Noah the Gnome

Today I hopped over several piles of laundry and other junk, made it to the dining room table with the girls, and had craft time. If I wait until after cleaning is done, all I ever get to do is clean--and that's depressing! Ivey was so accommodating, watching us from her bouncy seat. Suzi drew pictures and stuffed gnome hats with me, and we ended up finishing two gnomes. We already made one at our parent-tot group. Here you see Noah, Lil Buddy, and Prince Phillip. Yup, Suzi named them all. She loves the gnomes almost as much as I do. They're just so cute!

And yesterday at our Morning Glory parent-tot group we did wet felting. It was so much easier than I expected, and fun! One of my favorite parts was the sheepy scent of the wet wool. I love the smell of farm animals. Yeah, I'm a little weird! I ended up making this ball for Suzi, but she hasn't gotten to play with it yet because I only just pulled it out of the dryer (I tied it in a sock and threw it in with a couple of loads). This is a craft a child could easily do. Suzi tried it in our class, but didn't finish a ball. I definitely want to order some wool batting and roving to do it at home with her.

Another thing I learned yesterday? While we finished up our wet felting, Miss Ashley was playing with the kids and sang a little song about a rooster living on a hill. At the end of the song the kids had to guess if the "rooster" (just about any small object will work) was in her top (upstairs) or bottom (downstairs) hand. It's kind of hard to explain, but Suzi loved it. She was practically jumping up and down and saying "do it again, Miss Ashley!" I paid close attention and now we do it at home.

At least partly thanks to our class, we have been doing more creative activities and watching fewer movies during the day. Suzi is asking to watch movies less and less, and we can often go all day without turning the TV on. She is filling her days with painting, drawing, creative play, and books, with less and less direction from me. I'm looking forward to getting outside a lot more when the weather gets warmer!

We've been reading/talking about rhythm; mostly daily rhythm, but seasonal as well. I know this is something that needs improvement at our house! Long before we started the class we noticed how much better Suzi felt after a regular early bedtime and an afternoon nap, and we do have a pre-sleep routine she looks forward to. Mealtimes are not so great, though. Although I'm getting better, I'm not the best cook and sometimes, especially with a baby, it's easier to not have a formal sit-down meal at the table. In my imagination, I have a tidy little dining room and a table set with flowers and candles. At 7:00, 12:30 and 6:30 I put breakfast, lunch and dinner on the table in a relaxed, unhurried manner. Everything is planned ahead and done at the right time and we pray and Ivey doesn't cry. Sounds nice, doesn't it? Is this what all of you do every time? Sometimes I think everyone else but me has a neat, organized life. I'm hoping most of them just clean right before I come over. Anyway, definitely room for improvement!