Rainbow Rice

Today was a very rainy day and Meo was on day two of his cold. So rather than grab an umbrella and play in the rain like we would normally do, I decided to play it safe and keep my sick little boy inside. After his nap, he seemed especially uncomfortable, and just wanted to nurse, nurse and nurse some more. So I decided to pop in a movie and we watched "The Lorax" together for the first time. We both loved it. Meo was really attentive and watched the entire movie, making appropriate animal sounds as he saw them on screen. I made sure to point things out and key plot points to hims so it was a more interactive movie experience rather than passive.

Watching "The Loarx"

Then we had frozen blueberries for a snack and I read The Lorax by Dr. Suess to him. The Lorax has such a powerful message; that we need to be the seeds of change in a world that is being destroyed by greed. I hope that we can be a part of the change.

Page from Dr. Suess's The Lorax

After our snack and story time we had some time before I needed to start making dinner. I thought it would be fun to try out a new one of his new homemade busy bags. I decided on bracing myself for a mess and taking out the rainbow rice for some sensory fun. I laid out our big, green blanket to catch stray rice, and dumped the colorful concoction into a big wooden bowl. I gave him lots of items like bowls, measuring cups and spoons, and and egg beater to explore the rice with.

Meo loved stomping on the rice

At first, he was quite calm and focused, enjoying the act of scooping rice into a bowl, then dumping it out onto the floor.

But soon enough, he got very excited and loved hearing the sounds the rice made as it was tossed onto the sides of the bowl with an egg beater or shaken or, gasp, thrown on the kitchen floor.

By the end he discovered it felt wonderful to place handfuls of rice on his head and let it rain down across his face. He also thought it was quite hilarious.

Rice shower!

This led to clean-up time. I tried to distract him in the other room with some other toys while I quickly picked up the mess, but he too soon discovered my ploy and ran into the kitchen kicking spilled rice in every direction as I tried to scoop it up as fast as possible before it disappeared under appliances. It was quite the challenge. In conclusion though, Meo loved his rainbow rice, and managed to have a lot of fun today despite having a very stuffed up nose.