Water Play

So I just realized I did a post about sand play, and now here is a post with some cute pictures of Claire doing water play.  I guess sand and water really are kid's two favorite mediums of play, right?  Especially when combined.... although I usually try to avoid that, I really can only take so much mess!
Here is a picture of Claire at about 14 months or so when she got started with water play.

I thought she was so adorable the way she wanted to sit in the sink!  Safety issues aside, I would get some kitchen cleaning done while she did this, I loved it.  Maybe for Amelia this summer??

Now she is nearing the age of three, I will get out my good old basins from work and set up a 'dish washing station' for her.  Before she actually got the concept of dish washing it was just a water station, but now I actually give her some cups/bowls/spoons/bottles that very much need her attention, and ask her if she can help me by washing them.  It's kind of nice, we'll be washing dishes side by side and she will really try to 'wash' the first cup or two, before she starts doing her own thing with the water and soap, pouring, stirring, pouring, always more pouring.

Now I think with every stage of development where something becomes easier, some other difficult attribute emerges to balance it out so young kids are never actually 'easy'.  As Claire gets closer to three, I can tell her little will continues to grow stronger and she is always testing the limits. So, it's easier that I can (sort of) let her play unsupervised next to me while I get dishes done and she gets the concept of helping.  But, after she became bored of the pouring and washing, she started pouring the water in between the basins and it would go all over the floor.  Then, when I calmly (and I did remain calm, yay!) reminded her each time that water stays in the basins, not on the floor, she refused to accept this limit and really wanted to watch it spill it all over the floor, and an almost power struggle ensued.  Sigh.  So, then it was time to clean it up and put it away.  A friend of mine recently suggested to me that with small children, it's best to limit time at an activity because their attention spans are so small and they inevitably get bored and start messing it up somehow.  (Or at least that's what I think she meant).   We'll soldier on with the variations of water play for now!!