52:41

Newfoundland is 

not knowing when to put the 

patio furniture out. 

April is too early, 

and windy, 

and snowy.

(#14) Jayme Learns to Quilt:Part 2

If you are just joining me, I'm attempting to sew a quilt.

I started a kind of freeform circle-y thing that just wasn't working for me, so I decided to simplify and make my design using just squares.

I spent a glorious day cutting and piecing together my squares into a design.

The quilt  top kept growing and growing until it looked like this.

I'm showing you what it looks like now, "un-sewn", because I'm pretty terrified that once I turn on my machine I'll destroy it. I can't figure the darned thing out to save my life.

I'm going to attempt sewing it all together now. Wish me luck!

52:40

Newfoundland is

charming and old.

52:39

Newfoundland is

from here

to here in 45 minutes

grey skies, followed by hail, followed by snow, followed by rain, followed by blue skies in the span of an hour.

Ellie Learns to do Things: Sign Language

Published in The Packet.

Now that my daughter has made the connection between waving bye-bye and someone leaving, we’ve been trying to teach her sign language.

To some, baby sign language is just another nutty parenting fad, or a comedic device in the Ben Stiller movie Meet the Fockers. I believe the benefits of improved communication with your baby or toddler is worth the extra work involved in teaching your baby sign language.

Children develop their hand-eye coordination long before they develop the ability to verbalize. Baby sign language proponents believe that the lag between wanting to communicate and the ability to communicate through speech is one reason toddlers are so prone to tantrums. They are frustrated by their inability to tell you what they need. Teaching babies simple signs for words like “eat,” “drink,” “cracker,” “more,” “dog,” and “play” makes communication easier, reduces tantrums, and builds vocabulary and confidence. Sign language has also been shown as beneficial for older children with speech delays.

I saw the impressive results of signing first hand when visiting my nephew last week. At sixteen months, he is able to produce 27 signs including “on” and “off,” “light,” “please,” “thank you,” and “cookie.” He is even potty training early because he is able to sign to his mother when he has to use the bathroom. Most parents have fun speculating about what is going on in the mind of their baby or toddler, but my nephew is actually able to share the things he notices and thinks about by signing.

His mother has been practicing signs with him since he was born. She learned them herself through websites, books, and videos. By using them routinely, her baby picked them up over time. She is consistent and careful to always say the word as well as make the sign, so that she fosters language acquisition both verbally and physically through.

Our little girl hasn’t picked up sign language quite as quickly as her cousin. When signing “daddy” to her, which involves bringing your thumb to your forehead and keeping all your fingers straight, she looks at us like we are crazy. Usually, she ignores us when we use signs and carries on emptying the cupboard of pots, or chewing the spine of her books, or chasing the dog. However, within the last few weeks, things are beginning to click for her. She now signs “more” and “all done” when she is eating, as well as “bird,” “dog,” and “cat.”

There are many free products and videos online to help parents and children learn sign language. A quick Google search reveals a wealth of information. I’ve also purchased a few products that are very helpful. The book Baby Signs: How to Talk with Your Baby Before Your Baby Can Talk by Linda Acredolo and Susan Goodwyn does an excellent job of explaining both the research done on children who have learned sign language at an early age, and the techniques of teaching sign language. My baby enjoys reading board books by Susan Goodwyn that have pictures of other babies doing signs. We especially love watching the very entertaining and musical Baby Signing Time! DVDs together. All of these products can be found on Amazon.ca.

Business Ideas for Clarenville Folks

Published in The Packet.

I went to visit some friends and their divine new baby boy at G.B. Cross Memorial Hospital this weekend. Only a year ago, I was leaving the same hospital with my own little one. It got me thinking about how difficult parenting can be when you are new to a community without family or friends to keep you informed of the resources available.

There are, of course, some wonderful organisations in Clarenville that support new parents. The Neighbourhood of Friends Family Resource Center, provides play activities for kids 0-6 years of age Monday through Thursday, and is actually hosting a meet and greet for new parents and families in Clarenville on February 27^th between 6-8 pm.

There is also Eastern Health’s Breast Feeding Support Group. It provides nursing support for new moms, as well as a much needed social outlet for chatting and venting. 

Still, over the course of the year I’ve been on the look out for specific services that would make my day-to-day life with a baby easier and safer. This has caused me to consider what businesses I wish would come to our little town.

So if you are an enterprising citizen looking to makes some extra cash off of the influx of newcomers to this community with infants­—Trust me! There are a lot of us! — here are some ideas:

A Baby-sitter’s Club

I am a child of the 80’s, so The Babysitter’s Club book series, by Ann M. Martin was to me one of the coolest ideas ever as a kid.  Now that I’m a parent, the idea of calling one phone number to get access to multiple babysitters seems even more genius. Newcomers to Clarenville have no relatives or friends to rely on if an emergency arises and they need a sitter. If any local teenagers want to earn some cash for college, prom, or a trip to the mall, banding together would be a great idea. I know five moms, off the top of my head, in desperate need of a night out without the kids.

A Grocery Delivery Service

This would be especially useful for moms at home with multiple children and a newborn.  It would be lovely if one of the grocery stores in town took orders by phone or over the Internet, and then delivered the groceries to our homes on certain days. Many parents would pay a premium on their groceries to avoid long lines while trying to wrangle a busy toddler and soothe a crying baby.

Infant CPR and Heimlich Maneuver Classes

Babies put everything in their mouths. Even the most careful parent with the most childproofed home, will experience that terrible moment when they think their child is choking. Certification courses in Infant CPR would bring such peace of mind to many parents. Right now, parents who want that knowledge have to go to St. John’s to take the course.

Infant Swim Classes

According to the Lifesaving Society’s 2011 National Drowning Report, drowning is the second leading cause of children’s deaths. The Wave Hotel and Fitness Centre does offer swim classes for older children, but not for babies and toddlers. While babies obviously can’t learn the breaststroke, they can learn to float on their backs. They can also learn to blow bubbles under water, which keeps them from swallowing water if they fall in.  Babies can develop these skills around three months of age, but it is hard to do so during loud family swim hours in a crowded, cold pool. I’m certain an hour set aside at the pool for baby “Swimboree” classes would be very successful with parents in this community.

Doggie Daycare

When I first heard of this concept, I immediately rolled my eyes and considered it a Yuppy luxury. But new parents have less time to get their dogs the exercise and socialization they need. When a dog is bored, isolated, or attention-deprived, it becomes destructive. Shredded up bath mats and chewed up base boards are the last thing you want to deal with when you are a sleep-deprived new parent. A Doggie Daycare can alleviate some of these stresses, while benefitting your dog’s physical and mental health.

Obviously, parents in this community have been doing just fine without any of these services. But why not do what we can to make their lives easier? Especially if by doing so, a tidy profit can be made.

Newfoundlanders and the Apocalypse

Published in The Packet.

I’ve made it to adulthood without learning to do some very basic things.

These gaps in my adult skill set have come into focus since moving to Clarenville. I usually notice them when I’m looking for a service, only to discover that no one really uses that service here because everyone in this community is so self-sufficient.

For example, I realized that I don’t actually know how to iron a man’s shirt or remove tough stains. Where I used to live, I was able to drop off our wrinkled clothing at the dry cleaners before work, and pick up our immaculate, starched and pressed wardrobe on my way home. It was lovely.

But if you already know how to iron and get ketchup out of your sleeve, why on earth would you pay someone to do it for you? I assume this question is why I haven’t found a dry cleaning service here in Clarenville.

I have a Bachelors of Science, a Bachelor of Arts, and a Masters degree, but I couldn’t tell you how to use a compass, make a pot of coffee, catch a fish, shoot a gun, garden, use a hammer, or change a flat tire. 

If something apocalyptic happened, I’m not sure I would be able to do anything useful enough to ensure my survival. My strengths lie in crafting a good thesis sentence, giving a mean Powerpoint presentation, and folding origami cranes out of paper. Unless the new world order uses origami cranes as its currency, I really have nothing to offer the post-apocalyptic society.

I don’t think my Newfoundland neighbours will have this problem. Just a glance out my window and I see the homes of people with all kinds of adult survival skills. These are people who can fish, hunt, build their own garages, keep plant life alive, and take care of their own stains- not that I imagine stain removal being a big priority in the post-apocalyptic world, but you get the idea.

I’m sure I’m not the only one watching too much Walking Dead and thinking this way. The do-it-yourself movement seems to continue to grow stronger among my generation, with people flocking to sites like Pinterest to help them figure out how to do the basic things we’ve become too comfortable outsourcing to others.

If you find yourself in the same situation, I invite you to read my new blog jaymelearnstodothings.blogspot.ca.

I’ve been slowly learning to do all kinds of basic things and writing about the experience. Last week, I learned how to fold a fittedsheet so it is not all bunchy. Egad! That was hard!

Although, if the world ends, I’d probably be better served learning to tear my fitted sheets into bandages.

Perhaps, wound care should be next week’s blog topic.

(#14) Jayme Learns to Sew a Quilt

So I've started working on number 14 on my list, which is about quilting.

I wrote about my fascination with quilts on my old blog, here.

Of course, I couldn't start my adventure in quilting by doing something simple. That would be too logical. I had this "vision."

There were very few tutorials that matched my vision, or made a lot of sense to me, because I'm not doing a simple pattern of shapes. It is more of a sketch that I'm collaging (is that even a word?) together with stained articles of clothing.

I decided I'd write about the process in a series of posts, since it is going to take a lot longer than I anticipated to put this together. If this is an utter failure, we can all use these posts as an example of what not to do when attempting to quilt.

So here is what I've been done so far.

I first grouped the old clothes and bits of material together by color.

I sketched an idea for what I wanted the quilt to look like in a notebook. Then I got some twelve by twelve white sheets of paper (these are the plain sheets that come in those packs of plastic scrapbook refill pages) and laid out how big I wanted the quilt to be on the floor. I then sketched my design onto the papers (Sorry it is so hard to see! I used a pencil so I could make changes.) on the floor, making a large grid that showed me how big I wanted each piece of material to be.

Next I began cutting fabric squares that were a wee bit bigger than 12 by 12, so I could eventually sew them together.

From there I got some carbon paper and transferred the design on the paper square to the fabric square.

This reminded me of elementary school and I couldn't stop clapping my hands each time the design transferred to the fabric, because it was just so exciting!

Then I took my paper squares and began cutting the design up.

I used each paper piece as my pattern for cutting the fabric pieces. I have to admit, it was especially hard for me to slice up some of Ellie's little outfits, even though they weren't something she (or any other baby) would ever be able to wear again. I couldn't believe how sentimental I became while doing this.

I'm still a bit afraid of my newly fixed sewing machine, so for now I've just been using fabric tape to hold the cut pieces of fabric together on each fabric square, and then I'll eventually sew everything together so it is secure.

I know this looks like nothing now, but if everything goes according to plan, it will be a little nautically inspired quilt that I can hang on a wall, or put on the foot of the bed in the guest room or something.

One and a half squares down, fifteen and a half left to go.

Does anyone have advice for me on how to continue this little project more efficiently? Feel free to leave a comment!

Also, check out my Pinterest boards dedicated to quilting and to my first quilt.

52:37 and 38

Newfoundland is

long days in the airport trying to get home.

and recovering from those long days of travelling.