Summer Bucket list: P is for Potty training

21 months and starting potty training.

We have had a potty for a while and he has continually told us when he is having a wee or poo. He likes playing with this fancy lightening McQueen potty pulling the handle that makes a flushing noise like a racing car and taking the ring and placing it on his head. He liked to sit on it too. We bought Bob the builder easy up pants and this encouraged him. He had a few days successful potty experiences and a few mishaps and then he got tonsilitis and it seems to have put him off going on the potty.

So we bought a simple potty and even stuck a 'nemo like' sticker on the potty to make it more attractive. He still doesn't want to go on it! I don't know how people do it. He must not be ready.

Summer bucket list: H is for Haden Hill Park and Fair

The local park has two children playgrounds, two duck ponds and a fair passing through.

We took him in his car to sit in when he didn't want to walk and to speed things up in time for tea.

After seeing the ducks and a play in the playground and an ice cream we went down to the fair.

He had his first bounce on the bouncy castle (on his own), he got frustrated after a while as he couldn't bounce properly. He ended up moving backwards to get off.

Then onto the tea cups, I think I was feeling sick more than Dylan.

It was only a small fair and the other rides were too old for him.

We saw a wedding and collected some confetti in the bucket. Along with two twigs, rocks, two feathers, some lichen, pines and some bark.

We talked about the items we collected. He liked putting objects in the bucket and holding it but he soon wanted to tip them out so I had to pick all the bits up again.

We counted the number of similar objects and talked about shapes. I made a face out of the objects too.

Summer bucket list: C is for Country park

Last time we tried to go to the local country park it was closed due to the heavy rain that we had the previous week. However, it was open and quite busy when we went.

So what to do with a Toddler at a Country Park?

This country park has animals and it I free, however there is a sign to request donations which I always do as I think there should be more local places like this.

Name the animals.

We saw chickens, ducks, rabbits, hares, geese, pigs, a cow, goats, a sheep, ferrets and horses.

Watch the animals being feed.

Make animal noises.

Whenever we talk about chickens Dylan starts saying Cock-a-doddle-do. I tell him hens go cluck cluck and cockerels cock-a-doddle-do

Talk to the animals.

Dylan especially liked calling the pigs George and Peppa pig and making oink noises.

Play on the climbing frame and and explore the scenery.

Summer Bucket List : I is for illness :(

There has been a break in blogging and summer bucket list activity as my poor baby was poorly with tonsillitis, his neck swelled up tremendously and he would move his neck properly, eat , drink or sleep for two or three days.

 I took him to see a Doctor at least 3 times and they all said it is viral and to treat with paracetamol and ibuprofen.  It took at leat 10day before the swelling went down and well over a week before he was showing signes of his little self. So as Daddy was away and I'm off an the summer hols he had lots of TLC and got to stay in Mommy's bed all week.

Summer bucket list Day six: F is for Fish

The plan was to clean out the fish tank and do connected fish activities but James got home later than expected and I dont think that Splish and Splash the goldfish would survive being left with Dylan while I clean out the tank.

One, two, three, four, five!

To get into the mood we read and sang the rhyme 1,2,3,4,5 once I caught a fish alive.

We sang it several times and I showed him the whiteboard with the word FISH and the numbers 1-5.
I also asked him what fishes do, he makes a mouth movement like a fish and sometimes wiggles his hand like a fish swimming.

Can you find...

Dylan is really into Nemo at the moment and was very egar to read the colorful ocean book.

I asked him if he could find the fish's friends and listed them, the starfish, sea horse, crab, whale, and shark. We havent got to food chains yet so at this stage the shark is a friend.  We did the 'pinch pinch' actions for the crab and the 'bite' action for the shark.

Jigsaw puzzles

We have two fish jigsaw puzzles that I 'fished' out the puzzle box. Dylan is very quick at these now and very enthusiastic to complete them.

Bless look at his concentration!

Last one!

Cheeky smile and a yeah, then a dash for puzzle two.

We call this one Dorey!

Fish play

We call this one Nemo!

Swim, swim.



Spin, spin.

Chalk play

James used the fish puzzle to draw around and then decorated with the chalk asking Dylan to help. Dylan like to use the rubber more than the chalk at the moment but we still have a go.

Dylan is 20 months old.

Summer bucket list day five: G is for....

Well we have a few things for G.

First we had the GAS and Electrical service men in. Then we decided to

Go for a long walk.

Mommy got tired and had a rest in the bus stop!

Stopped on the way at Greggs.

Had his first Ginger Bread Man.

 He went for the buttons first, then the head, the the arms and legs. Daddy finished it off later.


Go shopping

Dylan is really into Bob the Builder at the momment and is so cute when he sings the theme tune. He has been doing really well potty training so when we saw the rest of Bob the Builder's crew on sale in Wilkinson's we bought them.

 So Scoop, Dizzy, Muck, Lofty and Rollie had a race down the cardboard ramp.

Then they hid in the home made buider's garage.

 Definately tired me out today, Dylan was really good walking holding onto the pushchair when we got to the shopping centre and enjoyed sight seeing in the puschair pointing out shapes, objects and noises that he recognised. We even saw Bob the Builder! (A construction site).

Good Day !

Summer bucket list day four: L is for Light

These were my ideas for the Light day.

Splitting light with a prism
Make tin can luminaries
Make a light box
Torch fun
Shadow puppets
Opaque, transparent and translucent science project
Make sun glasses
Egg carton light projector
Glow in the dark ballons in the bath
Plastic lid suncatcher
Magnifying glass fun
Torch discs
Mini shadow puppets
Cheap luminaries- colander
Make binoculars
Sensory bottles with coloured water and glitter
Mirror- reflection fun
Shadow games
Glow in the dark discovery
Make a kalidescope
Old CD mobile for the garden

We didn't get much done as the weather was really nice again and we ended up playing with water again.

I did tell him that we need to make a shaded area with a umberella and he needs to stand in the umberella's shadow. He likes chasing his and my shadow but its difficult to get a picture of this.

Alfie and Jessie (Nanny and grandad's dogs) also love water play and Dylan kept trying to give them water or splash them.

Nanny found a snail and the had a short trip on the boat.

Loves the hose pipe...

When we got too hot we went in and got the light sensory box out. The coloured transparency paper was the first activity. He enjoyed looking through and seeing everything in a variety of colours.



How light travels through different types of materials
(Toddler version of opaque, transparent and translucent invstigation.)

We also looked at other materials and such as bubble wrap, netting, foam packaging and tissue paper.

Torch play

We did this activity previously but I never blogged it. Grandad gave Dylan a torch to play with and he loves it. I just get it out and let him explore.

He uses it to look in his shoes, under the sofa on the celling.

Magnifying glass play

Again I have a selection of magnifying glasses that I get out and let him explore with them. He made magnifying glasses and used the torch and the magnifying glass to look at his dinosaur book.

Shadow and tennis racket fun

This was another activity we did earlier in the week. He used the tennis rackets to look through and make shadows.

Shadow puppets

I had to make these as he is too young. I chose to do puppets he would recognise even with my poor art skills. I used some black craft paper, cereal boxes, scissors, barbeque skewers and cellotape.

We used the tent and his torch, I had to do the show and he went behind the tent to see the shadows. He then wanted to get involved. This is a nice activity but I think it will be better when he is a little older.