Quiet Books (Activity Books)

Gabe will vouch that I have been pretty obsessed with crafting these days. I guess I am trying to live up to my Craft name. :) My recent obsession has been quiet books. These are cloth books made to keep little hands busy when you are in a situation where the child needs to be somewhat quiet. We use ours at home too though. I have made 3 so far. I was really inspired by a blogger who offers free patterns and tutorials. Her blog is called Imagine Our Life. It is a fantastic blog and I adore her patterns. She also blogs about homeschooling her preschool aged son. Here is a link to her blog Imagine Our life
I have made her Cooking breakfast page and her baking cupcakes page.
Over the last 2 weeks I decided to try my hand at making my own patterns for a special birthday book for Violet's 3rd birthday present. I incorporated some of the lyrics and song titles of one of Violet's favorite albums, Party Day by Laurie Berkner. It is a fun cd all about having fun and celebrating. Violet loves to sing and dance along to the music. We often listen to it on our way to church and will listen to it twice in it's entirety before we get there and sometimes again on the way home. Gabe and I enjoy the music as well. So without further ado.... Here are some pics of the Birthday Book I made
The doll was taken from this pattern. She is removable and has different clothes to wear.

Lift flap that covers the cake

decorations and candles are removable including the purple icing. Letters are removable too so she can practice spelling her name. Hearts and flowers can be interchanged or mixed.

Can't have a birthday without a pinata

To practice numbers. The flaps are removable and she has to match the number on the flap to the corresponding number of items on the pinata.

This is a bed for the doll to go to sleep in. Pillow is loose and hides inside the bed when not being used.

 

I had so much fun creating this book for Violet. I hope she enjoys playing with it. :) Birthday post to come next week. I can't believe our baby is turning 3!!!

 

Are you gonna be 5 Mommy and other updates

Last night when we were winding down on the couch as a family Violet started asking some questions that she had never asked before. Here is our little conversation, as best I can remember it.

V: Mommy, are you going to be 5?
M: No sweetie, I have already turned 5 and I am 34. I was 5 once.
V: Mommy when you turn 5 are you going to have milkies?
M: I was already 5 and now i am 34. When I was 5 I didn't have milkies but that was because I didn't want them anymore.
V: Mommy you will have milkies when I am 5.
M: Yes, I will always have my milkies. When you are 5 if you still want milkies then you can have them.
V: Mommy I want to have milkies when I am 5. You will have them won't you?
M: Yes, I will have them. You will be a big girl. Now you are 2 and soon you will be 3. In 30 days you will be 3 and you will be a big girl. If you still want milkies though you may still have them.
V: I want to have them. (she then started looking very concerned) Mommy am I gonna be big when I am 5?
M: Yes you will be big.
V: I don't want to be big mommy. I don't want to grow up. I don't want to get old. Are you going to be big?
M: I am already big sweetheart. But you don't have to worry about growing up. We all feel that way sometimes. We all feel like we don't want to get old sometimes. Right Daddy?
D: Yes, that's right. We all feel that way sometimes.
M: It's ok to think that way but just know that you don't have to worry.
V: Mommy can I still have milkies when I am 5?
M: You may have milkies until you don't want them anymore. Did someone talk to you about getting big and not having milkies today?
V: No.
M: Mommy will have your milkies for your until you are ready to not have them.
V: I love you mommy.
(starts nursing)
 

I wasn't ready for these kinds of questions and fears about getting older. But we tried to handle them as gently as possible. Our sweet flower is growing so fast and I can't believe that she has grown so much in the last month even. She has been asking lots of questions about when we were babies and one of her favorite things to do is to ask someone to tell her a story about when they were a baby. This morning she said "Mommy, will you tell me a story about when you were about baby. You can tell it to me from in your head." She has been waking up so sweetly and full of smiles. The other day I woke before her and just laid there and smiled at her. She opened her eyes and smiled. Neither of us said a word. We just smiled.
We just returned from a wonderful trip to the US to visit family. We made it back safely and Violet and I were asleep by 8pm. on the first night back. We got up a couple of times to potty but didn't get up for the day till 6am the next morning. I was in much need of the extra sleep. Violet did excellent traveling and we were accident free. Our little girl is so grown up. She is completely diaper free except for bedtime which is often dry when she wakes up. She made it the whole 14 hours on the plane and even did a 14 hour car ride twice.

She has gotten so tall too. When we got home she climbed in our bed to help me change the sheets. She could stand in it before she left. She stood up and bonked her head on the ceiling!! It didn't hurt her but definitely surprised her. She giggled and said "I'm all grown up mama!" It was cute. :)

We are back at work and Violet did amazing on Monday morning. I didn't tell her that we were going to school until she actually asked if she was going which was about 7:15am. She cried pretty hard and was weepy the rest of the morning at home. We left at 8am after a little walk and a promise of a pizza party with cake after school. She climbed into the car smiling and saying "I like seeing my friends at school mommy." We had no tears all the way and she even said she was happy to go to school. When we got there she gave me a kiss and we gave each other our "kissing hands" and she was off. Daddy said she had no tears and was smiles the whole way in and super excited to see her friends and teachers. What a blessing and a relief! We were expecting to have to peel her off of us. She is adjusting well and seems to be getting back in to the swing of our schedule.
We are going to be starting a little homeschooling after school now and I am looking forward to seeing her progress.We are going to start out with a little K4 and see how it goes. She loves learning, she loves singing and dancing. She loves books and words. When we were in Michigan I was so thrilled that she learned some Chinese from Waipo (Chinese for grandmother). Waipo is my sister-in-law, Maya's mother. She is an amazing and kind woman. She took such care to spend time with James (our nephew) and Violet. She read to them in Chinese and sang some songs. Violet was so curious about the language and loved asking her Aunt Maya how to say words in Chinese.
In Texas she really enjoyed being with her cousins and aunts and uncles. Eos, Sixy, Maddie and Aidan were all so sweet with her and really tried hard to play gently with her. She loved being with the big kids and in fact went to sleep without mommy a couple of times at the beach. She wanted to sleep in the bed with the big girls. They laid on either side of her holding her hands. She wanted to stay awake but finally the girls told her it was time to close her eyes. And she did. :) She loved seeing her Grandpop and Sarah and Uncle Sixto, Aunt Heather and Uncle Matt. She loved seeing Mamo and Papo, Papa and Jean and all her great aunts and uncles. She especially loved meeting my cousin's baby, Ava. She still talks about her. It was a fun trip for her and she got to see so many people.
In SC she loved playing in the pool with Memaw (Gabe's mom) and they also put makeup on each other. We had so much fun at the Children's museum. She especially loved the Market where she could pretend to shop and pay and be a cashier. We also got to spend an evening with Victoria and Drew and their son Keller. I was amazed at how well they played together. It was so cute to see them interacting.
We had an great time in Michigan with Mimi and Papa and Uncle Jesse, Aunt Maya, James and Maya's parents. We went to several "fun places" as Violet called them, where the kids could play and learn. She loved being with her family and I know she was sad to go. At the same time at the end of the trip to the States she woke up on night confused as to where she was. She cried inconsolably for a while saying she wanted to go home. When I asked her which home she said her home in Japan. She missed her home and was very excited to see it again.

We had an amazing time with everyone and were sad we couldn't see everyone we wanted to, but we cherish the special memories we made together with those we did get to see.

A thesis of a priest that I heard a year or more ago resonates constantly in my mind and heart: The Opposite Faith is Not Doubt, But Certainty". I dig it.

2 years and 8 months

Violet is really keeping us entertained these days. She always does but lately she has been coming up with some pretty funny stuff. Last Thursday she was sitting on the potty and this is the conversation that we shared
Violet: I sending my poops to school. They are all going to school.
Me: Oh really. Do you have more?
Violet: Yes, but some of them have to stay home today.
Me: Okay. (trying not to laugh)

Two weeks ago she was sitting in my lap nursing when she started this conversation
Violet: I use my hands for hugging, mommy and I use my mouth for kissing. I use my feet for running.
Mommy: Oh and what do you use your eyes for?
Violet: For looking for scary monsters.
Mommy: What do you use your ears for?
Violet: For listening for monsters.
Mommy: What do you use your heart for?
Violet: For listening to Jesus' voice. And for Mary's voice too. For listening to Jesus and Mary's voices.
Mommy: And what do they tell you?
Violet: Love.
Mommy: That is beautiful baby.

Recently while she was sleeping peacefully next to me in bed she started mumbling in her sleep. Usually she doesn't say actual words and she cries in her sleep pretty often too. I think she is having bad dreams. But the other day she started giggling in her sleep. Then she said, "Flying Cookies!!!! Can I have some milkies mom?" I had to try really hard not to bust out laughing . I giggled so hard that tears came to my eyes. Last night she was saying "Daddy, may I have something else please? I love you Daddy."
She has been doing so well with her manners. We are trying not to force them but trying to lead by example. She says may I? and please and thank you, yes please and no thank you. She also says she is sorry and please forgive me. The other day she really impressed me with her ability to understand that she had done something wrong. At school she sees other kids hitting each other and sometimes the teachers give light swats as discipline (we will touch on that later. we are very upset about this) and so she has started swatting at us when she is angry and she has also hit herself when she is frustrated. We tell her that we don't hit in our family and she has to take a time out or a time in (daddy or mommy sits with her and we do some breathing exercises to calm down). Well, the other day she was frustrated with me and so she hit my leg. I looked down and told her how sad that was and that she was going to need to go calm down in the other room. She cried and cried and finally came and apologized. We left it at that and had a wonderful rest of the evening. That night when I was putting her to bed she kept hugging me so tightly and kissing my face. When I held her in my lap to nurse her to sleep she stopped nursing and looked up teary eyed and said, "Mommy, I'm really sorry that I hit you. I didn't mean to hurt you Mommy. Will you forgive me please?" And the tears started falling down her cheeks. I held her tight to my chest and told her that I had already forgiven her and that I was so thankful that she said she was sorry. I told her she didn't have to think about it anymore. She looked up at me again and said "I love you Mommy. I love you so much!" "I love you so much Violet!" It was very sweet.
Violet has been doing much better about going to school lately. She especially likes when she can take me to school. She tells me to have a good day and that she loves me. Also we have been reading "The Kissing Hand" before school. If you haven't read it before try to check it out at the library and give a read. It is a sweet story about a little raccoon that doesn't want to be away from home. I gave this book to my mom for mother's day when I was in college and we both loved it so much. I never wanted to be away from my mommy either. I recently told an acquaintance of mine about Violet not wanting to go to school and she mailed me a copy of this book along with her son's raccoon toy. Violet loved it! She named it after the little boy, Noah. When we read the story she asked me if she could have a kissing hand too. So now every day before school I give her a kissing hand and she gives me one too. Then when we pick her up we ask each other if we used our kissing hands. We both always say yes. It is very sweet.
Last weekend we were supposed to go to Sendai to visit our dear friend, Mutsuko in the hospital after her surgery but she was doing so well that the doctors sent her home early. We had built up staying in a hotel for weeks and Violet was very excited about the trip. So when we had to cancel our trip to Sendai, Gabe and I quickly thought of another plan. We decided to go to Kitakami, which is only 1.5 away by car. We stayed in a budget hotel for one night and Violet was so excited. When we got there she started running back and forth across the room shouting "I love being in a hotel! I love being in a hotel! I love being in a hotel!" Then she would stop and say, "Thank you for bringing me to a hotel mommy and daddy. Thank you for driving me here Daddy!" That night we had a free breakfast in the hotel and then free breakfast in the morning. After check out we went to the Ferris wheel in town. Violet loves the Ferris Wheel and she was so surprised that we were going to ride it that day. After the ride we decided to go have lunch at a little Italian buffet restaurant. Violet really enjoyed her pasta and pizza and mommy and daddy did too. She made a little friend there and they ran around together for a bit. Following lunch we went to Toys R Us and bought some diapers and a new stroller for her baby doll. She had one pre-tsuami and they just happened to have the same one and on sale too. So we bought that for her and told her we would take it to the park. Before going to the park we decided to have one more go on the Ferris Wheel and then a special treat of Baskin Robbins ice cream! Violet ate all my mint chocolate chip ice cream. She has her mama's taste buds! She thanked us over and over for the fun day and for the ice cream. Then we headed off to the park for a walk. Violet took her stroller and pushed it (without her baby because we forgot her at home). She loved pushing her stroller and once we got home adored pushing her baby in it. She loves pretending to be mama. She has us call her Vivey Mama. It is very cute!
I have recently become obsessed with making felt food for Violet's play kitchen. She has some that Baba got at a church fair and she loves making meals with it. I much prefer non plastic toys and so I decided I would slowly replace all of her plastic food with felt food. I am having so much fun doing it and she has been so excited every morning when I give her a new piece of food. She loved the banana that I made. I used this tutorial http://shelleyinspired.blogspot.jp/2010/04/felt-banana-tutorial-aka-mimis.html
When I gave her the banana she smiled so big and she said "thank you mama! Thank you for the banana for Baby Mei (her doll). I love it!" As I got into searching for tutorials for felt food I came across these little beauties...http://www.etsy.com/listing/86936913/table-playhouse-light-purplelavender?ref=v1_other_2
Now I am obsessed with felt playhouses! It is going to be my next big project after summer vacation. I am hoping to get it done by her birthday if I can...if not at least by Christmas. I have so many ideas and have drawn out my plans. I am going to try to make mine double sided, meaning decorated on the inside and outside. I thought, well I could just buy this one but man are they expensive!!! I know it is because it probably takes forever to make! So that is what my dreams have been about this past week. :)
Today Violet had to write her wish for Tanabata, the Chinese star festival. Each child writes their wish on a piece of paper and it is used to decorate a long bamboo stick. This morning I had to write Violet's wish down for her before school. So we asked her "Violet what do you want to wish for? You can wish for anything." Violet sat for a minute and looked around. Then she said "A baby." hmmmmm that is going to be a hard one. Maybe she meant a baby doll :)
Well that's all from the Crafts for now. Gabe made a movie about our vacation and I will try to post it later this week.
update little convo from last night 6/27
Vi: Mommy, Tigers are nice. Lions are nice too. Elephants too. Their mommy's help them to be nice.
Me: Who helps you be nice.
Vi: You do. And Daddy too.

This next update is just something I want to remember for myself. Last night as I was nursing Violet to sleep I was overcome with the feeling that my Mom was surrounding me with her presence. I saw her face so clearly in my mind. Usually when I picture her I see her as she looked before she had cancer. With her beautiful brown hair. Last night she had her post chemo hair (a beautiful purplish grey). She was smiling so wide and she was glowing. I felt so warm and full of light. My eyes filled up with tears and I whispered "Please don't go Mama. Stay here with us a little longer." When I started to feel her slipping away, I whispered it again. I felt her there with me for the entire time I was nursing Violet to sleep. I felt like she was holding us both and looking at her beautiful granddaughter. I don't know how to explain the feeling I had except to say it was close to perfect happiness. I couldn't stop crying and my tears were dropping onto Violet's tummy. She didn't seem to notice that I was crying, thankfully, and fell peacefully to sleep. What a blessing. Thank you for coming to check on us Mommy! I miss you and love you so!

Another update 6/29
Last night 6/28 I was making dinner in the kitchen and Violet was playing in the living room. She was playing with hiragana patches. (little precut Japanese characters). She came running into the kitchen saying "Mama, Mama Look what I did!" When I got into the room I found that she had spelled out
すみれ all by herself! I was so excited for her!
Then after her bath last night she told Daddy, "Can you go in the other room and I will dry off". That was a first for that one. She wanted to stand all by herself and dry off with her big girl towel (ie not a hooded towel). She was so pleased with herself. :)

Laughter

I really do believe that laughter is in fact the best medicine. Especially when it is coming out of the mouth of our beautiful Violet. She never ceases to alleviate our stress and worry. She is so sensitive and aware of others feelings and she always tries to make us smile when she senses we are unhappy. Even when she has done something we disapprove of. For example her latest favorite thing to do when we are reprimanding her is to say "Mommy can you give me a big smile. A big big big smile!" She does it to daddy too. It is so hard to not crack a smile when she does this. She can tell when we are feeling down too and she will often say "Don't worry I'll give you a hug!" She loves to "take a group hug" as she puts it. She loves when we are all hugging together. She loves to see mommy and daddy hug each other and she adores being tickled! The other day she asked me "Mommy will you make me laugh so I can feel it?" I melted! When she sees us hugging she says "awe my to favorite people!" It is so precious. I love how she snuggles up when she senses that we are sad without us even asking her to or telling her anything at all. Often she will do something that has gotten a laugh out of us before in hopes for another laugh.
   She is doing a little better at school but still says that she doesn't want to go every morning. She has been walking in herself lately though. And this morning when we finished breakfast she asked if she had to go today. I said that she did and she frowned a little but then she said, ok I'm ready to go. I asked her if she wanted to read a book before she went and she said yes. We read that twice and then she was ready to walk out the door. She walked to the car carrying her bag and bucket. It was so precious. I gave her a hug and kiss and put her in her seat and then through the open window she said "mommy, I don't want to go to school." But she didn't cry when she said it. I actually think she was trying to reassure me this time. I wasn't showing any emotion and I do not feel sad when she doesn't cry (like oh she doesn't miss me anymore kind of cries). I am thrilled if she can make it out the door without tears. And if she wants to go to school that would be great too. Still the way she said it was like she was trying to tell me "mom I would rather be with you but if I have to go, I'll go." She waved blew and kiss and was on her way.
  In other news, we have rearranged our house in the last month to give us more room. We have 2 rooms that are 270m squared and a tiny kitchen space, bathing room and bathroom. One we used for sleeping and the other we used for playing and eating in. We have one tiny closet in which to store everything in. So this spring we decided to try and make a little more room by purchasing a loft bed. Gabe and our dear friend Mark assembled it together one Saturday. It was too close to the ceiling at first. I couldn't lift my head while laying down. So Gabe sawed 30cm off the bottom and now I can sit upright in bed. It is much more comfortable. We also purchased a small couch that folds out to a bed in case we have company. We added some bench style drawers and some nice wall sconces and then we were done. The room is so relaxing! It gives us a space to sleep and to play. We keep it uncluttered and find it very relaxing. The other room has bookshelves with books and others with boxes that pull out that are filled with our clothes. We also got some sliding plastic bins that hold some toys and arts and crafts supplies. Everything feels more organized and therefore I feel more relaxed. Violet loves her "bird bed" as she calls it. At first we were very worried about her falling off the ladder but we set some rules and she follows them. She is an expert climber now and goes up and down with ease. She knows not to do it unless we are in the room though.
One of Violet's favorite things to do these days is role play. We never know who she or we are going to be each day. One day she will want to be a friend from school while we play one of her teachers. Another day she will want to be her Aunt Maddie and mommy might be Sarah or Aidan. She likes to be her cousin Eos too and will insist upon calling me Heather and Daddy Sixto. Other times she will pretend to be an animal (cat, dog, bird, mouse, caterpillar and her recent favorite a rollypolly). She loves animals! She likes to be ballerina and sometimes a fairy too. She will insist on being called by the name or animal that she is until she is done pretending. She even tries to make her voice sound like the person she is impersonating. It is a lot of fun!
Violet loves music and has been singing to us for some time now. She loves to sing to the plants and to her baby doll whose full name is Baby Mei (pronounced May in English). She has been putting her to bed and singing her songs. (mommy made Mei a bed out of a cardboard box and sewed a mattress and blanket for her.) She sings to us in English and Japanese and some songs in Spanish. She still loves to read and adores books! She loves looking for letters of the alphabet everywhere and then will say a word that starts with that letter. In the last month she has started doing it with hiragana too. She is recognizing the hiragana in her friends names at school because they all have their names on their uniforms. When she sees one she knows she will say "の(noh) for ののchan!" She shocked me the first time she did it.
   Violet still loves to paint and draw. She drew a face for me for mother's day and also wrote me a letter (with daddy's help). She loves to write letters now. She also wrote her name for the first time 2 weeks ago! It was amazing! I love to watch her draw.
Well I guess that is it for now. I just wanted to keep this up to date for Violet. I leave you with some of our favorite quotes of recent.
after crying "God took away my tears!"
"I wish I could fly like a blackbird"
"I'm so big! I really am big!"
"God bless Daddy. In your name we pray."
"Thank you for the delicious dinner mama!"
"I can feel you in my heart mama"
"Shadablew!" (just a silly word we made up)
"Today is your day Mama."
"I'm a scarlet Macaw"
"Help, I'm on the gooey geyser!" (from Dora)
"I made a cherry poop and a croissant poop!" (sorry TMI)
"Don't worry mommy, I'll help you! I'm a good finder!"
"I'm just flashlighting"

                                       Violet wrote this letter to "milkies". (I wrote exactly what she said to write)