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!

Thank you

I really love doing reviews - honest, real reviews. Certainly, there are products I haven't written about because they failed to perform or I just couldn't wholeheartedly recommend them, and then, sometimes when I have come across a product or service that spectacularly sucked, I'm telling you all about it.

Mainly, blogging for me has been a chance to share a bit of my life, a chance to try new things, a chance to connect with you guys (yeah, you!) - even if it's very one-sided at times (hey, leave a comment, would ya? :) ). Fun stuff, and when I don't have much time for it, I miss it.

Like lately, I've started work part time again, and so my days - and nights, with a consistent four wakings per night still, at 18 months... - are filled with toddler craziness and the evenings that aren't spent trying to rehab the yard or house are spent working. Not as much time for the fun stuff as I'd like.

Anyway, the whole point of this post (which rambled in a direction I wasn't expecting there) is to say thank you to you. Because I received a mystery cheque in the mail today. And after a little research, I realized - it's my very first, for-real, honest-to-goodness affiliate cheque.

A little further delving, and I discovered what it's for. You, my fabulous readers, have actually ordered some of the products from one of the companies I've reviewed products for. You did it by linking there from my reviews of this company, over the last two years. I am honoured that you trust my opinions enough to try these products out for yourself. I really hope you like them, and I also hope that you get amazing, life-changing (or at the very least, life-enhancing) results - the kind of results I have come to expect from this particular company.

It's not a big cheque (it wouldn't buy a week's groceries), but it really means a lot to me. Not as much for the money, which of course is nice, but for what it represents.

Thank you.