Tag: mud kitchen

I wound my first skein of yarn by hand into a ball and could finally cast onto my first shawl!  This yarn is truly dreamy to knit with, as so many others have said, but I’m not sure I’m crazy about the colorway.  I’ll see what I think when I finish up.  In some light, it reminds me of the ocean on a gray day, or of Phoebe’s little sleepy eyes, which makes me love it.  I finished up a little baby hat this week in that gorgeous super soft deep pink yarn.

Philippa has been really into pointing out all the “no-no’s” this week, walking around (or climbing on my desk) and pointing and asking, “no-no?”  As if she doesn’t know.  She is definitely going to be our craziest little one so far.  Last night after I pulled her out of her chair after dinner, I took off her pants which were covered with food.  Normally we bathe the kids right after dinner.  I was going to let her wander for a minute while I finished eating and next thing I know I see her naked bum walking around carrying her cloth diaper in the other hand.  She yelled “da-tye!” (bath time) and went running and squealing for the bathroom as I chased her.  She is hilarious and I have NO idea how she got her diaper off.  She is into everything, and she loves throwing laundry in the toilet.  Sigh.

The kids and I tidied up the backyard and the sandbox this morning, resurrecting it.  Phoebe is pretty excited about it being mud pie season again and I hope to add a few more things to her outdoors kitchen.  These past few days have been warm and sunny in NC and even though I didn’t think I was ready to see winter go, these warm days are so pleasant that I’m starting to dream up little spring projects for us.  Philippa loves being in the backyard and is content in the sandbox for quite a while.  We might see some snow again this week, but we’ll enjoy whatever we get, whether sun or snow or just drizzly cold.  It’s all a season, it all comes and goes, and each day bears its own gift and its own rub.

We met with a new nutritionist for Phoebe last night, a specialist in our area for Celiacs.  It was probably the first time I’ve felt like we really have an advocate who is able to help us, who is knowledgeable, compassionate, practical, and seems to really care.  We’ve met with a few others, and this was the first time it felt right.  After looking at what Phoebe is getting calorically per day, she was pretty mystified as to why her weight is dropping, even after 6 months on a gluten-free diet.  In some ways that made me feel better, but it also concerned me.  We should see and hope to see growth SOON.  One thing I really appreciated was the fat folder of resources she gave me for local restaurants with details about each one, best grocery resources, flour recipes, coupons, etc.  She encouraged us to give up oats for the next 6 months as there has been controversy recently on the processing of oats and unintended cross-contamination.  We also talked about trying to diversify the grains Phoebe is eating beyond mostly rice products, so I’m really excited to have some recipes to play around with millet, sorghum, amaranth, and some bean flours which are new to me.  I keep taking it a step at a time, a couple new changes at a time, which saves my sanity and makes it more manageable.

This week has felt like the first hints of spring, and I have told the kids to be looking for the very first buds on the branches.  Whoever spots them first will get a little treat of some sort, so they have been looking every day.