Birthdays, Valentines Day, and Everything In-between

The last couple of months have been quite busy.  Katy turned two in January and she celebrated with three birthday cakes.  The first cake was really just a slice of cake on her actual birthday that she shared with her cousin Elijah.  Two days later, we had a very small birthday party.  Our dear neighbors across the street generously provided an adorable caterpillar cake for this party.  A week later, Gigi, Pops, and Grandma Sullivan visited, and we enjoyed a third birthday cake, this one decorated by Katy (thus the reason some of the plastic cats atop the cake appeared to be sinking in snow banks of icing).  Katy was happy to share her third birthday celebration with Pops, whose birthday was just a few days away.

Cake #1

Cake # 2

The party crew. 

Katy's birthday gift from Leonardo. 

Cake #3

Big shout out to my dad, who made Katy an amazing busy board for her birthday.  One side is a magnetized chalkboard/roll down paper for drawing.  The other side is filled with knobs, latches, slots, cubbies, and lights for hours of entertainment.  It is a real labor of love, and an amazing one-of-a-kind toy! This thing really deserves its own blog post, which I hope to do soon.

Thanks to an awesome story time group at the library, Katy also experienced her first Valentine's celebration.  After story time, the toddlers made Valentine bags, exchanged treats and cards, and then went home with an adorable heart shaped balloon.  In the evening, we had a Valentine's dinner complete with heart shaped french toast, sausage, and fruit.

Raisins with a message: "To one of my favorite peep-peep-peeps!"

Why did I take the picture by the outlet?  Ugh.

Aside from birthday and holiday celebrations, the downtime in-between has been full of activity: birthday parties, biking trips to the library (compete with picnic lunches), walking at the lovely convention center grounds, taking advantage of free admission week at a local museum, crafts galore, adventures in eating and cooking, tons of books, and lots of free play.  Katy is at such a fun age - she is able to experience so much of the world around her and much of what she experiences is new to her.  What an amazing time in life!

She likes Legos!!!! Can't wait to start our collection!

Play Dough, Dry Spaghetti, and Beads

Katy's first time enjoy bouncy inflatables with out fear!

Foam letters +water = fun!

Nature scavenger hunt

Making grocery shopping a fun activity.  

She rediscovered her Duplo blocks and loves them!

Mixed media art.

Helping dad repair the dishwasher.

Playing with clear water beads - so cool!

Morning snuggles are the best. 

Tea with Ria

Chris was out of town for work last week.  Whenever Chris is out of town, I fill our days with visits to friends.  Talking to an adult everyday, even for just a few minutes, is important for my long term sanity.

On Thursday we visited some elderly friends from church.  As we prepared for our trip before leaving the house, I packed a few toys in a small box for Katy to take along.  At the last minute, Katy brought me four tiny tea cups to add to the box.  I didn't want to add the teacups.  We were already walking out the door, and I didn't want to stop to open the box again.  Moreover, I didn't want another toy to keep track of mentally in hopes of not losing anything.  But Katy insisted on the tea cups, and I gave in.  Praise God that I gave in!

When we arrived at our friends' house, Katy was clingy and shy. After a few minutes, Ria noticed Katy's tiny teacups and poured some juice into one.  Within a few minutes, Katy was willing to join Ria at the table.  What followed was one of the sweetest things ever.  On one side of the table sat Katy, barely able to see over the top of the table, sipping juice from a tiny teacup and eating carrot sticks from another.  On the other side of the table was Ria, small and slightly hunched but happily sharing her juice and carrying on a conversation in her thick South African accent.

After tea, Katy gladly toured the garden with Ria to look at all the plants.  As they walked out the door hand in hand, navigating the threshold and the obstacles of the raised front porch, I wondered who was relying on who more for support.  When Katy and Ria returned to the house, Katy acknowledged that I was still there, as if to comfort herself, and then invited Ria to sit on the floor to play with the rest of the toys in her box.

Praise God for friends in all shapes and sizes.

My first Spanish Joke

One of the hardest things to master in a second language is humor because it usually requires not just comprehension of grammar, vocabulary, and verb conjugation, but it also requires an understanding of idioms, culture, and small nuances in a language.  Understanding and using humor in a second language is a serious skill.  So, it is with great pride, that I present to you the first joke I made up in the Spanish language:

Q:  Que hace el pez perezoso? (what does the lazy fish do?)

A:  "Nada." (nada means both nothing and he swims)

I know it's ridiculously corny and it probably isn't even original, but I don't really care.  I made a joke in Spanish and that's pretty. darn. awesome. 

Guácala!

When Chris changes one of Katy's stinky diapers, he usually exclaims, "guácala." which means yuck or gross in Spanish.  Katy has since learned this word and frequently uses it when she has a stinky diaper.

This past Saturday night, we spent an evening with friends handing out around the convention center.  Katy's little friend Leonardo was there, which made Katy very happy.  Katy adores Leonardo.  Her face lights up when she sees him.  I love watching Katy play with Leonardo because he brings out her social side like no other toddler.  This past Saturday was no exception.  Katy and Leonardo climbed and rolled and danced and laughed and ran and held hands all night.

But now back to the guácala.  Late into the evening, Katy was walking behind Leonardo.  Leonardo's pants were sagging a bit in the back, perhaps because, as we realized half way through the evening, his pants were on backwards (dressing a toddler is challenging at times).  Upon noticing Leonardo's saggy bottom, Katy informed me that "Leonardo tiene guácala" (Leonard has guácala). Yup. Not only does my girl use guácala as a noun, she also knows what it looks like on someone else.

3-D Paper Heart Birth Announcement Art

When my sister-in-law was pregnant with my very first nephew, I made him a little something for his nursery incorporating the nursery theme and colors and the first letter of his name:

Two years later, when my sister-in-law gave birth to my very first nice, I knew I had to make her something special as well.  I was inspired by this image, and others similar, that I found on google:

After verifying the nursery colors, I punched out lots of hearts in three different sizes, scored them down the middle, and folded them in half.  This task was much more tedious than it sounds.  Next I created a template with cut outs for my largest flowers.  This was also much more tedious than it sounds.  Then, it was time to start gluing.

I used the smallest hearts to fill in the space between my larger flowers.  Gluing all those little hearts in place was also very tedious.

I finished it off by adding a raised strip of decorative paper containing baby's name, birth date, and birth weight.  I framed the print in a shadow box style frame.  The end result was well worth all the tedious work it took to get there!

Learning English

Katy recently started repeating English words, phrases, and sentences more frequently, which is entertaining because Spanish remains her dominant language.  When Katy says Happy Birthday, she does not pronounce the H in happy and she pronounces the rth in birthday like a soft r in Spanish.  The result is something like "Appy Burrdaye."   More recently, Katy heard Chris say, "Oh-uh, Spaghetti-ohs," when something fell.  Katy repeated the phrase as "Uh-oh, es-paghetti-ohs."  Chris found this particularly humorous because, in his words, "it sounded like my mom."  

Seeing Katy speak English is both exciting and anxiety inducing.  I want her to speak English and I know that by the time she is ready to start school, she will speak it more fluently no matter how much we emphasize Spanish.  At the same time, however, I fear that by learning English Katy will lose her ability and desire to use Spanish.  In short, I fear that this is the beginning of the end.

For now, all I can do is try to enjoy the changes as they come, which isn't as hard when Katy says things like es-phaghetti.  And I can start letting Katy watch TV...but only in Spanish.  I haven't given up hope altogether.    

Cake Batter Treats!

Thanks to this vegan chocolate cake recipe, I am able to share one of my favorite childhood memories with Katy without any fear of salmonella poisoning.  Yay for eating messy cake batter and delicious chocolate cake 45 minutes to one hour later!

Accessorizing a Play Kitchen

Several months before Christmas, I found a play kitchen for Katy on craigslist.  Chris and I hid the kitchen in a closet, and I started making felt food.  My success making felt food inspired me to make other kitchen accessories using cardboard, old cans, and old bottles.  By the time Christmas rolled around, Katy's kitchen was overflowing with goodies.

Here's all the felt food I made, including one super-sized banana!

Some of my favorites are the carrots, corn, green beans, strawberries, broccoli, and ice cream, which are pictured individually below.  I'll link tutorials I used if possible.  Sometimes I looked at several tutorials and then combined them to get the result I wanted.

The green beans were so easy to make.  I cut a 9 x 12 sheet of green felt into two inch strips.  Then I rolled the strips nice and tight until I had the desired thickness.  I cut off the excess felt from the strip and then sewed the loose edge down to the rolled green bean.  I made a can full of green beans in no time.

The orange slices were a melding of many tutorials.

I used a tutorial from WhileSheNaps to make the strawberries, but I modified it by using embroidery floss to sew in small stitches to resemble seeds before using my sewing machine to sew the strawberry shape.

I can say with confidence I have made the one and only ear of felt corn I will ever make in my entire life because it was so time consuming.  I followed a tutorial from WhileWearingHeels to make the corn rows.  I sewed the rows to a large rectangular sheet of felt, sewed the felt into a tube shape, stuffed it, and then sewed round pieces of felt on each end to cover the stuffing in the center (these four steps are more difficult than it sounds).   I made the corn husk by cutting six leaves from green felt and then sewing two leaves together around the edges with my sewing machine to make three nice, thick leaves that wouldn't stretch easily.  I then sewed straight lines with green thread on the leaves to give them a husk texture.  I sewed the three leaves together by hand, constantly refitting them on the corn as I went.  I tied off the bottom of the leaves with a gathering stitch.  Like I said, the corn was the most time consuming piece of food I made, and I have no intention of ever repeating it.

Unlike the corn, the carrots were super easy to make using a tutorial from SunshinyDays:

The broccoli turned out great and I sure wish I could find the tutorial I used to make it...

I used a free pattern and tutorial online to make the ice cream container as well.  Someday I'll find the tutorial and give credit where credit is due...

Katy's kitchen is also stocked with cardboard boxes, cans, and bottles:

I printed labels from the internet and attached them to old tin cans using a tutorial from PiecesByPolly.  This inspired me to attach labels to old spice containers filled with small, shakeable food, like salt and pinto beans.  I filled the spice containers, used hot glue and a round piece of card stock to seal the salt and beans inside the container, and then liberally applied hot glue to the cap before screwing it on one last time.  Katy LOVES opening the old spice containers and pretending to sprinkle food out of them.  

I found printable cardboard food from ElaineChen.  I strengthened the boxes by filling them with layers of cardboard glued together as suggested by PiecesByPolly.  Stacking cardboard for the boxes inspired me to stack round pieces of cardboard to make a felt cake, which I decorated with felt, ribbon, and a removable candle.  The cake fits perfectly inside of one of Katy's tiny baking pans.

I also sewed Katy an apron using a free tutorial from AnnKelle.com.  I modified the material sizes to fit a small toddler, but I loved the tutorial overall.  The finished apron looks very clean on both the front and the back, and I was able to use a piece of fabric that I was dying to incorporate into a project.  Sadly, Katy refuses to even try wearing the apron.  

Finally, I made Katy a feeding chair for her baby that attaches to the small counter in her kitchen.  I was inspired by a cardboard chair I made for her around the same time I made her cardboard car.  While the car didn't hold up very long, the chair was surprisingly durable.  I sewed a cover for the cardboard chair using an old baby blanket and loads of trial-and-error. The finished product is functional, although not my prettiest work.  Katy enjoys feeding her baby whiles she "cooks", however, and that's all that really matters. 

The moral of this blog post is beware of making felt food.  It will suck you into the time consuming world of accessorizing a play kitchen for a toddler who will no doubt throw, step on, and crush everything you make.  So far everything I made is holding up but it's only been one month...

Conversations with a Toddler #2

Last night Chris was trying to find the tune on Katy's xylophone while Katy worked a puzzle next to him on the floor.  Chris kept playing the same few notes over and over, often having to start over because he played a note incorrectly.  After several minutes, Katy leaned over, pushed the xylophone away from Chris, and said, "No mas, papi."  Shocked at Katy's ability to so clearly express her annoyance, Chris asked why.  Katy responded, "Esta loco."

Detente!

Katy and I have been reading P.D. Eastman's Go Dog Go in Spanish a lot lately.  It's a long book for a toddler but there's something about all those dogs that Katy really enjoys.  The book contains a series of pages in which the dogs are driving cars and must stop for a red light.  When I read this page to Katy I making a stopping motion with my palm held out while saying, "Detente, perros, detente! La luz esta roja" (ahem... usually I say "la luz esta rojo" because my on-the-spot translations are sometimes messy, but that's not the point here).

For a couple weeks now, Katy has been saying "detente!" while making a stopping motion with her open palm.  She especially likes to do this to trucks she sees driving on the road: "Detente camion, detente!"  Last week, Katy was watching a football game with Chris.  The referee called a pass interference penalty on one of the players and made the pass interference motion with his hands, which is both hands pushing from the chest out with palms facing out.  Upon seeing this, Katy starting saying, "Detente! Detente! Detente!"

Maybe all this reading is preparing Katy to be an NFL referee.

Conversations with a Toddler

Katy talks all. the. time. Most of what she says is either narration, a request for something, repeating something she heard or remembers, or nonsensical babble.  Every now and then, however, she throws in a little on-the-spot critical thinking and it's usually pretty funny.  Below is one such recent conversation:

(Katy is sitting at her table drawing.  I am sitting in a rocking chair nearby)

Katy: "Mom va a dibujar?"  (Is mom going to draw?)
Mom:  "No, no quiero.  Quiero dormir.  Puedo dormir?"  (No, I don't want to.  I want to sleep.  Can I sleep?)
Katy: "No."
Mom:  "Porque no puedo dormir?" (Why can't I sleep?)
Katy: long pause, staring at my face...."Los ojos estan abiertos"  (literally translated: "the eyes are open," but knowing the context and that pronouns are still very (VERY) tricky for Katy, I know she meant, "Your eyes are open.").

I guess she was looking at my face waiting for me to close my eyes.  Silly girl.