Ah, the early hours of morning! I’m seeing a lot of them these days. It is also a pretty good time for Iain, until he starts to fuss because he’s tired and hungry or just plain tired. I really enjoy the days when I can go back to bed with him. Today isn’t one of those days as I’m getting some help with cleaning today in preparation for DH’s work Open House (at our house) on Sunday.
For the first time in a long time we will not be getting Christmas presents in the mail on time for Christmas this year. I’m having a bit of trouble accepting that fact. I’ve always been terrible at getting birthday presents in the mail. I usually have birthday presents purchased well in advance of the recipient’s birthday, only to include it in their Christmas parcel in the Fall! Terrible I know. This year, however, even the Christmas parcels won’t be making it in time to share the ‘under the tree’ glory with the big red suited guy’s presents.
Speaking of the guy in the red suit, Iain and I attended a Christmas banquet yesterday. It was a bash put on by the
Annapolis County Family Resource Centre’s Family Matters program. It was huge. I attend a Mother Goose program here in Middleton and that one usually hosts around 15 parents and their wee ones so I was expecting about that many. I’d say there were over a hundred people there.
Over the past few weeks, I have been having a lot of trouble nursing Iain in public as he is so curious that, when he hears something different, he turns to look. Usually taking a sensitive part of me with him, I might add. Therefore, when he indicated he was hungry yesterday, I took myself off to what I thought would be a quiet corner to nurse him.
Now, with about one hundred people and, say, 50% of those being children, it was hard to find a quiet spot. Therefore, I used a receiving blanket to shield Iain’s eyes (I don’t usually ‘cover’ as I don’t think women should have to in order to feed a child). Each time he heard something, Iain would turn his head and only see the receiving blanket. Naturally I was reassuring him with "It’s okay, Iain, there’s nobody there (I never knew that I’d have to lie to him and at such a tender age!)." He seemed to believe me and settled in for a quiet nurse in a lovely little corner in a different room from the banquet itself.
There we were, minding our own business and having a lovely little nursing session when what to my wondering eyes should appear but sixty tiny children and a man they held quite dear. Yes, ladies and gentlemen. I had parked us two seats down from the red suited guy himself. Iain, bless his heart, was really committed by this time and continued to nurse through the whole picture with Santa and gift giving event. He eventually nursed himself off to sleep.
Seeing as you haven’t seen him in action in awhile, here’s my budding reader reading a story of his own creation to Hobbes. I think he thinks Hobbes is real as he is always talking to him and cuddling up to him. He seems to love how soft Hobbes’ fur is as he always smiles when I rub Hobbes’ nose against his face. As you can see in this video, he even initiates his own cuddling with Hobbes when Hobbes doesn’t do it on his own…
Note: Sorry! It seems I hit 'publish' before the video was fully loaded. Let's try this again...
Iain is helping me to remember that this is what this time of the year is really all about! The rest? Unnecessary gravy...
There’s a little boy smiling at me from his place on the foam tile alphabet on the floor. I’m lucky that he is such a little charmer at 0500 hrs in the morning. It helps me get out of bed. Seeing as I’m getting up for him anyway, the fact that Iain is smiling when he wakes me up makes the whole process a lot more bearable.
Despite how long it took me to knit, I really enjoyed this project. The knitting was fun and I learned a great deal (e.g. how to knit a ruffled edge, perfecting my mattress stitch, three needle bind off, etc). The pattern is from Sirdar’s Kids in Denim book. I used Patons Astra’s Ultra Blue from my inherited yarn stash. I had to purchase two other balls of yarn – the pink (Patons Astra’s Hot Pink) as well as a non-lot matching Ultra Blue to finish the button bands and collar (including the ruffled collar). The new lot was a lot ‘shinier’ than the original colour and I didn’t like it as much. Despite my initial reservations when I saw this yarn, I think it is perfect for a child’s sweater and ended up really falling in love with the colour.
I have the back of Iain’s sweater completed and on a stitch holder.
