This Week in the Oh Waily Household

Last week in the Oh Waily household was an interesting one.
We discovered that young Master Oh Waily grows like a sprout and that he can waily waily in a loud voice when given the needle.  In addition you also know that Miss Oh Waily is learning some practical life skills in the form of cutting things.

This week will bring other new things to talk about.

This morning, for example, Master Oh Waily went for a visit to the osteopath.  And will likely be doing so once a week for the next month.  You may ask - what does an 8 week old* baby need with an osteopath?
Master Oh Waily has a decided preference for the right.  The right side, that is.
No matter what starting position he is put into, he will make every effort to shuffle himself around so his head is able to roll ever so gently to the right.  This had become more noticeable in the past few weeks, along with a mild flat patch on the back right hand side of his head.  After trying all the usual tricks to encourage a bit more balance in his world view, the Plunket Nurse suggested osteopathy as a potential.
So here we are, attempting to loosen up his slightly tight right hand side and therefore gently realign everything else in the process.  I am hopeful of an improvement in the balance of his choice of world view.  Since arriving home, and having a sleep to recover from the effort of staying awake for so long and having a strange man gently tickling your neck and head, it seems to have started promisingly.  During our next playtime we seemed much more amenable to facing straight up and to the left.  We looked much more comfortable lying straight and did not seem the least inclined to look into space on the right hand side instead of looking at George** on the left hand side.

The osteopath also kindly soothed my fear that I had been remiss in my treatment of my son, and suggested this type of pattern is reasonably common and is thought to be the result of either a position taken up pre-birth, or perhaps something that may have occurred during the birth itself.

Either way we are now on the road to a better position.

Then there was the long weekend (Labour Weekend, for those non-Kiwis of you) of which the Oh Waily family made the most.  On Saturday morning, later than we would have liked, we made our first group outing to the zoo.  The young Master slept dutifully through most of this visit, which meant his sister was free to run and run and run and run all over the place.  She was most upset when she wasn't allowed to follow Burma all the way around the zoo on her walk.  A pleasant outing had by all.
On Sunday Ms Oh Waily was let loose with some money in Spotlight and Payless Plastics.  Sans children and spouse, I went to town and wandered the aisles assessing potential edutainment values.
Yes, I know.  It is sad when a couple of hours spent in such cheap and cheerful surroundings brings this degree of enthusiasm out in me.  I know.  I need to get out more.
Anyway, on to the reason for said enthusiasm - other than free time, unencumbered by little folk.

Spotlight produced a small, eggshell blue box for storing Miss Oh Waily's animal family cards and associated fridge magnets.  And it also produced chenille sticks and two sorts of beads.  Now, are you asking yourself - what are chenille sticks? - if so, you are not alone.  When I first spotted them, I thought to myself... "are these the pipe cleaners I'm looking for, or not?"
Turns out that they are.  If anyone knows when or where pipe cleaners suddenly became gentrified and turned into "chenille sticks", enquiring minds would like to know.
The major let-down I had in Spotlight was the hope of finding reasonably priced, reasonable quality cane or woven baskets.  No such luck.
Payless, on the other hand, produced a floral vinyl tablecloth, 11 wooden (sort of) "Pub chips" bowls, 96 old-fashioned wooden clothes pegs and a bright red 15 litre plastic tub.  What a haul.  I'm just sorry that I can't show you a photograph of my newly acquired stash of items.***

Don't laugh, or call the men with the little white overcoats, it is a great stash of things if you are planning to expand your ability to edutain you toddler daughter.

Here, briefly, is what all this will turn into - with photographs to follow at some undefined time in the future.
The chenille sticks/pipe cleaners and beads are for a threading activity (which Mr Oh Waily couldn't wait to introduce... about 10 minutes after I got back with all the goodies); the little blue box is for storage on her shelf; the vinyl table cloth is for laying out under wet and/or dirty† activities and for acting as a general purpose "mat" for mat work; the "Pub chip" bowls are for the beginnings of learning about counting as are the 96 old-fashioned clothes pegs.  The bowls will no doubt do multiple duty in many other storage and activity-holding forms.  The bright red 15 litre plastic bin will be doing duty as a sensory box into which, at some future time, I will be allowing water and sand... not at the same time I hope... and anything else textural‡ that will need containment.

I promise to post photographs of these items in use as soon as I have a functioning camera and we actually sit down to do the activities.  I will also post a short list of blogs from which I have "stolen" these ideas, so you can see what other fun and educational things you can do with your children.

Finally on Monday, Mr Oh Waily took the Little Miss to the swimming pools for an afternoon of splashing, jumping, roly-polying and general good fun.  And Ms Oh Waily was again allowed quiet time to herself, at least partially.

And that is just the beginning of the week.  I'm sure I will find more to regale you with some time before the weekend, presuming I get my camera sorted.  (Can you tell I'm feeling a bit at a loss without it and am getting slightly obsessive about it's need for a new battery?)

Anyway, putting my camera anxiety aside and moving on, does anyone have activities to share?  What do you do with your kids to edutain them?  I know Amanda recreates the Ice Age for her boys... and as a trained anthropologist I can reassure you Amanda that there was indeed a Toyotasaurus !!

I'd love to hear about all of your adventures in kiddie-land.  Feel free to leave a comment or a link to your blog or photos.

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* today to be exact.

** thank you Auntie Clare.
*** remember, from previous posting - the camera battery is stuffed !
† read: rocky, sandy, soily, or anything else messy that I don't want to spend hours cleaning out of the carpet or off the tiles.
‡ read: mucky, messy, filthy, a pain to clean up, etc...