grapes

I had a wave of nausea hit right before lunch today. At first I panicked. Did I pick up a stomach bug? Then I remembered. Nope. That's just Pete growing a brain. I took my vitamin B6 supplement, remarkably effective against pregnancy nausea, and sat down with Pip for his lunch. I wasn't really hungry, so I ate a bowl of honey nut O cereal. Then I remembered that I am trying to teach Pip a food culture. That doesn't work so well when eating alone. The nausea hadn't passed, and his barbeque plate smelled way too strong for me to handle. But those grapes looked nice.

I went to the fridge and pulled out a handful, washed them. I set them on the napkin between Pip and me. I bit into one. The sweet but not too sweet juice was cold and good. The first bite soothed my scratchy throat. (I have one of those fleeting sniffles that we all share when the weather cools). I brought another handful of grapes to the table. Pip seemed to agree with my assessment of these grapes. They are perfect today. Plump with juice and firm, the diameter of a British pound coin. Larger than the very small person growing within. Food for the whole person.

Whoever thought up grapes in autumn was a godsend.

one small step

Today Pip held onto me with his little arms and stepped into his breeches when he was getting dressed.

Why have television when you can have smellovision?

This is my first attempt to participate in a weekly Unplugged Project suggested on the Unplug Your Kids blog. For a while now, I have wanted to make homemade playdough for Pip. I thought this week's challenge was a good excuse to dive in, especially because I want Pip to associate colors and smells and textures in a richer array than might be encouraged by just reading books. With books, he gets the sight and sound and the feeling of being near us or the motions we add. As he starts to apply his knowledge more widely in the world, I want him to be able to associate additional sensory information. (The kid is counting already! He says "1-2-3" when he goes up stairs and just this afternoon showed his Poppa the "two combs" he was holding.) I have been baking more than usual recently. I have made sure to let Pip smell the vanilla, the cinnamon, and the pumpkin. But there are some smells that just seem to go best with a particular color. Orange is one of them. What is more orange-smelling than oranges?

Unfortunately my photos of Pip playing with the playdough wouldn't download, but here is the preparation for smelling orange scented playdough.
There are loads of recipes for homemade playdough. After scouring several playdough recipe sites, I used this one from another Unplugged Project participant because her recipe called for ingredients I had on hand. If you haven't made it before, you should know that it really is as easy as people make out, and I'm pretty sure you can't screw it up. I used natural dyes since Pip is sensitive to red industrial food coloring, so I had to work a little harder to get an even color. My one recommendation for "what to do different next time" is to put the dyes into the hot water if you are using natural dyes.
I want Pip's play baking to smell nice just like real baking smells nice. My childhood memories of play-do are characterized by the scent that comes from those little wads of dough in the yellow containers. It wasn't until I was 8 that I even smelled homemade yeast rolls. But those rich food smells are at least half the joy of baking. So Pip's orange dough smells like oranges.

The finished product. Pip had fun mushing some of it around this morning, and there is plenty left for future "baking."

Happy Day

Pip has taken to bouncing around the house chanting "Hap-py Day" or sometimes "Hap-py, Hap-py! or "Happy Birthday!" or "Ha-le-lujah Hap-py Hap-py!" He is a very sweet little bear. Today at church Pip and his friend J both started saying "Hallelujah" during Eucharist. Besides the fact that it's sweet to hear little toddlers say holy words, it's really convenient. If they are going to holler something in church, you want it to sort of "fit." "Amen" or "hallelujah" or "blessed" are all fitting. "Poop" and "bum," not so much. I whisper in Pip's ear during church services to encourage his vocabulary toward the "Hallelujah" direction. We 'Piscers tend to say "alleluia" instead, but the beginning "h" makes the word easier for a toddler to pronounce. They like words with definite beginnings.

I never got around to writing out a post on my other blog about babies and toddlers in church, but the whispering description of what's going on is a big item on my list of "how to help kids understand and be involved in church." In big words, Pip receives an instructed Eucharist almost every time we go to the Table. In small ones, I whisper to Pip about how God loves us and what we're about to do. I try to make prayer fun for him and also clue him into the service flow. So I might say, "Now we're going to tell Poppa God thank you." "Father" is a relationship word, sure, but Pip only knows what "Poppa" means because he knows how he feels with his Poppa. Thus, God the Father is "Poppa God" to Pip. And leading up to the "Holy, holy, holy," I might whisper, "Yay! Yay! Yay! Everybody sings!" When the last supper is recounted, I help Pip cross himself by moving his little arm and whispering, "Forehead, belly, shoulder, shoulder, chest. Kiss your little hand, and now you're blessed." Once he hollered "Blessed!" right after crossing himself in this way. And leading up to the fraction, I start whispering, "Ha-le-lu-jah! Ha-le-lu-jah!" When he sees the bread, I tell him "that bread never runs out." When it's time to receive, I whisper, "Jesus kisses!" Sometimes we go deeper, and sometimes I just try to get him to look generally in the direction of the cross or the chalice. The boy has a habit of expectancy, though. He comes knowing there's love at that table.

So, today Rev. Paula placed bread in Andrew's hand and said, "The Body of Christ, the bread of heaven." And Pip swiped it right out of his hand and ate it. Never fear, Andrew's portion of God bread was replaced. I was giggling so hard that I could barely drink from the cup.

Pip stats from his 15 month check-up last week:
Head: 95%; Height 75%; Weight 10% He's growing right along his curve. He was 20lbs, 11 oz. He's taking after me with the Tweetie Bird proportions. His winter hat is sized for the average 3-5 year old. The pediatrician said it's because of all those brains.

Remember that movie Harvey with the giant rabbit? I think it was that movie where Jimmy Stewart was in favor of being kind instead of smart if you had to make that choice. I feel really blessed to have a baby who has an incredibly sweet and kind disposition as well as being bright. An example to us all.

Sort of like an icon

My friend Rebecca asked how one celebrates All Hallow's Eve instead of Halloween. Here's our take: dress up like saints. We dressed Pip as St. Michael Archangel. Above you see his mighty armor in progress. I made his costume with two buttons as the only sewing. Andrew used seam glue to put the cape pieces together. Then I made the little leather skirt out of leather, leather cord, and stick-on jewels. Andrew was St. Andrew, and I was Perpetua. But we don't have good photos of ourselves yet. However, here is the cutest little archangel you've ever seen.

A bear, some paint, and Pete

This week Pip got a big bear. He calls it "Bear!" and cuddles the bear. A lot. I'll say, "Are you cuddling your bear?" And he says "Cuh-ul Bear."

On Friday evening, we set Pip up with his first finger painting project. He had a pallet and enjoyed mushing the various colors together with his hands.

After a while, I decided to point out how Pip could put paint on surfaces other than his hands.

Then he painted his little pumpkin.

Pumpkin completed. Poppa! Please turn on the water for us.

The final product:

Pete

We learned this week that we are to expect a second child at the beginning of July. We're very happy. The image of keys came to my mind when I prayed about the child, so we're calling him or her Pete as an in utero nickname. (Pete can be short for Peter or Perpetua.) This is not an entirely rational nicknaming, so don't argue unless you are prepared to back up your argument with lots of chocolate and offers of free babysitting. I think Pip picked up on our talk, because he started carrying around his monkey and calling it "Baby." Baby has been with us to the supermarket and to church. Baby receives many hugs, and we are often called upon to supply additional cuddles to Baby when Pip brings him to us. We love Pip soooo much. And now we also love Pete. It's going to completely freak us out how much we're going to love these kids. Like, we have no idea.

omg cute

Here you see evidenced several events of note. 1. I cut Pip's bangs in the tub last night. 2. Pip has a little rocking chair. He spent awhile this evening gathering Monkey, Bear, and Personal Penguin to rock with him. Then he covered his lap with his horse blanket. I think he was imitating On Mother's Lap. 3. Pip used a playsilk to make a blanket for Monkey. 4. Pip gets cuter every day.
See #4. above.