Mama to Mama Hat

11/14/08
Originally uploaded by jmilikow

I finally mailed off my charity baby hat for the Mama to Mama program that Amanda Soule started.

Other than writing about Thanksgiving, which I want to do, I have two quick Yoav things I want to remember:

1. One day recently I braided my hair for the first time. When Yoav saw it, he said, "Ima, you knitted up your hair! Why did you knit your hair?" He said he liked it, though ;)
2. Yesterday, Yoav took a toy out of Elie's hands (Mr. Mousie - a cute Haba wooden mouse). Elie started crying. I decided to watch from my cozy spot on the bed instead of picking up Elie right away. Elie cried a little more and then Yoav's face showed clear concern. He first tried giving Mr. Mousie back, but Elie was crying so hard at that point, I don't even know if he could see Mr. Mousie, and he certainly didn't want it anymore. Yoav looked more concerned and started to seem flustered. Then Yoav tried his trick that he claims "always" works, which is to tickle Elie under the neck. No luck. Elie just cried more. Then Yoav looked anxiously over to me, wondering if I was going to step in or if the burden was all on him LOL. I got up and picked up Elie, who relaxed right away. It was great to see, though. Some hints of empathy maybe from Yoav.

Yoav's Kippah

11/24/08
Originally uploaded by jmilikow

I've been out of the blogging habit for a week or so. I just finished this kippah for Yoav from Jennifer Tocker's pattern. It doesn't stay on very well. It'll either need a clip or I'll have to make a bigger one. He wanted an orange one.

We've been attempting to put the kids to sleep without walking outside for the past few days. Ugh. The first day Jeremy wasn't here and I did it myself. I got Elie to sleep at 8pm in the wrap, then read to Yoav for a while until he started screaming to nurse with Elie out of the wrap and woke Elie up. Then Yoav nursed a little, fell asleep to "Owl Moon" by Jane Yolen and Elie was up until 11pm.

Last night, I got Elie to sleep by walking him inside in the wrap at about 8:15pm. Then Jeremy and Yoav got in bed to read, but Yoav didn't fall asleep until about 10pm after finally asking to nurse. Elie woke up again at 9pm and I nursed him back to sleep but had to hold him in my lap in the dark until just before 10 when Jer came it to switch with me. I don't know what the ideal is. I'm glad we're going to Israel soon so we can go back to the walking to sleep method.

Kosher / Empathy

I finished one of the glittens I'm making. Would have loved them, but I attached the cap higher than I'd like. I didn't finish it off because I'm thinking I want to redo the cap, but I'll wait until after I finish the second one. The pattern is Urban Necessity Gloves by Colleen Meagher (the link is on Ravelry, so only members can join - any knitters who aren't members should join, it's great for keeping track of projects and finding new ones!!)

We went to the library with Y, E and C today. It was a great activity. We went to the Hudson Branch library - they have lots of toys (a lot of wooden Community ones) and a big space, so Yoav and Elie both had fun. Yoav recently learned about which animals are kosher and has been somewhat obsessed with it. It's his new means of categorizing animals. He goes through his animals at home and says, "You're kosher, you're not kosher, etc." He'll yell at the not kosher one, "NOT KOSHER!" And he knows that pigs are particulaly unkosher because a girl he met at Yom Kippur services was shocked when Yoav mentioned that he had a toy pig. She said that Hashem says not to play with pigs. So today Yoav took a toy pig and said, "You're not kosher!" to it and ran it over to the other side of the room and put it there. At one point, he sang a song about which animals were kosher and which not to the tune of London Bridges. I don't remember the words, unfortunately :(

This evening as Yoav was eating his toast, he said, "Why wasn't Elie born before me?" I didn't know where he was coming from and said b/c Elie was born one year ago and Yoav was born four years ago. Then Yoav said, "But if Elie was born first, then I wouldn't have hurt him when he was a baby." Be still my heart. Is that empathy??!?!

Dog

11/8/08
Originally uploaded by jmilikow

Finished the dog tonight (from Petra Berger's "Feltcraft"). I started on Friday with Yoav but with the embroidery going on also, I wasn't able to finish. This is my favorite so far. I just finished and put it on the kitchen table at Yoav's place. I think he'll be excited to see it :)

Embroidery

We had a lot of plans for today, but ended up home most of the day. I started making a felt dog and Yoav did some embroidery using his new hoop and burlap. He started off using his new wooden needle, but it was too wide and was making too big of holes in the burlap, so I gave him my darning needle to use instead (which is what he used last time and works perfectly, just isn't as beautiful as the wooden one). Anyway, he seemed to enjoy it and did a bunch of colors. Each time he did a new color, he confirmed with me which side to start from and for the first thread, he checked each time he put the needle in to be sure he was putting it in the right side. I think by the second color, he was singing and enjoying the work and didn't need help except at the beginning and end. I hung up the finished piece in the kitchen. He told the rabbi about it tonight at dinner (we went to the rabbi's for dinner), so I know he was pretty excited about it.

Mouse Day

11/5/08
Originally uploaded by jmilikow

Okay, yes, it's getting to be a bit much. Yoav keeps asking for more animals, and, well, it's fun, so I feel compelled to oblige him :) I made the mouse today. It's cute but if I had to do it again, I'd use a darker color for the whiskers and eyes and only one thread for them.

We're on a roll now with the felt toys now that I'm done with birthday party crafts. Today Yoav asked me to make him the snail from Petra Berger's Feltcraft. It wasn't as much fun to make as the horse. It was a pain to spiral the shell and get it sewn together since I had to hold it so tight in the spiral shape so it wouldn't pop open. And, in general, I guess since it's smaller than the horse, it was just a bit more of a pain since everything was pretty small, especially the little antennae. But Yoav seems to like it again, although he asked me where the gold one was when I finished since he initially asked me to make one orange and one gold. I think one snail is all I'll be able to manage.

I just finished Elie's knit socks. It's the Yankee Knitter Designs #29. My first pair of DPN socks. I definitely did the Kitchener wrong on the first sock, so the first one is a little pointier than the second. Better directions are here. I have some orange fingering yarn waiting for me to make a pair for Yoav. I really like the pattern and, except for the Kitchener part, I found it easy to read. And the socks come out a nice shape IMO. Yoav has a pair that my mom made for him that he loves.

My next project is this pair of fingerless mittens with removable mitten enclosure. I might make them like this with inside mitten instead of glove because it might be more comfortable and would be easier to knit. I'll have to look at the pattern to see if it's easy to modify. I have some pink/white yarn from Purewool to use.

Stuffed Horse

11/3/08
Originally uploaded by jmilikow

Yoav wanted me to make this today (pattern from Petra Berger's "Feltcraft") and I got it done! I started during Elie's afternoon nap and got the body sewed up (all 100% wool felt). I learned how to make a crochet chain for the rope thing around the horse's neck. Only part I'm not thrilled with is the mane and tail because the only brown wool I had is from yarn, so it's a little curly. I put it out on the kitchen table where Yoav sits for him to see when he wakes up. I hope he likes it.

Zoo

Wow, Yoav just kissed Elie when he accidentally hurt Elie. Wow!

We went to the Prospect Park Zoo today with Dave, Yonatan, Alex and Leila's family. It was a good time. The weather was perfect.

At the end, though, my camera was stolen :( I put it down for a minute to pee Elie (stupid in hindsight, I guess) and when I finished (I was two feet away because I put the camera down by a tree thinking I'd pee Elie there, but there were some flowers so I decided to do it in the street) I looked down to pick it up and it was gone. I know it was stolen, because I put it down with the stem of my grapes and I saw the grapes stem but no camera :( It was a few houses down from us where Dave was parked. We were just waiting for Jeremy and Yonatan. It was my smaller Powershot, not my really good one, so I guess that's good. And I've been eyeing the Canon Powershot G9 or G10, so I guess this is the impetus to order one.

Unrelated to anything, Elie has been crawling off the bed feet first for a month or so and I keep forgetting to post about it. It's really too cute. I don't know why, but it makes me smile every time. Maybe because it's not something anyone else does (like not Jeremy, me or Yoav). So it's something Elie figured out for himself. And he's so careful about it. He turns around, looks behind him and backs down, almost like backing up a car.