Little Blondie's Day with Me

Little Blondie has been asking me for a while now to teach her to knit or crochet. I haven't had the time necessary to teach a child who struggles with hand coordination how to do something that requires being coordinated, so it just hadn't happened. Until now. 

For Christmas, Little Blondie got a couple crocheting kits from Mom & Dad 2. I'd had no idea they had bought them for her & I was just as excited as she was. After she opened them, Little Blondie yelled for me from across the room & excitedly held them up with the biggest grin on her face. 

After practically dying from anticipation to learn to crochet, I was able to teach her on Saturday. From watching her, you would have thought that it took me a year to teach her instead of just a few days. It took her quite a while--about 30 minutes--to get how to chain stitch, but by golly, she got it. Just like when I taught Blondie & Ginger Girl how to crochet, I was just as proud as she was when she finally did her first stitch on her own, without my hands over her hands. 

She went on to make a chain as long as her & then was ready for me to teach her the second step in learning to crochet. On Monday, Little Blondie was excited when I told her that not only was I going to teach her the second stitch, but we were going to have an afternoon just for the 2 of us. Her face lit up as if I'd just told her we were having a second Christmas. 

A Mama with 27 children doesn't get a whole lot of one-on-one time with each child. Real one-on-one time with no interruptions is rare. When I get a chance to do it, I jump all over it. 

Little Blondie with her
crocheting, me with
my knitting.

Little Blondie insisted her new
Build-A-Bear needed
to learn how to crochet too.

Concentrating.

Our yarn.

I have to point out that ball of yarn. You see how awesomely round it is? And tangle-free? Hubby did that. After I discovered that Little Blondie had taken a middle section of yarn & cut it to make it an "end piece". A little hint for the non-yarn crafters: that creates a huge knotted mess as you pull from the center of the yarn, trying to make it the top of the yarn. The worst part was, the "end piece" she should have used was right on top of the skein of yarn. Sometimes this child really overthinks things. Hubby had a lot of fun, the special kind of fun, undoing all those knots & winding that yarn for her. So props to the hubs for being patient.

At some point during our Day of Little Blondie, she wanted to watch a movie while crotcheting & she wanted to watch the movie in my room. Not sure why, since we have a perfectly good TV in the living room, but eh, it was her day. I obliged. She can't do 2 things at once, so I knew the crafting would become forgotten while the movie was on. We're working on that multi-tasking thing. 

I wasn't surprised when the crotcheting in her hands got completely forgotten (to the point that she didn't even notice when it fell out of her hands & onto her lap) but I was surprised when it only took 4 minutes for the movie to also be forgotten when she decided the cats needed to be dressed up.

Hilarity ensued...

Lennon in Build-A-Bear glasses.

"He looks smart!
Write up some math
facts in pencil with
messy writing so it looks
like he did it!" 

This look made Little Blondie
roll right off the bed from
giggling so hard.

But she didn't stop at Lennon...

Watson just wasn't
havin' it.

I had to help hold him still.

He was thrilled.

"Girl, you're gonna
get it."

"You have 1.2 seconds
to take this picture before
I bolt." And bolt he did.

Back to Lennon because
he's the patient one.

I don't think he realized he had
an option here. He just sat &
wore those glasses
without moving.

Little Blondie's turn to wear them.
Don't know why Watson was so upset,
Little Blondie didn't seem bothered at all.
Little Blondie came home, after buying
the glasses with her Daddy, & said she
bought them because they matched my
glasses. 

It's nice to slow down & have one-on-one time with each kid. Helps me see beyond the annoying day to day stuff & better appreciate each one of them for who they are.