When the going gets tough, the desperate get creative!

I have been noticing lately that Vanessa's "terrible two's" tend to be more "terrible" when she is bored or tired. Although the tired part is fairly easy (I believe in naps!), the bored part proves to be a little tricky, especially when it is coupled with jealousy. Since Nicole eats every two hours and needs to be rocked to sleep, you can see how this can happen!

So, I got at least a little smarter. I thought since it was now schooltime for Matt, we could create "school" for Vanessa, too. During the week I've been trying to do at least one activity a day that either gets us out of the house or involves something fun and hands on (Thanks Mom B. for the helpful books!). I think Vanessa is still getting the hang of it, because sometimes when I ask her if she wants to do something, she'll say no, regardless of interest. Still, it has proven to be worthwhile.

So far we've made beans take root then planted them (I think I've killed them now, though), "churned" butter, gone on walks, colored, played made-up games, and Vanessa's all -time favorite--balloon dancing. I've let her keep the balloons, and a week later, she is still twirling around with them, requesting music and shouting/singing, "I sing all the time." And really, she does! (You'll have to forgive the quality of the pictures...they're all I've got!)

By the way, as an "edit" to my last post, I realized some of the pictures kind of got chopped off, and so Nicole's brace pictures didn't really do the job. If you're interested, here they are:

I have also included a link that has proven both helpful and consoling to me during this club foot correction process:

http://six-feet.com/index.html