Animals on Parade

At the moment, if my life had a theme song, it would be "All About That Free," set to the tone of "All About That Bass." 

I'm not saying I'm necessarily frugal because we still spend money on what we want to spend money on, but I love getting free stuff, or practically free, and I love taking advantage of all the free stuff Baltimore has to offer. 

One amazingly free thing that we could go to everyday...is...wait for it...the library!  

I know I have written other posts about all the library has to offer, such as Storyville, but there are just so many great things about the public library.

(Now as The Hubby likes to mention, the library isn't technically free because we all pay taxes, BUT you know what I mean!  If my taxes are going to keeping up the library, I might as well take advantage of it even more then!).  

At the end of each month, I log onto the library's website and check out all the events scheduled to take place the following month, and write them into my calendar.  These include weekly Storytimes, but also include special events, almost all free.  

A recent event I added to my calendar was called "Animals on Parade."  The description was stated as "an exploration or animal movements, colors, and sounds, including live animals such as a rabbit, duck or goose, box turtle, and perhaps a toad or snake."

A free animal show?! It went on the calendar.  

I had no idea what to expect but fortunately the library is within walking distance of our house, and it didn't interfere with Little Lady's nap time, so I had nothing to lose.  

We arrived that morning and shockingly, there were only about 3 other kids there!! I had invited a couple mama friends who arrived shortly after, but it was a very small group.  The animal guide proceeded to open up her little cages of animals and talk about each animal, as well as walk around so each child could touch the animals.  It was great!  Little Lady got to touch a huge rabbit, hedgehog, box turtle, toad, bearded iguana, corn snake, and another larger snake.  She was so brave and loved it!

Animals on Parade at one library is good, but Animals on Parade at 2 libraries is even better!! A couple weeks later, a different library in the county was offering the same free demonstration, so we went!  Similar animals, but this time, Little Lady got to hold a snake - and by hold, I mean the snake was wrapped around her and she was holding him up all by herself!  She once again was very brave and adventurous! 

If you have kids, or watch kids at all as part of your daily routine, I would highly recommend all the free programs and activities that the public library has to offer.  We have not been disappointed! - says the village idiot 

Pool! Swim! Towel!

Pool! Swim! Towel! These are a few of my favorite things!...or so Little Lady would say.  Now this is a complete 180 from the summer.  This summer she wanted nothing to do with the pool or water, other than the bath.  We went to the beach many times and she did not want to get in the pool - with us, or in the baby pool.  She loved the sand at the beach but did not want to get into the water.  

We finally turned a corner at our family vacation in Hilton Head, South Carolina at the VERY end of the summer.  She actually GOT IN and enjoyed it!  

This leads me to our current weekly adventure at the YMCA - swim lessons.  I was hesitant all summer to enroll her because she seemed to hate the water, but I capitalized on her fond memories of family vacation and signed up the day we got home.  I have not regretted it!  

Now I should mention, not only did Little Lady learn to love the pool, and love swimming, she fell in love with her towel - an ADORABLE personalized towel from Pottery Barn that I received as a gift right after she was born.  Did I mention it's adorable??

We don't use it for the bath so it is her special pool-only towel.  Is this coming across? She loves the towel.  

Enter our first swim lesson at the YMCA 3 weeks ago.  I had taken a general tour the day I signed up so I knew where to go, where to change, etc.   I dressed us both in our bathing suits that morning and we showed up at the pool in our bathing suits, with all the necessities like swim diaper, wipes, change of clothes, EXCEPT - you guessed it - towels. None, not her special pool-only towel, and no towel for mama.  Whoops. BIG whoops.  

I decided not to let this deter us from the blast we were set to have.  Swim lessons started off great.  She loved the water.  Temperature was good.  Instructor was funny and great with kids.  It all went downhill about 25 minutes into the 30 minute group lesson.  Around minute 23 Little Lady started asking for her towel...Around minute 27 ****someone**** pooped in the pool.  I am not accepting blame for Little Lady, though I did change a very poopy diaper moments later...I digress...

We exit the pool and the tears start.  Fast forward 20 minutes and I have successfully changed an extremely poopy diaper, and dried my screamingbloodymurder child with bathroom paper towels and my bathing suit cover-up, and gotten us both dressed.  If there were medals for mamas, I should have received one in the mail that afternoon.  

We have since gone back for 2 more lessons and Little Lady didn't seem scarred from the Towel Event.  Though when The Hubby asked Little Lady how she liked her first lesson, the only words she could get out were "towel, towel, towel."  Yes, mommy gets it, I forgot your towel and will not do it again.  Or at least I haven't forgotten again yet! - says the village idiot 

Lab Rat

This past week I signed Little Lady up for a study...a research study.  

I'll clarify - a couple months ago while at a local farmers market, I was approached by the Johns Hopkins University Laboratory for Child Development to sign Little Lady up for a research study.  Since then, I have taken Little Lady to participate in about 5 age-appropriate studies.  

Now, you might wonder what would make me sign up for this.  It isn't paid.  Little Lady does get to choose a small prize at the end (a book, stuffed animal, onesie, etc), but other than that, the incentive for me was just something different to do!  Johns Hopkins University is not far from where we live, and I simply aim to schedule our appointment for a time that works well with nap time and lunch.  

Little Lady has done great for each study, and by "do great", I mean she sits there and participates as best can be expected for a baby/toddler and we have thus far made it out each time without crying or a break down - success in my book!  Each study that we have participated in lasts about 4-8 minutes and we are in and out with a free parking voucher and small prize!  

This particular study was titled "Short-term memory limits in infancy." Sometimes I cannot fathom that there is funding for this type of study.  This study involved Little Lady sitting in a high chair and participating with the researcher in the form of a simple hide-and-seek game.  

Little Lady passed with flying colors - or so I was told.  

After the study, Little Lady I chose this new book for her collection! 

If anyone is looking for something different to do, don't hesitate to give the Lab a call! They appreciate the volunteers and I always learn a little something about child development! - says the village idiot 

It's Groovy Baby

Today I took Little Lady to Music Together, a early childhood music and movement program.  The class was conveniently less than 10 minutes away and inconveniently right during Little Lady’s naptime.  (She still takes 2 naps, one being about 2 hours after she wakes up in the morning).  

I am happy to say the class was great and the teacher was lovely!  I signed Little Lady up for a free demo class a couple of weeks ago just to see what it was like.  Normally, this particular class runs for a 9 week spring semester and costs $172.  Even though it was a great class, and great opportunity for young kids to be around music and rhythm, it is strikingly similar to the free Story Time we attend every week at the local library.  And library Story Time is free!  And YOU KNOW how I feel about anything that is free – cue Tuesdays at Ikea.  As much as I would absolutely recommend the Music Together class, the difficulty of timing with Little Lady’s naps, and the fact that a very similar free option is offered, probably means I won’t be signing up for the 9 week session anytime soon. 

If anyone has any questions about the free library Story Time, please don’t hesitate to ask! I have been taking Little Lady to Story Time since she was about 6 months old.  She loves it and it is a great way to get out and about, and expose children to books, reading, songs, other kids, etc.  We attend every Friday at 11am at our local library.  If it is a nice day, we even walk there and back!  What a blessing to have such great activities in our neighborhood!  We try not to take them for granted! – says the village idiot 

Tuesdays at Ikea

So I know this isn't a Pinterest craft or anything, but I am trying to get back into more consistent blogging.  Spring weather has arrived in Maryland and it is too beautiful outside to stay indoors at all - especially after the winter we've had! 

Today I'm going to clue everyone in on a free event you can take advantage of in Baltimore. A friend told me about this a couple weeks ago and today was a rainy, nasty day so I thought it was the perfect time to try it out. 

The great store of IKEA offers free meals for kids every Tuesday! Now, we already like going to IKEA. The chic furniture and inexpensive home furnishings make it a great place to go to look for things we need for our home. They also have a pretty cool selection of wooden toys and overall fun things to play with.  Since they offer free meals for kids, I conveniently showed up around 11:30AM this morning and Little Lady and I wandered around the magical world of perfectly designed furniture ensembles and ended by playing in the kid section with all the toys for purchase. 

We then headed to the cafeteria for her free meal!  

Now, I may have brought a peanut butter & jelly sandwich and pretzels for Little Lady and I may have eaten her free meal...A little cheap I know but you gotta get creative these days! - says the village idiot