Rejection

Now that I have become a parent, many new fears and worries have appeared. I've talked to a good friend (who's also a mother and a camper) about my new found fear of the great outdoors, which I LOVE and grew up camping in, only now it scares me because I have two little ones.

Today I experienced another worry that I've thought about more frequently over this past year (since I no longer work and we're able to have more playdates)...my son being rejected by his friends. The hard part was that it wasn't during a playdate, where I would have upped and left once it occurred. It happened while watching my friends kids so she could run an errand. It was heartbreaking to watch. What do you do???

I ended up sending everyone to their room and kept my son in the living room and told them all that we needed to have some quiet time since we weren't playing nice. Afterwards I talked to my son about it and told him that when they are not playing nice, they need to have some quiet time and that it was time to play alone for a bit. His chin quivered when he said that he didn't want to play alone. My poor baby...he was treated unfairly and recognized it because he was trying to force them to play nicely right before I broke them all up. I have always worried about him being rejected by certain friends because there are a few that he is so loyal to when we visit.

What would you do??

Just a pic of my sons pretty blue eye and the Fresh From the Cauldron yarn in Bella Swan colorway that I custom ordered to knit a hat out of for him. Think they match??

Toddler times

The past couple of nights we've been reading a Richard Scarry book to our toddler that we got from the library (not the one in the pic, that one is the cover of the one I got when I was four back in 1981!!) The library book has about 15 different easy to read stories in it. Last night after my husband read him one or two, he decided it was his turn to read to daddy. So CUTE!! He flips through the story explaining what's going on in the pictures. He starts out with "One day.." and as he's turning the pages he'll say "And then..." Good times!

Happy (belated) Valentines Day!

I thought I would share a cute little crafty tutorial for some sweet magnets to make with your little ones. My three year old and I made a set for each of the grandparents.

Supplies needed:
-bottle caps
-acrylic paint
-varnish for acrylic paint (optional)
-paint brushes
-various felt colors
-printed pictures
-sheet magnet or old refrigerator magnets
-craft glue
-scissors

FIRST: Clean and dry the bottle caps of any stickiness. Paint inside of bottle cap with acrylic paint, allow to dry in between coatings. (I applied two coats to hide the brush strokes.) Final layer could be the varnish, it just makes it shiny, but is not required.
THEN: Cut out desired pictures into a 1 inch diameter circle (or a tad smaller) and cut out heart shapes from felt. Cut 1/2" square pieces of the magnet. (I bought sheet magnets only to realize that I could have used the old calender sheet magnet that was on the fridge.)
AND THEN: Glue magnet to back side of bottle cap, or if sheet magnet, peel paper and stick.
FINALLY: Glue pictures or felt heart shapes to inside of bottle cap that was painted. Allow to dry, then wrap them up and give them to the ones you love!

Great News!!

YEAY!! I FINALLY found my battery charger. I've neglected posting a few vacation pics, new crafty pics and other related sorts because the camera has been dead. I've started writing a knitting pattern that I posted about here. I'd like to post about it soon, WITH pics. It's an interesting story, an interesting pattern and a big learning experience for me. I've created a few crafty things since I last posted about something crafty, I'll have those up soon. AND....the best new news of all...I think our 2-1/2 year old is potty trained!! YEAY!! He still wears a diaper to bed at night, but all day he wears his undies and the accidents have become minimal. Minimal as in maybe two accidents in the last five days (so far). YEAY!! It's such a good feeling. :) We'll see what happens once baby #2 arrives...only 7 more weeks +or-.

Announcement

Well, I'm starting to recover from being exhausted constantly. I'm not ill or fighting some infection,...I'm carrying a bun in the oven! First trimester, like the first time around, has been nothing but exhaustion. This time around, though, I also have a lack of appetite. Most foods are gagging me and when something sounds good, I better eat it before the window of opportunity passes. Within this past week I've finally started getting some energy back. Last weekend we cleaned the house after about a month of neglect. All I could manage to do was go to work, come home to the sofa, then go to bed for twelve hours. The dishes piled up, the toys spread everywhere and ALL the crafts got crammed in the corner.

I did manage this cute little nightgown and robe ensemble for my friends daughter who got a new doll for Christmas. I had several 18" doll clothes patterns, but her's was a 14" doll. So I cut the pieces out that I wanted and photocopied them down to hopefully the right size. By my calculations, if I shrunk them to be 77% of the size, they would fit a 14" doll. Laying them next to Cowboy Bob makes them look like they would fit him perfect...

He wasn't too thrilled at the suggestion and because I woke him from his nap. He's still not happy that I haven't made him any jeans, he's embarrassed about the boxers. Cowboy Bob is another Knitted Babe that I made last summer for my son. He really enjoyed hanging out with Suzy Q while she was here. I recently learned that she is enjoying her new home and has been name Heidi. However, Cowboy Bob's idea is from the other book by Claire Garland Dream Toys. This was another book I fell in love with at first site, mainly because I had to make the mermaid from it (another to-do on my list).

Is it odd that after I took this picture my son insisted that Cowboy Bob had messed his shorts and needed a diaper? Well, that was the case and we made him one only to have it removed shortly after that because Cowboy Bob needed to use the potty. It was all a new and interesting experience brought to me by my 2-1/2 year old.

Now that first trimester is ending, I'm hoping to get back to crafting....my latest goal is to create an amigurumi character. I started this one last fall, it's pattern is from the book Creepy Cute Crochet by Christen Haden. I fell in love with this book the moment I saw it...I just don't know what this little guy/gal wants to be. I think I originally was going to make the amazon warrior, but now I want to do something a little different. I gave it Cowboy Bob's winter scarf because it's still chilly around these parts. Hopefully I'll post more projects soon! We have to see how my energy level is doing.