It has been a day of exploring our world in the Francl household. We did things today that I never thought we'd do, and I (for once) remembered my camera! This morning, Lily and I went to a play date with 3 other kids who are almost exactly her age. When we got to her little friend's house, this is what we found:
That is rice that has been dyed Easter colors of wonderfulness and put in a large Rubbermaid bin - beautiful! The rice bin was put on the floor and the little munchkins dove in:
Actually, 3 of the little munchkins dove in - you'll notice my little munchkin standing back and watching the mess begin. My mom says Lily is an observer. She likes to hang back, watch what everyone else does, evaluate reactions, avoid messes, and when no one is watching explore just a little. In the above picture she is on the other side of the room from me; in the below picture, she's right beside me. She made her way around the room giving the colorful rice and the more adventurous munchkins a wide berth.
My child was the only one with any qualms about colored rice. (I wish I knew what she was thinking - does she worry that the rice is dangerous? Does she think it will get her dirty? Does she simply find comfort in her ordinary routine and things out of the norm throw her?) The other 3 all ended up in the bin with the rice at one point or another. Lily brought me a book and wanted me to read to her... as far away from the rice as possible.
When I read about sensory activities like this on blogs, I always think, That sounds like such fun! ...But what kind of mess is left after the kids are done? I have evidence to answer that question:
It was a BIG mess - after 2 hours, there was rice tracked everywhere, but our hosting mama was super chill and confident that munchkin rice was no match for her new Dyson. I believe her, and this November when she finds just a few grains of pink rice in a corner or nook or cranny somewhere, I hope she remembers this day as fondly as I will. :)
When we got home, Daddy wanted to take his girls to town to go shopping (I suspect he was worried I would have nothing to feed him if he didn't - the cupboards were pretty bare!). While we were in town, we picked up a heat gun, because Daddy had plans for the evening. His PS3 recently bit the dust via the "yellow light of death," but he found a YouTube tutorial on how to fix it with the help of a heat gun.
So we invited my dad and Toby over to help with the sensory experiment. With Lily safely tucked away in bed, they opened up the PS3...
After Dad made 2 separate runs for various necessary tools and oils, the exciting part came. The heat gun:
We're in the 20-minute-post-heat-gun waiting period right now, so it remains to be seen if this "sensory experiment" fixed the PS3.
As I watched, I couldn't help but notice the similarities between the munchkins and the men. It's a great thing about life that there are always new things to explore, experience, and investigate. A lifetime isn't nearly enough time to learn it all - isn't that great?
As Lily's mama, I hope that I have the wisdom, the patience, the insight to guide her into exploring, experiencing, and investigating. I like to hang back a bit too - to assess situations, to gauge people's reactions. But I don't want to hang back so much that I miss out on the learning or that I teach my daughter to hang back too much either.
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