Confessions

There are some things you may not know about me.

First:  Even though I’ve been a family childcare provider for 17 years and LOVE outdoor play, I’ve never owned a pair of rubber boots.  Puddle jumping was something I watched the children do.  This summer I finally bought my first pair of rubber boots so I got to jump in puddles too;

Second: Taking pictures with a phone, in the rain, while jumping in puddles is not easy.  Mainly that is because, as technologically savvy as I am with a computer, my ‘smart’ phone baffles me.  I owned the thing for three months before I successfully answered a phone call before it got sent to voice mail – and I still can’t figure out how to retrieve voice mail.

While I was trying to get the puddle pictures from my phone to my computer (don’t ask how long that took) I found some other pictures that I had forgotten about – here is one of them;

Three: I forget a lot of things – it is scary sometimes.  If anyone out there is still waiting for me to do something…you might want to send me a reminder.

Four: September was a tough month for me.  Getting back into the school routine is always rough but this year ALL my babies turned two and I had an empty space which turned out to be very difficult to fill – and then suddenly several people wanted it and I had to say no to some of them.  That is hard.

Bookkeeping was hard too.  Three infants moving to preschool, three school-age children moving from full days to just before/after school, and one empty space meant that my September income was almost half what my August income had been – and I worked the same number of hours.

My husband got another pay increase this September.  As a school bus driver he is gone for  about 7 hours per day including his travel time to/from work.  That’s about half of my workday.  In September he made just $2 per day less than I did.  I found that depressing.  Luckily I don’t like driving and I love my job more than money.

I don’t have to deal with traffic and I get to play outside.  Jumping in puddles, collecting leaves, laughing – those things are worth more than money.  Just look at this;

That structure hasn’t fallen – it was built like that on purpose and I got to watch every step of the process.  That is pretty amazing.  Those are the things that get me through months like September.

Confession Five: I love the short days of fall and winter.  I love getting up when it is dark outside.  I love the cooler temperatures and cozy evenings.  I love the time to reflect and the time to plan.

Fall Leaves and More

There was no school on Friday and I planned to do some type of fall craft activity.  Earlier in the week the preschoolers and I had collected some leaves – this was a little difficult since it has been so wet lately so most of the leaves are mushy.  Luckily we also had a lot of grains and leaves from our garden.

I don’t particularly like store bought glue so we used glue recipe;

 Cook and stir 1/2 cup of cornstarch, 1 1/2 cups of water, 4 tablespoons of light corn syrup, and 2 teaspoons of white vinegar over medium heat until thickened.  Remove the mixture from the heat. In another dish, mix together 1/2 cup cornstarch with 1/2 cup water.  Add this to the heated mixture. Use the resulting glue immediately or store it in the refrigerator for up to two months.

This glue is nice and thick so I find that it works well for for filling gaps when you’re trying to adhere things that don’t lay flat against the paper.  The youngest in the group thought it made great playdough/hand lotion too. This activity kept them engaged for over an hour;

Later in the day we went for a long walk (no babies with us today).  The children played a game where they tried to avoid stepping on any of the leaves;

There was a mixture of dismay and excitement when we reached areas that looked like this;

The weather was cool but not cold and it was not raining however the humidity was high and it was very damp.  When we returned we had some hot cocoa to combat the chill;

It was a nice treat on a somewhat quiet fall day.

Fall

It has been hard to believe it is really October.  We were still wearing shorts and experiencing record high daytime temperatures.

Still, the mornings and evening were becoming very cool and the sun was setting early. The leaves were turning colors and beginning to fall to the ground.

I took the preschoolers on a walk to collect some leaves.  When we came back we made some leave pictures;

I don’t think they were trying to make anything in particular with their leaves – it’s all about the process not the product.

Some of the children put a great deal of effort into leaf selection – being very particular about leaf shape and color and making sure there were no defects.  Others were more interested in production speed and the quantity of leaves they could attach to a piece of paper.

Such a simple activity.  Enjoying the season and all it has to offer.

Happy Thanksgiving Canada!