Good Rules

I must direct you to WiseCraft's Rules to Live By. I wholeheartedly agree with them. I was going to say that I especially agree with Rule #_, but then realized that I would basically be copying the entire list.

Adventures in parenting

Last week was a challenging week in the realm of parenthood. For whatever reason, Elise could not sleep. She did not take an afternoon nap for three days in a row - in a row! - and only slept for 30 minutes or so on the other days, and she slept fitfully at night, taking hours to fall asleep, waking up during the night, and getting up early in the morning. This meant that I got very little done last week and that Andy and I got less sleep than usual as well. And let me tell you, a sleep-deprived toddler is not a happy toddler. She also wasn't eating much last week, which had us concerned. It was a trying week.

This week has been like butter. "Smooth...like buttah". Yeah. She sleeps eleven or twelve hours at night. She's taking three hour naps in the afternoon (unusual for her). She's cleaning her plate at mealtime. She happy and energetic and engaging. We ran errands yesterday and she was a little saint. It is wonderful. And a good thing, too - last week I did not know how I was going to make it through the year.

Yesterday in particular was a good day. Elise topped it off with two adorable antics at bedtime. We were saying bedtime prayers. Usually we just let Elise pray with whatever words she chooses, and right now her prayers consist mostly of "thank you". Last night she had her eyes tightly shut and prayed, "Thank you [for] Daddy's truck. Thank you car. Thank you...church. Thank you...umm...my binkies. Thank you...umm...thank you..." At this point she peeked around her room, apparently trying to find something else to thank Jesus for. I guess she didn't find anything that particularly inspired her. She closed her eyes again and said, "The End!"

A moment later, as I was tucking her in, we found that Lambie was not in the crib. Lambie goes pretty much everywhere with Elise. She's not completely addicted to him - she can go to sleep without him - but she definitely prefers to have him there. So Andy and I did a quick house search for him. He was not there. We checked the car. Nope. We checked the obscure places where Lambie has been found in the past - hidden corners, the bathtub, that sort of thing. We could not find him. Then we remembered that Elise had taken Lambie outside with her earlier in the day. At that point we had to find him because we didn't want him to get all wet and dirty and potentially mildewed overnight. So off I went to search our backyard. I don't think I had ever before been in our backyard after dark. It was really, really dark. We have a motion-censored light, but for whatever reason it decided to stay on for all of three seconds at a time. I went into the darkness and Andy stayed next to the light, jumping around to get it to turn on. Then we came to our senses and got a flashlight. I wandered around the yard for a minute or two, looking around the toys, the shed, all of the places that I remembered Elise playing. Then I found him. On the patio, lounging in a lawn chair, looking as though he had been waiting for his umbrella drink for hours. Even in her excitement over playing outside (Elise loves to play outside), she had thoughtfully made sure that Lambie was comfortable in his own chair before she ran off to play.

Those two things made my night. Right now Elise is "reading" a grocery store ad, and she just told me that it was a great story. "Really?", I said. "Yes. It's really, really fun!" was her response. Gotta love those great, fun artichoke ads.

Fall is here.

So it seems. We woke up this morning to a cool, foggy, drizzly day. My feet are cold (and yes, Andy, I am wearing socks) and I have all the lights in our living area on. It's dismal without them. I would imagine that summer will make an encore performance, but only to give us closure so that we may turn our attentions fully towards autumn.

We enjoyed our Labor Day weekend, the unofficial time to mark the changing of the seasons. I began a new cross stitch project (much to Andy's annoyance; I still have not finished the one he bought for me 4 1/2 years ago). We canned pears. We made the most delicious triple-crust peach cobbler - the kind of dessert that keeps cardiologists in business. So good. We finished the long weekend with a birthday barbecue for a one year old friend. It was there that Elise got a taste of paradise - the bouncy house. She wents nuts over it. Have I mentioned that my daughter likes to jump? She does. "Like" is a mellow word for it. She loves it. Jumping is her preferred form of ambulation.

And now my thoughts are turning towards the holidays. What will Elise's Halloween costume be? Will we travel? What events do we want to attend and which can we skip? What should we make for Thanksgiving dinner? Which gifts will I make and which will we buy? How early should I send a package to my brother in Iraq? Should we introduce Santa Claus this year? How will we observe Advent? And so on and so forth. I am frequently an indecisive person, and I have recently learned that too many undecided decisions stress me out. This usually happens when the decisions to be made are over insignificant things. For example: if we have a variety of errands to run and would also like to go out for dinner, the decisions may involve what kind of food I am in the mood for, which restaurant would be most likely to accomodate a toddler well, what gift we should get for an upcoming baby shower, what store would be most likely to have that gift, what restaurants are close to that store, whether we should invite friends to go to dinner with us, what Elise should wear, etc. Little decisions, right? Insignificant decisions. But throw them all at me at once, and I have a very difficult time sorting through them. Each one feels heavier than it really is, and I find myself putting way too much thought into them. Since I realized this weakness, it has been easier to deal with it. Now I try to remember that the "problem" could be solved by simply making a decision and not worrying about it. My response used to be (and too frequently still is - sorry, honey, I really am working on it) to get irritated and defensive. My husband would ask for my opinion and I would say, irritably, "I don't care. Whatever. You decide." Very immature of me. So I'm working on it. And what better opportunity than the holidays. There will be a million decisions to make, and most of them will be relatively insignificant. I will try not to give myself (and my family) a headache by stressing over where to put the peppermint candle or which ribbon goes with which wrapping paper.

And now to find warmer socks...

Cottage Quilt

Well, it's finally done. My simple, easy, spur-of-the-moment little quilt is done. And it only took (insert sarcasm here) two and a half months.


After a failed attempt at free motion quilting, I decided to just tie it. I don't believe I had ever tied a quilt before. It was nice. And fast. Once that was done, I got to do the fun part. The binding. I like sewing the binding. I like making binding strips, I like machine stitching it to the front of the quilt, and I really like hand stitching it to the back of the quilt. Very pleasant work.


The only thing I had to buy for this quilt was the thread. I like that. I did not officially join the Use What You Have challenge, but I appreciate the idea behind it. Most of the fabrics used in this quilt came from fat quarters that I've had for years or from the ready-made stash that my mother-in-law gave me last spring. The batting was left over from a larger project, and the ties were made from floss in my embroidery basket.


I think I'll keep this one. It is receiving blanket size and would make a good baby gift, but all of my friends who are currently pregnant have opted to not find out the gender of their baby until he or she is born. Figures. This is most certainly not a gender-neutral quilt. That's okay, I'm happy to keep it. Right now it lives on the back of the rocking chair in Elise's room, and I think that's probably where it will stay for a while.

Made In China

Like many parents, I've been concerned about the increasing number of recalls of Chinese-made goods. I am also surprised to hear how many of our products are made in China - one report gave an estimate of 80% of all toys in America. Last night as I gave Elise her bath, I decided to do my own little household survey.

Sure enough...every single toy in the bathtub that has a manufacturer's label on it was made in China. Hmm. Interesting. I continued my survey this morning in the playroom. These are the toys that I found that were not made in China: (I'm big on lists this week)

• stuffed rabbit made in India
• soft alphabet book made in the Philippines
• recorder made in Japan
• matchbox car made in Malaysia
• sunglasses made in Taiwan
• dollhouse and furniture made in Mexico (the dolls that came with the set were made in China)
• hobby horse made in Indonesia
• rocking horse made in France
• Legos made in USA and Switzerland

That's it. Everything else - every other toy in the playroom that has a manufacturer's label on it - was made in China. This includes Happy Meal and dollar store toys as well as expensive toys chosen for their durability.

Now, to be fair, if we are really buying (and I think we are) so many of our goods from China, then we've got to look at the percentage of recalled items. I don't know what it is, but it's got to be tiny. It's not like 50% of all Chinese-made goods are being recalled. But I'm still uncomfortable. I don't want to wait until a toy company gets a complaint about lead poisoning before I find out that the toy my daughter has been playing with for three months is covered in lead paint.

What do you all think about this trend? I'm trying to keep up with the recall lists (I just found that the infant swing I purchased for our church nursery has been recalled) and I know I'll be more careful about the toys I purchase in the future. This makes me want to buy only American- or European-made products, which is virtually impossible. (I have new appreciation for Elise's rocking horse and Legos. I did not know that Legos were made in Switzerland. How cool is that?!)

Now, on to survey Elise's bedroom!

Another benefit of handmade

I really like nice paper. Stationery, notecards, that kind of thing. I like sending notes and cards to people, and I like having an assortment of blank cards and stationery on hand. I very rarely allow myself to browse the stationery section at stores, because I will almost certainly find something that I really, really want to buy. The truth is, I have enough cards to last for a long, long time.

This morning I opened my stationery box to put away the leftover invitations from Elise's birthday party. Then I realized that I will never use them. I started digging through the box to see what other "leftovers" I had. This is what I found:

• Six "topiary" bridal shower invitations
• Seven "umbrella" bridal shower invitations (the last bridal shower I threw was nearly two years ago)
• Six "Noah's Ark" baby shower invitations (my niece - the baby of honor at that shower - will be five next month)
• Six "clothesline" baby shower invitations
• Seven birth announcements (I guess we could use them when we have another kid!)
• Two "butterfly" party invitations (from Elise's 1st birthday party)
• Four "Curious George" party invitations (from Elise's 2nd birthday party)
• Five general invitations

What do you do with leftovers like those? I don't know. They look nice...I have each bundle tied together with ribbon. But I'll never use them. I suppose I could save them for the next time I throw a shower, and just send out assorted invitations, but to be honest, I'm not that thrifty. I like to pick out invitations that I think the person of honor will like.

I ran into this same dilemma with Christmas cards last year. I had leftover Christmas cards from every year that we've been married - maybe even some from before we were married - and they added up to a lot of cards. I couldn't bring myself to throw them out - they were perfectly good cards! So I swallowed my hesitancy to send a friend the same Christmas card that they received two years ago and I just sent out my 40 leftover cards. My apologies to those of you who have received duplicate cards from me.

This brings me to my point. (I know, you were wondering if I had one.) With handmade cards, this problem of leftovers isn't there. You can just make the exact number of cards that you need. You can personalize each card to the tastes of the recipient. I have only made a handful of cards, and they did take a fair amount of time, but they were fun to make. I'm not committing to anything, but I think I may try to make the next "batch" of cards that I send. And if anyone has any ideas of what to do with these 43 leftover invitations, please let me know!

Two days in a row!

Retha posted this meme and invited me to play along. Feel free to join in the fun!

ACCENT: American, I suppose. When I go back to southern Illinois, I pick up a bit of that accent pretty quickly.

I DO NOT DRINK: black coffee or beer

CHORE I HATE: cleaning the blinds. I'm not a big fan of cleaning the shower, either.

PETS: As an adult, I haven't had any pets (except a few fish for a while. They don't like it when you pet them.) As a child I always had dogs and cats, and we threw a pig, some geese, injured birds, a guinea pig, and a stray turtle or two into the mix from time to time.

ESSENTIAL ELECTRONICS: I really would miss the computer. We use it not only for emailing, but also for shopping, banking, finding addresses and telephone numbers, and paying bills. Andy and I both use it for work as well.

PERFUME: I very rarely wear perfume. It's not that I don't like it; I just don't think about wearing it.

GOLD or SILVER: I don't have a general preference.

INSOMNIA: Is terrible. I go through periods of insomnia usually two or three times a year. I hate it.

JOB TITLE: SAHM

MOST ADMIRED TRAIT: I do not know. I suppose only those who admire it would be able to answer this.

KIDS: One daughter, Elise, two years old. Hopefully more in the future.

RELIGION: Christianity.

SIBLINGS: Five sisters, four brothers. Six of them are married, and Andy has a married sister, so I suppose I have eight siblings-in-law.

TIME I WAKE UP: whenever Elise wakes up, anytime between 7:00 and 8:30.

UNUSUAL TALENT/SKILL: I can tell from another room when the TV has been left on even when the volume is muted. We can walk in from the garage, which is on a different story in our house than the TV, and I will say, "Oh, the TV's on", and Andy will look at me as though I'm crazy. Then we'll go upstairs and, sure enough, the TV will be on, but muted (usually in DVD mode, so it's on but there is no picture or sound). I guess I just hear the electronic hum...which is weird, because my hearing is slightly compromised and I frequently have trouble hearing mid-level sounds, much less something as subtle and soft as a muted TV.

VEGETABLE: I really like vegetables. Green beans are probably my favorite, unless you count corn as a vegetable.

WORST HABIT: Blogging. Kidding, kidding. Uh...procrastinating returning phone calls. My family and long distant friends complain about this all the time.

X-RAYS: Hmm...I had xrays taken when I broke my wrist. I think I was five. Other than that...I can't think of any. I've had some other imaging done, but not xrays.

MY FAVORITE MEAL: Fried chicken, corn on the cob, biscuits (butter, no gravy), green beans, tomato slices sprinkled w/salt, and iced tea. This meal is best when the corn, beans, and tomatoes are fresh from the garden.

Middle Name

I did not jump on the Encyclopedia of Me bandwagon, but thought I could handle this simpler version.

Players, you must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name. If you don’t have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had. When you are tagged you need to write your own blog post containing your own middle name game facts. At the end of your blog post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.My middle name is...........

Elisabeth.

E: Elise. My two year old daughter. She is my delight. She can make me laugh and cry in the same minute. Being her mother is no less wonderful than I dreamt motherhood would be.

L: Listener. I'd rather listen than talk. This frequently makes me feel that I am a boring person. My friends will tell me about what's going on in their lives, and then will ask me what's going on in mine, and I feel tongue-tied. I usually feel that if I don't have something "big" to tell, then I have nothing of interest to say. I enjoy hearing the details of my friends' lives, but somehow feel that they would not be interested in the details of mine. I suppose all that really means is that I am not a sparkling conversationalist.

I: Introverted. I'm not as shy as I was growing up, but I still have to remind myself to introduce myself to people, strike up a conversation, etc.

S: Sensitive. Despite the fact that I am apparently the personification of Compassion Fatigue, the pain of others - family or stranger, friend or foe - really does affect me very deeply. I took a psychological personality inventory once, and it showed that I tend to take on the problems of others as if they were my own. Working in a hospital taught me to be a little more objective. In healthcare, you have to care, but you also have to maintain an emotional distance. Sometimes pain is inflicted to save a life; treatment can be severely retarding; parents cannot be protected from the truth of their child's condition. The ability to do one's job involves a tricky balance of sympathy and professionalism. I am very grateful for this practical lesson. It is invaluable as a parent.

This trait comes through in all situations, not just those in which I have personal contact with a pained person. You will never see me dancing in the streets over the execution or sentencing of a criminal. I believe in justice, I think that execution is sometimes the best course of action, and I am certainly glad when a dangerous person is removed from public contact. But I never feel exulted over a criminal's punishment. I usually feel very sad thinking about the hopelessness, anger, and depravity that they must feel, and the extreme pain that their loved ones must feel. This does not in any way take away from my sympathy for the victims and their families, nor does it impede my sense of justice. It just makes me sad.

A: Andy. My husband. He is my joy. He is constantly coming up with new ways to show me his love. He makes me laugh. He challenges me to learn. He is a wonderful father. I love him.

B: Baby. I want another one. Several more, actually...just not all at once.

E: Evergreen. It is the name of my church (and, incidentally, my state). Our church is a big part of our lives. Within our church family we worship, learn, serve, and fellowship. Church provides a wellspring that allows those actions to overflow into every other area of our lives.

T: Timid. I am a people pleaser by nature and by upbringing. Timidity is a great bane in my life, a weakness of which I am constantly aware and that I am constantly fighting.

H: Happy. I am happy. When Andy and I are asked what our dreams are, we look at each other and kind of smile. Our greatest dreams have already come true. We're living them. We have a strong, happy marriage and a beautiful, healthy daughter. We have the provisions we need. We have good friends, people whose company we enjoy and who challenge us. We have a home. We have goals and such for the future, of course, but they are akin to Cinderella wanting to upgrade her pumpkin carriage. Icing on the cake, so to speak.

Whew. I have a long middle name. I am not going to "tag" anyone. Just feel free to play along if you want.

Fall

Yesterday I was talking to some women at church. They were saying that they were disappointed that fall is almost here. It's true that we haven't experienced much that resembles summer this year. We had a few days of uncomfortably hot weather, but for the most part it has been a very mild, pleasant season. I can understand wanting more of a summer. I grew up in an area where summer lasted all three months that it is scheduled. I do miss it. But I also love Seattle summers. They make up for Seattle winters.

Anyway...

So these women were saying that they are not ready for fall, that they would like summer to last a little bit longer. I was surprised to realize that I had a different opinion. I'm ready for fall. Usually I am sad to see summer go. Fall, in my mind, marks the beginning of months and months of dreary weather. (Native western Washingtonians roll their eyes when outsiders talk about how much it rains here. They claim that it does not rain as much as outsiders think it does. My personal opinion, as an outsider who has lived here for ten years, is that the annual rainfall may not amount to as much as it does in other areas, but it does in fact rain as frequently as most outsiders think it does. Natives, you may disagree if you wish.) Don't get me wrong, I love fall. I love the crispness in the air (before the rain clouds set in), I love drinking hot drinks, I love the autumn colors, I love the anticipation of Christmas. But I still usually wish that summer would linger for a while longer. This year, to my own surprise, I don't wish for that. I know I'll miss the sun, but I'm ready for fall.

This has been a challenging summer for us, and I am tired. We have had sad farewells and harsh disappointments. It has been unsettling, and I hate feeling unsettled. I guess I am hoping that the onset of a new season will bring with it some peace and rest, hope, a restoration of routine and order. I'm looking forward to long evenings, to reading and sewing and baking, to watching fireplace embers fade, to just being with and enjoying my family. Fall promises to be a busy time for us - two weeknight commitments that broke for the summer will be restarting, and the weeks and months leading up to the holidays are always full - so I'm not entirely sure why I expect that it will be a season of rest for us...but I do.

Continuing Education

When I worked at the hospital, I attended Continuing Education classes every month. Granted, their purpose was mostly to "teach" us about the latest piece of extraneous paperwork that had to be completed in triplicate, or that last month's politically correct term for a given disease, socioeconomic status, or family arrangement was now offensive; nevertheless, it was part of my job to attend these classes, to learn as much as I could about my field, and to constantly look for ways to improve my job skills.

Every job has Continuing Education. Sometimes you have to be a little more proactive in finding the educational opportunities, but they're always there. I'm a homemaker now. What does Continuing Education for a homemaker look like? Well...it looks like many things. This week, for me, it looks a lot like a stack of books.


You can't go wrong with Martha, right? Just kidding. I do think that Martha (or rather, her staff) has a lot of really great homemaking ideas. Plus I love the photography.

This book...I have mixed feelings about this book. I do not appreciate the author's attitude towards homemaking. Her philosophy is that the faster we can get through meaningless housework, the faster we can get on with more important things, like careers. Rather demeaning. However, she does have good advice and ideas.

I have several books about homemaking, and I find it refreshing to thumb through them every now and again. I don't try to live by them, though. I think that would be overwhelming, impossible, and, quite frankly, wrong. It just seems that a home run solely on housekeeping technique would be devoid of...grace. Yes, that's the word I want. And housekeeping technique is really all that homemaking books can give you. So I read homemaking books to give me ideas on how to make my own all-purpose cleaner, how to restore towels to their original fluffiness, and how to arrange my broom closet. If those things ever get in the way of grace in my home, they will be thrown out the window. And if I am too blinded or stubborn to recognize my own stupidity, I trust that my family will tell me the truth...in love, of course.

Ouch.

Have you seen this quiz? I really don't put a lot of stock - okay, any stock - in these unscientific Internet quizzes, but I still take them because I think they're funny. This one is supposed to tell you what book you would be, if you were indeed a book. Look what I am! There is nothing good in this description. I've never even been to NYC! Wow.

For those of you who know me personally, if you read this and think, "Yeah, that's about right"...you can feel free to keep that opinion to yourselves. :)

You're Compassion Fatigue!
by Susan Moeller
You used to care, but now it's just getting too difficult. You cared about the plight of people in lands near and far, but now the media has bombarded you with images of suffering to the point that you just don't have the energy to go on. You've become cold and heartless, as though you'd lived in New York City for a year or so. But you stand as a serious example to all others that they should turn off their TV sets and start caring again.
Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

We live in the wrong city.

It's true. I've suspected this for quite a while, and today I realized it more fully. We live in City A. This morning I drove to City B, where Elise played with some friends for a while and I worked at our church. Then we came home to City A. In an hour, I will be driving back to City B for a dentist appointment, and then home to City A. Immediately after that, we will all drive back to City B for a barbecue. Finally, tonight, we'll come home to sleep in City A. Then tomorrow, some friends from City B will drive over here, to City A, to play with Elise for a few hours.

Wouldn't it be easier if we just lived in City B? I think so.

"And just what do YOU do all-day-I'm-sorry"

I was just thinking that, with fall just around the corner, I'm going to have to be more creative and efficient in order to get everything done. Both of my jobs are only a few hours each week, but they both get a little busier in the fall; I'm co-directing a Wednesday night kids' program at our church this year; Elise has just started potty training in earnest; I have a lot of Christmas projects I would like to make; and we'll have family staying with us over Thanksgiving. There are baby showers to plan and attend, holidays and birthdays to observe, reunions and going away parties, and so on and so forth. It's not as hectic as I made it sound...it's not like we have to do all of these things in one week. We're talking about the next four months here. But still, I'd like to plan ahead a bit and stay on top of the daily tasks so as to help everything run smoothly.

Thinking about this brought to mind two remarks that friends have made that have stuck with me. The first was made by Andy's parents' neighbor, a WWII veteran who is nearing ninety and has more energy than I do. Some time ago, his wife had surgery and had to stay off her feet for a while. The man had to take over his wife's usual responsibilities of cooking, cleaning, etc., and he threw in a great deal of good-natured grumbling while he was at it. One day he came inside after having hung a load of laundry on the clothesline to dry and complained to his wife, "I'm doin' the work of three women here!" Of course his wife laughed at him and immediately shared the story with her friends, because he was merely doing what she has done every day for the last five or six decades.

The other remark was made when a friend of mine was commenting that they were short-staffed at her company, and she was carrying the workload of two people. Someone else (not a parent) jokingly said, "Well, Em, you should just have a kid so you can stay home". Immediately another friend - also not a parent, but remarkably in touch with the work that comes with being one - piped up, "Yeah, and then you could do six people's jobs." And all the stay at home moms in the group cheered. Well, okay, we just chuckled, but we were cheering on the inside.

The truth is, being a parent is hard work, and it's really difficult (for me, at least) to describe that work to someone else, which is why, I think, some people wonder what in the world we stay at home parents do all day. And the descriptions that we do manage to get out sound pathetic. "I, uh, well, I change diapers and give baths, I clean up crushed Cheerios, I sing Old MacDonald, I clean and cook and do laundry, I rescue my child from the room that she has locked herself in, I try to hang up the phone before Elise's call to South Africa goes through..." But you know, that's all right. So I may not be able to make someone else understand what it is that fills my days and why I enjoy it so much. Doesn't matter. Because at the end of the day, my little girl will look up at me and say, "Mommy sing 'Teedle Teedle Yittle Star' and wub Elise's back?" And all will be right with the world.

Fashion Statement

Elise played fashion designer today. What do you think?


Isn't she beautiful? Sometimes when I look at her, I just want to cry because she is so beautiful. And I know that sounds sarcastic, given the picture of choice in this post, but I'm serious. I could never deserve to love and be loved by such a beautiful creature; I am astonished by God's grace.

And, because I want to support my daughter's artistic endeavors, I will even post a most hideous picture of myself. Elise picked out my headgear accessories for me.

No autographs, please.

Summer Reading

Elise and I visited the library last week. I didn't make it out of the children's section, and I brought these books home for my own reading. (Elise brought home her own.)

I'm reading Ballet Shoes because of the reference that Meg Ryan makes to it in You've Got Mail, one of my favorite movies. So far it's a cute story. The Brownie And The Princess is a charming book of short stories by Louisa May Alcott. I love LMA's children's books, and somehow this one had previously escaped me. These are lovely fables. Most of LMA's children's stories are firmly grounded in morality. She herself was a Transcendentalist, so I do not agree with the philosophies and theology behind her morals, but I still think the morals themselves are strong and wise. Lastly, I picked up Abbie In Stitches. It is a warm, funny story of an early 19th century girl who dislikes her stitch sampler lessons. She rebels by stitching a bold message into her first sampler.


These are the other books in progress. I have been reading An American Life for a long time. Well over a month. It's still interesting, just...slow. I read Reaching for the Invisible God in college and really enjoyed it. Philip Yancey is one of my favorite authors. I'm looking forward to reading this one again. And the one on top, Church: Why Bother? is a Yancey book that I have not read. Should be interesting.

Itchin' for some Stitchin'

I picked up this book at a thrift store the other day. It had price tags from three different used books stores on it. The reselling stops here! It's a great reference of all sorts of stitches.

I'm planning an embroidery project for a Christmas gift, and I'm both excited and nervous about it. I've never designed an embroidery pattern before...thus the nervous part. But I love embroidery, and it has been a long time since I've done any handstitching, so I'm looking forward to this project. I just need to get the design done. Look for pictures here in...uh...January.

More Birthday Details

The last ones, I promise.

Please excuse the poor photos.


I cut up a panel of Curious George "quiet book" pages and hung them from a clothesline across the entrance to the dining area.


And I hung a few more across the fireplace. Now I have 12 Curious George "pages", and I'm not sure what to do with them. I may just hang them from clothesline in the playroom. I really like Kirsten's bunting valance, so I may try something like that.



I had originally planned on having a very girly party, all pink and flowery and polkadotted, but I'm glad we went with Curious George. He really is a good little monkey.

Twister

Today has been a good day. Lately Elise has been demanding a lot of attention, and I have begun to really understand the truth behind the statement, "Show me the mother of a toddler, and I'll show you a tired woman". She has not been eating well, she has been testing her limits like nothing else, and she has been really, really clingy. Yesterday, for instance, I could not sit down without having her immediately climb (or try to climb) into my lap. I could barely stand without having her cling to my legs, crying to be picked up. Now I am not against holding my child. I love holding her. Just not every second of the day. It got worse after my husband came home from work. Elise was absolutely fine...so long as I wasn't in the room. She was playing and laughing and having a grand old time, and then I would walk into the room, and she would instantly start crying, wanting to be held, and crying, "Mommy! Mommy!" Which of course made me think that somehow I was perpetuating this weird crankiness.

So I got to thinking. Certainly this behavior is not acceptable. The trick, I think, is to determine how much of it is real misbehavior and how much of it is healthy toddler mischief. Why is she happy to play independently and converse politely when Andy is watching her, and not when I'm there? (That was just the one time, but still...) What's going on?

Today I was determined to watch for early signs of those obvious culprits, hunger and tiredness, as well as for disobedience after clear instruction. Being intentional about this makes all the difference. I know that seems really obvious, and it was a bit of a "duh" moment for me, but sometimes I need to be reminded of obvious things. This morning I had to remind myself that the most important part of being a stay at home mom is the mom part, not the home part. I am guilty of making to do lists that include only household and work responsibilities, leaving off "play with Elise", "go to the park", "teach Elise a new song", etc. So today I tried to pay closer attention to these things, and I did not get much housework done, and I'm okay with that. (I hope you are, too, dear.)

And now on to Twister. (There is a reason I titled this post thusly.) Elise and I sat down to lunch a while ago, and we closed our eyes to pray. I expected her to repeat after me as she usually does. I said, "Dear Jesus", and she repeated it. Then I said, "Thank you for our dinosaur chicken nuggets." There was a pause. I knew that she could say all of those words, so I wasn't sure why she wasn't repeating it. Then she piped up, "And thank you for the circles." The circles? Ah, yes. Twister. I got the Twister mat out today, thinking she would like to play on the circles. She did. And she thanked Jesus for them. Isn't that sweet? It's also her first original prayer.

It has been a good day.

Birthday

As previously mentioned, Elise's birthday was this past Friday. I do not know where the last two years went. How could it have been two years ago that the nurse placed my tiny little daughter in my arms? (Well, more on my arms, and then she stayed there to make sure I didn't drop her.) The memories I have of our days in the hospital and the first few months at home are so vivid...it's hard to believe that two years have elapsed.

So yes, Friday was Elise's birthday. We had her party on Saturday. My husband has done a great job of describing the party, so I will not reinvent the blogging wheel by rehashing details. You can read about it here. Suffice it to say we had a great time and we were very tired afterward.

Sunday was a quiet day. We went to church in the morning, and then enjoyed a quiet afternoon at home. Just as we were starting to talk about maybe getting out and enjoying the nice evening, some friends called and invited us to a local fair, just a few minutes away from our house. Perfect. We went and enjoyed fresh roasted corn on the cob (my all-time favorite food) and strawberry crepes while Elise and her little friend rocked out to a local band's performance. Good times.

Today it's back to the workaday world. Elise is yelling from her room, "Mommy! Elise wants to go upside-down!" The dishwasher and washing machine are working their magic, the bed is made, the floor swept. I'm about to pour myself a second cup of coffee and then go through the stack of cooking magazines that my husband left for me. We are finally going through them and picking out the recipes we want to keep, entering them into a computer database, and getting rid of the magazines. I have a rough life, let me tell ya. Sipping coffee and reading magazines whilst my daughter amuses herself by hanging upside down from her little chair. It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it.

The Great Oatmeal Fiasco of 2007

Today is Elise's birthday (more on that later). Oatmeal is one of Elise's favorite breakfast foods, and one of the few that she is pretty much guaranteed to eat on any given day. I very, very rarely give Elise oatmeal. She ate it every day when I spoon fed her, but now that she feeds herself, oatmeal is rarely on the menu. I know, I know. It's incredibly nutritious, one of the best breakfasts she could eat. But it's oatmeal, people. It is a thick, grainy glob of oat paste. And Elise is two.

So today is her birthday. Her party will be tomorrow, but we'd still like to make the actual day special for her. I decided to bite the bullet and give her oatmeal for breakfast. It was her idea, not mine. She actually walked up to me and asked for oatmeal for breakfast. So I made oatmeal.

What do I have, amnesia or something? Elise can handle silverware pretty well. There is usually a bit of a mess to clean up, but nothing catastrophic. But somehow oatmeal changes that. Somehow she reverts to her 16 month spoon holding abilities. Giving my child a bowl of oatmeal and her own spoon has pretty much the same result as putting a blender in the middle of the dining room table, filling it with oatmeal, and turning it on high...without the lid.

I tried very hard to remember that today is her birthday, and that in the long run my errands and chores are not the things that really matter, and that someday soon I'll wish I could solve her problems for her as easily as I solved her oatmeal mess this morning. (That's not to say it was easy to clean up. It wasn't. I just mean that when she is first snubbed by a friend or gets her heart broken by a boy, I'll wish I could take a big, warm washcloth and make it all better.) And I only partially succeeded in my "have a good attitude" attempt. There were still several deep sighs and "Oh, Elise!"'s. I should have taken a picture, especially given that it is her birthday, but....my attitude didn't make that much progress.

So let this be a warning to you, oh parents of toddlers. Oatmeal is nutritious and easy to make...but it has consequences.