Final Two Hanukkah Presents

Just wanted to show pics of the last two Hanukkah gifts I made for Yoav:


First picture is a felt ball with a little bell inside from Petra Berger's "Feltcraft". Second is Rainbow Gnomes - idea was from someone Etsy.

Yoav and Loving Elie

Today Yoav was coloring at the kitchen table and suddenly said, "I really love Elie. I only hurt him sometimes when I'm angry." I don't think the words are 100% exact, but the gist was that he loves Elie and was probably thinking about why he sometimes hurts Elie. I couldn't get anything more about what causes the anger. He actually never seems "angry" when he hurts Elie. Although it could be just simple jealousy, like maybe it happens soon after Elie nurses or is otherwise cuddled. The hurting is rare now, but sometimes Yoav does do kooky things like stand on Elie or hold him down or (like today) put a bucket on Elie's head and push down on the bucket.

Later, Yoav was waving his arms around near Elie and accidentally hit Elie in the face. Yoav looked surprised and immediately said, "It was an accident for real." It's the first time I've heard him say "for real". Sounded funny from him. Actually, now that I'm recalling it, I think he first said "Sorry Elie" and gave Elie a kiss. I'm pretty sure he did that before he told me it was an accident, but it could have been the other way around. Either way, he did apologize to Elie and give the kiss.

Yoav and Nursing

Yoav's nursing seems to be varying a lot lately. Perhaps it's in the final stages, although I think it can last months to years the way it's been lately with some days of no nursing at all and some of more. He didn't nurse for the past two days (the flight day and yesterday) and then nursed several times already today. He had a lot of tantrums the past two days. I wonder if it's related. Today he seems very calm and happy.

Elie Stood Up!

Elie stood alone for a second or two today. I actually missed it :( Jer saw. Elie was clapping and took his hands off the table to stand and clap.

We're in Israel for two weeks. So far it's okay, but we had a 4hr delay and our schedule is still completely off. Jeremy and Yoav have been sleeping together in the main bedroom and Elie and I in the guest room since Yoav has been falling asleep a few hours before Elie. It's been wonderful sleeping just with Elie though. We don't get kicked in the night, there's no snoring. Just cozy cuddles :)

Sorry

Yoav seems to be more and more seeing Elie as a person/friend. Today Yoav did something to Elie that he thought Elie would like and Elie cried and Yoav moved and said "Sorry" to Elie. I think it was the first time I've ever heard Yoav say sorry to anyone.

Also, Yoav taped (with lots and lots of tape) a paper snowflake he made to the floor for Elie. I think his thinking was that Elie likes to play with paper but I don't want Elie to eat paper, so this was a way for Elie to see and touch the paper without being able to eat it.

Tonight I tried to get the kids to sleep without walking to sleep, but I failed. I swear everytime Elie started to close his eyes to fall asleep, Yoav would poke his head in and say something like, "Are you falling Elie asleep?", "Is he asleep yet?" or he'd just open the door to peek in and then slam it closed. AAAHHHHH!!!!!!!! Finally (after about an hour), Yoav came in and said he was ready to go on a walk to go to sleep - he said he already peed and drank some Kombucha. Wow! So we just did that. There was snow on the ground but I managed to push the stroller through all the thick patches and the snow kept me walking really slow which helps.

Crafting Craze

I haven't been posting (and shouldn't even be now b/c it's so late!) because I've been in a full-on pre-Hanukkah crafting craze!

Today for Craft Day, we finally dyed the natural Purewool yarn I've had for months. I've been searching fruitlessly for unsweetened Kool-Aid. I wanted orange, but we found lemonade and cherry at Walmart while we were at my in-laws this weekend. I thought I could make orange from that, but the cherry is much too red and even half a package of cherry and two packages of lemonade came out pink (and I only had two packages of each). I really like how it came out though! If it were orange, I'd have made something for Yoav, but since it's pink, I'll use it for a hat for myself :) The directions are on Knitty, which we followed exactly.

My SIL loved the birthday crown for Yonaton and commissioned me to make two more without initials that she can give as gifts. I'm really glad, because I LOVE these! Even more than the initials ones. I think this will be my new standard. And I can make them in advance all at once since they're not personalized.

For Hanukkah, I'm giving Yoav a handmade gift for each night. This zip pouch (from Amy Karol's "Bend the Rules Sewing") I made last night and filled with Stockmar modeling wax. The print is so cute - Yoav picked it out - it's a Cosmo Japanese print called "Hello My Friends". We got green and white. There's a bunch in the series that are similar.

Then today I finished my coolest craft yet. I made this adorable crayon roll. I actually made one two nights ago and then this one today. The one before didn't have wide enough pockets for the Stockmar block crayons I used. For this one, I did 1.75" wide and 4" wide cloth for the pockets. My main fabrics were 6.5" x 15" and the ribbon is 35", although it's a bit longer than it needs to be.

Five more gifts to go for Hanukkah - I've already cut out felt for these rainbow gnomes. My full list is:
1. Block crayon roll (done)
2. Zip pouch with modeling wax (done)
3. Felt doll (done - same as those given as party favors on Yoav's birthday)
4. Rainbow gnomes (felt cut)
5. Knit bunny (from Knitted Animals book, not started yet)
6. Felt ball (from Feltcraft, not started yet)
7. Felt duck (from Feltcraft)
8. Homemade playdough

In other news, Elie just learned (sort of) how to kiss. When you pucker to give him a kiss on the mouth, he opens his mouth and puts his lips around yours. It's really sweet. And Elie's getting more consistent with the hand signal for pottying.

Birthday Crowns

12/8/08
Originally uploaded by jmilikow

Here are two more Birthday Crowns (for Talia and Yonatan) that I made on the sewing machine. I think I've got a pretty good method now so I can make them faster for future ones. I'm going to just cut the colored front panels and leave the grey backing a big rectangle. Then I'll sew all the pieces together and cut the grey backing at the end so the front and back fit perfectly without having to trim the front pieces.

Painting / Elie's 1yr Doctor Appointment

I'm so behind on posting. I've been too busy crafting :) That and Yoav has started drawing pictures of toys on novanatural.com. He's become fairly obsessed with it. His drawings are maturing quickly with it though. Yesterday he was drawing a wooden farm and asked me if I wanted him to draw something else. I said no and he said, "Good because I love drawing this house."

Yesterday was painting day and I had scanned through my new book,
"Painting with Children" by Brunhild Muller. I noticed a few things that I hadn't picked up on before. We painted with blue and red using the wet-on-wet technique, as we always do with watercolors. First, Yoav painted a 7 and said, "I made a 7." Then he painted a snail and said, "I made a snail." Then he swooshed them together and exclaimed, "The snail ate it up!" Later, I had made something in blue and said it was starfish in the sea. Yoav took a brush dipped in red and swirled around my painting and said he ate up the sea and turned it purple. It was the first time I've heard him discussing in a story form the effects of mixing colors. Actually it was the first time I've heard him tell the story of his paintings at all.

I also want to include Elie's weight/height for my records from his 1 yr appointment yesterday:
Height: 30 inches (60%)
Weight: 19 lbs 10 oz (10%)
Head Circ: 18.5 inches (50%)
So he had a big drop percentage-wise since his 6 month appointment. I know part (all?) of it is that a lot of babes were were nursing no longer are and some have even started to eat junky food like fast food. Hops said not to worry and to just up his solids.

I gave Elie almond butter today and he was fine. Next we'll try eggs. I'm feeling like there's a good chance he doesn't have any allergies. I've never seen any hives on him, and I would guess that he's at least gotten dairy on his skin.

Crafting-wise, I'm LOVING my new sewing machine. I got the Janome Sew Precise from Jer for my birthday and can't believe how amazing it is. I've made two birthday crowns for my niece and nephew's bdays coming up. I think I have a technique down now to make them really fast, so I'll probably make them for all the kids' birthdays for the next 12 months. I want to make Yoav a crayon roll for Hanukkah for the 12 Stockmar block crayons I got him, so I might add that to the mix and I also love those rainbow gnomes. For Hanukkah for Yoav, I'm planning to do the crayons + crayon roll for one night, felt girl like the ones I made his birthday friends one night (I made one then for him), a few gnomes for one night in the style of our new rainbow gnomes, then we have a gift from Cindy and will have one from Grandma/Grandpa and one from Safta/Saba, then a new animal from the Feltcraft book and a knitted animal from my new Knitted Animals book. I'm hoping to make Jer a kippah in brown like the one I made for Yoav, but we'll see. At least I hope to finish by the time we get back from Israel.

Gnome Time

We were inspired today by these adorable gnomes on Etsy. Much better than the ones I made before b/c they use the little wood folk bases so they stand up well. Oh, actually I think she uses the wood dwarves here - looks like the same bottom as hers. We used the wooden folk, since we had those in stock here ;) These are so cute - I want to make some as gifts, so I'll get some of the dwarves with my next order. And, of course, they're perfect for Yoav's new gnome home! I made one orange one (on the right, of course) and Yoav made the rest. I used a french knot as a little button in place of the Etsy woman's star.

Birthday

Today's my birthday. The best present was at 5am when Yoav woke up coughing - before Jer or I remembered that it was my birthday, Yoav said to me, "It's your birthday. You get a sewing machine." It was so sweet.

It's a sick birthday - Elie and I have colds and Yoav woke up with a croupy-sounding cough at 5am but seems fine now. We'll see. He definitely has something going on. He had a fever on Sunday, was fine on Monday, then cough overnight, then fine today...

We had a great day today. Home in the morning. Then we went out for muffins & coffee when Elie fell asleep. As it turned out, Elie was only asleep for a few minutes after we sat down. He pretty much woke up just as I started drinking the coffee :( I reminded me of Katie Byron ("Loving What Is") and decided to love the moment. It was a beautiful day and it was fun to watch people going by. A 4.5yo girl was sitting next to us with her grandmother and we spoke with them a bit.

Afterwards, we went to our local fabric shop, FiberNotion. I got fabric for my first sewing project, a zip bag from Amy Karol's Book, "Bend-the-Rules Sewing". It's a really cute store with a lot of felt animals for sale that Yoav gets to look at while I shop.

Then we went to the Coop for elderberry syrup for our colds.

Then we went to the 3rd Street playground. We saw new friends from our synagogue there, so we both had fun. I got to talk to L and Yoav played with N, who's just under 2yo.

We came home and made lentil soup for our soup day. Yoav cut the celery and some of the carrots.

For gifts, I got a sewing machine, flowers and something as-yet-unknown from Jeremy, sewing books from Cindy and $$ for all my much-wanted sewing and quilting notions from my parents. Thanks!!!

Oh, and Yoav and Elie fell asleep together on our walk home from taking Jer to the gym in 15 minutes! Oh, AND, I dropped my purple hat that I knitted last year on our way to the gym, realized it was gone, hurried home to find it, and found it sitting on a fence near our apartment - so thanks to whomever left it for me and to everyone who walked by who didn't take it!!!