I have stumbled onto a little life saver that I just have to share with you! You see, timing has become a little trickier now that I’ve got two little ones. The worst being mealtime. Of course it seems they always both need to eat at the exact same time and typically C is ready to get “out” of his highchair well before Little E is ready to be done. As I’m sure you well know, with a toddler, mealtime often involves a massive clean up which can take a bit more time than I can sometimes afford in that situation. I’m guessing you can see how this might end with at least one someone in tears. (I’m hopeful at this point a couple of you can relate).
One day, out of sheer desperation and hoping to buy myself just five more minutes, I gave Mr. C a small container filled with water and bubbles, threw in a couple couple of cookie cutters, and told him to wash it hands. HUGE HIT! He sat there for a good 10-15min playing in the water. (before he completely dumped it all over himself and the floor…which yes, resulted in tears anyway but I digress. I was onto something here). I decided to try this strategy again and this time just paid a little closer attention to when he was done playing so he wouldn’t dump the water all over himself. Worked like a charm. That night it bought me enough time to finish my dinner! These days, when I prep his lunch, I also prep the “bubble bowl” as he refers to it. I just toss in whatever couple kitchen gadgets I have on hand to change it up. His current favorite are these silicone baking cups. When he’s done eating he gets to play (ie. wash his hands) in the bowl. He’s cleaned up (for the most part) and entertained, and I’ve bought myself a few more minutes to finish eating, feed the baby etc. I just have to be sure to watch him because when he’s done he WILL dump it if I don’t snag it in time.
Now doesn’t that look like a kid that’s happy to be washing his hands?
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