-free, there was more playing in Ryan's playroom, some doodling on his drawing pad, some dancing (of course!) and a little bit of this plus a little bit of that. Before we knew it, it was time for lunch.



Time to get clean! We always try to make the most of bathtime - we give Ryan some "props" and let him take as long as he wants, exploring and learning naturally while getting comfortable with the water. Richard and I get our baths at the same time too (although Richard wasn't with us today). Today I let Ryan have three measuring cups in different sizes. He learned that the big one takes longer to fill up and is heavier to lift when full, and the smaller ones take faster to fill up and are lighter to lift when full.



After that, it was off to bed but Ryan was too jazzed to sleep so I dragged some boxes into our bedroom because I wanted to get started on my submission for the Cardboard Box Challenge. I didn't get very far with that though - guess why?



Since I wasn't getting anywhere, I gave up and we went out to the terrace for bubbles!




Ryan wasn't very pleased with the giant bubblemaker because he wanted to blow the bubbles out and the giant bubblemaker is too big for that (you need to swing it about instead). Anyway, he persevered and after a while, he was finally ready for his nap. I nursed him to sleep and then went back to my cardboard creation. Ryan didn't sleep long though - he is usually too excited to nap for long when he is at home (compared to when he is at his nanny's). We went downstairs for dinner, which was the same thing that we had for lunch (rice with ABC soup). Richard came home shortly after that, and we all went out again for dinner with him at Aston's.

The rest of the night was spent on more play, including playing with the result of my attempt at the Cardboard Box Challenge. I'm not satisfied with it yet so I'm going to work on it some more before I share it on the blog. In the meantime, here's a sneak peek!


So, that was our day. Hardly a moment's rest, but we had loads of fun and time passed so quickly.

We had a fabulous Sunday, so fabulous that I will break it up into parts for the blog. The first event that I will mention is our Cardboard Box Challenge!

We moved into our new digs about 6 months ago and we had so many boxes that we didn't know what to do with them. I didn't want to just put them in the recycling bin, I thought that there was so much more we could do with them.

Ryan enjoying the boxes when we were unpacking!

We kept them on our terrace upstairs and basically forgot about them for a while. Last week however, I decided that it was high time we did something about them. So I issued a challenge to Richard. Each one of us (Richard and I) will do a small project for Ryan and our raw materials must include one cardboard box! It's the Cardboard Box Challenge!

Richard duly accepted the challenge and I told him that, since I had just finished the quiet book, he should go first. He graciously agreed.

So, on Sunday evening, he set upon the challenge. Here's what he came up with!


A castle! Ryan absolutely flipped! He was ecstatic!

Here's how it came together. Richard cut the slats in the sides and the drawbridge, then the two of them worked on painting it in Ryan's favourite colour - green!

Some glitter to spruce things up!

Naming ceremony!

After some stickers for decoration, the flags went up on the four corners.

Richard wanted to put some more touches on it, but Ryan couldn't wait any longer. Ryan jumped right in and, of course, his little friends were not left behind.



Here comes King Kong too! Not to worry, there's lots of room inside and everything is kept neat and tidy.

Looking good!


Richard says he wants to make some improvements to it, so I will update you when that's done. Don't you think it's fantastic already? Ryan is completely in love with it!