She Can Do It

For the record, she won't do this if he's not touching her. He's tries to not help her, she just needs that extra security that dad will catch her if she falls. I love that for so many reasons. She's an independant little girl who makes our hearts melt.

Sew Cute

Hey look, I actually finished the whole thing, binding and everything. It's even cute, at least I think so. Except the back, of which you will find no pictures here. At least I learned a few things about how to do that better next time. It's my first free motion quilting attempt, and despite and learning curve, I think it turned out adorable. My favorite part is the scrappy border. It really made the quilt. And the best part is: the cat and the kiddo love it. Can't ask for better praise than that.

Something new

Learning new things is hard. Tying your shoes, getting potty trained, learning to free motion quilt (a little advice, Lia?) and learning to change the oil in the car. I am so grateful that is something my amazing hubby learned how to do some time ago. He prides himself on taking care of our cars whenever he's home to do it. So I went to find and talk to him the other day and found this....

Adam was out there helping him. Not helping him as Megan "helps" me with the tension to my sewing machine or "helping" clean the bathroom, but actually helping him by being helpful. He's gotten to be such a big kid. He loves to learn, as long as it doesn't look too hard, and he's still very curious. He wants to know how things work and why they work. Notice the safety glasses.

It makes me happy to watch my husband teach our kids. He's so patient and even if oil ends up on the floor, he's okay with helping clean it up. I hope this is something our kiddo remembers for a long time to come and maybe by this time next year, he will be able to change the oil all on his own.

Why? Really, just WHY?

Why is it when my table looks like this....

And my floor looks like this..... (those aren't red blocks, just bad lighting. I really did pick colors that went together)

Does this silly machine decide to STOP working???

I think maybe some little hands have "helped" my tension out of whack and for the life of me I can't get it working again. I did get it very clean and all oiled up. Any tension experts out there?  A little help... please???

Eat Your Peas

This is really a mystery to me and I need some input. I am not sure the right course of action here at all and it's sparked some heated debate at my house. Here's the situation: My big kid hates peas. Hates them. Won't touch them on a bet. Sunday dinner is Dad's night to cook and he came up with something yummy, but different than our normal fare, and it included peas. There we sat, long after Megan was done eating with the big kid almost in tears staring at a tablespoon full of cold peas. (Even grosser than warm canned peas!) The battle went on and on and when it was done, I couldn't help but wonder what that was really all about.
The small amount of peas he did eat aren't going to have a marked affect on his health. We made him pleanty mad and he was unpleasent the rest of the night. We were frustrated too.

So what's the compulsion of parents to make their kids eat nasty things they know the kids won't like? Brussle sprouts, cooked to death broccoli (my kids like broccoli, when it's just barely steamed or raw), lima beans ect. Is it really about a power struggle? About the vegetables or food item itself? Or about teaching your kid that not everything is pleasent, and we must endure? They will need coping skills in the future and if you can't make your way through a small amount of pease, you are going to be in big trouble later on? Is it about parents thinking themselves successful when they see a child's cleaned plate? Does feeling good about yourself as a parent take precedent over your child's state of mind? Is it about trying new things or as even Meg tells us now "You get what you get and you don't throw a fit"? I am not sure what it's really about, all of those things and more I guess. The question is, if you don't eat your peas because you really don't like them, do you still get ice cream at the end of night?

Any ideas?