Toddler Fun: Rigatoni

I've been reading a lot of blogs lately about keeping toddlers busy. The blog I've been enjoying the most is I'm going to make it (after all) - whose author is in the middle of a series of 100 ways to keep a toddler busy. Some are awesome and some have failed - she gives them grades on how well they worked for her little one.

I'm not sure if I got this idea there or somewhere else (Pinterest?), but it kept my 18-month old occupied for a good 20 minutes one day. And it's so simple... all you need is:

• rigatoni
• a couple of containers
• a ribbon 
• some masking tape

Wrap tape around one end of the ribbon to make a "needle".  Put some rigatoni in one container, and give the whole deal to your toddler.

 It's fun to transfer them from one container to the other, one by one.

 I had to show her what the ribbon was for at first, and she insisted I hold the tape needle for a while. Okay!

 But soon she had it figured out and did not want any help at all threading noodles onto her ribbon!

 It's also fun to shake them in the container, then pour them and make a big clattery noise!

They can be stood on their ends! I did a few to show her, then she did some, then had a great time knocking them all over. 

I tried putting them on her fingers, but she didn't like it much. She would allow one on her index finger. She tried putting them on my fingers and LOVED that my fingers were too big. "BEEG!" she kept yelling as she tried to jam them on my fingers and laughing like crazy!

 Of course, it was all abandoned after a while. You may want to count the rigatoni so you don't find dusty ones under the furniture months from now.

On to the next fun toy... the paint roller. It's great fun to roll the back of the couch.

The noodles haven't been as big a hit in days since, but I think if I put them away for a while it will be fun again.

Mia, and I, and my husband, have been terribly sick for the last few days. We had her at the Children's Hospital emergency ward two nights ago with a fever of 104. Up all night with a feverish, sick baby who can't breathe, when you're sick yourself, and then contractors coming in at 8:00 am to bang all day in the house is not fun. We had that one really terrible night and I think things are slowly getting better.

Poor little tot is miserable with this virus, but despite that she is in such good spirits. What a little trooper! I can't say the same for my husband or myself, we are both just miserable sick people!