Sensory Fun Day

 Yesterday Liam's brother left after his 2 week visit with us. This usually creates a crap storm of tears for my lil man, so momma thought ahead and got some sensory fun ready. Liam was stoked, B was kinda bummed as he wanted to take part as well. Liam informed him, "NO!! You get to leave, I don't!" I have nothing to say to that, which is odd, I always have something to say!
 So here is what we did. I will post the pics and then how I did it. Enjoy, I know Liam sure did!

This one was cool. I started with an old ice cream bucket. My plan was to layer the ice in rainbow colors, but that was taking too long. (yes, momma often lacks patience too!) I gathered up some small toys of the boys. (Dollar Tree has lots of these things, that where most of ours come from.) I started with about 2 inches of water, added some toys, freeze. Repeat until bucket is full. Then its time to excavate. Liam chose the small hammers because his toys ones weren't strong enough to break the ice. SAFETY GLASSES were a must as the ice really full. (a few of the toys didn't make it :/ he was using the claws of the hammer and it broke the toys) NOTE: I must give credit where credit is due and I would like to thank COUNTING COCONUTS for this idea. 

This one was AUSOME!!!! I even got into this one!!!! First I started by making up different colors of water, and freezing in ice cube trays. Then I got a white sheet, and placed it on the table outside. Next, let your kiddos go to town!!!! When finished, hang to dry and you will have a gorgeous tie dyed sheet! My favorite was his little hand prints all over :) (ours got rained on, so today we have to redo it. Liam was NOT happy, but changed his mind when I told him he gets to do it again.) Again, credit where credit is due and for this idea I have to thank SHARE AND REMEMBER.

After a visit to our friends it was time to relax with a bath. I decided to finish off the night with a sensory bath for him. This time we decided to use his new balls from "grama Sue." He loved it, had a blast with them! I can see this sensory bath becoming a nightly thing :)

Enjoy the fun, we sure did!

<3<3<3<3

I'm flappy and you know it....

 Yesterday, LJ's buddy came over to play. For the first time, I saw my boy flap. His usual stims are spinning, chewing, and vocal. He was so excited his buddy came in to play, he was flapping all over the living room. It was cute, he looked like a lil duck or penguin.
 The older kids don't play with LJ much. He is a very in your face child. He is a non stop talker. He likes to dominate play and direct everyone on how he thinks they should play. He also has a great imagination, and it seems many kids lack this??? Now younger kids, he's great with them, and they love him. He is a bit emotionally immature for 6, but thats ok with me. I am in no hurry for my baby to grow up.
 So his buddy came in to play. It lasted about 30-45 minutes. LJ was a motormouth from Hell. He talked non stop, was in his friend's face, and just off the wall hyper. I wondered how long it would last. Not long, as usual. His friend said he would be back, but hubs and I knew better. Lj is catching on though. He only looked out the front door 3 times, before he said, "He's not coming back is he momma?" I told him no, and quickly diverted his attention with a jello sensory bin.
 Meltdown avoided, go momma!!!! I was very happy that "A" took the time to play with Lj as they have been buds since he was born (only 10 months apart) but "A" is maturing emotionally faster than my boy, so its hard for them to play together now. Being a special needs mom, we learn to find happiness in the little things. For its the little things, that make our days!

Digging in! This is LJ's favorite sensory bin!

Creepy crawlies!!!

LJ loved his blue green "hulk" hands :)

Well, its Friday! It wouldn't be Friday without some Special Need Ryan Gosling pics. Without further ado, here they are :) Enjoy!

Now, as we all know, the Special Needs Ryan Friday was Sunday's idea. She has been under the weather, as is her hubby, so she hasn't been able to take part. Please stop by her blog and show her some love, so she knows we are thinking of her! As for me, I made this Ryan, just for her!!!! <3

I love summer!!!! Swimming, cookouts, "schmaws" (smores in LJ speak) The best part, swimming tires my boy right out!!!

As always Ryan, you have the best ideas!!!!!!! 

Have a great weekend all. Stay cool and enjoy summer!

<3<3<3<3

Letter recognition/sight word fishing game

I finally finished the fishing game for my son. I am so proud of this one because it not only lets him work on retrieving letters to the sound I call out, but we also use it to build his sight words, all while working on his fine motor skills, and LJ thinks its a game, so he WANTS to play it :)
Below I will post pics and describe each step on how I made it. Try it and have fun with your kiddos :)


                                              Step one

I upcycled LJ's letter tub toys. Using paper clips, I bent the smaller end straight and poked it into the letter, then made a "hook" at the top. I used white paper clips on the consonants and black paper clips on the vowels.

Step Two

Next I had hubby get me a stick. (okay so he got me a branch, but we made due :)) Using wire tires (I upcycle these from opening toys at Christmas) I took yarn, tied a knot in one end, and every so often, wrapped a wire tie around the stick and the run, running it to the tip of the pole. I then took another paper clip, bent it open, and tied the end of the yarn around the small hook on the paper clip. Then I bent the larger end into a hook shape.

Step Three

Now is the fun part. I went out and got LJ's wading pool. I found it was cracked, so we couldn't add water. (we will have to get a new one when they are out) We put in the letters and the fishing began. I asked him to catch the "c" and he went on to fish out "cat."

LJ had so much fun letter fishing! I am going to work it into his daily lessons. We also made another fishing pole so when he has a friend over, they can "fish" together :)