1.5 plus a bit

Abner hit the 18-month mark at the start of this month. Probably should have posted this back on the actual day, but we just went to the doctor this morning and found out some of the pertinent details needed for this post.

Weight: 25.1 lbs
Length: 81 cm
Hair: curly, blond and getting near to her shoulders (well past if you pull it straight)
Teeth: 16
Words spoken: we've totally lost count...I would ballpark it at 75 or so

Talents: "counting" (she can make it to 10 or 11 by herself), jumping, getting her soo-soo out of the drawer by herself, taking off her own pajamas, putting away groceries, putting recycling in the bins, putting laundry in the bin, and throwing just about anything.

Favorite things: going to daycare, baby doll (aptly named Baby), BoJo the monkey (who she calls BoBo), her cousins, dumping all her blocks on the floor, her orange and pink vest, saying nonononononononononono (you get the idea), looking at herself in pictures, music class, puzzles, playgrounds, brushing her teeth, bathtime, sitting on her potty (but not actually using it for its intended purpose), doing the hokey pokey, making mommy sing whenever we're in the car, pressing the elevator buttons, turning on/off light switches, cheese, books, announcing when people fart by saying "poot", cuddling with anyone but her parents, and occasionally drawing on the chalkboard.

Give(n)away

When there's something to be done, I'm either on it immediately, or it dwells on my conscience and keeps me up at night until I take care of it. Unfortunately, making things for my first giveaway fell into the latter category.

However, I am proud to announce that after many months of procrastinating, the items have all been made and shipped to the super-fantastic winners...except Lisa - I'm bringing yours in-person over the Christmas holidays (now we have to get together at least once!) Oh, and Brenda, if you're still checking the blog, please let me know how I can reach you. And come to think of it, mom, I still have yours sitting on the freezer. I'll bring it over on my next visit. Maybe I should rephrase my earlier sentence...

I am proud to announce that after many months of procrastinating, the items have all been made (yes, this part is true) and two out of five items (that's more accurate) have been shipped to the super-fantastic winners and one of them has been shown to, but not given to the winner!

So what did I make in the end?

For my mom I made this simple little cafe apron out of an IKEA tea towel, some cotton webbing (I think that's what it's called) and a second IKEA tea towel for the pocket. I didn't do any hemming or finishing to the pocket when I sewed it on so three of the edges fray nicely. The fourth edge was a finished edge of the original tea towel so it was already hemmed for me! The embroidery was my first ever attempt and I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.

Alanna had requested something unusual. I think these little gems fit the bill nicely. Ashamed of drinking in public? Afraid the cops are going to bust you for public drinking? Have no fear, the BEER COZY is here! Made of craft felt finished with a blanket stitch, these little cozies fit perfectly over a standard can. Knowing that no one likes to drink alone, I made a matching set for Alanna and her husband Rob to enjoy...which I'm told they are doing already!

That brings us to Marie. I was all out of ideas by this point, so I just sent her rocks. Kidding! I sent her these gorgeous little felt rocks* (well, not all of these, just a few actually). These were also done in craft felt and finished with a blanket stitch (such a handy stitch to know). They are filled with wild rice we had kicking around the house. Their shapes are based on rocks I traced from the beach at Pt. Roberts. I find them very soothing to hold in the palm of my hand. I think they'd be fantastic for meditating with. If I make up any more, I might add some lavender to the mix.

The last two items will remain a secret until Lisa and Brenda have seen the goodies I have waiting for them!

Thank you all so much for participating.

*I got the idea for these from a blog post I read somewhere months ago and have since lost track of. Please let me know if these are your design. I feel like I've ripped someone off!

The joy of cooking

I remember learning to cook at a really young age. My mom and I took part in a "kinder-cooking" class at the school by our house when I was about four years old. I actually still have the mimeographed cookbooks from those classes and I still remember stirring the concoction that would become quiche Lorraine. I also remember dumping that concoction all over the table, but hey, I was only four!

A few weeks ago I decided to introduce Abner to the joys of baking. I got everything prepared and measured out ahead of time (smart idea) and stood her up on a chair next to me at the counter to make my all-time favorite: cheddar dill muffins.

The pictures you see below capture the roughly 30 seconds that Abner was actually in to the whole thing. Once we had the dry ingredients blended, she was done. I only got to teach her half of the muffin method - she missed mixing all the wet ingredients separately and adding them to the dry ingredients! Still so much to learn!

The muffins turned out great in the end. Maybe next time we'll get to those wet ingredients.

Fun at the P-L-A-Y-G-R-O-U-N-D

We spell a lot of things around here these days - it's the only way to talk without Abner figuring out what we're talking about. Even if she hears the P-word, she goes on and on about "paygound" for ages! Here are a few pics from recent stops at some local paygounds.

One scary holiday, two silly costumes

As a raging sugar fan, I absolutely love Halloween. As much as I loved the holiday as a kid, I am now convinced that it is even better as an adult - especially as an adult with a small child who is too young to eat her own candy!

After the cuteness of Abner's first Halloween, I was really looking forward to dressing her up this year. I picked up adorable costume #1 from a colleague at work. It didn't last long, but while she was in it, Abner was a very cute little singing frog.

Apparently after about 10 minutes at daycare, she got tired of wearing it and ripped the thing off - destroying the zipper in the process....which brings us to adorable costume #2...a bee (ha!)

Check out the cutie-pitutie stinger!

We opted to join our neighbours and head to the nearby mall for our first taste of trick-or-treating. Let me tell you, we won't be doing that again. Take the madness of Boxing Day shopping, shrink everyone down to knee level, jack them up on candy and you pretty much have a picture of what it's like to be at the mall on Halloween. Crowded and crazy though it was, it was still a blast. The girls were adorable.

After the mall, I joined up with some other friends for some more traditional trick-or-treating around their neighbourhood. Little Abner got so much loot her bag was overflowing and I had to stuff treats into my pockets and use the sling I'd brought along to carry her in to stash all the bags of potato chips!

And now, here we are two days later and most of the candy is gone. I am already looking forward to next year.