Toy making!

Sprout & his best friend Aiden with their new toys!

I love making things for Sprout. Sewing clothes mostly, though I've painted, crocheted & made things from wood. Today my friend Kirsten & I made toys: bean bags. It was Kirsten's suggestion--I think she got the idea from the course she took in preparation for opening her own daycare. She arrived with a wagon full of Aiden & a variety of dried legumes. I dug into my massive stash of fabrics & we picked a range of colours & textures to use. Shiny, smooth, bumpy, fuzzy, stretchy.

After a couple of hours of cutting fabric, serging the bags, filling them with rice, barley, split peas, lentils of various sorts, popcorn & beans, then sewing them up. I think they might have taken an hour had we not been chasing two toddlers around during this project. The end result was two dozen bean bags: each of a different colour & texture of fabric, plus different sizes & weights of 'beans' inside.

When I showed them to Sprout, he wasn't quite sure what to make of them. I can't wait to show him all the ways we can use them. There are so many games you can play with bean bags: throwing them, balancing them on your head, shaking them to make noises, stacking them...

Now that I've made lots of bean bags, I'm mulling over the idea of making them to sell. I have a table booked in the Blim Market at the Autumn Shift Festival (on Broadway to 12th Avenue, September 17th, noon-6pm) to sell my ANEW baby & mama gear. Would you buy bean bags for your child (niece/nephew/grandchild, etc)?

Wordless Wednesday

Linnaeus 11.2

The biggest milestone we passed this week was Sprout's first time away from me & Papa. Auntie Sarah took care of him for a half hour or so when he was a few weeks old, but since then, we've never left him at all. Thursday, Sprouty's best friend's mama took care of him for a few hours in the afternoon. They went to the park in the wagon & Sprout had a great time. He even (finally) got the bottoms of his shoes dirty! I suppose that's another thing that's changed just this week: now, when you put him down on the floor/ground, he'll actually stand up, rather than holding his legs out horizontally to sit.

It feels like Sprout has started moving just suddenly, though it's been two weeks now that he's been crawling. He's getting faster & has realized that he can go get things & people. He never really drops down to his belly anymore, as he's now faster on his hands & knees.

Pulling up on the couch is no longer a strenuous process & he can easily get up on most of our furniture. He'll stand there for quite a while, playing with the remote controls or the phone. He hasn't quite grasped the idea of moving his feet so he can cruise, so when he wants something out of reach on the couch, he'll pull himself with his arms, ending up stretched out diagonally, with his feet in the same place he started. He falls over a few times a day, incurring only minor bumps & bruises so far.

Anything that he can get his hands on becomes a toy. He loves going into the kitchen & playing with the broom or dustpan. My Birkenstocks are a constant source of amusement for him, as is my hat or any cords or cables he can grab. He endlessly harasses the cat, picking up handfuls of skin & fur or attempting to reel the poor beast in by the tail. I imagine most cats would retaliate, but poor 19-year-old Stimpy is committed to his pacifist ways. He always has been very gentle with everyone, including babies who don't know any better than to poke his eyes or try to pull off his ears. Another favourite 'toy' is the bathtub plug. Baths are quite short these days, because he keeps pulling the plug, then playing with the drain. He'll put toys in it; yesterday he tried to stuff his toothbrush down there.

With all this new mobility comes much more dirt. Sprout is getting himself dusty & dirty every day now, requiring much more wiping & bathing than he used to. He's still a fairly tidy eater--though when he gets soba noodles stuck to his fingers, the best way to get them off seems to be to throw them on the floor--& doesn't get much food in his hair or on his clothes. Ears & eyebrows are fair game though.

Counting Pennies

Living on a fairly limited income as we are at the moment, I'm always trying to think of ways to save money. My efforts tend to fall into these categories: deals, reducing, making things myself & reusing.

I'm always on the lookout for deals on things we need. I've signed up for tons of deal websites that sell things at deep discounts, like Baby Half Off, Baby Steals, Stitch Steals, etc. I've also joined a couple of group buying voucher sites: Groupon & Social Shopper. We also make good use of the Green Zebra coupon book--it's got tons of great coupons for grocery stores around here, children's stores & there's also the $50 usage credit for Modo. When I do buy clothes for Sprout, I try to buy used at stores like Wee Ones Reruns, which is conveniently located around the corner from our house.

Sometimes it's not a sale that makes something cheap, but an 'off-label' use, like the wood stove pellets we use for kitty litter. $6 for a 40-pound bag! Made from sawdust that would be a waste product in mills, they're flushable too.

Reducing is all about trying to ask myself, "Do we really need this right now?" before I buy anything. Avoiding unnecessary purchases & putting things off until later is a way to save money sometimes. I also try to get things that will have multiple uses. For example, rather than buying a change table for Sprout, we just bought a low, wide dresser that we could put a change pad on top of. When Sprout's out of diapers, we won't have a useless piece of furniture to get rid of. Cutting out unnecessary purchases like shampoo, conditioner & cleaning products, replacing them with cheap (& green!) alternatives like baking soda or vinegar. We try to walk, bike or use transit (I've got a U-Pass, so it's already paid for) as much as possible, rather than Modo vehicles.

Reusing has many facets for me. A lot of Sprout's clothes, particularly his sleepers, are hand-me-downs from his cousins. Using cloth diapers is reusing & will save us money in the long run. My latest repurposing project is a lingerie laundry bag now used for storing & drying bath toys. (see photo) The suction hooks to hang the toys are also something I had lying around. When I sew, I try to use fabric or clothing that I already have.

I've always loved to make things from the time I could hold a crayon. Sewing, besides being a hobby that I love, is a way to save money too. I made my own ring sling & baby wrap carrier, quite a few clothes for Sprout, sheets & blankets, wipes, bibs, curtains for our bedroom, clothes for myself & many birthday gifts. Recently we made a 'guillotine' style baby gate (at the suggestion of Kirsten) to keep Sprout out of the cat litter. Materials consisted of some cove molding & plywood, plus a length of webbing for a handle, all of which we had on hand.

How do you save money? Do you have any interesting tactics to share?

Mail!

There's nothing like opening up the mailbox to find a package has arrived.
Honestly, one of the reasons I order things online is for the thrill of receiving packets in the mail.

The pen refills that I ordered on eBay finally arrived this morning. I assume that the Canada Post lockout delayed them a bit, but for what I saved--about a dollar each refill!--it was worth the wait.

I love the packaging: it seems so old fashioned to use an envelope with string & button closure. The stamps are quite lovely, too, don't you think?

Wordless Wednesday

Sorting recyclables for SPUD

Linnaeus 11.1

This has been a big week for Sprout: just days after starting to cross-crawl he's now pulling himself up to stand. His technique:

1. Get on hands & knees facing the couch.
2. Grab the couch & pull into kneeling position.
3. Keeping feet in the same place, straighten legs completely.
4. Shuffle feet forward so that body is not at a 45-degree angle to the floor.

At step three, he kind of looks like he's doing push ups. Eventually, after standing there for a few minutes, he'll get tired & start fussing because he can't figure out how to get down. The same applies if he manages to pull himself up when in his crib. Though if he's reluctant to sleep, he mostly just crawls around, with intermittent flops onto his belly. Last night he fell asleep across the crib, head against one side, legs frogged up & feet against the other. Not sure when it happened, but he's started sleeping on his belly every night.

Also on the mobility front, Sprout has figured out how to get up two stairs or clamber over large obstacles like a big bag or Papa lying on the floor. He really delights in crawling around on our bed in the mornings, threatening to jump off the sides.

Tooth #7 finally broke through after a couple of months teething hiatus. I imagine he'll get the other side's lower incisor soon, as it's a bit swollen as well. These two seem to be bothering him more than the other bottom teeth did & he's been chomping on everything, including my collarbone when I'm holding him.

This week's favourite toy is a three-way tie between the TV remote, the DVD remote & the phone. He's currently trying to make some calls right now. A few minutes ago he dialled '8888' & it started ringing before Papa disconnected him. Things with lights & buttons & beeping noises really attract him. I have to admit, though the phone isn't an ideal toy for him, the sounds it makes are a lot less annoying than most children's toys.

Wordless Wednesday

Linnaeus 11.0

Sprouty hit eleven months on Sunday & I've been too busy to post his latest update!

This week has been pretty exciting. In between Mama's performances at Summer Live, Sprouty figured out how to cross-crawl. So now he can make his way across a room in seconds, rather than minutes. (Though if he really wants to move fast, he'll drop to his belly & spiderman where he wants to go.) He showed off his skills at his best friend Aiden's first birthday party & I caught him on video.

He continues to pull himself up on the edge of the couch, but hasn't figured out how to get past a kneeling position. He seems fairly uninterested in standing whenever I try to put him down on his feet: when I lower him near the floor/ground, he'll often stick his legs straight out, parallel to the ground, as if he's preparing to sit. Sometimes I wonder if he'll be walking by 18 months.

We introduced wheat & eggs a few days before Aiden's big birthday, so Sprout was able to eat birthday cake. He's also had cookies, crackers, cheddar bunnies & a few different kinds of bread. He loves the dense rye bread we get from SPUD, but was fairly unimpressed by a white hot dog bun. He also tried some empanada today. Well, tried isn't that accurate. He ate half of mine & half of Aiden's mama's. Heh. This kid looooves his carbs: potatoes, any type of bread, banana, rice, quinoa.

Another eating milestone Sprout is hovering at is self-spoon-feeding. If we give him something like yogurt or applesauce or oatmeal, we'll load up a spoonful, then hand it to him. This past week I tried letting him go at a small quantity of cereal on his own. He seemed to get it a few times, but not consistently. He was wearing more than he usually does after we do the preloaded spoons, so I haven't tried it again due to lack of time for the mopping up process required. I want to give him the chance to practise at least a few times a week though, & I think he'll probably get better soon.

At the baby group today I weighed Sprout, to find he's 20 pounds 7 ounces. This puts him at the 45th percentile for weight. He's maintained that pattern for a while now, having jumped up from the 20th percentile a couple of months ago. I am expecting his weight to plateau soon due to how much more he's moving, but for now I'm enjoying the chubby belly he's grown.

Announcing...

I am the new Central Contributor for Vancouver Mom! It's an online magazine for us urban mommy types. Check it out! You'll find interesting articles about what's happening in Metro Vancouver, lots of resources like a stroller buying guide, tips on exercise with wee ones, links to blogs, etc, etc...

I'll be writing about an article a week for the next six months, which means I may slow down a bit on this blog. My focus will be what's going on in the Main/Cambie Street area: new shops, interesting eats, events. I'll definitely post links to my articles here. :)

If you have any ideas for what you'd like to see me write about, or tips on something that's going on in this area, please let me know!

Sprout visits Mama at work

Performing as the green fairy for Vancouver's 125th birthday celebrations in Stanley Park.

Stroller kids

Lately I've been noticing children (not babies or toddlers) in strollers a lot lately. Other writers have been noticing too--Zosia Bielski in the Globe & Mail, Margaret Hartmann at Jezebel, to name just a couple--likely because of Too Big For Stroller*, a blog that makes fun of stroller-riding big kids & their parents. (Here's a Salon interview of the blogger) Probably I notice because I'm always checking out other people's strollers & how well or poorly they work. But mostly it's just because these kids are big. Big, like 60 pounds big. Some of them look like they're well old enough to be in elementary school. I'm willing to give some of them the benefit of the doubt, maybe they're just big for their age. However, they can't all be.

Before I really get going, I'd like to say that I'm not writing this to judge parents. I'm coming at this from the perspective of a parent who knows she'll be facing this question herself in a few years. I'm also just really curious about why bigger kids are in strollers these days, compared to in the past. Is it that strollers are getting sturdier & more able to accommodate older kids? I know ours has a weight limit of 50 pounds. Even if your child is at the 95th percentile for weight, s/he's going to be five years old before s/he hits 50 pounds!** The average kid is about 50 pounds at the age of seven.** Maybe since parents often pay $500-1000 for one, they want to get their money's worth out of it. Or is it that children are somehow becoming less able to walk due to more sedentary lifestyles? Is it that parents are trying to cover too many miles on outings? Or is it about safety? Perhaps parents want their children contained, rather than running around in busy public places? (though most of the big kids I see in strollers are not actually strapped in & were old enough to easily undo the harnesses & escape, anyway)

One of the commenters on the Salon interview points out that "people think it's somehow "immoral" to not expend energy. Sitting when you could be walking is viewed as a sign of poor character." She also criticizes the writer of Too Big for Stroller, saying that she "has no idea which kids are able-bodied and healthy. Some may have invisible disabilities or illnesses." Whatever the reasons these kids are in strollers (& I seriously doubt any significant percentage are disabled or ill), what I worry about is the future health of this generation of kids. If they're riding around in strollers a lot of the time (which seems unlikely, but I have no way of knowing) that doesn't bode well for their future activity level. Isn't this just setting them up for a life of riding motorized vehicles instead of cycling (or kayaking or other human-powered travel), watching sports rather than playing & just a lot more sitting? It has nothing to do with laziness or work ethic, I'm just concerned that this may be one more reason children will grow up to be much less healthy than their parents: a generation already suffering from ridiculous rates of obesity (in North America, anyway) & related health problems.

So, my dear readers, I ask you: have you noticed this trend when you're out & about? If you have older children, when did they stop riding in the stroller? Do you have memories of riding in a stroller as a small or not-so-small child? Why do you think kids are staying in strollers longer?

*Sadly, I can't access the blog: Firefox tells me it's a server error. Could you see it? Or maybe it's been taken down...
**According to these growth charts.

At the beach

Happy little sand monster

One reason I love Facebook: I noticed a friend posted as his status update that he was going to English Bay with his daughter & her friends. I wasn't necessarily thinking of going to the beach, as I'm not really a beach bum. But I thought, hey, it's a short bike ride mostly along seawall. Let's go! So we packed up Sprout, slathered ourselves with sunscreen & away we went.

The seawall was really busy, but thankfully pedestrians were staying on their side, so we didn't have to slow down to crawling pace & weave around them (like the part near Granville Island where it's not separated).It was a lovely ride in perfect summer weather--no need for a jacket, but not too hot.

Sprout loved the beach. He tasted his first sand & got himself very dirty playing in it. He had sand everywhere: on his face, in his shirt, his sandals, his diaper, even in the brim of his hat! I put so much sunblock on him that he didn't get burned anywhere, however, I think the sunblock helped the sand & dust stick to him. As did the melon juice from his snack. After a seriously messy dinner to add to the grime, he earned his bath tonight!

Here's a video of Sprout playing in the sand. I think a sandbox may be in our future...

Linnaeus 10.3

New foods this week: beet greens, sauteed in garlic; Plain pinto beans (Sprout's a big fan of beans in general); buckwheat pancakes with a tiny bit of maple syrup; chopped dried apricots; raw red onion--he liked this but spat out lettuce. Weird baby. His latest new skill is making a clicking sound with his tongue. He does it at every meal these days, but tends not to when he isn't eating. Sprout has started to try to feed us things a lot lately. He fed me most of his asparagus at dinner a few nights ago. He also likes to try to brush our teeth with his gum massager thingie. He's actually kind of obsessed with my teeth & sticks his fingers in my mouth whenever he's breastfeeding.

His favourite toy this week is Papa's glasses. Whenever the specs are within range, he yanks them off Papa's face & covers them in finger smears & drool.

Sprout is getting faster & can 'swim' (lop-sided commando crawl) across the room toward the hall where the cat litter box is in seconds. I got ambitious a couple of days ago & built my own simple 'guillotine style' gate between the living room & the kitty litter. Next step is either baby-proofing or moving the liquor cabinet. Sprout seems intent on getting in there & bangs on the glass doors constantly. He has hurt himself several times in the past week or two, getting small bruises on his head when he falls over backward & three--count 'em, three--fat lips from tipping over onto his face on the hardwood. No wonder the poor thing stays on his belly to move around: when he gets on hands & knees, his big head makes him tip over!

He has gotten pretty good at going from his belly, to all fours, to sitting. I keep finding him on hands & knees in his crib in the mornings or when he occasionally fights going to sleep at night. He occasionally makes attempts to pull himself up on furniture, but I think it's going to be quite a while before he's walking.