Tot School – First Play Dough!

I have great memories of homemade play dough, afternoons sitting on the tall stools next to the butcher block center island of my childhood home, endless cookie cutters and colors, and the occasional sampling to see if it still tasted as bad as I remember from the last time I tried to eat it. The joy of play dough is one of those things that lasts for years, your whole childhood really – from toddlerhood to the teenage years. I *still* like playing with play dough, especially the homemade kind, warm and soft and fresh right out of our own kitchen pot.

I’ve been waiting patiently for the day when I could make you some. I think we have finally arrived at the point where if I tell you not to put something in your mouth – no matter how inviting – you will almost always listen to me. So a couple of weeks ago we invited Mima over on a lazy afternoon to hang out and make our first batch with us. We skipped the popular kool aid coloring to give you less of a reason to try to eat it. Amazingly, you didn’t try to put it in your mouth once. Good girl! And don’t you look so cute in the apron Auntie Steph gave you last Christmas?

You helped us mix all the ingredients together, blew on it with us to help us cool it off, squished it, rolled it, cut out shapes and letters with cookie cutters. The cookie cutting was absolutely your favorite part of the experience. You loved pressing them down and got the widest smiles on your face when you got to pull out and show off your creations (with our help).

It’s been almost 2 weeks and the stuff is still soft! We’ll definitely be adding some other more batches and colors. It might be a little while before you take this activity into the realm of independent play. I’m sure that day is not far away. I’m not in a big rush. You’re growing up too fast.