house of cards

Here I am trying to take a breath while my wonderful husband dances the cranky, snotty, teething baby and I sit down for the first time all day. Someone told me soon after Ari's birth to remember that the days are long but the years are short. And only now can I understand just how long a day can be. Today was endless. My poor sweet babe is being tormented by his emerging molars and a cough and cold. The house is a disaster. The weather is nasty and windy and cold and nothing even close to spring like. I am a grump.

But Perry's spring break starts in two days (two whole weeks long this year!) whether or not it feels like spring, and we are planning a wee little trip and some family down time and I might even get to some of the sewing and crafting projects I've been dreaming about. And Ari took his first steps and is so very proud of himself. Soon he will be toddling about in the new grass (oh, grass! sunshine! picnics and short sleeves! What a long long winter it has been!) and snow and sinus infections will be a distant memory.

sleep update

There is some sleeping going on under our roof these past few days I am happy to report. Ari has transitioned from two naps to one and suddenly he is falling asleep with much less fuss and even conking out without our regular song and dance routine. And although he is nowhere near sleeping through the night (I don't think I'll count on that for several years yet,) there are some 2-3 hour stretches which allow me to feel at least partially human come morning time. And it is nice to not have to fight so hard to get him down and exciting to suddenly find him asleep when we were not even trying. In the past few days he has fallen asleep in the car, the backpack and in his papa's arms. And he just looks so incredibly sweet in his sleep, somehow more like he did as a newborn, so peaceful and vulnerable and without self consciousness.

Tonight I will have to put aside a few craft projects for a bit until I heal up this finger I smashed up yesterday - sprinting to catch a running bath I had forgotten about. I caught the bathtub before overflow, but smucked my finger into the doorknob on the way. It is a lovely shade of green/purple and doesn't want to bend. Maybe I'll get to that pile of books I've been meaning to attack.

this baby says NO

Another coalbed methane rally. Even more folks from our little valley out this time. Ari is still concerned about our water and damage to our local environment and strongly opposes CBM extraction. He even shouted along with the speakers and "sang" along with the chants. My little baby activist.

the baby recommends...

Ari is becoming quite the book connoisseur. He has been enjoying us reading to him for awhile now, but I am starting to find him in this corner all my himself, flipping though books without encouragement. As I mentioned before, I am a bit of a book-o-holic and so we have a good sized collection of baby books, but Ari has clear favorites. I though now and then I would review some of the books that have been baby tested in our home.
We sing a lot at our house. I was raised in a household that was always full of music and it is just natural for me to sing through the day, we've got our "going-on-a-walk" song and our "changing clothes and diapers" song and our "getting into the car for an adventure" song. So I enjoy books that we can sing too. They also have the added bonus of holding a baby's attention longer than spoken stories do. Hush Little Baby by Sylvia Long is the traditional song we all know, but Long has changed the rather materialistic words (mama's going to buy you all sorts of things to make you stop crying!) to images from nature (a hummingbird, a sunset) or simple household objects (a homemade quilt, a storybook.) The characters are as anthropomorphic as they come, bunnies in PJ's and rocking chairs, but I have decided I don't mind the talking animal phenomenon- humans around the world have been using animal characters in their stories for a very long time. And these bunnies are cute and loving and the mama sews and plays the banjo. What's not to love?
Winter is part of a series (Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn surprisingly,) by Gerda Muller that is in every Waldorf classroom and on every Waldorf reading list. These are wordless board books with simple illustrations of regular seasonal activities, skating and building snowmen and reading books by the fire are some pictured in the Winter book. I liked the idea of having books that change with the seasons and that reflect what is going on outside, but the appeal for Ari seems greater than this somehow. He LOVES this book. We "read" it nearly every day and have since he was bout 7 months old. I'm not entirely sure what it is is about it, but it is certainly a hit. The best part for Perry and I is looking for the odd pencil-lined ghost images that Gerda apparently forgot to erase before going to print. I'm looking forward to pulling out the Spring book, but am trying to resist the urge until there is at least a hint of green out there. And finally, this funny little book is the most recent favorite of our little book lover. The cartoonish line drawings in Barnyard Dance are pretty basic (can you tell that Ari's favorites are not necessarily mine?) but they are pretty cute and the rhythmic text is fun to read. Sandra Boynton is a lover of anthropomorphic animals as well, these ones are taking part in a square dance called by a cow with a fiddle. Having grown up attending family square dances (they are more fun then they sound, really,) I like the call-dance feel. "With a BAA and a MOO and a COCKADOODLEDOO/ everybody promenade two by two!" My baby finds it jolly fun.

Other books that are a big hit these days are ones with real pictures of babies and animals (as you can see here.) I've not found any that stand out particularly, although Ari clearly finds this one pretty tasty.

sleepless but with a plan

This is what is occupying my thoughts these past few days. How to get Ari to sleep. I am reaching the point of sleep deprivation where I cannot construct full sentences and I have a hard time doing much of anything. But we have a plan. The no-cry sleep solution is my ray of hope. And I love how this little file card's smudgy typing and scrawled notes capture the hope and desperation of the situation. Sorry no pictures today. Too much effort. Going to bed now.

around the house

This is what it looks like in our house this afternoon. A baby asleep in the hammock (still in his PJ's,) ...

...baskets of clean laundry waiting to be folded and put away...

...dinner on the go...
...WIP's laying about. A gnomey hat halfway done...
...and a pair of summer pants I am making Ari. I made them by tracing some of his favorites (and adding a bit so they fit in a few months hopefully,) inspired by these great pants made by soulemama and tinyhappy. They are made from my old favorite summer pants, linen ones that were sooo comfy, I was sad to see them go, but they were wearing out in the bottom. The legs were still good though so Ari gets to experience the comfy pants this summer. So fun to turn something old into something new! They will have two of the reinforced knees once I'm done with them- those knees get so much wear and tear with a crawling babe.

As soon as the baby wakes we'll head out into the sun. It is warm and the snow is melting and I can almost imagine we may one day see spring.

View from above

I love this view. We spend a good portion of the day walking around with me holding his hands, visiting every room in the house, stopping to pick up a lonely finger puppet or drum on the toilet lid. Although my back gets tired, I realize that one day soon he wont need me to lead him around like this any longer and he will take his steps away from me. And so I am happy to walk with him while I can, watching him throw out those little legs with such determination, letting me lead the way for a little while longer.


(ETA- grr to blogger and the latest issues with leaving comments. I think I have it sorted out. I think a move might be in my future.)

small town thrifting

Thrifting in a small town is not what it is in the city. I remember the thrill (and exhaustion) of browsing those giant department-store sized thrift shops, pushing a cart and hording my finds. I still make thrift shop visiting top priority on all trips to the city. But small town thrifting is an altogether different world. Our local shop isn't much bigger than my livingroom- certainly no room to push a shopping cart between the crowded rows. And it is not uncommon to browse through every item in the store and not find a single thing that I want to take home. So I live in envy of all the wonderful treasures city-folk manage to drag home with them from their giant stores.

But there are advantages to small town thrifting. The prices are certainly lower. And the stores are less picked over. And when you do find a treasure, the thrill is all the greater for having worked so hard to get it. And there is something comforting about seeing the items you donated the week before sitting nestled on the hangers amongst all the other sweaters and baby hats.

These are some recent thrift store finds. A bunch of fabric- linen and cotton and silk maybe? And a huge bag of buttons, some very lovely (some not), for 1$. Not bad. And I am just waiting for my next city adventure where I can browse the endless isles and hoard my treasures into a shopping cart.

playing in the big house

One thing that I really love about living on this farm/(not) commune/ ranch is the "big house." It was built by the original owners as their church hall and dining area (none of the houses had working kitchens when we moved in since they all ate their meals together,) and the large basement was used as a school. It is a whole lot of house for us, though we use it as much as we can: there are home offices upstairs, Perry has his art studio there, the downstairs is a massive playroom full of all the toys that no one wants in their own houses, and we have had many a large shindig in the big room complete with live music and dancing. I have just started taking Ari there to play lately when we get bored of our house or when the weather is yucky as it is now. I don't know why I haven't used it more this winter, it is only a stone's throw from our little home.

He always starts out looking a little overwhelmed at all the space, what with being cooped up in our teensy house most of the time, but he warms up to the idea pretty fast.And then there is no stopping him. He could crawl and "run" (holding my hand) around here all day long. And we wont even start on the basement. All those plastic toys! Balloons! Barbie cars and dread locked dolls and decrepit fooz ball tables! What fun!

little house in the big woods

The moon is out, the night is lovely, the house is cozy warm. Gonna go snuggle my boys.