Thursday, February 2, 2012

making it

"I draw a buffalo.  And a moon.  They're dancing together."
I have been enjoying the aesthetic beauty of unabashed toddler creations.  Lately we have been making, and making it--this life with two kids.  We weave inside and out and I loudly congratulate myself when the out happens without fanfare.
^Hazel under my coat, as per usual.^    

Making: cooking.

Getting out


Making: painting & drawing.
 ^Contributions from dad on this one.^

Getting out:
Around the time I was over in Idaho pushing a baby out of my body, Juniper's imagination took hold and by the time we returned, she was regularly serving up sandwiches, milkshakes, cupcakes and salsa and carefully laying out elaborate picnics.  This was the start of her pretend play.  It's super fun (and goes to show how dumbed-down we become as adults).  Well, now days, we go fishing.  We catch the fish, bake the fish, fry the fish and--most importantly--eat the fish.  On this day, Juniper picked up a flake of snow and proclaimed: "I caught a fish!"  And thus began our post-lunch walk.  
^Carefully carrying the fish to the oven.  Not so carefully eating the fish.^

Making: crafting with seemingly useless stuff:
Borrowing the idea from this blog, I saved all the pine needles that had fallen off our Christmas tree for a "rainy day" (re: too damned cold to take a newborn outside) project.  We just mixed pine needles and glue together, formed it over a bowl covered in plastic wrap and let it dry.  Ta da!  We made a nest.  Only thing was...I didn't have any non-toxic, kid-friendly glue.  So, we made some.
It was ridiculously easy.  And edible too!

EDIBLE HOMEMADE GLUE:
1 cup flour
1 1/2 cups water
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp vinegar
Combine flour and sugar in a saucepan, add half the water and mix until it's clump-free, add second half of water and mix until smooth, add vinegar and cook on medium heat, stirring constantly, until a thick paste forms.  Supposedly, you can let it cool, then store in an airtight container in the fridge for several months.  But we used the whole thing, warm,  with our pine needles.
I probably either should have let the glue cool first or taken our nest off the bowl before it was completely dry, because now we have a cute little pine needle nest with just a touch of mold in the center.  But I think I can fix it up with more glue and some sparkly bling.  I'll keep you posted.

:: In the meantime, this mama's been in a making kind of mood, sneaking it in when I can: naps, car ride, late nights.  My first needle-felting project:
  (What?  It's an egg.  You know, for the nest.)

Also, finished those booties for my preggo friend.  I'm kind of on a bootie kick and I know five pregnant women right now.  Hmmmm.
  Made a knit-felted bowl for Juniper.  Right now, she's using it to store her crayon rocks.
Prior to this bowl, rock crayons inevitably ended up in pockets:

Getting out:
 ^Juniper nearly always removes her mittens and has thus perfected the art of falling without sinking delicate flesh into icy cold.^
Juniper pooped while on one of our walks the other day.  This is unusual.  She usually doesn't poop while playing outside.  We talked about it a lot and began to make our way back home for the diaper change.  We passed a pile of dog turds and I *tried*, really I did, to steer J bug away from it because I knew what was about to happen:  "POOP!!"  Yeah, that's dog poop.  "HI DOG POOP!!!  Mommy, you wanna wave to the dog poop?"  Oh, toddlers are so fun.  Yes, my friends, this is how you find yourself waving "hi" to dog shit on a Sunday afternoon.

:: "Where'd Hazel doe, mom?"  Maybe you're wondering the same thing.  Well, sometimes, at the start of a walk, Hazel looks (and sounds) like this:
But after a few minutes, she snuggles in and sleeps soundly next to my heart.

And while Juniper and I are busy making, Hazel works to strengthen her little neck:
^My step-mom made this playmat/quilt for Hazel.  If you think this side is cool, wait 'til I show you the other side.^  
We always joke how Hazel "suffers in silence."  I might find her--even in my own lap--flailing her arms all around, eyes wide and stricken, face scrunched and mouth wide open as though she's absolutely wailing...except she's perfectly silent.  Really, this girl doesn't like to make a fuss unless she has to.  
^Junebug loves entertaining her sister.^
And sometimes, when Juniper naps, I get Hazel Iris all to myself.
^That baby bottle is evidence of a (so far) failing mission.  Despite almost daily efforts for over a month, it seems our girls are nipple-snobs: they won't settle for less than the real McCoy.  We gave up with Juniper early on.  But not this time, I'm sticking to it.  I want to go to book club and knitting group and have some one-on-one with my firstborn, without worry or fuss.  Keeping my fingers crossed.^    


:: Random note to my future self; a little tidbit I want to remember because it's happening less and less: For a long time now, Juniper has had her own version of Tourettes syndrome.  When she is tired and mad, she'll start spewing out words:  "OTAY HERE WE GO NO JUST LEAVE IT ON I SLEEP RIGHT HERE HAPPY BIRTHDAY CUPCAKE."  Then she falls to the floor.   

:: Goodness.  It really is a 2012 goal of mine to keep these damned things shorter.  Thanks for hanging in here.

 

1 comment:

What say you? I want to hear it!