6.29.2012

ABD

So this post is more for me to remember (and I thought I would share as well) The Bubb's progress on learning the alphabet. For the past few months he has been pointing out letters and trying to name them (in the abc song tone and rhythm)...we have letters on the fridge, letters in the bath, and letters in the back of his Chicka Chicka Boom Boom book, which is why he is interested I think.


Without really any effort (aside from just naming them when he points them out or pointing to each letter while singing the abc song) he knows:

A B D E F H K L M N O P Q R T U

Which is just amazing (I think)! They really are like little sponges! These letters are always confused and he is so confident about it too (the latter letter being what he thinks is the right letter):

C = U
J = U
X = K

Ones he doesn't know:

C J G I S V W X Y Z

He's says them all pretty well except for G and W.

I decided that I would start encouraging him to learn the rest so I bought these flashcards with animals on them (I thought about making them but at some point you have to be honest with yourself and it just wasn't ever going to happen) plus they will be really fun to hang up in his room with clothespins. But I am also thinking that I am going to make some felt (or fabric letters), sorta like these as I have a lot of scraps that would be perfect for it.


The Bubb's favorite letter is H. He likes to point it out whenever he sees it as a text letter, or the "H" shape in an object - like a shadow or a ladder (where the rungs with the sides make an "H") Or maybe he is just crazy when he points to things and says "H" but I always see it too once he says it. His favorite number is 2. He can't count and really isn't interested in the other ones but he likes 2 for some reason. Whenever we get into the elevator to come home it goes something like this:

Me: "3" and push the button (hoping he'll take an interest in what I'm pushing and saying)
Bubb: "2"
Me: "Thrrreee"
Bubb: "Yeah, 2" then points to the button and does a little dance.
Me: Sigh. "No we don't touch the emergency stop button" and pull his hand away.
Bubb: "Yup" Then proceeds to try to get the emergency phone door open.

Thankfully the ride is not that long.

Hope everyone has a good pre-holiday weekend!

6.27.2012

Work In Progress


For the past couple of weeks I've been working on this urban elephant quilt. I had so much fun picking out the fabrics using the urban elephants as the "base" print that I wanted everything to go with. It is made using these seven different fabrics (opted to only use the Kona Ash and not the Kona Medium Gray):


I've just used strips of the urban elephants and then cut various sized blocks of the other fabrics.


So excited to see this blanket all finished. I am currently waiting to get some silver minky in my hands and then I will finish the blanket and do some simple quilting on it :)

6.21.2012

Cartastic


The Bubb is obsessed with cars. Actually that should read anything with wheels. All toy vehicles (including trains), real life cars, strollers, push carts, shopping carts, etc. And now that we know that he likes them so much we can't help but buy him (and people give him) things that have wheels so we have a lot of vehicle type toys.

So when I was browsing pinterest (I think it was on pinterest) I saw this cardboard box that a mom had cut out tunnels on and thought that The Bubb might like something similar. So. I made this:




I made it from a large amazon box and just cut off the flaps. Then I cut tunnels in the sides and corners. I made it while he was awake and he was super interested in what I was up to, especially since I kept taking one of his trucks to measure the openings. Once he saw what they were for he became kinda a pain as he wouldn't stop playing while I was trying to cut all the rest of the holes cause he wanted the box on the ground and well I was holding it up to cut. From there I added two ramps. One smaller and one bigger. They are made from leftover fabric bolts and I just duck taped them on. Then to make it a little flashier we had some of this checker duck tape on hand so I lined the tunnel openings with it and the ramps. He was super stoked. And I am pleased to say that he is still playing with it (45 plus minutes of focused activity at a time) three days later. Whoo-hoo! Even if this only lasts for a week it is a winner in my book!


Lining his cars all up...he can't have them any other way.

Other Bubb things of interest:

We (I mean Evan) made the mistake of drawing Babo on his Doodle Board and Emmett fell in love with it. One of his favorite things is to "erase" the drawings. So it got erased by accident. So I had to redraw it. Now instead of wanting to draw he just points and says Babo, runs to get his friend and then lays it on top of picture Babo and then he lays on top of real Babo. Silly silly boy.


A shipment of boxes came in the other day (for mailing purposes) and Emmett is all about the boxes of course. But was so curious about the plastic straps that hold them in place. He kept taking the ends and sticking it in between the layers of boxes. Over and over and over again. I didn't want to interrupt his fun especially when it kept him really entertained. So I let him go at it. I am thinking that I might make holes in the box above (or another box) and see if he'll do the same with pipe cleaners (less dirty and a little more safe). Anyway here he is keeping busy:


doesn't it remind you of one of those switchboard operators?


Off to get some cutting done before he gets up for his nap!

6.15.2012

Minky Baby Blanket with Batting


I thought I would share how I add batting to a simple cotton and minky baby blanket that is made by turning, rather than adding binding around the edges.

After cutting out the front and back fabric to the size you need, just layer the three pieces together: top fabric (face down), minky (face up) and batting. I put them in that order from top to bottom so that I can follow the edge of the top fabric when I'm sewing. Pin the three layers together and sew, using the top fabric as your guide and leaving a hole to turn. After they've been sewn, trim off the excess.



Then turn the blanket and the batting will be on the inside.



From here I trim the batting to be even with where the "edge" of the blanket will be. Then I fold up the minky to cover the batting (that way when I top stitch it will get sewn down) then I fold the top fabric under as well and pin closed.





Then I just top stitch all the way around, which closes up the hole and secures that little bit of batting.

Since batting shifts easily in the wash and bunching is never welcome, I quilt it. I figure out where I want my quilt lines, you can do it as heavily or as lightly as you want/need to fit your style.


Then I stitch down the rows. This pattern was easy to quilt but if the pattern is more random I make lines to follow and in this instance I chose to use a walking foot. I've done it without the walking foot and it was fine but it does make it easier due to the thickness with the batting.


All done!




Hope everyone has a good weekend!

6.08.2012

Tongs


Not really sure why but I wanted to see if The Bubb could use tongs as it requires a bit of coordination. So I got them out and selected some "fruit" for him to grab. I wanted it to be something that he was interested in (aside from cars) but would also be easy to grab. So we tried it out. I showed him how to do it, picking up each one slowly and explaining you need to squeeze and then putting them in the bucket. Then we did it together, me with my hand on his showing him to squeeze, two or three rounds, each time I tried to help less. Then I let him do it and after about 2 more rounds he was getting the hang of it but quickly lost interest and wanted to get back to his trucks.



So when Evan got home I told The Bubb to go show Dad what you learned. And of course he does all 5 fruit into the bucket in about a minute, like it was super easy! Dad was quite impressed. Evan also taught him to say cowabunga and it is super adorable! I am trying to get him to add dude to the end but it hasn't happened yet. We've been trying to get it on video but he won't say (or do) things when there is any type of camera around him. Silly boy. Hope everyone has a good weekend :)

6.05.2012

P I G

Piiiiiiig. The Bubb likes his pigs. While at Target, I was headed down the toilet paper aisle and stopped to compare prices of the different sized packages, cause one the medium sizes was on sale so I was trying to quickly figure out which was the better deal. During this time Emmett starts to chant, pig, pig, pig, pig, pig, pig. And I am thinking, okay my kiddo has lost it. Well better this than screaming, etc. So I turn to look at him and he points to the shelves behind me and says PIG. And you know what he was right. There were 50 pigs looking right at us.


Apparently Target tissue brand decided it would be fun to put animals on tissue boxes, so there were cows, sheep and most importantly pigs. So I hand him a box and he hugs it and starts stroking the face saying pig, pig, pig. So I add another to the cart, grab the toilet paper, and head towards the check out. He did not let go of his pig box until he got into the carseat. Silly boy.

He doesn't find it as fascinating as he first did but he still likes it. And weirdly he isn't overly obsessed with pulling out all the tissues, so lucky me on that one :)


But it is pretty cute and now I like to randomly call out "pig" to Evan while watching TV if the box is the family room and it happens to catch my eye.


6.01.2012

Distraction

Aside from shop orders, not a lot of sewing going on in these parts. Mostly cause I keep finding other things to do, for instance... Evan and I recently 'discovered' Downton Abbey and have been watching multiple episodes every evening. It is fantastic!


We are half way done with Season 2 and last night around 6:30 we just looked at each other and said why can't he go to bed now? we need to watch!

We've also been to the aquarium and The Bubb seemed much more interested than usual, which was good.


And we had our random celebrity sighting, Alton Brown


I took The Bubb to the zoo yesterday with a friend and although he was his typical Bubb self, not so interested in the animals and more interested in running around, he was super intrigued when the hippo came up for air in his pool, so that was fun. I wish I had taken some pictures! Hope everyone has a good weekend!
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