Project 52: week eight

August 18-24, 2013

This was a busy week! It was a fun week with lots of special things.

 

 Our Sunday snapshot after church.  Mimi sent new dresses for the girls.  Declan had on his pink tie and looked so handsome, but he had fallen asleep.

kisses!

Mr. Mischief is at it again!  He is one smart boy--he has figured out how to push things over to something to stand on it and reach up.  That only equals trouble.  Whenever I haven't heard him in a few minutes I have to go search for him and this time I found him like this....eating the eraser from the dry erase board!

Later in the week he pushed it to the counter and climbed up.  So now, the ottoman is upstairs in our bedroom with the chair it matches. :)

We had our small group dinner on Monday night

I think we may have a thumb sucker!

Elliana has regressed in eating.  She was doing so well eating her food once we got the right consistency, but now she is having a hard time with it.  She is so distracted by her brother and sister and if it isn't them, then it is Ike.  So sometimes we have to turn her so she is facing the fridge and I tell the other two they have to stay on the rug in the other room. 

She is spitting it out, turning her head, and crying a lot when we try to feed her.  She is reminding us of the behavior we saw in the other two kids when they were first starting to eat solids.  We are just working on saying her name and having her make eye contact with us before we give her the spoon.  We have also introduced pureed chicken, which she doesn't like unless we mix with veggies or yogurt.

 

She IS doing great with her pincher fingers though, and is able to eat peas and puffs with no problems now! 

 

  These two will do this all day long! They have fun interacting with one another while running back and forth.  They go from the door into the kitchen, around the island, and back again!

It was only 93 degrees one evening after dinner, so we went for a walk! It was nice to explore our new neighborhood. 

She was sooooo content in the ergo the entire walk.  She loves it!

It was also Marissa's 24th birthday this week!  We celebrated her birthday on Saturday evening.  More pics in a different post! But here is Elliana standing tall on Grandma's counter while getting the ice cream and cookie ready!

 My dear friends from church threw a diaper shower for Elliana.  More pics in another post, but here is a picture of Elliana in her beautiful dress that she wore.

Don't You Just Love Craigslist?!

Craigslist is such a wonderful invention.  I wanna give Craig a big shake of the hand.  It's especially wonderful when you live in such a populated area like Phoenix.

 

I have realized that it's better to search on there before buying practically anything because people are always selling stuff!  And we've been able to sell a few of our things as well.  Craigslist is just wonderful in my book.

 

We have been looking for a dresser since we moved in.  This is a perfect example of something that we didn't want to go buy brand new, but we still wanted something in nice condition.

Just about everyday I would get on to see what was added. 

 

We really wanted a shorter dresser because it was for Declan's room and we wanted to use it as a changing table once his brother is born.  The original plan was to have baby brother join Declan's room when he starts sleeping through the night.  But, we have changed our plan on that--instead, when we are ready to move baby brother out of our bedroom--probably around a month or so, unless he is a beast when he is born like his brother and won't even fit in the bassinet. Then he'll have to go sooner--we will move him into Elliana's room and Elliana will move into Raelynn's room so the sister's can share a room! We figure it will be easier to have a one and almost three year old share a room rather than putting a newborn in with anyone.

 

Anyway, I digress.  Back to the dresser.

 

We just weren't finding one that was in our price range.  Then the other night Brent and I sat down at the table for some ice cream.  I had emailed two people about their listing and checked to see if they wrote back. Then I got on the craigslist app to see if anything new was posted....

The posting had been up for 27 minutes when I saw it...

"Ikea Dresser-good condition, sitting on sidewalk.  Just come pick it up."

 

It was only a couple miles up the street, so Brent left right away.  We figured if he got there and it was already gone, it wasn't a big waste of time or gas.

 

But it was there!!  It's the exact same dresser we already have in Elliana's room, just a different color.  It is in perfect condition and just what we needed!  Such a huge blessing to us! And it didn't cost a dime.

 

It was just missing the bottom piece of wood that connects the two sides.

 

Brent bought a piece of wood, screwed it in each side and it is working perfectly in Declan's room.

 

Something else we found on Craigslist is this mirror.  I want to make our downstairs bathroom look nice because it is the one any guests will use and see.  One thing I wanted to do was change the mirror.  I priced mirrors at stores and they weren't super expensive, but still more than we really wanted to pay since it wasn't a necessary change.

I found this mirror, from Ikea originally, for $20 on Craigslist!  It is much much smaller than the mirror in there now, but I think it will work nicely.  Well, it will have to. :)

Here is what the mirror currently looks like.  Nothing bad about it, but it will really make it look nice with a new framed mirror. 

 

We are also going to paint the walls with the left over paint we have from the kitchen.  I found a gray and yellow rug and hand towels that will match perfect and be a nice flow into the bathroom, since it is right off the kitchen.

 

Pictures of the finished look will be posted soon:)





And I figured if I am taking a picture of a mirror,
I midaswell get a belly shot! 26 weeks!



 

Tot School: Letter R

Tot School: Letter R

Age: 30 months

 

This week we didn't do a whole lot with the letter R.  Several reasons--Monday, we had visitors.  Tuesday we did some activities, but I realized I stopped at R when I printed all my supplies ahead of time.  We have reached letter R now and have no ink in the computer. oops.  Wednesday, we had plans and were out all morning.  Thursday Daddy was home and we went to Peter Piper Pizza. Friday we did some things again, but not much focus was on the letter R.

 

So a busy week, no ink, and Raelynn already being familiar with the letter R (for her name, of course!) made 'school time' pretty loose this week.

 

 

R is for Rabbit

First we stuck the R stickers on the paper, then pasted the big white R in the center.  This took a lot for mommy to help with because I hate cotton.  It's like nails on a chalkboard to me.  Ripping cotton. Ug, I'm cringing now just thinking about it.

Raelynn really liked this a lot.  She loved gluing and playing with the cotton balls.  I told her we were going to make it into a rabbit and put a face on it--so I drew the nose and mouth and had her paste the ears on.  Then she put the eyes on too:)  I love seeing her create in her own unique way.

 

 

Pipe Cleaner and Strainer:

 

 

 

I had actually got this out for Declan and gave Raelynn pipe cleaner with buttons, but she wanted to play with the strainer instead.

And Declan wanted to eat the pipe cleaner:)  I love that it's the safety kind that isn't super pokey at the ends.  Target Dollar Bins!

Stringing large buttons on the pipe cleaner

 

 

Pool Noodle and Plastic Tube

 

Now that Declan is over one year old, I'm trying to have more focus intentional play with him.  I knew this was something both kids could play with at the same time.  I've had this since last summer.  Raelynn likes it, but usually doesn't last very long playing with it.

 

 

We started out on the floor. I showed Declan how to take them off.  He loves putting things in buckets, so he filled this little bucket with the noodles.

 

Then he started to crawl away....So it dawned on me it would work better to have him in a high chair. 

 

Dump, fill, repeat.  I also got Raelynn a bowl and she did the same.  I worked on counting them with her.  She can count to 20, but when she has objects to count, she struggles.  I think it's because it forces her to slow down to touch each one.  It was an interesting discovery for me.  So I know she hasn't quite developed that skill and can keep working on it with her.

 

We stacked them.  They both liked that.

 

 

Got this leather string out and we strung them on.  Declan couldn't do it on his own, but once they were on he liked playing with them.  He knew were the string should go, just couldn't quite feed it through.

 

By this point Raelynn had enough and was done.  So Declan pushed them back on the plastic tube to clean up.

 

Then he was more interested in chewing on it. :)  Poor guy had a rough week with teething this week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday I had a doctor appointment.  (I'm 26 weeks today!!) And while I was gone, Brent was working from home but had the kids.  It was the nap time for the littles, but Raelynn was up.  I suggested play dough for her if he needed a 'quiet busy activity' while he was working.

 

Play dough isn't usually a huge hit with her.  In fact, probably only a couple months ago did I discover she would play with it better if I gave her marbles.  Cookie cutters aren't the best because she can't roll it out yet.  We like to make snakes with it, but again, she can't quite get it independently.  So, when I leave her alone to play with it she usually doesn't last more than a few minutes.

 

But Brent had a great idea!  He told her to sit at the table with the play dough until the timer went off.  I had thought of this, but never tried it because I figured her concept of time is limited and if she didn't know how long she was going to sit there then she wouldn't do it very well.

Thirty minutes!  He said she sat there and played with play dough for thirty minutes.  I couldn't even believe it!  He gave her popsicle sticks with it, which I never have.  She was making suckers and popsicles. 

So, even though she didn't know how much time was going to be on the timer, it helped because it made it a concrete time in her mind---"until the timer beeps"--and until then she could just relax and play.

 

 

So, I tried it!  I only set it for 7 minutes though.  One thing I struggle with is knowing how to follow her lead, but also how to have her follow an instruction.  We parent to teach our children that we are their authority.  But, I also don't want to force something on her and cause her to hate learning.  But often times, what should be a fun activity she will only do for two minutes and then be done.  So I wonder if it's too easy? too hard? is it just her toddler attention span?  I know all kids are different, so I don't think there is a real answer.  But just something that we are learning as we go and I try to follow her lead as much as possible.  If I can tell she isn't interested, I will try to find an open window of time that I can say 'let's do something else' instead of her refusing.  Not that she does refuse, but she will do it wrong or do it without a full effort.

 

Here is a great activity that helps with counting, colors, shapes, fine motor skills, etc. that she doesn't always do well and is a perfect example of what I just stated above.

 

I know she knows all her colors.  I know she can sort.  But sometimes she will do them all wrong or just push them around on the tray and not do it.  So I quit getting this out for her.  I thought she needed a break from it.

Today she saw it in the cupboard and asked to get it out.  She started doing it, then was side tracked and just started pushing all the fruit around.  So, I set the timer.  We 'raced' the timer.  She won! :)

 

 

Usually we do this on the first day of letter learning, but this week it was the last!

Sorting capital and lowercase R:

For some reason this week she really wanted to glue the letters on the line down the center.  I let her go with it.  She did a great job of lining them up right on the line! :)

 

 

R is for Rainforest:

These are 'vocabulary cards' from 1plus1plus1equals1.net to go with the rainforest theme this week. She liked how they fit perfectly on the squares in the tray.

 

 

She played with this for a while! I was even able to leave the room and she continued playing.  Again, I had set the timer.

 

This is a game called MATCH4 that I have had since I was like 8.  No kidding!  They are just little beads and I give her a bobbin holder to put them on.  It comes with a little board game and pegs, but those are hard for her to stick in at this age. 

And isn't the tray just wonderful? Keeping it all contained:)  I give her no instructions with this--she can stack and play as she pleases.

I would love to hear your thoughts on the timer and on how much to force an activity.  I think there has to be a balance between following an instruction but also the mom respecting that a child may not like an activity.  And the way I think of it is that she will have school forced upon her for many years once she hits that age where it isn't so much 'fun' and just crafts! But I'm not even talking about just 'school and learning' things--it even applies to coloring, play dough, stickers, etc.  I know toddlers don't like to do much of anything for too long, but I also want to try to teach her how to have an attention span and focus on something. 

Made: Bench Cushion

 

We bought the three bookshelves for the front room and put the smallest one on it's side to make a bench.

 



I knew I could make a bench cover, so it was just a matter of finding the fabric I wanted and then waiting for the green foam to go on sale.  For some reason that stuff is SO pricey! 

 

**TIP: to save money, buy one inch foam then double it up.  It is half the price of the two inch foam and they only cut it length wise.  So I would have had a bunch left over because I had to buy it as wide as it was sold--which was 24 inches, which was exactly double what I needed, so it worked out perfectly.

 

 

I started by measuring the bench size.  It is 42" long and the depth from the wall to the front of the bench was 12" (there is about an inch gap between the back of the bench and the wall, but I wanted that covered with the cushion, so I included that in the measurement.)

 

 

42" x 24" piece of 1 inch foam from JoAnn Fabric

 

 

 

Brent was working from home this day, so he helped me cut:)

Cut it straight down the middle then shaved a bit off each side so it wasn't too tight when the fabric was added.

***TIP: USE AN ELECTRIC KNIFE!

 

 

Two pieces of foam-- 42"x12" each

 

Figuring out how I want to cut the fabric

I actually got way too much of the fabric.  I forgot that fabric is 45" wide.  I had her cut me 42", but I didn't want the stripes to go the way that would have been placed.  So I was pleasantly surprised that it fit the width way just perfect!

 



 

Cut the fabric for the top and bottom.  Two pieces the exact same.

 

each piece was 15" by 45" for seam allowance.

Pin the pieces ugly side together

 

Sew around the edges.  I decided it would be easier to feed the foam in in the center rather than in one of the ends. 

Then I cut the corners for a nice fold.

 

 

Turn right-side in and feed the foam in.

The first piece slid in real easy.  The second piece was much harder because it doesn't slide against the other foam. But eventually it got in there.

 

 

Pin the opening shut.  At this point I was still very happy with the way the project was looking and with my plan, since I didn't follow a tutorial.

 

 

Every project I make has some sort of  "that's how you know it's homemade" look to it:)

 

As I was sewing the seam shut (with the foam already stuffed in) it was just so big and hard to manage that the cushion slipped away in the middle.  So my seam got a little messed up...one side is folded under, but the other is not!  It is still sewn shut so it won't come open, but from the one side it looks a little sloppy.  It's only this section, and since it is for a child's bench, I wasn't too concerned:)

 

 

 

The finished product!

 

 

The sloppy side is in the back, so you can't even see it.

 

And my little model trying it out

She would make anything look good, don't you think? :)