As I have mentioned in previous posts, Lilly is obsessed with Humpty Dumpty. Her day care has been learning nursery rhymes and the entire group of two year olds became obsessed with Humpty Dumpty. One of her friends was Humpty Dumpty for Halloween (his two much older brothers were the brick wall and the King's Man). We've checked out the book Humpty Dumpty Climbs Again many times from the library (and I finally broke down and bought it for her as one of her Christmas presents). Also checked out from the library has been Ode to Humpty Dumpty and other collections of nursery rhymes.
Most of the time, however, the four-line nursery rhyme is not enough. Lilly likes the Humpty Dumpty Climbs Again version, in which a doctor comes and fixes Humpty and says, "Mr. Dumpty, you must be more careful, I mean, for Pete's sake, you're an egg." So when she retells the tale, this part often gets added.
Unsure if I should encourage this obsession, for hearing the rhyme repeatedly certainly gets old, I didn't immediately start doing other activities with her about Humpty. We did make a big Humpty for the wall one day. Lilly did most of the cutting out of the egg shape that I drew, which I was pretty impressed by.
Another day I made Lilly her own Humpty Dumpty set using only an egg carton, tape, and scissors. Well, the wall was the cardboard from some new sheets we had just received in the mail, which was my inspiration for making the set. The Humpty even split in two when he fell down (some of the time).
Here's a video (and yes, she is mostly naked, but that's how Lilly likes to spend her evenings and weekends).
Humpty Dumpty "Pete's Sake" from Megan Robertson on Vimeo.
If Lilly is drawing a picture, there is a 90% chance that it will be Humpty Dumpty. And often the Humpty Dumpty Climbs Again version (where the doctor comes and heals Humpty). Here's a photo of one of her best illustrations of the story:
Lilly takes forever to fall asleep. Forever. And by forever I mean anywhere from 30 minutes to 90 minutes. Often we don't need to do anything for her, maybe get her one last drink of water, but she just lays down in her completely dark room and sings to herself. The most common song we hear - Humpty Dumpty. Often it is the last thing we hear from her at night and the first song she serenades us with in the morning. Every now and again, we hear it in the middle of the night. (One night Nick went in around midnight and as he was leaving, Lilly let him know that Humpty Dumpty was her favorite book. Good to know kid, now sleep!).
Earlier I posted photos of the Humpty Dumpty snow sculpture in our front yard. It lasted a remarkably long time, but, Humpty Dumpty did end up having his great fall.
Before Thanksgiving I searched high and low for a Humpty Dumpty hat pattern. Nothing for free on the Internet. No patterns you could even pay for. I looked at Ravelry and all sixteen pages of the Google search. So, what was a loving mother to do? Make up her own pattern. I adapted a pattern I like for toddler hats that I got here for free. The yarn is chunky, the needles are big, so knitting goes really quickly. Up in the north woods here we don't have school for the week of Thanksgiving since so many students at the high school are out hunting, so I spent two days at home grading essays and working on making up the hat. Try one was too big, so I knit a smaller version, which was also too big. Excited about the hat though, I was pumped for Lilly to see it. She said, "Humpty Dumpty!" when she saw it, put it on and immediately took it off her head. It was too big and she just didn't like wearing it.
Version One:
This weekend though I managed to crank out a new one, which Lilly was much more willing to wear. I really wanted to make a red bow tie but Lilly wanted white (her favorite color). I am going to make another one for her Secret Santa for day care (as I mentioned, the entire group is obsessed).
This afternoon we went outside and built a wall (well, Nick built a wall while I pulled Lilly around the yard in the sled) and made mini-Humpty Dumpties and knocked them off the wall, smashed them. Over and over again. And singing the nursery rhyme, over and over again. Here's a video.
Humpty Dumpty from Megan Robertson on Vimeo.
(You can see our deformed snowman in the background, the warmer weather has not been as kind to the snowman as Humpty Dumpty).
Most of the time, however, the four-line nursery rhyme is not enough. Lilly likes the Humpty Dumpty Climbs Again version, in which a doctor comes and fixes Humpty and says, "Mr. Dumpty, you must be more careful, I mean, for Pete's sake, you're an egg." So when she retells the tale, this part often gets added.
Unsure if I should encourage this obsession, for hearing the rhyme repeatedly certainly gets old, I didn't immediately start doing other activities with her about Humpty. We did make a big Humpty for the wall one day. Lilly did most of the cutting out of the egg shape that I drew, which I was pretty impressed by.
 |
| It looks like acne, but she just gave him lots of eyes. |
Humpty Dumpty "Pete's Sake" from Megan Robertson on Vimeo.
If Lilly is drawing a picture, there is a 90% chance that it will be Humpty Dumpty. And often the Humpty Dumpty Climbs Again version (where the doctor comes and heals Humpty). Here's a photo of one of her best illustrations of the story:
 |
| The scribble - yolk. The upper right - the doctor, the bottom - King's horse, the middle - he broke |
Lilly takes forever to fall asleep. Forever. And by forever I mean anywhere from 30 minutes to 90 minutes. Often we don't need to do anything for her, maybe get her one last drink of water, but she just lays down in her completely dark room and sings to herself. The most common song we hear - Humpty Dumpty. Often it is the last thing we hear from her at night and the first song she serenades us with in the morning. Every now and again, we hear it in the middle of the night. (One night Nick went in around midnight and as he was leaving, Lilly let him know that Humpty Dumpty was her favorite book. Good to know kid, now sleep!).
Earlier I posted photos of the Humpty Dumpty snow sculpture in our front yard. It lasted a remarkably long time, but, Humpty Dumpty did end up having his great fall.
 |
| Checking out the carnage. |
 |
| There were footprints, we suspect he was pushed. |
Before Thanksgiving I searched high and low for a Humpty Dumpty hat pattern. Nothing for free on the Internet. No patterns you could even pay for. I looked at Ravelry and all sixteen pages of the Google search. So, what was a loving mother to do? Make up her own pattern. I adapted a pattern I like for toddler hats that I got here for free. The yarn is chunky, the needles are big, so knitting goes really quickly. Up in the north woods here we don't have school for the week of Thanksgiving since so many students at the high school are out hunting, so I spent two days at home grading essays and working on making up the hat. Try one was too big, so I knit a smaller version, which was also too big. Excited about the hat though, I was pumped for Lilly to see it. She said, "Humpty Dumpty!" when she saw it, put it on and immediately took it off her head. It was too big and she just didn't like wearing it.
Version One:
This weekend though I managed to crank out a new one, which Lilly was much more willing to wear. I really wanted to make a red bow tie but Lilly wanted white (her favorite color). I am going to make another one for her Secret Santa for day care (as I mentioned, the entire group is obsessed).
Humpty Dumpty from Megan Robertson on Vimeo.
(You can see our deformed snowman in the background, the warmer weather has not been as kind to the snowman as Humpty Dumpty).
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