Word/sentences I've heard recently: 'dream', 'minutes', 'hour', 'knitting', 'i'm the funny, you laugh', 'turn off the alarm', 'ballerina', 'xylophone', 'fathers (as compared to ladies)', 'what the he** was that', 'I will be-ing four years old', 'I can't love that - that a mama cup of tea', 'eat this later, put it in the fridge', 'make those dishes (wash them)', ''keep your mouth shut' (to Daddy about telling her if she laughed too hard she would pee... I did tell her not to say that to Daddy), 'that's a good idea, let's do that!', 'that is not for you DOG, that is Esme's food', 'do the numbers say it, both do it', 'you draw, you draw a lot', 'what is her name - what color?', 'get the doorbell', 'here is your change (in buttons)', 'Bart is a regular normal kid' (repeat from hearing it in a show) - trying to find out what that meant. She has decided it means he is a bad boy.. because he does bad things. I ask her what she is doing and she says loudly 'nothing, nothing!'... *shake head*
I've found myself asking her to repeat herself more often than usual - tonight she said she was mad at me because she didn't get to walk on the rocks. I had a hard time understanding that mostly because I didn't expect it. She meant she wanted to come walk on the gravel in the yard barefoot to come greet me at the truck - and I came in too soon or she couldn't get Daddy to open the door in time etc..
She also told me we were Fraggles, we got out of the room! I had not heard her say 'Fraggles' in a long time. She has also been 'walking the Egyptian' downstairs for several days - I think she saw that in a Pocoyo episode? She is really going to like her Ellie for her birthday - as there is an invisible Ellie playing with us day after day.
I tell her I love her and she says 'Thanks! I love you, too!' She has been talking a lot about Grandpa and Grandma going to the doctor in the truck. What doctors do (and farmers and firemen and ladies etc...) has been a large source of curiosity and deep thought lately. She asked me if my hiccups needed a doctor the other day, and found her stethoscope later.
Extra that she showed me tonight when she was in a drawing mood: She can draw a face, a circle, copy a square and a triangle (but not do them from memory), and draw some letters from memory.
As I painted her fingernails and toenails (compensation for being unable to wash the red marker off of her hands) she says 'Where have you been all day?'.. to which I reply (with an odd eyebrow) 'at work, where have you been all day?' She thinks... 'with toys!' *ha*
Showing posts with label 47months. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 47months. Show all posts
Monday, October 24, 2011
The Case of the Wiley Pants
I have been heard in public to say that I find making pants boring. This pattern heard me. This was the wiliest pair of pants I ever have tried to sew. Finally, I got them done, after two mistakes - one from being distracted (a big one that took an hour to remedy) and the second was just not interpreting directions properly. They're done. They fit. I see no reason to make a second pair this way at the moment.
So - I cut the doggie fabric out of this pattern, tried and true, used for the past year or so. It took me an hour, where the other took me about four.
So we are up two pairs of pants, and my next day off is Friday.
Other: // I want to record this as a time when Esme is going more 'abstract.' She is telling me about time, and dreams (10 minutes? when asking when we are going to leave the other morning, first this then that about things she wants to do, 'eat this later' about food she wants to put in the fridge). She told me contents of dreams she has had in her sleep and can recognize when characters in tv shows are 'having a dream', now. We've talked about dreams being in your head, and I also had to explain what it meant "pictures in your brain, when you close your eyes and still see pictures they are in your brain, inside your head". I told her she could remember what strawberries tasted like, it was in her brain even when she didn't have strawberries, or what Nova's ears looked like when she was upstairs... I think she got it, but time will tell. She used the WORD 'dream' today several times, which makes me think she did get it.
She is also understanding a lot more of what Mark and I are saying to each other (when she lets us talk - have to work on that). She is picking things up everywhere - and using them, and we are having to stop and realize we understand what she said, it was very 'pat on' and maybe we have to sit down and have a talk about it. And she understands what we explain to her better than before, as well. Also - she is picking things up like imitations (started imitating MY imitation of Mickey Mouse, then told me it sounded more like Itchy and Scratchy), dance moves she sees on Youtube just for a few minutes, and imitating other things like a flyswatter end put through her hair tie to pretend she had an arrow in her head (like a cartoon, she said) and a xylophone stick on top of her head and beeping to pretend she was an alien baby out of another cartoon.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Slow bird and worm
First off, very glad to see Grandpa home and hope he is doing well. Mark says he does seem to be. I have tomorrow off but probably will not visiting out of general caution - people at work have not been well, flu and sinuses etc. Grandpa will need his energy and Esme takes much of OUR energy even without recent hospital visits... Take care Grandpa!
McCalls 8001 size 5
'slow' bird caught this worm, one year later!
//Saturday//
Patience paid off... this item is coming in the mail. It was November 2010 when I saw one I really liked but wasn't the right size or anywhere near what I'd pay for it.... I'm very happy thinking about making this coat!
Pants are on the agenda for tomorrow. The fabrics are coming out of the dryer now. The last pants that are not terribly highwater on her were 21.5 inches before they were hemmed at top and bottom... may need to extend that just a tiny bit more... not much, though. Will need to locate my elastic tonight, as well... and see if a trip to town will be needed or not. Miss Judy at work wanted to see Esme again. She could not believe she was that much bigger than she was in March. Oh yes, she is!
Because she can't read yet - I can report here that Esme's birthday and Christmas surprises came in the mail today. They are tiny, but detailed - and she will love them. The day is approaching fast - less than two weeks. I still need to get frosting for her cake, and some paint for another gift. We have plenty of balloons and candles for the cake... maybe another practical gift like more socks. I had a package hidden around here the next size up... can't find it! Will have to look harder. //found// all I had to do was complain loudly to the air.. and the next time I opened the same box - I saw them. ??
//Sunday// Pants! Working on them. I really had enough of everything, so we decided to stay home and keep warm. I am cutting out a trial pair of pants and ready to start piecing them now. I'll want to dig in my stash later and if there isn't something to 'trial' the coat pattern (when it gets here) with I might buy a few yards of plain red fabric. That always gets used here or there, and can combine with the red and white striped fabric I've been keeping stashed.
The pants pattern is Simplicity 6121 (altered for less flare)
same pattern I made her blue coat in July from.
This pattern is different than all of her other pants in that it has elastic only in the back - and a flat waistband up front. That is a challenge -- going to attempt.
I had a very typical - no that is not our child that just did that.. oh yes, it was...type of thought. Typical, for us, in that she is always surprising us. She was playing the new xylophone from Grandma and then she hit two notes in succession that perked my ears. I was cooking around the corner. It perked her ears, too. Then I hear - straight out of a Simpsons episode - dance of the sugar plum fairies followed by 'Maggie - quit that racket!'.. and she repeated that sequence five times before coming and telling me I had to pretend to be Homer so she could 'do it right.' *facepalm* My child. Our child. Who has been watching Simpsons religiously for several years... And she still really likes the idea that she could be Maggie Simpson (she knows how to type that on her computer now and pretends she is Maggie when she types it). She already has an alter ego! And an ear for a tune...
The other one was more fun and normal - she took the xylophone sticks over to me about ten minutes later and looked at me, looked at them... they are round balls with long wooden sticks on them. She pulls her chair stool up to me where I am cutting up vegetables and sits down prim and proper with her knees crossed and holds the sticks with the round ends up and moves them up and down vertically... while adjusting something invisible with one hand every once in a while. She looks up at me and adjusts imaginary glasses. "I'm knitting. I'm knitting a blue dress. See?" Again. My child. imitating me. And making me feel like some Grandma out of a 1940s postcard!
Some days you just have to shake your head.. laugh.. and know she gets it from the both of you.
'slow' bird caught this worm, one year later!
//Saturday//
Patience paid off... this item is coming in the mail. It was November 2010 when I saw one I really liked but wasn't the right size or anywhere near what I'd pay for it.... I'm very happy thinking about making this coat!
Pants are on the agenda for tomorrow. The fabrics are coming out of the dryer now. The last pants that are not terribly highwater on her were 21.5 inches before they were hemmed at top and bottom... may need to extend that just a tiny bit more... not much, though. Will need to locate my elastic tonight, as well... and see if a trip to town will be needed or not. Miss Judy at work wanted to see Esme again. She could not believe she was that much bigger than she was in March. Oh yes, she is!
Because she can't read yet - I can report here that Esme's birthday and Christmas surprises came in the mail today. They are tiny, but detailed - and she will love them. The day is approaching fast - less than two weeks. I still need to get frosting for her cake, and some paint for another gift. We have plenty of balloons and candles for the cake... maybe another practical gift like more socks. I had a package hidden around here the next size up... can't find it! Will have to look harder. //found// all I had to do was complain loudly to the air.. and the next time I opened the same box - I saw them. ??
//Sunday// Pants! Working on them. I really had enough of everything, so we decided to stay home and keep warm. I am cutting out a trial pair of pants and ready to start piecing them now. I'll want to dig in my stash later and if there isn't something to 'trial' the coat pattern (when it gets here) with I might buy a few yards of plain red fabric. That always gets used here or there, and can combine with the red and white striped fabric I've been keeping stashed.
same pattern I made her blue coat in July from.
This pattern is different than all of her other pants in that it has elastic only in the back - and a flat waistband up front. That is a challenge -- going to attempt.
I had a very typical - no that is not our child that just did that.. oh yes, it was...type of thought. Typical, for us, in that she is always surprising us. She was playing the new xylophone from Grandma and then she hit two notes in succession that perked my ears. I was cooking around the corner. It perked her ears, too. Then I hear - straight out of a Simpsons episode - dance of the sugar plum fairies followed by 'Maggie - quit that racket!'.. and she repeated that sequence five times before coming and telling me I had to pretend to be Homer so she could 'do it right.' *facepalm* My child. Our child. Who has been watching Simpsons religiously for several years... And she still really likes the idea that she could be Maggie Simpson (she knows how to type that on her computer now and pretends she is Maggie when she types it). She already has an alter ego! And an ear for a tune...
The other one was more fun and normal - she took the xylophone sticks over to me about ten minutes later and looked at me, looked at them... they are round balls with long wooden sticks on them. She pulls her chair stool up to me where I am cutting up vegetables and sits down prim and proper with her knees crossed and holds the sticks with the round ends up and moves them up and down vertically... while adjusting something invisible with one hand every once in a while. She looks up at me and adjusts imaginary glasses. "I'm knitting. I'm knitting a blue dress. See?" Again. My child. imitating me. And making me feel like some Grandma out of a 1940s postcard!
Some days you just have to shake your head.. laugh.. and know she gets it from the both of you.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
note to self
The other night I looked at Esme all stretched out in her bed, arms and legs flailed one way and the other... extremely long legs. Sometimes lately it seems like she is ALL legs, as when I am lengthening pants patterns for the next go round... I thought to myself 'Is she really not even four yet? Isn't she somewhere around six or seven?' Looking at her there and knowing certain aspects of her personality (as when she is playing a complicated maze game on her computer)... it seems at times that could be true. Mark gently reminds me not to compare her height to other children her age (she dwarfs them, at least the local kids I've seen), because every kid is different, we feed her well and both of us are tall. And then I know it has only been (nearly) four years since she came into the world.. When I hear her talk, when she was afraid I would throw her lovey toy in the trash, it cements back into place - yes, she is only three years and eleven months old. And time will only fly faster from here...
Sometimes I just have to stand back and readjust the mindset a little. And stop measuring legs ;) except for the pants.
Sometimes I just have to stand back and readjust the mindset a little. And stop measuring legs ;) except for the pants.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
New dress for Esme, tunic shirt for Mama
Thank you to Daddy for taking pictures of both of us. I hope Novia sees them, as she was asking for them on Facebook.
putting on shoes
Bringing tomatoes to Grandma
the bag is wet
on second thought, she may be counting the tomatoes...
Mama has an upcoming career as a mad scientist, eh?
Esme's dress: Simplicity 5137, size 5, dated 1963. Sewn with no alterations except for the shortening of the skirt by half. It has a 7 inch zipper in it, and will need longer ones to keep her from growing out of them so quickly. With 9 inch zippers, these will make excellent winter dresses. My tunic shirt is the 'smash together' I was talking about a few days ago... needs a lot more work to make it fit me better, but this is usable, definitely good enough for working at home.
Both Esme's dress and my shirt were made with bits I had but did not have large investment in. There are other fabrics I will be happy using for her dresses now that I have a good 'plan of attack', ie: a pattern that is proven to fit.
//Note// The other day when I cleaned Esme's room I threw out almost everything underneath her bed. She saw it - and didn't cry as much as I had expected. Tonight she woke up in the middle of the night and had peed the bed - and I changed her bed. She hugged her Cookie Rabbit and Mr.Frog (her favorite lovey toys) and asked if they were 'ok' and they didn't get peed on, and they didn't have to go in the trash. I know maybe now why she shoves them way up under her pillow in the middle of the night - so nothing happens to them? It also affected me quite deeply that she thought I would throw them out... Mama is a meanie? There wasn't a lot under there that she really played with anymore, maybe a book 'The Magic of Everyday Things' that was not saveable, but I did know she liked. There was also one item that I did feel quite badly about throwing out on her, a cow flashlight she got last Christmas from a friend of mine at work. I dug it out after I put her back to bed and washed it with bleach downstairs - it wasn't really that bad, I just worried about the openings for the speakers hiding things I couldn't see.... It is bleached and waiting for her on her desk this morning. Mama is a softie, actually.
on second thought, she may be counting the tomatoes...
Esme's dress: Simplicity 5137, size 5, dated 1963. Sewn with no alterations except for the shortening of the skirt by half. It has a 7 inch zipper in it, and will need longer ones to keep her from growing out of them so quickly. With 9 inch zippers, these will make excellent winter dresses. My tunic shirt is the 'smash together' I was talking about a few days ago... needs a lot more work to make it fit me better, but this is usable, definitely good enough for working at home.
Both Esme's dress and my shirt were made with bits I had but did not have large investment in. There are other fabrics I will be happy using for her dresses now that I have a good 'plan of attack', ie: a pattern that is proven to fit.
//Note// The other day when I cleaned Esme's room I threw out almost everything underneath her bed. She saw it - and didn't cry as much as I had expected. Tonight she woke up in the middle of the night and had peed the bed - and I changed her bed. She hugged her Cookie Rabbit and Mr.Frog (her favorite lovey toys) and asked if they were 'ok' and they didn't get peed on, and they didn't have to go in the trash. I know maybe now why she shoves them way up under her pillow in the middle of the night - so nothing happens to them? It also affected me quite deeply that she thought I would throw them out... Mama is a meanie? There wasn't a lot under there that she really played with anymore, maybe a book 'The Magic of Everyday Things' that was not saveable, but I did know she liked. There was also one item that I did feel quite badly about throwing out on her, a cow flashlight she got last Christmas from a friend of mine at work. I dug it out after I put her back to bed and washed it with bleach downstairs - it wasn't really that bad, I just worried about the openings for the speakers hiding things I couldn't see.... It is bleached and waiting for her on her desk this morning. Mama is a softie, actually.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
here and there weekend
I have the weekend off, and a lot of closing shifts next week. Maybe I'll get more done, but probably not. I had a headache to beat the band yesterday, that had started the day before. I'm feeling okay today but not as ambitious as usual. We might go to town and we might just stay home and loll (which for me, always is more.. but I have to work myself up to it). Esme is watching 'Tarzan' for about the twentieth time since we bought it for her last week -- our brains might explode if we watch it much more! I've already caught myself humming the music to her while I am sewing, making food etc... and she catches on and starts to sing 'mama monkey and baby boy' song.
QUOTES and birthday prep
That is a toy car, a baby toy car, it is so cute! (tiny smart car in parking lot). I want to go to that house, the happy birthday house, PLEASE?? We go there find toys, go happy birthday. (dollar tree store across the road, where we bought a balloon for another girl last month) I told her I would wash a dress that was put away and see if she had grown into it, maybe she could wear it for Christmas - and she said 'Santa give it pretty dress to me? For Christmas tree? WOW, let's wash it. (so innocent!) I want to share it with you, we be rabbits, you eat some and I eat some, it not so bad! (it not so bad??? we bought new french bread and this was the end of the old loaf we were going to split out for lunch).
Mark and I sent in the order for Esme's birthday/Christmas items from Amazon. I am getting her the Pocoyo toys she actually pointed out she wanted on the screen - and anything else will just fall into place as the events arrive. She is such a happy and easygoing child - she doesn't expect tons of things and actually would probably be thrilled with one wrapped item, a bunch of balloons and birthday candles. We are lucky parents to have a little personality like this... I know it won't last like that forever and don't want to take advantage of it too much, either.
HOMESCHOOL:
I made paper dolls for Esme last night as part of our projects. I made her a fireman and a dog with a water hose to go put out a fire in a building. Then she said the dog got hurt - so I made her a doctor/nurse figure with a bag that came and fixed the dog's foot. Then she said there were people in the building, so I made her a little girl for the fireman and the doctor to save - then they all had to have pizza.
Playing with such things and listening to her talk about painting while I was sewing, it makes me more confident there are lots of homeschool things we can work on over the next two years. She won't be the age they want for Kindergarten for another year or two... And although she is on the verge of reading now, and understands a lot of logic games - we can learn about like plants, animals, jobs, how to build things and how things are made... and on the way her language will continue to naturally get more complex. Every morning and when I get home from work she comes up to me now with the request 'I want to talk talk talk to you you you Mama, I'm thinking... (painting/cereal/monkeys/do exercises) etc...' She is really reveling in the homeschool idea as Mama spending lots of time with her doing fun things. And she is saying more 'Esmespeak' that I have to stop and try to translate. ie: She told me I 'missed a spot' on her dress ties this morning because they were hanging looser than usual... so I tried to explain I just didn't tie them 'all the way'... that was a five minute discussion explaining what I was trying to explain. *shakes head* And at the same time I found her at my computer screen a few minutes ago pointing out letter after letter and having no idea what the words said.. but she wants to learn why I do this and what it all means.
SEWING:
Sherbet Pips fabric
puppy dogs in blue
I have a yard of this coming in the mail from my sewing rec money. Esme picked it over the gray, which I was considering. She has a good eye, because the blue was half-price for a full yard and I was knowing a half-yard wasn't enough but not wanting to spend more than that. She's a good helper ;) The reason I was looking at the lavendar gray was that she has so many blue things already... hmm.
I finished my second tunic shirt last night. I am very happy with how this pattern has worked out - it is a smash-together of this jacket pattern (recent) and the following vintage tunic shirt pattern. The sleeves set in very easily and I 'make do' for not having enough fabric by splitting the front horizontally.
recently published M5298 McCalls (a few years old)
The drawstring pants I've made several pairs of came from this, too
I started with such a large pattern size 14, because my shoulders and arms are much larger than what is 'average' for my chest and waist size. That has made it difficult to find clothes off the rack that fit well enough in the arms without having large drapes of material about the waist.
8340 Simplicity tunic shirt, 1977
Combining the shoulder and arm width of the upper pattern with other details of the smaller pattern, I end up with something in between. The sleeves set in like the jacket, with a different armscye shape. Adding ties at the sides draws some of the material to the back but still allows me to get my shoulders up into the garment. It still needs work particularly in the neckline and the back lower armhole needs 'something' to not pull when I cross my arms across the front.
QUOTES and birthday prep
That is a toy car, a baby toy car, it is so cute! (tiny smart car in parking lot). I want to go to that house, the happy birthday house, PLEASE?? We go there find toys, go happy birthday. (dollar tree store across the road, where we bought a balloon for another girl last month) I told her I would wash a dress that was put away and see if she had grown into it, maybe she could wear it for Christmas - and she said 'Santa give it pretty dress to me? For Christmas tree? WOW, let's wash it. (so innocent!) I want to share it with you, we be rabbits, you eat some and I eat some, it not so bad! (it not so bad??? we bought new french bread and this was the end of the old loaf we were going to split out for lunch).
Mark and I sent in the order for Esme's birthday/Christmas items from Amazon. I am getting her the Pocoyo toys she actually pointed out she wanted on the screen - and anything else will just fall into place as the events arrive. She is such a happy and easygoing child - she doesn't expect tons of things and actually would probably be thrilled with one wrapped item, a bunch of balloons and birthday candles. We are lucky parents to have a little personality like this... I know it won't last like that forever and don't want to take advantage of it too much, either.
HOMESCHOOL:
I made paper dolls for Esme last night as part of our projects. I made her a fireman and a dog with a water hose to go put out a fire in a building. Then she said the dog got hurt - so I made her a doctor/nurse figure with a bag that came and fixed the dog's foot. Then she said there were people in the building, so I made her a little girl for the fireman and the doctor to save - then they all had to have pizza.
Playing with such things and listening to her talk about painting while I was sewing, it makes me more confident there are lots of homeschool things we can work on over the next two years. She won't be the age they want for Kindergarten for another year or two... And although she is on the verge of reading now, and understands a lot of logic games - we can learn about like plants, animals, jobs, how to build things and how things are made... and on the way her language will continue to naturally get more complex. Every morning and when I get home from work she comes up to me now with the request 'I want to talk talk talk to you you you Mama, I'm thinking... (painting/cereal/monkeys/do exercises) etc...' She is really reveling in the homeschool idea as Mama spending lots of time with her doing fun things. And she is saying more 'Esmespeak' that I have to stop and try to translate. ie: She told me I 'missed a spot' on her dress ties this morning because they were hanging looser than usual... so I tried to explain I just didn't tie them 'all the way'... that was a five minute discussion explaining what I was trying to explain. *shakes head* And at the same time I found her at my computer screen a few minutes ago pointing out letter after letter and having no idea what the words said.. but she wants to learn why I do this and what it all means.
SEWING:
puppy dogs in blue
I have a yard of this coming in the mail from my sewing rec money. Esme picked it over the gray, which I was considering. She has a good eye, because the blue was half-price for a full yard and I was knowing a half-yard wasn't enough but not wanting to spend more than that. She's a good helper ;) The reason I was looking at the lavendar gray was that she has so many blue things already... hmm.
I finished my second tunic shirt last night. I am very happy with how this pattern has worked out - it is a smash-together of this jacket pattern (recent) and the following vintage tunic shirt pattern. The sleeves set in very easily and I 'make do' for not having enough fabric by splitting the front horizontally.
The drawstring pants I've made several pairs of came from this, too
I started with such a large pattern size 14, because my shoulders and arms are much larger than what is 'average' for my chest and waist size. That has made it difficult to find clothes off the rack that fit well enough in the arms without having large drapes of material about the waist.
Combining the shoulder and arm width of the upper pattern with other details of the smaller pattern, I end up with something in between. The sleeves set in like the jacket, with a different armscye shape. Adding ties at the sides draws some of the material to the back but still allows me to get my shoulders up into the garment. It still needs work particularly in the neckline and the back lower armhole needs 'something' to not pull when I cross my arms across the front.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
more painting and a bubble kitten
looks just like her Daddy doing this...
taking after her mother Pogo
We didn't do a lot of 'homeschool' today, just let her paint paper and paint the truck again... talked a lot and played imaginary games. I brought my shirt down I needed to sew and got quite a bit of it done. Daddy made chicken and set the trimmings to boiling for broth. I put spiced tomatoes in it and onion powder and Esme actually had a good amount of the broth herself. I've saved some of it for her and put another half of it in the spinach I had the other day to bring to work tomorrow.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Playing with paints and glue
I got a frame-like piece of wood today salvaged from some packaging. I hope I can turn it into a second easel for Esme, it is going to take looking at what other materials are in the garage and making a plan for it.
Sunday, October 09, 2011
bitty black shoes and little big words
We were in the store buying shoes and another older girl was there with her mom, giving her a very hard time. Esme made the mom feel bad by asking if the little girl hated her mommy. It was said just loud enough and clear enough I couldn't deny that was exactly what she had said. *hide* She doesn't really know about being difficult when she sees others do it *ha* even though she is definitely difficult at times, herself. I told her no, she was just being an unhappy little girl. The Mom was shocked for a moment, but then told her daughter she was 'sure making a good impression', which of course, went over both girls' heads. Esme was good trying on shoes and told me the size 11 were too big, which, in that style, they were. So I put the size ten on her, and it seemed to fit her much better than the size 9 or 9.5 she had been wearing. The old shoes had actually RUBBED off the sizing, she had worn them so much. The older girl went into the other aisle. She was still complaining, and Esme said she had a dirty face - needed to go clean up. Esme had a dirty face too, and dirty pants and dress from playing outside. I pointed that out to her but she didn't want to believe it. I really wanted to hide - she was being honest in her way, but... not very nice about it. She doesn't really know how to 'be polite' yet... we haven't had much cause to have to work on saying anything but please and thank-you and excuse-me/sorry manners and other than that, she says exactly what she thinks. In our family that works - but in the general public that is not going to fly, even if she is cute! The other family left and then Esme unleashed more on me...
She said she didn't want black shoes - she wanted pretty shoes (ruby slipper type), that the pretty shoes were "shoes to be a kid". I have no idea where she got that wording, but wow, was it salient. I felt bad being the mom telling her she had to buy sensible shoes! So, I did let her try on the pink Hello Kitty shoes but she told me they did not feel good. So after that, she seemed to be happy with the black Mary Jane shoes. The ones I had intended to buy her were somewhere in between - brown with flowers, but the straps did not fall across the ankle, and in the past she has not done well with straps that were further forward.. kept falling off her feet when she ran.
She said she didn't want black shoes - she wanted pretty shoes (ruby slipper type), that the pretty shoes were "shoes to be a kid". I have no idea where she got that wording, but wow, was it salient. I felt bad being the mom telling her she had to buy sensible shoes! So, I did let her try on the pink Hello Kitty shoes but she told me they did not feel good. So after that, she seemed to be happy with the black Mary Jane shoes. The ones I had intended to buy her were somewhere in between - brown with flowers, but the straps did not fall across the ankle, and in the past she has not done well with straps that were further forward.. kept falling off her feet when she ran.
smatterings
Esme spent some time with her Grandma yesterday, which was wonderful :) She must have expended a lot of energy as she was crashed when I came home - and only the promise of going painting made her agree to get up. We worked in the school room until about ten, and then I made her pack it up as I have this insanely early morning today. Grandma asked about her shoes - the only pair that seems to fit well right now is her toddler size 11 sneakers (the black ones), but I have my eye on a pair of Hello Kitty shoes she pointed out to me at WM and want to take her in with me to try a pair on this next day off I have. I think it will still be 11, but don't want to buy a size she is just about to grow out of! Other than that, I'm gathering ideas and making a list for her birthday which is approaching faster than I want it to. She has pointed out a few things she wants to me on Amazon, and I'm working at getting those. I want to take her to the bowling alley with two coworker's children sometime in November as a treat/post-birthday event... but have to see how much that would be and Mark isn't keen on the idea (social event etc.). I still intend a regular family cake and presents sort of thing like we have done before.
Esme did well with her projects last night. I had her draw a letter and a circle - and then she painted for a while, and I took ideas from our painting and ran with those to make a caterpillar to glue together which she really enjoyed, then she painted some more, and we did our elephant counting sheet I had made.
Esme did well with her projects last night. I had her draw a letter and a circle - and then she painted for a while, and I took ideas from our painting and ran with those to make a caterpillar to glue together which she really enjoyed, then she painted some more, and we did our elephant counting sheet I had made.
Friday, October 07, 2011
homeschool ideas/supplies
For three days (partial today, as I had to work) we have been in the new converted workshop--->school and Esme really loves it. She gets to paint, and glue, and read words we write on pictures and have conversations between man and woman bears *haha*
She keeps "reading" me stories and painting keyholes on cardboard and 'opening' them with a paper key looking for treasure.
Basically I want her to get used to the new 'idea' and work on finishing some projects and listening to me about new things. She really does like to see her work taped up on the wall and remember what we did before. Already we are about 75% there -- she wants to do all the fun (painting), but gets frustrated quickly when something is hard or when she begins to get boring. Exmaple: it was getting hard to squeeze the glue bottle while she was gluing clothes on a bear, so she wanted to glue them all on his face to be 'done'. Maybe I should have let her? I didn't - and she did finish, and she had fun having him talk to the lady bear I had made earlier.
She also cried so hard at having to leave the room for the night. I told her we could come back tomorrow if she was good... I am so tired, need to sleep!
homeschool supplies // have all of this already
scissors (mine, need to find hers I hid them last year because she wasn't ready)
glue and gluesticks
construction paper and colored printer paper
white cardstock and white printer paper
crayons and markers
letter tiles in her plastic suitcase (PAIRS in PEARS game)(for later)
printed counting figures/tokens
yarn (lots of it)
colored felt (lots of it)
watercolor paints
acrylic paints and palette holder
old jar or plastic cup for holding water for painting
paintbrushes
masking tape
paper towels
ideas : writing letters (of course), also drawing suns, moons, stars, talking about weather (hot/cold/umbrella/snow/etc.), putting teeth (white pompoms or pieces of cut felt?) in a monster/crocodile while counting them, giving food to animals, matching babies to animal moms, walking along a path from one place to another (paper maze), paper house with a bed to 'make', a table and chairs to set a table to eat etc..., painting apples and oranges and bananas with the right colors, putting yarn through holes in a card, matching circles or keyholes of different sizes to their mates on paper or cardboard, matching keys of different colors to keyholes of the same colors, matching the number of tokens counted out to the number shown counted out on a card, talking about different vehicles (plane vs truck vs car vs bus vs boat), underwater explorer (fish and little diver guy and an underwater scene)... needs a shark, collecting hidden kittens or chicken tokens into a basket
I was printing out an elephant sheet of Mama and five baby elephants to count/color and Esme saw it - was all ready to march downstairs with it to the 'school room.' She was so unhappy when I said I was just preparing it for tomorrow. She wanted to go all over again!
She keeps "reading" me stories and painting keyholes on cardboard and 'opening' them with a paper key looking for treasure.
Basically I want her to get used to the new 'idea' and work on finishing some projects and listening to me about new things. She really does like to see her work taped up on the wall and remember what we did before. Already we are about 75% there -- she wants to do all the fun (painting), but gets frustrated quickly when something is hard or when she begins to get boring. Exmaple: it was getting hard to squeeze the glue bottle while she was gluing clothes on a bear, so she wanted to glue them all on his face to be 'done'. Maybe I should have let her? I didn't - and she did finish, and she had fun having him talk to the lady bear I had made earlier.
She also cried so hard at having to leave the room for the night. I told her we could come back tomorrow if she was good... I am so tired, need to sleep!
homeschool supplies // have all of this already
scissors (mine, need to find hers I hid them last year because she wasn't ready)
glue and gluesticks
construction paper and colored printer paper
white cardstock and white printer paper
crayons and markers
letter tiles in her plastic suitcase (PAIRS in PEARS game)(for later)
printed counting figures/tokens
yarn (lots of it)
colored felt (lots of it)
watercolor paints
acrylic paints and palette holder
old jar or plastic cup for holding water for painting
paintbrushes
masking tape
paper towels
ideas : writing letters (of course), also drawing suns, moons, stars, talking about weather (hot/cold/umbrella/snow/etc.), putting teeth (white pompoms or pieces of cut felt?) in a monster/crocodile while counting them, giving food to animals, matching babies to animal moms, walking along a path from one place to another (paper maze), paper house with a bed to 'make', a table and chairs to set a table to eat etc..., painting apples and oranges and bananas with the right colors, putting yarn through holes in a card, matching circles or keyholes of different sizes to their mates on paper or cardboard, matching keys of different colors to keyholes of the same colors, matching the number of tokens counted out to the number shown counted out on a card, talking about different vehicles (plane vs truck vs car vs bus vs boat), underwater explorer (fish and little diver guy and an underwater scene)... needs a shark, collecting hidden kittens or chicken tokens into a basket
I was printing out an elephant sheet of Mama and five baby elephants to count/color and Esme saw it - was all ready to march downstairs with it to the 'school room.' She was so unhappy when I said I was just preparing it for tomorrow. She wanted to go all over again!
Wednesday, October 05, 2011
Treasures found... art made
and light weight cotton denim in navy
I found these fabrics last night after work... it was such a great find for very little money. Mark even said it was well spent.
I was cleaning this morning and getting ready to throw away/put away some of the little assemblages Esme makes on her shelves.. and I found these all hidden away between some toys. She has been collecting treasures out of the buttons I let her play with, like a little magpie! Apparently she likes rhinestones! I can honestly call it treasure because her treasure chest was one of the toys piled on top of them.
LATER: Esme and I spent some time in our downstairs room, the one that is supposed to be hers some day when we finish it out and solve the drainage problems in the garage (adjacent to it) for good. I have a lot of my old art school things in there - piles and piles of drawings and sketchbooks.. and some assorted crafts. I cleaned down to the table and invited Esme in there to read books while I sorted. She saw some of my old paintings in a stack - and said they were mama stories, and that I did a good job. I unrolled a canvas I did not remember what was on it - and she said it is a girl..and looked up at me with an odd questioning look - it is mama? And yes, it was a self-portrait I had done back in 2001. Apparently I did a good job ;)
She had me paint a portrait of her - and man... I'm out of practice! It could be any little blond girl, it is not her in particular. I will need to practice and she will definitely help. If Esme had had her way, the arms would have been green and the eyes would have been pink and the face red. But she was impressed that I drew her dress green with pink spots - just like the dress she was wearing.. she thought about that and then decided that Mama did a very good job and told me so several times. She loved watching me mix colors, literally danced up a storm telling me 'the red is so pink - the blue the black the green .. it all blue! etc etc.. She dipped in and drew some circles on her own paper but was very hesitant, and then wanted me to do it for her... and I didn't. I started to fill the background on her portrait in with purple and she said 'no raining Mama, no raining on the Esme need a sun right there.' She has her ideas... I just thought it was a pretty 'Esme' type color to fill in with.. and she thought I was putting her out in the rain!
I bought a little truck and a big brush for her at the store today. We will have to paint that big box soon as a project. It should be warm this week for it. She can use my little brushes on the truck. I am thinking of moving her table and chairs down to the room so she can spend time with me down there. She hardly ever uses the table now except when I am home to spread toys out on - she is usually at her desk table with her computer or food trays. We can do more 'school' type things in there, as well, with an Esme-designated corner. She was sitting on a stepstool today and reading some old books of hers she found stashed there. I'll keep an eye out for some carpet remnant at work to throw in there to keep the floor warmer this winter. The added benefits of all this is 1.) my art supplies will not be crowding my sewing supplies upstairs and 2.) instead of that room just being a shrine to 'old art' that I can't part with but can't do much with... it will be a place for making new things as well. The downside is, I will have to make some rules she can only go in there with me or daddy, since there is not a lock on the outside. I don't want her accidently knocking a portfolio down to the floor where it could get damaged if it rains hard, or leaving a cat in there etc etc...
Her portrait I painted is on the wall behind her...
painting truck with mama
Tuesday, October 04, 2011
47 months
It's almost here, she will be four next month. I wonder if I am going to continue the monthly updates once we reach the 48 month mark... and I answer myself that I will, at least until 5. But I'll drop the months ;) and find some other way to make it easy to search back. After all, these are for her as much as me - to look back on one day. Also, I am sharing it with you, the reader, up until such time she tells me this is all too embarrassing to continue. The way that is going, probably a few more years! But, I think five is important. A lot happened the last year. She is such a different child now than she was then, and yet, so much the same. Her world has expanded, and so has her imagination.
That is what I want to post about this month. Her imagination. She now talks about ghosts and dragons and alligators and all sorts of things without any prompting to a subject change! She tells me things that I have to say 'uh huh... really?' on... like ghosts don't have teeth, and that food makes your teeth grow (which is true, kind of) and that capes make you 'super'. She wonders what ghosts do without teeth, and why they try to eat her? She tells me what doctors do, and what farmers do/wear, but still has a firm identity that she is none of those - she is an Esme, a little girl. She thinks she has this mommy and baby thing worked out - but it is VERY funny to hear her explanation of it. Such as, ghosts have mommies and daddies too, and they help them so they are not ghosts and can be alive. All of that was said with a washcloth over her hand in the bathtub and singing parts of a Muppet song from the Alice Cooper episode where they sing 'I'm looking through you...' ?? Some days I just don't know or plan on finding out exactly where it came from. She has these things figured out, and uses them often as matter-of-fact instead of just imaginary. It is an interesting ride when she really gets going on a topic. However, she still does not jabber one's ear off as some her age do. She thinks, and thinks deep. Then she explodes on you at unexpected times.
She sings daily and often, and gets a lot of the words right to many songs - doesn't like it when I change the words, but realizes what a joke is now. She used to just get mad at me. Her deadpan 'no laughing' and 'no clapping' and 'don't say it' with a pouty lip is still a common occurrence. It is especially funny when she has said something like the 'Daddy isn't learning how to be a dragon right' when he was coughing smoke... and she is 100% serious, crossed-arms and everything looking at you. Classic.
Sometimes, I will come to my desk in the middle of the day and find an assemblage of toys which will make me laugh. At this very moment there is a tiny wooden helicopter with a hole through it no larger than the size of a quarter. She has found a small plastic pig and put him into the helicopter so he can take a ride. I remember her last night spinning the helicopter blades and making it fly around, but I hadn't seen the pig at that time.
In other things, we still have not learned the button-up shirts. I have not stressed it. I might work on her more with her jacket with the one button. It will come. She is extremely interested in computer games and learning how they all work and how to win. She has so many I can't keep track. At times, she is still interested in learning how to spell words and how to write letters. She still counts to twenty while skipping a few .. and I've heard 'eighteen, nineteen, ten!' recently said to a kitten. I think she wants to work on money more and will have to find her a plastic piggy bank or something she can put coins into - she gives me buttons and says there are your twenty cents. She has had very little regression on the PT - forgetting to take time one day etc...at least she got her own new clothes and put the wet ones in the laundry room. She is eating well and growing tall and strong. She is social and loving... empathetic and funny. I don't worry constantly about some of those things like I used to but Mark still has to pat me on the head and say 'Yes she is an alien and everything in the world is wrong with her'... and I get the point. I guess I get it from my mother.. *yipe* I hate that idea. Old habits are hard to break.
That is what I want to post about this month. Her imagination. She now talks about ghosts and dragons and alligators and all sorts of things without any prompting to a subject change! She tells me things that I have to say 'uh huh... really?' on... like ghosts don't have teeth, and that food makes your teeth grow (which is true, kind of) and that capes make you 'super'. She wonders what ghosts do without teeth, and why they try to eat her? She tells me what doctors do, and what farmers do/wear, but still has a firm identity that she is none of those - she is an Esme, a little girl. She thinks she has this mommy and baby thing worked out - but it is VERY funny to hear her explanation of it. Such as, ghosts have mommies and daddies too, and they help them so they are not ghosts and can be alive. All of that was said with a washcloth over her hand in the bathtub and singing parts of a Muppet song from the Alice Cooper episode where they sing 'I'm looking through you...' ?? Some days I just don't know or plan on finding out exactly where it came from. She has these things figured out, and uses them often as matter-of-fact instead of just imaginary. It is an interesting ride when she really gets going on a topic. However, she still does not jabber one's ear off as some her age do. She thinks, and thinks deep. Then she explodes on you at unexpected times.
She sings daily and often, and gets a lot of the words right to many songs - doesn't like it when I change the words, but realizes what a joke is now. She used to just get mad at me. Her deadpan 'no laughing' and 'no clapping' and 'don't say it' with a pouty lip is still a common occurrence. It is especially funny when she has said something like the 'Daddy isn't learning how to be a dragon right' when he was coughing smoke... and she is 100% serious, crossed-arms and everything looking at you. Classic.
Sometimes, I will come to my desk in the middle of the day and find an assemblage of toys which will make me laugh. At this very moment there is a tiny wooden helicopter with a hole through it no larger than the size of a quarter. She has found a small plastic pig and put him into the helicopter so he can take a ride. I remember her last night spinning the helicopter blades and making it fly around, but I hadn't seen the pig at that time.
In other things, we still have not learned the button-up shirts. I have not stressed it. I might work on her more with her jacket with the one button. It will come. She is extremely interested in computer games and learning how they all work and how to win. She has so many I can't keep track. At times, she is still interested in learning how to spell words and how to write letters. She still counts to twenty while skipping a few .. and I've heard 'eighteen, nineteen, ten!' recently said to a kitten. I think she wants to work on money more and will have to find her a plastic piggy bank or something she can put coins into - she gives me buttons and says there are your twenty cents. She has had very little regression on the PT - forgetting to take time one day etc...at least she got her own new clothes and put the wet ones in the laundry room. She is eating well and growing tall and strong. She is social and loving... empathetic and funny. I don't worry constantly about some of those things like I used to but Mark still has to pat me on the head and say 'Yes she is an alien and everything in the world is wrong with her'... and I get the point. I guess I get it from my mother.. *yipe* I hate that idea. Old habits are hard to break.
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