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Happy Birthday Lewis!

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:33:42 GMT

We have been having a great time visiting with Auntie Ana and Uncle David. The ONLY drawback is that we all wish we could sleep and hangout simultaneously to maximize hangout time!!

Today's Lewis' 2nd birthday! Happy birthday, fun little boy! You are brilliant, verbal, funny, fun-loving, and adorable.

We started a new tradition by hiding a matchbox car under his pillow last night so when he woke up, he would have a birthday surprise to find in his bed. I am hoping this tradition sticks, because it seems like a fun one. Lewis is really into vehicles right now (his favorite TV show is called "Mighty Machines" - a live-action show that just shows vehicles doing different things (garbage trucks, tractors, construction equipment, trains, etc.) His matchbox car was a garbage truck.

We told him to look under his pillow when he woke up. He said "washcloth on it." (There was a washcloth on the pillow). We told him to lift up the washcloth and the pillow and see what was under it. He found the truck in it's package and got excited and said "do this!" and "fun!" It was pretty cute.

He wanted pancakes for breakfast, so he got those.

I baked a cake last night, and this morning at some point, Ana and I are going to assemble and decorate it as a tractor. We got chocolate covered doughnuts (big and little sizes) to use for the tractor tires.

We're going to go to my parents' house this afternoon for a barbecue and little birthday party. Lewis requested barbecue chicken, and my dad is excited to let Lewis roast his first hotdog.

Lewis and I made my mom a cake for her birthday on Tuesday, but I'll have to post about that tomorrow or the next day! For now, I have to get to celebrating!

Cooking With Toddlers: Pizza Sandwiches

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 03:02:47 GMT

Sometimes you just need some fast food, like pizza. Yeah, pizza sounds good. But I don't have any dough made. And I'm hungry now. I guess I'll have a grilled cheese. Aww, grilled cheese again?

Wait, I have an idea! What if we combined the pizza and the grilled cheese sandwich to make a whole new kind of fun fast food? We'll call it the "Pizza Sandwich!"

The pizza sandwich is one of those deceptively simple meals that twists grilled sandwiches just enough to inject some fun into your meal. I imagine this would be fun for kids older than Lewis who are excited by the idea of pizza. Lewis doesn't know he should get excited by pizza yet, so just cooking it is fun enough for him! Just eating tomato sauce is fun enough, apparently!

This recipe is great for my two year old, who can help mix spices in tomato sauce, spread the sauce on the bread, and sprinkle cheese and olives.

Start the recipe with two slices of bread per sandwich (if that isn't obvious), and butter one side of each piece lightly.

Get your huge can of tomato sauce. Put some italian seasonings in some tomato sauce (basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary, garlic, onion, etc.) or use some ready-made spaghetti sauce in your favorite variety. (As you can see, I get tomato sauce in the BIG can. It's sooo much cheaper that way, and you can just freeze it in 2 cup storage containers for use in other recipes when you need it.) Spread the sauce on the non-buttery sides of the bread.

One great thing about this sandwich is that the tomato sauce helps moisten the bread, as does the butter. If you have bread that is heading toward getting stale, this is a good use for it.

Sprinkle shredded mozzarella on the bread. Feel free to improvise with your favorite kind of cheese. Your toddler will have fun decorating the bread with the cheese. When he's done, fill in the sparse areas to help fill the sandwich out! I pressed the cheese into the tomato sauce to help adhere it so it wouldn't fall out of the sandwich when I put the sandwich tops on.

Collect your favorite pizza toppings for the next portion of the recipe, such as olives, pepperoni, mushrooms, etc. Non-traditional toppings also work here. You can use leftover ground hamburger or lunch meat, for example.

For our sandwiches, we just added sliced olives (also purchased in the big can, and then divided in two large containers, one of which was frozen for storage. They thaw well!), which makes for a surprisingly satisfying vegetarian pizza sandwich.

Don't forget to put the olives on your finger and then eat a few!

Once your bread is sufficiently decorated, top the sandwiches with the other pieces of bread, and (parent) cook like a standard grilled sandwich, until cheese is melted and sandwich is warmed through, bread is browned a little.

Ways to cook: in an ungreased skillet over medium heat, in a sandwich press (panini maker, George Foreman grill, etc.), or in a toaster oven (that's what we did).

Getting Ready... on cleaning

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 03:01:02 GMT

We expect Ana and David late on Tuesday, and then the fun will begin! Before the fun begins, though, the work starts! I have to do regular house-cleaning stuff, plus some decluttering in a few areas of the house, and some extra cleaning in other areas.

For some reason it is really hard for me to focus my mind on getting this stuff done. I try to detach from my living space personally and view it as an outsider (or my own consultant) to help me deal with each patch of clutter, but it takes some real mental toughness to do that! I have to take frequent breaks! Parkinson's Law is the adage that "work expands to fill the time available," so I try to set timers to keep the momentum going and to avoid spending too much time on anything.

I am still waking up several times a night, so the sleep deprivation adds to the challenge. Without sleep, my mental faculties can be pretty dull, so it really is difficult to do the MENTAL work of figuring out the best way to go about cleaning.

Six Months

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:21:38 GMT

Evander is now six months old. He has been getting super cute. He's sitting up pretty well now, and will stay sitting up for minutes at a time if he doesn't get distracted by something beyond his reach and try to get to it (thus toppling over). He giggles and talks a lot now, and has started saying "mamamamama" a lot, so I got a short video of him doing it just for posterity (and for those who are related/interested).

Happy Birthday, USA

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 17:10:53 GMT

For the 4th of July, I just bought about $8 worth of fireworks, kiddie stuff, for the boys. We got Morning Glory sparklers, smoke balls, and ground bloom flowers. I thought I got snakes, but I guess they didn't make it into our cart, and I was going to get Pop-its, too, but somehow I forgot to get those too. My omissions were fine, though, because one pack of smoke balls would have been enough for our two littles.

We just set up the chairs on the lawn and set the fireworks off on the street. Apparently, with the two boys sitting on the edge of the lawn, it looked like we were waiting for a parade (one neighbor observed).

That look of concern on Lewis' face is typical for all the setting off of fireworks. He was pretty concerned the whole time, although he said, "Fun" in a nervous voice, and asked for more. I'm sure next time, Lewis will be an expert on fireworks.

Monday, June 30, 2008

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:27:37 GMT

I hate the mornings after I have to get up three or four times during the night. Both kids woke up, and then Lewis popped out of bed bright and early at about 6:20 this morning. I tried to put him down for awhile longer, but I think he stayed in bed for ten minutes and then got up and started running around and being funny, so I had to get up too.

Mondays are a challenge because I usually let the dishes go during the weekends, so I have to try to pull it together come Monday morning. I guess I should be doing them instead of blogging about them...

We survived the hot weekend with a kiddie pool (thanks to my parents for bringing Lewis' birthday gift a couple weeks early), and by turning our central heating FAN on at night. It really cooled things down!

Cooking with toddlers: Mix-em up pancakes

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 23:28:08 GMT

Toddlers are pretty handy when it comes to simple recipes! Lewis loves to use the blender to mix up liquid ingredients. This particular recipe doesn't have much in the way of liquid, but I let him mix the dry ingredients to make sure the lumps are all broken up. (My other favorite kitchen trick is to use a wire whisk to "sift" the dry ingredients - it breaks up all the lumps and is easier to clean and store than a sifter.)

I modified this Better Homes & Garden pancake recipe to make a dry pancake mix. I was toying with the idea of making up a bunch of the mix so I could quickly make pancakes, but honestly, regular pancakes are pretty quick to make anyway. I didn't have any eggs, so I used soy flour instead of eggs, which is really what makes it feasible for a dry pancake mix.

If you are a camper, this mix would be great to take along with you for an easy outdoor breakfast. You can omit the baking soda & vinegar for an even easier mixing experience (if you do omit them, add an additional 1 teaspoon baking powder to the mix). You could probably even add the oil to the dry mix if you were going to use it within a couple days, and then all you'd have to do is add water (1-1/2 cups is equal to a soda can full of water, so you wouldn't even have to bring a measuring cup!). Just put it in a zip-top bag and pour the water in when it comes time to mix it. Dispense the batter from the zip-top bag. Easy!

Dry "Buttermilk" Pancake Mix:

1-1/4 cups flour
2 Tbsp sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 heaping Tbsp soy flour
1/3 cup dry milk powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

When you're ready to use, add to dry mix:
1-1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon vinegar
1 tablespoon oil

Mix until lumps are mostly gone. You don't want a soy flour chunk in your pancake. Trust me.

Cook in a skillet over medium heat. You will know it is time to turn the pancakes over when they get a little bit dry-looking on the edges (just a little bit!), and you can see a few bubbles rising in the middle of the pancakes.

Makes about eight 4-inch pancakes.

The vinegar is what helps make the "buttermilk" and the vinegar and baking soda reaction helps the pancakes rise more. The soy flour has a little bit of a "green" flavor, so these are better served with a stronger syrup (maple is good).

I like to make "brown sugar" syrup with 1/2 cup white sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, and 1/2 cup water. I just put them in a pourable mixing cup and microwave for a minute, stir, then another 30 seconds in the microwave.

I would make at least a double batch of these because the pancakes are great for kid snacks later in the day. Just give 'em a pancake and let 'em munch. They also make awesome "bread" for breakfast sandwiches the next day. The secret is to give them a swipe of syrup and butter. The syrup makes the sandwich, really! I know it sounds weird but it's good! Remember to warm the pancakes, too and then top with a sausage patty (we use Morningstar meatless), and a cooked egg.

Cooking with Toddlers: Umm, Pancakes

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:43:28 GMT

One day when Lewis was telling me what he wanted for breakfast, he turned to me pensively and said, "Umm... pancakes... how about, umm.... waffles..." I laughed when he said it, so it has become one of his catch phrases that he says when he's being silly. Here I sort of got him to say it on camera, but of course, asking your kid to say something on camera is totally different than catching it spontaneously.

Lewis takes us on a tour of things needed for cooking pancakes, and then spontaneously starts cooking.

Lewis continues to cook and reveals to us what he is making.

Lewis the photographer

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:18:46 GMT

Lewis got to use the camera today. Here is his gallery.

Here are some tiny samples. Go to the gallery for slightly larger versions. The first two in this list (and the gallery list) were taken with my help - my finger on his finger - but the rest were not:

Stuff you never thought you'd hear yourself say

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 13:22:15 GMT

"Aw, you got jelly on your black eye."

"No, I don't want you to ride the baby."