“All I am saying in this book can be summed up in two words: Trust Children. Nothing could be more simple, or more difficult. Difficult because to trust children we must first learn to trust ourselves, and most of us were taught as children that we could not be trusted.”
Here’s the comment I left on their page:
I’ve just recently started listening to your podcasts. The ‘AP sucks’ one got me hooked
So you asked some questions in your podcast, and alluded to some things that I’ve been struggling with. Since realizing that school isn’t really all that necessary (thanks to Sir Ken Robinson’s talk on schools killing creativity for getting that ball rolling!) I’ve realized that although school was easy for me and I (mostly) enjoyed it, I spent most of my schooling making my parents proud. Heck, I went into Biochemistry at University because it made my parents (and guidance counsellor) proud and happy. When I switched into Nursing, I was terrified to tell my parents for fear of their disapproval and even now at 26, married for almost 4 years with two kids, I’m terrified that if I don’t ever “use” my degree and work as a Registered Nurse, I’ll disappoint them (actually, I know I’ll disappoint them. My dad has said it on a number of occasions). So, do I trust myself? Hell no. I’ve been subtly told that I’m untrustworthy and incapable of making decisions for myself my whole life – but I’m darn good at making decisions to make other people happy. It sucks. It sucks second-guessing myself all the time. It sucks having to think “am I making this decision because it’s right for me or because it will make someone happy/proud?” every time I decide something.
I have a hard time knowing who I am and what I like to do. I mean, some things are obvious – I like to knit, I love to read, I’m passionate about environmentalism and breastfeeding, but beyond my hobbies and passions – who am I? I can’t answer that.
Do I trust my kids? Yes and no. I find it easy to trust infants/babies. Really, their needs are so few (and so obvious and so easily met, generally speaking) that it’s hard to argue that they aren’t trustworthy (although some people try *cough* Gary Ezzo *cough*. I trust 100% my son, Gil – he’s 5 weeks old. When he fusses or cries, I nurse him, comfort him, take him to pee/poo or change his diaper if it’s too late. That being said, I find it terribly difficult to trust Gwen, my 21-month-old. There’s a lot of information on attachment parenting babies – not so much on once they become little people! I find it hard not to slip into the “she’s manipulating me” “she’s testing me” “she doesn’t know what she needs” “she should eat more/sleep more/go to bed earlier” “she’s just being dramatic” “what’s wrong with her” “she shouldn’t feel that way” trap. I hate it and I try not to do it, but gosh darnit it’s HARD not to think those things and even harder, once you’ve thought them, to not take action on them.
Learning to trust is hard. We’re currently planning to unschool, and I’m learning every day to give up a little bit more control so that Gwen can learn about her environment, make messes and mistakes, and enjoy her life. I don’t want to pass on my distrust of myself, and I hope that the past 18 months of distrust in her is easily undone. I’m hoping to do things differently with Gil – for example doing baby-led solids (which we ended up at with Gwen anyways because she wouldn’t eat purees), not trying to force him to sleep separate than us, etc. I’m so looking forward to enjoying life with my kids and exposing them to different life experiences (a nutrient-rich environment – I like that analogy) and learning along with them!
Materials Required: Two colours of yarn and needles sized to match yarn. I used one ball each Olive (colour A) and Brown (colour B) in Magic Buttons by Naturally and US 3 /3.25mm needles.
Sizing: These legwarmers fit my 20 lb toddler perfectly, and would likely fit a smaller baby well, too. They’re pretty well the same dimensions as store-bought Babylegs, just a little smaller in the circumference.
Directions:
Knit a gauge swatch (I know. This totally sucks.) so you can figure out how many stitches you need to cast on to get the desired circumference - my gauge swatch gave me 6 st/inch.
Cast on using colour A. In my case, I cast on 40 stitches.
Work 1 inch of K2P2 ribbing in colour A.
Switch to colour B and work 9 inches of stockinette stitch, alternating colours every 1 inch.
Work 1 inch of K2P2 ribbing in colour A.
Cast off loosely.
Sew up side of warmer.
Make another one!
Possible Adaptations:
Knit in the round, which I would normally do because I hate sewing things up. Sadly, I didn’t have the right needle size.
Knit in one colour and leave plain or embellish with some fun embroidery.
Knit the stripes unevenly for a more funky look.
Adapt the pattern to your child’s leg size by measuring around their thigh and adjusting the number of stitches to cast on.
If you happen to make this pattern, leave me a link! I’d love to see what you’ve done and what they look like!
On Friday, I had my 29 week appointment. According to their wildly inaccurate scales (the one I normally weigh myself on is 10 lbs less than most scales, and that bathroom was out of order, so I weighed myself in the other), I’ve gained 30 lbs. I’m 99.8% sure I’ve gained around 20, so I’m trying not to be too concerned!!Read the rest of this entry »
I couldn’t find a pattern that I loved that used worsted weight yarn and size 8 needles, so I made one up - or rather, I took parts from two different patterns and put them together.
The wrist ribbing, I took from Stay-Put Baby Mittens - since they were sized for around 18 months and Gwen’s 16 months (when did that happen?). I loved the twisted rib stitch and the length of the ribbing for little hands, so I cast 24 stitches onto my size 8 dpns and away I went!
The actual hand of the mitten, I took from Dulaan Easy-On Mittens, which feature an extra-wide thumb-hole (um, the first mitten I made with a regular thumb hole? Good luck getting THAT thing on a toddler!) and are non-hand specific, which I liked. So after my 3 inches of twisted ribbing, I increased to 28 stitches and switched patterns. Instead of a 12-stitch thumb opening, however, I did an 8-stitch opening since these mittens were sized for a child with a 7″ hand circumference … which Gwen’s is NOT.
I then embroidered one mitten with a flower to match the embroidery on the hat I made, and knitted a length of i-cord to link the two mittens together. (I-cord? Fun. And easy!) Eh, voila! Mittens for the wee one. These aren’t the warmest mittens on the face of the planet, but they’re just perfect for cool mornings and an outing to the park. I’m hoping to make her a winter-weight hat & mitten set shortly!
I just busy. And feeling like I’m not sure what to write. And I haven’t a clue where my camera cable is. Time for a bulleted list, anyone?
I’m 23 weeks pregnant now. Over halfway, 5 more weeks in my second trimester. Wow. Brad got to feel Love Bug kick this morning. I think that’s one of my favourite pregnancy experiences
Our kitchen is coming along swimmingly. Cabinets are in, sink and flooring are purchased and the counter-top people are coming on Monday to do the template.
I’m getting sick of living in renovation-land. I’m ready to have a working kitchen and dining room and to dig my living room out from underneath the paraphenalia associated with each unfinished area. Sooooo ready.
I’ve been reading quite a bit! I finished ‘Kids Are Worth It!’ by Barbara Coloroso and LOVED IT - thanks for the recommendation, Chelsea! I’m almost finished ‘The Continuum Concept’ by Jean Leidhoff and am enjoying it immensely. Lots of interesting information that’s making me think long and hard about Western life.
I’m knitting too! I’ve started some Christmas knitting, as well as a pair of socks for Gwen. Too cute.
My brother-in-law and his girlfriend are spending a few weeks with us, which I love. I love having people here to share my day with - and Gwen loves having more big people to follow around and imitate!
Next weekend I have an all-day LLL conference to attend. Should be interesting with Gwen.
I have an appointment with a thrombosis clinic next week to check out my varicose veins - I’m looking forward to finding out what’s going on in there.
I’m pretty sure we’re not doing the H1N1 vaccine. 99.8% of me is comfortable not being vaccinated - after all, I don’t ever get the seasonal flu shot … but there is 0.02% of me that’s terrified by all the fear-mongering. If I wasn’t pregnant, I’d be 100% sure I wasn’t getting it.
I’m newly addicted to the show Gossip Girl. It’s horrid. But good knitting entertainment!
I finally knit Gwen something. It makes me feel terrible to say that I’ve knit things in the last two years and none of them have been for my own daughter! But alas, I really hadn’t found anything that was quite right to knit for my beautiful baby girl. Read the rest of this entry »
I knit this up quite a while ago and I’m absolutely in love with it! It’s the pattern Mitered Hanging Towel from CanadianLiving.com. It’s a 100% cotton towel (you can even tell from this photo that someone has just used it to try their hands!) and it’s the best hand towel I have. I find that normally hand towels in the kitchen smell after a few days’ use. This thing’s been hanging on the oven for weeks (months? I’m not sure …) and nary a smell wafts from it nor your hands after using it. I just need to fix one little thing on it - the buttonhole is a titch too big and the button, although large, keeps sliding out, so I need to sew the hole closed a bit - nothing too big!
I’m working on another one - my idea was originally to have a matching hand towel and dishcloth for every day of the week - but it’s coming slowly. It doesn’t help that I just screwed up the pattern … that generally tends to immobilize me in my knitting - I truly hate fixing knitting mistakes … especially ones that take up an entire row. I think I might just go with the mistake and keep going. It’ll just be a little different in the striping pattern … and maybe that’s fun?
Saturday was my 25th birthday. We didn’t do a whole lot, but it was a great day nonetheless! Brad got up (at 6:20!) with Gwen and let me sleep until she needed to nurse - which was around 8. Ah, bliss! We got our favourite Saturday morning breakfast - a breakfast sandwich from the Locke Street Bakery. Mmmmm. Read the rest of this entry »
I don’t have a topic that I specifically want to blog on, so I thought I’d throw a random smattering of stuff out there.
On the right, you’ll see a new widget - the ‘Ideal Bite’ widget, and to be more precise, the ‘Mama Bite’ edition. I had signed up for these daily tips for green living a while ago and was loving getting them! Lately, though, I’ve realized that I already am aware of most of the tips/advice, so I unsubscribed, but thought I could continue to support them by helping my readers get some tips.
I’ve finally mastered the art of wearing Gwen on the front in my woven wrap. I’m currently using the front wrap cross and LOVE IT. Since Gwen’s about 15 lbs now, she’s getting too heavy for my sling, but it’s quite comfy to wrap her on! Now I’m trying to work on back carries …
I’m an aunt for the second time! Brad’s sister had a baby on February 4th - they are both (to our knowledge) doing well.
I’ve finally joined Ravelry! So far, I’ve input most of my stash and needles and have picked out my next pattern for some new socks. I’m almost done the sock I’m working on now.
I’m thinking of selling off my wool covers. Although they fit Gwen quite well as a newborn, this next size is just not working for us. Right now, we’re using two little g pants, a Kushies cover, and a Bummis cover. I’ve got an order in for a few more little g’s.
I’ve been working on my wedding scrapbook lately - digitally - and it’s been lots of fun to go through our pictures and re-live that day! I can’t decide whether to make just a picture book or to do some journalling … any suggestions?
Gwen has been sleeping GREAT lately!! She’s been taking two good naps - around 1 - 2 hours apiece AND she’s only waking twice during the night - once around 10 or 11pm and then again around 2 or 3am. The only downside to this good sleep is that she’s waking for the day between 6:15 and 6:30am. That’s just cruel (she used to wake up around 8:30am!).
On of my very good friends is very close to having a new baby … I’m so excited to meet him! I made her a dinner last night and need to take it over to her house this weekend for her freezer.
Facebook is irritating. Why doesn’t it ever work correctly?
I have been totally slacking in the picture department lately! I’ve got tonnes of pics of Gwen and lots of videos, but I haven’t taken them off my camera yet.
The cord on my laptop is dying. It needs some serious electrical tape and Brad and I are thinking seriously of doing a full back-up of all my files in preparation for the day that my laptop will be on it’s way to computer heaven. You can’t buy a new power cord for Macs, so once it’s done, it’s done. Not quite sure what we’re going to do when the lappy dies. I’m hoping I can get a new one, but yeah. That’s money.
My mommy just called and she’s coming to visit today! YAY!
I totally fell off the push-up and sit-up wagon. I did the first week and was loving it. And then yeah. I’m thinking I’m going to re-start week one this coming week since Brad wants to do the challenge too. This way, we can suffer together
J’ai déjà monté pour un autre paire des chausettes. J’ai trouvé une filme excellente qui représentant une method pour monté le fil pour les chausettes ‘toe-up’ - double knitting. Aller à 3:55 pour les instructions.
