A Nothing Saturday

In theory, we did nothing today. Lilly and I literally didn't even leave the apartment until 5pm, and that was for a walk around the block (pushing her monkey in the stroller of course). Jon was on-call today, and was at the hospital for a good part of the day. And in New York City in well-below-freezing weather with nowhere really to go, and no way to easily get anywhere (it's not like we have a car here, or a Target either), so it's not like we can just bundle up and go somewhere to kill time. And I've had a little cold, so I didn't feel very adventurous. So we stayed inside. Really, it should have been a boring day.

Except...

I am so loving the new mommying that I am doing in our family. Amidst the usual watching of Broadway clips on youtube, and Lilly reinacting parts of Sound of Music, and ending the day with a little Full House (love hearing Lilly's "You got it, dude!"); we had a great do-nothing day. For example: we made homemade pizza for lunch. Rolling out the dough, putting on the sauce and cheese, being directed by my 4 year old to "take pictures" through the process... I love the "moments" we have, and through it all, Lilly learning while kneading the dough, following directions, remembering how we did it last time. And creating such good memories of being 4 years old and making pizza with mommy and daddy, that we will all treasure.

Daddy helping...

Mommy helping... (disregard the no-makeup no-shower look)


And the pictures are actually loaded correctly in chronological order - despite what the sauce on the pizza may allude to. Because we actually split the dough in two to make two small pizza's. That way, Lilly can make one, and we put it in the oven, and she can work on the second while we wait for the first to cook. And, add veggies to the second one for the grown-ups.

And a little tasting... (her favorite part!)

It was so nice, that during the window that she might be inclined to take a nap (if she doesn't take a nap around 1pm, she's unlikely to fall asleep at all), I decided instead to have her make cupcakes with me. From scratch. (First time not even using mix for the "cake" part!) And Lilly enthusiastically helped, not even an hour after making the pizza's.

Tasting again... having picked pink of course for the homemade buttercream frosting. Note that the pink on her nails is old nail polish, not icing. And did I mention? We don't have beaters or mixers or anything in NYC this year (it's all packed away) so we mix everything by hand - with a old wooden spoon or literally with our hands. But, for the icing, we used a miniature food processor, and it didn't do a half bad job (see in the background):

And a little more tasting...

Happiness is being four years old and eating pink icing.

The result:

And another project: my ladybug now loves to cut. And cut and cut and cut. (And demands that there be picture-taking while she cuts.) She's been interested in scissors for awhile, but I realized recently if I drew lines on paper, then she would cut right on the lines. And would be oh-so-proud of herself. So I drew fringe lines...

And longer lines across full sheets of paper...

The paper I used isn't regular paper; it's actually old wide envelopes - which works better because it's thicker and better for a novice cutter. For some reason Lilly was cutting right handed yesterday although she's traditionally left handed.

And, as we struggled to think of more things to do today, creativity took over. We are always looking for ways to incorporate colors into our lives. So, today I took sheets of construction paper in 5 different colors (two of each) and laid them out on the floor. Then I told Lilly that we'd dance until I said stop and then sit on the color I said (so that she'd have to correctly identify which one to sit on: but it was slightly easier because I was playing too so she'd see which one I sat on first if she needed to - the goal is always to make it fun before I frustrate her). We've never played this type of game before, but Lilly made it even better by suggesting we dance "fast" and then "slow" and then stop and pick a color. So we did. And she got every single color perfectly. We switched it up a little by kicking fast and slow, or hopping, or clapping, etc. Later on we showed daddy the game, and only Lilly played by herself, as we shouted out colors when she finished dancing fast and slow, and with no mommy hints, she again got each one right. Love when playing and fun and learning mix.

Another thing we thought of today was using a small notebook that Lilly doodles in. It's smaller than an index card, and I decided to write each letter of the alphabet really big on each page of the notebook. As I wrote each letter in upper case, Lilly told me which one I was writing. She got all 26 correct. Then I wrote each lower case letter, and she knew most of them. So proud! Then she practiced by herself flipping through the notebook and looking at random letters and telling me what they were. And before bed tonite, Lilly showed her daddy what she could do, and went through all 26 both upper and lower case getting every single one perfectly. Proud proud proud.

And, while we were randomly coloring, Lilly drew a C and said "C" and a "J" and said "J" (completely unassistated with no prompting from me). (She knows how to draw the letters in her name - L, I, and Y - and O of course because it's a circle - but no my knowledge didn't know how to actually write other letters by herself.) Then we worked together and she wrote D, M, T, and a few others. Proud!

And not as proud, but still a little... Lilly drew so many happy faces today. Of course, most of them were on her legs and my tummy... in red permanent marker... but nice nonetheless.

And while we got ready for bed tonite, Lilly and I again had a "moment" singing "Slipping through my fingers" to each other (see the Wanderlust post a couple days ago) a dozen times. Cutest girl ever.

So, a Saturday without plans in bad weather can still be a whole lot of fun - if you're with the right person. :)