Decluttered

I don’t usually make New Year’s resolutions – but this year I did. 

It’s no secret that I like to plan big projects for any periods of downtime – like my summer ‘vacation’ days. I don’t like to travel, and I say I don’t like relaxing, but I’m not certain that is truly accurate. Things that involve being pampered or catered to are not things that I enjoy – in fact, they are more likely to make me feel uncomfortable and stressed. Likewise, sitting still for any length of time is difficult for me and requires an immense amount of mental effort.

I feel ‘relaxed’ – maybe centered, invigorated or rejuvenated are better descriptions – by doing things like going to the gym, hiking, doing yardwork, cleaning or working on projects around the house like painting or installing new flooring etc. Things that keep me moving but don’t require me to carry on conversations with other people – these things are ‘relaxing’ – they allow my mind to wander and dream without interruption.

My summer vacation to-do list starts forming late fall/early winter and continues to grow until June. Every year the summer project list also includes some indoor ‘organizing’ items in case there are any bad weather days on my vacation.  These tasks are always at the bottom of the list and usually get put off – mostly because I’d rather do the outdoor tasks regardless of the weather – but also because they tend to be more stationary ‘activities’.

This is where this post truly begins. Putting off these organizing tasks – especially the ones that involve paperwork and filing – over and over again had become an issue. My filing cabinet became too full to add any more papers to the folders so loose papers were just laying on top of the folders and were prone to falling off if the cabinet drawer was opened.

Due to having no available space in the filing cabinet there were multiple piles of ‘to-be-filed’ papers collecting on my desk. It was becoming almost impossible to find any workspace or even a flat spot to put my computer keyboard, mouse, or coffee cup. This, along with my already established distain for sitting still, definitely contributed to my delaying other paperwork type tasks. Related side story…

Montgomery had gone for his annual vet visit in October 2022 and received his rabies vaccination. I put the receipt and vaccination certificate, with new tag still attached, on my desk – I planned to file them after I put the new tag on Montgomery’s collar. Fast forward seven months to May 2023 – childcare relicensing visit. My coordinator asked for the required proof of pet vaccination and I KNOW it is on my desk but cannot find it! *sigh* Had to contact the vet, get another copy, complete an inspection agreement form and submit it to my coordinator to prove he was fully vaccinated.

I think that, though I add organizing activities as small tasks for bad weather days, I know that they are really immense tasks. They may start as ‘Sort through the miscellaneous items in the drawer/box/bin’, but they snowball because sorting and organizing papers and small items requires, removing things from where they are stored and making piles of loose things.

Putting away those loose things requires getting out the storage container where the items belong – containers which should be sorted through before anything new gets added…making more piles of loose things. It takes a lot of time to do properly and it always gets much worse before it gets better. It is overwhelming.

I tend to use the childcare space for organizing things. It is the largest open space and it is unused when the daycare is closed. I can spread stuff out to sort and leave it there while I take a break or cook supper etc. and it isn’t going to bother my family. However, when I run out of time (which I most certainly will do), I frantically stuff unsorted items back into containers so I can clean the rooms before the children return.

I’ve now created even more containers of miscellaneous items that need to be sorted…

So this year I tried something different. The winter break consists of three paid holidays and two weekends but there are also three work days. Depending how the holidays land, the three work days could be centered between two long weekends or broken up into single days between holidays and weekends. 

Many of my families have extra time off during this period and do not all require childcare. Typically I have kept the daycare open for those three work days. I do some year end paperwork on the extra days off but don’t plan any big projects due to the variable combination of work days and off days. 

This year I closed for those three days resulting in a whopping ten day winter holiday! I reorganized some toy storage, cleaned out the filing cabinet, and cleared off my desk. Did I get everything done? No, of course not, my to-do list never ends – but I feel so much better. I found Montgomery’s original vaccination certificate and rabies tag. I created only one extra box of ‘to be shredded’ papers but no boxes of miscellaneous stuff.

So that New Year’s Resolution…I’m going to modify my policies to officially close those three work days between Christmas and New Year’s day every year. My summer vacation will still have an exciting list of fun projects – but no paperwork. My new annual winter holiday will now be dedicated to sorting and organizing because this is how the new year should start…

Summer 2023

Wow! So much to write, so little time. Sad that I haven’t been writing any posts about our activities or any of our new ‘stuff’. Yes, the grant funding we’ve received through the Federal funding for childcare has been wonderful but also very time consuming. Spending money is easy but trying to balance ‘wants’ vs ‘needs’ and make the best decisions so I won’t be faced with ‘I wish we had bought that instead’ after all the money is spent – that is hard.

In the Spring when the grant funding was first announced I was already in the midst of making my summer ‘vacation’ plans for revamping the outdoor play space so those plans got a little more upscaled. I knew we had to remove the old rotted wooden pergola but we used that pergola to attach the sun shades for the summer. My south facing outdoor play space can be unbearable without shade – so my first purchase was two retractable awnings.

The old sunshades provided wonderful shade over most of the back yard but it took a whole weekend to get them up using clamps and ropes attached to the house, carport, and pergola. Once they were up, we had no view of the sky until fall when we took them down. On many cloudy or cool days we would have preferred to not have the sunshades but it was far too difficult to take them down temporarily.

This is a view of the yard after all the work we did on my ‘vacation’. You can see the framework for the new awnings but the awnings are not in use as this pic was taken in the early morning when there was little sun. I still struggle with deciding if I should say the awnings are ‘open’ when they are folded and we can see the sky and closed when they are unfolded and covering the yard or vice versa. Either way, all summer we loved to have the option of having sun or shade depending on the weather when we were playing in the yard.

I also purchased more turf tiles – we used to only have a small ‘grass’ area inside the old pergola but now it is twice the size and more open without the pergola dividing the space. We also have a new ground level deck area along the fence side that we use for the easels and other art activities (the deck tiles are easy to clean and have no spaces big enough to lose crayons and paint brushes etc.

The turf tiles are thick rubber and placed on the mulch – both help cushion minor falls which is nice for the climbing structures and the new Ninja Slackline pictured below (also notice the awning is providing shade in this pic).

This summer we finally installed the large laundry sink (on the to do list last year). It is not a new sink, just a new location, and we have always had access to both hot and cold water here but now it is much more convenient to use.

Moving along to the other side of the yard, we have a new, slightly sloped bridge across the ‘river’ in the water area and two new blue tunnels. The children like to pretend they are swimming under water when they crawl through these tunnels – I want to paint some fish inside the tunnels but haven’t done that yet.

The bilge pump and water supply has a new location now too though I actually have plans to modify this area more before next summer so this is only temporary. The water from the pump flows under the bridge and down the ‘river’. The sprinkler hangs from the awning frame above the water area so we can make it ‘rain’ when we want the water area really wet (there are holes in the tarps so water does not pool).

At the far end of the bridge is the gravel digging area – we needed the bridge higher here because the gravel area is more than a foot higher than the ground at this point. Plus, having a sloped bridge is extra fun 🙂 I chose to move all the gravel into the little covered ‘house’ we built last summer. The ‘house’ is in the corner of the yard which helps to keep the gravel contained in the area where it belongs and the roof above provides shade at all times of the day – particularly nice because some children like to sit and dig in the gravel for hours every day and I don’t want them to bake in the sun.

The picture below is the view from inside the gravel area.

I moved the talking tube (central vac pipe) from the building area where it used to be. Now it runs along the fence from the gravel area to the water area. I also added some elbows to the pipe so the children don’t look straight through the pipe when they are talking. Not that I minded them using it like a telescope, but some of them couldn’t grasp the concept of ‘talking’ into the tube when they could see through it and would get very frustrated that it didn’t work.

In the space where the gravel used to be is our new ‘music’ area. It is still not complete. In this picture there is nothing ‘new’, we have had the chimes, drums, and other noisy things for many years but now they are all together in a defined space. There are more turf tiles and our old stumps here for seating options. There are multiple different surfaces and items that can be used for experimenting with sound. Since this photo was taken I have purchased some Boomwackers and am collecting some additional ‘music’ making items to add in the future. (Donations are welcome if you have anything that may be useful here).

View of the entrance to the music area – the Virginia Creeper has grown a lot and now covers most of the back and left side of the area – naturally containing the sounds in an acoustic chamber.

The building/construction area of the yard has not been moved or rearranged but I did purchase a large resin storage shed to store the massive amount of loose parts we have accumulated. We have far too much to have all of it out at once and our little toy shed only holds small bins and could not possibly contain all our building supplies.

A tiny peek inside the shed – this is less than a quarter of what is being stored here. Kept out of the elements but still handy when we want additional options beyond what is available in the loose parts bins.

Cushions

In my ‘Snowball Effect‘ post I covered a bit of history about the four old lounger cushions and mentioned that I wanted to use them for an infant/toddler activity. That ‘plan’ didn’t turn out the way I envisioned – partly because I don’t like sewing – but it has had an interesting outcome.

In the Spring/Summer/Fall we spend most of our playtime outside where there are plenty of opportunities for gross motor activities. In the winter, we still go out daily but for much less time than in the warmer seasons. Although I’m sure getting on all the winter gear counts a physical activity, I still feel the children need more active play choices for the extra time we spend indoors.

In my Indoor Exercise post and the post about the balance pods I wrote about some of the indoor physical activities which the preschoolers and school-age children enjoy. However, my current group is very young and those activities are not particularly age appropriate or easy to adapt for them.

My initial plan was to use the old lounger cushions for an indoor gross motor play activity for the littlest ones in the group. The cushions are about two feet wide, six feet long and six inches thick though they have some buttons and quilting and have become lumpy and uneven over the many years we have used them.

I wanted to fold and roll the cushions into barrel, wedge, and rectangle shapes to use for soft climbers for the infants and toddlers. I hoped to sew covers to hold the cushions in the desired shapes – turns out I haven’t got the required time, patience or skill for sewing covers like that. I might have been more successful if I had wrapped them with duct tape instead – that is still and option.

I also found that when folded into squares or rolled into short barrels the cushions were nearly as tall as the counters and shelves in the playroom – not a safe climbing height. Folded in half as a 2′ x 3′ rectangle the height was ok but they used all the available floor space and would have turned the entire room into a bouncy house – could be fun, but not my goal.

My ‘I am frustrated/out of time/done with this’ solution was to simply stack two of the cushions on top of each other, roll into a long barrel, and stuff into a body pillow type pillowcase I made out of an old sheet. The result is two long, heavy, lumpy blobs that lay like speed humps across the playroom. My husband refers to them as ‘The Manatee’.

The problem now was that these, double sized, heavy log cushions were extremely difficult for me to hoist onto the shelf in the nap room where they were originally stored. This whole ‘renovate the playroom/move the trees’ adventure started because I needed to make it easier to get the cushions on/off the storage shelves when I wanted to use them.

At this point I was beginning to feel like this whole project was a fail. Then I realized that leaving these cushions out all the time might solve two problems. First, I wouldn’t have to face the hassle of dragging them in and out of storage. Second, they could help with the problem of defining the various play zones. This is the view of the floor space in the play room.

The block area is at the bottom right corner of this picture. The music & movement area along the left side and the housekeeping/store/dramatic play area is the top right corner and extends to include the left side of the counter and the table.

I used to use interlocking foam tiles on the playroom floor – available in various colours, I used a different colour mat for each of the different play zones. Those foam mats were easily damaged and Montgomery liked to eat them. So in 2021 I replaced them with rubber mats made from recycled tires – I love the durability, but they are all black so we only have imaginary lines to define spaces.

I’ve been experimenting with chalk and paint on some of the rubber tile scraps. I thought chalk would be nice for a temporary purpose/activity but it has proved difficult to wash completely off the mats. Paint seems to be a better option but would be permanent and, well…I like to be able to change things so I’ve been hesitant to paint the mats. But…what if I used cushion logs to define spaces…

I like to define the spaces because loose blocks from the block area or miscellaneous small toys from the housekeeping area are safety hazards when they are on the floor in the music & movement area. The cushions still offer the babies a soft climber opportunity but they also separate the ‘active’ area from the toy areas. Added bonus – they can be used for seating and even impromptu naps.

Using the cushion logs as dividers allows me to adjust the size of each of the play areas. There isn’t much space in the music & movement area in the picture above – certainly not enough space for the tunnels or the tumbling mats when the rope ladder or monkey bars are in use on the stall bars. The cushions can easily be moved out of the way for that though.

Moving both the log cushions into the block area doesn’t leave much space for building – it would annoy the school-age children. However, the infants and toddlers love this – and it encourages them to sit down in the block area too! Also great for story time.

I may have been a little disappointed that the soft climber didn’t turn out the way I originally planned but I am actually much happier with the versatility of the log cushions (or manatee).

Moving Trees

In my previous post I wrote about how my plan to repurpose the old lounger cushions resulted in playroom renovation in order to move the ‘nature area trees’. I have been working on a post about the cushions and just realized that I never made a post about the trees after I finally got them moved. So now I’ve got a quick tree post to write – well, mostly just tree pictures to post.

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Here is the renovated playroom with the trees – one on the far right by the entrance to the nap area and one in the centre of the play room.

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Facing North towards the entrance to the nap area the trees are both in the centre of the picture.

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Standing in the nap area, facing South toward the dining/craft room – one tree trunk out of frame to my left.

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Standing in the block area looking toward the playroom entrance – shows the arch the trees form in the high part of the room.

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Standing in the music/movement area looking up at the tree ‘canopy’ filling the space in front of the loft. The children like to look for/count all the birds, squirrel and butterflies hidden in amongst the branches.

Now that I’ve shown you the trees, I can finish the post about the cushions.

The Snowball Effect

First, a bit of history…

I have four large outdoor lounger cushions. I bought them many years ago at an end-of-season clearance sale – the discounted price meant I got all four of them for less than the cost of just one toddler cot so I couldn’t resist. I briefly used them for napping children – they are thicker, wider and longer than other nap mats. They are very comfortable but also very heavy and cumbersome to set up and put away for daily naptime and take up a lot of space so I ended up getting more cots for naps indoors.

The fabric on the lounger cushions is intended for outdoor use so that is where we used them most – for napping or relaxing in tents or on the deck etc. When not in use they were stored in bags in the big shed. During the Vacation 2019 renovation, ‘Frankenshed’ was disassembled and the new toy storage shed was too small to store the large cushions so they were brought back inside and again stored with the other cots and bedding.

The small room off the main playroom is used for napping infants and storage of cots, bedding, books, and bulky items I don’t want to haul down to the basement storage area. This area is still sometimes referred to as the ‘Nature Area’ because I left the trees in there from when this used to be a play area – written about in the Nature Area and the Quiet Space posts.

Now, this is when the snowball began to form…

I recently wanted to use the big cushions for a toddler activity, but found it was very inconvenient to get them off the shelves behind the tree branches. I decided that on the upcoming long weekend I should move the trees into the main playroom. Afterall, though it did look nice having the tree branches forming a canopy over the cribs, it would be wonderful if the trees were in the playroom where everyone could enjoy them.

So, I started looking for the best place to mount the trees in the playroom…and decided that I would first need to move the toy food counter…which then meant I would need to change the block storage area. *sigh* The list of necessary changes continued to grow and after thirty plus hours of demo, rearranging, building and organizing the playroom has been mostly ‘prepped’ for the arrival of the trees but, even with a three-day weekend, there wasn’t enough time to actually move the trees.

I am pleased with the new arrangement – so far – and the children seemed to like it too. All of the children in the current group have only ever seen the trees as decorations in the nap area – never as part of the play space. They are familiar with having other things in the play environment change but probably don’t realize these trees can be relocated. I am certain they will be excited when I manage to complete the project – and with the cushion activity too whenever I get around to that.

There are still a few more little tasks to complete before the trees get moved but hopefully that will be done this weekend. The snowball forming now it the growing list of paperwork that I should be doing 🙂

Summer Recap part 2

In my last post I covered some of the changes I had made to our outdoor play area. I mentioned that I had built a new roof over the little house in the corner of the yard and that moving the bus benches here made this a favourite sit spot all summer. However, I did not have a picture to include in my last post – but I do now;

I also promised to write more about some of our summer activities so that is what this post is for. Although International Mud Day occurs before my summer vacation, I never write about it until after. I didn’t write a dedicated ‘Mud Day 2022’ post but I can’t have a summer activities post without at least a couple mud day photos. This particular group was highly motivated to wash muddy toys so much of the activity was ‘mud on, mud off, repeat’.

The building area of the yard was popular all summer – surprisingly more popular than the water area or the climbing wall. Often, we had all eight of the children wanting to play here at the same time though they still preferred to create separate small ‘homes’ in a ‘town’ rather than work together on a single, large structure like other groups have in the past.

The gravel/digging area, of course, was always popular though usually only for smaller groups at one time. It was interesting to note that, no matter what the activity was, these two were always choosing to play together. The oldest and the youngest in the group – nine years difference in age – but they played so well together all summer. Observing friendships like this is one of the things I like best about having a mixed age group.

We also started a collection of ‘nature stuff’ to use to make mandalas. Some of the children only liked the ‘collecting’ part, others preferred simply sorting the items that were collected on our walks. Only a few actually seemed to enjoy creating the mandalas though.

As usual, we went to parks almost every day to play tag or other group activities that require a big open space that we can’t do in my yard. I almost never take the children to playstructures but we do love the climbers they have at St John’s Park.

Whenever the basketball court was empty, the children always wanted to play line tag.

Some of the children tried cutting tree cookies. Even though we only used small branches this was a surprisingly difficult/time consuming activity. The children who were persistent enough to cut all the way through were very proud of their achievement – so was I 🙂

Fantastic Summer!

Things I Should Have Said

It has been far too long since I wrote a blog post about anything. I’ve been feeling a little overwhelmed by tasks I’ve committed myself to complete for other people. Since all of these ‘other’ things have had a screen time component, I’ve been putting all my own screen time stuff on hold.

I like working on blog posts but there is only so much sitting/screen time I can handle – honestly, I’d just die if I had to work in an office every day, I’d rather clean bathrooms than sit at a desk even if the paper/computer work was interesting. Some of the other projects are very interesting, even quite exciting, but the time commitment is daunting.

Also note, it isn’t just the screen time that prevents me from doing office work. If I have to talk on the phone then I must also be pacing or doing laps in order to maintain some type of focus on what the caller is saying. There is a strong possibility that I will see an interesting nature thing through a window and completely block out anything the caller is saying. They would be completely unaware that I had mentally left the conversation. Please don’t phone me with important info.

Back on topic…

Most blog posts don’t actually take a lot of time but some of the other projects I’ve committed myself to do are very time consuming. So, as these other projects have deadlines, I’ve felt a little guilty if I ‘wasted’ any stationary time working on my ‘fun’ computer activities when I had time sensitive commitments. The fun vs work turmoil has made me avoid most computer activities even when I probably had the time.

I finally managed to eliminate some of these ‘other’ things so I’m going to catch up on a few of our past activities I would have/should have written posts about. First up – the bannock we cooked over the fire during spring break – yes, almost five months ago.

Having campfires with babies is tricky which is why we usually only manage them during winter break when my husband is off work and can tend to the fire while I watch babies. I’ve written about some past campfire cooking in 2017 and 2020. This year, spring was so late that spring break was more like winter so we had winter type activities instead.

With three mobile babies I didn’t think there was any safe place to put a fire pit in the yard so we just used the wok in the parking area. The babies and I could see, and smell the yumminess safely and the older children were trustworthy enough to be outside the yard fence with my husband tending the fire.

We had a little trouble getting the strips of bannock dough to stay wrapped on the metal skewers (branches would work better but I don’t trust the sticks we collect in the city due to chemicals etc.). It was taking a long time to cook the bannock when we had to keep taking them out of the fire to rewrap. Putting multiple strips of bannock in hotdog roasters was much easier and faster – we had a lot of dough to cook!

The babies waited eagerly by the gate every time I went outside the fence to take a few pictures and get some of the cooked bannock. Getting back in was challenging as all the babies crowded around my legs with their mouths wide open like little baby birds waiting for morsels of tasty bannock. They couldn’t get enough – ate more than all the bigger children who preferred cooking over eating.

The bannock cooked in the hotdog roasters did look rather unappealing – several comments were made about ‘dog turds’ – but it tasted wonderful! The little nuggets were actually perfect bite-sized pieces for easy snacking.

It was a great spring break activity though on subsequent walks there were a few extra reminders that we never pickup anything from the ground when we are out for a walk – even if it looks like bannock.

Winter Yard 3

I was excitedly anticipating winter this year – every year actually, but this year in particular. We loved all the little play areas that were created during my 2021 yard renovation. Sure there were a lot of fun things to do here in the warmer weather but, when I first designed the plan for the play spaces in the backyard, I was actually also considering how we would use it in the winter.

We love snow – climbing on snow piles, digging tunnels and dens, building with ice and snow. I’ve written posts about our winter yard in 2016 and 2019. Sometimes though, we have had issues with the ‘climbers’ wrecking the towers built by the ‘builders’ or the ‘diggers’ destroying the mountains created for the ‘climbers’ etc. Sure, problem solving and dealing with social disputes are important skills but sometimes we just want to engage in our favorite activity – uninterrupted by those who prefer different activities.

The yard renovation provided an active play area with swings, pathways, stumps and logs perfect for the climbers and jumpers – and also for creating pathways around mountains of snow. The yard renovation had a separated area for digging in gravel – or snow – and a large building area with plenty of loose parts – or ice blocks and snow. The plan was to allow space for longer term/larger building projects without infringing on the needs of the climbers and the diggers.

We have a different problem now though – there is too much snow. For the past several years we’ve thought there wasn’t enough snow and we spent more time hiking to parks etc looking for spaces with more snow. I think the last time I complained about too much snow was in 2014. However, in 2013 I wrote about a year we had the perfect amount of snow for that yard configuration and the group of children enrolled at that time.

I first started writing this post – and took the pictures – in January and we have received a lot more snow since then *sigh* I have no desire to take updated photos before I publish this post so these older pictures will have to do. In the active play area we have two climbing hills and over 100 feet of ‘hiking’ trails around all the snow hills and other structures.

OK, in the picture the ‘mountains’ don’t look huge but they have been packed solid by the climbers. I can’t make them any taller because they can’t go any wider. Besides, when the preschoolers stand on the snow hill under the arbour they can touch the beams the swings hang from in the summer. I usually need a step stool to hang the swings – now the beams are at my shoulder height. The problem is that the ‘pathways’ between the hills are actually almost 18 inches high. I haven’t had enough time to clear all the pathways between snow falls this year.

The picture above shows the bench the babies usually hold on to when they reach up to spin the wheels on the fence. The wheels are now baby hip height and that snow pile in the back is NOT for climbing on. It is on the area of the deck I usually keep clear so the babies have a flat space to practice walking in heavy boots. Besides, if you climb over that hill you will be in the neighbour’s yard.

Above – another view of the pathway between the climbing hills to the gate and beyond – to what should be the digging area. It is downhill all the way from the back door to the gate now – though in the summer it is slightly uphill. Below is the gate to the toy shed and garden area.

Note: as part of my summer renovation I changed the hinge point of this gate – it used to open inward which had posed a problem because I couldn’t open it to clear the snow to the shed. Now it opens outward and although I’ve cleared a path to the gate I’ve given up trying to clear a path beyond it and can no longer get to the shed. I have managed to keep one half of the compost bin clear enough that I can partially open the lid and dump the compost pail when it is full.

I’ve only managed to clear less than a quarter of the building area but not all the way down to the rubber mat.

I made dozens of coloured ice blocks for winter construction projects – we found a few to include in this photo but the rest are buried too deep. The recent snowfalls have hidden these ones now also. All of the ‘convenient’ storage bins full of wood and loose parts for building are not accessible now either. No one has any interest in building anything here – barely enough space to sit – and don’t stand up or you’ll be stabbed by a tree branch.

I do love the trail to the digging area, past the cedars and into the little house in the back corner of the yard.

That area on the right is the digging area – I don’t clear that area. I figured the diggers would like to do that – but they can’t find the shovels…or sticks…or buckets…or even the table or anything else other than snow.

Arriving at the entrance to the little house is like finding a secret little hideaway.

It is so peaceful and sheltered inside the little house. I’ve tried to persuade the babies this is a great place to sit and play – no wind, little snow, level ground – but they don’t seem to like it when I bring them in here.

I think maybe they feel trapped when we sit inside the little house. If they have to be outdoors they would rather just sit in the sled – I’d prefer if they were more active – you will be warmer if you keep moving. To them, from this viewpoint it probably seems like a very long, arduous journey to get back indoors where all the bulky outerwear is unnecessary.

When I took this photo there were infants and preschoolers playing in the yard between me and the house but I can’t see them. You know what would be fun in this yard – a game of hide and seek. I used to have a group that loved to play hide and seek all the time but there were no good hiding spaces in the yard at that time. Some of these children don’t like it if they can’t see me and the ones that like to hide are probably doing something I’ve asked them not too….

Yep, too much snow.

Indoor Exercise

We usually spend a lot of time outside so there is plenty of opportunity for the children to engage in active, gross motor play. During the long winter months our outdoor activity is occasionally limited by extreme weather conditions so I add some indoor physical activities like yoga, resistance band exercises and obstacle courses. I have a a bosu ball, a small balance beam, some balance pods and tunnels that can be used to enhance these activities but outdoors remains the preferred space for gross motor play.

Summer 2021 was a particularly active period as I temporarily used preschool spaces for some additional school age children. Having a group of older children meant our schedule was more flexible – we could go on longer outings and more organized group games/activities were possible. However, in the fall when the older children all returned to school I enrolled three new infants which resulted in a drastic change to our schedule.

We still had some long periods of outdoor time in the fall but I was a little concerned that by winter the two remaining older preschoolers may not be able to get as much outdoor play/exercise as they were accustomed to. It was a bit of an impulse purchase when I stumbled across an ad for this Swedish ladder/stall bar/jungle gym/exercise wall – and I had the perfect space to install it too.

Of course the children’s initial excitement about the ‘indoor play structure’ was anticipation for somewhat reckless behaviours that I wouldn’t let them do indoors – news flash – still can’t. The various activities were introduced gradually so it wasn’t overwhelming and we could discuss the necessary safety rules.

They soon discovered that using the monkey bars, rings, ladder and climbing rope were not easy activities. They needed to develop more skills before they would be able to get far on these. Even the school age children were surprised at how difficult it is to use only strength without the assistance of momentum like they could on a large outdoor play structure.

Luckily the stall bar allows us to do strength and flexibility exercises any time throughout the day without the extra time to set up the fall mats and other equipment. The children and I have done strength training exercises with resistance bands in the past.

However, we’ve had some limitations on which exercises we could do because we had very few anchor points available and the children are different sizes. The stall bar provides various anchor points for the resistance bands so it is easy to switch from one exercise to another and to adapt the exercise to the height of each child.

They are very interested in watching their reflection in the mirror and sometimes have difficulty focusing on the actual exercise because there is so much giggling. The infatuation with the mirror reminds me of some of the guys I’ve seen at the gym – hilarious!

This handstand backwards walk up and down the stall bar is definitely one of their favourite activities – and it is so great for the vestibular and proprioceptive systems 🙂

Another favourite exercise is the leg raises – great for core strength!

There are bars low enough for the toddlers to use if they want to try and high enough for me to use to demonstrate the exercises. The system is strong enough to support my adult son doing pull-ups from the top bar – I can’t reach the top bar without a stool, nor can I do a pull up LOL.

Stretches are popular too. I model stretches often during the day especially after spending prolonged periods sitting on the floor with the children or carrying cranky babies.

We use a minute timer for our stretches. It is so rewarding when after practicing the same stretches every day the children go from ‘It is too hard, I can’t do it’ to ‘What!? That was a minute already?’ when the timer beeps. They also realize that if they stretch on an ‘easy’ bar for a minute first, then they can sometimes reach a higher bar afterwards – one that was not initially possible.

We discuss the importance of choosing the bar height that is an appropriate stretch for you – not competing with others. Someone who is tall may not be as flexible as someone who is shorter so their height does not necessarily determine which bar they use. There are not many of us that can naturally do this;

When I first installed the stall bar I was a little apprehensive that I may need to be constantly redirecting children who tried to climb the wall – and I really prefer indirect guidance so I worried I may be setting them up for failure. I have been pleasantly surprised that it hasn’t been an issue.

Even the babies – who like to climb on the toys shelves – don’t climb the bars. Their favourite activity is rolling things down the ramp.

Sure, we still much prefer playing outdoors but this purchase has provided a lot of indoor fun too – and it doesn’t have a screen.

Three Things

I must say 2021 had its ups and downs but towards the end it really pushed my limits.

The first thing was the dishwasher. I know, dishwashers may be considered a luxury appliance more than a necessity for most people but the periods of time that I’ve been without a working dishwasher in my childcare home have proved to be difficult. I’ve replaced my dishwasher more times in my 25 year childcare career than all my other appliances combined. I will admit that I work them hard – running as many as three full loads per day.

My current dishwasher started acting up this past summer – occasionally it would leak, though not consistently. Sometimes it leaked immediately though sometimes I didn’t start leaking until it was more than an hour through the cycle and it often went for weeks without leaking at all.

It wasn’t just ‘when’ it decided to leak that was inconsistent but also ‘where’ it decided to leak from. Sure, if it always leaked from the door I could assume it was the door seal and replacing the gasket would solve it – but the gasket looked fine. Sometimes the door seal would be completely dry but there would be a river flowing from under the dishwasher across the kitchen floor – or worse, a waterfall in the basement that was not noticeable from upstairs.

Then, in the fall It started intermittently sending codes that it was unable to reach temperature high enough to sanitize. Being able to use my dishwasher to sanitize dishes, and toys, is extremely important. So as ‘unable to sanitize’ warnings increased and the constant supervision required to watch for leaks I just decided to stop using it for anything more than a drying rack. I’ve ordered a new one, but it won’t be here until February. *sigh*

The second thing was the little stray cat. On November 12th, just after the first snowstorm, my husband called me from the back door to tell me there is a very upset kitten shivering in our yard. I was busy with the children but told him if he could get it into the cat carrier and put it in the basement I’d post a picture on the neighbourhood association site to see if anyone in the area had lost it.

Working together my husband and son were able to contain the very upset kitten. No one in the neighbourhood claimed it though others in the area reported having seen it around for a month or more. It was terrified and starving, I could feel all its bones but it just curled, motionless, in a tight little ball when touched. I made a makeshift kennel for it in the basement so it could have a litter box and food dish but it still spent most of its time hiding at the back of the carrier.

I made several ‘ found cat’ reports and contacted shelters. No one had room for it – one suggested it sounded semi-feral and I should put it back outside. I certainly couldn’t do that, however, I also couldn’t have an unvaccinated cat around my cats or the children. I felt bad leaving it alone in the basement but at least it was warm, dry and had plenty of food which it devoured.

I knew it would have a better chance of settling down if it could at least see people and other cats so I took it to the vet. After two weeks of four meals a day ‘she’ now weighed 2.4 kg. ‘Beebe the basement cat’ was estimated to be 8 months old, now fully vaccinated, dewormed, tested FIV negative and cleared to be around people and other cats. She still only wanted to hide.

I had ordered a large three tiered kennel for her but the shipment was delayed. It the meantime I periodically brought her upstairs in the carrier for visits with us. She seemed to really enjoy watching TV and was extremely interested in anything on a plate – I was certain she had been in a home at some point in her past.

My two older cats were unimpressed by her presence but Montgomery absolutely loved her. He got so excited every time I brought the carrier up from the basement and sulked when I took it back down. Wherever Beebe was, Montgomery was as close as possible. Here they are enjoying the sunshine.

Beebe was not thrilled by all his attention and most definitely did not want to come out and play with him but she didn’t seem to mind the company if he remained calm. She also was becoming a little less timid – mewing from the basement when she heard me get up in the morning. Watching me prepare her food but running back to hide in the carrier when I got close.

Once the big kennel arrived she did seem a little more relaxed. Accepting pets and offering head butts through the bars as long as there was a barrier between us. Outside the kennel she was still very stressed. The kennel could be moved easily to various places on the main floor so she could enjoy the sunshine, watch the children play, or have some quiet time.

On December 23rd she went to the vet to be spayed. Initially still groggy when she came ‘home’ she did eat and move around. The following day she seemed a little less active but ate her food and used the litter box. She was alert and greeted me with head butts on Christmas morning but refused to eat. She deteriorated rapidly throughout the day and in the evening we took her to the emergency animal hospital. She was in respiratory distress and had arrhythmia. Sadly, euthanasia was the best option. RIP my poor little Beebe. – such a short hard life.

The third thing – day three of my four day Christmas break I was notified that I was a close contact of someone who had tested positive for Covid 19. As a precaution I decided to close for the three days between the Christmas long weekend and the New Year’s long weekend to give myself a 10 day isolation period and protect the children in my care. I am fully vaccinated and have now tested negative so it probably wasn’t entirely necessary.

Still, as 2022 begins I am happy to report that I am off to a great start. I’ve got almost all of my year end paperwork done already – it is usually March before I do that. I have completely cleaned and reorganized the basement – that has been on my ‘to do’ list for a very long time.

I am getting used to this handwashing all the dishes thing. Yes, there will be a lot more dishes once the children return, but I know the new dishwasher is coming so the extra work is temporary.

I have an empty cat kennel. I considered donating it to a shelter but then also thought it may be good to hold on to in case another stray cat in need shows up on my doorstep. I’m even contemplating possibly fostering cats/kittens – could risk becoming the crazy cat lady 🙂