Twinkle Twinkle
Hannah has started singing songs. Today she sang ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’ in its entirety, completely unprompted. She mostly likes to sing to herself, while she’s waiting for something to happen. It’s a good way to pass the time, I think.
While my girl’s off singing, I got to work with some beautiful Chinese brocade. I made a laptop case for Heather. You can check out the finished result here.
All Caught Up
I’ve finally caught up with the current photo backlog. You can see the photos from Hannah’s birthday here. And, I’ve also captured a couple of new images of Her Royal Highness, Dorothy the Cat here.
For those of you who might wonder what took so long, it’s actually not all that easy to post photos. To get a half dozen new snapshots from camera to web page takes at least half an hour. Especially when each one must be appropriately modified so that I look my best for the internet. 
Photo Backlog
I have done some work on the photo backlog. I’m not completely finished, but I do have photos of my latest crafts here. There is one new photo of Hannah here. And I also have photos from Hannah’s birthday party here.
Still to come – photos of Hannah’s birthday, including a trip to the aquarium. And a couple of new snapshots of the world’s most neglected cat, Dorothy.
Missing: One Nap
Um, why did Hannah suddenly decide to stop napping? Hey-presto, right on her 2nd birthday? I knew this was coming, but I was expecting some warning.
I have had to resort to entirely too much screen time for the kiddo, since it’s me or the electronic babysitter, and I. need. a. break. Also, I work from home. I count on that nap. Apparently, though, daycare is unaffected. This is not fair. I am the one who risked life and limb and endured great discomfort to bring her forth into this world. I remind her of this, but Hannah does not care, and her eyes remain open.
The one consolation has been a return of the early bedtime. My non-napper has at least had the decency to sleep well at night (knock wood).
Two Years Old
Hannah is two years old today. Things have changed a lot in the past year. Instead of a crawling baby I have a running, jumping, climbing toddler. Instead of a few grunts and gestures, I have a talking child. Jon and I are learning to watch what we say, because everything is immediately parroted back at us. I have stopped counting achievements in pounds and ounces, teeth, and inches. Instead, I measure progress in songs sung, climbing structures conquered, and detailed concepts understood.
Now that she’s two, I really see Hannah’s personality emerging. Who is this person, this child, my daughter? She is fearless. She is rough-and-tumble. She loves party dresses and pink and pigtails. She loves to run and hide, a deadly combination when we’re out and about. She’s forceful, and can be a tad pushy and aggressive with other kids. She loves to dance and read books and play with blocks and watch the Wiggles. She screams a lot, but calms quickly most of the time. She talks about her friends and her grandparents, and loves to see them. She clings to me a lot, and takes a while to warm up to strangers.
What will the next year bring? More surprises than I can count, I’m sure. I’m eager to see what they will be.
PS – I know that you all want to see pictures, and they will come soon, but tonight I’m going to celebrate with my husband. We all survived this far, and that’s an accomplishment, let me tell you.
Craft Store Blues
As I understand it, people used to make their own clothes and household items to save money. Knitting a sweater, making a toy, or sewing a dress were all frugal options that stretched your hard-earned dollar. As any modern crafter can tell you, though, this is no longer the case.
I recently started knitting. I bought some yarn to make Hannah a sweater. I chose a cheaper option from a nice yarn shop, at $9.00 for a 100g skein. After taxes, Hannah’s sweater cost me $40.00, not including the needles I had to buy in the correct size. $40.00 could buy me a really nice sweater brand new from a children’s boutique. And, it would come pre-assembled.
Last year, I sewed a dress and hat for Hannah. 2 meters of fabric, some interfacing, ribbon and elastic ran me $25.00. The pattern I used was another $5.00. Again, I could buy a nice new dress and hat for that in a store. On consignment, I could get something equally nice for less than half that price.
I think there are a couple of factors at work here. Discount stores and cheap offshore manufacturing have driven down the price of goods. And, declining interest in handicrafts has pushed sewing and knitting into the realm of the hobbyist. Anyone can tell you that pursing hobbies isn’t cheap. Think of golf, fishing, or travelling. Ka-ching.
So, we are left with a dilemma. Does it really make sense to do your own crafting? I think the answer is yes, as long as you enjoy the process. If you don’t, any trip to the mall will be much cheaper and easier. If you do, the satisfaction that comes with conceiving of a project and creating it all by yourself is worth any extra expense (no matter what your husband thinks ).
Symbols
Tomorrow is Hannah’s birthday party. This evening I baked her birthday cake. It’s a two-layer golden cake, nothing fancy. However, as I attempted to remove the first layer from its pan it crumbled into little pieces.
To fully understand the magnitude of this calamity, you must understand what that cake symbolizes. That cake symbolizes 2 years of lost sleep, self sacrifice, and worry. That cake symbolizes an emergency surgery and blood transfusion for me, and 6 very long days in the special care nursery for my tiny baby. That cake symbolizes a long and difficult struggle to breastfeed my child. That cake symbolizes all of the blood, sweat, and tears that I have spilled over my daughter, both literally and figuratively. And it fell apart.
So, for those of you who will be at the birthday party tomorrow, I expect you to eat crumbly cake with a smile on your face. I expect you to exclaim over how good this cake is, no matter its shape. Because it’s much more than just a cake. Thank you in advance for your understanding and co-operation, because any sideways glances and I just may burst into tears. Or hold you down and force feed you crumbly cake.
Speaking of the birthday girl, you can see the latest photos of her exploits here.
The Big Kid
Today Hannah and I were at La Leche League, and there were a bunch of new moms. It was great. As I was listening to them, though, it became apparent – Hannah is one of the big kids now. She’s the hopeful example that your baby, too, will one day be able to walk and talk and play.
Leaving me more time to get crafty.
Pretty
I have a little girl who is almost 2 years old. Like most children her age, she is pretty cute. She has the added benefit of being quite small, which adds to the effect. In my experience, nothing is cuter than a very small person wearing very small clothes and imitating adults. So, my kid in her tiny red boots pushing a doll stroller through a mall rates very high on the cuteness scale.
Because of the overall attractiveness of a very little girl, we get a lot of comments from strangers. So many people come up and tell Hannah, “You’re so cute!” Or, “Look at your pretty clothes!” Most of the comments are about her appearance. At this point, listening to Hannah speak, it’s clear that she believes that ‘pretty’ = ‘good’. And, it’s no surprise, given the steady stream of compliments from well-meaning adults.
I am disturbed by this. I am disturbed that she wants her ‘pretty shoes’, her ‘pretty clothes’, her ‘pretty dress’ all the time. I inwardly cringe anytime that I hear anyone use the word ‘pretty’ with Hannah. I did it myself in the early days, but now I see all too clearly what the results are, so I am careful to describe items by colour, texture, and so forth. ‘Pretty’ is a highly subjective term, and a standard that proves eternally elusive to girls and women. Not to mention that it is totally based on appearance, and not on any really useful metric.
I have no problem with Hannah’s love of fancy clothes or shiny shoes. I like some of those things myself. I acknowledge that it’s impossible to relate to our children with complete gender neutrality. But, still, I try to avoid gender-specific messaging as much as possible. I don’t want to trap my bright-eyed and exuberant girl into some role that is defined by society. I don’t want to limit her by notions of what is ‘pretty’, how a ‘good girl’ behaves, or what is ‘ladylike’. I want her to be free to be brave, and kind, and wild when necessary. I want her to understand who she is, and not seek after the approval of others. These are my parenting goals, and I am doing my best. So, I will continue to cringe at the mall.
