Cornstarch Paste

I heard back from the art teacher while I was writing the last post! This is via the Growing Artists class at Papoose.

Homemade Cornstarch Paste

Mix 1 cup cornstarch and 3 cups cold water in a saucepan. Add 2 T sugar and 1 T vinegar. Stirring constantly, heat the mixture on low heat until it clears and thickens and looks like paste. Cool before using. Will keep in a tightly sealed container in the fridge for several weeks. It drys clear, forms a strong bond, and washes out of clothing.

If you want to make a bigger batch, use the same amount of sugar and vinegar, but increase the cornstarch and water, keeping the same 1:3 ratio.

A week in the life...

I've been having trouble getting pictures off the camera lately, but it finally worked this morning! So here's the last week or so.

Thumbs up, Mama! Nora decided to take Mica for a walk by herself.

Eating an apple at the Common Ground Fair. We had so much fun in Maine! It's hard to believe this was our last trip to Brightwater as a family of three.
On our way back to the car Nora covered herself up with the wrap and laid down for a rest in the wagon. She wasn't letting go of her free toothpaste sample, though!
Back at the cabin, wearing two pairs of jammies and a fun hat to make loud music in the kitchen.
Going for a walk down to the water to throw sticks for Mica, still in jammies!
Daddy and Nora checking out the cool rocks with lots of mica sparkles. Rocks are So. Cool.
Hm, I think I'll go mountain climbing.
On our last morning in Brightwater, Daddy took Nora for a walk around the Boulevard while Mama got everything cleaned up and packed to go home. Nora walked on her own for a while, then got tired, so she laid herself down in the wagon again, and this time fell asleep!
She napped in the wagon in the driveway for two hours after they got back from the walk. She LOVES her wagon.
There's been an onion on the counter for a few days, and Nora really wanted it. I kept telling her no, but last night Daddy decided if she really wanted to try it, she could.
Sadly, it was not as tasty as she had imagined.
After her bath last night, wearing her dog towel that's the same color as Mica!
Hanging out in the basket after I folded laundry this morning, eating an apple.

I will post the cornstarch paste recipe soon! One of the measurements turned out to be missing from the copy the teacher handed out to us, so I've emailed her for clarification, and I'll let you know when I hear back.

Animals and artwork

Daddy had a whole day off last weekend, yay! He and Nora enjoyed their morning beverages together on the couch.

While I was in the kitchen making dinner on Sunday, I noticed that it was suspiciously quiet in the living room, where Nora had been playing. I went looking for her, and found that she'd transferred all her dirty laundry into one of her dresser drawers, pulled the laundry basket into the middle of her room, and was sitting in it eating some O's.
She brought her little red bag too, of course.
This morning we went to the Ray of Light farm with Nora's friends Luke, Taylor, Sebastian, Ziggy, and Arlo (and their mamas). We'd all been once before, but it was before the kiddos were walking - it was a whole different experience this time!

Nora checking out the rear end of Bullwinkle the mule.
Hey turkeys, come over here and see me!
I like the farm! Trying to reach up high enough to pet a sheep.
Convincing Taylor to try petting the sheep.
And finally, Nora's masterpieces from her first two weeks of art class. Week one was collage (with nontoxic, edible cornstarch paste - I got the recipe!). This was actually a little more involved before it came home - some of the more interesting bits got picked off while it was hanging down low on the fridge.
Week two: painting. This work features a combination of fingerpainting, brush work, and other objects (brush handles, sponges) in the paint. Nora's done a bunch of fingerpainting before, but she's never tried a brush. She really liked it! Before moving onto the actual paint, the kids painted with lots of different brushes and sponges with water on huge sheets of paper taped to a wall, and I think that was Nora's favorite part of class. She and the other two older kids in the class got a little confused about the whole "brush" terminology, though - Nora thought the wet paintbrush was for brushing her hair, and two others thought it was for brushing their teeth! It's really interesting to watch them make connections to what they know when they're learning new things.

Nora also has one more sign that I didn't list the other day - yesterday morning she came into the kitchen and very clearly signed, "banana please." I had no idea she knew the sign for banana! I gave her one, of course. :)

Fall!

Oops, two weeks since the last post! This is going to be a long one, because there's lots going on here with the beginning of fall. The weather has cooled off, and we're starting to get that nice crisp crunch in the air that I love. Fall is such a lovely time of year!


Nora's taking an art class through our local crunchy baby store, Papoose. (Crunchy baby store meaning not that you can buy crunchy babies there, but that you can get accessories for your crunchy baby. And classes! And hang out with other mamas who don't think that breastfeeding and babywearing are slightly nuts! I like it there.) The art class is very process-orientated, and we spent most of the first class mushing up paste and smearing it around. Lots of fun! Future classes are supposed to focus on painting, printmaking, puppets, and some other things. We can't wait!


September also means that all our library programs are starting up again, so we have one storytime with the same group of friends that we had storytime with last year, as well as a big playtime/storytime at the big fancy library, and our local library is trying out a toddler storytime as well. We're going to be busy! We probably won't make it to every one every week, but it's nice to have options, especially once it starts getting too chilly to spend the whole day outside.


We're heading up to Maine next weekend for the Common Ground Fair, which we're really looking forward to. That'll be our last visit with only one kiddo in tow, too! Aaron will make one more trip later in the fall to close up the cabin, but this is usually our last family visit until spring.


In other news, Nora's latest quirk is that she really likes to be buckled into things. Weird baby, I know! This is totally opposite from her previous behavior in all ways... We got a new lightweight stroller recently (thank you so much to Mem and Grandpa's generous gift - we also got the new carseat for the little nugget when she arrives!), and as soon as I took it out of the box, Nora insisted that I set it up in the living room so she could sit in it, fully buckled, with her books, water cup, and Baby. Putting Baby's sock onto her hand...
Nora's never been a big fan of a stroller, though she'll tolerate the jogger for walks (and really liked it back before I was pregnant again and actually took her jogging!). She hated the little umbrella stroller we had, as did I, because it was impossible to steer and the handles were too short and killed my back. But I have a feeling that there may be times in our near future where I'll be out with both kids, be wearing the little nugget, and Nora will get too tired to walk! So I really wanted a nice, lightweight, tall-handled stroller. We've only used it a couple of times so far, but it seems to fit the bill. Comfy for both of us, cool looking, and very light! We got a lot of compliments on the snazzy orange 'n' silver color at the OB office last week. Other things that Nora really likes being buckled into lately: her carseat and her booster seat. I think that's all the things we have that buckle, otherwise I'm sure she'd have other favorites too!

Nora's vocabulary continues to grow. This is what she says (bold is new at 16 months - the rest she's had down since sometime before 15 months): more, all done, please, dog, hat, milk, food/eat, music, bed/nap, play, brush teeth, push (swing), hi/bye, airplane, Daddy, me, baby, napkin/wash face, hairbrush (signs); yes, no, Mama, Daddy/Dada, switch (turn on the light or fan), fish, shoes, sock, dog (words). She also makes the sounds for a cow-mmmmooo, a dog-woo woo, and a truck-rrrrrrrrrrarrrrrr, and occasionally a motorboat-phhbbt. She's signing two word phrases pretty regularly, usually either more something or please something, and occasionally the all important three word phrase, "please more food!" She also mixes sign and spoken language when she knows a word in one but not the other, like to say "fish please" when we're about to go into the library to visit the fish. She's very good at expressing herself, and her increased language and communication ability is helping (most of the time) to curtail her whining. Yay for that! She's also really lovey lately, with hugs and kisses for nearly everyone she sees. If you ask where her baby sister is, she'll pull up my shirt and kiss my belly! So cute...

Some cute pictures from a few days ago...

Dancing.

Looking out the window at the rainy day.
Ok, all done on the couch.
Time for a bike ride!
And a backwards bike walk!

Why yes, I was taking pictures for a contest featuring Babylegs, you could tell? ;) This is the one I ended up entering - I'll let you know if she wins! She still loves both chairs and books. Just like Mama!
Nora loooooves Daddy's safety glasses. She used to ask for us to put them on her, but now she can do it herself.

Ok, last thing today (I promise!). I recently got a free issue of Brain, Child magazine, which bills itself as "the magazine for thinking mothers." Since I like to consider myself one of those, I was really looking forward to checking it out, and it didn't disappoint. It's basically a collection of essays, all related to parenting/motherhood in some way, as well as some book reviews, humor, and fiction. The debate section in the Fall '07 issue was about Juliet Schor's book on kids and consumer culture, and I found myself agreeing and disagreeing with points in both the pro and con essays (which focused on kids and TV, specifically) - which definitely means they were well written and well argued, because before reading them I would have fallen in one particular camp without much consideration.

Other essays include the story of two lesbian moms and their struggle with the decision to circumcise their son and the story of a mom raising a child totally into sports, when she's more comfortable with books, as well as a bunch of others. Then there are reviews of "knit lit," (like chick lit, but for knitters!) and books on assisted reproductive technologies, and a feature on the place of mothers in the political scene with regards to the 2008 presidential election. All in all, the magazine was great, and I'm definitely going to be subscribing. It kind of reminds me of Utne Reader for moms. It does have the same problem that nearly all parenting magazines seem to have - exclusion of dads. But it's definitely a good read, anyway. Gave me lots to think about!

Well child visit

Nora's 15 month well child pediatrician visit was earlier this week. As always, she's doing great! She weighs 25 lbs 11 oz, which is 85th percentile, and she's 33.5" tall, which is way off the tops of the charts. She's a tall girl! Her head is 48 cm, which is 95th percentile. She is right on track with average development for all of her physical, gross motor, and fine motor milestones. She's 6-9 months ahead with communication and language, social, and emotional development. The nurse practicioner said she's perfect, which is always nice to hear! Nora's allergic to soy, and since she's essentially vegetarian (we eat vegetarian at home, and don't go out very often, and when we do go out and Daddy orders meat, it's not always get something good for her to share) we're searching for alternate protein sources. She loves hummus, and we introduced peanut butter this week, so there are a couple of things we can turn to now.


It's been nice and warm this week, but cooler in the mornings. Clearly, the weather calls for both a sweater and a sunhat!

The expression on her face in this picture reminds me of her friend Elise.
We rearranged the kitchen a little, so we now have a cart forming a center island. At one end is a stepstool, which Nora has decided makes an excellent snack table with built-in bench!
She loves to use a napkin to wipe her face during meals. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean she likes getting her face washed afterwards, but it's a start!

We had a fun playdate at Nora's friend Savannah's house earlier this week, along with their other friends Taylor and Luke. I didn't bring my camera, but Savannah's mommy Carrie took a bunch of pictures and posted them on her blog. The one captioned, "Nora patiently waits for her turn," cracks me up! I would have captioned it something more like, "Nora is about to use the drill on Taylor's arm if she doesn't get a turn right now." ;)