12-8--12-13

For my birthday I got a few things, including a healthy cooking magazine subscription and these fluffy socks. I had seen them at REI and being a tactile person, thought they were pretty cool. Z got to try them on before I did!


Continuing with our crafts we strung marshmallows. I'm really glad we've been going to storytime - it's so much fun and Z just loves it. The lady will sing some songs, read some books, have the kids dance and then do a craft or color. It's only a half hour, but it's a great break for me, and really helpful for his social development. He doesn't get to hang out with many kids, so it's fun to see me watch him interact. He's not shy at all, which is surprising! He'll go up to kids, ask their name, ask if they are coloring, even opt to share crayons. And it doesn't faze him at all if the kid doesn't really want to talk - he'll keep trying and then hit up somebody else. It's just fun to see him develop in that way.

Anyway, so after we had been going to storytime I wanted to find some crafts we could do together, and stringing marshmallows is just fun. I've also tried to find the kindergarten requirements so Z and I can be working on those, but haven't had much luck. So we've just been working on counting (he can get to 12), letters (he knows the alphabet song almost entirerly), colors and shapes. But until storytime I hadn't much thought about the art aspect, so we're trying to incorporate more music and crafts.

So, for stringing marshmallows, we always used to use needles. But that won't fly with a two year old. Enter creative process. Z had done very well making our snowmen for our "cookie man house," as he called it, so I fingured he could use a toothpick. But how to attach it to the thread? First I tried tape, then I went to superglue. Worked great! I broke the toothpick in half so it wasn't so big, got the first mallow on there and let him at it. I had my own string with a needle. I set up a bowl with a little bit of water to wet his toothpick and string, but had to keep making it more shallow as he kept getting water all over his hands. Not so good for stringing mallows! Just need it a little damp to help the mallows slide. But he actually did shockingly well - his dexterity is far above what I thought it was. Some of the marshmallows he didn't get on straight, but a lot of them he did. And of course, Chester had to watch. Some time ago Jason named that turtle, and Z's just ran with it. Chester has to help him do things, watch him, stuff like that. Z will also pretend to share and feed him. It's pretty cute.

Here's Z dipping his toothpick...

Selecting a mallow...

Putting it on...

Another cute picture of putting it on... :)

And stringing it...

The only problem he really had was not stringing it straight - if the mallow was moist (which it usually was) and he didn't pull straight, the thread would cut right through the mallow. But he did really, really well. I was pleasantly surprised. He did almost all of his strand all by himself - you can see it better in some of the previous pictures.

Here's Z being silly (I really don't remember what he was doing).

Gotcha!! He ate so many mallows. Which is to be expected, but just funny. Pretty sure he shared with Chester, too.

So as well as the tree, train, and other random stuff, Bob brought out these old toy (sanity stealers) from like 1983. Seriously, the year is on the license plate of the car! Jason remembered these from many a Christmas ago. At first Z thought they were loud, but then he liked them. Then after a few days he thought they were too loud again, but decided they were okay to play with if they weren't on. But for a short time he enjoyed them :).

For some reason it helped him to enjoy it to lay on the ground. Both of them play music, while the santa walks and jingles his bell.

The car has flashing lights (green for santa's eyes) and drives around in circles.

And again on the floor.

On a random work note, Jason's been working for the framing company but as it turns out they don't have that many jobs lined up. We've talked about it several times since moving, but we finally decided for me to start looking for a job. Only part time, but something to bring in some extra cash. So I'm looking for a few hours in the evenings and on weekends. Job hunting is just lame, and I have greater respect for what Jason's been doing the past many months. I've just been filling out applications for little peon jobs and haven't done a whole lot with my resume, but I am so tired of filling out my job history! I shouldn't need to have a phone number memorized for a place I worked at 5 years ago. It's crazy. I applied to one job, and they wanted a full 10 year work history. To organize books at the library! Yowza! Anyway, so I've been doing that. Hopefully I can find something I like that can bring in some extra cash. And give me something to do away from home.