My husband half rolled his eyes and half thought I was cute.
A few weeks ago, my neighbours had the very bad idea of having this huge and beautiful (and perfectly healthy) evergreen tree that was very close to the fence between us cut down. They had a couple of "reasons" but we are pretty sure the family of squirrels living in it have a lot to do with it... they did create some mess in our garden too (and stole a few of our tomatoes from the plant!) but it was such a joy for us and the children to look at them going about their daily business through our french doors...
...anyway, the tree had to be pulled down in our garden, and a few days ago, while playing outside with my little one, I discovered that the "tree assassins" (sorry, I know it's just their job, but I am resentful) left behind a few pieces of wood, which I collected with the intention to make them into something the kids could enjoy. If they are few and to oddly shaped to be regarded as building blocks, they sure offer great sensory stimulation (the wood is still so fresh and the bigger pieces still smell strongly of evergreen tree).
My stash, after spending about 2 weeks under the snow!
After keeping them for 3 days near the radiator to dry them, last night I could finally sand them. I'm proud to say I managed to salvage almost all of them.
Yusef was happy to finally be allowed to touch the "woods" he had seen around for a while. Bilal immediately grabbed the big chunk, rubbed it over his lips, sort of kissed it and gave it a big sniff.
I wanted to find out some info on how to make wood safe for toddlers to handle, so I ended up reading about natural wooden blocks, what they do for the senses, how they are non-directional toys etc... I am really not surprised about any of this. Just like I am not surprised about the fact we were all playing with the wood this morning, myself and Abu Yusef included, so much so that we almost forgot breakfast.
This is Allah's creation before it gets messed with: an absolute delight. A good little reminder to us all, and also a way to keep that tree we all loved so much part of the family :) (shame I don't have a picture that shows just how tall it was...)
