Gracen’s new favourite thing to do? Walk to one of the nearby bacalas (tiny little hole-in-the-wall corner stores of sorts). We could need absolutely nothing at all, but she begs to go, even if it’s just to look. Really want to make her day? Take her and let her pick out a little package of nuts as a treat – nothing beats it.
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Popsicle season is in full swing here in the desert, so Miss G and I stocked up our freezer today with a big batch of tasty new treats – fruit and honey yogurt pops!
I adore fall. The colours, the crisp air, the scarves, the boots, the crunch of leaves underneath your feet… It all just makes me warm and fuzzy inside. My social media feeds have been full of it recently, and for that I’m thankful (because hey – I’ll take it however I can get it). While we may be in the desert and it may still be 40 to 45 degrees on an average day, there’s no reason why we can’t make fall happen right here in our own apartment. And so we began today.
Grae and I have been making versions of this delicious smoothie since she was a wee little thing, and it remains a favourite. It’s nutritious, filling, and tastes more like a thick and creamy milkshake than a good-for-you smoothie. {Milkshakes for breakfast? Yes please.}
For the time being, we’re still without a vehicle. We’re very lucky to have a super spacious apartment and many common areas around the complex (we have a big courtyard, a kid’s play area in one of the lobbies, a book exchange and games lobby, a gym, and a pool which is currently green, but hopefully being fixed soon), but both Miss G and get out and explore people, so staying at home day after day sometimes gets a bit repetitive. Mahboula, the area of Kuwait we live in, isn’t walker friendly (we’re still in the process of getting roads and street lamps, and hopefully one day in the near future we’ll get waterlines too), so it’s quite an effort to make it to any sort of destination. Add in the heat and the fact that I need to push my little lady and our Bob through sand, construction sites, piles of trash, and groups of stray animals, and it makes for quite the adventure.
This morning as I was attempting to get myself ready for the day and Miss G was busy digging around in my drawers {as usual}, she came across a couple of face painting sets I brought from Canada and tucked away for a rainy (okay, more likely dusty) day… Her eyes lit up and she immediately asked if we could set up a face painting station like we’ve done several times in the past.
It’s no secret that we love sensory play in our house. Like a lot. Sadly, our recent move meant saying goodbye to many of the sensory materials that had become staples in our everyday play repertoire… (What – It doesn’t make sense to ship pounds upon pounds of coloured pasta, pea gravel, packing peanuts, dried beans, and glass gems?? Hmph.) And so we begin again! This week’s mission was replacing our stash of coloured rice, and did we ever! In fact, we now have 22 pounds of vibrantly coloured rice.
Today as Miss G was napping, I decided I’d set out a fun station for her to discover and explore throughout the afternoon. All I knew is that I wanted it to be something simple to prepare (so much to do!), but that’s all I had. As I thought back through previous activities that Gracen loved, I remembered her magnetic station from long ago. That thing literally stayed around for months and months and got tons of play even near the end of its run. That’s when the idea of a sink or float discovery station came to mind. Water is the simplest sensory material ever, and all it would require would be for me to collect things from around the house.
Oh how I adore this little face.
As suspected, Miss G is enjoying her 6-in-1 shape stamp so much that we decided to make another homemade stamp, this time focusing on the letters of her name.
I’m not going to lie… We’ve been here in Kuwait for less than two weeks and I’m already going a little crazy. The trouble is, as of now, we don’t have a vehicle. Not because we don’t want one – we’ll be purchasing something as soon as possible – but because we need things like bank accounts and civil identifications before buying, and those things take time to acquire {lots and lots of time}. In a place like Vancouver, you can easily do without. Public transit is easy, as is walking or biking. Sidewalks are plentiful and things like parks and community centres and playgrounds and coffee shops are most often a short distance away. Here, not so much. It’s amazing how much you miss having sidewalks when they’re no longer around… In all fairness, we do have a Starbucks and a small playground within walking distance, but with the current state of our budding neighbourhood, they’re a {very hot} 30 minute walk through deep sand, trash, and construction sites away. Taxiing would be our other option. They’re inexpensive and plentiful, but in a country that doesn’t really do car seats, me lugging our 26 pound seat downstairs, installing it while attempting to supervise Miss G nearby, then lugging it around at our destination isn’t really feasible. And so, we stay at the apartments, making the most of our days inside or down in the courtyard and common play areas for now. It’s a great practice in patience for an always-on-the-go gal like me and it’s definitely pushing me to be creative in coming up with fun and engaging activities using minimal supplies.
Today as we rooted through a box of craft supplies we brought from Canada, Gracen enthusiastically retrieved a 6-pack of glitter pouches and asked if we could use them to make something. Though I’m normally up for a mess in the name of good fun, I didn’t particularly feel like having an apartment full of glitter today (the fact that we don’t yet own a dustpan may have something to do with it), so I quickly thought of something we could do with it outdoors – add it to our go-to homemade sidewalk chalk paint! The recipe is one of our very favourites because of its simplicity and the fact that you really only need two kitchen ingredients and some water to make it, and adding glitter could only make it better, right?
Is it crazy that I’m totally stoked on this awesome, non-crumbly, and fully edible peanut butter play dough we came up with today?! The truth is, it’s taken us a few attempts to come up with the perfect recipe. I really should have known which ingredient would be the key to our success – it’s a long time favourite of mine – but it took us a while to get there. We started with the classic recipe I grew up with – peanut butter, dried milk, and honey – and while it’s yummy and fun to play with, it crumbles absolutely everywhere and is super tricky to roll out and cut using cookie cutters. This one, on the other hand, is like pure luxury. It’s super soft, silky, and rolls and cuts with ease.
During our first stint here in Kuwait, my Friday ritual was to go to The Avenues first thing in the morning when the mall was nice and quiet (Fridays mark the beginning of the weekend here). I’d pick up a coffee, browse the shops, visit Dean & Deluca, and leave before noon when things began to get crazy. When Grae arrived, the tradition continued, only now as a mama and Grae date. Brad would get a morning to himself to sleep in and have some downtime, and Gracen would snuggle up with me in the Cuddly Wrap or Ergo as we cruised along. It was always one of favourite parts of the week… A little piece of calm civility in a country that can sometimes be chaotic and overwhelming.
Last night as I was tidying the kitchen before heading off to bed, I came across our silicon mini muffin pan and randomly decided to fill it with water and gel food colouring instead of putting it away (totally normal, right?) Don’t ask how this all came about… An idea came to me, and I just ran with it (I blame jet lag and ridiculously early wake ups – we’re talking 2 or 3 a.m. right now).
When you move overseas and take only things that can come along with you on the airplane, there are many things that just don’t make the cut. In the case of Miss G, we brought her clothes and shoes as would be expected, plus 2 rubbermaid bins packed full of good quality wooden toys and puzzles, a couple of games, craft supplies that aren’t readily available in Kuwait, her very favourite dress-up items and puppets, and as many soft covered books as would fit. One thing that didn’t make the cut however, was her awesome collection of wooden stamps. They’re bulky, heavy, and many are season specific, so they had to stay.