Happy Valentine's Day!

Quinn was invited to her first Valentine's party on Monday. I had no idea toddler parties were so fun. Quinn's neighbor boy buddy and his mom had us and the other neighbors over for crafts, cookie decorating, and snacks. There was even an impromptu guitar performance and some dancing. Quinn's neighbor girl buddy was busting out her DJ skills. She'd play a song on a toy and the kids would do their strange toddler dance moves. Every time the music stopped, she'd say, "Again!" and push the music button. It was quite a party.

Yesterday, my mom came for a visit and stayed through dinner time so Jonathan and I could go on a date to our favorite restaurant. So nice.

Love one another from a pure heart - 1 Peter 1:22

I have to record all of Quinn's words lately because I don't want to forget. Her vocabulary has blossomed the past couple weeks. It's kind of amazing to realize she's been listening all this time. 

She now says (though not with perfect pronunciation) Mama, Daddy, No-ee (for Shinobi), doggie, more, no, uh oh, hi, bye, cheese, apple, banana, roll, nana (for her panda toy), nonny (for binkie, not sure why, but it's consistent), go, bath, bed, up, swing, pool, store, treat, ball, nose, mouth, toes, teeth, belly, ding dong, baby, Nana, Boppa, Boo, Mandy, and bubble. And her latest is kitty. After nap each day when I open her curtains, we see the neighbor's cat lounging in a sunbeam on their windowsill. She was looking at a picture of a cat in a book and said "kitty" and then pointed out the window and said it again. It's amazing to watch her make these connections!

Need a way to keep your toddler busy while you cook?

I got the idea from this great blog. Get some little pom poms, cardboard tubes, and tape. You could probably use wadded up paper instead of pom poms in a pinch. Tape the tubes to your refrigerator  and place a bowl beneath the tubes to catch the pom poms. Show your kiddo how it works, and, voila!

I recognize that some people who read this blog might find this post a bit too personal. Please forgive me. I'm also aware that not very many people even read this blog, and since its purpose is to record my memories, and this is a very significant one to me, I'm going to write it anyway. Plus, maybe it could help another mom out there.

Quinn is officially weaned as of yesterday. It wasn't my goal to make it to 15+ months. Initially, I had hoped to make it six months. Once we got to six months, it was such a simple routine that I decided of course I would keep going until she was one year. After her first birthday, I wasn't sure what to do. I had some friends who weaned their children when they turned one, but I felt for me personally it would be hard on me and Quinn to just stop nursing because of a date on the calendar. But I also didn't want to keep going indefinitely. I also heard of kids who just woke up one day and wanted to be done. I decided I would follow Quinn's lead for at least a couple months since she was doing so well with solid foods and drinking from a cup. 

At the start of December, she was down to just one time of nursing a day - first thing in the morning. I made a point to not be distracted or reading because I knew she could be done any day. Call me sentimental, but I didn't want her to surprise me with being weaned one morning and then feel sad because I spent her last nursing time reading blogs on my phone, you know? 

Since Christmastime, I haven't been as diligent about keeping my supply up. One morning last week, Quinn nursed for a couple minutes and then said, "More?" She's never done that before. I had a light bulb moment. I had been trying to think of a fun new ritual to replace nursing in the morning. Quinn has long been interested in the mugs Jonathan and I drink our morning coffee from each day. I got her a mug and put some cow's milk in it. I set her on my lap on the couch while she sipped.

She loved it! For the next couple of days I would have a mug of milk on the coffee table next to my coffee for when she woke up. We'd go to the couch and I'd say, "Mama milk or mug milk?" she'd start with nursing and then say, "More?" and I'd give her the mug. And now she just has a mug of milk with Jonathan and I. We sit together, clink our mugs, and start the day. It's a little bittersweet that the nursing season is over, but I'm so glad I had some warning and that we get to introduce a sweet new routine. I hope Quinn will join us for a warm drink and conversation in the morning for many many years to come. 

It's our one year house-iversary! That sure went by fast! We are thoroughly enjoying home ownership. The time commitment can end up feeling like a bit much at certain times of the year, but it also feels nice to work hard on projects together. We have some fun projects coming up this Spring, but today I'm pleased to share a completed project.

I've spent many a nap-time lately painting. Well, first painting sample colors, then deliberating for months, then taping, then finally painting. Here's how our room looked when we moved in:

And here it is today:

We chose a rich, olive-y sage green. I feel like it makes the white on the fireplace and the bottom half of the walls look really crisp. It's now a combination of cozy cabin and simple tidy cottage. Now we just have to add a matching bookcase to the left side of the fireplace.

On another note, I've also spent some nap-times tuning up our cloth diapers. For any bumGenius fans out there, I bought Refresher Kits for $1 each for all of our diapers. After over a year of daily wear, they are still in amazing shape. The only issue was that the velcro on six out of our 16 diapers wasn't gripping as well as I'd like. So I popped the tabs off and sewed on new ones, easy as can be. I'll save the elastic and extras for later when the other ones wear out. Definitely worth it!