Flowers for Mommy

May 8, 2015

Today Henry and I made a special craft...a bouquet of flowers for Mommy for Mother's Day on Sunday.  Now Henry is 2-1/2 and 2 year olds are not known for their cooperativeness.  Some days it goes better than others...today was the day!  I asked him to put his hand on a piece of pink paper so I could drawn around it and make a "special present for Mommy."  He plopped his hand right down...5 times!!!  I curled the ends of the petals, fashioned pipe cleaners into stems and stamen, taped the petals to the stem and stuck then in a vase.  One pink bow later it was done and he was very proud to have a gift for Mommy.  Happy Mother's Day Megan!!!

Crafty Baby

What fun!  Thanksgiving is right around the corner.  Henry came to spend the day Friday so we worked on our first "craft."  Now Henry is 14 months old so his participation was pretty involuntary.  Never underestimate a grandmother with a plan!

I saw somewhere online a turkey made with glue, a handprint, and spices.  It is totally adorable so we set out to recreate one.  Sure enough, Henry headed home Friday evening with his craft in a bag to present to Mommy and Daddy and hang on their refrigerator.

Supplies:

A white paper plate (we used Chinet).
Elmer's School Glue (or similar).
In a small bowl make a mixture of fall spices such as cinnamon, ground cloves, and nutmeg.  A couple tablespoons is plenty.

Instructions:

1.  Get yourself a baby or small child.  Borrow one if necessary.
2.  Remove anything with long sleeves.  Having a baby wrangler (a second adult, like a Papa) is helpful.
3.  Squirt some school glue onto a saucer and then smear your subject's palm around in the glue, and then immediately place gluey hand with fingers spread as much as possible onto the center of the paper plate.
4.  Hand off baby to your baby wrangler to wash glue off BEFORE it gets on the table, his pants, and in his hair.
5.  Sprinkle spice mixture onto the glue handprint and shake around until all glue is covered with spices.  Let glue dry.
6.  Add feet, beak, and waddle with markers.
7.  Add an eye with paint or a googly eye from the craft store.
8.  Write Happy Thanksgiving, name, and date.
9.  Take a picture for posterity.
10.  Feel proud.

Love Mimi

"When a child is born, so are grandmothers.” Judith Levy


 Being a grandparent is one of the greatest joy in our lives. If you are a grandparent, you know what I'm talking about.  Our grandchildren are lucky enough to be on the receiving end of what we did not have when we were raising their parents...time. Total undivided attention. When Henry's daddy was a little boy, I had a job, a home to keep clean enough to be healthy, meals to fix, 2 other children to tend, and all the things that come with that busy life. We try as parents to give our kids that undivided one-on-one time, but it's simply not possible to devote yourself totally to one child when there are so many other responsibilities. Now with Henry...that's a different story. When Henry is in the house, we play. We build block towers and knock them down. We "vroom, vroom, vroom" his trucks. We read stories--the favorite ones over and over and over again. It never gets old. There is nothing I would rather be doing than being with him. Dirt can wait. Cooking can wait. Life is on hold while we totally enjoy this little boy. How well we know that he will not be little forever...we will certainly enjoy him while he is!

On that note, a poem to share...

Grandparental Advice Don't pamper the baby,

Don't run to each cry,

Don't rock that new infant

And don't lullaby.

Don't coddle or Cuddle,

That's all there is to it!

Don't spoil that sweet baby

 

Let us grandparents do it!