Moments of Grace

This is the icon that Lucy fell asleep holding.

My sister-in-law has a theory about cross toddlers:  When she's having a melt-down, feed her.  Take her into the kitchen, get out a food you know she likes, put the first bite into her mouth, and hand her the second one.  Continue to hand her bites until she can talk to you.  It seems to work.  Lucy seems to be easier to handle in that regard than some of her cousins; I can just ask, "Are you hungry?" and she will stop screaming, say, "Uh-huh," and take her little self into the kitchen for a snack.

I should have known better.  Last night I read a story about a sick baby.  I should not read stories about hurt or sick babies; they make me all weepy and anxious, and interfere with my sleep.

 As I was struggling to get my thoughts under control so I could go to sleep, Linus woke up and wanted to nurse.  I brought him into bed with me, held that little warm (healthy, strong) body close to me, and fed him.  He was asleep when he finished.  I tried to move him into his own bed.  He woke up.  I held him against my chest and walked with him.  And walked.  And walked.  And walked.

Gradually, my emotions calmed.  Linus' eyes began to close.  I began a rosary.  I thanked God for two beautiful, healthy babies.

Oh.

Snuggle that baby until you can talk to me.

{Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real}

{Pretty}

Flowers.  I'm still enjoying them.

{Happy}

One afternoon last week both Lucy and Linus took a two hour nap at the same time.  I spent an absolutely fantastic two hours snuggled under the quilt my mom made for Linus and reading a wonderful book.  I just finished reading Brideshead Revisited today, and I highly recommend it.

{Funny}

 The world according to Lucy is a pretty funny place.  She has provided us with a good laugh several times this week.

{Real}

 Parrots outside my in-laws' house.  Really.

The World According to Lucy

A horse says, "Neigh."
A dog says, "Oof, oof."
A duck says, "Kkkkkk!" (think Donald Duck noise)
A bear says, "Wauh!"
Lucy says, "Wah, wah."
Linus says, "Jump, jump, jump."

Pinning it Down

Do you find yourself pinning projects to Pinterest, but rarely getting around to doing them? Do you need a bit of encouragement to make some of those projects come to life? Join Pam and Sarah every Tuesday for the Pinning it Down link-up, where we're making a Pinterest project happen in our homes every week.


This week I made a button snake.  The idea is to give Lucy a way to practice with buttons and buttonholes.  

I don't have much felt, but I do have lots of fabric scraps, so I sewed some squares (right sides together leaving a gap, turn, and top-stitch closed), and then used my machine's automatic buttonhole foot to put a buttonhole in each square. 

I love that buttonhole foot.  It really makes life easier.

I cut a length of ribbon, sewed one end to a square of fabric (which keeps all the other squares on the ribbon), and sewed a button on to the other end.

Here's the whole thing.  Lucy doesn't quite have the idea yet, but she enthusiastically carried it all around the house.

Go visit Pam at Everyday Snapshots to see what other people have been up to this week.

Blessing

When her daddy leaves for work in the morning, he gives Lucy a blessing with holy water.  She has come to know and love this routine, and some mornings even asks for it (the mornings when she isn't crying because Daddy has to leave) by running over toward the door and putting her hand to her forehead.

At Mass last Sunday, Daddy was holding her.  When the time came for the blessing at the end of Mass, Daddy told Lucy, "The priest is about to give us a blessing."  She turned right around and put her hand to her forehead.

On February 2, we were able to go to Mass.  At the particular chapel where we were, the holy water fonts are just a little lower than average.  Lucy discovered that she could reach them, and spend the last five minutes of Mass blessing herself with holy water.  Since she seemed to be so interested, when we got home I found an extra holy water font I had stored away, mounted it at her height, and filled it.  After blessing herself until her hair and shirt were quite wet, she had the idea of blessing me.  I think I must have been blessed five hundred times with holy water that day.  She also blessed Linus a few times.  By the end of the day, the font was empty.

This morning when Daddy gave Lucy her blessing before he left for work, she ran to go get some holy water to bless him.

{Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real}

This week the pictures document the mostly funny, and very real, exploits of a happy toddler who happens to also be very pretty. 

This is a tea set that Lucy was given for Christmas.  It's very pretty and has been much enjoyed.  But I think Lucy is perhaps a little unclear on the purpose of a saucer. 

 Lucy has apparently figured out that babies like to jump in the jumperoo.

Her baby also says "wah, wah," and then a few seconds later snores.

 Pretty flowers.  Just for fun.  We started buying flowers partly because Lucy was so interested in them at the store.  We kept buying flowers because I smile every time I look at them.  When you consider that the flowers are kept in a central area of our home, and they last for a week or more, that's quite a few smiles from one bunch of flowers.

 Lucy has recently discovered that blocks can be used to build towers.

Lucy is attempting to climb the fence at the playground. Why?  No, there isn't anything of interest on the other side.  Just because it's there.

Words

I guess it's all in what you call it.

Yesterday morning Lucy was feeling rather disagreeable about breakfast.  Usually she is hungry in the morning and eats with enthusiasm, but on this occasion we had the following conversation.

"Would you like some breakfast?"
"Nnoooo!" (part word, mostly squeal)
"Would you like a banana?"  She usually eats a banana for breakfast.
"No!"
"Would you like to eat some yogurt?"  When Lucy was younger, she would eat anything as long as it was mixed with yogurt.
"No!"
"Would you like to eat some strawberries?"  Strawberries are Lucy's all time favorite food.  She eats them like candy.  She prefers them to cake.
"NO!"

Her daddy had a stroke of genius:
"Would you like to eat dinner instead of breakfast?"
"Mm-hum."
"Would you like to eat a banana for dinner?"
"Mm-hum."
And so she ate a banana, and drank her sippy-cup of milk.