Last night, we met another couple at a Peoria favorite, the Ice Cream Shack, for dinner and desert. While we slurped down the last of the summer ice cream cones, the couple's toddler ran circles around our table. Demonstrating real athletic prowless, he jumped from planter, to park bench, to table top, to park bench, to planter. Round and round and round.

The whole time, his parents cooed and cheered him on, "Let's work off some of that sugar!" Me, I kept waiting for the kid to miss a landing and do a face-plant on the sidewalk. With each jump, I foresaw blood, screams, and a trip to the emergency room. But the little tyke never missed a step, and he finished his ice cream cone all by himself.

Meanwhile, my sister Sarah is expecting a baby of her own. Along pickles and cantaloup, every Mom-To-Be gets cravings to complete craft projects during the nine months of pregnancy. Our sister Wendy took up sewing when she was pregnant, and Mary just completed a patchwork quilt for her little one. Sarah's done some knitting, and she wanted a little help to get started knitting a baby blanket. So I'm sending her this care package:




Everything needed to knit a baby blanket.


Besides a stash of machine-washable baby yarn and needles, Sarah's getting a simple pattern from the Lion Yarn site, a swatch to show her the stitches, a basic knitting book, and a few rows of the blanket already started to give Sarah a head start.

To all you expectent mothers, here's a fun article to get you looking forward to having a toddler of your own some day. The fall edition of Brain, Child is out, and besides their usual spread of fine articles, they have a list of Recommended Readings for the Toddler Years. Titles include What Color is Your Pacifier? and The Purpose-Driven Tantrum. Just a little something to look forward to.

- posted by Laurie @ 5:26 PM