Ayden and Mommy Make Muffins

This afternoon Ayden helped me make some muffins. I wasn't expecting him to be very interested or to be very helpful at all, but I was really surprised. I got a chair for him to stand on and pushed it up to the counter. I got out the muffin pan and muffin papers and he helped me put them into the pan after seeing me do it a few times. He closely watched me fill the muffin papers with batter and then he stuck his little fingers in one and licked them. I gave him the empty bowl and wooden spoon and he pretended to mix with it and then started licking the batter off the spoon. His face was covered in chocolate and it was soooo cute:)







Another activity we did this morning was to make Feelie Goop out of cornstarch and water. I got a really neat book for Christmas called First Art: Art Experiences for Toddlers and Twos. It has a lot of neat art projects for little ones and I can not wait to try others. You mix 2 cups of cornstarch with 1 cup water and there it is. You can also add food coloring to make it different colors. Cornstarch mixed with water has a unique physical property-it's gooey when poured from a spoon, but hard when squeezed in your hands. It's a kinda weird liquid/solid at the same time. I remember doing this in school and thought it was pretty neat. Ayden on the other hand did not like it. I tried to get him to touch it and he didn't like it so I poured some on his hand. He tried shaking it off and then started to cry. We ended it soon after that. I have found he is not a fan of textures especially new ones. Maybe we will try it when he is a little older. The thing I like about the book is it gives lots of recipes for homemade paints, clays, and other things. You don't have to go to the store and spend all kinds of money because a lot of it is stuff you already have. Next we may try fingerpainting. I just hope it's not too messy.





Ayden is starting to talk more even though a lot of it is gibberish. He will say something and look so serious and he has this expression that looks like he can't figure out why we don't understand him. Like we are the ones speaking a foreign language. The other day I got him to say "cheese" when trying to take his picture, and he now says "duh." For some reason he finds this hilarious when you say it while rolling your eyes. It's a good way to get him to smile for the camera or to get him to laugh when he's upset. I was changing his diaper before his nap and he was mad so I started saying "duh" and then he would laugh and copy me. Probably not the best word for him to know, but at least it's something!