Play keys

Lacking the piano I grew up with and crave at Christmas, Andi decided to dust off her high school flute and learn some carols. She began with "What Child is This?" Of course, Lucy wanted to "play keys!", so she got to join in awhile. No carol ever sounded sweeter.

Sinterklaas, Kapoentje

Oops. I was feeling so sick Saturday night, I mixed up the dates and thought it was time to put out our wooden shoes for Sinterklaas. I was desperate to get into bed, and sad to think that this first Sinterklaas celebration that Lucy would remember would be so lacking. I had managed to get to the store for some once-a-year non-local citrus and a few tiny other treats, but had made no other preparations. But...

Over dinner, I told Lucy about Sinterklaas. She knew our wooden shoes well (my Dutch-descent family decorates with them), and I told her we'd put them by the door before bed. As soon as she got down from the table, she got her shoes and ran to set them right by the front door. We followed with ours, singing. In the tiny front hall, we held hands in a circle and sang "Sinterklaas, Kapoentje" again and again, dancing in that funny lifting-feet-high way of toddlers. It was glorious. I couldn't have wished for more.

In the morning, Lucy was thrilled to find an orange, a special candle, and raisins in her shoes. Thank goodness for the infectious joy of toddlers!

Happy St. Nicholas' day (even if the rest of you are all celebrating a day "late"!).

A crochet success!

Hooray! I finally made something that came out just as I'd hoped!

It's the first of what I hope will be three capelets for Christmas. (Ravelry details here.) I love it! Oh, I hope it'll look as cute on as I'm imagining it will (I'm kind of guessing at the size, but the style is very forgiving).

Horrible photo of cool vintage buttons (must learn how to use my camera!):

Yay! Two gifts down, only a million or so more to go...

Yarn Along 4

Yep, I've been "reading" the same book for 3 weeks now. No reflection on the book, which is a good read--I've just been the kind of busy and exhausted that allows for only a page or two at a time.

I'm trying again with the cowl with bigger yarn, and again, it's coming out too small. I mean, seriously, this is half the scarf--look how skinny it is! Nothing like the picture I'd seen. Argh!! At this rate, I may never make a satisfactory Christmas present. I probably should have bought the exact same yarn she mentioned until I know more about what I'm doing. It's too bad, because I really love the color of this yarn, and think the person I'm making it for would, too. I've actually quit working on this scarf and started the matching hat to see if that'll convince me to keep going with this idea.

I'd think I was a big fat crochet failure if it weren't for my capelet, which came out pretty darn cute. I just have to weave in the ends and sew on the buttons, and then I'll show you.

Check out what other people are reading and making at Ginny's yarn along.

Changing station to bird-watching station

I've been wanting to set up a bird-watching station for Lucy ever since reading this post, but I didn't have the right spot. But when I dismantled the changing station we've had on our office window seat for the past year and a half, we suddenly had a perfect spot. As soon as we thought of it, we had to do it (excuse the horrible evening photos!). We made some pinecone birdfeeders and hung them in the bush right outside the window:

Come and get it, birds!

We gathered some bird books, and watched and waited for the birds to arrive.

They didn't come right away, so we contented ourselves with reading bird books. As Lucy looked at this book, she recognized something, and asked me to find it in this book:

Sure enough, two almost-identical pictures of a cedar waxwing.

And then, of course, we had to play around with the binoculars, just in case:

(Oh, and the hat? Andi made it; details here. Isn't it the cutest thing?)

How to get your toddler out of diapers in 4 easy steps

1. Spend 2 precious, rare, weekend hours to yourself sewing two new pairs of longies. When you find out they're too small, in a fit of frustration, spend tons of money to purchase two pairs of longies.*

2. Buy a pattern for big butt baby pants, designed especially to fit over bulky cloth diapers. Cut out fabric to make a pair. Cut it out again, because you foolishly cut the corduroy in the wrong direction.

3. Begin crocheting a pair of longies. Realize they're coming out too big, but continue on because she can wear them at some point.

4. Realize they're all unnecessary, because your baby has outgrown the need for diapers**.
...
*I must say, they were worth every penny; and no, I have no connection to this company. She'll continue to wear them as super-warm longjohns.

**After 17 years of teaching young children and advising parents on toilet learning, I learned about EC shortly before Lucy was born. It sounded like a great idea--for parents who could be one-on-one with their baby all day. But for a teacher of 6 toddlers? No way. So I put it out of my mind until she was 5 months, when I read some more about it and decided maybe I could do it part time. The first time I put her on the potty, she peed, and I was sold. I have been amazed and stunned by the whole process ever since. Hurray for teaching old dogs new tricks!

Tiny blue cowl

I'm thankful for some time to crochet--enough time to actually complete a project! If all goes well, I should be posting several completed gifts in the coming weeks.

This one didn't go quite as well as I'd hoped. It's nice, but not as the gift I'd intended. It's due to my inexperience with yarn. The pattern called for bulky yarn, so I went out shopping, because I had none in my stash. But what on earth does "bulky" mean? There were yarns labeled "bulky" that looked just as thin as anything else I've used, and some that were as big around as my pinky! How could those possibly be the same thing? I clearly chose the wrong "bulky" in this case, as this cowl came out significantly smaller than I'd hoped. It's modeled here by my wife, but fits my toddler better. I think Andi will be keeping this one (it matches her eyes), and I'll try again with thicker yarn. I do hope the next one comes out cute; I think the pattern has great potential!