Monday: Makin' Tracks

I've found that following P's lead in his learning endeavors can get... messy. I'm a tidier by nature now, but by the end of the day this place is a natural disaster! After a weekend in the city P was ready for some downtime (trying to carefully strike that balance so we could make it to playgroop tomorrow) which means the house is his canvas and I am his toy.

I redid his wee dwelling a couple of nights ago. True to my midwestern roots, I just had to expand (the space was too tight for my rump and I had extra shelves just sitting around!) and his tiny home is more of a castle now. This necessitated much car racing (better slide from the second story) and "sight seeing" from his windows. After breakfast we mercifully moved on to some painting time, but his cars soon re-entered the act, making tracks in the paint. The artist in me delighted in his experimental bent, the mama in me internally moaned as paint moved to the floor, the carpet, my arms... It is in these moments that one of my unschooling mantras drones in my head : "Our experience cannot be a way for him to leap over his own journey." (Naomi Aldort) I know exactly how that paint will look on the wood floor, how long it will stay wet on his car wheels and dwindle on the next piece of paper, but he's only just figuring that out. So out comes more paper, some rags and a silent thank you for a child-friendly carpet :)

After he saw how his precious possessions made tracks in paint he decided it was time to pull out the play-do for more track making. He hasn't touched the stuff in a month (after a long play-do bender this summer), but we bought some new cans last week in preparation for the playgroop project tomorrow and his spark is re-ignited. Then came a blissful 30 minutes of solitary play!!! He requested the "real rolling pan" and made smooth road after smooth road to then ruin with tire tracks. I would have never imagined an almost uninterrupted spell of cleaning would feel so special, but there it is. The above pic is P with play-do. I have to shoot from funny angles now that he's on the world wide web. I'd prefer his wanker off said web, and with his proclivity for nudity, photography just got a whole lot more complicated for me!

The rest of the day was mainly spent on, yes, cars. They were dyed different colors (thanks to food coloring) in the bathroom sink. They told stories and acted out numerous plots. More tracks in the tub. But amidst this he became fixated on a story line from Little Bear. In the tale, Little Bear accidently surprises Skunk beside the river. Skunk sprays Bear. Bear asks why? Skunk says she's sorry. I was skunk for about FIVE hours and Phoenix was obsessed with surprising me and getting skunked. I generally try to be above manipulating him in any way, but at the usual time that naps Used to happen, I actually told him my skunk sprayer was weary and that a nap might just help it revitalize :) No dice, no nap, and after a short break for my shusher (the spraying sound) I was a scared Skunk again. Tired jaw aside, there really is no better sound than a toddler's giggles - they are so cute that messes fade into the (paint-filled) woodwork.