knitting buddy

I've gotten quite far with my sweater.  Last night I finished up to the point where I needed to separate the stitches for the sleeves.  But, I decided that it was too late and I may be too tired and would make a mistake.  So, I didn't. 

Every night I sit on the floor and finish a few rows.  My sweet dog sits with me and keeps me company.  I love him so much and I can't believe he'll be 2 years old on Thursday!  Happy Birthday to my baby boy!

yesterday

It's been one of those weeks.  I feel so tired and full of things in my head.

First, my birthday was last Wednesday.  I knew it was going to be a full day and Jonathan asked me if I wanted him to take a day off.  Yes, yes, please take the day off.   It was the first day of co-op and the first knitting class I was teaching.  Twelve kids waiting for me to teach them how to knit.  The enormity of it made me nervous.  Amelia told me over and over that I knew enough to teach these kids the basics of knitting but I thought about someone asking me some tough question about yarn and my knees started shaking.

It all went very well thankfully.  And the the kids got to see friends and I got to see friends.

When I got home from soccer practice that evening, they had made me lentil soup for dinner and cheesecake.  As birthdays go, it was perfect.

Then they pulled out this!

Life is good.  I never thought I would have one of these and I love it.  I've balled up all of my yarn in the stash and it looks so pretty and I feel inspired.

The next day I went to lunch with my mom and aunt and right when we were paying, Eli hit his lip on the back of a chair and split his lip up.  You know the first thing that came to my mind was, I just really didn't want to do this today.  I really wanted to rewind time just a few minutes and start fresh.

We spent the next 3 hours at the hospital waiting for the doctor to see us.  Eli asked a lot of questions while we were waiting of course.  He wanted to know what all the monitors were for and what the signs said.  "That one says no cell phones or food in the room".  Thank goodness I brought my knitting.  I asked Eli, "Can I do a row or two while we wait?"

"Sure, mom, there's not a 'no knitting' sign in here."  I love little kid humor.

After much foot rubbing and convincing Eli that if he didn't jump around while the doctor was stitching him up, it would be over much (much) quicker.  I even resorted to bribing with Legos.  Finally it was over and I was really exhausted.

But, that was so yesterday.  Moving on.

I'm going to clean up the flower bed in the front yard today.  I'm planning on putting in a bunch of herbs.

Then, I'm going to take a nap.

sweater

 I got this yarn about two years ago when a friend and I were starting sweaters.  She moved shortly thereafter and I ended up frogging the whole thing because my gauge was way off.  This poor yarn has been just sitting around for a while.

I got a different pattern on Ravelry for a sweater, this time it's a top down raglan.

I started it two times, the second time I got in about 40 rows and saw this huge gaping hole where I dropped a stitch.  Ugg.  I tried to fix it but I guess I needed some help and in my frustration, I frogged it all again. 

I'm in about 20 rows in now.  It's looking pretty good and I'm kind of glad I started again because this time I really have the cables down.  Now, I just need to keep going and finish this!  I'm determined.  And I decided if I make a mistake, I'm either going to just leave it if it's a small mess up or get help from a friend before I pull it all out again!

snapshots

I saw these yummy chocolate almond butter balls over at Lisa's and I had to try them because they looked fun to make.  They are.  I was surprised that putting all these ingredients together (honey, almond butter, cocoa powder, raisins and dried blueberries) would make such a doughy consistency.  Next time I'd like to try peanut butter because what I was really hoping for here was a peanut butter cup in a ball sort of thing.  The coconut makes this nice crunch on the outside.

Usually, I start a project and one of my kids will migrate over to the kitchen and finish it up for me. 

I was talking to someone yesterday and she was concerned that her son didn't really like sports or getting outside much.  What just came to me was that kids really mimic us.  No, it really didn't just come to me because I think about that all the time.  It's just I didn't know what to say to her yesterday when she asked me what I would do.  I don't have a lot of trouble wanting my kids to like something.  I guess because what I want them to like, I like also.  If we love sports or being outside, our kids will hopefully like doing those things too.  We can't really expect them to enjoy a bunch of  steamed kale, for instance, if we're aren't truly loving the kale ourselves.  But, kids throw us curve balls sometimes.

What I know for sure is that my kids love being in the kitchen.  I think we can all say that about our kids right?



We also like reading here.

While we were in the kitchen, where was my daughter?  Reading.  She can get so into her book that she can block out everything around her which I think is a nice gift to have.

 
As we were rolling the nut butter balls Eli came into the kitchen asking for string.  It's kept in the "junk" drawer in the kitchen for just these kinds of requests.  Although I don't really hang around playing with string...oh, yeah, I guess I do.  Duh! 

These kids are total sponges but they also have their own personalities that aren't a reflection of us.

(I intended initially to document these snapshots in my day homeschooling but got sidetracked.  I'm going to try this again and hopefully have a bunch of them lined up in a month or so to see if there's a pattern.)

quality time with the kids

So, I have something in my bag of tricks I use for emergences.  I'm not talking about a true emergency but sometimes my small ones can perceive an unkind word from a sibling or a skinned knee as such.  I get it.

I couldn't think of anything better in these types of situations than a good, old-fashioned foot rub.

A while back when my kids were little I loved breastfeeding.  If they were upset or tired or hurt I  could put them on my breast and the the troubles of the world would melt away.  It was my savior most days.  Then when my last one decided to wean himself, I felt like my mama magic was gone.

My kids ask for a foot massages now and sometimes, when life is just too much, I bring them to a sunny, quiet spot in the house and rub their feet while we talk through the problem.  Or sometimes I rub their feet, and legs and knees while they cry.

Usually, I like to be fair and rub everyone's feet.  Sometimes, it's just a special thing for one of them.  Sometimes it's before bed or after a long day.  Sometimes it's mama that's lucky enough to get a foot massage too. 

The other day, Eli asked for a foot massage not because there was anything particularly wrong but because he's come to like that connection between us.  I like it too.  It grounds me and makes me present. It also made me realize the other day that by asking me to rub his feet (and legs and knees!) that he is learning how to cope with life's stresses in a healthy way and in turn filling up his own bag of tricks. I love that.

I would love to hear what you have in your bag of tricks to sooth your kids when they're upset.