Homesteading: A Woman's Journey

Milestones

Play dough

Today, I read in the "Making a Home in Town" blog a Play Dough Recipe that brought back memories.  Years ago, I made this for little ones.  The recipe makes about 8 cups and was perfect for taking to the local Head-Start preschool or to a children's hospital ward as a donation to brighten the kids day.  This is one of the very few recipes that actually has the same texture and consistancy of the store bought play dough.  It also has a long shelf life, unlike many recipes that go bad within a couple of months.

For Abbie, I cut the proportions of the ingredients down to 1/4th of the amount given in the recipe.  It still made enough to fill a plastic marshmallow fluff container.  I use the paste type of food coloring as I find it is the most vibrant.  The results were great!  At 2 yrs. old, Abbie has never played with Play Dough before.  She was uncertain of what to do with it at first and barely poked at it.  We will be getting it out each morning though and I am certain she will figure it out in no time!

I am already planning ahead to helping Abbie make ornaments for Christmas with the dough.  I am going to test it out as I cannot remember if it shrinks or cracks during the drying process.    If it works out, it will be great to use in making the Jesse Tree ornaments.

Abbie Update!

Abbie has been making alot of growth in her development.  After a few months of her cruising around furniture & wanting to walk only when holding onto someone's hands or onto furniture, she finally got brave.

She waited until the morning after Joe got home from the truck.  That morning, Joe was sitting in the front room with Abbie standing in front of him.  She saw her toys on the opposite side of the room and wanted to go to them.  She started walking, taking small steps, towards the toys.  As she walked, she held onto Joe's leg as long as possible until her fingertips were sliding across his knee.  Then she took the brave steps into the center of the room.  She turned around and looked at Joe, then walked in a little circle pattern before returning to Joe.  She was so excited.  I was thrilled.  Joe misses so much of Abbie's developments while he is gone.  To watch him as he watched Abbie take those first steps was so exciting to me.  In the 2 weeks since that happened, Abbie has been getting more and more brave.  She actually will walk faster now to where it looks as though she is trying to run alittle. 

This morning, she made another development.  I had put her in her playpen so that I could do something real quick.  When I came back into the room a few minutes later, she had climbed out of the playpen!  The little monkey!!!  So today, I am going to put the playpen away to store until the new baby is able to use it.  In place of hte playpen, I will put a folded comforter on the floor for Abbie to lay on when she is drinking her bottle or having a little snack.

I am so proud of our daughter.  She is such a delight.  Her giggling and fun attitude makes the time that Joe is gone go by so much faster and easier.  I love watching her as she tries to figure things out.  Joe's Mom has some magnet puzzles on her refrigerator.  Each 2-piece puzzle is a 4 inch square piece with a second geometric shape inside.  Abbie loves playing with magnets.  She started playing with these, at first with Grandma's help, then on her own.  She now, at 16 months of age, is able to sort the shapes out and put the pieces together on her own & rather quickly.  I guess you could say that through her play, her home preschooling has begun.

At home, we get out the finger paints and I let her play with them.  She was very delicate with it at first, but then got it figured out and has enjoyed it.  Now, she will go to where I keep the fingerpaints and fuss alittle to let me know she wants to play with them.

My little baby girl is growing so fast.  We are enjoying every minute of it though.

Abigail Update

I realised tonight that though I write about Abigail in my blogs, I haven't dedicated one just about her for quite awhile.

It is amazing how much she has grown.  Even though she is 16 months old, I am having to make her clothing about size 3T to be sure they last through more than one growth spurt.

Abbie has developed quite a sweet personality.  In the mornings, I hear her wake up and she starts playing with a large pink monkey that Joe got in a crane game.  When I pick her up out of the crib, she always rests her head of my shoulder for a hug.  I usually snuggle her abit and tell her "I love you", to which she replies "I love". 

She has been trying to walk for awhile now.  She knows how, just is gaining the courage to just "take off" on her own without holding onto someone or something.  It will happen soon though.  I can see a steady progress being made.  It just has to take place in her time frame.

Abbie has been enjoying the animals.  She loved watching the chickens when they were in the house in early spring.  Now, I hold her up so she can see over the top of their enclosure and watch them.  Sometimes, I have some cracked corn with us and she helps me to scatter it in to them.  When I get the ewe and goat out of their stable to come out and graze, I have her with me.  She laughs and has fun with them.  I am looking forward to the day when she is old enough and big enough to walk out there to help.  Right now, the ewe and goat are too big and could easily knock her over.  She will have fun with the chickens though, scattering feed or helping to look for eggs.

I have started making little burgers for Abbie that I can cook up while Joe is gone.  Like Joe, she really enjoys eating meat.  Last time Joe was home, we stopped at Fire Mountain Grill.  It is a buffet that has plenty of selection that I can eat vegetarian, while Joe and Abbie have their meat.  The prices there are really good also.  When we last went, Joe shared alittle of his steak with Abbie.  She loved it so much, we got her another one which she ate all by herself.  Ever since then, I have made an extra effort to have meat for her.  Especially since she seems to want it so much when we are out.

Abbie's vocabulary is growing.  She has trouble saying alot of the words clearly, but says then clearly enough that we are understanding much of what she says.  It is cute to watch.  She has such an expressive face.  It will be interesting when her vocabulary is better and she is truly talking and having conversations.  I wonder sometimes as she talks to us, just what thougts are in her mind.

Today, as she was playing with her toys, she heard the ewe and goat outside in the yard as they were grazing.  The ewe would say "maa" and Abbie would say it back as she continued playing. The ewe and Abbie kept doing that back & forth for quite a little while. 

I love playing with Abbie and watching her grow.  She is such a joy in my life.  I usually wake early enough in the morning to have the morning chores done before she awakens, which gives me more time to spend with Abbie.   When she plays, she seems to enjoy playing with toys that have moveable parts or make noises.  She studies them and works it out how to play with them.  

On Wednesdays, she spends the day with Grandma & Grandpa.  We have also gone up there to visit or swim in the afternoons.  Abbie loves the pool.  We got her a little floating raft for babies.  It has a mesh seat that she sits in, with a large colorful raft surrounding her.  She plays and splashes around, enjoying the water.  It will be fun when Joe is home and can go there with us.  He has been looking forward to taking her swimming at the lake.  The pool will be a good option.

Abigail Update

Abigail's 1st tooth!

Abigail's teething