This is how I sometimes amuse my Little Bean in the late afternoon before daddy comes home. She knows and can say the names of all these things except the purple fuzzy creature.
Art Every Day Month – Day 19
Category Archives: Recreation
Let’s Build Something!
Art Every Day Month – Day 8
This week’s theme for Illustration Friday is wise, and owls were my first thought. Bean adores owls and loves to say the word, though she has yet to catch on what they say (who? who?). So here is my attempt at drawing a barred owl. Owls have such improbable faces.
Art Every Day Month – Day 7
I traced my hand. I tried not to over-think what to do with it. I wanted contrast and boldness. The result brought to mind a mandala.
Representing the universe itself, a mandala is both the microcosm and the macrocosm, and we are all part of its intricate design. The mandala is more than an image seen with our eyes; it is an actual moment in time. It can be can be used as a vehicle to explore art, science, religion and life itself. The mandala contains an encyclopedia of the finite and a road map to infinity.
Carl Jung said that a mandala symbolizes “a safe refuge of inner reconciliation and wholeness.” It is “a synthesis of distinctive elements in a unified scheme representing the basic nature of existence.” Jung used the mandala for his own personal growth and wrote about his experiences.
It is said by Tibetan Buddhists that a mandala consists of five “excellencies”: The teacher • The message • The audience • The site • The time
An audience or “viewer” is necessary to create a mandala. Where there is no you, there is no mandala. (from: You Are the Eyes of the World, by Longchenpa, translated by Lipman and Peterson).
I have a world in my hand. So do you.
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“World In Hand” / 7×10″ sketch paper with ink and marker
Art Every Day Month – Day 3
A little early morning creativity in my journal. It’s mixed media collage on 7 x 10″ sketch paper. The quote is by Hui-Neng, and it’s been a favorite of mine for years.
Art Every Day Month – Day 2
My effort today is less art and more craft. (Not that knitting isn’t art, but a simple dishcloth is pushing the concept; now a lace shawl or something akin — that is art.) However, this is what I created today. Recently Husband purchased a knife sharpening kit and sharpened all our very dull blades. This has made cooking much easier and more fun; however, we learned the hard way that we cannot wash the knives with my hand-knitted dishcloths. One of them was shred to bits, and so this one replaces it.
I spent a lovely afternoon visiting with a relative — a second cousin on my father’s side of the family. She was a fascinating person to talk to and before I realized it, I’d been there nearly four hours. I learned a couple years ago that I had relatives in the Bay Area, but without a premise for contact I didn’t pursue it, and I was busy, so the time wasn’t right. My parents recent visit catalyzed the connection.
Bean had a rough day today. I felt her gums, and she has an upper left molar coming through, plus the rest of her gums are very puffy. She has new words, though: all done, bird, cracker, excuse me (coo-mee), gate mouse (mess), pear. She mimicks what she hears really well.
It Was Fun
Bean’s still a little young to understand Halloween, hence the lack of a fancy costume this year. Among the many animals she likes is the owl, so she was happy to wear this outfit. We went to Westgate Mall where the majority of stores participated in trick-or-treating. The place was hopping! Next year we may go out into the neighborhood, but since it’s raining here today, this seemed like the best plan. She doesn’t have much interest in sweets generally, though we did give her little bits of gummy bear, and she ate them. Her favorite prize was the large brown leaf she found on the floor, which she clutched in her right hand as we made our rounds.
A Busy Brain
Bean understands more every day and demonstrates it in many ways. Here are some examples.
- The other day we were getting ready to leave, and I was searching for her sippy cup. As I looked around I said, “Where’s your cup? We need it to go bye-bye.” I continued to scan the living room muttering that I had just seen it somewhere. Then I turned around, and Bean was toddling back from the kitchen with the cup in her hands, and she walked over to the diaper bag and laid it on the top.
- When I ask her if she needs a dry or clean diaper, sometimes she nods yes. When I tell her we need to go change her diaper, she walks over to the stairs and waits for me to open the gate.
- Bean will stand at her bookcase and pull books off the shelves one after another as she searches for the book she wants read to her. Sometimes I’ve suggested a book (Let’s read Trucks!) and she finds a book about trucks and hands it to me.
- I started asking her to say “please” when she wants a book re-read to her. A couple of times she did say it, but then she decided to resist. She’ll shake her head, say “No,” and emphatically make the sign for more. If I persist in telling her to say please, she gets mad and upset. I’ve decided that when it comes to saying please, I’ll start with modeling the behavior for her. I also don’t want to get into a fight with her about saying please at this age, especially over reading books. And while I think she understands the concept of “no” to some degree, I also think she gets confused. There are times she says no when she clearly means yes.
- When she hears a plane (or helicopter), she declares Pane! Pane! When she hears the rumble of a loud truck engine, she says Ca! Ca! (her word for truck). Also, when she sees a plane in the sky, even when it’s very small because it’s far away, she becomes excited and shouts her word for it and babbles. Sometimes she mistakes a bird in flight for a plane as well, but she’s starting to make the distinction. The other day she pointed to a black bird and said crow (though the “r” sounds like “w” still).
She’s also added new words: bag, bear, bow-wow, bubbles, bus, crow, foot, neigh, ooo-ooo (monkey), pop, poop, quack, sneeze, tummy, tunnel.
First Art!
Bean picked the crayon colors herself. It was fun to watch her expression as she realized that she was making the marks on the paper.
Our Weekend
Saturday we went to a friend’s first birthday party. There, Bean discovered that she does like cake and frosting. She just wasn’t interested two weeks ago, on her birthday.
And today we went to the Oakland Zoo. She was thrilled to see giraffes, elephants (her favorite animal as far as we can tell), snakes (a close second), zebras, birds, lions, tigers, monkeys, and otters, among other animals.
I didn’t take a lot of photos because I wanted to actually experience the outing and see the animals, but I did love the vivid colors of this Blue-and-Gold Macaw.
We are tuckered out and going to bed!
Special Guests
They came bearing gifts. They arrived at the doldrums of 103-degree afternoon. Bean chatted up a storm with them and generally delighted us all. Georgia entertained us with her talents (amazing eyebrows!) and was so sweet with Bean. It was very special to meet Karen and Georgia, as both of them are close to my heart and have helped me in many ways. Since I seem to be increasingly economical with words (forgive my laziness), I’ll let a photo speak for me. We would love to see them again, and I’m certain we will.
It’s Like a Giant Bathtub, Only Deeper!
Bean had her first encounter with a swimming pool today. I know, I’m a bad mommy for not having taken a dip sooner. Truth is, I couldn’t find my bathing suit and I wasn’t feeling up to shopping. But I did come across it, and we went to a friend’s home to play. She loved the experience. Considering it’s close to 100 degrees, we might do this again over the next few days.
It’s Not Art, Exactly
My mother sent a calendar that had gorgeous food photos with the suggestion I might use them with Bean. So today I quickly glued them to Bristol paper, which will make them less fragile. I’ll trim the edges once they are all dry. There has not been much time or energy for knitting or other creative art ventures, so in the meantime this must do.
The photos are from the Center for Science in the Public Interest calendar.
Bean At Eleven Months
Bean is better; her fever broke yesterday. Now I have a sore throat and a low grade fever, and I hope this passes just as quickly.
My morning started with feeling punky and then turned odious. (Warning: somewhat gross details follow.) I was eating my toast at the table and Bean was playing on the floor. I had not done a visual sweep of the room as I have learned, having a cat, to get in the habit of doing. For some reason I happen to look over at ?, who was sitting by the sliding glass door playing with ochre-colored chunks of something. It took me a couple seconds that it was not Cheerios. Yep, Stella had regurgitated right there, and for a couple of minutes Bean had a ball playing with all the squishy stuff. Ugh. I caught her just before she put the hair ball in her mouth. I whisked her away, washed her off, and then proceeded to work on the mess. Thank goodness for the Spotbot. It took me about a half an hour because the mess covered about four square feet. Thus began the day.
Right now she is napping and I am stealing a few moments to get this post written. So, what is Bean doing at 11 months?
- She has a habit of swinging and banging her right foot and only her right foot. When she goes down for sleep, she rolls to her stomach and starts banging her right foot on the mattress. Sitting in the high chair, she’ll kick the tray rhythmically.
- The last few times I have taken her to the baby story hour at the library, Bean has ambled off on her hands and knees right up to the front of the room to be near the librarian. It’s a large room, and all the mothers and babies sit on the floor. Bean rarely looks back to check if I’m still there. So, on the one hand I am happy she is so confident, and on the other hand, I’m aware that this extroverted child who likes everyone she meets is quite independent, and I’m going to need to keep both eyes on her so she doesn’t walk off with the nearest friendly hand. I also felt a little twinge while I sat there among the mothers who were all playing with and singing to their babies, while I had no one — a reminder for me that all is in transition and to embrace what emerges rather than cling to what is passing.
- She is becoming aware of funny situations. Recently was in my arms having her bottle and she passed gas. Then she laughed about it! Bean has this habit of wrinkling her nose a little when she is being silly and funny. It’s really beguiling.
- The words “kiss kiss” will often garner a kiss from her, though she hasn’t learned to plant them on a cheek. She also often makes a kiss sound in response to one made to her, and often, she will make a kiss at me (or her father) just because.
- There’s a section in a book we read that says, “These are the things that babies hear: songs, whispers, claps, cheers,” and Bean will clap her hands every time.
- Bean understands the sentence, “Do you want to read books?” She will crawl at top speed over to her bookcase and sit in front of it, ready to pull off her choices one by one and be read to.
- Bean is beginning to self-feed more adeptly. Chunks of banana, cut up beans, carrots, and broccoli, bits of pasta or chicken all make their way into her maw. And she has also started feeding me bits of her food. She has great fun trying to get a Cheerio or bite of peach into my mouth, laughing throughout the attempt.
- Bean has a standard way of sitting on the floor in a position that enables her to take off into a crawl any second. The photo below will show this. It’s the hurdler’s stretch position and she’s very cute in her consistency. (It’s not an ideal photographic back-drop with the vacuum cord and chair nearby, but it’s candid!)
I’m in the process of coordinating her first birthday party. I’ve decided to keep things simple: serve appetizers and cake, do only a little decorating, and skip the party favors until next year. The party will begin at 2:00, and the singing and cake serving will happen at 3:00. My mother-in-law will be here to assist, and I surely will need it!
Eleven months. Wow.
Ten Things Tuesday
I’ve never participated in this meme before, but Gerry does so I thought I’d do a quick brain dump. Reader beware: the quality of what comes next might be less than intelligent. I should also mention that the meme focuses on 10 things one is thankful for; I wrote it more generally, though it could be said that everything on this list is something for which I’m grateful.
- Gas Prices: they are lower here. The cheapest I’ve seen is $4.11 per gallon. I was certain they’d keep climbing, so it’s a relief to see them drop a bit.
- Nature: I was out this evening searching fruitlessly for something and ended up at Target. When I emerged from my car I happened to look up and saw an enormous double rainbow! It was a complete arc; one of them was vivid and bright, and the other was muted and soft. I leaned against my car and stared for several minutes. I didn’t find what I wanted to buy but got something better for free!
- Oreos: I don’t often do it, but I bought a package of double-stuff Oreos tonight. As I drove home I passed a drugstore and the thought occurred to me: They sell Oreos too, and they are the exact same quality as what I bought elsewhere. Just think about this. You can find the same comforting, fattening, sugar-laden cookie at any retail outlet that sells food, and you can be sure it will be the same all over the U.S. Perhaps individuality is sacrificed, but there is something to be said for consistency. Am I weird, or what?
- Music: on this gorgeous 70-degree day I drove home from Bean’s music class and hit the classic rock station. I happened to tune in just as Peter Frampton’s classic “Do You Feel Like We Do?” was on. OMG, I was transported back into the 1970s to when I was about 13. I had a huge crush on Frampton. That song was seven minutes long, and I was in a reverie. I didn’t know until I searched on Google, but that song was recorded live at SUNY Plattsburgh in 1975. (This is relevant to me because I attended a SUNY college, grew up in New York State, and my father is from Plattsburgh.)
- More Music: Bean’s got rhythm! At class she loves to stand and rock back and forth to the music. She does this holding on to my hands, and we dance together.
- Reading: I’m currently reading a novel that barely holds my attention. It’s supposedly set in the 1780s, but I’m finding the style affected and over-wrought, and I’m skimming much of the book now. Why don’t I quit? Because I want to find out what happens to the heroine, though all along I’ve been able to predict this. Please recommend some good novels to me.
- Reading Again: (Is this cheating, using the same topic over?) Bean and I finished the summer reading program at our local library. Bean’s book reward was How Do Dinosaurs Learn Their Colors?, and the family-oriented book I chose was I Love Dirt!: 52 Activities to Help You and Your Kids Discover the Wonders of Nature. It seems like a good companion to the book Last Child In the Woods, which I started a few months ago. The activity book is slim and the ideas are simple and obvious, but it was free and is bound to provide a jumping off point for exploration in the future.
- Intuition: late this afternoon, Bean sneezed frequently. By the end of the day, she was more tired than usual and clingy and verged on cranky, despite the fact she got the usual solid sleep she gets. Perhaps a cold is coming? I feel it might be. We’ll see if my mother’s intuition is correctly tuned.
- Social Networks: I recently joined Facebook because a friend is on it, and that’s where she puts up photos of her child. I’m not sure that being on yet another network is of much, if any, use. But I’m there, and if you’re a member too, find me and be my friend.
- Sleep: the magic number of hours for me to feel actually rested and vital is… eleven. Yes, 11 hours of sleep daily seems to be what I need. It isn’t what I always get, in part because I spend about 12 hours a day mothering Bean and would be totally depressed if all I ever did outside of that is sleep. However, speaking of sleep, I should go get some.
A Long Day
I sit at the dining table, just having put Bean to bed at 7:45 p.m. Husband is out seeing a movie with a friend; he deserves an occasional fun outing too. The challenge has been that last week I started doing something different with Bean’s schedule, and today I’ve decided it probably isn’t working out.
Before last week, our routine was thus:
Wake at 5:45 or 6:00 a.m., have a bottle
Play until sleepy around 7:30-8:00 a.m., go down for a nap
Up around 9:00 or 9:30 a.m., eat breakfast, play or go out
Bottle at 11-ish, play, then a second nap around 12:30
Up at 1:30 or 2:00, lunch, more play
Another nap around 3:30 or 4:00 sometimes
Dinner at 5:30, play, Husband home for dinner at 6:30
Play, bath, bed at 7:45 or 8:00
Last week I began trying:
Wake at 5:45 or 6:00 a.m., have a bottle
Back to sleep in the crib until she wakes at 8:00 or 8:30
Breakfast at 9:00
Bottle at 11:30
Nap at 1:00
Lunch at 2:00, bottle later, then dinner
Up until 7:45 or 8:00
Even though she is getting the same number of hours of sleep, I noticed with the new schedule she is cranky, more tearful, and tired. She seems to need a nap at 10 or so, but she won’t fall asleep. She has a mid-day long nap, but then ends up exhausted, clingy, and whiny in late afternoon; however, she won’t nap then either. So it makes for many many hours between sleep periods where she is just not her best self.
Tomorrow I’ll return to the former schedule and observe how this works over the next week. My hope is that she regains her cheerful balance. I think she simply needs more frequent, if shorter, naps.
I wish I had more to say, but at this time of day I’m lucky if I can form a thought at all! A novel and bed await.
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Next on my to-read list (once I can get a copy from the library): The Lincolns: Portrait of a Marriage
Brain Food And Entertainment
In between shopping for a new car seat, providing the usual care for Bean, doing laundry, buying groceries, vacuuming and mopping, watering outdoor plants, and making lemon buttermilk pies for a potluck, I’ve been squeezing in another book. The library books are momentarily set aside so I can complete a book I started months ago, Oil! by Upton Sinclair. I am now fascinated by the story (as relevant today as it was at first publication in 1927) and the history lesson embedded in the plot. The reason I had put it aside was that Sinclair uses two devices I found intrusive to my attention — the second person point of view and a liberal application of exclamation points. The story finally drew me in enough that I was able to let go of the distractions.
Tide Change
My energy seems to have returned, which makes me feel cheerier and optimistic. This shift occurred over the weekend when I got some time to myself.
A Guatemalan friend recommended some authors to me, so on Thursday I dove into Antigua and My Life Before, by Marcela Serrano. I finished yesterday completely satisfied with the encounter. I have not read much in recent months. In part this is because in recent years I turned to non-fiction more often, and I find I can’t sustain my attention on it now. Slipping into another reality via a good story is what I need. The next book is The Bejeweled Boy by Miguel Angel Asturias. My friend also encouraged me to try Gabriel Garcia Marquez again; I had tried to read One Hundred Years of Solitude several times but it did not engage me. She has suggested I try Love in the Time of Cholera, so this is on my list to borrow from my beautiful local library.
In addition to reading, I was able to go out shopping to use a gift card I’d won at a social event. It was at Lakeshore Learning, so it was still oriented toward my child, but I love to look at educational games and teaching supplies, and I had fun there. And I took a relaxing soak yesterday evening. These moments rejuvenated me.
I have another reason to feel happy as well. My parents have booked a plane flight to visit us in October! We are thrilled and excited they are making the long journey from Syracuse, especially because they are in their mid-70s and travel is not so easy for them (and many others) any more. They will get to meet their granddaughter in person! We have a busy season coming up; visitors are coming in August, September, and October, and then holiday season begins. Every day I pay attention — as often as I can — because so much happens, and Bean is changing so fast. I try to embrace and yet not cling.
The Problem With Blogging
Well first, it takes time and energy, which are increasingly scarce for me.
Second, and more importantly to me, it creates an often one-sided relationship with people. It puts people in a spectator role and removes incentive to connect directly with me, because they already know what’s up in my life.
That doesn’t provide the most fulfilling relationships for me.
I’m so exhausted that I have few words and less energy. I go to bed at 8:00 p.m., am unconscious immediately, then arise at 5:30 a.m. (or whenever Bean wakes), and feel exhausted all day. I think that the energy required to be a mother — the vigilance, the constant availability — just calls for more energy than a good night’s sleep can provide.
I have less to say, and less desire to share in the blog what little I do have to say. I may be evolving out of blogging. Or at least headed toward a hiatus.
This Is What We Do At The Park
In addition to riding the swing, pulling up grass, scrunching sand between our fingers, and generally trying to put all interesting items in the mouth:
And happy, happy news! Uncle TP is coming for a visit to meet my Little Bean in August! It’s funny, because he came out in August last year for a visit when I was huge and so ready to give birth and be done with pregnancy. A year? Already?! (I say that a lot on this blog, don’t I?)