Posts Tagged ‘toys’

It’s been a while since I’ve shown off what crafting I’ve been up to. Mostly I’ve been making gifts for babies. A couple of months ago I made myself a hat because my head was chilly. I didn’t use a pattern, but I think I should have. It works and I wear it, but I’m not in love with it. (Ravelry page for Green Hat.)

When we had our 20 week ultrasound and I thought we were having a girl, I made a little pink square hat. It’s just a rectangle, but when it goes on a baby’s head, it rounds out and the corners look like cute kitty ears. We’ve tried this on Rhino and it is very cute, but you aren’t going to see any pictures of him in this hat! Since we aren’t having a girl, it will be a gift for some girl baby of the future. (Ravelry page for Pink Square Hat.)

I’ve been very busy working on baby blankets. There are five pregnant women in our church (excluding me!) and I’d love to give each of their babies a handmade blanket to welcome them to the world. The first to arrive will be a girl, due in June. I crocheted up this white blanket, but ran out of yarn and have no idea what kind I was using. I put a pink border on it to make it slightly larger, but I still feel it’s way too small. It’s still cute, though! (Ravelry page for Ocean Waves Baby Blanket.)

I’m also knitting a super soft blue blanket for the first boy due (unless ours comes early!) at the end of June. I went through 4 balls of yarn and still ran out, so I’m waiting to take a trip to Hachinohe to pick up more. It’s about 75% finished and goes really quickly, so I should be able to whip that out in time. In the meantime I’m also working on a pink knit basketweave blanket (probably for Denna’s girl, due in July — not in our church, but it seems like most of us church ladies are having boys!) My fingers are keeping very busy with all the blanket knitting!

Rhino and I were invited to Carson and Cole’s first birthday party and I wanted to bring some handmade gifts for the little boys. The invitation was kind of last-minute, so I didn’t have time to do anything too elaborate. I’ve enjoyed making felt toys for Rhino and have really wanted to make more. A while ago I ordered a whole wide assortment of colorful wool felt and thought I’d put some of it to good use. I was afraid it would seem to plain or boring, but I wanted to make the boys each a ball. I sort of winged it with cutting out pieces and assembling them and am slightly disappointed that they didn’t term out spherical enough (they’re kind of squashed), but they’re all right! I embroidered each of their names and the year on their ball and I thought they turned out to be pretty snazzy! I also was working on knitting some precious little bear finger puppets, but I still have to make arms for one of them and didn’t have them ready in time for the party. I guess I should finish those soon and get some photos up!

Dearest Rhino,

Well, another month has flown by and you just keep growing! When we took you to the doctor for your 1-year checkup, she was concerned because you had lost some weight (dropping to 20 pounds 8 oz.) It looks alarming in your chart, but I think it’s mostly because you started to get a lot more mobile (lots of crawling and cruising!) and had stopped drinking so much Mommy milk (but weren’t liking cow’s milk.) So the doctor said to come back in a month and see how you’re doing. So, for your 13-month checkup you seem to be doing much better in that department. You still nurse occasionally (really only if you get fussy at night, otherwise you aren’t very interested and would rather have a sippy cup) but drink plenty of whole milk. You’re now at 21 lb 6 oz, which is still a low percentile for babies your age, but that’s nothing to worry about — you are a very healthy little boy! You are also getting even more exercise now that you’ve started walking!

Yes, you’re walking now! You took your first, wobbly steps on Feb. 22nd and today you’re almost running! You used to cruise around the sofa, look at the ottoman a couple of feet away, think long and hard about it and then give it a go, stumbling into the ottoman! Now instead of pulling yourself up with the coffee table or pushing up from a toy on the floor, you can stand up on your own. You are very steady and will walk around, turn corners, step over small obstacles, and right yourself if you start to trip over something. You are so cute to watch and you often find it so exciting to walk laps around us in the living room!

This past month you had another adventure: visiting Tokyo! We all went with our friends Mrs. Armstrong and Mrs. Kiser. We drove down to Tokyo, about a 9 hour drive, and you were so great the whole way! You love to look out the window at the passing scenery, play with your toys, show off to us, and sleep. The only time you fussed in the car at all is during the drive back home when your tummy got a little upset. While we were in Tokyo you stayed with Daddy and I in a hotel, went up Tokyo Tower, tried Japanese foods, rode on subways, trains, and buses, went to a pretty zoo and saw lots of exciting animals, saw the gardens at the Imperial Palace (and pretty swans and koi), and visited the Ghibli Museum where you looked at lots of pretty pictures and played with stuffed soot balls and watched lots of little Japanese kids. It was a very nice time and you loved chatting with and showing of to our friends, watching all the Japanese people zipping by, and flirting with the occasional waitress or lady on the train!

There are other new things that you are doing now, too. You point all the time at things you want, pictures in books, and Daddy and I. While you point, you usually say da, which sounds like you’re trying to say “that.” You aren’t talking to us yet, but we do get a lot of dadas out of you, which sometimes sound like you mean “Daddy”, but you say it to lots of things that aren’t Daddy, too. One of your favorite new activities is putting things away! When we play together, you like it when I dump lots of little toys out of a bucket or blocks out of a bag so you can quickly pick them all up and return them to their container. It’s lot of fun when you do this with your toys — especially now that you will help me clean them up! — but you do it with all sorts of other silly things, too. We are constantly finding toys, crochet hooks, remote controls, and other random objects you find stuffed in Daddy’s shoes by the front door or placed in empty glasses we leave out on the coffee table! You like to play with your nesting cups. You’ve always enjoyed un-nesting them and banging them together, but now you try to put them all together properly. Sometimes you stack the blocks on top of each other, too. This usually happens when your nesting doesn’t quite work out and you try to put a large cup inside a small cup. From there, you build upwards and seem happy with the outcome, too!

You giggle and chat and smile all the time, but lately you’ve gotten quite a temper! You understand “no” and will test to see where the line is. Sometimes you can be pretty sneaky and you get punished for it. Usually when we swat your hand and tell you no, you’d get over it really quickly and come give us a hug. Now sometimes you’ll push us away if we try to hug you or you’ll bang your head on the floor and throw a little tantrum! You need to get over it and I feel a little bad for you sometimes, but you still are way too cute! You definitely don’t like having things taken away from you and if we try to hide something, you’ll go searching for it. Sometimes you get so upset by other people. You used to do just fine in the church nursery, but lately it’s been such a horror! As soon as we walk up to the door, you know what’s going on, and you will throw such a fit about it. I’m hoping this passes soon because I know it can be tiring for the other ladies who work in the nursery and I want you to have fun with the other children while Daddy and I are away at the service. Soon enough you should be able to understand that we won’t leave you in there forever. In your last two doctor’s appointments I mentioned earlier you were also so upset. Even if I was holding you, if the doctor came near you at all or even just looked at you, you would howl like she was torturing you! I wish there was something I could do to calm you down because you get madder than I’ve ever seen, but I’m hoping this too will pass soon.

It’s been such a fun month and every day you entertain Daddy and I so much! I love how you hug and kiss us all the time and want to snuggle and also how pleased you are with yourself for doing silly little things! We love you so much, Rhino!

Love Always,
Mommy

I’m joining in on the felt food craze and starting to sew up some fruits, veggies, sandwiches, sushi, etc. for Rhino to play with! Well, that’s what I’m planning on doing, though I’ve only just finished a carrot and a lemon. I don’t have a photo of the lemon yet, but really, it’s not as cute as the carrot. Rhino loves them, though!

Happy Birthday, Baby Boy!

You’ve made it through the first year — hooray! I have known that “time flies”, but I really can’t believe how fast your first year has zipped by!

You’ve recovered completely from the trip to the States and now you’re your usual self. You’ve gotten to the point where I can say now that you are sleeping through the night. You’d often wake for short, frequent nursings, but you’re pretty much finished with that now. We’ve also set you up with your own little mattress on the floor next to ours, so you won’t be sleeping (crawling, kicking, sprawling…) with us when your new brother or sister arrives. You seem to like the little bed more than the big bed!

You’ve become a bit more of a trouble maker lately! Daddy had brought home a package of napkins the other day and left it on the kitchen floor, which was obviously an invitation for you to partake in the napkin fun! You are getting a bit sneaky, too, and will push the limits to see how much you can get away with. Even though you know “no” and that you aren’t supposed to be playing in the trash or grabbing in Daddy’s bag of chips, you’ll still try to when we aren’t looking and check to see if you’ve been caught yet!

You’ve become so affectionate lately! You understand “hug” and will give us big hugs often. You even hug all of your stuffed animals. You’re learning “kiss” now, too, but haven’t yet mastered it. You don’t quite know how to pucker, so when you kiss us, it’s with a wide open mouth and dangling tongue! You’re so sweet and sometimes harass us with sloppy kiss after sloppy kiss! Most of your stuffed animals also now have crusty mouths and noses where you’ve practiced your affection on them.

We have planned for your birthday party to be next weekend because your birthday weekend falls on Valentine’s Day and lots of your friends mommies and daddies all ready have plans. Daddy and I wanted to do something special on your birthday anyway, so I made you some cupcakes and you got to open gifts from your grandparents! Unfortunately, we didn’t have too much time for festivities because Daddy was at work all day and then we had a church banquet when he got home, so we had your little party over his lunch break. You weren’t so interested in opening presents — maybe because we were hastily tossing them at you! You know how to unwrap gifts pretty well, but this time you just wanted to tear one tiny piece off at a time and inspect each bit. Daddy and I ended up unwrapping everything else for you! You received some really nice outfits, a couple CDs you like to dance to, and some fun toys! Daddy and I gave you a wooden xylophone, which you haven’t quite figured out yet. You like to tink the keys with your finger instead of the mallet, or use the mallet backwards and at a whole arms distance away from the instrument. You’ll get it!

You also had your first taste of chocolate! I made you some yummy cupcakes with chocolate frosting. You were mostly interested in licking all the frosting off the cake and playing with it and made a bit of a mess! You finished the whole thing and seemed pretty pleased with the whole experience! The next morning was Valentine’s Day, so we had a little teddy bear and small box of chocolates for you. You had a piece and liked it, but didn’t beg for any more. I had also given Daddy a bigger box of chocolate truffles, which was left out on the coffee table. You only needed 10 seconds to open the box and shove six truffles into your little mouth and all over your chest! It was definitely time for a bath and you were pretty wound up with sugar the rest of the morning!

It’s been such a wonderful year with you, Rhino, and Daddy and I are looking forward to another fun year with you! Happy birthday!!

Lots of Love,
Mommy

Hello, darling!

Your mommy has been a little lazy about writing your letters the few months! So much has happened, but I’m going to only talk a little bit about it this time.

9 Month Letter (Nov 13, 2008)

During your eighth month you started to “army crawl”: pulling yourself forward with your arms while lying on your stomach. You got around for about three days like that before you figured out you can use your hands and knees to move, too! Now you are all over the place!

You didn’t have a doctor’s appointment this past month, but we did weigh you in. You still haven’t gained any weight since we checked when you turned 8 months, so the doctor did want to see what is going on. You were a little sick for a week and you’ve been getting more exercising with crawling, so the doctor isn’t worried at all.

You’ve been trying more solid foods lately, too. We haven’t yet found anything you won’t eat! You are great about eating your vegetables and this month tried steamed broccoli, which you had lots of fun with. You also like mangoes, kiwi slices, and cottage cheese.

This month you traveled a little bit to the towns around us. We went to Rokkasho for their yearly Salmon Festival. You got to see lots of big fish swimming in the river and also in the pools at the festival. Daddy was hoping to get to catch a salmon with his hands, but we didn’t get to the festival early enough. You had fun snuggled up with me and looking at all the Japanese people, fish, and food.

The big news of this month is that Daddy and I found out that you are going to be a big brother next summer! This is very exciting for us because we knew we wanted you to have a little brother or sister that was close to your age to play with. You went with us to my first doctor’s appointment, where we got to hear Little Baby’s heartbeat and even watch a little movie of him or her! It would be neat if you were a little older and knew what was going on so you could be excited too, but I know when the baby comes you will be such a fantastic brother and you two will have so much fun together!

10 Month Letter (Dec 13, 2008)

Now you’re 10 months old and the last month has been very busy! You are crawling around everywhere and starting to get into things! Daddy and I have to put more thought into what we leave around on the floor or what doors we leave open so you don’t get into something you shouldn’t. It’s a lot of work!

In November you saw your first snow fall. It was exciting for Daddy and I because it was our first snow since we’ve been here in Japan, and we haven’t seen any in quite some time! We took you out in the backyard so you could get a closer look, but you really just wanted to eat it. I’d walk you up to the snow on the tree branches or pick some up in my hand for you to get a better look and you’d just reach forward with your mouth to get a taste!

This month we also started our vacation back to the US to see all our family for Christmas. You got to take a couple of trains to get to Tokyo, then fly from Japan to California and were really good, considering how long you’d been up and how long the flight was! In the airport in Tokyo, waiting for our delayed plane to California, you started “cruising”. Daddy was eating some french fries and had them sitting on the chair and you were crawling around on the floor. When you saw those french fries, you pulled right up on a chair and walked yourself down to get a bite! You poor thing, you worked so hard to get over to the snacks, but of course we didn’t let you have any! Food seems to be your biggest motivation to try new things! We spent a little time in California where you got to see some people from our old church, who you’d met before (but you were just born and definitely wouldn’t remember!) We went to see our friends the Lasleys and their little girls. Unfortunately, when we stopped by the girls were asleep, though it would have been fun to see you with them! I know we’ll see all of them again though, and you’ll have a good time when you get to meet up with them then. We took another plane from California to Texas, to see your Pop (my father), Dandy (my grandfather), and GG (my grandmother) as well as all your great uncles & aunt, etc! You turned 10 months in Texas and had a nice trip meeting and visiting with lots of people.

When we’re at home, I usually feed you some baby food that I made or pieces of our meals and rarely ever use normal baby food. We thought that for the long trip, we’d pick some up in case there were meals that we couldn’t give to you or we were unable to cook for you. I was a little worried that, since you don’t eat baby food at home, you wouldn’t really like it. Boy, was I surprised! You ate lots of baby food from jars on the airplane, in the airports, in California, and in Texas and loved it! You’ve become a lot more demanding for food lately, too! When you see me start to get food ready, you’ll whine and hold your fists out and shake a little. Sometimes you even yell at me to “hurry up!” I know that you just get hungry, need to learn a little bit of patience, and really, really like your food!

11 Month Letter (Jan 13, 2009)

You spent your tenth month mostly back in the states, still visiting over Christmas. After we finished visiting my family in Texas, we flew to New York to see Daddy’s family. It was much colder there and you met even more people who were very happy to see you! We spent most of our time with Grandma, Grandpa, and your Aunt Jen at home. Other family members and friends would come over to visit and everyone enjoyed just watching you crawl and cruise around the room, eat your meals, play with toys, and they took lots of pictures of you! You got so much attention and really seemed to enjoy it. We visited at Mom-mom and Pop-pop’s (Daddy’s grandparents) home and they had lots of people over to visit. We got to meet another baby boy, Mitchell, who is just 3 weeks older than you (Daddy’s cousin’s son!) You two had fun pointing at and touching each other and playing peek-a-boo around a chair! Mom-mom and Pop-pop have a staircase, which you hadn’t ever seen much of (right now we live on one floor.) We wanted to see what you would do with stairs, and to our surprise you took right to them! You zipped up eight stairs and then weren’t quite sure how to get down.

We weren’t in New York over Christmas, but we had an early Christmas so we could all celebrate together. You received lots of wonderful toys and handsome clothes and are having so much fun playing with everything. One of the best gifts you got was a little baby piano that plays notes and songs, lights up, and is just your height. Now that you can pull up to a stand on things, it’s so much fun to watch you play with this. One of your cutest recent developments is “dancing” to all kinds of music. While at the piano, you will play a couple notes or start a song, then rock back and forth, and repeat this over and over. You had so much fun with the piano!

We noticed your dancing skills last month when I would sing to you or put on music. It started out with just rocking back and forth, but you’ve developed all sorts of new “moves” since then. Anytime someone would sing a song to you (Grandpa would sing “yummy, yummy, yummy in my tummy, tummy, tummy” while you’re eating), put on Christmas music, or play a toy that makes music, you’d immediately start “be-bopping” (this is what Daddy calls your dancing!) We love it and can’t get enough of it!

After New York, we flew to California to see Grammy (my mother.) Your Aunt Andrea, Uncle Michael, and cousin Amelia, as well as Uncle Matt and his girlfriend Adria came to visit at the same time as well. Amelia is just a week younger than you are and we were all very excited for you two to meet! You guys were so cute together and seemed to have quite a good time! In Colorado you met Jack and Tilley, Grammy’s two little dogs (you also met Jasmine and Mugsy at Grandma and Grandpa’s, so you had seen dogs before.) You didn’t like when they’d lick at your face, but you did enjoy being around and them and petting their fur. We had lots of fun at Grammy’s, going out to eat, making lots of food in the kitchen, relaxing with your aunts and uncles, and having Christmas!

Christmas with you was a great time! Daddy and I went to church on Christmas Eve and Aunt Andrea and Uncle Michael stayed to watch you. When we came back, you sat up with Daddy and I as we opened some gifts. Then when we woke up on Christmas morning, you and Amelia got to dig around in your stockings for some neat books and car toys! We had lots of presents under the tree for the two of you. Neither of you seemed to want to tear the paper off the gifts, but you really did want all the bows! Once the paper was off, you did have fun with it and the ribbons. You both got some wonderful new books, stuffed animals, Little People toys, and some very nice clothes. Even more people came over Christmas afternoon to meet you and eat more food! After Christmas we did more fun things like going to see a cave, which you really enjoyed. When we were in a big, echo-y room underground, you would babble and make all sorts of cute sounds!

You were extra-good on the flight back to Japan (it was an even longer than the flight to the States!) and on the three trains to get back home. You were wonderful to travel with, but we probably won’t go so far away again anytime too soon! You can read more about our December visits in the US in an earlier post I made.

Sorry, baby, for the long letter that covers the last three months! I will be better in the future about not skipping these so that you can learn about what your life was like as a little boy. As always, Daddy and I love you so much and are having the best time of our lives getting to know you better each day!

Hugs and Kisses,
Mommy

Hello, sweetie!

In the last six months, you’ve grown up quite a bit! You weigh 21.5 pounds and are 27.95 inches long. You are getting very sociable with other children now. We had a church picnic at Leftwich Park on base where you sat with 1-year old Samantha. You like to reach out and touch her head and babble to her! We have also spent time with our friends the Armstrongs and their kids, Josh and Aimé. Josh likes to tickle you (though I don’t think you’re ticklish right now, but Josh has fun!) and talk to you. Aimé likes to pat her head and you have pulled at her pretty little curls more than once! She always giggles and says “Baby Rhino likes me!” which you seem to very much. There are also other babies in the church nursery that you like to look at and reach out for. You are also very interested in certain adults. We were at the food court at the BX recently and there was a table with some Japanese men in front of you and you kept smiling and calling out to them with your screeches and babbles. They enjoyed your attention and would wave and laugh and you really liked the interaction. You are quite a friendly little boy!

You recently started pulling yourself to your knees and also to a stand. You have strong legs and stand very well with our support. We no longer pull you because you can bring yourself up! You are enjoying your play time in your crib more now that you’ve discovered you can hold onto the railing, kneel or stand, and chew on the wood!

You aren’t crawling yet, but I get the feeling you’re going to take off any day now! When you’re sitting on your own, you often lean forward and get on your hands and knees. It seems like you don’t know exactly what to do from there, though! Sometimes you plop down to your stomach and push yourself in circles with your feet or try to walk your feet forward so your diaper is in the air. Sometimes you just push yourself back to a sitting position. You seem like you’re ready to get moving, though!

You also started clapping for us this past month. You are very good with your hands and had been touching them together excitedly, but it never quite made a clap. Now you clap along with us when Daddy and I clap for you or you do it on your own when you’re happy and playing.

You make all sorts of silly noises, too! You’re continuing to string together “ba”s and “da”s, but lately you’ve been doing a whole lot more “ma”s and “na”s. The first time I heard your “ma” was when I walked in the room you were in and you looked up at me and squealed “mama!” I know you aren’t speaking yet and still just experimenting with sounds, but it made me smile! Now it seems like when Daddy is holding you, you repeat “mama” over and over, but when I hold you, you say “dada” all the time! You’ll figure it out soon! You are learning to recognize some words now. If you are lying down or sitting and I want to pick you up, I will say “up.” Now most of the time when I say up, you will look at me and lift up your arms for me to pick you up!

You love playing with your toys, especially some Japanese blocks we got you, your Bright Builders, and my yarn! You like to bang your toys together and sometimes get so wild with them that you scrunch up your face and lean back away from your hands because you seem like you’re going to smack yourself! You also like playing with your food. You are really getting good at pinching the sweet potato puffs and getting them in your mouth and you love the baby toast, both to eat and play with! You are still eating a lot of peas, sweet potatoes, and butternut squash baby food that I make as well as baby oat cereal. You don’t love being fed and always want to hold the spoon yourself. Sometimes you do a pretty good job, but most of the time you make quite a mess! You also like to chew on raw baby carrots and will demolish one very quickly. You chew it all up very well and leave almost no mess. You’re my little rabbit baby!

We are having such a wonderful time together and I have fun seeing all the new things you learn every day. It amazes me how quickly you grow and I am really enjoying helping you discover your world!

See some other photos and videos of the past month!

I love you,
Mommy

Dear Rhino,

Happy Half-Birthday! Six months seems to have flown by and it’s strange to think that in six more months we’ll all ready be celebrating your first birthday!

We have your doctors appointment and your WICO appointment on Friday, so we’ll know then how much you’ve grown. People often mistake you for an older baby because you’re so big and doing such a great job sitting up on your own. You’re really doing well with sitting and almost never topple over. I can leave you to play and you love to reach for toys then wave them around or chew on them! You’re also letting Daddy and I know when you want specific toys (or glasses or food or the camera …) and will sometimes have a little temper if we don’t let you grab it (at least, until we distract you with something else!)

Your mouth has had quite an exciting month! You’re now up to six teeth, which all appeared in the last two months (all your central incisors and both left lateral incisors.) You’re still drooling all over everything and chewing on your fingers constantly! You have been pretty cranky this month, which is understandable! You’re always a pretty calm and mellow baby, but you’ve had a few times this month where you’re just so upset and probably in a lot of pain that it’s taken a whole lot of work to soothe you down. Of course I don’t mind, I just feel so bad for you when you get really, really upset! You’re also sticking your tongue out a whole lot and blowing bubbles, which is way too cute!

You’ve tried a little bit of solid food, but we haven’t really made it a regular event yet. Now we’re going to start feeding you foods every day. You’ve had carrots, apples and applesauce, peaches, avocado, and just a teeny tiny amount of sweet potato. So far you’ve enjoyed the peaches the most! We’re letting you try to feed yourself and that’s mostly working out pretty well. Little chunks of peaches and avocado get pretty slippery in your slimy fingers, so you have a difficult time holding on to them. When I mash up food for you I put it on a little dipper and you really enjoy eating mush off of those and chewing on and playing with them!

Maybe it’s all in my head, but it seems like you’re starting to have a preference for specific things. Given the choice of toys, you like duck-related toys and books a lot as well as red things. If something big and red comes on the TV you will smile or giggle and flail your arms, then lose interest when it goes away. You play with duck toys and bath-books while you’re in the tub and you do have a good time in there, so maybe that helps you to like duck toys outside the bath too! You have also become a lot more interested in books when I read to you. You really want to grab it away from me and chew on it!

Here are some more photos and videos of you over the past month. Thank you so much for a wonderful and fun month! I love you more and more every day!

Lots of Love,
Mommy

I’ve recently become re-inspired to craft. I finally set up the sewing machine and organized all my little bits and pieces. I saw some terrific Sublime Stitching iron-on embroidery transfers at the Arts and Crafts Center on base that I just adore, but I didn’t know how to embroider. I looked up some stitches online and now I’m on my way and enjoying embroidering one of Rhino’s shirts! Rhino’s clothes (well, and mine too) are all pretty plain and could use some ornamentation. I’ve been browsing free clip-art on the internet and thinking up my own designs and now have tons of ideas for cute embroidery projects. My first big project will be Rhino’s Christmas stocking. Andrea, Matthew and I all have hand embroidered stockings (I still use mine even though it was made for me when I was a baby!) and last year Mama made Matt a stocking. (I don’t have great photos up right now, but both are stockings can be seen in this picture.) I’m thinking I should really get started now if I want to finish in time!

I also have wanted to learn to knit for quite a while. Two years ago Mama gave me a bunch of her old patterns and all her needles. I picked up a book and tried to learn the basic stitches, but got frustrated and put it down. Jason’s ex-girlfriend gave me a brief lesson last year and it didn’t quite stick. I do enjoy crocheting, but when I look around online I see so many great patterns that are only in knit. In general, I just seem to like the look and what you can do with knitting more than crochet. I think it’s good to know how to do both, though. So a few nights ago I spent quite a bit of time replaying instructional knitting videos. I am so thankful for the internet! I feel like I can learn to do almost anything! (By the way, one of my favorite sites is Instructables — so amazing and useful!) I’m feeling pretty good about my knitting right now. Here is my very first attempt at knitting. I hope it will someday be a scarf (when I find more matching yarn!)

On Saturday we went to the Shimoda Mall and Fantasy Dome to look for craft stores and fabric stores. We drove aimlessly around Hachinohe because I know there are one or two there also, but only found one as we were tired and on our way home. I’ll check it out after pay day. I did find a sweet little fabric store in Fantasy Dome, but it was pretty expensive. I picked up some small pieces of pretty Japanese fabric and some felt, but probably won’t be buying much else there unless it’s really special. For average things like solid fabric and felt, I’m better off buying online (or hopefully I find a cheaper place locally.) I do have plans to sew Rhinosome clothes and toys as well as other easy projects like curtains and place mats (I’m still quite the beginner seamstress!) Rhino doesn’t have any soft blocks, so I thought I’d make him some. Today I whipped up my prototype soft block. Eventually I’d like to decorate them with letters or something, but for now he just has a plain felt block stuffed with crinkly plastic shopping bags. (We have so many of them and I need a use for them all! Plus, Rhino loves crinkly noisy things.) I think it turned out fine, but I definitely have some improvements in mind for the next block (it is kind of lumpy; my slip-stitching was horrendous …) Rhino seems to get a kick out of it, but he was too spastic when I gave it to him earlier that he just kept flinging it about and didn’t really grasp it well. It was a quick, fun project though and I’m excited to make him more cute things.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted our videos, so here are some of Rhino’s most recent flicks!

Rhino’s been entertaining himself more with toys lately. I can leave him be for a bit and he’ll have fun banging toys on each other or thrashing his arms wildly. Here he is playing in his room.

Rhino is always so happy to see Matt when he comes home from work!

Matt’s parents sent Rhino a “Half Birthday” box of gifts that are terrific. He got some snazzy new outfits and some terrific toys that he really likes. He has a great time with his rattly-twisty toy and his crinkly book!

Naked time is good for baby bottoms. Rhino’s playing with his tongue again and always sticking it out at us when he’s happy.

We were talking about camping over the weekend, but leaving as soon as Matt got home from work on Friday didn’t seem so appealing at the time. So we decided to see more of Misawa, since there’s still so much we haven’t! We dropped our bikes off at a bike shop for some needed repairs so we can take Rhino out for a ride soon! Then we stopped in at the Aviation and Science Museum.

There were all sorts of neat hands-on exhibits about physics and aviation. There was a humongous pinpressions thingy at which we spent way too much time!

I controlled this big gravity wheel thing, we played with pulleys, Matt’s sprint speed was clocked at 17.4 kph, and we got to play with all sorts of other fun things!

The main focus of the aviation museum is Miss Veedol, the plane that made the first non-stop trans-pacific flight. She flew in 1931 from Misawa to Wenatchee, Washington. There are tons of tributes to Miss Veedol all over the base and the city.

There was also a special dinosaur exhibit that we saw. There wasn’t really much to it, but it was fun! The museum theater showed an episode of Prehistoric Park, which was had never seen before. It was all dubbed in Japanese and it was pretty amusing!

Rhino really enjoyed the whole museum and was awake and looking around the whole time we were there. He was in such a good mood and was really enthralled by the dinosaur movie, too (he’s never seen such a big screen!) The museum is definitely somewhere we want to return to at least every year. I look forward to when Rhino can interact more with the exhibits.