Colored Ice Bath

Continuing our exploration of the properties of ice and the booster our efforts to make bath time exciting, Aurora made colored ice cubes.  

Not only were these ice cubes surprisingly fun to create, they were a huge hit in the tube. 

Experiment: Melting Ice

Adeline took a nice long afternoon nap the other day so Aurora and I decided it was science time!  We gathered our materials:  a thermometer, two bowls, two ice cubes, water of varying temperatures, and paper on which to record our findings and to label our experiment. 

In our investigation we sought to discover which would melt an ice cube the fastest: hot water or cold water.  After a discussion, Aurora hypothesized that because the ice cube was cold the cold water would melt it the fastest. 

Practicing the phonetic sounds of each letter as she wrote, she carefully labeled our bowls.

After amusing the cat with the laser beam, she measured the temperature of the water inside each bowl (65˚ F for cold, 111˚ F for hot).  Then she simultaneously placed two ice cubes of approximately the same size into the bowls.

She observed. 

I asked which ice cube was melting the most and she enthusiastically reported back that it was in fact the one in the hot bowl.   This is a finding she would continue to relay to Dad, our neighbors, and various other friends we interacted with throughout the remainder of the day. 

We watched the ice cubes until one in hot water was melted completely.  Then we dumped legos onto the living room floor and constructed libraries for polar bears.  

Backyard Gardening

A million years ago back when it was April, Aurora and Dad planted seeds in our back yard.  So carefully did she place each one into the dirt as her farther showed her.   Between every two or three seeds she wiped her “sticky hands” on a towel; she was going through a clean stage.  As the last seed was planted she declared “all done” and coerced Dad into a couple rounds of Ring Around the Gnome.

 How excited she was when after months of being told she could only pet the plants and could not pull them up Dad finally gave her to go ahead to yoink up the fluffy green tops to reveal – a carrot! 

How excited I was when she then began voluntarily eating said carrots which you and I know to be a vegetable, a food group much scorned by my itty bitty. 

She also fed the carrots to her various toys

and used the tops to play with the cat.  

Balloon Bath

Bath time had deteriorated into nightly tears, thus we decided to take back the tub and launched a bath time reclamation project.  Sometimes the simplest things are remarkably effective.  We removed our routine bath time toys; instead Aurora filled the bath with balloons.  Poodles played in the water, bees splashed at the surface, and round party balloons bounced along the walls.  Good times were had by all.  Baths have returned to the realm of fun.    

Camping

Aurora’s first camping trip was a HUGE SUCCESS!  I was a bit apprehensive.   Cheerfully playing in the REI’s demo tents is one thing, tenting overnight in the dark, wild woods is quite another.  Aurora was a pro.

She ran round and round the campsite singing songs and pointing out various insects.   She was absolutely giddy when we put up the tent and barely ate any of her supper (breadsticks & pizza) favoring instead to play inside.  She was not amused when I took her out to go a nature walk, but quickly warmed to the idea when we begin spotting shapes along the trail.  Many squares, circles, rhombuses, rectangles, and octagons (plus a couple of flowers, squirrels, and spiders) later, we ran out the rest of her our my energy on the playground. 

Aurora crawled happily into the tent, on to her Kermit pillow, and under the “covers.”  (By “covers” I mean a bed sheet, a flannel shirt, and our backpacking tent.  Our camping trip has been postponed so many times already that this time, even though I was not prepared, I threw everything into the car anyway and we whisked ourselves away.  I knew I would forget something important.  Indeed, that important thing was a blanket!) 

Aurora stayed up a bit later than normal shining her flashlight at every little thing.  Then Daddy read her a bedtime story (three times), we said our prayers, and she was out within moments.  Sleeping outside must suit her well, because she slept and slept and slept in the morning, then contentedly emerged as if tenting was perfectly routine for us. 

Alas, the ending of the grand adventure was a bit tragic when Hank pulled the poles from the tent in order to pack up.  Aurora threw tearful self upon the deflating fabric and pleaded for us not to go. 

Ring Around the Gnome

Ring around the gnome

So many miles from home

Who knows how far he’ll roam

So we ring around the gnome

Sassy Cow

When you live in Wisconsin, there are lots of fun opportunities to see cows.  We recently enjoyed such a privilege when Aurora and I spent a Saturday at Sassy Cow Creamery, our local organic dairy. 

Aurora pet a day-old calf and submitted the name “Three” in the name bucket.  We “moo”ed at it a little while and moved on to other fun things.  We played with sidewalk chalk, we used great deliberation coloring a farm scene, and we ran back and forth tossing beanbags in the cheese-shaped cornholes. 

Oh, and of course, we ate ice-cream.  Who needs a spoon anyway?

As the day continued we watched a milking, enjoyed a hayride, and saw a newborn calf stand for its’ for time.  Mostly we played in the barn.  Hours and hours running up and down the grazing line of cows.  We identified those we like best.  We stomped in the puddles created by their watering hoses. 

I thought we were driving out for a bit of ice-cream, but it turned into an entire day of fun at the farm.