KIOS: Parenting, Part 1: It’s All about Attachment

Posted on February 24, 2012 by Laura

This post is part of my series, “Kickin’ It Old Skool: Why and How We Are Old-Fashioned” or KIOS for short.  If you’re new to the series, please read my disclaimer before continuing on.  I’m keeping a table of contents to this series here so you can see what I’ve already written about and what more there is to come.

Labels are useful sometimes, right?  They give us a quick, easy way to categorize or understand someone or something.  So here’s a label for you to use when referring to the way that we approach parenting Ellie:

Attachment Parenting

Here’s something else to remember about everything I write about parenting (i.e. here’s another disclaimer):  This is what has worked for us, with Ellie.  She’s only 16 months old so we know we’re just a little ways down this parenting road.  I’m sure what we think and feel will refine and change over the next few years.

Back to attachment parenting:  We find ourselves firmly in the attachment parenting camp.  What is attachment parenting?  Here’s a quote from the Attachment Parenting International website, which fairly succinctly answers that question:

The essence of Attachment Parenting is about forming and nurturing strong connections between parents and their children. Attachment Parenting challenges us as parents to treat our children with kindness, respect and dignity, and to model in our interactions with them the way we’d like them to interact with others.

The following are the 8 major principles of attachment parenting:

1. Prepare for Pregnancy, Birth, and Parenting
2. Feed with Love and Respect
3. Respond with Sensitivity
4. Use Nurturing Touch
5. Ensure Safe Sleep Physically and Emotionally
6. Provide Consistent and Loving Care
7. Practice Positive Discipline
8. Strive for Balance in Personal and Family Life

I’m going to be writing about many of these things over the next few weeks but I figured that it would be good to give a sort of over-arching post to start.  We believe pretty passionately in these things but many (if not most) of them are also lightening rod issues when it comes to parenting.   So I understand if you don’t entirely agree with me that nursing an older baby is wonderful or that it really is a great thing to have your baby sleep with you in your bed or …

Back next week with more about how we prepare for pregnancy, labor, and child birth!


Posted in KIOS | Tagged | 2 Comments

Gardening? Already?

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Laura

I’m already starting to get ready for gardening.  The seeds have been ordered, received, and organized.

Actually, our garden is still growing from last fall.  We had such a crazy non-winter that the aurgula and swiss chard never died.  A and J (our jewelry party friends) visited us again today so we decided to take advantage of the spring-like weather to investigate what yard work needs to be done.

First, we tried to pick up big rocks for a flower bed.

“Too heavy!”

Then, we assessed the state of our arugula.  A actually liked it!

Then, garden assessment complete, we took a walk. At first, Ellie wanted someone to hold her hand.

Soon, however, she wanted to walk by herself.  I think my child has a bit of an independent streak! 🙂

That was by far the longest walk Ellie has ever taken.  She was definitely ready to take a nap after lunch!  I am definitely not ready for yard work but it’s coming none-the-less.  The absolutely pitiful winter has meant that the weeds are growing already.  I’m trying to hold out until April though. I have too much sewing to do before then!

Posted in Ellie, gardening | 2 Comments

Channeling June Cleaver

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Laura

This morning, I was busily vacuuming, trying to get some of my chores done before Ellie and I left for moms’ group at church.  I was already ready to go but had some extra time.  I felt like dressing up a little bit today because I love wearing skirts but rarely do and I also have these fun shoes, which I love but don’t wear enough.  All of a sudden, I looked down and saw this:

And I thought to myself, “Really?  Am I really vacuuming wearing a skirt and fancy shoes?  Who am I, June Cleaver?”

I do have to say that I had more “fun” vacuuming wearing my fancy shoes than when I vacuum in my tennis shoes!

Ellie, on the other hand, was channeling I don’t know who today.  She’s wearing a fun dress that she’s almost grown out of and totally fun feetless tights that her Aunt Nikki gave her.  She is also impossible to take a picture of, now that she’s a full time walker.  She’s also currently only wearing one sock (her choice, not mine).

And just for fun, I’m linking up with What I Wore Wednesday. 

Posted in Ellie, faith, just for fun | Leave a comment

Making Our Own Yogurt (and you can too!)

Posted on February 21, 2012 by Laura

We eat a lot of yogurt – currently close to two quarts a week.  We buy organic, whole milk (i.e. full-fat) plain yogurt at Trader Joe’s for $2.99 a quart.  Trader Joe’s is basically the only place where I can find full-fat plain yogurt.  Last week, I decided that it was finally time for me to start making our own yogurt.  It’s actually really easy to do and because there’s no volume loss (i.e. a quart of milk makes a quart of yogurt), it’s pretty inexpensive.

We buy expensive milk, at least by most standards.  We pay $3.25 for a half gallon of milk.  However, considering that we are getting whole milk from cows raised in a humane manner, who also don’t receive any pesticides or hormones, we know we are getting a very good deal.

Even with expensive milk though, I can still make 2 quarts of yogurt for $3.25 rather than buying it for $5.98.  That’s half-off!  And, even the TJ’s yogurt has pectin in it.  Our yogurt that we make is nothing but milk and bacteria.  Perfect!

I use the Fankhauser method for making yogurt.  It’s very simple.  His website covers the directions in great detail, with pictures.  If you’ve never made yogurt before, go to his site to get the full set of instructions.  The following instructions are just my cheat sheet for helping me to remember how to do it.

You can do it! Make your own yogurt too!

How to Make Yogurt

For 1 quart of yogurt

4 C milk
¼ C yogurt *

1. Heat milk to 185-195 F in a heavy-bottomed pan, stirring fairly constantly to keep it from burning on the bottom.  (This is about when the milk is starting to look foamy but hasn’t boiled yet.)

2. Put pan in clean, cool water and stir until cooled to 130 F.

3. Stir in yogurt.

4. Put in sterile jars** and cover with sterile lids.

5. Put in a cooler. Add 122 F water to just below the lid rims.  Close the cooler lid.

6. Let sit for at least 3 hours but longer is OK too.

*The ratio is one tablespoon of yogurt for every cup of milk so you can make as little or as much as you want!

**To prep jars: Put jars with about an inch of water in the pot, put the lid on the pot, and bring to a boil.  Boil for 10 minutes.  Turn off heat and keep lid on until ready to use.

 

Posted in cooking, KIOS | 9 Comments

First Zoo Trip of the Year!

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Laura

Yiayia gave Ellie a membership to the zoo for Christmas and we figured that it was time to start taking advantage of it!  So Auntie Julie, Ellie, and I went on Saturday.  We had a wonderful time!  Ellie absolutely loved seeing the animals.  We had so much fun with her!

pointing at the zebras

enjoying the sun and Auntie Julie’s arms (those blessed arms that carried Ellie all over the zoo when she neither wanted to walk nor ride in the stroller)

We really enjoyed interacting with the chimpanzees.  There were several who spent quite a bit of time at the window with us.

Julie and I managed to miss this crocodile for several minutes of admiring the turtles playing on its back.  We were pretty startled when we realized that the rock was actually a crocodile!

Ellie’s favorite animals were actually the birds that were right by the entrance to the main part of the zoo.  We probably could have stayed there the whole time.  Here’s a taste of her enjoyment of the animals!

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My Other Love: Cardmaking

Posted on February 18, 2012 by Laura

Although sewing is my current major creative outlet, I’ve loved the craft of paper card making for a long time.  I particularly love finding old books to cut up for cards.  I made a card on Thursday that I loved so much, I had to take a picture of it.

The drawing is from this book, copyright 1952.

I absolutely love all the drawings in this book.  I’ve made so many cards from them.  Here’s a taste of the many that I have left.

a beautiful magpie

my arch enemy, the thistle

for any Girl of the Limberlost lovers

Fireweed makes my Alaskan eyes happy!

my favorite tree in Alaska

Can anyone spot the clue in the text that this is an old book?  You might have to click on the picture to enlarge it in order to be able to read the text.

Posted in books, crafts, just for fun, useful beautiful | 5 Comments

February Sewing: Nik’s T-Shirt Quilt – It’s Finished!

Posted on February 17, 2012 by Laura

I’m done!  Hip Hip Hooray!  Now I just need to get Nik to help me take pictures of the final product to show you all!

 

Posted in sewing | Tagged | 4 Comments

KIOS: A New Schedule and a few more thoughts

Posted on February 17, 2012 by Laura

This post is part of my series, “Kickin’ It Old Skool: Why and How We Are Old-Fashioned” or KIOS for short.  If you’re new to the series, please read my disclaimer before continuing on.  I’m keeping a table of contents to this series here so you can see what I’ve already written about and what more there is to come.

In my last KIOS post, I included the following sentence, “I know that many of my friends and family have been asking me to write about the whys and hows of the way we eat.  So I’m going to tackle that first.”

That is actually completely not what I was planning on doing!  All along, I’ve been thinking that I would start with parenting and then move  along to food.  So I’m really not sure why I made that claim and then didn’t even realize it until days later.

So no, we are not going to start with food.  Sorry to raise your hopes and then dash them.  Here’s why I’m not starting with food:

Have you ever tried to eat locally in February?  Did you fail miserably?  That’s what we tried to do.  I read that book, announced “no tomatoes in winter” and then we decided to change the way we ate, in February. I don’t recommend that,at all.  We’re doing fine right now but we worked hard all last summer and fall, freezing and canning so that we would have plenty to eat through the winter.  If I was trying to eat locally right now, eating strictly what I could buy at the farmer’s market, I’d be subsisting on cabbage, turnips, beets, potatoes, and carrots: edible, delicious, and nutritious but sometimes a bit boring.

Attempting to start your “eat locally” change in eating in February is akin to deciding that you want to move to Alaska but then deciding to move to Fairbanks in January, when it’s 40 below zero and dark all the time and miserable.  You’re really not going to love it, right?  But if you move there in May and have a glorious spring/summer/fall of wonderful never-ending sunlight and gorgeous mountains and hiking all the time, well then, you can endure the winter with the hope of summer coming again.

I’m planning on getting to writing about food sometime in early May, right about when asparagus, radishes, and greens are coming back in and then tomatoes and peppers and strawberries and eggplants and beans and cucumbers and…(you get the idea).

Back to parenting, another reason why I want to start with parenting is that I have several friends who are in varying stages of pregnancy and/or new babyhood so I figured now is as good a time as any to tackle these topics.

Next week, I’ll start with attachment parenting.  And yes, this is a fairly light post with not much real substance but I’m out of time for the day and it’s all you’re going to get.

If you want some parenting reading for the weekend, go to the Eight Principles of Parenting and that will pretty much give you a overview of much of what I’m planning on writing about over the next couple months. 

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Tutorial: Embellished, Lined Drawstring Backpack

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Laura

This tutorial is for my sister and anyone else who wants to know how to make a fancy lined drawstring backpack!  This tutorial is actually an adaptation of the In Color Order Lined Drawstring Bag tutorial.  You’ll need to go over to her blog to get the full set of instructions.  I’m just going to give you the modified steps here.

I’ve modified this bag to be quite a bit bigger than the original tutorial to allow for more carrying room.  Here are the modified cutting instructions:

Cut:
(2) main exterior:  12″ by 13.5″  (If you are using a solid or non-directional print, then you can cut just one exterior piece – 23.5″ by 13.5″)
(2) coordinating exterior pieces: 5″ by 13.5″
(2) interior (lining) pieces: 16.5″ by 13.5″
(2) ties: 2″ by 50-60″ (or however long you want them to be – you might want to wait to cut the ties until you have the rest of the bag sewn so you can try out how long you want the straps to be)

Follow the tutorial as written for steps 1-3.

Step 3b:  Here is where you can add in your embellishments before sewing your bag together.  I chose to add a felt car on one side and a pocket with Ellie’s initial on the other side.  I just search Google images for an outline of a car and then pasted the image into Word so I could make it a bit bigger.  For the initial, I used Gill Sans, font size 350.  I printed and cut out the templates and then traced them onto felt.  Remember when you are sewing on your embellishments that the middle panel will be folded in half.  So make sure to orient your embellishments so that they are facing right side up!  I placed both the pocket and the car about 3″ down from the coordinating fabric panel.

Follow the tutorial as written for step 4.

Modified Step 5:  Mark your opening marks not in the center of your coordinating exterior fabric but at the top.  Make your first mark at .5″ and your second at 1.5″, down from the seam where your coordinating exterior meets the interior fabric.

Follow the tutorial as written for steps 6-9.

Modified Step 10:  Using your ruler, mark a line 2.5 inches down from the corner, all the way across, like this.  Use a fabric marker, if you have one.

Modified Step 11:  For the two outside corners (i.e. the corners that you are making in the exterior fabric), instead of stitching all the way across the line that you just drew in step 10, you need to leave an opening in the middle to allow you to pull the straps through to form the backpack straps.  Leave about a half inch on either side of the center of your line, like this:

Make sure to reinforce your stitching on both sides of the hole that you leave.

Don’t trim off the corner yet!!  (This is different than the original tutorial and is actually different than the pictures I will show you.  I ran into problems with the stitching unraveling when I cut off the corner too soon.  So wait to cut the corner until Step19.)

Repeat this modified step for the other exterior corner.  Make the two interior corners the normal way and sew all the way across.

Modified Step 12:  Don’t sew the opening in your lining closed yet!  We won’t do this until the very end!

Follow the tutorial as written for step 13.

Modified step 14 – 15:  You are going to sew around the top of the bag .5” from the top and 1.5″ from the top.  Sew just at the top and bottom of the opening that you left in step 6.  Follow the same instructions as Steps 14/15 in the original tutorial but just move where you sew your lines.

Modified step 16:  Don’t worry about finishing the ends of your ties as you sew them.  They’ll be hidden inside the bag.

Follow the tutorial as written for steps 17-18.

Modified Step 19:  Here is where we turn the bag into a back pack!  Pull the bag closed so that the ties are long.  Even out each of your ties.  Working with one side at a time, insert the ends of your ties into the hole that you left in step 11.  Make sure the ties aren’t twisted when you do this.

At this point, you will want to try on the backpack to see if you like how long the ties are.  You may need to trim some off until you get a strap length that is comfortable for you or whoever is going to wear it.  My ties ended up being about 50″ long.

Clearly, I didn’t take my “be careful of twisted ties” advice!

Then, carefully pull the whole corner out through the hole in the bottom of the lining so that you can sew it closed.

Remember, you’re not supposed to have cut off the corner yet!  This will make it a  little bit harder to see what you’re doing but will ensure that your side seam doesn’t unravel.  You’ll be able to tell by feel if the straps are in far enough. 

Then sew the opening closed, catching the ties securely.

See how the seam was unraveling?  That’s why you need to wait to cut off the corner until you’ve sewed the hole closed!

NOW – cut off the corner, leaving about a 1/4″ seam allowance.  Push the corner back into the inside of the bag and repeat with the other side.  Then sew the lining closed with a very small seam allowance (see step 12 in the original tutorial for a picture of this.)

And, ta da!!  You’ve made a beautiful, lined backpack ready to be filled with treasures!

I hope you have fun making this lined backpack.  They are really very easy and fast, particularly once you’ve made one or two!

And thanks so much to Jeni at In Color Order for the great tutorial that this one is based on!

Posted in sewing | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

She talks!

Posted on February 15, 2012 by Laura

Ellie is really starting to pick up speed with her words.  She regularly says, “Uh oh,” “Baba”, “Yiayia”, “YEAH!!!!”, and “Bye!”.  She has also several non-word sound that she uses at specific times to mean specific things.  For example, she say, “Nuh-winnnnn” when she’s doing something particularly fun.  I love hearing that noise because it lets me know that all is right in Ellie’s world!

What is conspicuously missing from that list above is, “Mama.”  She still doesn’t consistently use my name, perhaps because I’m always around and she doesn’t really ever need to call me.  We actually play a pretty fun game where I ask her to say, “Mama” and she answers with “Baba”.  (Baba, by the way, is what we call Nik – it’s Greek for Dad.)

Here’s Ellie and I playing that game!

Posted in Ellie, movie | 2 Comments