"Challenge and orphans and stash, oh my!"

Last fall the quilt guild offered a challenge:  Use a recognizable piece of this fabric (or its companion piece with dark background) in a quilt, wall hanging, table runner, whatever, and bring it to the February meeting for guild members to look at and choose their favorite.  Although I would never have bought this fabric on my own, I paid my $5 for a fat quarter and began thinking about how to use it.  I had about twenty little blocks left over from the Fractured quilt which used some of these colors, so I eventually put together a small quilt. without buying any additional fabric.

You may recognize bits of the challenge fabric in the quilt.  For instance, in the upper right is the large circle seen above.  In the upper left and farther down on the right side are whirly-gigs of the fabric.  It is also scattered throughout the quilt.  It is not my favorite quilt by any means, but I think I showed a bit of movement in the blocks which is what the fabric made me feel.

I did not win recognition, though someone told me later that she did not remember seeing my quilt.  I think some guild members voted as soon as they came into the meeting room, rather than waiting till the official time; thus, some entries may not have been on display yet.  If I enter another challenge, I will be sure to arrive early on voting night.

Little Helper

Yes, this is ec's hand grasping the side of his latest acquisition.  And, yes, it is a wooden box.  When he stands up the sides come about to his armpits, leaving his hands free to reach things on the counter.  The floor of the device is adjustable; he now stands on the second level from the top, but there are three lower slots which means it will fit him for quite a while.  His sister is very comfortable standing on a stool to help cook, but he is not nearly ready for that.  This tool will keep him safe, interested and able to participate in kitchen activities.  It can be moved to other rooms if necessary, but at 30 pounds or so, I suppose we won't move it too often.

More cleaning tools

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the little vacuum cleaner ec plays with.  Now he has a set of brooms and such.  He especially enjoys pushing and pulling the green-bristled broom.  The little whisk broom and dustpan just get pulled off the stand, the mop sees some use, and the orange "feather duster" is swiped over furniture a little.  These items appear well-made, with smooth wooden handles and color-coordinated hanging loops.  We've had a child size broom for quite a while; es really likes that.  Not only does she sweep with it, she now rides on it, flying through the air as Lucinda, a good witch.  Fortunately, we've been able to designate that as an outside broom so she's not swinging it around in the den.  But she does occasionally try to take over this little broom.

Toilet fun

One day recently I took ec to the grocery store with me, then we went home and took the bags of food into the house.  I had planned for ec to eat lunch then nap at our house.  What I forgot was that he had not been there unattended for quite a while and the downstairs is not really child proofed.  So I was in the kitchen and realized ec was not with me.  I found him dunking a coaster in the toilet.  We had not put down the lid or closed the door, both of which happen at his house, so who could blame him for wanting to explore this tub of water?  I washed his hands and the coaster thoroughly, closed the bathroom door, then put a dry shirt on him.

Birthday boy

While I enjoy scrapbooking, choosing photos and decorative papers, and deciding how to create a page, I often feel the finished product is OK but doesn't have pizzazz.  Perhaps this display in EK's dining room is not spectacular, but E and es had fun creating it before the first party last weekend.  To go along with the bear theme, E labeled the snacks below.  You may not be able to read the signs, so left to right we have forest foliage, even littler bears (Teddy Grahams), twigs (pretzels), birthday bears (cookies), rainbow trout (Goldfish), and fresh berries.

K's sister and family came for the first weekend party, as did some other friends and Randy's aunt.  This weekend was the grandparents' party with K's mom and stepdad, his former nanny and her daughter, Randy and me, and the traditional chocolate cake, this one with blue icing (chosen by big sister).  Both events were fun, enjoyed by children and adults alike.  One of E's friends in Texas sent a Davy Crockett cap, complete with raccoon cap.  Very cute on ec.  Books, clothes, toys, ec received some of each.

Blue Bear

One day recently Blue Bear was a bone of contention.  As I recall, when we (Randy, Jonnie, es and I) went to the hospital to greet the newborn ec, we stopped in the hospital gift shop and es chose this soft, furry bear for her new brother.  For months it sat in a corner of the den with the large stuffed dog, horse, and other animals. Little ec is just now beginning to play with such toys.  Well, as soon as he picked it up by the ear one day, his sister grabbed it out of his hands.  "Mine!" she declared.  "He doesn't want it!"  I took it away from her, explaining that yes, he did want to play with it and reminding her that she had chosen it as a gift for her baby brother, and then gave it back to ec.  She promptly grabbed it again, and I took it from her. Before long she was lying on the floor crying and tossing blocks.  Eventually we sorted out the matter.  She knows that if he is playing with something she wants, she can try to trade another toy for it; grabbing is not the way to go.  And she often does try to trade toys.  We talk about what she is teaching him to do if she grabs, perhaps a hard lesson for a toddler, but I think she understands.  Now that she is part of the older class at school, she may feel she needs to exert herself more at home.  I don't know.  We certainly allow her to do things her brother can't do yet, like use safety scissors, play with Play-Doh, stand on the stool at the counter, stressing she is older and safer than he.  And most of the time she is cheerful and kind.  My challenge is helping her learn to share without squashing her sense of self.

Head start

This little Dyson is one of ec's favorite toys.  He usually pulls it around the room, but sometimes pushes it, even though it is as tall as he is.  The brush-like part in front swivels, and the upright handle can tilt back, so it truly resembles a real vacuum.  I showed him how to press the red button to turn on the blower that circulates little beads in the clear dirt canister, which he enjoyed watching.  The other day he discovered he could press the button himself and spent several minutes turning it on and off, with a great grin on his face at his accomplishment.

So when he's older, perhaps memories of the fun he had with this toy will enable him to enjoy using a real vacuum.

Mid-flight refueling

For a few weeks now, perhaps because he enjoys walking so much, ec often wants to get down from my lap in the middle of drinking his bottle.  He will walk around a bit then return to me and stand with his mouth open, so I give him more milk as he stands there.  At first this made me think of someone hand-feeding a new-born calf or other animal, with the calf leaning his head back as he takes the bottle.  When K saw ec do this, he called it "mid-flight refueling," which is a good description.  Instead of drinking his 4 1/2 ounces in 8-10 minutes, ec can take much longer now.  I try to just go along with him as he tries new things, exerts his will, moves around.  Sometimes he does just sit still and drinks it all up at once.  Yesterday he only took one bottle, instead of his normal three.

Probably we should be glad he is changing his ways because when he starts going to daycare he needs to be off the bottle, drinking from a cup.  E found out this week that there will be an opening at the center on April 24 and ec is in line for that spot, so I expect he will begin going three days a week the first of May.  Now I need to figure out what would work well for me, how I want to spend time with the children, perhaps even IF I want to continue.  Many permutations of three days at school and two days at home for each child are possible.  If they both went on the same three days and I had both of them the other two, I'd have three free days, but having both is much harder than just one.  I'm leaning towards each of them alone one day then both on one day, with two days off.  Since our house is not child-proofed (except the blue room) it is not as easy to have ec here, at least not spending time downstairs.  But es could be here, so that would be nice, allowing me to cook and such.  I believe it would be good for ec to have time by himself as he adjusts to daycare and all the new situations that will bring.