for her first birthday, ramona received a membership to the denver zoo from jp’s parents. we usually go later in the afternoon when there’s fewer field-trips and thus fewer children. she can run around the wide paths and get the wiggles out and i can introduce her to the real-life animals whose sounds i’ve been teaching her.
last week jp was battling a stomach bug so headed to the zoo to give him some quiet space and us some fresh air.
she loves finding puddles and stomping her little feet in them. the sea lion caught her eye and she stood on the ledge patiently waiting for it to swim past over and over. and that little black and white bird! the two of them stayed there for a handful of minutes (a long time in toddler-time) and talked to each other and mirrored one another and ran back and forth together. finally she noticed me standing a little bit away and ran over to grab my hand to make sure i wouldn’t miss out on these flirtations with the little bird (this hand-holding thing is new and just kills me every time!).
i love instagram, you guys, a lot. so when printcopia offered me an 8×10 canvas print to review, i was so excited to discover that their website allows you to upload photos from your own instagram account. the process is painless and streamlined and extremely intuitive. i chose this photo of jp and ramona looking like twins, and eagerly awaited my canvas print’s arrival.
the delivery was speedy and the image appeared exactly the way it did on the screen (i HATE it when you preview images, only to print them out and they are blurry and awful and misaligned. i’m sure it’s user error but i still grumble at whatever program or printer did it). the only thing i wish i had done differently was to have the image wrap around the edges. however, printcopia offers you that option OR whatever freaking color you want (seriously, a color wheel pops up. the one that gives me anxiety bc there are so many hues and shades and choices).
you can see the final product here, in my frame cluster.
i love it. look at those two peas in a pod.
now through the end of october, printcopia is offering canvas-print-loving blog readers 50% off their orders, plus standard shipping! how great is that? just enter the coupon code: BLOGLOVE2012.
printcopia offered me an 8×10 canvas print in exchange for a review of their product. while they did not ask me to write anything but my honest opinion, they did ask that i link back to them with “canvas prints.” because i found their product favorable i had no qualms of introducing you all to them. i will always be completely honest and transparent in any sponsorships and exchanges i participate in. thanks for being amazing readers.
here are two weeks’ worth of links i’ve stored up for you! again, i’m sometimes a little slow to viral news and internet sensations, so i hope some of this is new to you!
- jp and i are making our way through Friday Night Lights on netflix. pretty much we’re obsessed.
- this video is so worth watching. inspiring and hopeful: caine’s arcade and the imagination foundation.
- still so proud of the lumineers. here’s an interview with my friend, neyla, who basically had no idea what she was getting into.
- which one of my friend (blogger or IRL) wants to do a box exchange like this one with me?
- jodi writes such a beautiful post about being grounded.
- a local denverite took her four-year-old to a chicken slaughter, and i really admire what she had to say about it.
- my friends’ wedding was featured on on style me pretty. click through the gallery to see the one of jp and i cutting a rug!
dear ramona,
we first hear your soft whimpers and babbles on the video monitor around 5:00 in the morning. waiting for it to get urgent, we end up falling back asleep bc you do too. then again, you usually stir at 6:30, and by 7:00 you are fully calling for us to come get you out of your crib. we hear the thump thump thump of your pacifiers hitting the rug (i think you sleep with at least four. apparently you only care about them when flinging them to the ground for dramatic effect).
papa always is the one to go get you. he brings you up to our room and into bed and under our covers, and then the three of us snuggle while you nurse for the first time of the day. we spend the time cooing to you, giddy but still sleepy, and papa and i discuss our plans for the coming day. then, when you’ve had enough, you crawl around the bed and over our bodies, kissing first papa and then me and then otto. otto always gets lots of kisses. i realize this sounds a bit contrived, maybe saccharine. honest to goodness, this is what the first fifteen minutes of our day looks like and i wouldn’t trade it for anything.
but you, sweet sweet ramona, you are getting older, and much more independent. you devour eggs and yogurt and oatmeal for breakfast. you snack on cheddar cheese and bananas and smoothies papa whips up. you love pasta and red sauce and haven’t made up your mind about meat. unless it’s ribs, dripping from the bone. black beans are your absolute favorite. especially if they’re spicy.
and on top of eating solids like a champ (most of the time) you have discovered there is a world beyond your mama and your home and your backyard. and you love this fact. you are so ready to explore and introduce yourself and get to know the universe. when we are out walking you will seek out the nearest human or dog or ant or flower or playground slide to say hello to. fearless, you are, and sometimes i need to hold tight to your tiny little hand to protect you from dangers that are not evident to you yet (streets and cars and doors that slam shut and kids swinging on swings and dogs we don’t know).
i beam with pride at your exuberance and your confidence and your enthusiasm about the people and places and things around you. just yesterday you stomped around the playground with two older girls, not once looking back to check where i was bc you were so content to be making new friends. even when they accidentally pulled you over a high ledge and you fell, you simply got up, dusted off your hands, and toddled quickly back to grab their outstretched hands.
but what this means, ramona, (and this is something that will hold little significance to you until you are a mama one day) is that our relationship is changing. undoubtedly it’s for the better–and it’s natural and neccesary–but it is a little tough on me, your mama, right now. for nearly fourteen and a half months you and i have shared a special connection: since you were born you have nursed. and this was a constant i could count on (we both could count on). you needed me and i loved giving you the nourishment and “home base” you needed. it was a time for us to sit down, take a time-out from whatever was going on, and fill-up: you with milk and me with good hormones and a tangible reminder of who we are to each other.
but you are nursing less and less. once in the morning (my favorite nurse of the day with you), perhaps for a very short bit once, maybe twice, during the course of the day, and then right before bed. besides our morning time together, i don’t even think you are receiving much, if any, milk. and though it is a sweet time with you, i know this means it’s time to start weaning you (and myself) and to continue to move towards encouraging you to be the independent young girl you are becoming. the morning nurse/snuggle, will probably be the last to go. and i imagine that day, that morning–when you come upstairs and do not shriek with anticipation about your first nurse; when you go straight to morning kisses and being all roly-poly all over the bed instead of searching gleefully and frantically under my top–that morning will be so so so bittersweet for me. you are my daughter, my love. but foremost you are your own person and i must respect the changes in your development, in your needs, in your personality, and in your preferences. and while it is difficult for me to have this part of being-ramona’s-mama ending, i am so excited to see what else our mother-daughter bond has in store down the road.
i love you, my minka, my beanie bop, my mo and my moo. you are really the best.
love, mama.
see some other letters to ramona: about love, about style, about fun, about family, about communication.
courtney, from (she always loved) larking, wrote about making your own fingerpaints. i was inspired to try fingerpaints with ramona and max, who have recently shown a bit of interest in coloring and making marks and scribbling.
so during their nap time, i whipped up some edible finger paint in the kitchen (i used the finger paint recipe that courtney referenced). it was easy!
or so i thought. the babes, who usually sleep an hour and a half (maybe two) for their morning nap, ended up sleeping nearly three hours. by then, the fingerpaint i had made had gelled a little bit and was not very paint-like. still, i took the two little ones outdoors where some craft paper had been laid out and stripped them down to their skivvies. however, max wanted nothing to do with this paint and ended up toddling over to the goats. ramona showed a little bit more interest but didn’t seem to get the whole point of “painting with fingers.” instead she wiped it around on her belly and then proceeded to freak out when i wiped some on her arms. she, too, toddled away to the goats.
it’s not the paint’s fault (though i wish we could have had a chance to play with it sooner before it turned to gel), or the recipe’s fault, or my fault, or the toddlers’ fault. they just would rather play w goats and frolic in the yard than smear colorful cornstarch on paper. we’ll try some artistic action again later but i think, until they show a little bit more sustained interest, i’m going to stick with the simple stuff i don’t have to make, like crayons.
welcome
