bit o this, jumper that

Today is our anniversary, and we had a nice day yesterday which was good, as the rain is much harder today out there.  We are very happy for six years together and the home and family we have built together.  Mark says this year will mark twenty years of him living in Tennessee.. and he likes the way it has turned out these past few years very much.  So do I, it will be eight years for me?  I came down in 2005 from Fargo, maybe with a visit in late 2004.  We will see if we will do the library today under umbrellas.. I did promise Esme I would and it might be a day I could get behind piling up a few books and letting her do her thing while I go through a stack.  If I bring a notebook, much more the case, probably.

 

The recycled shirt jumper and a bird painting I was inspired out of a magazine picture

I made two jumpers yesterday - as the one she had worn to school twice was very handy.  I had to put the buttonhole on a sewn-on band as the necks were too tight to button straight.  But, they used up scraps and one of them was actually recycled out of a shirt that would not fit me from the thrift store.  They will be useful for quite a while that way and she likes them over long sleeved tshirts now, which is a change from days when we could never weasel her into one without a banshee fight.  Daddy said she washed her hair for school very very well the other day, too - very little fighting.  Our little girl may be gaining a bit of wisdom there, maybe?

Esme quotes:  
I was eating all day, and now I am done, and I'm playing with Mom and my brain is bored, it is so bored, it is laying on the table, and it is sleeping - and my brain is bored, like that, its on that table. (as she carries her half-full plate down to the kitchen from the eating area)

She sang me the 'Jerry Fairy' song - which I could not understand the name of, and she was getting mad - but then I convinced her to sing it further and it was the months of the year, the 'January February song'.  She was going at them 100 miles per second, I only caught a few of them in full.  Less than ten minutes later, she sang it all at normal speed for Daddy and it was perfect.  We were very proud of her.   She has named that pink polka dotted dolly from Christmas 'January' for the moment.. as she needed to have a name and I wouldn't give her one.  'Coming up with' names makes her think, so does drawing - she wants to give up, but she can do it if she doesn't try to hide behind 'I'm too small', which is a frequent cop-out. 

We went to a pet store in Paris yesterday, and she saw fish, lizards, frogs, snakes, a spider and a flying squirrel.  She was most impressed with the fish - stared at every tank for so long.. and watched Daddy handling the albino corn snake with a nervous giggle and five feet of distance, then told him he had done so well with the beautiful snake with the beautiful tongue.  We are thinking of making up a fish tank again, we had one she loved to watch when she was less than 3.  Grandma, she will be telling you about the snakes - I am sure!  She wanted to tell you about them on the phone then.

We played with the markers yesterday at my request.  She did a drawing of herself with a line for legs/hips and ten marks underneath it to be all ten toes.  She drew the same figure climbing a ladder to her really big slide she dreams of.  She drew much more complete figures months ago, but she was more interested in drawing then, and I think she is taking shortcuts.  The ten toes had to be accurate, though - she counted each line to make sure they were there.

Later : She had a great day out with me to library and McDonalds.  She talked to a lot of kids and also to the librarian - I had to tell this same child to calm down and quiet down when months ago she covered her ears and cried at the singing.  She gave a pretty decent run down to the library bookstore lady about what we had done and what we were going to do - but she didn't remember the name of the place we were going to and said 'children don't know the everythings, children don't do that.'  It was cool to talk with her when we were alone at the restaurant about jobs, what she wanted to do when she grows up (feed dogs, and clean the floor because they get messy), what 'country' music is (the farmer songs? she asked and pointed up) and when each song changed how it was different and many other things.  Another girl from the library showed up and she slowly acquired a posse of little girls to run and screech with, yet after a one minute warning she was ready to say thank you for playing with me and go home with me.  She did call me a super monster mama.. but said she loved me and she was happy we went all the places.  She took a bath when she got home and still talked about some of it.   She told Grandma on the phone we had went to McDonalds and the library and it was very easy to understand.  We are cleaning out an old aquarium now because she is still interested in having fish - and we think a goldfish or two may be okay.

Santa and bits at the end of the weekend

.We saw Santa at our local home improvement place yesterday - where I happen to be a plumbing consultant during much of my week...

 Watching Christmas trees, houses and carousels

 Miss Judi, getting an explanation about Santa

 Esme seeing Santa and freezing... but only momentarily.  I think there was also a line, and she was trying to decide how to feel about waiting.

 Santa, look, that is my Grandma!

She sat on his lap and told him about the things she had written in her letter.  I had a hard time hearing all of it because there was a fan going - and I got a couple of eyebrows over something I did not hear, but she seemed very happy he had understood the giraffe and spaceship ideas.

 Candid shots from the triplets that were there before us, we caught one of the elves yawning on the job.

Cuteness Wars.  What a scowl!

We hope to work more on the extra atmospheric vehicle today.  I have a few little sewing things I could do - have to get ambition to work on those or to start something new.  I have been looking at lots of sewing patterns but only slightly inspired, and nothing enough to set to fabric.  I was slightly depressed yesterday by more problems with my Minnesota family, but there isn't anything I can do except give them some advice and then try to stay away from the topic.  It has been raining for several days - warm, not cold... but still, depressing weather does not help.  I'd like to have some sunlight.

I took Esme's measurements today - since she has turned five.  She is 21 w, 23 chest with a 25.5 inch length from outside hip to ankle.  She is 44 inches tall, and about 44 lbs (Mark used the fish scale).. she said that was fun and she was very strong and Daddy was very strong for picking her up.  The patterns I am currently using for her are a size 5 vintage pants pattern and a size 6 vintage dress pattern

This is Butterick 4655, which I do not own but was the only one I was impressed with during my search today.  I have something that will do this already in my collection.  I'm not sure what draws me to this one -- square collars have always done well on Esme, but I do not often use them anymore, as they are much more difficult to set the facing on.  I know I am also drawn to that golden yellow color often - but it isn't Esme's color, hardly anything is a 'bad' color for her, but blues and greens and purples seem to be the majority of her wardrobe.

 Up and Away book, 1949 - we have been reading this before bed and the pictures are gorgeous.  The writing is just above Esme's level, she knows a lot of the 'small' words but needs to take her time so she doesn't say 'far' is 'for' or 'was' is 'went' etc..  That is good to have her pay close attention (when possible, isn't always), stretch, sound things out etc...

Esme and I made a map of the house on paper 'just like Electric Company' today, and went around placing stickers and using a pen to mark where that would correspond on the map.   ie: by the refrigerator, on the stairs, at the edge of the bathtub etc.  Then, we backtracked and put all the stickers back onto the map where they had been in the house.  We hung it up on her wall, and she thought it was a great game :)  I loved watching her gears turn when she tried to figure out which was the kitchen sink and which was the bathroom sink... and three times she forgot what the toilet was in the map - but stood there and worked it out from memory at least once for herself.