One-Two Punch

I've been putting off converting my daughter's crib into the toddler bed. She's never tried to climb out yet which was the milestone I intended to wait for, but yesterday I had a thought that I should just go ahead and do it so today I made the change.

She thinks it's pretty great and enjoys climbing in and out by herself. I was worried she'd try to climb out prematurely when she was supposed to nap but nope. She crawled in and conked out quickly as usual and when she woke up she waited for me to come in before she climbed back out. I don't think she remembered she wasn't confined. Bedtime was just as great.

Before

After

I pray this transition stays easy! We'll see what happens in the morning, if she stays put or tries to come find me when she wakes. I don't actually know when she wakes because she usually lies quietly for a while before kicking the bars or singing to let me know she's awake.

One reason now felt like a good time to make this change is she's sleeping well again. She recently cut her first two year old molar and teething always disrupts her sleep. Then I've been thinking about camping this summer and how it would be really nice to not cram a portable crib into the tent. If she's used to sleeping unconfined by then life will be much easier. Lastly, I anticipate trying to potty train in earnest within the next year and that's only a reasonable goal if she can get herself to the bathroom unassisted.

Today's other milestone is my baby girl got her first haircut! I did it myself since I have a good pair of hair scissors and I didn't think she'd respond favorably to a stranger touching her head that much. She's used to me playing with her hair so she didn't react at all or even know what was going on. I let her watch Pooh's Heffalump Movie so she was riveted and stayed very still. I was the one traumatized by it all! Made me so sad to cut off her precious little newborn locks. I made little pigtails that I cut off first to stick in her baby book.

We showed her the pigtails after but I don't think she realizes they used to be attached to her head. 

I was a little worried she'd protest to the hair cut since she's never had one, but afterward I realized she probably didn't protest because she's never had one and thus didn't know or care what was going on back there.

I took off quite a bit of length. The hair at the back has grown uninhibited almost since birth and was down to her shoulder blades. She's always been a side and tummy sleeper so her front hair has always rubbed off giving her a pronounced mullet for a long time. I was worried if I trimmed the back sooner she'd look like Jim Carrey in Dumb and Dumber since her bangs were so short. Only recently has her hair thickened enough in the front that it looks long enough to shape into a convincing bob.

I wasn't sure how the curl would change with the long bits gone. It's still very wavy and fine as you can see and the locks over her ears flip out just like her dad's when he needs a haircut. I expect it to go straighter as she gets older since Reece and I both had straight hair till puberty.

Today, beds and haircuts. Tomorrow, college.

Mom the Builder

Last Christmas my daughter got mostly furniture for her gifts. That might sound lame, but she needed a few things since we moved and she now has her own bedroom. We purchased a set of child-size table and chairs from IKEA, and then I made a little play teepee and a learning tower. I'm very proud of my work too!

Last fall we started collecting power tools to make projects around the house easier to accomplish. To save money, we decided to collect items in the Black and Decker Matrix line. Basically you buy a power drill which motor functions as the base. The nose of the drill can pop off and another tool attached. By Christmas we the drill and a circle saw attachment so I made use of both for my Christmas projects.

I followed this tutorial to construct the teepee. I used an old fitted sheet so it took a little extra time to take it apart and make it work but it turned out so cute and matches the colors of her bedroom. I felt like a real woman wielding my circle saw to cut up the PVC! (Fun fact: I made the rope too. I twisted it at the Family Living Center in Nauvoo over ten years ago. Nice to finally have a use for it!)

Hiding in the teepee with her baby doll

The learning tower was a lot more work. A learning tower is basically a stool with a railing that small children can use to safely reach counter-height, usually in a kitchen. Pepper was at the stage where she'd get frustrated if I spent a lot of time in the kitchen doing stuff she couldn't see, but commercially manufactured learning towers are very expensive ($100-$300). I found this tutorial which was within my power and budget to complete so with the help of my husband, I bought the lumber and the right stool from IKEA to complete my hack.

I like to do things just right, so I spent forever measuring and marking exactly where I needed to cut and where to place screws. The stool that the tutorial used seems to be an older model than what IKEA sells now because my dimensions didn't match. I wasted lots of time marking the wood to match the tutorial and then changing everything after I measured my own stool and realized it was a slightly different size. Be advised of that if you try the hack for yourself.

Reece showed me how to use the tools but then left me to mostly do it myself. It probably took a week of snatching time here and there to finish construction, then a few more days to putty the screw holes, sand, and paint. I used paint left over from painting our master bathroom last fall.

Pepper loves her tower. Reece calls it her Rameumptum.

Fully constructed and holes all puttied with wood filler

Finished product!

I let her have it early so I could do my Christmas baking in peace.

Memory Lane

Facebook has this thing now where it will tell you your Facebook activity from that day in past years. I signed up to be notified daily of my past activity and it has been so fun to look back on what I was doing during different life stages.

Eight years ago I embarked on my study abroad to Israel which was actually the impetus to begin this blog to keep my friends informed about what I was doing without spamming them with mass emails. Since I posted most of my photos to Facebook I've been seeing lots of Israel semester photos popping up every day. I love reviewing those friends and adventures and that time of my life. It was a really special experience I'm still grateful for.

I'm not exactly homesick for Jerusalem; it was a very busy and kind of hard semester. I thoroughly enjoyed it but I was exhausted by the end and ready to go home and rest. But I look back nostalgically once in a while with a little bit of longing to hang out for a bit with those people in that place. To paraphrase one of my professors near the end of that semester:

'You can always come back to these places, but you can never come back to this space in time with these people.' 

I'm aware it is the people I was there with that made the experience so memorable, and it's the people I get homesick for. I'm been so blessed to make many friends from many places and backgrounds.

Six years ago this January was my last semester of college. Oh the shenanigans and social doings! Friends were so diverse and fun and accessible. I do not miss the papers and reading and deadlines, but I miss my extracurricular hobbies. I am inspired to make efforts to redevelop hobbies that made me feel happy and well rounded. After getting married and working long hours and having a baby and moving, my husband and I are both kind of at a loss at what our hobbies are. What do we do for fun? Rest, mostly. Stop moving for a little while and read or sleep. That is not a bad use of time for parents of young children, but now that my daughter is a little bigger and more autonomous I have time again to revisit hobbies and develop new ones.

I'll add blogging to the list and keep you posted on progress.