So a few days ago, it was Annelise’s nap time and I had promised Carson I’d play with him, just me and him. I suggested Legos or airplanes, but he went to our game/craft closet.

“Play with something in here?”

Back when I was a mom of one and had more time, I once browsed Pinterest for some motherhood ideas and came across sensory bins. It seemed a like a fun idea, so Carson and I got into them for a bit, making simple bins of beans and rocks and spoons and cups and occasional toys (but nothing near as elaborate as this blogger’s). Anyway, since Annelise was born, we’ve kind of shelved the sensory bins – too many small pieces for her to put in her mouth.

But that morning Annelise was asleep, so I said, sure, why not get out a sensory bin? Carson used to love those things! So I pulled out an old one with dry beans and pasta and some cups and rocks. We had a great time playing – I forgot how much fun he had: pouring dry beans into cups, sorting out all the white ones, hiding stones and finding them again.

We played with the bin a few more times over the next few days, and once we were playing with it and Annelise happened to wake up from her nap early. Carson was having a good time, and I thought, well, maybe I’ll try it. So I brought Annelise in so they could both play.

Bad idea. Annelise wanted to put everything in her mouth. Usually I can help her learn not to put something (like leaves) in her mouth if I’m sitting right next to her, but this time, no luck. She especially liked the big pretty stones. I basically sat with my hand cupped over her open slobbery mouth while she pounded her fist, clutched around a choking hazard, against my hand again and again.

But when I pulled her out of the room, she threw a fit! I felt kind of bad that she had to miss out on our sensory bin fun, so that quickly led us to our choking-hazard-free sensory bin…or, Cheerio snack fest. ;) That’s what you can do if you stocked up on 20 boxes of on-sale Cheerios 1.5 years ago that are starting to go stale.