What used to be a weekly attempt at some form of physical activity for me has now become the exception rather than the rule. Typically, I walk with my friend, Carol, but anymore quite often one or both of us has something going on where we can't make it. One week it could be a crying toddler who won't calm down. Another week it might be another toddler who just created a half-hour's worth of poopy mess to clean up. Call it an excuse to get out of walking, but I am not leaving the house in such a state simply in order to make it to the mall in time for walking. And still other weeks it may be that one of us is in the Dominican Republic or Mexico or the East Coast or Florida or anywhere but in boring old Indiana walking in the mall. That would be Carol, not me. You all know I don't live such an exciting life of travels. And while we're on the subject of not being present for our always exciting tour of the mall, where were you this morning, Carol? Lying in bed while I sweated my buns off in the under-air-conditioned mall? Isn't that the whole reason we began walking in the mall too? Because it's supposed to be air-conditioned?
Before Reiss was diagnosed with autism, and at a time when I was constantly asking other moms how they entertain their children, someone told me to let Reiss play with a tray of rice, pasta, or dried beans. We did this quite a lot and when Reiss would reach a point when he grew bored of whatever food medium we were using for his entertainment, I would switch it up and move on to something else. We went from rice to macaroni to spiral pasta to beans and then he grew tired of all of it and we didn't play with our food for quite some time.
It wasn't until Reiss began preschool months ago that I was exposed to the concept of burying little trinkets and toys in the food. What can I say, I lack creativity and quite frequently the obvious totally escapes me.
Reiss' preschool classroom had a table that I am guessing was originally made to be used as an elevated sandbox for outdoor use filled with colored rice and various items buried within it.
After several failed attempts to describe the table, and of which said attempts have been deleted, please go HERE to see a table similar to the one for which I cannot find the words to provide a good visual. Seriously, where are those descriptive writing skills today that a bachelor's degree and several years of busting a hump supposedly "prove" that I possess?
So back to the table...After realizing this sand table in Reiss' preschool classroom was full of rice and toys, I got the idea to create a similar setup at home, only in a bowl. I re-purposed a bowl once filled with organic shortening into a rice and critter archaeological dig. Reiss and Milla get a lot of busy time out of digging around in the rice for bugs and frogs and yes, the occasional tidbit of leftover potato chip or dehydrated mango from whenever the rice got swept off the floor from a previous play session.
This morning I brought out our little portable archaeological dig for Milla to explore.....
I will confess to that indeed is food around Milla's mouth. We were eating lunch while digging for critters. I'm a bad mommy. I don't always make them sit at the table for breakfast or lunch. I also don't fret about wiping mouths off to bring out the camera when we're having so much fun. Dinnertime is a different story. It's at the table and no tv's, radios, or toys are allowed. Anyhoo....I think it's safe to say Milla was having a good time.
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