This time last year we were just getting used to the idea that a little one was on the way. And now, this year, it’s hard to remember what we did without him.
My first full Mother’s day wasn’t quite the relaxing day the holiday is advertised as. Guest room needed to be cleared out for incoming guests. Packing and planning to be done for the trip to grandma’s (we leave tomorrow!). A flurry of knitting trying to get summer class samples done. Teaching Sunday School at church. General stuff to be done before I can happily leave town.
But Christer managed to make a yummy lunch, and order me a subscription to Ottobre magazine. And we found an hour or so to head out to the park and play with the Turtle and the camera. And I fit in the call to my mom, as well. So the fun was mixed in with the busy, and the busy is all a part of preparing for future fun.
Like the guests, who should be here any minute. Friends from college and their kids. I’m glad I got much of the cleaning and packing done yesterday (and I am thrilled that the Turtle is happily getting his napping done before they arrive, too) so that we can maybe head to the zoo this afternoon.
Once again the Fort Wayne Fiber Festival landed the same weekend as Maryland Sheep and Wool. Since Turtle and I are heading out of town (to Idaho! across the country! on a plane!) in just a few days, we opted to stay in town and check out the yummy fiber here in town. Not as big, no, but good weather and friendly faces made for a good day at the festival.
A friend asked me to sit at the raffle booth for her guild, so Turtle and I camped out by a beautiful soon-to-be-raffled woven shawl. And although I sometimes needed to get up and walk around to take care of him, I’m pretty sure that he helped sell some tickets. I was knitting squares for a sampler blanket, and he kept grabbing, so I gave him a finished square to play with/chew on. That must have made a cute picture, us sitting together, me knitting, him drooling. A school group came by and a kid exclaimed “look! even the baby is knitting!” Ha, we start ‘em young around here!
Along with getting good seats for people and fiber watching (some of the groups were doing some great demonstrations and take home crafts for the kids wandering through), it was fun seeing so many knitters from the shop stop through. There really is a knitting community here, and this gathering was a chance to say hi and check in with folks I see often, and folks I hadn’t seen since before baby.
Turtle was quite tolerant of the three hour shift, and afterwards we took some time to visit the sheep and goats and outdoor exhibits. My friend Julie was in the goat barn, and she had fun taking pictures of us, and another mama and baby pair.
The turtle always loves moving around in the stroller and taking in the sights. And I think this was his first experience with non-pet animals. He was interested when they were moving around, but otherwise, not so much. He didn’t nap well at the festival, so by the time we hit the car it only took a few moments for him to crash.
Oh, and I spent a grand total of 50 cents on crafty stuffs. I was pretty proud of that.
Five months old! The last couple weeks have been a flurry of firsts–the little Turtle is now sitting up, and a bit of sharp tooth is starting to poke through. The teething, thankfully, doesn’t seem to be too hard on him–he doesn’t seem grumpy or in pain. I’ve given him cold teething rings to play with, but he doesn’t quite have the coordination to keep them in his mouth for long. He does seem to like playing with them, though, as the cold is a somewhat new sensation.
This month Turtle learned the joys of splashing in the bathtub. I’ve started bringing a book for myself in to the tub to read after he’s washed, knowing that he’ll entertain himself for a while splashing around and grabbing at a bobbing rubber ducky. Occationally he dips his head into the water, usually in an attempt to taste the water or his toes, and needs to be quickly fished out. The sputtering is cute. With his first taste of hot weather he also learned the joys of a cool before-bed bath on a hot evening. Nothing like cooling off a bit to help bring the sleep.
Sitting is a fabulous new toy, for him and for us. He has a new way of exploring the world, and that’s terribly interesting for us to watch. I’m amazed how quickly he progressed from carefully balancing on his arms, to holding himself upright, to sitting upright with a toy in his mouth, to turning and stretching to see what is going on behind him. Sitting also helps him stay interested in a toy, as it can’t get too far away from him when he drops it. And while sitting he discovered newspaper by unexpectedly taking a piece from the Sunday pile–the crinkling and ripping were great fun.
Turtle attended his first two baseball games this month, at the new stadium just blocks from our house. At the first he was passed around through the game by several of our friends. At the second Christer and I went alone, and tried out the cheap lawn seats in the outfield. It was a great place to watch a baby and a game on a nice day–Turtle amused himself by sitting and pulling up grass for a full inning.
And April brought many more chances to be outside. Most weekends he spends watching Christer mowing and raking and mulching. We’ve been walking to lots of garage sales along with our usual trips to the library and neighborhood shops. I like the shopping aspect of searching for treasures, Turtle likes getting carried in the wrap and grinning at all the yard-sale-havers, and in the process we’ve been building up his next few months worth of clothing.
Turtle has found plenty to laugh at this month, his sense of humor seems to be emerging. He loves kisses and raspberries from Christer, getting flipped upside down, or sometimes just hearing other people laughing. He likes listening to music, especially when people are singing, and when I bounce him along in a little baby dance. He’s getting more interested in books, in turning the pages, and in looking at photo pictures of babies.
And as he’s gotten better at reaching he’s started, just a few times, to reach out to me when he sees I’m coming to pick him up. If that won’t melt a mama’s heart, I don’t know what would. ‘Course, when I do pick him up he greets me with his version of a hug–sticking both hands into the curls on either side of my head and pulling, hard. Ah, he’s still got a few things to learn. But watching him figure it all out is so much fun.
Now that I’m doing the at-home thing with the baby, I’m liking Mondays a lot more than ever before. Weekends are great–Christer’s around, I get some time to myself, friends visit, special outtings and events are planned, lots of lounging around and eatting and socializing. But on Monday’s the Turtle and I can get back into our routine. Naptimes and bedtimes fall more on schedule. Weekend messes are put away. The house is quiet as I check the internets and sketch out a grocery list.
It was a good weekend, though. High temperatures outside (and inside–I will not turn on the AC in April!) made it feel more like late August than early spring. We grilled twice, lots of veggies with various sauces, and burgers from a new-to-us local, grass-fed farm. Cold drinks on the porch enjoying the shade and breeze, sweaty baby playing in the dirt, sleepless nights with sheets kicked aside.
This weekend our church brought in a speaker, an author who has long been a favorite of mine. Along with hearing her speak three times over the weekend, I had the chance to join her for dinner Saturday night. I’m not often intimidated, especially by academics, but my long idolization of her work and her shining brilliance in both understanding the tradition and looking past it to raise questions left me feeling a bit star-struck. And isn’t it nice to know that someone who has so influenced me on paper is, in real life, kind and funny, a talented and patient teacher, passionate about her subject while clearly living out the ideals of peacemaking, respect and justice that she writes about. I’ll stop the babbling now, needless to repeat, it was an experience that I will not soon forget.
And on the baby front, the Turtle is sitting! Staying up by himself when plopped–although with a soft blanket or pillow behind him for sudden falls. He’s loving this new viewpoint. For the past few weeks it seemed like he was a bit grumpy–always wanting to be held upright, bored with the toys he could reach lying on his back. Leaving him next to a weed or bush while I did some gardening around the yard this weekend gave both of us time to concentrate on our work.
And speaking of babies, I hear that naptime seems to be over. Back to the weekday routines with the baby…
A friend at church has been making Pysanky eggs for years, and offered to share this skill with a group for Easter. We got started, then schedules got in the way, and then a few of us got hooked–and we’re still going. Although the plan was to make one egg during our lessons, last week our teacher sent us home with the extra kystka (the drawing tool used to apply the wax)–and although I had no plans to make more I seem to have changed my mind.
These eggs have their first layer of wax applied, and are ready to be dipped in their first dye. Some will start with yellow, and some with light blue. The lines are black from the soot of the candle used to melt the wax.
I’ve taught children about Pysanky before, using white crayons and easter egg dyes. But it’s a thrill to get see how the real thing is made, and to have access to the tools. (As a side note, the tools and dyes seem to be a fairly simple and inexpensive lot–but I do not need to aquire or store all the bits necessary for any more hobbies.)
The kystka is a tiny funnel on the end of a wooden handle, and it is held in a candle flame and then dipped into a cube of beeswax. For larger areas the larger end of the funnel can be used to scoop beeswax, and then it is melted over the flame.
Our teacher is full of information about the art, he first learned it when he was studying in a monestary. His interest in this work has indirectly even led him to raise his own chickens, as grocery eggs are washed in such a way that the dyes don’t stick well. The symbolism, repetition and attention to the various steps makes this a fitting art for meditation and spiritual practice, although I’ll readily admit that at this point I’m more interested in just learning the basics of the craft. There’s a wonder to learning how things are made, and while I have no plans of continuing to refine this art, it is interesting to see how my beginning scratches are examples of the same steps, symbols and colors used in eggs decorated by folks with years of experience and training.
Then again, I thought I was going to stop with one, and already I have four in the works.
A while back I stumbled upon the Feed Your Soul: Free Art Project site. Yup, free art–prints made by artists for free downloading and printing. I played on the site during naptime today and printed up several for our walls. I’ve got a bunch of thrifted frames that I painted black–I’ve been planning for nearly two years to put art prints in them and group them on a wall in our living room. Prints are printed, and matched with frames, and a list has been made of the cuts of glass and mats I’ll need to finish up the project.
Perhaps I’ll swap out these free prints for higher quality originals from the same artists eventually. Or maybe as they fade I’ll just keep printing up new works from this site. They’ve got an impressive list of folks waiting in the wings, and you sure can’t beat free.
It was nice while it lasted, but we seem to have lost the thumb. For the past month Turtle’s thumb was a helpful tool in getting him to sleep–and now he seems to have lost interest. Even guiding his thumb into his mouth doesn’t seem to work. Pacifiers don’t work either, he wants to be sucking on one thing and one thing only while he is asleep. And sorry, but my left boob isn’t willing to lay with him through every nap. I just spent the past hour trying to get a sleepy boy down for his nap–an hour of rocking-nursing-patting-singing-cursing. And this first nap of the day is usually the easy one–goodness knows how long the next nap will take.
I want the thumb back. If you’ve seen it, please return it immediately.
Knit as a shop sample, out of Debbie Bliss cashmerino, under the condition that he could wear it on his first Easter.
I’ve been thinking lots about knitted toys lately. First, I pulled out this Butterful that I started months ago.
I sewed on the legs while baby was sleeping. Only in pulling it out I seem to only have four legs. I know I knit 6… where would knitted legs be hiding? I guess I’ll be making another 2 tonight.
I’ve also been drooling over a new-to-me book. It’s a compilation of Alan Dart patterns–I’d heard that it was out there. And when I saw it was at Joann’s I was quick to snap one up with the 40% off coupon. His patterns have a sort of old-school look–and while they aren’t as trendy as MochiMochi land or Jess Hutch (love love love them) they are incredibly detailed. Check out this nativity scene…
He’s got a Noah’s Ark, too (cute, but there’s something a bit theologically off about introducing kids to the Bible through the story of God destroying the world in a flood…) with nearly a million animal pieces. And although I can’t think of why I would need a beach full of bunnies, the idea of chubby bunnies in bikinis has me dreaming…
I can’t wait to give one of these patterns a knit, partially for the cute toys, and partially because he works a lot of shaping into his patterns and I’m curious to see how they come together. I think the gnomes are first up. I’m pondering a rainbow of gnomes for all the kids on the Christmas list. Then maybe I could have the fun of photographing them before sending them off.
My four month old Turtle is sound asleep in his carseat after a trip to the doctor for check up and (poor thing) shots.
This month Turtle got to see more of the world, with trips to see friends and family. He was generally good natured about the traveling, although near the end of each trip he’d get wise to us and fuss when we’d put him back into the carseat. He also learned a bit about suffering by getting through his first cold. Poor baby was coughing and sneezing and not sleeping for a week or so, but he was full of energy when he started feeling better.
I’m amazed daily by how big and old the little guy is getting. We just made the switch into 6-9 month clothes, and our collection of handmedowns is very heavy on the overalls this time around. He looks so grown up in pants! With a bit of help he can sit or stand, and I’m still in awe of how–well, how human he looks in these familiar poses. He’s not the little bundle lying on a blanket passively anymore, he’s awake and active and trying to fit in with the rest of us upright people.
He’s fasinated by toys, batting at things hanging from his gym or carseat handle, holding objects (and forgetting he’s holding them when his hands fall to his sides), reaching at things with frustrated grunts when he’s having his tummy time. When he’s getting fussy a toy can now be a distraction, and sometimes he’ll play so intently that he’ll play himself to sleep. And with every toy the goal is always getting it into his mouth. But sometimes when it gets to his mouth it slips out of his hand, and he ends up happily chewing on his fingers instead.
The toes are his favorite new toy this month. He reliably grabs both feet when we change his diaper, helping us keep the feet out of the mess. He hasn’t quite gotten them to his mouth yet, but he wants to.
He’ll smile at us across the room, and thanks to the constant misery of his cold he seems happy to be comforted by either me or Christer most of the time. He loves seeing us or himself in the mirror, that trick almost always brings a smile.
He is my constant companion, so much so that I find myself refering to us as “we” often. As in telling the house assessor that yes, “we” will see him tomorrow, 9am works for “us.” Having only spoken to this man on the phone I’m sure he thought I was a bit nutty refering to myself in the royal we, but even after I realized it sounded funny I couldn’t seem to turn it off.
Christer keeps saying that he’s surprised by how much fun our Turtle is. We’re enjoying the challenge of involving him in travel and daily chores. He plays with a ball of yarn as I knit, and goes to the comic book store with Christer. And he makes us laugh–with his intensity as he learns new skills, and with his infectious smile.
Four months, kiddo. Sleep tight, there’s nothing worse than seeing you cry in pain, and we hope you feel better when you wake up.
