Playdough*

And my first blog entry goes to play dough!
I always thought my first entry would be some deeply philosophical quest to better understanding the meaning of life. But no, life presents itself and I was inspired this morning by my two year old. Although I am not presently postpartum, and he is my baby I was taken back to when his siblings were toddlers and I did have a newborn in arms. 
Now this post is in no way to make you feel obligated to go out and buy Cream of Tartar, cause let's be honest, who has time for that when you may be rooted to the nursing chair. BUT if you have everything you already need AND you love making things from scratch homemade playdough was such a joy this morning. 
Mr C was all in, it literally took 5 min to warm the ingredients in the pot and get it to a point where he could take over with the mushing and the squishing. 

And can I tell you a little secret? (And this is what got me to this blog post). I mushed and I squished the heck out of that play dough right along side him, Fresh home made dough is so warm and soothing. It's totally therapeutic, Even after it was all cleaned up and packed away I could still feel the lasting effects of the warm dough and the lightly used muscles in my hands. I was relieved of tension and felt calmer. Parents need to pause and take the passenger seat sometimes.
​A huge part of postpartum is establishing mom/baby relationship (as it needs to be). 
Sometimes creating opportunities with older siblings takes some mindfulness. Have some things in the bank to draw upon will make those touch points effortless.

Bonus -  you can still play with play dough with one hand even if you are rooted to that nursing chair.

Recipe:

1 c Water
1/2c Salt
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp of cream of tartar 
​1c of flour
*food colouring

Mix water, salt, vegetable oil, cream of tartar and food colouring in a pot over low/medium heat until warm. Then add the flour. Stir together in the pot until smooth and not sticky to the touch. 

(The play dough may have hot spots, please use caution and check the temperature before handling with your hands, especially with those tiny ones).

*Originally posted 12/12/18 on serenebeginnings.ca