favorite things

calvin is rapidly changing from a baby who goes along with life to a toddler with specific ideas and expectations. it is amazing to watch. his vocabulary in the last few weeks has doubled. he has added apple, help, book and hot. he only says them though, when HE wants to.

of course he understands way more than he can say. sam and i love to give him a specific direction to see if he follows it. sam asked him to go get the ball and he did. also when faced with two differently sized blocks, he can also pick up the bigger one. one of my favorite things is to watch him think. it is hard to believe that just a year ago calvin was a helpless, cuddly peanut, who slept the day way.

here are a few of calvin's favorite things:

dirt

apples and blueberries

hummus

(notice that two of them are food...)

i have been busy with school. finals are coming up and i should be studying (now), but i have found some time to create. i am almost done with a quilt for baby leo, then i begin one for baby joey.

another friend of mine just told me she was pregnant on friday, so there is one more quilt to add to the to-do list. this is her second baby... her first was born the same week as calvin! i can't imagine being pregnant again. although on my college friends' blog i seemed to be a favorite to have another wee one soon. seeing all of the brand new tiny ones lately has got me thinking...just thinking.

bakin' and bacon

i am on a constant quest to make a delicious, yet healthy snack that is good to eat on the go and also easy to make. someone at work introduced me to these babies. they are made from Country Choice organic whole grain cereal (i found it at trader joe's). the recipe is on the back. they are low in sugar, but still taste yummy. i used whole wheat flour and added some flax to pack in more nutrition. there is a topping that i did not include when i made them, but my friend at work topped hers and wow! it was good. calvin LOVES these muffins. so i'm sure i will be making them weekly.

speaking of trader joe's... have you tried their turkey bacon? delicious! it is thick, but still crisps up when cooked. we love it around here.

two quilts done

it feels like everyone i know is having a baby. i am in a serious quilt jam. i finished two quilts recently though. one for baby ava (who is nine weeks old tomorrow) and one for baby jack, who is almost three weeks old.




but in the meantime, my other friend ari became a mom yesterday! i am so excited for her and little joseph.

also i have been super inspired by these. i want to make a series of small quilts for calvin's room. he doesn't have anything above his crib on the wall because i have been super paranoid about anything heavy that could fall on him, so a small lightweight quilt might be just perfect.

i went to the brooklyn flea last sunday with a friend. it was super posh and mostly had new stuff and very cool (expensive) vintage stuff. calvin got a super chic jacket for next winter and i got to meet lotta jansdotter so it was worth the trip.

this next week is spring break for elementary so i have the week off of teaching but i still have class at TC. i have big lofty plans for all of the days. you have to think big, right?

spring and other dreams

the air is finally starting to heat up here (by heat i mean 50ish degrees). i do love winter. i love the snow, the chilly crisp air, the warm soups and teas, the sassy jackets. but after a long stretch of gray skies and being inside all the time, spring is a burst of energy and color. on our first day out in months, i watched as calvin explored the 'outside' world. each tiny discovery, a stick, an acorn hat, led to excitement. he started collecting little bits and saving them (he is my son, so of course he collects things).

earlier in the day when it was raining, calvin read a book to his friend, buzzy. he loves to read books. i love watching him seek out reading as an activity and hunt for his favorite books (they happen to be pat the bunny and i love you through and through at the moment).

the kitchen tupperware drawer is also a treasure chest brimming with interesting finds. he loves to take all the bowls and lids out and then put them all back. we have (mostly) switched to glass containers because of the BPA and pthalates, but glass does not make for safe playing... i keep a supply of plastic ones around for calvin to take out of the drawer and put back in.

calvin plays with everyday things and see them as objects of wonder. i hope he never loses that sense of awe in discovery. i feel it everyday as i watch calvin grow and discover the world.

easter and stuff

we had a fun easter here. it included a trip to virginia to see family. we drove during the day(which we don't usually do so that calvin can just sleep the whole way down) because we were trying to arrive there at a decent hour, but this caused up to have to stop for dinner. we were in the middle of nowhere new jersey and decide to get off when the navigation showed a lot of restaurants. all we ended up finding was a denny's. i haven't eaten there since high school, but the food is exactly the same. exactly. even the menus are the same. it was like a time warp.

my sister and i made these little nests that i saw here. they were easy and fun to make, and not to mention delicious. welcome spring! now it just has to heat up... it might snow here tonight?!?! making these nests will be fun when cal is a bit older.

this was calvin's easter basket. all his goodies were in a pail this year with a shovel attached. i am looking forward to lazy summer days, when my master's work is done, and i can sit on the beach and dig in the sand with him.

(easter) bunny

i have successfully finished a stuffed bunny for calvin for easter. i used the free pattern from here. it was a bit frustrating at times but i am happy with the final result. i really like the patterned fabric that i used. at first i ruled it out because it was flowery and calvin is a boy (boys don't like flowery right?!?!) . but then i ruled it back in. i hope that calvin will be a boy who likes flowery. i mean who could not love this wee bunny? i need to work on my embroidery a bit. i want to do more of it. i think this book or maybe this one would help me. there is a great tutorial here that i used to help me with the belly button (calvin loves his belly button and any other ones that he can get to right now so i had to include one on the bunny). i made a french knot so that it would stick out a bit.

i started the tradition last easter of giving calvin an interesting easter basket each year. my friend ari's mom did this for her growing up. last year he got a trashcan (a hip, should i say 'fierce', one for his room). i am excited about this year's basket. i will be sure to post pics. on a side note... can a one year old eat peeps? i thought about getting calvin some, but i wasn't sure.

today is my friend jill's due date. i haven't heard anything yet, so i am assuming she is still prego. i am wishing her luck and an easy delivery (whenever it happens...). i am still working on her quilt so the longer he stays in, the longer i have to work on it. i had just finished calvin's quilt at about midnight the night before i had him and i always wonder if he was waiting for his quilt to be done before he made his debut. i hope jack is not doing the same thing? i better get quilting just in case.

free motion

i was inspired by a quilt i saw on a blog (i can't remember where, i am so bad at remembering, one link leads to another, i get inspired and start making something and then i forget where i was when the inspiring happened) and so i tried free motion quilting and it worked. it was fun to do, but hard to make the stitched even. i tried for awhile, but eventually gave up and decided to live with the unevenness, even like it a little.

this is the long awaited quilt for my friend's baby, who is now 5 weeks old already. all i have left is the hand stitching on the binding. i hope to finish it this weekend, but i am also working on a quilt for another friend who is going to her her baby boy any minute now. i can't wait to get the call (or text, hello this is the 21st century...) that it is time. good luck jill!

i finished calvin's week bunny today for easter. i love how it turned out. i will post pics soon.