Spring

I finished my sweater!!! That last April snow storm gave me the motivation to finish it up in hopes of wearing it. Of course as soon as it was finished it got warm out. I will have to wear it some evening is all. I'm pretty pleased with it as my first one. I have started a capelette for Erin. I'm just winging the pattern, we will see if it turns out. Also scouring the internet for fun summer baby patterns so I can make something for her to wear. I will eventually get a picture of the sweater on here.

We will be tilling the vegetable garden next week. Then I can get my onions, potatoes, cabbage, and peas planted! I am so excited to have endless fresh veggies. Our grilled chicken salads with everything out of the garden (minus the chicken of course) are the best.

Erin is trying to hard to say "kitty". I guess I didn't think she would try to talk this early. It is so cute though. She pulls herself up on everything and is starting to walk along it. So many things to learn, and she likes to learn them as fast as possible.

I can do it MYSELF!

Right now Erin has let me know that she wants to be more involved in the feeding process. She loves to pick up little pieces of bread and eat them. So I have started looking for things that she can eat herself and not choke on them. I've already had a couple of scares with choking. The first was a piece of tape that she found on the floor and she gagged on it and threw it up. I cried. Second was pureed green beans. I had to yank her out of her highchair and tip her upside down and thump her on the back. Deep breathing, but no crying. Third was her finding a stray strand of carpet that I had to dig out of her throat. Needless to say I'm a little jumpy now when it comes to any little cough she makes.

Plus I'm trying to find healthy things to introduce, not just easy things. I won't mind giving her mac and cheese every once in a while, but I want to mostly provide foods that are full of nutrition. So the other day I picked out whole wheat pasta, brown rice, and a ton of veggies from the store. Now to come up ideas on how to make it interesting for her, non-chokable, and flavorful.

I am also trying desperately to make meal time an enjoyable time, not a punishment. My husband and I love food and cooking and I want to pass that along to my children. I can tell when she really likes something and she loves to eat with us.

Rhythm

My days have a rhythm to them now. We get up and play, eat, play some more, then nap. So I measure them by first nap, second nap, and third nap. But my days with Erin are full and enjoyable. In the past 2 weeks she has turned into a baby. Not just a newborn or infant, but the kind of baby that you seen on TV that is exploring their world (generally by putting whatever they find in their mouth) and interacting with the people around them. She makes sounds at me and I make them back. She thinks I'm hilarious and I think the same of her. We are the perfect mother-daughter couple at the moment and I have hopes of it staying that way forever.

Has there been any mother-daughter relationship that hasn't gone through the "I hate you" stage?? God I hope so, I hope ours doesn't have to. I'd like to think that I will be approachable when we get to that stage, no matter the topic. I think one of the worst things a mother can do is to not instill trust in their daughter that they are able and capable to make good choices.

Thankfully that is a lot of tea parties and bedtime stories away!