Stroll to the library

Oh the weather is gorgeous here! Finally the sun is shining and the temperature is warm...almost too warm, but not quite. This means that our entire family has been spending as much time as possible outside enjoying the sunshine and soaking up lots of vitamin D.

Brian has been hard at work around the yard. He has been planting flowers he's purchased as well as some that he has grown from seeds. Under his care, many of them have sprouted wonderfully, giving our lawn a beautiful array of greens and color. He hasn't tried his hand to much as vegetables yet, but once we've turned over some more area in the backyard, he might start some. He has even surprised himself with his green thumb.

Tam and I tend to play in the yard rather than garden. Additionally, we both like going for walks around the blocks near our house. Sometimes he rides in his wagon, sometimes he pushes it, and sometimes he just holds my hand or finger. These are great times for me to point out all the different trees and insects we see. Tam likes to point out all the cars he sees to make sure I notice them too and not just the vegetation.

This past weekend, we walked up the street to one of the branches of our city's library. This is a smallish building and it tends to keep odd hours, so we had never visited before.

From the moment we entered through the doors, I was reminded of all the time I spent at my home-town library as a child. I was struck with the memories of seeing all the stacks of books...all the potential stories to read...of my love for reading that was fostered at a young age. I clearly remember walking up the huge stone steps to my town's library on a weekly? basis. Then, once inside, we had to go back down a rickety staircase to the basement, which was where the children's books were kept. I remember pulling books of the shelves to take home, choosing books with interesting covers or beautiful artwork. And, I remember my mom limiting the number of books to 10! We had gatherings at the library for story hours and crafts times as well. Oh, and journeying to the restroom was an adventure in itself, since the potty was on the other side of the boiler room (past all the creepy pipes and furnace) in the basement too. My over-active imagination thought of all kinds of creatures that lurked out there in the gloom waiting for me...I usually ran to and from the restroom so I wouldn't get caught. Eventually, my reading skills allowed me to move from the children picture books to the teen books, and then upstairs to the adult books.

As I walked through the stacks at this local library, I again remembered what I loved most about a library. Each of these books contained a story that I hadn't read yet...but could read eventually...for free...whenever I wanted. With this in mind, I immediately set about getting a library card to this little bound-paper heaven.

Tam also loves books currently. We keep his books in baskets throughout the house and I rotate them for interests. He loves looking at them, especially to find the trucks (imagine that). At this library, they had a descent size selection for kids, and entire rack of board books for the wee ones. We found a great little truck book for Tam. I was amazed as we read it together of all the pictures Tam recognized. I would ask him to find the cat, the dog, the birds, the trees...and he could point to them all on the first try. With repeated testing, this was not a random occurrence for him and I had NOT pointed out these objectives previously when looking at the book. Good job kiddo with learning about the world around you!

I too found a book to read this week as well :-) I can't wait to finish it and head back to the library to select another.

Pretend play

I just started noticing that Tam's beginning to attempt "pretend" play. He not only moves his trucks back in forth in front of him, but pushes them across the carpet and across me or Brian. Yes...he is still totally enamored with trucks and cars.

He is also fascinated by our cat. Magellan tolerates Tam pretty well. He even lets him pet him if he gets cornered. And we have never had an issue with the cat swatting/hissing/biting our little dude. Most times if the cat is annoyed, he runs away 'cause he is still a bit quicker and more agile than Tam.

The other night, Tam was eating Cheerios with a spoon as post-dinner snack. Since it was just Cheerios, he was eating them from a bowl in my hands while we sat in the family room. "Mmmm" was Tam's cry of delight. Then, like the second act in a play, THE CAT entered the room. "Ca" cried Tam. (He hasn't mastered the end of the word yet). His voice also gets very high in pitch when he is excited by seeing the cat. Our cat ignores the kid and proceeds to lay on the couch with Brian.

Tam promptly runs over to the cat to pet him "gently." Then, to our surprise, Tam runs back to the bowl of cheerios and runs back to the cat with the spoon. Back and forth he runs, from bowl to cat...He was trying to feed the kitty :-) "Mmmm" he would cry with giggles. Brian and I couldn't help but praise Tam for being so nice and praise our cat for being so tolerant. Ahh...so cute. I can't wait until Tam's a bit older and I can make him a pretend kitchen/food so he can pretend to cook and feed us too.

Finally time for craft projects

With the end of the school year finally here, my time spent grading papers has been greatly reduced. This means I spending my few hours in the evenings on craft projects!

With a score of .50 cent onesies at a yard-sale, I've done a handful of freezer paper stenciling to give them some excitement. I couldn't help myself, but a red one has a Star Trek logo on the front and the statement "Not on Away Team" on the back. Snicker.

I finished off a project for my Aunt Rosilyn's upcoming birthday. Here is Tamlin modeling the fabric. However, I really think he is checking it out to see if it has any trucks on it. (It doesn't).

Made fabric flowers for my mom for mother's day. Pulled fabric from my stash to eventually make a bunch for myself to put on our currently bare mantel.

Re-purposed a pair of Brian's old jeans into a back-pack/bag for Tam.

I bought some fabric to coordinate with some in my stash to whip up some bibs for friends' and family's kiddos.

Started working on projects for the mothers. *If you two are reading this, be prepared for something with fabric that most likely will have trucks on it since Tam had input on them.*

Have a plan to make a car-mat for Tam and his trucks for his upcoming birthday...I may need all 6 months to finish it.

Glad to have the ol' sewing machine out and working...and very grateful for inheriting lots of notions from my relatives...and lovin' all the helpful tutorials/blogs on the internet for inspiration!

Painting a birthday gift

Tam isn't too interested in art yet. He only makes a few scribbles with the crayons before he tries to eat them. So, to broaden his horizons, I let him have a go at finger painting again. This is just a bit of food coloring in foam soap, so it is really easy to clean off of him.

Beautiful.

I, of course, will treasure this abstract artwork forever :-)

Wordless Wednesday - Latest Trick

Tam has grown enough / gained enough upper body strength to pull himself up onto the chairs from the floor, and then stand up on them.

Say goodbye to leaving my craft crap out on the kitchen table.

Sigh. We'll have to re-baby proof the house.

Swim lessons

About 3 months ago, once it started "warming" up around here, I re-visited the idea of having Tam take swim lessons. I distinctly remember swimming lessons when I was small and recall enjoying them. I *heart* water and swimming. . . might be from growing up a stone's throw from lake Erie and constantly being down on the beach with the family. My mom reminds me that her and Dad thought it was extremely important to learn how to swim and survive aqueous environments.

With this in mind, I researched our local pools, gyms, and the YMCA for lesson times and prices. Surprisingly for me, the YMCA was NOT the best deal. Instead, a gym down the road had 5 lessons for $50. However, it wasn't only the price as a factor for us, but the time of the lesson. Apparently, Tam's outside the norm in that he eats dinner (with us) around 5:30-6:00 and is in bed 'tween 7:00 / 7:30pm. I found this out because many of the time slots for toddler swim classes were 6 to 7 at night! Yeah, that's a good idea... let's rev 'em up in the pool with the hope that they will fall exhausted into bed too late. Luckily, a Saturday class 'round 9:30 fit our schedule best, and meant that I would be accompanying Tam to class and not Brian. This was okay because Brian is NOT a water person (not enough body fat to float or stay warm).

Class One: Our first class was in late March. My first impression of the gym was positive and everyone there was really friendly and nice. Tam, the flirt, loved running around the women's locker showing everyone his toy truck. Once our swimsuits were donned, we headed into

the pool area. To Tam, I talked up the class, how fun it will be, how the pool is like a big bathtub, etc. Tamlin was nervous, but fine. . . until we got IN the water. Then, HUGE wails and tons of tears emerged from the wee one.

Sigh.

I didn't know to over-comfort him or tell him to buck-up or just let him cry it out. I opted for alternating between all of these. Luckily, our instructor, our young man from a rival college, was sympathetic and encouraging to me as well as Tamlin. The tears didn't shake him the instructor at all; he must have heard it all before.

The entire class is similar to a dog training class. We are to give our little ones verbal cues while showing them what action to do. Then, if any action is attempted by them, we praise them like crazy. Mostly, the babes are learning to kick their feet, scoop their hands, reach for the wall, climb up the wall, jump into the pool from the wall, blow bubbles while submerged, and float.

25 minutes later, Tam's still crying as we emerge from the pool and towel off. He clung to me like a burr the entire time. However, once dry and warm, he was fine.

Class Two: Repeat of Class one. Wails and tears. Still clinging, but not quite as tightly.

Class Three: Ditto of previous weeks . . . but he has begun to "practice" at home. When he's sprawled on the floor, he's kicking his feet when asked. This lets me know that he's listening

at class, but still hating it.

Class Four: Still wailing entire lesson. Not clinging as tightly and he's attempting kicks and scoops. I had pretty much given up on swimming for now and wasn't going to do another set of lessons once this was done.

Class Five & Last class: My sister visits for the weekend and comes to the lesson to watch from the sidelines. I warn her that Tam is the "crier" in the class and she should be prepared for huge wails the entire time.

Then, magically, Tam doesn't cry when we get into the pool. Tam doesn't cry the entire time. He was actually grinning, laughing, participating, and waving at Shelly. Wow. That needs repeating, Wow. Even our instructor was flabbergasted at the surprising turn-around with him. So whether it was showing off for Auntie Shelly, finally being used to the water, practicing at home that gave him confidence, or that something finally "clicked" for him, Tamlin loved the water now. I immediately signed him up for the next round of lessons to hopefully cultivate this new found enjoyment.

Class Six: Mom is visiting and comes to lessons. I am hoping for a repeat of the previous week, but I was prepared for it to have been a fluke. We are pleasantly surprised that he again loved the lesson. He was doing all the activities with a huge smile on his face. Yeah!

Class Seven: Ditto the previous week :-) However, this time another child is the "crier" and I can tell the mom is beginning to falter under the wails. At the end of the lesson, two of us moms reassure her that our kids were exactly the same and that she should stick it out.

Tam's still practicing his kicks and scoops at home. On his own, he's been trying to blow bubbles in the bathtub! I was shocked that he was actively on his own willing putting his mouth to make the motor-boat sounds. Yeah!

I'm so proud of our wee one :-)