Everyone Needs One of These in Their Kitchen...

Jayden has “drawers” that are his in the kitchen, the bottom drawer next to the stove, and an entire cupboard across the kitchen.  The bottom drawer next to the stove holds all the tupperware and now measuring cups because he loves them so much.  Multiple times a day, Jayden empties this drawer by throwing things out saying, “Oh, yeah!”.  Today was no exception.  I heard him behind me saying, “Oh, yeah!  Oh, yeah!”, while things were clanking on the floor.  Then I turn around and discover he has figured out how to climb into the drawer and he was sitting there chucking things out one by one.  He’s a clever kid, that Jayden.

Forts!

One of Jayden’s favorite things as of late has been “under”.  Under bridges, under legs, under the piano bench, under just about anything he can crawl or walk under.  So, today we built his first indoor fort to hang out under!

The Fort!

Reading and Relaxing on 'Pillar! (while inside the fort)

Peeking out

And DESTRUCTION!!!!

'Tis the Season for Felting!

Finally, the weather has cooled off and it doesn’t seem so ridiculous to be sitting with a lap full of wool yarn.  That’s right!  Put away that cotton, it’s time to start felting!  It’s felt more fall like the last few days, today I actually turned the heat on in the morning, I’ve got a pot of chili cooking on the stove, some beer bread in the oven, and while I’m trying to refrain from putting in a Christmas CD, I did play a few Christmas songs on the piano.  So, to go with all the changing of the seasons, my knitting projects are changing too.  The baby blankets are done, a cute cotton hat that looks like a red berry for Jayden is done (not that he’ll wear it, but it’s still cute), leg warmers are done, zori-socks are done, wristlets (at least the cotton ones) are done.  The cotton is being put on the shelf!  And I’ve dug through all my wool yarn and have finished my first felting project of the season.  I love felting!  It’s like magic!  You knit something up that is totally huge and looks ridiculous then you stick it in your washing machine with some hot water, let it agitate for a little bit, and VOILA! you have a fantastic looking finished product.  Any mistakes that might have been made are hidden (yes, I make mistakes, but I’m not going to show them to you), the yarn now looks like fabric, and it’s shrunk down to a normal size!  I love it!!!

So here it is....my circle purse!  Currently it's stuffed with plastic bags to help retain it's shape while it dries, but soon you will be seeing me around town with it!  Oh yeah!!

Christmas Time Is Here...

Is it too early to start with Christmas music?  Usually I try and hold off at least until October, and then I phase in Christmas music with some of the fall/harvest CD’s that I have.  All day I have been humming “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire” and “Christmas Time is Here” (from Peanuts), and I have been feeling a little strange since it is 90 degrees outside.  Maybe I’m singing chestnuts because I feel like I am one, roasting on the open fire thanks to it being so hot.  But I finally gave into my Christmas self and found my piano music and played “Christmas Time is Here”.  Royal was eating dinner and said, “That sounds like Charlie Brown music”.  Little did he know that is was Charlie Brown Christmas music.  I feel much better, but I also feel like I am ready to start looking for a Christmas tree.  I wonder if it would survive…  Maybe I’ll just get out some Christmas lights and string them up in the office, then I could sit in the office, spin some yarn while listening to Christmas music and looking at twinkling lights.  I am liking the idea more and more!  Christmas time is here, Happiness and cheer, Fun for all that children call, Their favorite time of the year…..

Strong Opinions and Crocs

Sadly, I have had no funny things happen to me lately, so I have no material to use for a true, but funny, rambling story.  Pathetic, I know.  Guess I need to put myself in some situations that might result in something comedic happening.  We’ll see what I can come up with.

In the mean time, there is always Jayden…

What I want to know is, when do kids start coping an attitude?  When did Jayden decide he had opinions and he was going to let me know what they were?  Granted, as great as his talking skills are for a 16 month old, he really can’t communicate very well, so his way of telling me whats up is screaming at the top of his lungs until his face turns red for a few minutes, and then most times he starts laughing.  Like, man, I am so funny…  He laughs whether or not he actually gets the thing he was screaming about.  I haven’t quite decided what I am going to do when he does this, so for the most part, I just look at him like nothing is happening.  Like, nobody is yelling at the top of their lungs, and if someone was, it really wouldn’t bother me.  But on the inside, my brain is short circuiting, I feel like I might be developing a twitch in one eye (could that be why he laughs?)

Some of the things Jayden has new opinons on are

1. Sleeping - he has decided it is no longer a priority during the day.  A nap of 45mins to an hour is long enough.  Sheesh, not long enough for me, especially since he is only taking one nap now.  I’m sure he’ll figure out how to sleep again and I cannot wait until that day!


2. He likes to throw things that he likes (water, milk, binks) across the room, and then he wants me to go pick them up.  This is the one that involves the most screaming, and he usually is trying to climb up my legs while he does it.  It’s fantastic, my most favorite part of the day.


3. Computers - if Jayden and I are upstairs and I step into the office to check my email, Jayden has an opinion on what website I should be looking at.  It has to be starfall and if we are on starfall, then we have to watch the letter ‘D’.  If you try and do another letter before you do ‘D’, all you hear is, “D! D! D!”  Then once you do the letter ‘D’, you have to watch the Dinosaur Dance at least 4 times.  “Again!  Again!  Again!”  I suppose some of this might be my fault.  When I was working from home, Jayden spent a lot of time up here in the office with me, on his own little keyboard, banging away…What have I done???


4. Clothing - for the most part, clothing is optional, especially shoes.  Jayden has decided that he HATES shoes and getting them on his feet is a challenge.  That little bugger is strong.  But I’m bigger and I’ll sit on him if I have to.  But for the most part, I let him run around in just his g-diaper.  It is summer, after all.

Although, Jayden has decided he likes barefeet the best, we discovered something that he loves this past weekend.  We were all in Sportsman’s Warehouse getting some things for our camping trip next week and we walked by the Croc’s display.  I looked around for some for myself, but alas, it is the end of the summer and they are practically out of them.  However, they did have some to fit Jayden’s monster feet.   So I grab one off the display, take his sandal off, and put one of the croc’s on and let him walk around.  He wouldn’t take it off.  If it fell off, he came running back, ’shoe! shoe!’  So, I decide that these might be a good purchase.  Since then, Jayden wears his crocs everywhere.  If we’re in the house and he finds his crocs, he brings them over to me to have me put them on.  He asks to go for walks all the time, just so he can wear his crocs.

Here is Jayden, today, playing outside with his pool, sans clothes, but with his new crocs...

What The...??

I leave the room for one minute, and this is what I come back to…..

Sweet Shirts!

Royal made it back from Boston!  But instead of his flight getting in at 11:30, he was late (of course) and he didn’t fly in until 1:15am.  That means we did not get to sleep until around 3:00am.  So, lets just say I am a wee bit tired today.  The good news is, Royal decided to not go into work today.  YEA!  I think it’s great, especially since he flew out to Boston, Sunday morning at 7am.  That’s right, that meant I had to get him to the airport at 5:30, which meant I had to get up at 4:00am.  Who books these flights?  Are they even legal?

Here are the sweet shirts Royal brought back - yes I know we look a little tired, WE ARE!