Break Through.

Hello and welcome beautiful, wonderful Friday evening.  I have been waiting eagerly for you to arrive and here you are at last.

My hubby D and I started off the week-end on a good note.  We met at the gym after work and had a good work out. I have recently had a break-through.  I have, up to now, been walking,  as part of my work-out....briskly and with intention...you know, to get the heart rate up.  And then all of a sudden, the other day, I was ready to run.  And so I did.  Now I am having fun with that.  Some days I just run.  Some days I do intervals.  Some days I walk.  I like to switch it up to kind of trick myself.  You see, the truth is that I dislike pain, so to avoid meeting pain head on I add in lots of variety.  My weight lifting is improving too.  And I have been making sure I complete all my sets before starting the next thing.  It's definitely paying off. I am feeling stronger and more disciplined.  

I am looking forward to a couple of things this week-end.

1)  I have $30.00 to spend on books for the infant room.  I love shopping for books.  I will go round to all the thrift stores.  Too bad it's not garage sale season yet.  Oh well, it will be fun to see how many great books I can get with the $30.

2)  The weather man is predicting sunshine!!  After many cloudy, grey days, I am really excited about that.  I will make time for a walk for sure.

3)  It's the Super Bowl this week-end.  I don't ever watch football, but we have friends in Seattle, so we feel obligated to stand in solidarity with them.  Go Hawks!!  Or Broncos...whoever....may the best man, men win!!  We bought chips for the occasion.   You're supposed to eat chips while watching the Super Bowl right?

Happy Week-End everyone!

I'll love you forever.

I was on the iphone having a visit with my daughter's the other day.  It just so happened to be my grand-daughter's birthday week-end.  Her special Aunty was staying out at her sister's for the occasion.  While we were chatting together, I heard my grand-daughter ask her mommy, "Will you bounce me on the ball?"

Her Mama said, "Sure".  And she scooped up that little girl and started bouncing.  And something very special happened.

Her Mama told her about when she was just a tiny baby.  And how, when she cried, her Mama would hold her in her arms and rocked her back and forth and back and forth.

And if she got tired of lying in her arms, she would pick her up and put her on her shoulder.  And bounce, bounce, gently bounce until she stopped crying.

I'll love you forever

I'll like you for always

As long as I'm living

My baby you'll be.

One of those weeks.

It was one of those weeks.  The weather is cold and the sky is grey.  Not that I wish away time, but January can't be done fast enough for me.  I really miss the sun.  It can be cold, it can be snowy, if only the sun would break through the cloud and fog.

The children are sick, well almost all of them are sick.  The staff are sick and tired.   Everyone is working a little harder then the usual hard to cover sick days and staff shortages.

And then came Friday.  Down to seven littles from the usual twelve.  A reprieve.  Calmness in the room.  Time to love and support and spend extra time with each one.

I realized once again the importance of a strong, and compatible staff team.  I love that about the young girls I am currently working with.  We are going in the same direction.  We are taking turns with duties and tasks and supporting each other.  It makes such a difference.  It makes me like going to work.  That and my new half day shifts that I still can't believe I am doing!  I feel the life coming back into my spirit.  Energy returning.

Enjoy your Friday evening. 

The night sky.  Painted by C, soon to be three!

A Home Made Dollhouse.

Have you ever heard of Made By Joel?  He has a blog and a Facebook page.  You can meet him HERE.

He is an artist and designer and a stay at home dad, and he plays guitar and cooks and cleans....yup, he pretty much does it all.  

I think he sounds like a fun and awesome guy!

My daughter likes the children's toys he makes and bought his book recently.

In it he shows a modern style doll-house that she thought might be nice for her daughter.  My sweet, sweet grand-daughter!

So, that's what she got for Christmas.  I love that she got something homemade.  And guess what?  Her fun and awesome, stay at home dad, made it for her.  And, and he had to cut the wood in -20 degree weather!

I hope she gets a lot of years of play out of it.

My daughter had an assortment of doll's furniture from when she was little that she put in the house.  And my grand-daughter has a good collection of Fisher Price dolls and furniture that go perfectly as well.

Simple is beautiful!

Having it open makes it easily accessible from both sides.  Nice on days when a friend or cousin comes to play.

Thanks Joel!  Great idea!

Another great visit.

Papa and I visited, via Iphone, for nearly two hours this morning with our sweet, sweet grand-daughter.  And her Mom and Dad...a little bit.  Our sweet, sweet grand-daughter sort of likes to handle the iphone Herself these days.  And that's okay with us.  It gives her Mom and Dad a teensy, weensy break from active girl.

Maybe because of my age (?) I am still amazed by the fact that we can actually visit this way...we sort of jump right into their home and hear and see what this little girl is thinking about and playing with and imagining and learning.

 You have to understand that as the visit goes on I get snippets of images as she moves through the house.  She flows from one activity to another smoothly but swiftly.  I usually get the jist of what she is saying but she often talks quickly and I don't always have the context.  Some of the images I see seem like art to me and I like that too... hope you enjoy!

Here are is some documentation of today's visit.

We started off playing going to space again.  This time she had the blue dress-up hat and we got the strawberry one.  This image is us, in the iphone, with the red space hat on.  

She uses her fingers to count 1-7, then Blast-off!

We went from playing space ships to the kitchen...to make food.  Noodles again.  Today we felt a little like Hansel and Gretel as we were placed on the door of the oven.  At one point I was given a hotdog.  "Do you want me to feed you Nana?"  And she did, using a spatula....yum, yum.

We played with her dollhouse for a while and she propped us up, IN the dollhouse so I couldn't get any pictures.  I did hear her put in some little dolls.  One was Auntie Nickie and one was Grandpa.  Then I heard her say, "Grandpa is Matt's dad.  She is making family connections, and playing it out with her little dolls.  Cool stuff.

At one point she showed us her red nerf football, which today, was a volleyball.  That you have to dive for, to keep it off the floor.  

Then she wanted to look for treasures.

"Ah, beautiful treasures!

"I can put this on my wrist," she says.

After a while she took a fuel break and enjoyed a smoothy that her Daddy made for her.

A smoothy moustache!

We talked about how her smoothy cup used to be her Mom's, when her mom was a little girl.

Riding in the trunk of her bike.

Covered with a blanket, taking a nap, by myself.

In the car seat, with a seatbelt.  On the way to the school.

Time to say good-bye.

Til next time, little girl!!

Walking with the Littles.

The infant room received a little funding to invest in a triple stroller.  We are loving it!  It has a steering wheel and that makes for easy cruising on the campus where we are located.

Today I took three littles for a walk in the afternoon.  We have been having some mild weather these days and the snow is melting.

I don't mind that one bit as I am a bit of a fair weather girl.  

I loved how the sun was almost breaking through the clouds today.  I could feel my spirits lift with the light.

The promise of brighter days to come.

Lifting up my eyes to the beauty.

Snipping Six-Point Snowflakes.

A few years ago, I found a children's book in a used book store.  It was called Snowflake Bentley, and it was about the guy who discovered the uniqueness  of snowflakes.  It's a really lovely story.  

You can find out more about it HERE.

"Of all the forms of water the tiny six-pointed crystals of ice called snow are incomparably the most beautiful and varied." -- Wilson Bentley (1865-1931)

From the time he was a small boy in Vermont, Wilson Bentley saw snowflakes as small miracles. And he determined that one day his camera would capture for others the wonder of the tiny crystal. Bentley's enthusiasm for photographing snowflakes was often misunderstood in his time, but his patience and determination revealed two important truths: no two snowflakes are alike; and each one is startlingly beautiful. His story is gracefully told and brought to life in lovely woodcuts, giving children insight into a soul who had not only a scientist's vision and perseverance but a clear passion for the wonders of nature. Snowflake Bentley won the 1999 Caldecott Medal.

I felt like making some six-point snowflakes for the infant room and had fun trying that out on the week-end.  

Here's how mine turned out.

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7.

I used THIS TUTORIAL if you want to learn how to fold the paper correctly to make your own six-point snowflake.

This is my way of embracing winter!!

Savouring the Moments.

The week-end was for visiting!.  If you have been following my blog, you might have seen some previous documentation of my Iphone visits with my grand-daughter.

It's amazing the amount of fun and activity we can share this way.

During the last few visits we have:

*read books to each other

*done art work

*cooked in the play kitchen

*talked about her small world penguin bin

*enjoyed her sparkly Christmas tree and opened presents together

*played with her doll house

*played dress up

*exercised

*played dolls

*sung songs

*and more!

Some of the things I have observed have been:

*seeing her use her incredible imagination using loose parts and open-ended toys

*witnessed her interest in so many learning scenarios

*the steady maturation of her speech (but I love when she says, sveater!)

*a relationship with her Papa and I that is strengthening

*her creativity

*her secure and deep love for her Mom and Dad

*her sweet, sweet face and personality

Creating with pastels

Her Dad realized that we were gazing at the ceiling quite a bit today....so when she was done with her art he did this....

Taped it to the ceiling!  He is standing on the small step stool, so she had to try it out too.

Reading books

Balancing on the wobble board.  The Iphone is on there too.  Needless to say we sometimes get a little motion sickness while visiting with this girl!

All in all I am very thankful to be in her life this way.  

A Saturday Morning Visit.

This morning Papa and I got to have an Iphone visit with our busy little
grand-daughter.  I managed to capture a few images of her whirling and twirling play time!  At first everyone got a dress-up hat to wear.  First it was a space hat, which quickly changed to fire hats.   She wore her red strawberry hat that I bought her when she was a new born.

She still likes it and  wears it. 

Then we raced on down to her bedroom and we played with her new Christmas doll house for a few minutes.  Until she decided she needed a different dress.

And then she needed a sweater.  Except she says, "sveater."

At one point she put us in a basket.  The next thing I knew we were flying down the hall!  

Heigh, ho and away we go!  Basket riding, basket riding.

Heigh, ho and away we go! Riding in a basket.

Then it was time to make some supper in her kitchen.  She put supper on the plates and then warmed it in the oven.

No, we are not eating a coin...it's a noodle.  Yum, yum!

Time for some exercise.  At this point Papa left to go make a coffee, so it was just me and active girl.  She put me on the foot pad of the elliptical.  She calls it her moving machine.  Hang on, Nana!

Then it's time for a little yoga.

And now it's time for Nana to take a nap.  Wait, it's only 10:00 a.m.

Happy Saturday everyone!!