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B’day T’shirt

One of the benefits of having a four year old is that she can’t read (well not really) just yet. This makes subterfuge much easier. Not as easy as it was when she was say … 2 but you get the idea. Thus I can make AND display her birthday t’shirt before her b’day without much risk of being found out.

 

So the t’shirt … it’s applique. I don’t know about that word. It just sounds old fashioned and dowdy to me. Kind of appropriate, actually, since a lot of the applique you see, even on the ‘net is just that: old fashioned and DOWDY. But it doesn’t have to be. The design is the big ol’ lynch-pin. You have to have a cool design. More on that in a minute. First, what you need.

  • cool design
  • scrap fabric in appropriate colors/patterns (cotton, light weight) … all pre-shrunk
  • surface to applique on (should be easy to get to the back – pockets are a bit hard, at least if you want to use your sewing machine) – pre-shrunk as well!
  • iron-on interfacing
  • sewing machine
  • coordinating/contrasting thread as appropriate Continue reading “B’day T’shirt”
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Childcare Dilemma

Yesterday I found out we will be facing a childcare dilemma. Since Tabby was about 2 months old and I started back to work on a part-time basis, we’ve had one sitter who we adore. She came recommended by a coworker and we’ve loved sending our kids to her house for nearly four years now. My kids have a second home there and she treats them like members of her family. It has been pretty much an ideal situation. But yesterday I got confirmation on something that we knew was probably coming. Our beloved sitter is retiring. Continue reading “Childcare Dilemma”

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From the Mouths of Babes

A conversation between my babes a few weeks ago while riding in the car:

Ben: babble babble
Tabby: That’s a house, Ben. A  house.
Ben: babble babble
Tabby: Say house, Ben! Say house! You need to use your words.
Ben: *screams loudy*
Tabby: He doesn’t seem very interested.
Ben: House! House!

Tabby and I laughed the rest of the way home.

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The Haps

It’s been a busy busy week. And it’s only Tuesday.

  • We are ALMOST all over our colds (flu??) I’m still a bit hazy around the edges.
  • We’re planning a send-off for Uncle Buck (Matt’s brother who’s been living with us this month) as he heads back to TN and eventually to the army. We’re going to go play trivia at DNote on Thursday. Yay!
  • We’re going to see Gigi tonight because it’s been way too long.
  • I went to a very unsatisfying sports conditioning class last night. I’m pretty sure she was conditioning me to sleep … or maybe do yoga.
  • We are planning our LAST ski weekend of the season (how is this possible??).
  • We are planning Tabby’s 4th b’day festivities – TEN days people … TEN days!!!
  • Speaking of which, I have no idea what to get Tabby for her b’day … I was going to get her  a Leapster Explorer, but the bad reviews scared me off. I don’t want a ton more junky plastic. Maybe we’ll go shopping for an outfit and visit the paint-your-own pottery store. The girl loves her art.
  • The house is a semi-wreck from busyness/sickness.
  • My Visa has suddenly decided not to work, so I cannot pay my library fines. Now I have to spend time on the phone figuring out WHY.
  • The above is only ONE of about 100 phone calls I need to make … during business hours.
  • I am supposed to run a half marathon in less than 7 weeks and I have not run more than 4.5 miles since … December? That’s a problem.
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Inevitably ….

It is weird how these things work. Does anyone else have the experience of only watching a random TV show … say I Love Lucy or Family Ties or Hey Dude … only once in a blue moon; sometimes not for months and years, and yet if you DO catch it one random evening when you’re flipping through the channels it’s the SAME EPISODE you caught that other random time. Maybe it’s just me.

We also “laugh” about how when Matt’s out of town the kids get sick and/or it snows buckets. Maybe not ALL the time, but pretty darn frequently. When I was pregnant with Tabby, we’d had the winter from heck and I dropped him off at the park ‘n’ ride and I could hardly get back to the house because there were cars stuck in the middle of the road all over our neighborhood!

The kids were sick over the weekend and continue to be, so of course Matt left on a business trip this morning. Luckily we have Matt’s brother staying with us so I was able to go to work this AM and get meetings and essentials out of the way and then I could come home at noon and come home to be with my sick kids. We will be doing the same gig tomorrow and possibly Thursday.

They have been good, sweet kids … and of course the upside to them being sick is that they want to snuggle … LOTS … and they like to sleep, except perhaps in the middle of the night. Tabby is mostly on the mend, but Ben is still in the feverish throes of it and he does not appreciate being made to take Tylenol. He does, however, enjoy the Gatorade in his sippy cup. Woot.

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My Funny Valentines

Happy Valentines to all of my favorite people! I know it’s a cheesy greeting card company holiday, but I always like any excuse to tell the special people in your life how much you love them (and of course, involving Hallmark is a personal decision). So to all of my family and friends, near and far … thanks for being in my life and I LOVE YOU!

This year, with all of our recent out-of-town-ness, we didn’t do so well with making Valentines. Tabby and I constructed 18 glittery messes for her classmates and I made these mailboxes for the kids (they are filled with new socks and sunglasses and probably some sort of candy I’ve since forgotten about). I will hand them over to the kids at dinner tonight.

I was happy to see the mailboxes in the Target dollar bin when we were there one day. I still have a little white mailbox with red hearts on it that was given to me one Valentine’s day by my parents. It sits on a shelf in my office and holds my sticky notes. I just decked these out with a little light pink vinyl, cut on my Silhouette.

I hope you all have a Happy Valentine’s day with your special people.

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She’ll Be Coming Down the Mountain

 

Today marks a red-letter day in my Tabby’s history … the first day she got to ride a ski-lift. She’s been tooling around on the conveyor belt known as the magic carpet for over a year now and as of today she has graduated to the ski lift. Matt took her up for the last run of her short day and almost exploded with pride.

 

She has gotten amazingly good at stopping and turning and seems to have such good control of herself. It has been amazing to see her develop these skills right before our very eyes.

I am on vacation at the moment and will probably be posting sporadically for the next few days. Then I’m likely to have quite a lot to say.

Happy New Year to you all. Hope it’s starting off wonderfully. Cheers!

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2010 in Review: Tabby

 

tabby2010
I have been creating calendars for our families this past couple of weeks and it is just unbelievable how much my babies change at this age. Ben is night and day different (as you’ll see tomorrow) from where he was a year ago, but Tabby has changed a lot, even physically. She has lost a lot of her baby look that was lingering and she seems like such a big girl to me.

 

Tabby had a lot of firsts and accomplishments in 2010. She learned to use the potty (thanks again, Grammy!), started school, went to the dentist for the first time, learned to write her name, and learned to ride a bike. Besides those biggies, there are 1000s of other little milestones she reached. She is an excellent helper and has learned tons of little tasks like setting the table, clearing her place, making her bed, folding square objects (blankets, towels, etc.) and washing her own hair. She has made great strides in academic matters as well and now writes most letters in the alphabet, knows something about their phonics, and can do simple addition.

For play time, I’ve noticed a shift between toys and activities. She still does plenty of pretend play, but she will also spend 30 minutes or more looking through books, working in her alphabet book, and even longer drawing or otherwise creating.

She has been delighted to watch her little brother develop from baby to playmate and they have become good buddies. They play chase a lot and get together on various other forms of play, though sharing (both resources and leadership) is sometimes a challenge.

It has been interesting to see that her cast of imaginary friends, including the much-beloved Sheena, has now been replaced by a cast of real-life friends from school, my mom’s group and her sitter’s. It’s interesting to hear about, particularly because it’s a world that’s all her own … another sign of independence.

I’m super excited to see what the next year will hold for her.

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Bedknobs and Broomsticks

Two bedtime related stories:

Tabby
I think I mentioned that we've been letting Tabby have some special “big girl” time playing in her room after we get her ready for bed. For 20-30 minutes her bedtime routine is done, we allow her to hang out in her room and quietly play with toys, read books, draw or work in her alphabet workbooks. It has been great for everyone. She gets some special privileges (which she has to earn through good behavior) and we still get to advance to the kid-free portion of our evening at about the same time.

Last night I put Ben down and then got her ready for bed and let her have her “big girl time.” Then I went for a run on the treadmill. About 30 minutes later, I went to check on her. She'd chosen to read books and had a fair few scattered on her floor by her bed. I told her to please pick them up and helped her get started and then told her to finish the job and go right to bed. I even turned down her lights and put on her music so she'd be all ready to go.

I went back to my room to run for another 10 minutes or so and figured I'd come follow up when I was done. To my surprise, all books were picked up and she was sound asleep in her bed. She didn't even stir when I gave her a kiss and told her how proud I was of her.

Ben
This past weekend we put Ben down for his nap. He either wasn't ready or was over-ready and was not a bit pleased with being left in his crib. Instantly, he bolted for the side and with the aid of the bumpers, started climbing out. He had his head and half his chest over the edge in a matter of seconds. Matt and I were both shocked.

Needless to say, we took the bumpers out. Now we're facing the big boy bed decision. I find myself completely NOT READY to put him in a real bed. Not only do I think we'll have BIG issues with him STAYING in the bed, but I am not really ready to give up the crib and the babyhood it symbolizes. He's only 18 months old! I thought sure he'd be in there a while longer. I'm not sure I can handle it so soon. Of course a broken bone would also be very hard to handle.

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All About the Kids

 


 

Ben
Ben had his 18 month checkup last week. He is perfect, of course, tracking in the 50th percentile for weight and the 60th for height. Or maybe I reversed those. He also got three shots and barely blinked.

Anyhow, Matt (who took him this go-around) questioned the doc about his milk habit. The kid will go through 2 gallons of milk in a week if we let him. As in we bought two gallons of milk on Saturday and by the next Saturday they were gone. Now Matt uses some for cereal and I use a smidge for cooking, but he also gets milk at his sitter’s. That’s a LOTTA milk! So she said to cut him back drastically, 2cups per day. We decided to ease him into it, closer to 3 cups a day and daaaamn it’s been hard. He wants his milk. And he will stand in front of the fridge and bang on the door screaming “BA BAAAA! BAAAAA BAAAAA!” until he gets it or passes out, whichever comes first. It was not a stress-free weekend but it does seem to be getting a bit better. Maybe.

Tabby
My sister likes to point out all of the atypical things we do that our kids are “just going to think is normal.” Running all the time, cooking all the time, crafting up crazy projects (like Matt’s Halloween project, a silly-string-spitting spider) and having tons of computers and gadgetry everywhere. And we like it that way.

Another thing we do that’s slightly atypical (or so I’m told) is give scientific explanations for her questions. Honestly, I mostly do this because I cannot think of a better way to answer her questions. I don’t see why I’d confuse her with some whimsical poetic crap when I can just tell her what’s up. For example in spring when it was getting warm and things were greening up we talked about our side of the planet getting closer to the sun and the sun and chlorophyll interacting to make the grass green. She loves talking about these things and remembers them almost verbatim. And if we don’t know something we look it up on the internet and she knows to ASK about looking it up on the internet.

So when she asked me last week why her brother’s army truck didn’t go as far or as fast on the carpet as it did on the hardwood floor, I explained to her about friction. And yes, I pulled out the term “coefficient of friction.”

Am I making her into a mini nerd??