in light of my last post, here is one about ramona with her toys.
she has two bins, one w individual toys and the other w wood blocks, a stacking set, and board books. we love these bags bc she can essentially crawl herself into them and have easy access to whatever toy she might like to explore.
the following are the toys she seems most interested in…
- green toys inc, recycled plastic stacker — made in usa
- blue and purple plastic bell — made in israel
- sassy look book — made in china
- plan toys, wooden xylophone — made in thailand
- felt balls — made by me
- little sapling toys, wood alphabet and number blocks — made in usa
- sophie teether (alas, we lost original sophie) — made in france (though couldn’t clearly find this info on their website so it very well might be made in china)
- skwish manhattan toy — made in thailand
- little sapling toys, ASL “i love you” teething ring — made in usa
- manhattan toy, baby wood beads — made in thailand
- bike horn (found in jp’s bike supply box in basement)
- rhino toys, oball rainstick — made in shenzhen, china
- anamalz wooden hippo — made in china
it was quite eye-opening for me to go through all of these and hunt down the appropriate links. i certainly learned a lot about the toys we have for ramona and just how much i have (or have not) been walking the walk. the only toys we have purchased for her are the felt to make the felt balls and i had picked out the manhattan toy, baby beads (lower right of above photo). but still, i had thought surely more of these beautiful toys we had were made in the usa. seems like thailand and china were popular locations. and israel? who knew.
i can’t wait for her to become more and more acquainted with these toys. right now everything just ends up in her mouth.
try this at home! over at weekday carnival, they shared some great printouts for making your own little paper shapes.
during a quiet night at home –drinking some whisky and watching some netflix– jp and i tried our hand at these tiny fancies. my hand is not so steady and the paper and glue i tried was not ideal (i suggest a bone folder, heavier cover weight or card stock, and liquid glue w a fine tip), but it was fun. these dandies are going on my windowsill.
click on this link to get a tutorial and the pdfs for printing out and constructing your own.
i clean my house one room (or thing or area) a day at time. i got the idea from apartment therapy and wrote about it last year. this method has been really great at helping me keep our small home clean without feeling overwhelmed.
i understand i’m a bit more anal than other people but the way i successfully follow-through with this method is by writing down each daily task on a monthly calendar and hanging it on my fridge via magnets. i am certainly no graphic designer so each year i get my free printable calendar from the tomkat studio. you can see (and download!) the 2012 calendars here.
we love this silly leka baby gym from ikea. it’s simple, straightforward, wood, and nice looking. in these photos ramona is first starting to notice that this thing even exists (even though it hung over her head at our makeshift changing station on our dining room table for the first 6 weeks of her life). now (about two weeks after these photos were taken) she’s grabbing for the hanging items and spinning the attachments on the side. today i even saw her take hold of the red ring (seen dangling to the right of her face in the first photo).
it’s quite exciting to see your child develop simple abilities such as tracking with their eyes or grabbing with their hands. each day, it seems, she does something new.
***
andrea: it’s nice to hear that i’m not the only one experiencing this situation. it does seem that ramona recently discovered otto and i look forward to when they can (maybe) be friends.
brandon: he works hard for the money!
robin: we love those diapers! thank you so much!
my friend nicole puts together the most beautiful events. see glimpses of her wedding here and the beautiful tablescapes she sets up here.
so i was so flattered and excited when she offered to throw me a baby shower. i knew she was good (i’ve told her to quit her day job and do this full-time) but i had no idea how amazing and special she would make this event for me. see for yourself:
table filled with snacks and drinks.
look at those great paper mobiles!
my first macaron! so yummy. i had to stop myself from eating them all.
the spread.
goodie bags filled with salt water taffy!
wishes for the baby (sealed up in an envelope for little bean’s birthday).
if you live in the denver area and are looking for an event planner, lemme know. i’ll get you in touch with nicole!
welcome
