Categories
DIY Our home

Ikea Hack and Toddler Closets

H has been super interested by clothing lately. She throws her laundry in the hamper, she loves putting her hat on, and she’ll now throw dirty diapers into the diaper bin. She loves helping out. So, naturally, I jumped (head first) into a project: a DIY toddler-sized closet!

I originally wanted to use a new Ikea Flisat, but I won’t lie, the cost plus shipping really kept me from actually pressing go. I instead found this 2×2 Kallax for $15 on NextDoor. Much thriftier. some of the panels were popping off, so I fixed it with tacky glue. Just like new.

Ready for its transformation

To customize this Kallax, I had to remove a side in order to take out one of the small shelves. I wanted a hanging section for shirts, and two storage sections for pants, shoes, etc. After it was removed, I put the side panel back on, and tightened all screws. Then I cut off the protruding pegs leftover by the shelf using a small saw (drywall, since it was what we had). I then used pliers to wiggle out the remaining pegs on the outer piece.

Once the pegs were removed, I put up this tension rod. It’s sturdy, and came in a 3-pack, so I’ll have backups for a while.

For a grand total of $24.99, I have H’s very own toddler-sized wardrobe. For now, we keep it closed off except for outfit change times. Then we’ll open it up for her. She loves playing with the hangers, and more often than not, I have to pick up multiple hangers and put them back. But I love the independence this grants her, and I see that she’s already starting to make choices in her outfits. I plan on buying a small mirror to put on the wall next to the closet, and putting some self care items in, and that will complete her setup!

Note: This post contains affiliate links. If you click on one of them and make a purchase, I’ll receive a commission.

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Mom life Parenting

My baby is a toddler now

Let me begin by just giving out a big, gigantic sigh. SIGHHHHHHH. I’m laying in bed, the day after H’s first birthday, and I’m hit with a wave of emotions. Happy, excited, joyous, reminiscent, sad, and now I’m misty eyed. My baby’s now one. She’s no longer a baby. Well, she’s my baby, but she’s not a baby anymore. She walks on her own. She stands at the kitchen gate and yells at me for “banana”. She plays Animal Crossing in my Switch. She’s interested in getting dressed and how clothes work, and has started “brushing” her teeth and hair. She’s definitely not a baby anymore.

Her birthday went well. I decorated the night before, printed out a photo albums worth of photos (you can sum up a new person’s life in 150 photos, I found out). I baked a cake from scratch, stressed out about whether I should give her a real cake or a low sugar one (we went with low sugar). She loved it. The balloons were a big hit, and she avoided popping any. We only introduced a few new toys because she got overwhelmed very quickly, but we anticipated it.

I made a video, showing my favorite moments from the past year. I paired it with a song that was used in Futurama, one played at a heartwarming scene. I cried while making it. In 3 minutes, I watched my baby grow up. I couldn’t stop wondering how it had already been a year. Time during covid seemed like it stood still, but here was my proof against that. She grew by the day.

I pulled out the outfit we brought her home in from the hospital. It was so tiny. She weighed less than our cat when she was born. I keep trying to figure out how? How was this toddler so fragile and tiny at one point? She walks around pointing as things she notices, reveling in each day, but it feels like last week that she slept against me constantly as I spent my mornings (or was it nights? time melted together in the newborn phase) in the tv room, dozing off with the tiny warm baby on me. My husband and I would switch shifts, only seeing each other in passing as one would wake up and take the baby, and the other go to bed.

I want to bottle up this time, so I have it forever. Her gentle voice, her tiny handprints all over everything, the way she teeters as she walks. I want to remember it all. These last couple weeks have been rough on me, emotionally. My baby is no longer a baby. And I’m okay with that. But it happened so much quicker than I anticipated.

Categories
DIY Our home

How it started vs how it’s going

I set up a bathroom station for H a month ago. I had dreams of H calmly rinsing her hands off in a perfectly arranged station, assembled with care. Birds sang, sunshine came in the window, everything was perfect. I knew I was being a little idealistic, but hey, it’s 2020, we’re in the middle of a pandemic, I’ve been stuck at home since March, let me have my dreams.

The real reason why I decided to bite the bullet and set up a bathroom station was because H was becoming a nightmare to clean after meals. It took two people, a lot of water, and a lot of post cleanup. Screaming was involved, and not entirely by H. “OH MY GOD SHE’S TRYING TO JUMP OFF THE COUNTER”, or “OH NO SHE FLUNG WATER ALL OVER THE FLOOR” came from the bathroom as my husband and I attempted to clean her. We sat her on the counter as we tried to pour water over her hands and into the sink. It worked for a while, and then it didn’t. H remained dirtier and dirtier afterwards as time went on, as our attempts fell flat. It was time for a change.

Enter the bathroom station. I found an IKEA nightstand for free on NextDoor, and figured “why not”? I used a glass bowl as a test run, then moved on to a skid proof dog food bowl. It worked beautiful…for a while. I put a mirror up above the sink. H loved playing peekaboo with herself. I had a basket of wash clothes for wiping her face, and a hand towel for drying. She loved the routine.

Now that she’s become used to the routine, H is starting to get bored of our system. The mirror doesn’t keep her attention, the bowl has landed on the floor a few times, and we’re back to it being a two person job. We still try with the station, but it’s no longer the easy task it used to be.

Water is better on the floor

So once again, we are stuck trying to figure out a better system that makes keeping our child clean an easier task. I feel like that’s going to be a reoccurring theme over the next 18 years.

Categories
Activities

Baby’s First Painting

If someone were to ask me 10 years ago what my ideal job was, my answer was always “professional artist”. I grew up with art, spent my high school years pulling all nighters as I finished paintings after inspiration struck me like lightning. Art was my life. In my late teens, and into my 20’s, I taught art classes to K-12 grade at a little art studio. I loved it, and I loved teaching the kids an appreciation for art. I wanted every kid walking out of the class feeling happy and confident over the process, and proud of the work they did. I loved my time there, loved spending those hours with the kids. Some would hug me as they left. It made me realize I wanted to be a parent some day.

Now that I have my own little kiddo, I’m so excited to work on art projects with her. I can’t wait to see what ideas come from her imagination, and how she utilizes the same tools I grew up with. I want her walls to be full of colors, shelves full of craft projects. I want her to have fun.

Today, I did a quick project with her. It was easy, and essentially mess free. The mess came from H poking a hole through the cling wrap.

I used cardboard, cling wrap, tape, Liquitex acrylic paint, and watercolor paper.

I taped the paper to the cardboard, then dropped various paint dollops all over. After that, I wrapped cling wrap over the sheet of paper, making sure it wrapped around to the backside of the cardboard. I taped it, a bit excessively, so there was no way paint could get out. A foolish endeavor.

My best Pollock impression

And then I let H go to town on it. She enjoyed squishing the paint around, and really enjoyed stepping on it. We even got a car and bead in on the action. Lots of mixed media went into this. I loved seeing her manipulate the paint, as she watched, fascinated at how the colors changed.

My plan is to make a bunch of these to hang at H’s level, so she has some toddler friendly art to look at. She loves looking at the artwork that my father in law or I made, and I wanted a place for her to make a mark.

Next time, I’ll use thicker plastic, and thinner paint. This painting has been drying for over 18 hours, and still has more drying to do.

Categories
Mom life

The value of secondhand

I love thrift shopping. I always have. Some of my earliest memories are of my mom and I going to our local thrift shop, finding bags carefully packed with toys. We were pretty poor growing up, so most of my clothing came from thrift shops. I didn’t mind, and I loved being able to find clothes that weren’t trendy. The few times I got new clothing from the store were a huge disappointment. Finding clothes at regular stores as a tomboy preteen in the early 2000’s was an absolute nightmare, full of low rise jeans, short shorts, and god awful logos. I thrived on thrifted skater shirts and shorts originally targeted at boys.

It took me years to figure out type of clothing fit me. Most of the things I bought I had to alter to fit, but because I spent $0.50 on jeans rather than $40, I was willing to experiment with altering. Using different fits from different generations helped me understand why some pieces worked on me, and some didn’t. Eventually, I was able to visualize how something would fit on me but looking at it on the rack.

Post-thrifting photo before I figured out what worked with my body type

While I love thrifting, I know the thought of buying other people’s old items can make some people uncomfortable. Family members used to wear disguises when going into a thrift shop so nobody would recognize them. Granted, this was before thrifting became cool, and people started realizing they could make money off their thrifting hauls. Thrifting has become streamlined and clean, with most of the dirty work already done. My husband didn’t really appreciate the value from thrifting, but I just show him how much it would cost otherwise. Now he only rolls his eyes half the time.

While I was pregnant, I spent my Sundays taking the bus up to the nearest Goodwill. I’d stop in at Starbucks, grab a drink, and walk my way over. I loved the routine. I loved searching through the racks. I stocked up on thrifted clothes for H, finding some things brand new with the tags still on. Now that H is outgrowing a lot, I’ve given away clothing, toys, her baby tub, my maternity clothes. It makes me happy knowing those items have gone on to live in another happy home, and keeps these items out of dumps. I’m all about trying to minimize waste in creative ways. I’m hoping to teach H these values, that there’s no shame in making use of things that other people have given a home to first.

Since Covid, I’ve started spending time going through the free and for sale section of NextDoor, and have picked up some absolute scores. I live in an area where high value items are frequently given away or sold, and I’m definitely excited to benefit from that fact. Nearly new items for free or heavily discounted? I’m there!

A giant Green Toys fire engine
Melissa & Doug beading set

A race car drop set
This $15 Stokke Tripp Trapp chair
A $5 Melissa & Doug door latch puzzle
The Ikea nightstand I use for H’s bathroom setup

Among other things, I’ve collected a giant plastic bin full of wooden train sets, and endless books that became instant favorites. And I plan on passing them along to another family when we’re all done with them. I really just love finding things secondhand. It’s a mystery, you never know what you’ll find. Plus, you’re doing something good for the environment. It’s a win-win.

Categories
Toys

Stocking Stuffers for H

It’s officially past Thanksgiving, and I won’t hold back from talking about Christmas stuff 🎄

Because H will only be one by Christmas, I had to accept that she won’t get the significance of a Christmas gift. Therefore, we don’t actually need to do any major Christmas shopping. She can’t distinguish between a gift set aside for December 25th, and the new book we got her last week. So I scaled back my plans.

Instead of large gifts with good intentions, but no real value at this age, I went with stocking stuffers. I imagined that H would have fun pulling things from a stocking, so she’ll have a good experience. Here are the things I chose.

Hand puppets
H loves her stuffed animals so much, and she laughs uncontrollably when anyone does voices and plays with various stuffier. I’m going one step further with these amazingly soft hand puppets. H is really into bunnies and pandas right now, so this pack will be perfect for her. Plus the light colors are so pleasant to look at, and don’t scream for attention as much as some of the other options.

Straw Bottle
H does well with open cups during mealtime, but I wanted to introduce straw drinking. This holiday themed cup was perfect! I’m a sucker for holiday cups, and it’s never too soon to start the young ones.

Crayons
I’m so excited to introduce H to crayons! These egg-shaped beginner crayons look perfect, and I’ll get a small art journal for her to doodle in. She’s shown interest in drawing on our iPads, so I think it’s time to see if she likes the physical format.

Wooden Puzzles
I’m unsure if H will be ready for these puzzles, but I plan on introducing them to her one at a time. They came in a cute storage bag, but I’ll find a different container to store them in once they’re unwrapped. Loose puzzle pieces and bags don’t mix well.

Note: This post contains affiliate links. If you click on one of them and make a purchase, I’ll receive a commission.

Categories
Toys

Surprise, it’s an activity center on the doorstep

Last month, my father in law told me he wanted to buy H an activity center because he saw that she was started to shun some of her normal toys. I was hesitant. Mental images filled my head, full of bright, loud, obnoxious plastic centers. The minimalist in me shuddered. God no, I didn’t want any of that. Instead of the nightmare that I envisioned, what arrived was elegant, sleek, and blended right in with the curated collection that I had built for H.

The Hape play cube in all its cubey goodness

Enter the Hape Country Critters Play Cube. What I love about this play set is that while it’s full of activities, it’s not visually busy. It’s exciting to look at. It’s pretty. And because of the varying elements, it’s great for differing skill levels.

H’s favorite side, the ball run. The play set came with a hammer to tap the balls, but after the first time H ran after the cats with the hammer, we put the hammer in the closet for now. H loves smacking the balls with her hand, and watching race to the bottom. It was immediate love.

The shape sorter. H just got the hang of the shape sorter this past week. She spent all morning one day putting the blue square block in, taking it out, and repeating. She didn’t even want to stop for breakfast. She doesn’t quite get the other colors yet, but she has tried putting the others in the square hole, so it’s a matter of time before her experimenting ends up in her figuring it out. One downside is that sometimes the blocks get caught up on each other when pushing them in, but simply moving them aside fixes that.

The bead maze. H doesn’t play with this much. Every now and then she’ll push a bead up and watch it fall to the other side. I think I have more fun with it than she does.

The color match animals. H plays with this occasionally, but I expect her to use it more once she gets color concepts.

The spinning bees. H loves watching the bees spin around and around. She loves spinning the honeycomb and watching the bees fall into place.

Overall, I love that this play center houses multiple methods of play in one place. It stores compactly together, and doesn’t add clutter. H loves the multiple activities, and will be able to use it for a long time.

Note: This post contains affiliate links. If you click on one of them and make a purchase, I’ll receive a commission.

Categories
Bookshelf

Author recommendation: Emily Winfield Martin

Let me set the stage. The year is 2007. I’m 16. I come across a blog (Inside a Black Apple) full of whimsical artwork, moody characters, all begging to have their stories heard. At first glance, it came off as cute, vintage art, but when you really look at it, there’s an edge behind it. And I fell in love.

A photo from 2014, showing off a new print
One of my earliest prints from Emily Martin

Fast forward to today. Emily Winfield Martin now has books for children. All is good in the world, or at least on H’s bookshelf. H loves the whimsy in Dream Animals, Day Dreamers, and The Littlest Family’s Big Day. Prints hang in her nursery, and she giggles at the various creatures.

Dream Animals and Day Dreamers both have characters that are stylistically similar to Martin’s older art. They feel the most nostalgic to me, and they read similar to Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny. The Littlest Family’s Big Day is adorable, and has a large flip open page at the end of the story. All books are lovely, and would make a great bookshelf addition!

Note: This post contains affiliate links. If you click on one of them and make a purchase, I’ll receive a commission.

Categories
Parenting

Life as a new parent in quarantine

I had H in December 2019. It was cold and rainy day the day we brought her home. I remember the first place we went as a family of three was Target. Dazed, we just walked around, no real goal. We kept a seat cover over her at all times in public, trying to protect her from germs and sickness. We put off seeing friends and family for the first month. The fewer people she saw, the less chance of getting sick she had. “There’s always later”, we said. I wanted to get therapy as my depression lingered too long. “Later”, I told myself. As she got her first shots, we relaxed a little. We went to stores, took her to our favorite restaurant. She slept the entire time. I could finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. The newborn phase was almost over.

News reports started circulating of an unknown virus. Weeks went by, and suddenly, it was here. All around us. I was helpless as I watched all of the plans we had for H’s first year fall apart around us. My long distance parents and sibling had plans of visiting this year. Gone. We had plans of going to Disneyland. Gone. Plans of visiting home in 2021. Gone. Trips to the library. Gone. Stores. Gone. Play dates. Gone. Everything gone. Gone. Gone. Gone. After half a year of not being able to do anything, I watched my social life slip away. I realized that I was perpetually stuck in the newborn phase. Alone, with no support.

Our first outings were to get baby supplies at Target, and coffee at Starbucks

Here it is, less than a month from H’s first birthday, and I’ve been to a store twice since March. I’ve long since faced the fact that my family won’t see H until she’s closer to 2. I’m worried about what not being around other people for the first couple years of her life will do to H. Will it affect her negatively later on? I mourn the opportunities we’ve missed. The act of taking her to a park is now marred with fear, what if someone passes too close? What if we’re not doing enough? Most of the time, we just don’t go.

As I healed, we would walk around outdoor malls for exercise

This was just not how I imagined the first year of being a parent to go. It’s so lonely, full of doubt and uncertainty. I mourn the support I never got, the ways this already difficult situation was made harder. Even still, I am thankful that I had H when I did, and not a few months later. Because we’ve been stuck at home since March, we’ve really been on vibe with H’s schedule. Our world revolves around her entirely, so our schedule has been optimized entirely for her. We have four adults in the house that adore her, so she always has someone to care for her. And that, I am thankful for. The last 8 months have been a delicate balancing act between being thankful that we got so lucky in our situation, and being emotionally destroyed from shutting down our life for at least a year. It’s been a tough year, but I take comfort in knowing that it isn’t affecting H negatively, at least for now.

Categories
Bookshelf Shelfie

H’s Bedroom Reading Nook

One of my latest tasks has been converting H’s room from what was a former office into an age-appropriate bedroom. Limited power outlets, a poorly implemented set of hanging closet drawers, and a floor air vent have all proven challenges to the design stage of H’s room. Recently, we took out a tall bookshelf, and replaced it with a white Kallax. The Kallax is a much safer choice, and makes the room feel much more pulled together. H’s fuzzy chair gives her a cozy place to sit and look at books, and her Flisat book rack holds all of her favorite bedtime storybooks. H is still learning her limitations when leaving chairs, so padded corners are needed for the Kallax.

It was extremely important for me to have a plant in H’s room, so she has a ponytail palm on the shelf. I’m excited for it to grow with her, and for her to learn plant care.

Only the very best books get a spot in the book rack
As H gets more belongings, we’ll use the Kallax shelves as storage. But in the meantime, they make nice blanket storage.