Nursery Rhymes, Belly dancing and Quilts

Fall is in the air. Baba has been collecting apples from the trees at the garden. Solomon spent the morning helping him make apple cider. He loves moving the apples from one bucket into another and watching Baba turn the handle to press the apples.

Solomon was very busy dumping apples into the water.

Baba at the top of the slide, about to release Solomon. Solomon slides Superman-style down all the slides into my arms, laughing the whole way. The park is his new favorite place.

"Uncle" Gabe helping Solomon wear a tool apron.

Solomon trying on Gabe's tool belt.

In the last couple of weeks Solomon has gotten into different nursery rhymes. Here he is doing his rendition of "One, two, buckle my shoe". Listen closely and you can catch some of it. Here are the words, so you can follow him. "One, two, buckle my shoe...three, four, shut the door...five, six, pick up sticks...seven, eight, lay them straight...nine, ten, do it again." He's starting to get it. He also enjoys "Humpty Dumpty". Right now, his version sounds like this, "Hump-e-dy, Dump-e-dy sat...wall...Hump-e-dy, Dump-e-dy..........wall...horses...men...Hump-e-dy, Dump-e-dy...WALL".

As Solomon gains more and more language, we are able to communicate about so many things. He knows that he can't eat corn. If he asks for a food that has corn in it, I just tell him it has corn. He says, "Corn...bum...big owey" because he knows that corn makes his bum break out in a rash and it hurts. He is using very basic sentences like, "Mama sit down read," when asking me to sit down and read him a story and "Solomon drink Mama 'wawa'" when he wants a sip of my water (from a big glass). We are getting acquainted with the big potty and when he poops in his diaper we dump it into the potty. So now when I change his diaper he'll say, "Solomon poop diaper...Poop in potty...flush it down," and we'll go into the bathroom and do just that. He now tells me when he poops and pees in his diaper. We have bought two small potties but neither of them fit him very well. Still, we're on our way.

I have been making a quilt for Solomon this summer. I am almost done. All I need now is to bind it. I have had so much fun creating it. Holding it up with great pride, my sweet husband said, "So you basically cheated right? I mean, my sister topstitched her quilts all by hand and you used the sewing machine". Big smile from Jon. Then, he agreed that it was wonderful. Here are a few pictures of the almost finished quilt. It is to be a present for Solomon when the new baby arrives.

Here is the front of Solomon's quilt. In each square is an small square of elephants.

Here is the back of Solomon's quilt, with just one stripe of squares.

The whole quilt.


Our new little one continues to be active every day. I am 33 weeks pregnant now. I can feel Baby pushing and kicking and stretching all the time. Baby often wakes me up at night from so much movement. Yesterday, I lied down on the bed and took a short video of the belly dancing going on. This looks crazy, beautiful, weird, amazing, startling, awesome. So, only watch if you want to. Baby's head has been in my pelvic bone for about 5 weeks already, preparing for entrance into the world. There are times when an elbow, shoulder or hand finds a way to push on my bladder. Suddenly, I have to go to the bathroom. Then, I'm fine. Then, I have to go right away. No, I'm ok. Woah, off to the bathroom.