Let's Get Cooking

A month or two ago, I discovered that craigslist has an RSS notification feature, so you can get notified when new listings are added that meet your search criteria (the same way you can get notified of new posts on blogs - like Tiny Muffins! - if you use an RSS reader, e.g. Google Reader). Anyway, I knew we wanted to get a play kitchen for E, so I saved my search and I've been keeping an eye on all the kitchen listings in our area. Last week, this cute one came up, and we jumped on it!

 

My kitchen!

I wasn't aiming for blue, but this one happened to be blue and that's a-okay by me. It's in great shape for having been used by two kidlets already. There's a microwave, oven (with knobs that click), fridge (that seems like it'll be more useful as storage space), sink, range, and a variety of open shelves.  Now we get to stock it!

In other news, Hubbo and I thought we felt a tooth nubbin yesterday, but we've thought that before. Time will tell...  E is still enjoying rolling on to his tummy once in awhile, especially right before bed time.  That was also his favorite time of day to practice rolling off of his tummy while he was learning that skill.  And lastly, he's getting pretty awesome at supporting himself if he has something to lean on, as in the picture.  That's Daddy's hand there just for spotting.

Book Review: Understanding Exposure

I've still been reading as much as usual lately, but I went through a few books that didn't prompt me to write reviews of them. Not so with Understanding Exposure, by Bryan Peterson. My library only had the second edition, so that's the one I read, and it was awesome! I have a new appreciation for my camera now - I know what those mysterious "A, S, M" modes are, and what that meter and those little numbers in the viewfinder are for. I read the book together with my camera and its manual handy, I'm looking forward to trying out all the great stuff I learned about choosing aperture and shutter speed, and occasionally ISO. I'm not sure if it'll change much about the way I take pictures of Mr. Muffin though, since they're quick snapshots seeing as he doesn't sit still and pose!

A little bit of the information about digital cameras seemed somewhat dated, but there is a newer (2010) edition which has great reviews on Amazon as well.

---

A little ironic that the photography book post doesn't include a picture of the little guy, but I haven't been snapping many this week. His new skill since about Easter is voluntarily rolling on to his tummy (!!) and propping himself up on his elbows. He just might crawl yet!

Babyhawk Back Carry

Not exactly our best photo, but Hubbo was out of town on a business trip. Here we are using a Babyhawk mei tai-style carrier that I rented from our "local" babywearing group.

I really like this carrier now that E is sometimes a bit squirmy for the Moby, and I've read that it isn't a good idea to wear a baby on your back with a stretchy wrap. In fact, I ordered my own, and it's supposed to arrive today! Since it doesn't have any buckles, the Babyhawk is more adjustable than the Boba I tried a few months ago. It's a little more complicated to put on, but I can actually make it snug enough to do a back carry.

Seven Months!

Happy seven months, little guy! Daddy and I can't believe you've been with us so long already.

Some fun facts about seven months:

• You still have grey in your eyes
• You love to walk around with someone holding your hands
• You are really in to knobs of all kinds - on cabinets, doors, the stove...
• Doorframes are quite interesting, especially the molding and the faceplates for the door knobs, and the hinges too

Full speed ahead!

Soft Blocks: Complete!

The idea for these blocks came from this post over at How We Montessori (I didn't realize that I photographed mine the same way until just now!). I'd been wanting to make these for a while, because E's wooden blocks were a bit too big for his hands, although now his hands are just about big enough. I actually bought the fabric that I used in the puzzle ball for this project originally.

The blocks are about 1 1/2" on each side. They're not exactly cubes, but my technique for the corners improved as I went along.

Here we are getting ready for a walk. So cute in the hood!

Also unrelated, I woke up with a headache the other day, and I made some fresh lemon ginger tea. It's a great way to use up lemons that I don't know what to do with. I just squeeze about 1/3 of a lemon (if you don't over squeeze it you can use it for more than one cup of tea) into a mug, put the lemon itself in, add a little honey, then put about 1/2 to 1 inch of sliced ginger (skin removed) into a tea strainer, and pour boiling water over the whole thing, letting it steep about 3 minutes. I also used the ginger for a second cup. Yum!

Tulips

Tulips are our favorite flower, and we're lucky enough to have some in the garden here. With the warm weather we had last week (back to 40's today), some of the tulip blossoms opened really crazy wide yesterday:

Click to embiggen

The others weren't quite so wide, but they're a great color:

Here's Miss E in the hat I made for her, link!

Tidbits

In the unseasonably warm weather this week, little E and I have been spending some time trying to tame the garden in the back yard (the former owners were retired and loved to garden).

Super cute bucket hat from Target, it's reversible - yellow on one side, green on the other!

E has also just started to see his reflection in things other than a mirror, like the oven. He loves it! He's also really into rolling on to his side and patting and/or talking to his reflection in the mirror while getting he's diaper changed.

Speaking of rolling, he has a stunt that we do all the time now. I (or Hubbo) hold Mr. Muffin by the hands while he's standing, and then he leans down into my lap so he's on his belly, and then he rolls over on to his back. Tada!