Winter Walk

The snow is almost gone now. Only a few patches are hanging on in shady spots, although they are more ice than snow now from thawing and re-freezing so many times. We enjoyed it while it lasted, though! A few days ago my mom stayed with Pumpkin while he napped so the girls and I could take a long walk through the snow. We tried to identify different animal tracks in the snow (I think we saw deer tracks!) and we tried to make different tracks ourselves. We walked to a creek not too terribly far from our house, and the girls were delighted to find that parts of it were frozen over.

Darling made what she called a "ginormous" snowball and carried it around until her mittens were wet and her hands were freezing cold. Then, of course, she whined that her hands were cold and asked me if I would please carry it! Haha!

One of the neighborhood snowmen. I love the hat!

 Our "Snow Totoro". We had just finished watching My Neighbor Totoro.

I just like this picture for some reason. The bare branches against the icy blue sky. It makes me think of winter, even more than snow

Playing Dirty

I believe that when God created dirt, He knew that, among its many other attributes, it would make the best toy.

We are big fans of dirt in this family. First, because I love to garden, and second, because it has provided hours upon hours of delightful childhood fun and exploration. I am a big believer that one of the great joys of childhood is getting dirty. We have an old flower bed, bare except for a few resilient shrubs and weeds hanging on for dear life, that is dedicated solely to the purpose of mud pies and dust piles. I cannot count the number of hours my children have spent digging, building, and pretending there. Dirt really is the best toy ever!

Pumpkin's Blanket

I have learned to knit in the last couple of months, and I am addicted. It is so relaxing. And portable. I love how I can take it anywhere and start and stop easily-it isn't like sewing where it takes a lot of set-up. Just cast-on and you're on your way! And there aren't a gazillion tiny pins, thimbles, etc.. for my kids to prick fingers or choke on. This really fits my lifestyle right now. And while it does take concentration, I find it much less complicated that crochet. I can never keep up with how many extras you're supposed to chain for each stitch.

I decided to learn to knit right after Pumpkin was born. You see, my ex-husband and I separated before I knew I was pregnant with Pumpkin, and we officially divorced soon after he was born, so his arrival was not exactly under the best circumstances. However, Pumpkin is a shining joy in both my life, and his dad's life (he finally got that boy!) and we're both so glad that he came along. In fact, it probably sped up a lot of healing between us, because we had to keep dealing with each other and trying to get along in the months leading up to Pumpkin's birth. However, since his dad and I weren't together anymore, Pumpkin got short-changed in a few areas. Each of my girls, as well as my nephews and niece, all have a special hand-made blanket from my aunt, but she didn't make one for Pumpkin. And while I'm sure that she just didn't think about it (he is my third, after all, and she is certainly under no obligation to make a blanket for my child!), the reality is that my little Pumpkin is the only one without a special blanket, and as his mother, of course, I want to change that. I didn't want to bring it up, because I was afraid that someone would think that I was actually upset, and nothing could be further from the truth. All I want is for Pumpkin to have a blanket! I don't care who made it. So this left only one logical option: learn to knit and make it myself. I even bought Debbie Stoller's book, Stitch n' Bitch as as a testament to my sincerity to learn, but of course, I had just had  a baby, so that resolution quickly went on the back burner. That is, until I stumbled across the website for Spud and Chloe yarn, and the Spud Says! blog. I was completely inspired, and have fallen in love with Susan B. Anderson's warm and whimsical patterns and yarns. I bought two of her books, Itty Bitty Nursery and Itty Bitty Toys, joined Ravelry, and was off! I had to wait until after we moved and Pumpkin began sleeping through the night to really get going, but now I'm making great progress every day.

Pumpkin's blanket is based on the pattern, Patches from Itty-Bitty Nursery, with a few of my own modifications (can I ever do something without making changes? I doubt it).  There will hopefully be 32 patches (maybe 28 if I run out of time- I want to finish it before his birthday this month), and a cable-knit border. Each patch is done in simple garter stitch, and the designs are free-handed using a chain-and wrapping technique found in Itty-Bitty Nursery. There will be many more designs, all based on the theme of exploration, as well as more striped patches, and just a few solid ones. I've actually made several more patches, but I decided to omit most of the ones with the letters of his name from the picture for this blog. Still, it's coming together!

Library List

Hello, and welcome to the first edition of our library lists! I've been taking the kids to the library and hope to make it a weekly habit. My kids love to read. Well, they can't read yet, but they love for me to read aloud, and they love to look at pictures books by themselves and "pretend" to read. In fact, they know some of the stories so well, that it seems like they are reading because they can recite all the words, verbatim, from memory. Many nights, when it's time to turn out the light, Darling will plead, "Can I please read books by myself?" I've been trying to read to Doodlebug especially, as she still isn't talking very much (which is why there aren't as many stories about things she says....she doesn't say much).  I am thrilled to see her taking such an interest in reading, too.

I have lots and lots of children's books that are supposed to build the foundations of literacy, but I've been looking for books to build other subjects, too, like science, social studies, math, and geography. Here is a list of books that we have been reading this week.

Inch by Inch by Leo Lionni. When we finished the first reading of this book, Darling said, "That was good!" Very simple story about an inch worm who measures things. I have this idea to cut an inch of string and let the girls go around and measure things. Good to introduce the idea of measurement.

How to Bake and Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman. This was great to introduce the idea of geography, but also science (the recipe!) and social studies (different cultures). I think it will be fun to make an apple pie after reading this story and talk about where the ingredients come from. Even more fun: eating the apple pie!

Elmer by David McKee. I checked this book out simply because my kids are fascinated with elephants. Cute story about being different and being comfortable with yourself. My kids liked it, but I'm glad I just checked it out of the library.

Uncle Elephant by Arnold Lobel. Author is more well-known for his Frog and Toad stories (which my kids also love), but I checked this out, again, because the main characters are elephants, and my children love elephants. These stories definitely have the same flavor as Frog and Toad. Easy to read, short, and a little odd.

Katy No-Pocket by Emmy Payne. You might think that the pictures have a familiar quality about them, and that's because the illustrator, H. A. Rey, is famous for the Curious George series. This is a cute story about Katy Kangaroo, who doesn't have a pocket to carry her baby! We talked about the points outlined in Before Five in a Row. Great for science! It was a nice way to introduce how different animals carry their babies.

Is This a Home for Hermit Crab? by Megan MacDonald. My girls wanted to read this over and over and over. Good for toddler science! They loved it when I would read the little noises that Hermit Crab made on the sand. They loved the repeating phrases. We must have read this ten times in a row and it's always the first read before bed now. I think I'll take them to a pet store to look at Hermit Crabs. We'll be re-checking this one!

Lovely Links

I've been scouring the four corners of the internet recently, looking for educational/craft ideas. I have found that for my family, the best defense against toddler meltdowns is a well-stocked craft cabinet and a little imagination. This has led me to find some really fantastic blogs/sites that I just have to share.

First, The Rhythm of the Home. One of my friends from NorCal posted a link on her blog to this excellent online magazine. What wonderful ideas! It is specifically for families with young children, and from the articles I have read, has an unplugged childhood vibe, which is exactly what I strive to give my own children. Check out the blueberry pie recipe!

Next, Jump Into A Book. This blog has me completely inspired! It is exactly the kind of thing that I want to do for my kids to encourage a love of reading. I think it really makes everything come alive. Although my kids might be a big too young now, I'll be saving these activities and ideas for a few years down the road when we are ready for them, or maybe I can modify them to be more age appropriate.

Next, NotebookingPages.com. I read about the idea of notebooking a few years ago, and filed it away in my memory for later. Tons of freebies, but also lovely notebook sets that you can purchase to download and print. Lots of information on notebooking, too.

Along the same vein, DonnaYoung.org. FREE printable organizers, calendars, weekly curriculum planners, shopping lists, menu planners, the list goes on and on....If you are a mom, you may want to bookmark this one.

And store it all in a Mom Agenda folio. These organizers, planners, and calendars (with separate schedules for mom and up to four kids in one weekly planner!) are pricey, but are gorgeous, well thought-out, and just plain nice. I think they make a great gift for any mom who has suffered through losing all her contacts and calendars in a computer crash or phone upgrade, and wants to keep a paper back-up. Plus, free printable pages, and the planners and folios can be personalized.


For free children's books online, check out The Baldwin Project and The Rosetta Project.

For free classical music downloads, check out Classical.com. Get a new, free,  editor's pick album every week, plus unlimited online listening. You have register, but it is free (although there is a paid subscription option) and the albums are yours to keep forever.

And to expose your toddler to great music and audio books, check out the SweetPea3 MP3 player. I'm in love. It is childproofed (unlike that $400 iPod), and can be dropped and chewed on. It also has a speaker, so does not need headphones (which are very bad for your ears) but can be used with headphones when your children are older. These suckers also come pre-loaded with songs and audio books (20 in all, which is at least $20 of free stuff) and they only cost $60, but with a new Audible.com account, you can get them for $40 a piece. Just check out www.audible.com/sweetpea. Although I went ahead and bought one for each of my girls, I'm putting them away until Christmas. However, it's all I can do to not break it out of the box. They are just so darn cute!

Free Coloring Pages

Mommies of young children (or "kid-at-heart" adults), check out Coloring-Book.info for free pages to print and color. It has pictures from tons of animated kid movies and tv shows, including more obscure shows. All the classic Disney and Pixar films are represented, plus Curious George, Peter Rabbit, Winnie the Pooh and tons of shows I didn't even recognize (I don't let my kids watch live TV-- just pre-approved DVDs because I hate commercials marketed to kids).  It's well worth checking out!

And for the preschooler who needs a challenge, check out Color Me Masterpiece. Print out coloring sheets of famous masterpieces for you child to color, and teach them about art at the same time!

"And in Circle Time today, kids, we're going to learn about Raphael's Madonna and Child."