Skip to main content

Theme: Body

I didn't plan this to be a theme week, but Toby's new refrain has become, "I want to do something else" (how does he know it's the school holidays?)  Something else turned into my digging out my body-themed activities and roll of cheap wallpaper.  So here we go!

First thing to do is draw a body, and fortunately I had a handy template.  Lie down, Toby!

Just ignore the face.  And lack of neck.  I know it's not a great likeness, but he really is that tall.  How on earth did that happen?


He knew pretty much all the body labels already, so I can't really claim it as a learning opportunity.  Still, revision is good, right?  And everyone enjoys colouring on a huge sheet of paper.




Another sheet of wallpaper became a blank canvas for hand and foot painting.  Fortunately it's been great weather, as outside is always the best place to do this.  Even with a strategically placed tub of water for washing off in.

I've gone green!
Time for a different colour
Splat!
Who needs green fingers when you can have green toes?


And we've managed quite a few activities that are good for our bodies.  Swimming (or in Toby's case sitting on the edge of the pool - he's still a bit nervous), a version of Simon Says, and today we went cycling!  First Toby wanted to cycle, so he rode his balance bike to the playground.


Then I coaxed (OK, bribed) him into the child seat on the back of my bike, and we zoomed - er, wobbled - away.  It's only the second time I've used it, and it certainly takes a while to get used to the top-heaviness.  I realised again the paradox of cycling, where the faster you go the safer you feel, even though everything in you is screaming to slow down and be careful!  Fortunately there's a lovely flat cyclepath just near our house, so we didn't have to contend with traffic.  We pedalled to the Trent  & Mersey Canal to watch a couple of narrowboats go through the lock, then turned around and made our way to Alvaston Park, where we rewarded ourselves with an ice lolly, lunch, and the second playground visit of the morning.

Am I really safe in here?

 And in a throwback to the planets theme: Alvaston Park has models of the four innermost planets, and we walked around to see them all.  Here's Toby cosying up to Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars.  The cycle helmet was for protection from passing asteroids, I guess - he liked it so much he didn't want to take it off!

Mercury

Venus
Earth: You are here.
Mars
 
And a human sundial brings us neatly back to the body theme.  Toby's stood on June so it's a bit off, but when I stood on July it said just about 12:30 BST, which it was.

Comments

I love reading about your adventures. You're such a great mom! Looking forward to seeing yall in just a couple weeks.
And that looks like a great park. Cool sundial - I've never seen one that accounted for the months!

Popular posts from this blog

Trent Valley: the march of the pylons

In the 1980s, the River Trent supplied the cooling water for fifteen coal-fired power stations, each one gobbling up coal from the local mines and quenching its heat with gallons of river water. The area was known as Megawatt Valley . As the 20th century gave way to the 21st, the mines closed, the coal trains stopped running, and the iconic cooling towers, one by one, fell to the ground. The high-voltage electricity lines which connected the stations to the grid are still there, however, and they dominated the walk I did today. The stately silhouettes of pylons stalked across the landscape, carrying fizzing power lines which sliced up the sky. At one point, I was within view of two of the remaining sets of cooling towers. Diving further back into history, I parked by Swarkestone Lock on the Trent & Mersey Canal, walked past St James' Church, and arrived at Swarkestone Bridge, a 14th-century causeway which still, remarkably, carries traffic today. It was famously the southernmos...

The Churnet Way: a wonderful walk

The loop from Oakamoor to Froghall and back was one of the most enjoyable walks I've done in a long time. It had a bit of everything: woods, ponds, rivers and railways; steep climbs and sweeping views; an unusual church, an ex-industrial wharf, and, as a final bonus, car parks with toilets. Of course, the sunny weather helped too. I parked in Oakamoor and set off along a quiet lane called Stoney Dale. This is the route of the Churnet Way, which deviates away from the river for a couple of miles. After a while I turned right and climbed up through the woods on a gravelly path, then dropped down to the B5417. a spring in Oakamoor   Crossing the road, I entered Hawksmoor Nature Reserve. It has some fine gateposts commemorating John Richard Beech Masefield, "a great naturalist". I found a photo of the opening of the gateway in 1933; unsurprisingly, the trees have grown a lot since then! A track took me down through the woods to East Wall Farm. Lovely view! Nice duck pond as ...

Theo Alexander

The due date was fast approaching, and, having had Toby five weeks early, this pregnancy was feeling like it had dragged on far too long.  On Sunday morning, two days before D-Day, we went to church, wearily confirming to eager enquiries that yes, we were still here, no baby in tow yet.  And then, at 3:30 am on the morning of Monday 10th February, my waters broke and things began to get moving.  Fast. Yes, I know I had to apologise to you ladies who have gone through long-drawn-out labours last time , and I'm afraid I have to do it again.  The change in the midwife's attitude when we got to the hospital was almost comical; she breezed in and put the monitors on and said, "I'll just leave those for a few minutes, then".  Back she came for a proper examination, had a quick feel, and: "OK, we'll get you to the delivery room RIGHT NOW," followed by a mad dash down the corridor in a wheelchair!  Our new little boy was born at 5:16 am. You...