Fwimming...

It's been so long since I posted!  Today Henry and I went "fwimming" at Uncle Adam's house.  I took a bunch of pictures with my new camera, one of which is a pool shot that I adore!  My smiley little guy having a blast.  It's the first picture I've taken that looks, to me, like a professional job.  So adorable!

 I also took a solemn shot of him that I changed to black and white.  I love the picture...I even love that it's black and white.  Just not sure I like kid pictures in black and white.  What do you think?  One thing I noticed is that his features are so much more well defined.  I never really noticed the shape of his lips until I was posting this picture.  Black and white or full color- he's a cutie!

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!