We went out for an evening on Friday and my Aunt Pam watched Abby for us. (Read about our dinner out over at Rob's Blog.) I left her a very detailed evening plan for Abby, and thought I would post it here!
Typical evening for Abby
4-6 -
snack! Probably pretzels and dip or a clementine
general play time, helping with dinner if we're cooking
6 Dinner
we're buying whether it's pizza or Chipotle. We avoid pepperoni, but she's good with onions, ham, pineapple, hamburger, or plain cheese!
if she refuses to eat, there are chicken nuggets (3-4) in the freezer, and pickles in the fridge.
6:50ish Bath Time!
This time is fuzzy toward the later side - if all is well we typically let her play until 7 or so.
Bath time is not about being clean, really, it's about time in the tub playing. Soap requires bravery and screaming, we do it in the shower on Sundays, unless she's really dirty during the week.
after bath Diaper and PJ's!*
We've pulled out a special Elmo diaper. Point that out and you get points in Abby's book! The girl is in love with that Little Red Guy.
PJ's are on the pillow.
More points if you tell her about Signing Time on the agenda.
Signing Time is on the DVR - go with the episode called "My Things"
there is a short clip after the credits. Abby knows this.
There is milk in the fridge - pop it in the warmer about 15 minutes after starting the video**
After Signing Time
She typically will grab one of three things: Gator, Hershey Bear or her Cat.
Turn the music on the dresser on:
The on button is on the front, upper left of the player
The snooze button is the big one on top. hit that once to set the "sleep" function"
Cuddling in the rocker with Milk and her Blanket usually puts her out - but we supplement with a Pacifier, too (extras are in the pocket of the rocker) - total time in rocker... 10 minutes.
Lay her down (usually on her tummy), pat her back a couple times, and then enjoy some TV or Wii time!
*Turns out that Abby noticed the Elmo diaper before Pam did and began to yell "ELMO DIAPER" followed by "SIGNING TIME." Pam seemed a little disappointed that she did not get to play those cards...
**This was the last night of our taper-off-the-evening bottle. It seems to have gone well and Abby has picked up her daytime milk drinking. Very cool.
Abby is very routine oriented, and I think that this list helped everyone to be on the same page and helped Abby to be the "Angel" that she was reported to be. :o)
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Abby's Play Kitchen!
It's finally here - the blog post about Abby's new play kitchen!
I was inspired by a blog post I found HERE that did something similar, but I kept parts of their idea and added some of my own. As an added bonus, my brothers' scroll saw is in storage, so I got to buy myself a new one!
I started with the Ikea RAST end table. At $15 it was probably cheaper than if I went out and got nicely finished wood and cut it myself, plus it was a great, square starting point. (Cost so far: $15)
Then I cut a hole out to put in a metal bowl from our kitchen. We have too many bowls as it is, so giving this one to the project made sense to us. I added a piece across the middle to support any weight Abby might apply, as well as to divide the box in half - one is the "oven" and the other side is currently non-purposed. This is also the point that I had to buy a new scroll saw, which was both fun and awesome at the same time! (Cost so far: $15 for project, $29.99 for saw)
The tricky part, and the part that required the most thinking, was the faucet. I scoured Ebay and Craigslist for a real kitchen or bathroom faucet, new or used, for several days before giving up. I looked at prices in stores, but the cheapest was about $30. I could not justify that in my head. I decided to make something out of PVC pipe, and I think it turned out well. It's two pieces, a p-trap and a part that fits into the p-trap. I had to cut the bottom piece to get it into the tight space, but that was easy. The two pieces cost me a total of $3. (Cost so far: $18)
I had a random piece of nice, finished wood laying around the house that is only about 1/4 of an inch off of fitting perfectly with the table, so I used it. I'm not much on perfection - it gives me nothing to complain about later if there are no flaws! We think the wood was a shelf to an old entertainment center. Cost: free. (Cost so far: $18)
Since I have about a dozen mouse pads at my office that do not get used (they come with new computers, and we've gotten ten new ones in the last four years) I decided to put them to use in my project. I cut circles out of the mouse pads to make burners. They are not attached for two reasons - we might paint it so they would be in the way, and I don't know how we would attach them properly. Oh well.
I added stove top knobs that are actually casters from tables at my office that were on their way to the trash. They were screwed into a 1x2 across the top at the same time that I put a kickplate (1x4) on the bottom to keep toys from sliding under the kitchen. (Cost so far: $18)
I added an oven door and Abby immediately knew what the whole project was! You will notice that the knobs here are pink - it's because the casters from the previous picture were too large with the door on the oven - it would not open! I ran out to Target and picked up some dresser knobs for $5. Ended up at Ikea the next day and could have gotten better looking knobs for less money, but what's done is done. (Cost so far: $23)
And that's the whole thing! If we had bought a wooden play kitchen in a store we would have spent at least $125, and the cost for one can go up to numbers that I'm too embarassed to type! I spent $23 and about four total hours on this project by using mostly scrap wood from around the house. You can also check with your local hardware store (or Ikea!) for scrap wood to save on the cost.
I was inspired by a blog post I found HERE that did something similar, but I kept parts of their idea and added some of my own. As an added bonus, my brothers' scroll saw is in storage, so I got to buy myself a new one!
I started with the Ikea RAST end table. At $15 it was probably cheaper than if I went out and got nicely finished wood and cut it myself, plus it was a great, square starting point. (Cost so far: $15)
The tricky part, and the part that required the most thinking, was the faucet. I scoured Ebay and Craigslist for a real kitchen or bathroom faucet, new or used, for several days before giving up. I looked at prices in stores, but the cheapest was about $30. I could not justify that in my head. I decided to make something out of PVC pipe, and I think it turned out well. It's two pieces, a p-trap and a part that fits into the p-trap. I had to cut the bottom piece to get it into the tight space, but that was easy. The two pieces cost me a total of $3. (Cost so far: $18)
I had a random piece of nice, finished wood laying around the house that is only about 1/4 of an inch off of fitting perfectly with the table, so I used it. I'm not much on perfection - it gives me nothing to complain about later if there are no flaws! We think the wood was a shelf to an old entertainment center. Cost: free. (Cost so far: $18)
Since I have about a dozen mouse pads at my office that do not get used (they come with new computers, and we've gotten ten new ones in the last four years) I decided to put them to use in my project. I cut circles out of the mouse pads to make burners. They are not attached for two reasons - we might paint it so they would be in the way, and I don't know how we would attach them properly. Oh well.
I added stove top knobs that are actually casters from tables at my office that were on their way to the trash. They were screwed into a 1x2 across the top at the same time that I put a kickplate (1x4) on the bottom to keep toys from sliding under the kitchen. (Cost so far: $18)
I added an oven door and Abby immediately knew what the whole project was! You will notice that the knobs here are pink - it's because the casters from the previous picture were too large with the door on the oven - it would not open! I ran out to Target and picked up some dresser knobs for $5. Ended up at Ikea the next day and could have gotten better looking knobs for less money, but what's done is done. (Cost so far: $23)
And that's the whole thing! If we had bought a wooden play kitchen in a store we would have spent at least $125, and the cost for one can go up to numbers that I'm too embarassed to type! I spent $23 and about four total hours on this project by using mostly scrap wood from around the house. You can also check with your local hardware store (or Ikea!) for scrap wood to save on the cost.
Here's Abby enjoying her newest toy!
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
Stop Licking That!!
Suggestions welcome/encouraged!
At about six months (maybe before) Abby had an obsession with putting things in her mouth - toys, coins, food, fingers... everything. It is an age-apropriate method of learning for an infant. They do a better job of using their five senses to learn about things around them than we do - I assume my desk tastes like dust and plastic, so I don't try to taste or smell it - I rely on touch and sight.
Abby has seemingly reverted to some sort of tasting/licking stage. Some things are adorable, like when she licks a blueberry before eating it. Licking her clean feet after bath time was cute, too.
Some things are a little weird, like the freezer in our basement and our fridge upstairs - maybe she was licking each to see if they were the same or different. (She didn't report her findings to me, but probably has a journal somewhere!)
Some things that she has licked are just disgusting - including our dog and, even worse, a piece of wood at Wendy's on Sunday afternoon. Just.Disgusting. I had to run through her high chair and over another chair to get her off of it. If you've never been to a Wendy's - it was the wooden fram between the old smoking section and the old non-smoking section. It's about a foot wide and she loves to run a circle and climb over it. Fun game - gross twist to it.
Our particular Wendy's is not the cleanest thing around, so there were jokes about spots and blisters that would show up in the afternoon, and we were relieved that they did not!
Help! How do I break her of this new game? I don't want to create a punishment necessarily, but this is one situation that I would like to stop before it goes too far...
At about six months (maybe before) Abby had an obsession with putting things in her mouth - toys, coins, food, fingers... everything. It is an age-apropriate method of learning for an infant. They do a better job of using their five senses to learn about things around them than we do - I assume my desk tastes like dust and plastic, so I don't try to taste or smell it - I rely on touch and sight.
Abby has seemingly reverted to some sort of tasting/licking stage. Some things are adorable, like when she licks a blueberry before eating it. Licking her clean feet after bath time was cute, too.
Some things are a little weird, like the freezer in our basement and our fridge upstairs - maybe she was licking each to see if they were the same or different. (She didn't report her findings to me, but probably has a journal somewhere!)
Some things that she has licked are just disgusting - including our dog and, even worse, a piece of wood at Wendy's on Sunday afternoon. Just.Disgusting. I had to run through her high chair and over another chair to get her off of it. If you've never been to a Wendy's - it was the wooden fram between the old smoking section and the old non-smoking section. It's about a foot wide and she loves to run a circle and climb over it. Fun game - gross twist to it.
Our particular Wendy's is not the cleanest thing around, so there were jokes about spots and blisters that would show up in the afternoon, and we were relieved that they did not!
Help! How do I break her of this new game? I don't want to create a punishment necessarily, but this is one situation that I would like to stop before it goes too far...
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