One of my resolutions for this year is to bring some new recipes into my repertoire of dinners. I'm a decent cook, but after a while it's easy to fall into a rut of buying the same old ingredients each week and then when you try to make something new and interesting it ends up tasting the same anyway.
This week I sat down with my new cookbook, Crazy Plates, planned out dinners for the week, and made a shopping list from my plan. I love this cookbook because the recipes are low fat with accurate nutritional information, and it's really funny! So far we have had Chicken and Mango Tango (a warm chicken salad), Obi Wonton Kenobi Soup (who knew I could make my own wontons?!), and Piled-High Veggie Pot Pie (meh, would have been better with chicken). Tonight we are having Lanky Noodle Dandy. I'm having fun making new things - and eating them - and so far everything has met with good reviews from the dinner table. Except for one.
Amy, my famously picky eater, has soldiered through my culinary adventures this week with only the occasional slightly rude comment about how gross everything is. She actually nibbled on a tiny - and I do mean tiny - corner of a lettuce leaf on Monday, and once I convinced her the wontons weren't actually brains and picked out all the carrots and bok choy, she ate her soup on Tuesday. But yesterday was the last straw. Faced with a bowl full of vegetables and a biscuit crust polluted with sweet potatoes, she wrinkled her brow and demanded, "Why can't we just have plain food?! Like a cheese bun or tacos?" Tacos? Really? Since when are tacos plain? She eventually choked down some of the biscuit topping so as not to completely starve herself, frowning all the while. Trevor, on the other hand, had two helpings. Even Gavin ate some.
Do you have a picky eater in your life? Any tips aside of serving them bread and butter until they're old enough to fend for themselves?
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Why I Can Never Find a Soother When I Need It...
Turns out I don't just have mommybrain...Gavin has a secret stash of soothers going up against the wall (sorry for the weird camera angle). I found them when I went to change his sheet the other day.
The problem is that it's so secret he doesn't even know where it is!
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Hola! or what I did on my vacation
Feliz Anonuevo (I think)!
Don't hate me, but we were in Puerto Vallarta for Christmas this year!
It was amazing. We stayed at a beautiful resort with a gorgeous beach and pool areas, no-one in our group got sick, and we actually relaxed. On the third day of our trip I turned to Dave as we splashed in the waves with our kids and boogie boards, "This is the pace that life should be."
I can't wait to go back!
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Pay Attention!
Like most parents, I often find my attention is required in ten different places at once. Aside from the direct parenting attention required, there are meals to get, housework to do, emails to check, errands to run, chauffering to and from activities...you get the idea.
Trevor is of the age that he can manage to keep himself fairly well-occupied with minimal guidance from me; in fact, he is beginning to prefer to "do his own thing" and only wants my attention occasionally through the day.
Gavin is pretty much happy as long as I've fed him and he has some toys to monkey around with, needing attention only when he's tired. Plus, I wear him a fair bit so he has contact with me throughout the day.
Amy, however, craves my attention. She can and sometimes does manage to keep herself busy...lately she has been all about writing: cards, books, notes to friends, both on the computer and with a pencil. I've also been making a real point of making sure I spend time with her each day engaging in books and writing with her. BUT. Maybe it's because I've been spending more time on this lately that we had a little blow out this weekend.
On Sunday, I had some Christmas cards that needed to be done up and sent out. I had purchased a box of 32 cards. Some were earmarked for teachers and coaches, some for my aunties, some for various other family and friends. Amy, who loves all things Christmas especially glittery, shiny cards, immediately wanted to do a whole bunch of them up for her friends at school. I said, "Sure, just let me do mine up first and you can have all the rest of them." She is wise beyond her years and knows that I might not actually get around to doing them even that same day (especially since I've been trying to get them done for a week but can't seem to get around to giving it the attention it deserves). She grumped down the stairs, upset that she didn't get to do her cards right that minute.
About 20 minutes later as I was having simultaneous conversations with my husband in real life and my dad on the phone, she stomped upstairs and presented me with a piece of paper with a drawing on it. I glanced at it without looking and tossed it down on the desktop. She glared at me for a minute and then grumped down the stairs again. After about 10 more minutes, she came up and and glared at me some more prompting me to ask,
"What's up, Buttercup?"
"Well, did you read it?"
"Huh? Oh this, right, let's look at it." I opened the paper to see a stick person with a very frowny face and a big X through the it, with the word Mommy under the drawing. Hmmm. No wonder she was so choked at me, I didn't even give her hate mail attention.
"Okaaaay...it seems like you're pretty mad at me, is this about the cards?"
She turned on her heel and stomped back down the stairs.
I thought to myself that I should just give her some cards, I could probably scrounge up some extras or just pick up some more the next time I was out. So I counted out one of each of the eight designs and took them downstairs to her. I handed them to her and said, "Here you go, I counted and I'll still have enough cards and that way you've got some, too."
She didn't say anything. I went back upstairs. She followed me up about three minutes later and handed the cards back to me without a word, then went back downstairs again.
Hm.
I went downstairs where she was hiding behind a chair and asked her what was wrong and she started to cry. "I don't want you to not have enough cards!" "
"But I counted them," I told her, "it's ok, you can totally have them. I'm not mad at all." But that just made her cry harder. (I'm really looking forward to going through PMS with her someday.)
Then something occurred to me.
"Are you worried that I'm mad because of the picture you drew?"
She nodded.
"I'm not mad, you were just upset. But that's why you have to be careful about what you write and draw about people, it's hard to take it back. Come on, let's go do some cards together."
We sat down at the table to do some cards and I figured I could write a list for her to copy with her friends' names on it. We made the list and as she started the first card, I looked at the clock and realized that I had to get going and have a shower if we were all going to get to Trevor's hockey game on time. I started to say, "There you go, I'm just going to go have a shower..." when she stopped me and put her hand on my arm. She said, "I just want to spend some time with you."
Of course. That was what she had been trying to tell me all morning, I just wasn't listening.
I sat back down and we finished them up...and I wore a hat to hockey.
Trevor is of the age that he can manage to keep himself fairly well-occupied with minimal guidance from me; in fact, he is beginning to prefer to "do his own thing" and only wants my attention occasionally through the day.
Gavin is pretty much happy as long as I've fed him and he has some toys to monkey around with, needing attention only when he's tired. Plus, I wear him a fair bit so he has contact with me throughout the day.
Amy, however, craves my attention. She can and sometimes does manage to keep herself busy...lately she has been all about writing: cards, books, notes to friends, both on the computer and with a pencil. I've also been making a real point of making sure I spend time with her each day engaging in books and writing with her. BUT. Maybe it's because I've been spending more time on this lately that we had a little blow out this weekend.
On Sunday, I had some Christmas cards that needed to be done up and sent out. I had purchased a box of 32 cards. Some were earmarked for teachers and coaches, some for my aunties, some for various other family and friends. Amy, who loves all things Christmas especially glittery, shiny cards, immediately wanted to do a whole bunch of them up for her friends at school. I said, "Sure, just let me do mine up first and you can have all the rest of them." She is wise beyond her years and knows that I might not actually get around to doing them even that same day (especially since I've been trying to get them done for a week but can't seem to get around to giving it the attention it deserves). She grumped down the stairs, upset that she didn't get to do her cards right that minute.
About 20 minutes later as I was having simultaneous conversations with my husband in real life and my dad on the phone, she stomped upstairs and presented me with a piece of paper with a drawing on it. I glanced at it without looking and tossed it down on the desktop. She glared at me for a minute and then grumped down the stairs again. After about 10 more minutes, she came up and and glared at me some more prompting me to ask,
"What's up, Buttercup?"
"Well, did you read it?"
"Huh? Oh this, right, let's look at it." I opened the paper to see a stick person with a very frowny face and a big X through the it, with the word Mommy under the drawing. Hmmm. No wonder she was so choked at me, I didn't even give her hate mail attention.
"Okaaaay...it seems like you're pretty mad at me, is this about the cards?"
She turned on her heel and stomped back down the stairs.
I thought to myself that I should just give her some cards, I could probably scrounge up some extras or just pick up some more the next time I was out. So I counted out one of each of the eight designs and took them downstairs to her. I handed them to her and said, "Here you go, I counted and I'll still have enough cards and that way you've got some, too."
She didn't say anything. I went back upstairs. She followed me up about three minutes later and handed the cards back to me without a word, then went back downstairs again.
Hm.
I went downstairs where she was hiding behind a chair and asked her what was wrong and she started to cry. "I don't want you to not have enough cards!" "
"But I counted them," I told her, "it's ok, you can totally have them. I'm not mad at all." But that just made her cry harder. (I'm really looking forward to going through PMS with her someday.)
Then something occurred to me.
"Are you worried that I'm mad because of the picture you drew?"
She nodded.
"I'm not mad, you were just upset. But that's why you have to be careful about what you write and draw about people, it's hard to take it back. Come on, let's go do some cards together."
We sat down at the table to do some cards and I figured I could write a list for her to copy with her friends' names on it. We made the list and as she started the first card, I looked at the clock and realized that I had to get going and have a shower if we were all going to get to Trevor's hockey game on time. I started to say, "There you go, I'm just going to go have a shower..." when she stopped me and put her hand on my arm. She said, "I just want to spend some time with you."
Of course. That was what she had been trying to tell me all morning, I just wasn't listening.
I sat back down and we finished them up...and I wore a hat to hockey.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Sleep Update
Dear internet, I know you are dying for the latest update on the sleep saga...if not, keep reading and you can enjoy your own little bit of sleep zzzzzzzzzzzzzz. (btw, I know the soother is supposed to go in his MOUTH, not his eye).
We got Gavin to get himself to sleep in the evening on his own with minimal stress. He squawks for about a minute and then realizes he'd feel better if he'd just close his eyes so he rolls over and goes to sleep. Mission #1 accomplished.
The problem was that we had gotten in the habit of nursing and cuddling back to sleep through the night. This, from my baby who slept through the night at 7 weeks and rarely nursed at night suddenly seemed to need to cuddle and nurse for ridiculous amounts of time three or four times per night?! The problem was mostly my fault, as usual. You see, he shares a room with Trevor and I was reluctant to let Gavin squawk himself back to sleep and disturb Trevor's sleep. So I'd rush in, pick him up and go downstairs to try to settle him. After three weeks of this, I was done!
I knew I needed to give him the chance to figure out how to self-soothe through the night, so I set up the playpen in our basement and camped out downstairs with him for a couple of nights.
The first night he woke several times; the first time he was up for about 25 minutes crying pretty hard. I went to him a couple of times and put his soother in or talked softly, but I didn't pick him up. The rest of the night, he awoke three or four times, squawked once or twice and went back to sleep.
Then last night, he went to sleep at 7:00 pm. And he slept through until Trevor came downstairs and woke him up at 7:45 am. RIGHT THROUGH. I, on the other hand, was up several times to have a peek at him and make sure he was ok.
I feel like a rock star today. It's amazing how great it feels to have some sleep under my belt! If he does it again tonight, we're moving back upstairs.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity | Video on TED.com
Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity Video on TED.com
I found this so inspiring! It's worth the 20 minutes it takes to watch it, especially if you are working in education or have a child in school. It makes me reflect on my own teaching practice and my interactions with my kids about their school life; am I doing everything I can to encourage their creativity? Are they willing to be wrong about something?
I found this so inspiring! It's worth the 20 minutes it takes to watch it, especially if you are working in education or have a child in school. It makes me reflect on my own teaching practice and my interactions with my kids about their school life; am I doing everything I can to encourage their creativity? Are they willing to be wrong about something?
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Sleeping
I now remember how when your kids are not sleeping how all-consuming it is and how it feels like it will never end. You ramble on and on giving minute by minute accounts of how last night's bedtime went to the cashier at Safeway because it is your sole preoccupation in your sleep-deprived state. I have also been on the other end of those conversations in times in my life that my kids were sleeping and politely nodded while thinking to myself, "Jeez, get some perspective, it's only a little sleep and it can't last like this forever." And as I recall having thought that, I'd like to go back in time and punch my well-rested self in the nose. Because it really is that bad when you're not getting enough sleep!
Now I have these conversations with myself having been through, like, three whole weeks of sleep issues with Gavin. (I know there are many people who suffer through this for YEARS with babies/toddlers who don't sleep or let their parents sleep, so don't hate me.) At times these past weeks, I felt so angry, frustrated and sad that Gavin wouldn't just go to sleep already. Then my intellectual self would try to reason with me that this struggle wouldn't last forever, in fact it might only last a couple more nights. But my sleep-deprived emotional self just couldn't deal with it.
I tried the No-Cry Sleep Solution and for us, it just wasn't a good fit. I lack the patience required to gently re-shape sleep behaviour and was just becoming totally resentful and even more sleep deprived. So we did cry-it-out. With the boys sharing a room I just needed Gavin to figure out how to get himself to sleep and quickly. The first two nights were tough to listen to, about 20 minutes of full-on crying both nights. And ever since? A minute or two of squawking, and then peaceful sleep, for naps and night sleep! He is napping better which has in turn improved his night sleep; I've had to make a commitment to do what I can in terms of activities and scheduling to support his naps during the day...not easy with two other busy kids! Night waking was becoming an issue for us where it totally hadn't been before AT ALL. Since he's figured out how to get himself to sleep, he's better at getting himself back to sleep at night without me.
I have no judgment on parents and their sleeping arrangements; people have to do what works best for their family and parenting style. For us this is what worked.
If you're interested, here is what his sleep schedule seems to have settled into:
7:00 - wakes up
10:00 - naps
11:30 or 12:00- wakes up
2:30 - naps
3:30 or 4:00 - wakes up
7:00 - bedtime
11:00 ish, wakes up and I feed him one last time. And then I get to have some sleep!
** You might notice the time stamp on this entry...I'm up not because of Gavin, but poor Trevor who has been inflicted with Barf-o-Rama making the rounds at our house again. Gavin actually got himself back to sleep after that whole commotion at 4:00 am!
Now I have these conversations with myself having been through, like, three whole weeks of sleep issues with Gavin. (I know there are many people who suffer through this for YEARS with babies/toddlers who don't sleep or let their parents sleep, so don't hate me.) At times these past weeks, I felt so angry, frustrated and sad that Gavin wouldn't just go to sleep already. Then my intellectual self would try to reason with me that this struggle wouldn't last forever, in fact it might only last a couple more nights. But my sleep-deprived emotional self just couldn't deal with it.
I tried the No-Cry Sleep Solution and for us, it just wasn't a good fit. I lack the patience required to gently re-shape sleep behaviour and was just becoming totally resentful and even more sleep deprived. So we did cry-it-out. With the boys sharing a room I just needed Gavin to figure out how to get himself to sleep and quickly. The first two nights were tough to listen to, about 20 minutes of full-on crying both nights. And ever since? A minute or two of squawking, and then peaceful sleep, for naps and night sleep! He is napping better which has in turn improved his night sleep; I've had to make a commitment to do what I can in terms of activities and scheduling to support his naps during the day...not easy with two other busy kids! Night waking was becoming an issue for us where it totally hadn't been before AT ALL. Since he's figured out how to get himself to sleep, he's better at getting himself back to sleep at night without me.
I have no judgment on parents and their sleeping arrangements; people have to do what works best for their family and parenting style. For us this is what worked.
If you're interested, here is what his sleep schedule seems to have settled into:
7:00 - wakes up
10:00 - naps
11:30 or 12:00- wakes up
2:30 - naps
3:30 or 4:00 - wakes up
7:00 - bedtime
11:00 ish, wakes up and I feed him one last time. And then I get to have some sleep!
** You might notice the time stamp on this entry...I'm up not because of Gavin, but poor Trevor who has been inflicted with Barf-o-Rama making the rounds at our house again. Gavin actually got himself back to sleep after that whole commotion at 4:00 am!
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