Friday, February 27, 2009

Childrens Songs

The singing at the library got me to trying to remember the songs I sang as a kid and also the ones Esme has heard often from me during her life. I found the versions of at least one song I remember was very shortened from the original!

Froggy went a courtin
Froggy went a courtin and he did ride uh-huh uh-huh

Froggy went a courtin and he did ride uh-huh uh-huh

Froggy went a courtin and he did ride, sword and pistol by his side, uh-huh uh-huh


Froggy went a courtin and he did ride uh-huh uh-huh

Froggy went a courtin and he did ride uh-huh uh-huh

Froggy went a courtin and he did ride, got himself a fine mouse bride, uh-huh uh-huh



That's all I can remember from when my mom and grandma would sing that particular song - but apparently it is a ballad with over 170 verses, only one of them being like the first one I remember. Personally after listening to Bob Dylan's version I like the one my relatives sang better.

Also, 'My Bonny Lies over the Ocean', 'Alouette', 'Frere Jacque (Brother John)' and 'She'll be Coming round the Mountain.'

The last one there is Esme's favorite - only because it calms her down. It was one of the songs I sang her at bathtime when she was newborn and I think the repetition made her respond to it best out of all of them.

She'll be coming round the mountain, when she comes (when she comes)

She'll be coming round the mountain, when she comes...

She'll be coming round the mountain, she'll be coming round the mountain, she'll be coming round the mountain when she comes (when she comes)


She'll be riding six white horses, when she comes (when she comes)

She'll be riding six white horses, when she comes...

She'll be coming round the mountain, she'll be riding six white horses, she'll be coming round the mountain when she comes (when she comes)


And we'll all go out to see her when she comes, (when she comes)

And we'll all go out to see her when she comes...

She'll be coming round the mountain, she'll be riding six white horses, and we'll all go out to see her when she comes (when she comes)


I've heard there are a lot more verses to that song too but that is the version I remembered being sung to me and as a little kid trying to remember where to put the new part when we got to the refrain.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

More pictures



Investigating the windmill



Helping learn to clean up with her own broom and dustpan.
'Sweep Sweep!'



Nearly running sideways with her hands full of sweet gum balls from the trees around here.


She looked a little funny in the above picture because she was crying. She hates to have to come away from the mud puddle at the end of the driveway. She does now, but she cries all the way to you and continues to cry and complain for a few minutes after that.


Getting mommy's keyboard!

We went to a story hour at the library

Esme and I just got back from our first library story hour in town. I already wish we could go back next Thursday but I have to work. This is the first 'real' time she has been with other kids, that doesn't include passing in a hall or cart etc... she got to be down on the floor playing and interacting with kids up to age 6. Seeing her interact for that short hour was amazingly informative. I'm her mommy and I learned a lot more about Esme watching her interact with other children.

Things I noticed: She's not shy, not AT ALL. Where several children clung to their mommies she was all over babbling at kids and their mommies and having a grand time during the play hour. After a bit she would find me and hug me or ask me to pick her up for a second then want down again.

She was also larger physically than a lot of children whose mothers said they were 18 months or older. There were many children smaller than her but they were all older than her. I didn't think Mark and I were that much bigger than other people around here -- so what's going on there? Is she just going to be tall for her age?

She loved the singing so much - stopped in her tracks fascinated by it and tried to dance and clap along. She didn't like the 'sit down and let's all read' time -- wanted to run around and squeal so I took her to the puzzle corner where she tried to talk to two little girls and passed puzzle pieces back and forth.

We will have to learn to be quiet -- never an issue at home because there isn't that many times she is ever 'noisy' In the midst of ten to twenty kids though she was so excited she couldn't keep quiet or still.

We have to do this more -- the mothers there were all accomodating to her and I think with some more time she would settle down and begin to enjoy the activities.

There was one older girl carrying her toy pony around and she came and showed it to Esme several times. Esme already is halfway understanding not to take it away but wasn't sure why the girl kept showing it to her if she couldn't have it. Esme took a rattle that was lying near a baby's car seat and the mother said she could play with it but I'm not sure how to teach her not to do that, especially since there are lots of community toys that belong to the library. She was very happy and bubbly over the two babies that were there - leaned over one and made babble noises.

When it was craft time she finally threw a temper tantrum because I kept telling her to stay and play with the paper when she wanted to run. Daddy came in about this time so we decided it was time to go.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

15 month Stats

Some people on the boards I visit have been posting about their 15 month checkup for their November 2007 babies. We didn't have an official checkup. The health department will continue to do shots after 12 months, but no checkups. I have to see about the doctor again, I think he won't do the checkups either, but might see her if she is sick. The medical system here is very confusing, especially when you pay cash instead of insurance, you'd think that they'd make that easier not harder.

Anyway, here are Esme's stats at 15 months (and then some) taken at home by me.
She is 30.5 inches tall (there was some squirming), 25 lbs and has a 19 inch head circumference. She also has an 18.5 inch chest circumference which I measured because of the overalls I am making her. The pattern is from the 1960s and says '22 inch chest circumference' for the size. I guess it really will be a while before they will fit her. Maybe I can shrink the pattern down to try for a second pair.

The first daffodil in our yard bloomed yesterday. They've been blooming all over the countryside the past week or so.

Going to get a cup of coffee and play blocks with Esme. I think we might be able to visit Grandma and Grandpa today, we'll see. It will hopefully be library day tomorrow.

NOTE: More 'RAR' today. I was going through a National Geographic today naming all the pictures for Esme. Later she still had it and I hear her saying 'kitty... meow? RAR! RAR!' She had found a picture of a jaguar with it's teeth bared. She was also sorting carabiners between two boxes. She would put a pile of them up on the higher box and then throw some back down, only to pick some back up and put them back on her pile -- not sure what was in her mind but she had some plan going on. I gave her a few on the shelf in her play area and she was putting them in a container and dumping them out over and over again.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Dragon RAR!

We were watching a new movie 'dragon hunter' which is a kid's cartoon and I told Esme that the monster was a 'big Dragon RAR!' and she said back 'Dragon, RAR!' and went around saying 'RAR' quite a bit after that. We also gave her the book that came with the movie and she was looking through it and pointing at some of the monsters saying 'Rar!' This is just too cute for words. Yep, that's our kid.

Days Off


giggle!



deep thought about her other barrette and what to do with it



classic wide-eyes-open Esme


I told Mark this picture 'looked most like her' - and he said 'they all look like her, what do you mean?' This is the expression she is wearing most of the day, just happy and kind of wondering what is going to happen next.


I haven't accomplished much in my first day and a half off. We've been outside once but it was really cold so that didn't last long. I've started a pair of red overalls that might fit Esme 6 months from now. Hopefully they don't take that long to complete! I tanked the green weaving because it was just too narrow to do anything with.

Mostly we've had fun with Esme with balloons and books and musical instruments. We've watched some Mythbusters and some cartoons with her. She counted '3, 2, 1!' with the Mythbusters crew last night when Mark and I were reading the Internet. We both stood up and looked over at her in her play area -'Did she really say that?' and then she said it again. How funny. We also watched 'Milo and Otis' again and she was so excited to see the orange kitty (just like Mitzi) saying 'kitty mrao!' while pointing to it often.

Still no visiting yet - but we're all getting better slowly.
I need to print out these pictures and send them to my Mom in Minnesota - she called the other night and thought pictures from September were most recent... I'm pretty sure I've sent more since then at the very least! Mom is still having her memory problems some, and I reminded her the date was written on the bottom front of every picture.


Here she is getting me a book. Lately her favorite is 'Alligator's Toothache' which has no words and Mommy has to interpret what the animals are doing in every scene. She likes the part where the alligator hides from the dentist - but doesn't like the 'ow ow my tooth hurts' scene at all.

Esme's favorite snacks : Corn bugles and canned carrots are her absolute favorites. If I let her have too many carrots her cheeks turn red - so she only gets a few a day if that. She'll go right in the fridge when I have it open and grab the carrot container and beg for one. She likes animal crackers and graham crackers and a potato chip here and there too. Dry cereal of many types, bananas and cereal bars are extended breakfast items and fish, chicken, hashbrowns, spaghetti, corn and bread are surefire foods at dinner. She picks at a lot of stuff but all that I just listed are things she will chow down as soon as she sees them. She loves her milk and juice and drinks water all day long.

Monday, February 23, 2009

Rest




Dogs are a little embarrassed to share the couch with the cats - but the cats are too stubborn to move. Anyway, it's cold outside.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Not Much Here, but we are here...

We're all still trying to get rid of this cold. Mark joked yesterday it could be a variant of the Spanish Flu, but I truly hope that is just a joke. I seem to be getting better except for the persistent headache, he's in the midstream now and Esme's nose is still running but she seems happy otherwise.

Not too much crafting either - I've been working and have four days off starting tomorrow. I did get some reading done though, and that is quite rare for me nowadays.

The Lives of Christopher Chant by Diana Wynne Jones. I remember this book from when I was a kid, it's slightly juvenile fiction but adults would enjoy it too. It's about a boy from a magical family who thinks he is a 'dud' until he realizes his dreams are actually journeys into other worlds - and he can bring things back if he tries.

The Last Legends of Earth by A.A. Attanasio. Another book I had read before - many times before, as a teenager. It was one of those thick 800 pagers from the library that you never quite could grasp the whole story until the second readaround. Rereading it again I'm beginning to realize I inadvertently absorbed some of the philosophy in it as well.

Esme is eating her cheerios and making lots of cute noises and I have to leave for work in half an hour. *sigh* Yesterday it rained and snowed and the store was very quiet - everyone was wondering what to do besides stand around and wait for customers. I ended up reorganizing a lot of stuff just to have something to do.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

A quick note

I had my doctor call me in an antibiotic. However, I am glad Mark alerted me to something before I took the first dose. Grapefruit juice can decrease the effectiveness of azithromycin (Zithromax) which is the antibiotic the doctor gave me. I didn't know that! I've been eating fruits and veggies and making chicken soup to help boost things along to get rid of this cold. I have a grapefruit and was planning on eating it - which would have cancelled out the medicine.

Other: The weaving is about 12 inches long now and continuing. I gave up on any set repetition and am just trying different colors and patterns every few inches. It has the feel of a really nice rug but it isn't wide enough for that.. maybe I'll have to sew it in the middle of some canvas or something.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Updates

One more thing of note! She is now eating almonds and peanuts without having them broken up for her. We say 'chew' and she bites into them and asks for more. I still watch her closely with them but am amazed she is eating them so well. She also likes Skittles and rarely we give her a few. She tried to say 'skitteh' today when we prompted her - came out really weird but she's trying!


We've all had the same brand of sick all week, Mark and Esme and I. And because it keeps lingering on in me I've been working the past few days sick myself, which apparently doesn't matter much because now half the store has it. *sigh* now I have two days off again. We won't get to see Grandma or Grandpa until we're all better because they definitely don't need to catch it!


Milk and cereal bar for breakfast, followed by as much
dry cereal or graham cracker as she wants



I need to contact the office where Esme gets her toddler checkups and see if she needs one this month. Some people do 15 month and some wait for 18 months.

Esme is 15 1/2 months now, and she has been doing new things again. For a while now she has been able to 'wrap up' in her own towel after a bath and keep it on her while she walks around. That might sound minor to some of you, but for a mommy that is a big thing so you can get dried off too and dressed without worrying about her getting cold or tripping over the towel (like she used to). She also said 'wrap up?' last night when I told it to her - which was cute!

And yes, she is repeating more things now - which is amazing to hear. She chooses what she wants to repeat and when, but it is much more definite now than her babbling before. 'Movie', 'two', 'green', 'hand', 'bok' (box), 'duckie' etc etc.. are all ones I can remember right now she's said within the last few days. She doesn't actually use the words yet (except duckie) later but she keeps asking about them and repeats them sometimes when I say it. Sometimes we hear her walking around singing 'sound songs' like 'ei i oh! ay ay oh!' to herself. Her favorite word is still kitty.

She can recognize a drawn picture of a kitty, and not just the ones in the books. When I draw a kitty with the crayons she looks at it and says 'mrao?' In the bathtub I had drawn a kitty with her soap crayons and the next day it was still there and she immediately pointed to it and said 'mrao' when we got in for the bath.

She is recognizing 'missing' things - like a page in the book I skipped because the pages were stuck together with cereal bar etc... she wants me to find the page. She also has connected socks with shoes and when I put her socks on because it's cold she wants her shoes on too.

She is waving 'hi' and 'bye' to us and when Mark or I come home from town (or first thing in the morning) there is a 'hi' fest from Esme of 'hi hi hi Dada hi hi hi'. We are still both Da-Da or Da-Dee.

The other night we were going through a seed catalog and Mark pointed out the flowers to Esme and was saying 'pretty' to them. She stopped and looked oddly at him and said 'kitty?' because there was no kitty on that page and she knew there wasn't. Then he repeated 'pretty' and she said 'prittee?' practicing the 'p' noise and she was interested for a while in finding the 'pretties.' However last night she wasn't very interested in trying that again.

I bought her a little toy piano for five dollars and she really loves pushing all the buttons. She pushes a button and then scrunches up her shoulders and looks proudly at it sideways like 'I did that, that was me *giggle*' She has said 'Ididit' to several things she has turned on, closed, etc... which I'm not sure how in the world she picked up because I wasn't trying to teach it to her.

She plays by herself with her big rubber ball now and has great fun throwing and bouncing it around.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Calling in Sick

I've been down with a sore throat since Tuesday night and yesterday afternoon it escalated into a full head cold. I can barely talk and my nose won't stop running. I've called into work, which I hate doing because they have such a strict absences rule -- but I also hate it when I go to a store and someone is working sick. I think that is where I got it. Monday we were out and I remember a clerk who after she gave us our bags started hacking and coughing on the counter. I felt a shiver and a 'I wish I had seen that before - I wouldn't have come over to you' feeling - but it was already done.

Mark says he'll go out and get me some medicine because what I've been trying yesterday has been helpful but not enough.

I hope Esme doesn't get it!

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Green Weaving 3 inches



The little 'animals' are there now and I've started another pattern above that. Mark says the animals are 'very 8 bit.' Ha ha, but yes he's right.

Note: 57 strings tapestry type weaving methods

Monday, February 09, 2009

New Pants and Storytimes


Reading with mom



Reaching all the way up onto the desk


Esme is getting so tall it's time to bump up to another size in a lot of things. Esme grabbed a brightly patterned fabric in the store and that spurred me on to make several pairs of pants. The last pants I made for her are now more like shorts!



I have been asking around and finally got some answers for a place Esme can go to spend some time with other toddlers, that isn't daycare and isn't a church nursery. Monday mornings at 10:00 am in Paris, TN there is a preschooler's storytime we can go to. Most of the kids there will be older than her but the lady said as long as I am with her she can come see what is going on and if she gets cranky I'll just take her outside etc... Also the library in Paris has 10:00 am Thursday storytimes for all ages.


A few skeins of cotton yarn

Sunday, February 08, 2009

Green weaving 1.5 inches


A little bit of progress. My normal pattern in the green on the bottom and trying something a little different above that in white and brown. I hope this will be some animal figures on either side of a column - but we'll see.

Friday, February 06, 2009

Green Beginning

There has been a lot of chatter on my small looms email group (to which I hardly ever post but love to read) about new looms. I've not done much with my rigid heddle loom I bought last year, favoring my simple picture frame loom.

Here is the 'green beginning' I warped up this morning.





The yarn isn't anything special, except the black is an alpaca/silk blend that has been sitting around for a while. I'm mostly just aiming at practicing a bit with what I have.

And a blast from the past, me weaving on my original picture frame loom back when I first started. That is the Fargo apartment, and the weaving became a purse that I carried my sketchbooks to and from work and school in. I remember still having that purse when I graduated college and it had some old notebooks stored in it somewhere last time I saw it. The picture (which I also have stored somewhere) is a black and white silver print from my photography class - it was taken by remote timer and was part of a series on how to weave on a flat loom.


Me circa 2003 weaving on a picture frame loom


Note: Mark thought there was a hole in my shirt collar in this photo - but the white spot is actually from a flaw on the photographic paper that I developed myself in the darkroom. In fact, it might be a fingerprint.

SpinningLizzy's blog <--very pretty work

And the Cat came Back - but not the very next day



We can't believe it. We thought our yellow tom cat died ages ago. He's been gone at least six months and we were considering getting another tom to replace him.

But he came back the other night, just as if he'd never been gone. And he's been back for the past few mornings yeowling for food on the front porch the same as always. Besides being a little scruffy and unkempt he is fat and fluffy and seems to be in good health.

Hello Yeller Cat, nice to see you again, where've you been?

Tuesday, February 03, 2009

15 months

She is really starting to look like a kid and not a baby!
Well, except for the bit of cereal bar I now see on her face.. eep!
Every time we put all the toys away she drags every single one back out in about five minutes flat.







New thing she is doing: Laying on the floor on her tummy looking up at the television across the room - haven't seen her do that before a few days ago.

Monday, February 02, 2009

Fabrics



Went to the upholstery store today.

Updates

Esme is 15 months old in two days. She is 30.5 inches tall now but still hasn't gained a lot more weight. She is in a size 6 toddler's shoe. She runs all the time like the Energizer Bunny so it's no wonder everything she eats is burned right off. She walked all the way up to Grandma's house by herself yesterday - which is a feat for someone with legs that short! She goes through stages of being not very hungry and wanting to eat everything in sight. She has more teeth in the back now but I haven't taken count for a while.

Big updates in the talking department: Instead of crying in her bed in the morning to get us to wake up she has started to babble and even call Dada and Daddy and rarely Mumum. I'm still not sure if Dada means Mama or if she is just getting confused with the names.

She has started saying 'Hi', and a few 'halfwords' like 'Idid' and 'Datat' which mean 'I did something/got something' and 'read something/do something for me' respectively. It's hard to tell, because the words are only recognizable because she keeps saying about the same thing. She'll throw a book at me and say 'Datat' and five minutes later throw her shoe at me and say the same 'word'! She also says 'chain' or some likeness of it sometimes when I ask her if she wants a diaper change. The other day I sang 'She'll be Coming around the Mountain' to her and she started to chime in trying to repeat bits of it.

She has started calling us from across the room loudly shouting 'Daddy' and even calling the dog 'Doggie.'

She has started throwing things overhand really well, as well as kicking and playing with her rubber kickball all by herself.

She understands 'put on' for putting on clothing and will help me more by holding on to me and putting her legs into pants, balancing on one foot to put on a shoe or sock etc...

She really likes the LeapFrog Fridge Phonics toy - it's cool to see her put the pieces in by herself and then dance to the song.

I've been showing her toothbrushing videos on Youtube and she wants to brush my teeth but doesn't want the toothbrush near her mouth. I'm hoping she'll catch on to it because she fights terribly if Mark or I try to force her.

I've finally found some barrettes that actually stick in her hair, so her bangs are out of her eyes now.

Sunday, February 01, 2009

Small Dog lineup


from left to right: Fry, Tansy, Misha, Bunny


Another beautiful day, and we took a walk all the way to Grandma and Grandpa's house. Of course, all the small dogs (ie: not Great Danes) followed us up. Tansy is the dog that wandered up last year and decided she lived here.


here she is asking Esme if she wants to share




What is that big glass eye you have Daddy? POKE!

Esme's new toy and toys to Pittsboro



Now I've said before I am not an advocate of any kid's toy that makes noise. I discovered a bulletin board for parents of toddlers that 'reach their milestones early', and this toy was highly reccommended by those parents. All the little letters snap in to the hole and sing something like 'A says A, every letter makes a sound, A says A'. I'm amazed at how quickly Esme picked up how the toy works and can usually snap in the pieces by herself with no problem.

For those of you who are wondering, that is a non-working piece of medical equipment Esme has her letters stored on. We picked it up at a flea market and haven't done anything with it yet. Sometimes Esme likes to play with the dials ;)

Also I have received a small order from a toy store in Pittsboro, North Carolina. Yay! I am working on them now and am very excited about her possibly stocking our toys in the future!


Hop frogs for North Carolina