Growing kids, growing me
Hannah has started singing songs. Today she sang ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’ in its entirety, completely unprompted. She mostly likes to sing to herself, while she’s waiting for something to happen. It’s a good way to pass the time, I think.
While my girl’s off singing, I got to work with some beautiful Chinese brocade. I made a laptop case for Heather. Here it is:
I’ve finally caught up with the current photo backlog. Here are some shots from Hannah’s birthday party:
For those of you who might wonder what took so long, it’s actually not all that easy to post photos. To get a half dozen new snapshots from camera to web page takes at least half an hour. Especially when each one must be appropriately modified so that I look my best for the internet. 😉
I have done some work on the photo backlog. I’m not completely finished, but here are a few shots to placate you:
Still to come – photos of Hannah’s birthday, including a trip to the aquarium. And a couple of new snapshots of the world’s most neglected cat, Dorothy.
Um, why did Hannah suddenly decide to stop napping? Hey-presto, right on her 2nd birthday? I knew this was coming, but I was expecting some warning.
I have had to resort to entirely too much screen time for the kiddo, since it’s me or the electronic babysitter, and I. need. a. break. Also, I work from home. I count on that nap. Apparently, though, daycare is unaffected. This is not fair. I am the one who risked life and limb and endured great discomfort to bring her forth into this world. I remind her of this, but Hannah does not care, and her eyes remain open.
The one consolation has been a return of the early bedtime. My non-napper has at least had the decency to sleep well at night (knock wood).
Hannah is two years old today. Things have changed a lot in the past year. Instead of a crawling baby I have a running, jumping, climbing toddler. Instead of a few grunts and gestures, I have a talking child. Jon and I are learning to watch what we say, because everything is immediately parroted back at us. I have stopped counting achievements in pounds and ounces, teeth, and inches. Instead, I measure progress in songs sung, climbing structures conquered, and detailed concepts understood.
Now that she’s two, I really see Hannah’s personality emerging. Who is this person, this child, my daughter? She is fearless. She is rough-and-tumble. She loves party dresses and pink and pigtails. She loves to run and hide, a deadly combination when we’re out and about. She’s forceful, and can be a tad pushy and aggressive with other kids. She loves to dance and read books and play with blocks and watch the Wiggles. She screams a lot, but calms quickly most of the time. She talks about her friends and her grandparents, and loves to see them. She clings to me a lot, and takes a while to warm up to strangers.
What will the next year bring? More surprises than I can count, I’m sure. I’m eager to see what they will be.
PS – I know that you all want to see pictures, and they will come soon, but tonight I’m going to celebrate with my husband. We all survived this far, and that’s an accomplishment, let me tell you. 😉
As I understand it, people used to make their own clothes and household items to save money. Knitting a sweater, making a toy, or sewing a dress were all frugal options that stretched your hard-earned dollar. As any modern crafter can tell you, though, this is no longer the case.
I recently started knitting. I bought some yarn to make Hannah a sweater. I chose a cheaper option from a nice yarn shop, at $9.00 for a 100g skein. After taxes, Hannah’s sweater cost me $40.00, not including the needles I had to buy in the correct size. $40.00 could buy me a really nice sweater brand new from a children’s boutique. And, it would come pre-assembled.
Last year, I sewed a dress and hat for Hannah. 2 meters of fabric, some interfacing, ribbon and elastic ran me $25.00. The pattern I used was another $5.00. Again, I could buy a nice new dress and hat for that in a store. On consignment, I could get something equally nice for less than half that price.
I think there are a couple of factors at work here. Discount stores and cheap offshore manufacturing have driven down the price of goods. And, declining interest in handicrafts has pushed sewing and knitting into the realm of the hobbyist. Anyone can tell you that pursing hobbies isn’t cheap. Think of golf, fishing, or travelling. Ka-ching.
So, we are left with a dilemma. Does it really make sense to do your own crafting? I think the answer is yes, as long as you enjoy the process. If you don’t, any trip to the mall will be much cheaper and easier. If you do, the satisfaction that comes with conceiving of a project and creating it all by yourself is worth any extra expense (no matter what your husband thinks ;-)).
Tomorrow is Hannah’s birthday party. This evening I baked her birthday cake. It’s a two-layer golden cake, nothing fancy. However, as I attempted to remove the first layer from its pan it crumbled into little pieces.
To fully understand the magnitude of this calamity, you must understand what that cake symbolizes. That cake symbolizes 2 years of lost sleep, self sacrifice, and worry. That cake symbolizes an emergency surgery and blood transfusion for me, and 6 very long days in the special care nursery for my tiny baby. That cake symbolizes a long and difficult struggle to breastfeed my child. That cake symbolizes all of the blood, sweat, and tears that I have spilled over my daughter, both literally and figuratively. And it fell apart.
So, for those of you who will be at the birthday party tomorrow, I expect you to eat crumbly cake with a smile on your face. I expect you to exclaim over how good this cake is, no matter its shape. Because it’s much more than just a cake. Thank you in advance for your understanding and co-operation, because any sideways glances and I just may burst into tears. Or hold you down and force feed you crumbly cake. 😉
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