Thursday, November 25, 2010

a day of thanks...

thank you for my family, near and far...
  for my wonderful husband, who i am lucky enough to start and end every day with.
  for my amazing little boy.  who takes my breath away.
  for my mom and dad, who encourage me, and support me, even from so far away.
  for my sister...and her family... who i miss more than she could ever know.
  for my brother... who even though we don't speak often, i think of all the time.

thank you for our new home.

thank you for dreams coming true.  even as i type.

thank you for dreams that are still in the making.

thank you for the courage to fulfill those dreams.

thank you for the friends that have become my family away from home.

have a wonderful thanksgiving.  thank you for reading.

please head over to jenny's wonderful site... the southern institute for domestic arts and crafts.  she has so kindly included me (in a group of several other amazing women!) in a special thanksgiving/black friday event.  check it out for some great discounts on beautiful things, made by some very talented artists!

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

thank you liz scott!

i very rarely buy new fabrics.  i just have a hard time doing it.  i use old t-shirts, button downs, pants, curtains... whatever i can get my hands on.  while i love doing this, it sometimes makes my fabric selection... well... quite boring.  you just don't get the same fun prints from a men's dress shirt, that you do from all those new beautiful and fun fabrics out there.

and that's where liz scott comes in.

a few weeks ago, i was searching for some craft room design inspiration.  and in a flickr group, i found some really neat stuff...



Old Hardware Organizer, Turned Notion Organizer
flickr photo, paper pie by liz scott




which led me to some more really neat stuff...

An Inspiring Mess
flickr photo, paper pie by liz scott




which led me to a really neat site...


  which led me to some really neat fabrics at...


and, as luck would have it... she's local!!!  so, i made contact, asked if she had any scraps hanging around, and after quick ride over (and an introduction to a sweet little baby girl... who totally makes me want to start thinking about number 2...) this is what i came home with!

leo then insisted on being in the picture...


i'm so excited to have some new life added to my projects!  soooo many cute fabrics... so many cute colors... and so wonderful to have met liz!  check out her site, and her shops... wonderfluff and paper pie.

thanks, liz!

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

new angles...


the sun hits our living room in such a way at sunset.  

a spectacular way, to be exact.

makes me feel less disappointed about how early the sun sets.

and brought me to see a new angle in the way the seasons are changing.

rather than frowning upon the shortened days... finding the things to savor in the change.

the way the sun bathes our living room in a warm, orange glow...

the time outside, now being replaced with time on the couch reading books with leo...

the moments stolen to knit the sweater for brian that i've been working on for... three years now?  all while leo is playing on the floor with his toys...

the visits from family and friends that are approaching with the seasons...

the sweet lesson that nature has taught me today.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

tiger, round two...


when asked what he wanted to be for halloween, leo actually said "a tiger".  now, he knows he has the tiger costume (and he wore it last year)... but there was also a dog costume that he was completely aware of.  i had nothing to do with it!

even though it made my heart melt. 

because it was my costume.  that my mom made.  so many years ago.  and i wore it for so many years.  so many, that my mom had to cut the feet off. 

where leo's feet stick out of now. 

sigh.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

still...

sometimes, when we make it out nice and early...

and we get to the park before the sand has even been touched by any other little feet...

and the swings are still...

and it's just the two of us.  and it's so quiet.  and the sun hits in the most gentle ways.

and it's just me and my guy.

it's just...

perfect.


Wednesday, October 20, 2010

being comfortable with uncomfortable...

so... here's another one.  back to back.

i think i opened the flood gates on these posts...


The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers.
- M. Scott Peck

it seems that we're often helping to make the tears stop... helping to solve the problems... helping to quiet the arguments...

in a life with children, it just comes with the territory.

when leo's uncomfortable with a situation, it can in turn make me uncomfortable.  seeing him cry, seeing him struggle, seeing him in a conflict...

but that discomfort is teaching him.  it's helping him form ideas and solutions.  they're just as useful as the times he's joyfully building with blocks... or contently driving his cars along the floor.

being comfortable with his discomfort gives us both a chance to figure out what to do about it.  or if we have to do anything at all.  without struggle, without tears, without conflict... he has no way to learn from it.  this isn't to say that i sit back and watch as he's in an impossible situation.   i can give him the time he needs to figure it out on his own, or with my help.  i can assure him that his feelings won't be quelled.  i can acknowledge what's happening, what he's feeling, and be supportive while he's there.

and that means i have to be comfortable while we're both uncomfortable.

Friday, October 15, 2010

figuring things out...

i feel the need to write about parenting.  i often want to share my thoughts, but even more often, feel unqualified... or that it's not my place.  but i'm going to take the plunge.

part of my desire for wanting to write is because i have a need to explain my own actions.  and that's something that i'm dealing with.  right now, though, that's where i am, so explaining my own actions is what i'm going to do.

another part of my desire is that i want to share what i've learned.  what i've learned as a teacher and what i've learned as a parent.  so much of what i've learned is from being in the classroom... and then SO MUCH MORE of what i've learned is from being a parent.  and it has, in fact, changed what i learned in the classroom.

so, from here on out, i'd like to post about parenting every so often.  and not so much about "parenting"... but about being a mom... and the ways that i experience life with leo.  because we're doing this together.

that said...

first topic:

let's not figure it out...


as parents, we're so inclined to fix things.  that's what we're supposed to do, right?  if leo's hurt, i want to make it better.  if he's uncomfortable, i want to comfort him.  if he's sad, i want to make him happy.

that's natural.  but sometimes, fixing things only takes care of the present issue.  and nothing further.

take, for example, a sharing incident.  someone wants a toy that leo has.  and leo doesn't want to share it.  i can step in, and "help", by telling leo he should share his toys, by finding another toy for the other child to play with, by counting until it's "time to share", etc.   and then the "sharing" happens, essentially.

now, the belief may be that here, leo and the other child learned either to share the toys or that another toy will be provided.

but what else have they learned?  that when he doesn't want to share, he will be forced to.  or his feelings or words don't matter... even if he's sad about this, he has to share what he's playing with.  or that one's child desire to play with a toy is more important than leo's desire to play with it.  or well, he doesn't really need to share, because someone's going to bring another toy around eventually. 

what i like to do is just wait it out.   this might be hard.  really hard.  as long as no one's getting hurt... just wait it out.  it's amazing what kids can figure out themselves.  without us "teaching" them.

today, i heard myself counting to leo when he didn't want to share something that another little girl wanted.  and while i was counting, that little girl was completely content to not have the toy.  she had moved on.  meanwhile, leo was having a meltdown because i was "teaching" him how to share.

moments later, leo wanted something another child had.  and we waited.  he got a little upset.  the other child held her ground.  she saw that he got upset.  he asked again.  she took her time.  and then they traded toys.  they figured it out.  without my help.

it's not lazy parenting.  it's not not parenting.  in fact, sometimes i feel that it's harder not to intervene than it is to intervene.  especially, for me, because i worry too much about what the other parents might think while my child (or theirs!) is getting upset and i'm not doing anything about it.  when, in reality, i AM doing something.  i'm giving my child the opportunity to use his words... to listen to others' words... to express his emotions... to formulate solutions on his own and with the help of his peers...

without me figuring it all out for him.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

two minutes...

my little guy turned two last month.  

TWO.

and when we'd ask him how old he was, he'd say "two minutes."

and that sounds just about right to me.

here he is... at one month old...


and each month (minus a couple here and there)...


and then, just two minutes later...



Wednesday, October 13, 2010

so is life...

we moved.

my computer got wacky.  it was completely full.

completely.

full.

so, i took a little break.

and i've simmered over a bunch of ideas.  i've gotten inspired.  looked at some wonderful websites.  searched for a new couch.  and rugs.  and paint colors.  and still that darn couch.

and now it's time to get back into action.

in the meantime... this is what we've been up to...

 tearing up some carpet to reveal some much needed work...

 making those floors shine! 

 listening to some wonderful music by elizabeth mitchell...

 spending some time in the sprinkler...

 getting a head start on halloween...

 eating some ice cream cake with family back east...

 playing with a pile of manly cars...

 oh, so many cars...

 walking a street fair in nyc...

 that had so many neat things to look at...

 getting dressed up for a wedding...

 starting a compost bin...

 buying some marbles...

 chillin' with the homies...

 visiting the lacma...

 getting over our fear of the water...

 being adorable...

and getting down right dirty.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

a new place...

i'm so excited about this...

after 8 years in our little one bedroom apartment...

we're moving.

we're MOVING!

just a few blocks away, to a perfect little fourplex.  we'll have a yard!  while that's definitely the most exciting part of it, almost equally exciting is we'll have our OWN washer and dryer!  i can do laundry WHENEVER I WANT!  WITHOUT QUARTERS!!!  oh...the excitement is uncontainable! 


my mind is constantly going...what colors will we paint?  how will we set everything up?  who's going to be the first to visit and stay in the second bedroom?  how fast can we make vegetables grow?  how much is leo going to LOVE the backyard?!?!?!  

all of that is completely overshadowing the fact that we have to pack.  and have a garage sale.  in the next couple of weeks.

did i mention the yard???

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

the wee hours...

sometimes i find that i look for things to do in the wee hours of the night.  it's almost as if i have an aversion of going to bed before 1am.  i think it's just that i know it's my quiet time.  the boys are fast asleep, my day is done (there are still dishes in the sink, but hey...the clock says the day is done), and i can do what i want to do.

so here i am...bouncing around to different blogs...looking for a tent...checking out freecycle for the 10th time today...

and it's just so quiet...

Monday, July 26, 2010

preschoolers 101...final post :(


so, the series has come to an end :(  i can't believe it!  the last post is up, and wraps things up with a couple more suggestions.  it was so much fun using the educator part of my brain...and sharing some juicy information!  if you're here visiting from the southern institute, welcome! 

thank you, again, jenny for having me over...and for all the wonderful feedback.  it was such a pleasure!

some new creations...

this first shirt was for a good friend of mine who just finalized the adoption of her beautiful little girl... congratulations!

 these next two some custom orders...


and this one for leo's good friend who was the first of the clan to turn two...leo's next!

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

preschoolers 101...


it's monday!  well, it's actually tuesday...very early in the morning...it was a loooong day.  regardless, that means another round of preschoolers 101 at the southern institute for domestic arts and crafts.  today's topic is what to do after the trying times...visit jenny's wonderful site and see what strategies might work for you!

Sunday, July 18, 2010

a camping trip...


with some moral support, a lot of borrowed equipment, a seasoned camper, and a sense of adventure, this family finally went on their first camping trip.  

it was wonderful.  

my favorite part (other than the s'mores) was the lack of a clock.  we just went on what we needed...physically, mentally, emotionally.  woke up when we woke up.  slept when we were tired.  ate when we were hungry.  there was no questioning of if it was leo's naptime...if he was tired, he fell asleep.  there really wasn't any thought to it.  just being in tune with our bodies and minds...and following along.

we came across some beautiful sites...


 ate some yummy food...


and just enjoyed ourselves...