New Play Things over the Holidays

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During the Holiday break, we made a bunch of fun new things for Mara to do at the house.

Little Chef
Mara gains more independence as she is now able to cook with Mommy and Daddy at the counter. This stair-step works pretty well by the kitchen sink not to mention that it has become her favorite way of climbing to the couch on her own - she used to ask for a butt-boost in the past few weeks.
The meal Mara is preparing here involves a small metal colander, a plastic ring, a pine cone and a large wooden spoon to stir it all together. Yum!

 More balancing
In the backyard, after setting up the planter we had freed the logs for an even better use: "water-logs-on-land". They slowly shift as you step on them, so it's a fun way to work on your balance. Mara was loving it.


Earthworms
Mara has been manifesting a lot of interest in the Earthworms in our composting Worm Factory 360 in the past month. She loves going to the garage with Daddy to inspect the bins and watch the wiggly worms.

If you ask her how she would hold a worm, Mara will bravely show you her hands gently cupped together. Yet when it comes to actually touching them, shyness will take over. Even more, her entire body will shiver when she incidentally touches a worm or a slug! So she'll ask you to hold it in your hand instead.
Here she is, practicing how to use the spray bottle to keep the worms in a moist environment.


Last but not least, Mara also got a rice box for Christmas, for some small particle fun indoors on this inclement weather. It was Grandma's idea, and Grandpa got the large tub for it - thank you!

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