Making it Personal

I had the perfect idea for a Christmas gift for Levi. The idea was to buy him his very own set of wooden spoons and personalize them with his name. Seemed like a great plan since he loves to cook as much as he does. Unfortunately, I did not find them for him in time for Christmas. Who knew that it could be so hard to find the right spoons? The quality ones I found had extremely bulky handles that I thought would hinder Levi. The ones that had the right kind of handles were too cheaply made and had chips or splintered areas on them. I finally came across the ones I had in mind for him... more than a week after Christmas. I got the wood burning tool out and attempted to burn his simple name on each handle. Boy did my hand wobble! It definitely doesn't look very professional. But he liked them and his smile filled my heart to overflowing. How I love him!

Learning Through Pizza

Who knew that making pizza would be so rich in OT? Levi really had to grasp those tiny, slippery pepperoni. They were cold, which meant that they did not easily peel apart from one another. If you could see his face here, you would see oodles and oodles of concentration. He dotted the entire surface of our lunch just like he'd done it a million times. Another step forward (and a tasty one at that!) in Levi's learning adventure.

Feeding Geese

We made tree-shaped pizza snacks with our guests, which means that we had a lot of bread scraps left over. What better way to use them than to go find some waterfowl to feed! We were cutting it close as far as leftover daylight went, but we were blessed to have just enough time to accomplish what we came for. The geese and a few ducks eagerly greeted us as we approached this local lake. I hoped that Levi would get into this experience, but there really is no telling beforehand. He was not in the least bit afraid of the geese and threw handful after handful of bread to them. It was hard to get a decent shot of him because he was in constant, happy motion! My mother's heart smiles every time I get to do something "normal" like this with my Levi boy.

Cookie Decorator Extraordinaire

We had friends over the week before Christmas for an annual get together where we decorate tree-shaped cut-out cookies. It was very apparent to our guests that Levi has a lot of experience in this department. I set him up in his own "decorating station" with some of his own cookies, a small dish of the glaze, and a bottle of green sprinkles. I asked my oldest son to watch over him, giving instructions that he allow him total freedom to create. He was just there to make sure Levi did not do anything dangerous. I was so proud of my big guy! He handled that tricky glaze beautifully and sprinkled each cookie with flair. He was in his element for sure.