Thought Process in Action. Esme and the Mud Puddle

She walked right into it, had no idea it was there. Then, her curiosity was peaked and she went about finding out what it was.






Lucky for her it was quite warm out. On the way back up the stairs into the house she split her lip on the bottom step. Poor girl! It was better in a few minutes though and she got half-frozen strawberries to make it feel better. Mark bought strawberries for pancakes the other day and as exepcted Esme thinks they are wonderful!

It's raining right now - hopefully it will let up because we planned to go to the library today. Happy Anniversary Mark :)

In the Golden Woods original watercolor

This is something from my 2004 portfolio. It is at the original art shop now.

This is quite large for my work, 16 by 20 inches. I tend to work small and this was a little different. It is also much more colorful than a lot of my art.

It is ink and watercolor with black and gold metallic paint overlays. The 'Golden Woods' is a scene that often comes up in my drawings.. and I'm not certain why I call it that - but it has an air of mythology and the past about it. Sometimes I put myself in the drawings and sometimes not. I sold the drawing 'Fantasy Woods' in October, but it too represented this place where everything is dreamlike.

Large Rag Doll

20 inch tall handmade rag doll. Experimenting with this further and will have some in the toy shop





Esme carried it around the house some yesterday, so she gets this one.

Innovative toys I've seen recently:
* Elvis Cthulu
* 6 foot Ugly monster dolls. Six foot tall.. wow what a project! No wonder they are over 500.00 each!
* Melissa and Doug Latches Board with lots of little brass latches and locks to undo. It says 3 years and up... but looks like an instructive toy.

* In the same thread, this 'zippers and buttons doll' is cute too. I remember teachers using something like this in our Kindergarten class when I was little. There is something like this at the store but it has lots of electronics on it that make noises and Mark finds those annoying.

Still on the night shift - will be for at least two more weeks. It's not fun getting up at 2:30, 3:00 in the morning. It's even less fun because Esme doesn't go to bed until around 8 usually... 10 if I'm very unlucky. I've got Valentine's aliens to start making but not getting too far ahead on that with Esme crying for me every time I get near the sewing table which is in her sight but out of her reach. If I've gotten some sleep the night before I can be happy and play games with Esme - but yesterday I was very tired and got somewhat irritated. The dogs have been underfoot and overly hyper lately as well, perhaps from the weather and schedule changes. I just wanted everyone to calm down, go to sleep etc etc so I could nap or at least collect my thoughts enough to do something constructive while I'm awake.

The KnitOwl tries to cure the common cold again

Every year that time rolls around, I begin to feel that tight feeling in my chest and I try to cook up a household remedy for the common cold. Some years it's raw onions and garlic, some it is licorice tea... I usually use what is on hand in the house, each spice according to it's properties learned through old wive's tales, library books and of course, surfing the Internet.

So here is this year's remedy.

One can of chicken noodle soup
1/2 can of sliced carrots
1 tsp onion powder
several grinds of pure fresh black pepper
a pinch of ginger
some 'Italian Seasoning' oregano, basil and such
1 tsp or more of fresh garlic powder

Drain the noodles and carrots, if all you want is the broth. If you're in the mood for a good meal, adding an onion and some celery to the soup at this point will make it a meal for two.

This sounds simple, but I am thinking it will have some effect.
Onion and garlic powders are supposed to have some of the same effects as 'production' components of cough syrup. To be graphic, they grab the junk attached to your bronchial tubes and tell it to take a hike, leaving you coughing up mucus. But at least if you're coughing anyway it is 'producing' something instead of a dry cough. Usually I use fresh garlic and chicken boullion or, some years, fresh chicken. The antiviral properties of chicken and carrots is perhaps only a rumor, but it's one I'm willing to believe in.

We'll see how this pans out over the next few days.

And yes, I'm up at 3:30 AM. I have to be up at 2:30 AM tomorrow, for this week of night shifts. The other good remedy for a cold is to get plenty of sleep. That might work once I get my schedule shifted.

Esme has Daddy's Shoes!

I think she needs some time to grow into them...

She had her foot in one and was dragging it around the room, but all those pics came out blurry. She really has been fascinated with trying to put her feet in our shoes for a while now.

Things I've Done Recently and Esme's Adventures

14 months
Esme 'draw draw' on her sketchpad.
She can find her crayon and draw on the paper when you ask 'Draw Draw?'

I only let her have one crayon in her play area at a time unless we are all drawing together, for obvious reasons. We've gotten her 'soap crayons' for the bathtub which she is also enjoying immensely.

Instead of New Year's Resolutions of things I'd like to do this year, I'm going to list a few things I've actually DONE recently, that I am proud of.

Hopefully they will serve as an inspiration to do more things I've been planning to do.

1.) Put cabinet pulls and a child-proof lock on our cleaning supplies cupboard.
-- also outlet covers over all accessible electrical outlets
2.) Vacuumed the stairs and cleaned quite a bit of the house in the past week.
3.) Knit a mitten (working on the second)
4.) Made several batches of cornbread muffins which we all enjoyed.
5.) Made a queen-sized topper for a quilt (working on the back)
6.) Taken Esme for walks outside four days in a row.
7.) Been more spontaneous with things I want to get done in the house, instead of putting them off until Esme is asleep etc...

I've had Esme outside her play area most of the time this week when I've been home. The play area is the main area of the house we've babyproofed, with all her toys etc. It is fairly safe to leave her there when we have to go downstairs for a few minutes. We have the stairs and lots of equipment she could get hurt on, so I don't let her run around the other parts of the house unless I'm ready to watch her closely. This week I've had her ALL OVER the house with me, everywhere, and pretty much followed her around when we weren't actively involved in doing something. She has brought laundry down with me, seen Daddy load the dishwasher, watched me sweep and scrub the floor, been a participant in getting her milk and food, etc. etc... Today she was running all around our upstairs harrassing the dogs, playing with packing supplies and basically trying to get anything she could reach.

And I've really seen the difference in her. First off, she is SO much more stubborn about wanting to touch and learn about every new thing she finds. She has probably thrown more tantrums in the past three days than in the past month. But there are good things too. She is babbling more - asking about things in her babytalk, interacting and imitating what we do with things, learning to respond to me more by following directions etc... She also has started to push her limits about what Mommy doesn't want her getting into. You can 'see the gears turning' when she has been told 'No' about something before. She starts to reach for it, looks for me, then backs off with either a grin or a rising wail depending on her mood.

Also I've had her outside four days in a row. The other day I picked up a sweet gum ball and just by instinct knocked the seeds out of it on a post before giving it to her. I didn't think she paid any attention to my action, just the object. She looked it over, went over to the post and knocked it on it again 'Is this what we do with this?' Also watching the thinking process as she trades a stick for a rock for an acorn for a bigger stick etc...

I can really see our little girl's personality and mind blossoming ::)