J.L.
Hi! I am a SAHM of a 26 month old and a 6 month old and I run into the same issues. I do educate my daughter while we play, but I believe in letting kids be kids. Too soon, school starts and as the years go by, its more and more work for them. My daughter loves to go for walks, so I'll strap my son into the Baby Bjorn and my daughter will grab her baby stroller and well go for walks around the neighborhood. I'll point out things and ask her about them, like today we saw the mailman and his truck was parked down the road and I asked her "What goes with the mailman?" and she pointed to his truck. I agree with Mandy B, she LOVES her water table! I fill it up and I give her cups, kitchen utensils and bath toys. She would play all day if I would let her. She loves to paint even though I hate it because she makes a huge mess. I bought her a very large t-shirt that we use as her paint shirt and I put a huge tablecloth on the kitchen floor and let her have fun. She doesn't really like to paint on paper so I buy L. wooden jewelry boxes, bird houses, etc from the craft store that she paints. I have used the finished jewelry boxes as gifts for my mom from my daughter (my mom loves that stuff). She really loves the Elefun game too. Ok, one last thing...my sister got me a subscription to Family Fun magazine, it's mostly for older kids but there are some really cute ideas in there. Check out their website: http://familyfun.go.com. Ok, I'm done : )!