Uncommon Grace

Six Years Old!

              When I was One,
              I had just begun.

              When I was Two,
              I was nearly new.

              When I was Three,
              I was hardly Me.

              When I was Four,
              I was not much more.

              When I was Five,
              I was just alive.

But now I am Six, I'm as clever as clever.
So I think I'll be six now for ever and ever.

-from Now We are Six by A. A. Milne

{A final note to add that this is my favorite poem of all time.}

Two years old!

My baby is two today.

I think, for me, anyway, that these days always sneak up and take us by surprise. We knew his birthday was coming, definitely. Despite getting a little bit behind, and having colds all weekend, we had gifts prepared for him, including handmade gifts from Mama and from Elisabeth. And I've been thinking about the fact that he's been with us for two whole years now quite a bit lately. He's actually been saying he's two for a couple of months now.

But, I still find that the real significance of the birthday is just not that apparent until the day actually arrives. Not until the birthday child awakens. Sometimes they know that it's their birthday right away, and sometimes they have to be reminded.

And then, there are the Birthday Traditions. The candles in the ring to be blown out, a crown to be worn all day (except he doesn't like to wear it, but that's OK, too), the birthday poem to be said, the gifts to be opened right after breakfast.

So, now I'm looking at my little one, in all his striking "two-ness." When did he become so capable? Where did all these certainties and opinions come from? When did he start playing like such a big kid with his sister?

He's full of joy, this one. Full of laughter, and jokes, and music. I have never known anyone who could make me so happy just by his presence. He can drive me completely crazy, making mischief, but then he'll just make me laugh and forget the whole thing.

Happy birthday, little one. I love you just as you are today. And I am so excited to see what you'll become over this next year.

Final bit o' green

It was my intention to add one last submission for Green Week on Friday, but we had a long and busy day, followed by me, and then James, being hit with the worst cold I may have ever had. The entire weekend was spent in bed, resting, nursing, and watching two movies multiple times (this one three times, this one just twice). An aside to you P&P fans -- I'm beginning to fear that I might be Mrs Bennet. I had to get my husband to drag the television and DVD player into our bedroom (for the first time in 6 years!) since we don't normally have one in there. I also resorted to fever reducers, which I (at least theoretically) try to avoid in all but the most dire of circumstances. So you can see that we've been quite sick.

We're a little bit better today, which is good, because there's a big birthday on Wednesday and gifts still remain to be made. I have been finding myself thinking a lot, in these past few days of laying in bed, of that snowy Sunday morning two years ago when this little boy (taken on his first birthday) joined our lives, and the days following his birth when he and I lay in my bed, looked out the window, nursed, and fell in love.

As a synesthete, I have strong and very concrete color associations for letters, numbers, months, days of the week, and people in my life. James was and is green to me, so I think that having a week of Green up to his birthday was so very fitting, although I felt that my green submissions were less inspired than I would have hoped. It was my "first week", though, so I'll cut myself a bit of slack. I think part of my lack of inspiration was that I was not really in the same place (geographically, seasonally, etc.) as many of the others playing -- as Emily described in her final green post, she wanted to honor the end of the last long month of winter (February) and the beginning of spring. Of course, where I live (at a very high altitude), spring hits in mid-April, and March is actually the last month of winter. So in about one month, I should be ready for a full-on green week, I think. ;)

So, about my two greens shared today -- James's Sigg water bottle, which is green, for James, and also "green", for the environment. Reducing consumption, waste, and the use of plastics are very important to me. Maybe not in that order. Use of plastics might be number one for me. There is something about plastic that makes me cringe a little bit. But that's another post altogether. The other green in this post -- we've had a few great family play nights recently. I've been thinking so very much about the importance of play in our lives and the lives of our children, what its rightful place ought to be, and so on. I'm working a post up on those thoughts. But I thought I'd share this photo now with its greens.

OK, back to bed for me now. I don't expect to post tomorrow, as I need to save all energy for getting well and making birthday gifts, but I do expect to post in honor of my big boy's second birthday on Wednesday. See you then, dear friends!

Green Week ~ 2

I actually took this picture almost 2 weeks ago, but it fit the green theme, and also something else I've been thinking about recently.

Namely, birthday season around here. (The photo relates to that because after 10 months of being 5, I finally remembered to take a picture of her holding up her 5 fingers.) James's second birthday is in 8 days now. Eight?! How am I so unprepared? I think it's that February has thrown me off with its shortness once again. I know, I know. It's short every year. And we even had an extra day this year. But a birthday on March 12 sounds so mid-month, you know? So far away when you're just at the end of February...

Anyway, I have no idea what to make for him. None whatsoever.

And Elisabeth's sixth (I know, how can she be six already? don't start me on that...) birthday follows less than a month later (a regular month, at least), on April 10. And I know what I'm going to make for her. But it's kind of a complicated project. So here I am, thinking, "Can I pull off another birthday season?" The answer, of course, is "yes." But it does leave the question of how much sleep mama will get during this month. (Oh, yeah, Easter falls in there, too.)

Do I have a tidy way of summarizing this post? (I like tidily summarized posts.) Is there a lesson learned that can be quickly and patly condensed from this scattered post? I guess not. Maybe just a tiny bit of begging ... cross your fingers for me, OK?

A Guest Blogger!

Thank you all so, so much for your fantastic birthday wishes over the last few days! They have really been a special part of this year's celebration! And now, I'd like to introduce today's special guest blogger...

Hi, this is Elisabeth. These are green butterflies and I made them out of long pine needles and string. And I got the pine needles on our dog's walk.

I also found the pinecones on my dog's walk. I thought that a shop would be a good idea. It would have these butterflies, or a kit to make them.

I took all these pictures with my mama's camera. I found this broken-tipped pencil and a tape measure. I set them up on a piece of paper. It was blank. I thought it would look sort of like my mama was making a homemade pattern. I also think fabric buttons are cool.

One more thing. 10 and 10 are 20, and three 10's are 30. That's how old my mama is.

Bye till my shop is made. ~Elisabeth.

Edited to add: I am not really setting up an Etsy shop for her, but I thought it was so cute that she was thinking about it over the last couple of days.

52 weeks ~ 3

I forgot to do it last week, I know. But here we are this week, with two.

I really do need a tripod. That would help a lot with this project. My arms are only so long. ;)

We're now officially entering my birthday weekend. Celebrating will begin tonight and continue all the way through Monday. Yay!

And thank you all so much for your many sweet comments on my last post. It has me thinking about so many things. I hope to talk more about those thoughts late next week.

from the weekend

Just a few photos from the weekend to share on this Monday.

Special treat: a trip to a 50's diner in the middle of a very long weekend without Daddy.

My girl. In my favorite dress on her. Wishing her face were more in focus, but it was pretty dark out when I took it. Wondering how I got so lucky to be the mama of this amazing child.

Other bits from my thoughts tonight:

~We've been doing some packing and lots and lots of looking at houses, so that's been occupying much of our time and energies. Looking for a rental can be kind of depressing, especially when you want to live here, which is of course not an option as it's some thousands of miles from here.

~In seven days I will be 30 years old! My husband, who turned 40 in December, thinks it's the teeniest bit amusing that I'm getting all excited about this. But I am. :)

~We had a pretty fantastic sunset tonight. I'll leave you with some photos of that.

52 weeks ~ 2

::for 52 weeks, my kids and me::

We have had a weird, long week. It hasn't been bad, but just somehow out of balance. Baby sleep troubles, thinking about moving (to a bigger house, not a different locale ... sorry dear friends!), a couple of headaches for the mama (I so rarely get them that it's been pretty odd), and very few ideas about posting here. And a lot of projects begun, but none completed. So.

Today seems a bit better. Elisabeth and I started reading Little Town on the Prairie today. We'd read all the Little House books through The Long Winter last year, and then took a little pause (mostly because we didn't have the others). We haven't been able to put it down! This has to be my favorite of the books. I love the evocative way that she describes the simple pleasures in keeping a home so well, and the satisfaction of taking comfort in home and family after a day of real work. It has nearly brought me to tears a few times today. (Well, it's been that kind of week.) More than once, I wanted to jump up and rush in here to exclaim to you all, "You have to read this now, friends!" And my real-life friends will chuckle when they read that it has me thinking about a housecleaning kick. ;)

Anyway, I want to leave you (and me) to look forward to the weekend (and the upcoming spring, which is not really so far away afterall) with some words from the book:

"Beyond the open door and window the prairie was dusky but the sky was still pale, with the first stars beginning to quiver in it. The wind went by, and in the house the air stirred, pleasantly warmed by the cookstove and scented with prairie freshness and food and tea and a cleanness of soap and a faint lingering smell of the new boards that made up the new bedrooms.

"In all that satisfaction, perhaps the best part was knowing that tomorrow would be like today, the same and yet a little different from all the other days, as this one had been."

Just Us

I accepted an invitation several weeks ago to join the Flickr group 52 weeks, my kid(s) and me, and have never posted to it. (I have a gnawing feeling that there are a lot of things that I said that I would do or joined -- or something -- that I haven't done. Only I can't think of what they are.)

Anyway, I finally decided that I would start it this week, especially with today being February 1, and the time for me to decompress after the holidays has probably passed. So new projects it is. 52 weeks of self-portraits of me and my wee ones (I think Fridays sound pretty good), and the Virtual Quilting Bee begins this month, too. (And I'd just like to say that I am so flattered to have been asked to join this group. The other ladies in this group are so very talented. It's going to be fantastic.) And "birthday season" at our house is now rolling into gear (mine at the end of this month, James's in March, and Elisabeth's in April), so there will be work on projects for those, and Easter falls into that mix, as well. And, I have another very special something in the works, so stay tuned...

Anyway, Hello, February! Hello New Projects! Goodbye Christmas of 2007! (You were great, and I learned a lot from you, and now you are passed. Thank goodness.)

An Impromtu Party

Ugh. We had a long and yucky weekend ... both kids ended up with stomach viruses, and my husband was out of town. So, yeah, it was a loooooong weekend.

The good news is that everyone seems back to normal today. Enough so that this morning, Elisabeth said that she'd like to have a party for a stuffed bear.

So, this afternoon, we made a cake (using the oatmeal cake recipe from this book, substituting coconut oil for the butter, whole wheat pastry flour for most of the flour, and soy creamer for the milk in the "icing" -- but even after reducing the sugar in the actual cake by almost a third, this stuff was like eating spoonfuls of pure sugar -- I'm not sure if I'd make it again for that reason!) and got down to the business of partying.

Some days I feel so scattered and overwhelmed by all the things that I "should" be doing that I forget to play with my children. But when I take the time to do it, I think we're all better off for it.

All hats, all the time

Last week, when my fingers were so itchy to knit a Thorpe hat, I took my wee ones with me to our local yarn store and we chose yarn to make a hat for each of them. The Thorpe was completed for Elisabeth by the next morning, and then this hat for James was cast on and completed on Friday.

This is one of the "Kim's Hats" (earflap variation) from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts. I loved it for its simplicity and ease (the decreases were so very basic). It is a great canvas for all sorts of design ideas. I will make this hat again. (Not this week -- I promise, no more knitted hats around here for a little while!)

I do think I liked the earflaps better on the Thorpe, though. And I think I could've knit it a bit longer -- it doesn't cover as much of the neck as I'd like. But otherwise, I love this hat, the random stripes (my method: hmm, I think I'll add a stripe now), the yarn, and the garter brim. (I absolutely love the look of garter stitch. I don't much love the row after row sameness in knitting it -- I like a bit of diversity when working a pattern! -- but the look is so satisfying to me. I think it's just that I really like all things basic and simple.)

The yarn is more Manos del Uruguay (that's what my children chose), in Olive (#55, the green) and Stellar (#110, the variegated). I knit this one on size 9 bamboo needles.

Now, photographing this hat was another story altogether. James doesn't particularly like hats -- not this one, or any other. He screams every time we put one on him (hence the handiness of the ties), even when it is 10 degrees outside (like today). Once we had it on him today for the "photo shoot", and he was happy enough for me to start snapping away, he was running all over the place and hardly stood still long enough for me to get a decent close-up of the hat. So, you may not get a very good idea of how I did the striping. (I do think I will line it, like this one, to maybe cut down on the itch -- hopefully that will help him to like wearing it better.)

Anyway, halfway through January, my children finally each have a decent hand-knit hat from their mama. What could be better? (Other than coming inside for a bit of hot cocoa?)   

Swappy

Since I posted Elisabeth's new hat yesterday, I thought it might be nice if I shared a couple of other hats I knitted in the last year. One was for Alicia's sweet N, and I posted about it here. Alicia posted about it here. Here's one more photo of my wee one wearing it, which I'm posting just to remember the amazing greenness of only a few months ago. (The hat and other items were swapped for this amazing painting for Elisabeth.)

And Erin and I did a swap in November. She has posted about our swap here and here, and I've been feeling terrible about not sharing about it from my end yet.

She sent two adorable Market Totes for my children. A cherry-appliqued one for Elisabeth, and a tomato-appliqued one for James. They hang on hooks by our front door, always at the ready to come out with us on an adventure, or for some important "toting" around the house.

And she didn't leave the mama out, either! I have really loved the clutch that she designed especially for me.

It's really one of my favorite accessories, with all that pink and brown and Joel Dewberry fabric and the fairy flying the kite on the back. Wow. (You can see more of that in Erin's post.) Right now it's where I'm stashing my Tilted Duster money. (Ssssh!)

For Erin's sweet little one, I knitted this hat, which I must say is one of my favorite handknits to date. I always get a broad smile when I see it in one of Erin's photos.

Here it is on my little model, back in late November. I remember this day so well -- he was so unhappy, and such an unwilling model that afternoon. It was really tough to convince him to let me get just a few pictures. He managed to smile a few times for me, for which I was so grateful and I remember just thinking how blessed I am to have such a sweet wee one in my life; so willing to try something to help his mama, and so generally cheerful.

The hat is knitted using some handspun, hand-dyed yarn from cassiemarie. I was so happy with this yarn, and Cassie was so sweet to do business with. I will definitely buy yarn from her again!

The pattern is The Little Flap Cap #109 by Cabin Fever, another super quick, easy, and fun pattern. I modified it slightly (to give it that elfin point) by only working the decreases at the crown until I had about eight stitches or so left, and then knit about five rows plain (I think -- don't quote me on that). I also omitted the colorwork that was in the original pattern since I was using that beautiful variegated/self-striping yarn.

Then I lined the hat using a buttery-hued, lightweight, soft cotton knit. (The fabric was actually a crib sheet that we'd had for 5 1/2 years and never used since our children don't know what cribs are.) You can see the lining in this picture of the hat on the head of the doll Sally, who had no body at that time. ;)

I love how this particular hat goes down so far on the neck -- I thought it looked a teensy bit odd as I knitted it, but once it was on an actual child, I realized how fantastic it would be to keep a little neck warm!

OK, I know it's been about a million photos (and links! the links!) in this post, so I'll just top with this last one:

But I won't end this post without first wishing a happy fifth and seventh birthday to the children of two sweet bloggy friends! Happy day, little ones! (And to you mamas, too.)

New handknits

I first saw this hat over at Leslie's (and she's knitted it a few more times!), and then at Erin's, and then I decided that I needed to knit it up right away.

It was fast and mostly easy. Casting on at the crown with one stitch on each of the four double-point needles was a bit fiddly. And I had never used a crochet hook for anything besides picking up a dropped stitch here or there, so the half-double crochet around the edge was my very first crochet attempt. I have no idea if I did it backwards or not.

But other than the slightly confusing crown and the crochet edging, it was really easy, and I knit it in probably about four hours after casting on yesterday afternoon.

The pattern is Thorpe by Kirsten Kapur, whose blog I had never seen before, but I am really loving it now! The yarn is Manos del Uruguay in Mulled Wine (#118) for the hat and Pink (#01) for the contrast edging. Elisabeth's favorite color, "prune pink", can best be described as the exact purple-pink color of this hat, so she was pretty excited about it. The needles were size 8 bamboo needles and a size I crochet hook.

Next, a new hat for James, and a sweater (and maybe a new hat, too) for Daddy, and a sweater for Mama ... Knitting never sounded so good!

What's Christmas without a few costumes?

I know that I mentioned before that I began all of my family's gift making after sundown on December 22 this year, and the majority of my Christmas crafting involved costumes for Elisabeth.

Elisabeth is one of those children who changes her clothes at least 17 times every day (17 is her own estimate). All of her play requires an appropriate costume, and it's relatively rare to find her in "regular" clothes. Christmas brings all sorts of costuming opportunities -- both in the form of pageants to be in and gifts to receive.

Dressed as an angel at church on Christmas Eve

She really prefers costumes of her own fashioning, but I thought that I could add a few nice pieces to her repertoire. The one thing she was really hoping Santa Claus would bring was a very fancy ballet costume. It was so cute, because she'd be in the backseat of the car, or under the dining room table, or some other somewhat private place, eyes squeezed shut, hands clasped imploringly, and murmuring, "I know you can hear me, Santa Claus. Please bring me fancy ballerina outfit. That's all I really, really need."

So, with a solo trip to the ballet shop to look for costumes out of the question given my over-full plate of doll making, I decided to fashion a fancy ballet costume for her.

I picked up the leotard on the clearance rack at a discount retailer (ugh), and used about 5 yards of tulle and an elastic headband (using Coronita's technique) to make a very full tutu. I added tulle, ribbon "streamers" and glittery buttons at the shoulders, and all in all, there was one very satisfied ballerina on Christmas morning.

Santa Claus also brought a "Heidi" costume for Elisabeth this year. Heidi was a favorite read-aloud last year, and it really captured both of our imaginations.

I really couldn't get the idea of a little Swiss girl costume out of my head, so I came up with a simple blue elastic-waist skirt, a red apron with the trim that really "makes" the costume in my opinion, a gingham kerchief (which Elisabeth prefers tied under the chin), and then just a white t-shirt and a thrifted-by-a-friend green wool cardigan. This costume came together really easily, and the individual pieces are really useful for all sorts of play.

There was one other costume, the most involved sewing project of the three, which came from Daddy and me, but it'll have to wait to be seen here until Monday because we don't have any good pictures of it yet.

January 1

So, I've been thinking, as the end of one year and the beginning of another tends to make people do, and one of the things that I've been thinking about is this blog. I don't really know what this blog is "about", although I suppose it's a craft blog, even though I think my posts are sometimes light on the handmade and heavy on the blabbing. But one thing I know is that, while it may seem obvious from my posting or my lifestyle choices, etc., I have not said in this space enough how much I really, really love my children. I just want it to be out there. If this is some kind of a record of our lives, then the most important thing for me to record, I think, is how head-over-heels in love I am with these two people. Edited to add: I didn't mean to sound like I was having an identity crisis with my blog ("What category do I fit into?" etc.), just that I felt like it was about time to put my intense love for my amazing children "out there" in a way I hadn't before. Don't worry, I'm completely happy with the content of this site and it won't be changing!!!

Elisabeth -- wow, you are a powerhouse. We butt heads more than I wish we did. But your passion is so inspiring, and your gentleness, affection, and sensitivity to your brother is amazing to see. I love your creativity, your ability to become the characters of your play, your enthusiasm for costuming yourself and all of your dolls and stuffed animals, and your blossoming artistic abilities. I wish you would be gentler with yourself about your drawings. A mama wants to be able to save at least a few!

James -- you are my honey-silk, roly-poly, merry little baby. I love how smiling and joyful and downright jolly you are. You are almost two, and you like to tell people that's what you are. "What's your name?" "Two." I know that soon enough, you'll be doing a lot of talking and making (just like your sister) and growing hair and all of those "big kid" things, but for now, I love to just hold you and cuddle you and know that you're my baby.

The two of you have made me who I am, and influence and inspire every aspect of my life, work, and decision-making. I love you. Happy New Year!

Sick in bed

We have not had a good season when it comes to colds. I think it's because my husband is a teacher, and brings things home from his students. (High schoolers seem to be sick a lot.) My husband is on his second awful cold in as many months, I had that horrible one in November, James had his very first ear infection, and Elisabeth is now sick in bed for only the second or third time in her life! (She definitely wins the immune system award in our house -- she is so rarely sick.)

My mom was able to stop by yesterday with a fresh coloring book for Elisabeth (always a nice thing to have when you're laid up), and we also got out some little toys that Elisabeth had been given as a gift for acting as a flower girl in a friend's wedding two years ago. We'd forgotten all about them up on a shelf, and everyone was excited to learn that the little characters were actually finger puppets! Elisabeth's dolls have been her constant companions (along with a big pile of winter and holiday books and her snow globe), and snacks of frozen berries and card games have come in very handy, as well.

All this has me thinking about the rituals that we keep when our children are not themselves -- suffering, under the weather, emotionally distressed, etc. Most of the time I kind of think that those times are isolated and somehow not part of our "real life." And yet, there they are, cropping up and reminding me of the messiness of life. And how important these times of convalescence are: to nourish a sick child's body, to nurture a sorrowful child's spirit, to ease a suffering child's mind. What does it take to do that job? Yes, it takes some real physical things: some eucalytus oil in the vaporizer, a homeopathic remedy under the tongue, a cool cloth on the forehead, a gentle massage of aching muscles. But most of all, it takes time. Time is the best gift I can give my children, when they need me, and even when they think they don't. Time that sometimes I think I don't have. But if I really take the time to be present with my children, everything else seems to fall into place anyway. That time spent is an even greater gift to me.

I love this post by Molly, which she ends by saying that a system is not what is needed to raise our children well. She's so right. It shouldn't just be, "Make dinner? Check. Fold laundry? Check. Nourish my child's body, mind, and soul? Check."

Some of my "to-do's" may go unchecked over these few days. But being a present mother to my wee ones is the greatest to-do of all.