Inspiration: Button magnets

I'm wishing I had more time for fun stuff like making the button magnets that Mollycoddle posted on her site. How sweet are these? Back to real life. I'm actually taking a few minutes out of revising my article for Research in Economic Anth. Good news today: the editor likes it and wants the final version soon for peer review. I had been struggling with "what it should be" vs "what I know and want to say" in the introduction. Once I let go of trying to write "what it should be" then it all tumbled out nicely and clearly. I do have to go back and reorganize some parts in the middle, and flesh out the second paragraph of the introduction, but I think that's it.

Peter's baby room

Peter's baby room
Originally uploaded by run lily.

I think we're going to paint it soon, and wanted to remember the way it was when he was a little mouse. The wall color is a left-over from previous owners, who had paired it with a Southwest-style (1980ish) border. One of dh's drama students did the polka-dot border above the moulding. Sadly, that will go. It reminds me of boiled eggs, which I especially loved when I was pregnant and seemed to be the only thing that kept my stomach settled. I've already taken down the sheer cotton curtains that mum and I had embellished with gingham tape (purple, green, yellow) that matches the animal border that we used to hide the mess where we removed the old one. I had been planning to leave the room as is, waiting for another little stranger, but I think it's time for a change.

Half an hour's work

After pulling my hair out for most of the day, I took a break, made oatmeal scones (with chocolate chips instead of raisins) from Joy of Cooking, and we had them for a snack with strawberries and whipped cream. (Actually, Ron did much of the cooking while I directed from the sofa where I was nursing Peter.) After the break I went back to work and pounded out enough in the next half hour to feel that I had actually put in a good day's work. The rhythm of writing still surprises me sometimes.

At 5 Ron went off to a meeting, and Peter and I started some evening projects. I took the bi-fold door off his closet (it needs to be replaced with a proper panel door) and installed a curtain rod and curtains there instead. It's soft and sweet, and gives him a place to hide since the lowest shelf is about 30" off the ground. When I had the shelves installed, I wanted the lowest one high enough to leave room for tall packages of diapers. I'm still plotting to get the room painted sometime soon. Sunday is Peter's family birthday party, but Saturday seems free. Maybe then.

Braided rug project

Braided rug project
Originally uploaded by run lily.

I wanted to do a braided rug for the kitchen floor, something colorful and warm (for baby bottoms as well as our feet). It's made from strips of wool fabric snipped from thrift shop clothes that have been machine washed and dried. The fabric comes out shrunken, but not really felted. (Maybe the next rug will be from felted sweaters, though.) Cut the strips 2" wide, braid 3 of them together, and then start coiling and sewing. I make a braid a few feet long, and then coil it around, and (using heavy upholstery thread and a big needle) sew the coils. I've heard of people "lacing" the braids together invisibly, but I haven't done that (mostly because I'm clueless). I don't turn the raw edges together either, but I might try that next time, though it's not bothering me. A clothespin holds the working end so that the braid stays together. You can see it in the photo -- this is a work in progress.

So far, I've gone through one long coat and one blazer (red), one pleated knee-length skirt (cream), two straight knee-length skirts (black), and one pair of knee-length shorts (red plaid). It's a challenge to find the right tones, but it's cheap. One of our local thrift shops (Frenchy's) sells wool items for hooking at a dollar each. That brings the total so far to $6.

Trying to find time ...

I haven't been keeping our little family album as up-to-date as I'd like, partly because I'm procrastinating less and working more (grin), and partly because I'm trying to spend less time on the computer. Those are both good developments, I guess, but I don't want this project to fall by the wayside.

What's new in the past week is that Peter's walking as much as he can. Although he started in January, now he's walking more than crawling, and likes to walk laps around the house, especially holding on to a big person's finger or thumb. He leads.

We also installed black-out blinds in his bedroom, and moved his bedtime from 7 pm to 8 pm as part of a plan to improve his sleeping. It's worked quite well. He's not too cranky before bedtime (we've been entertaining him with home renovation projects: papering the inside of kitchen cabinets, installing blinds), and he manages to sleep through until 5 when he has his first breakfast, then back to sleep until 7 or so. What a relief.

Something else that's new is that Peter's been talking much more, or rather imitating in most cases. He's saying ba-ba again (bye-bye) spontaneously, and da-da of course, and then some other syllables that sound like hot and cold (ot, old), thank you (I can't quite spell this one, it's more like a two syllable grunt), and all done (a-da). These are real words. Then there is lots of repitition (spontaneous though) when he hears a word in our conversation, or when we speak to him. He seems to speak a lot on some days, and not so much on others.

His first birthday is in a few weeks. I'm torn about party plans. I want to do something special and fun, but also something that won't leave either of us frazzled and worn out. We also have lots of friends with babies around the same age or a bit older, and we'd love to include them in celebrating. Maybe two parties? A tea party for babies and mummies one day, then dinner for the grandrelatives and cousins from out of town. Either way, theme parties can wait.

YouTube video test

Well, this is five months old. Peter seems so different now, though he still likes this game. If this works, I'll try to add more video again soon.

giving mummy a Cheerio

giving mummy a cheerio
Originally uploaded by pkellyspurles.

He's pretty generous with his food, though I like the Cheerios to be new rather than drooly.

Cooking with baby 2

Cooking with baby 2
Originally uploaded by pkellyspurles.

After practicing whisking (with a whisk and an empty bowl) a few times, Peter finally got to try his hand a few weeks ago on a chocolate souffle. He did just great.

Cooking with baby 1

Cooking with baby 1
Originally uploaded by pkellyspurles.

We're still cooking when we can. Last Sunday, we made pizza from scratch. Peter seemed interested but skeptical as I mixed and kneaded the dough. He put his hands in the flour just as I took this picture. The pizza was really good: homemade sauce and crust, onion, fennel, mushroom, red pepper, and goat cheese.

building instead of knocking down

building instead of knocking down
Originally uploaded by pkellyspurles.

We're still playing with blocks, and Peter has begun to show interest in stacking rather than knocking down. I notice that he doesn't always place them flat side down, but tries to see if they'll stand upright on a corner. When he does this, he presses them together hard as if to make them stick.