While cleaning out and organizing my kitchen pantry today, I found my cornstarch (along with a few things that were 'growing'). Yay! Cornstarch combined with water is a wonderful and cheap way to entertain kids (and adults) of all ages. I don't even know what cornstarch would be used for in cooking...it should be kept in a different area of the house. The neighbor girl Lily was outside playing with Esperanza so I made them a bowl full of 'goo' and told them to have at it. Lily even at 7 years old had never experienced Cornstarch with water! She loved it...and convinced Esperanza to love it too. Though I have given it to Esperanza on a few different occassions hoping it would entertain her, it didn't. Sometimes it takes a little person to convince another little person that something is pretty cool. And boy was it cool this time around...
Then, Lily went home. There was still a lot of 'quiet' going on outside while I continued to go threw the pantry. Eventually I figured I should take a peek outside at Esperanza...
It was still worth it!
I've recently been putting Esperanza down for naps and for the night in her own bed & bedroom. At night I lay down with her until she falls asleep. Then I get up and when I'm ready for bed I go sleep in my room (I know what you're thinking - isn't that normal? Well, not for us. Normal has been her sleeping with me every night since she was born). So, then, when she wakes up in the middle of the night crying (like she has done several times every night for the past two years) I'll go in her room and lay with her/nurse her so she falls back to sleep. By that point, I'm too tired and just end up falling asleep with her in her bed. Last night she didn't wake up crying thow. I woke up in my own bed around dawn (I don't keep a clock, phone, computer, tv, etc in my room so I never know what time it is) and was a little disoriented, not knowing why I was still in my bed and/or why Esperanza wasn't lying next to me. I realized I had actually slept threw the night without being woken up. Then I got worried, got up, went into her room and didn't find her! I tossed all of her bedding and stuffed animals off of her bed thinking she had to be there somewhere (it was still pretty dark and I didn't have my glasses on either). Before I completely panicked, I peeked out into the living room and found her lying on the floor between the couch and the coat closet - sleeping soundly. At some point in the night she woke up (not crying) and made her way into the living room where she found a better spot to sleep. I think I'll put a baby gate up in the hall at night from now on. Before leaving her and crawling back into bed, I snapped a quick photo. I do hope this was the first of many restful nights to come!
So now I have a job of my own and need to clean it up a bit, paint it, figure out a cover for the sand box part so the neighhborhood cats don't think it's their bathroom, dig a little under the swing area so there is more foot/leg space, furnish/decorate it and I seriously may come up with some kind of a liability form for all the neighborhood kids' parents to sign before they can come play in it. It's ready to play in thow. Esperanza didn't really want to have anything to do with it until it was finished the they guys took all the tools out of it. We went inside and she started dancing, jumping and screaming with excitement! It's her early birthday present (I can't believe she's almost 2!).
I was finally able to get my tomato starts in the ground this past week and was thankful I did because we had a few warm & beautiful days for them to get settled in. They seem much happier in thier new home. While they danced in the light breeze and warm sun on Saturday, our little family was out and about enjoying a bit of sunshine ourselves.
