Toddler activity help

All you parents of young children, I am looking to you for some help. Ideas. Suggestions. Something.

What can you do with a toddler, either inside or outside the house, that is fun and new?

We have the standard trips to the many museums or zoo, playing with toys or reading books in the house, but then we get hung up. Especially in the winter when it is cold outside. Yes, I know, we are not very creative. So share your ideas and help a sister out!

(One thing we are doing this weekend is meeting some friends at a jazz club that does Sunday afternoon "Baby Bop" time. The kids can dance around and play some of the instruments, and everyone eats pizza. Sounds pretty fun!)

And, as a preemptive thank you for anyone who provides suggestions, I offer you a tip to making the best meatballs ever: Duck Egg. Yes, a duck egg, found at asian markets and who knows where else. Use a duck egg instead of a chicken egg will make your meatballs sing, even if you are using low-fat beef or turkey. You are welcome.

Ravelympics

I know something that has been on everyone's mind is: What is Rachel going to knit for the Ravelympics??

Rest easy, dear readers, because I have come to a decision.

But first, what are the Ravelympics? The Ravelympics are a world-wide yarn craft event, hosted this year by Ravelry.com, where crafters join teams and pick events and try to finish something during the Olympics. There are rules about when you can start, what you can make, etc., and winners get a trophy on their Ravelry page and, I don't know, something else. (I am dcrachel on Rav if anyone cares to know.) This year is my first year doing Ravelympics, and I joined Team Colorado.

While my first thought was to try to start (and finish!) a sweater for Jon during the Ravelympics, I am pretty sure that won't work. It is a nice idea, but I am just setting myself up for failure. If I had done that, see, I would have been in the Sweater Slalom event. Instead, I think I am going to join WIPs-Dancing (WIPS = works in progrss) and finish a few things I have sitting in my "to do" pile. Like the baby sweater I started when I was pregnant, or Jon's evil double-knit scarf that I hate. The rules for WIPs are that you can not have worked on the project in the month leading up to the opening ceremonies, and both those projects will work well.

So I am gearing up for that. Hooray for knitting!

New words, etc.

New words we are starting to hear from Evelyn:

Grandma (ma-mama, which is totally different thatn Ma Ma.)
Goodnight (ga-ga)

So it isn't that her words are getting easier to understand, but that they are being used in very specific ways. Ma-mama, when she is looking out the window when her grandma leaves the house. Or ga-ga, when she leaves her bath and everyone says goodnight before heading to the bedroom for pajamas and bed.

We are stalling out on the "new word" front, but I think it is on the parents' end. I am almost positive Evelyn is saying a lot more, we just are not recognizing a lot more.

Also, I would like to let everyone know, in the whole blogosphere, that stay-at-home parents are doing some seriously hard work, and anyone that thinks working in an office is harder, on an hour-by-hour basis, is so wrong I can't even convey the level of wrongness. I get exhausted at home. I don't play with Evelyn nearly as much as I should, letting her "play by herself" or, alas, watch a cartoon. I hate hate HATE that I resort to TV for a little downtime. Hate. I am so ready for spring, when we can play outside (although Evelyn is super interested in playing in the street now, so that's fun) and get out of the house! Now we take trips to museums and run errands, but it is hard to just sit outside and enjoy the day. Spring is around the corner, for sure, so I will just wait.

I wish would do some things differently. But that is a blog post for another day...

She wore it!

Stock Show

Jon and I both think we are living in the middle of nowhere. Oh, not really, but just enough to be annoying. We are not within walking distance of anything except a strip mall with a car parts store, a Jo-Ann fabric and a few smattering quilting, bicycle and framing stores. Oh, there’s also the weird Mexican steakhouse we have never wanted to try and a gas station. That is it. We are biking distance from some other desirable places (hello, yarn store!), but that requires a lot more planning and effort when there is a toddler in tow.

We feel that we are just a little too removed from the places we want to go. The good Japanese restaurants, the fun shops, the hip areas. And so it is completely illogical that when we talk about our dream home, we talk about a little llama and alpaca hobby farm somewhere outside the city. Yes, a hobby farm. Jon and I. I’ll let you digest that.

We both really want a goat, some chickens, maybe a llama or a couple alpaca. We want the quiet of the country, some land to grow vegetables, and general awayness. There is no way this would ever become reality. I mean, we want an alpaca, sure, but what the heck do you do with an alpaca?! Chickens we could handle (fresh eggs!) but that is about it. We couldn’t even grow squash last summer! Squash, people. The easiest, stupidest vegetable ever. Sigh. Our dreams are a bit silly sometimes, but maybe that is why it is a dream.

(Another dream is to move to Japan. That seems equally unlikely.)

Our dream of a hobby farm was only emboldened this weekend when we went to the National Western Stock Show with Evelyn. She LOVED it. Love. We watched some sort of super boring horse competition-- where a rider trots around the ring, walking over a pipe, and then gets the horse to go backward for 10 feet--for about 45 minutes. Evelyn was enthralled. Anything that keeps a one-year old entertained for that long is impressive. After the horse thing we went to the stock yard and saw rows and rows of the biggest, cleanest, best-looking cows I have ever seen. The next area was full of llamas and alpacas (and yarn sellers!). Evelyn was in toddler heaven. She thought the llamas were sheep and the alpacas were dogs (judging by her animal sounds, at least), but she loved it. Loved loved loved it! We even went to a petting zoo where she shyly pet a pig, a donkey, and some goats in a pen. Every time we saw a horse walking around, which was often, she would point and say “Neigh! Neigh!” We were at the stock show, just walking around and seeing stuff, for nearly three hours. That is probably a record for Evelyn.

It was so fun to see Evelyn having so much fun. She just LOOOOOVED the animals. She was thrilled by every single horse sighting or cow moo. I would love to go during one of the rodeo events, maybe some mutton bustin’ or a dog agility competition, but we didn’t plan for that this weekend. Maybe next weekend, when my step-mom and sister Olivia come to town. I’m sure Evelyn would love a second round at the Stock Show.

(Jon took some pictures but they are, of course, on film, so we won't see them for a week or so. If any turned out, I'll post then.)

Recent FOs

Knitting is a wonderful hobby. I like the repetition, the beautiful yarns, the creating something from nothing, the finished products. However, despite all this wonderfulness, knitting is also labor and time intensive. That isn't always a bad thing, of course; sometimes the time you put into a project is half the joy in making it for someone else. Here is my time, my aching fingers, my skill...enjoy. But sometimes, the time it takes to make something is made much more annoying when the recipient does not like the gift.

Like Evelyn. I designed this little dress, knit it to fit her, and she doesn't like it. Pulls at it like it is killing her every time I put in on. So sad. I've tried it with an undershirt and all by itself. All I can do is try again, maybe force her to wear it for a half hour or so, and see if she gets used to it. *sigh* (Terrible pictures below.)


See these? Hard to tell from my crappy phone camera, but these are little owls with bead eyes. The yellow bands in the middle are pockets.


On the flip side, knitting is awesome and totally worth the time when you give a gift with love and the person actually likes it! Hooray! Like this Hemlock Ring blanket designed by my knit-crush Jared Flood. I gave it to my mom and step-dad for Christmas.

Here is the center, while it was all pinned out for blocking...
Here is the whole thing, laying over the double-bed in the guest room so you can gauge the size. Also all pinned out for blocking.


Now THAT was a fun knit! I might make another. Someday. Maybe for next Christmas.

This year I want to branch out into the sweater-making world. I have my eye on something for Jon. Either the Biker Boy cardigan


the Cambridge Cardigan



or the Retropolitan Cardigan.




In sadder knitting news, I may have to frog (i.e. rip out and unravel) this brutal project.



The yarn is too lovely to sit in knitting purgatory for so long. I started this scarf before Evelyn was born and it is only about 2/3 completed. It is a really cool design, I just HATE the method used to knit it. Double knitting = hell. Now you know.

Week one...

Week one in the new year and I can say "huzzah!" to doing well on my resolution. This week I:

• Did not buy breakfast even once.
• Bought lunch only once.
  
• Cooked dinners! In my kitchen!
  
• Exercised once (so far... it was EA Sports Active on the Wii...not a super hard workout, but my legs did get sore and I think it gets progressively harder as you get more fit.)
• Designed, began, and nearly finished a knitted dress for Evelyn. I'll be done very soon (I need beads for the eyes...yes, eyes!) and will post pictures. Hopefully my measurements were right and it fits my growing girl!
• Had a date night with my husband

Wow! That is a lot!

So every week won't be so productive, but I feel good about starting out well. What do experts say about setting new habits? You have to do something every day for two weeks? A month? I'm not sure, but I know I'm on the right path.

How was your week??