Bath time Fun

We discovered tonight that having balloons in the tub is lots of fun! 

Some of them got some water, others were just filled with air. Bennett tried to sink each of them with zero success, but lots of practice!

We also learned how quickly they will rise to the top based on how large they were and whether or not having water inside changed their speed of ascent!

Grow Your Own!

A few weeks ago, I saw several "pin" the same link on Pinterest. It told us that we could all grow our own celery stalks from used celery! 

No way. There is no WAY, but after I thought of it, I realized that I hadn't seen any celery seeds on the celery that we'd eaten. But maybe I wasn't looking hard enough.

Anyway - two weeks ago, I decided to give it a whirl. I had bought celery because Bennett is loving it as a snack right now. I cut all the stalks off and wrapped them in tin foil (another instruction from Pinterest to help the celery last longer - and it works!) and then placed the "stump" for lack of a better word, into a small glass dish with about an inch of water. 

One week later - this was growing!

Snow

Well - the snowy season has officially begun! We had warning of a snow squall yesterday into today/tonight. It started late this morning/early this afternoon. I snapped this shot while stopped at a light on my way to the dump. Yeah - nothing quite like taking a huge pile of recycling to the dump in this weather!

p.s. It's really just a blizzard, I'm not sure why they call it a squall. To make it sound more ominous? More romantic? 

How To Speak Canadian

So there was a catchy television ad a few years ago for Foster's Beer. The tagline was, "Foster's. Australian for be-ah." I have no idea if that ad is still running, but I remember it! I think they had another one that simply had the words, "How To Speak Australian" typeset over a video of someone drinking Foster's.

Anyway - I've noticed since moving north of the border that although we all speak English, the Canadians say some things a little differently. The first one I noticed was the absence of articles. So, if you're in a car accident back home, the paper would report that "the victims were transported to THE hospital by ambulance." Here, the report reads, "the victims were transported to hospital." What the what? You're missing an important word there, y'all!

Also, I've heard this one more frequently than I've seen it in print. However, it's there! When you finish a task, how do you tell someone that you're done? I would have said, "I'm all finished WITH my Christmas shopping." Or, "I'm all done Christmas shopping." Not here. You'll need to learn this phrasing: "I'm done my shopping." Or, "Are you done your dinner?"

Another biggie is the substitution of "for" for "at". Especially in reference to time. So - let's say I'm going to meet up with some girlfriends for dinner at a restaurant downtown. One who is native to Ontario would say to me, "Okay, we're doing dinner for seven." I'm sorry? I thought there were only five of us coming, who are the two add-ons? "Just five of us, for seven o'clock." Oh. Is that confusing to anyone else? And it's not just for dinner time. "Let's shoot for the library for nine." I don't know what that means!

If that isn't confusing enough, let's say that The Bay (Hudson Bay Co.) is having a sale this weekend. Down in North Carolina, we would have said, "Hey, y'all! Did you know that The Bay is having a huge sale this weekend? The whole store is on sale with super markdowns!" Up here, I hear: "Blythe. Did you know that The Bay has a sale on?" After pausing a minute to wait for the rest, Me: "No, I didn't! A sale on what?". Them: "Pardon? The Bay has a sale on. You know? The whole store is cheaper."

Here's proof! I took this shot today while out killing time at the mall.

And if there's been a markdown on a specific item, let's say socks? A native would say, "The socks are on for 20%." WTH, y'all! I seriously need some Rosetta Stone for Canadian!!

Television

I was reminded again this morning why I hate commercial television. In an effort to let Brian actually sleep in after a late night working, I took Bennett to "Old MacDonald's" to climb and get some energy burned. 

I selected the one closest to our house because snow is expected this morning and I didn't want to get stuck far from home. What I neglected to remember is that this one has a t.v. visible from the play place. 

Bennett was an absolute zombie the whole time we were there. Thank goodness he thought the commercials were "grown up shows" and didn't realize they were trying to sell him toys! The sound was muted. A tiny blessing I suppose. 

Do YOU have a hidden talent?

My dad does. Honestly. 

We learned this weekend that my dad is actually quite proficient at creating balloon animals! And swords! And hats! And other unnamed objects that are the coolest things on the planet, if you ask his favorite four year old.

See for yourself!

He's Hungry!

This evening, I took Bennett to a special event at the Children's Museum. We were there for two hours and had a blast. While we were there, we each had a piece of pizza for dinner. Bennett ate the inside of an apple after I'd peeled it with my teeth (crazy things we do for our kids, right?) and had a juice box. It's about the same volume he usually eats for dinner. He'd had a regular amount of food throughout the afternoon as well. This is important because of what he said when we were about halfway home and he was drowsy with sleep.

Me: How ya doin' back there, buddy?

Him: Okay, mama. I'm hungry. Can we have second dinner when we get home?

Clearly, he's sneak-watching The Office when I'm not looking.

And now he's FOUR!!

We hosted our first "friend" birthday party this weekend. I scoured Pinterest for weeks looking for ideas to fit our Superhero Training theme. I found some great things and worked for the two weeks before the party putting them all together. 

Bennett picked four friends to invite and they were all able to come! I wish I'd had a chance to take a photo of the five of them together, but honestly, they just didn't stand still long enough. Other than when they were all eating cake.

So, to start with: food. We had the party from 11 - 1, so served lite snacks as the kids arrived, and then a small lunch before cake and ice cream. I had seen these comic book page cones on Pinterest but decided that the ones they had used were a little mature. We have so many extra comic books around here from Free Comic Book days that I figured we could sacrifice one to make these. Aren't they so cute! Both kids and parents used them. I will most certainly use this idea again!

Another super cute Pinterest idea were these individual servings of carrots and celery in tiny cups with ranch dressing in the bottom of each cup. Because Bennett's favorite color is red, you can imagine how thrilled I was to find itty bitty Solo-style cups at our grocery store! Technically, they're shot glasses, but they served our needs perfectly.

Most importantly - the cake! Again, thanks to Pinterest, I found this super-cool tri-colored cake that gave a subtle homage to the super hero theme without the fondant characters on the top that I would have NO hope of creating. My version didn't turn out quite so vibrantly, but the cake itself was delicious! I used a recipe that called for buttermilk. Although I was a little worried about how that would taste, it was so wonderful. Everyone commented on how moist it was. I chose a simple frosting with primary colored sprinkles on top. 

I had some grand plans for games and activities, but really, these boys just wanted to play and enjoy the absolutely fantastic weather.

These villain balloons were supposed to be "gotten" by the good guy superheroes with their silly string as the last stage of their training. However, these guys had other ideas! Light sabres and pool noodles did the job just fine, thankyouverymuch! 

Obstacle course training had several stations: ladder walking, tunnel crawling, climber navigation, balance beam walking, tall building leaping and using freezing breath to knock over towers. They just wanted to re-navigate the obstacle course over and over. What fun! 

Our party favors were a Certificate of Completion and a Super Hero cape.

As a side bar, I'm not a huge fan of the goodie bags because they're often just filled with trinkets that Bennett loses or tosses by the way side shortly after the event. Saturday afternoon, Bennett attended a birthday party for a girl in his class at school. Their favor? A small box of Smarties with this note attached, "In lieu of goody bags, a donation is being made to Children's Hospital Foundation." How awesome is that? Certainly a trend that I hope catches on.

Trains

I think I've written about trains before. I believe that I have lived in close proximity to a train track and/or crossing nearly every place I've lived. 

Growing up I remember falling asleep to the sound of the trains. Actually, what stands out the most is the absence of that sound. The clanging bells, the wheels on the tracks, and the whistle as it approached a crossing. If the trains were off schedule I noticed, even though I didn't consciously know the schedule. 

We don't live close enough to tracks now to hear the trains, but we visit a park each afternoon that is bordered by a double track. In the hour that we are in that park, at least two trains pass by. 

Bennett seems to have the same fascination with the sound and size of the trains that I did. The second he notices the clang of the crossing arms lowering, he is running off at full speed to the park's fence so that he can watch the train go by. 

You know? I think I remember my mom planning trips around town to coordinate with the train schedule so that my brother and she could "count cars". 

A "hand-made" Swiss Army knife

Bennett loves weekends because he gets to spend a LOT of time with his favorite person, Brian. Most Saturday mornings begin at 7:30 am (the latest minute that I'm able to keep Bennett from bothering Brian!) and sound something like this:

"Daddy! Daddy? DAAA-DY! It's morning time, Daddy." (said with increasing volume as he clambers up the stairs)

"Good morning, Buddy."

"Are you ready to make something? I wanna make a SWORD! I wanna make a CATAPULT! I wanna make a bicycle! I wanna make a bicycle JUMP! I wanna . . ."

Seriously, that little brain starts spinning the second he wakes up. He loves to build things with Brian and they usually come up with some pretty awesome creations. This morning was no different. Of course, there's a back story.

Earlier this week, Bennett found a small Swiss Army Knife in the basement and asked to see all the parts. Together, they looked at the blades, screw drivers, grippers (yeah, that's the official name, right?) and this one has a flashlight which is pretty cool. We put it on the counter afterward, thinking that would be high enough to be out of Bennett's reach. 

I found out on Wednesday that it was not. He had slipped outside after gymnastics while I was working on dinner, as he usually does. I did not realize that he had grabbed the Swiss Army knife on his way out the door. Not five minutes later, he came walking inside and went straight up to the bathroom without saying anything to me as he walked past. I should have been suspicious!

When he came downstairs (mom, you may want to stop reading now!) he came to me calmly and said, "Mama! I didn't even CRY!" Confused, I turned to look at his face and asked, "What do you mean, buddy? You didn't cry when?" He proceeded to tell me that he had just cut his finger on the knife because he had pulled out this blade even though he knew that he wasn't supposed to and it slipped and knicked his finger. But, "I went up and got a bandaid and I didn't even cry, Mama! I'm so proud of me." For the record - he's totally fine. It didn't even bleed all that much and it's already mostly healed.

So - this morning's project was to be a kid-friendly Swiss Army knife. When I left to get groceries, the two of them were huddled on the floor of the basement working with the Dremel and paint sticks, nuts and bolts, and colorful craft sticks. When I came home an hour and a half later, this was the finished product:

From left to right, the components of his knife are: saw, bottle opener, screw driver and blade. It is AWESOME! He kept it clipped to his tool belt all day. 

Make Believe

This afternoon, Bennett decided he wanted to play dress up. He went searching for his doctor clothes after he discovered a pile of manilla file folders. 

After he got dressed, he came down to find me with the folders in his hand. In the other hand he was holding an old cheese knife: "for surgery, Dr. Allman." He asked me to find some pencils to take notes. "You'll have to write down the information about my patients, Dr. Allman. You know, the sickness." 

Two beats later, as he's walking back up the stairs, he turns to me and says over his shoulder, "Cancer would be the worst."

I'm off to find some pencils and take some notes for Baby Dr. Allman!

Why I "Quit" Facebook

I decided to take a month-long break from Facebook the other day. The biggest reason is that I realized that I was starting to be really hard on myself and more importantly, REALLY hard on other people in the way that I judged them, simply based on posts they'd made. 

The one that sent me over the edge was about GMOs in Halloween candy. There was/is an infographic floating around letting the general public know which candy is "safe" for handing out at Halloween and which candy will cause you to look like you don't give a shit about the welfare of our CHILDREN!!! Seriously, if you are caught giving out Hershey's kisses, or Skittles or anything else other than what is sold at Trader Joe's or Whole Foods - SHAME. ON. YOU! (For the record, I don't believe this. I'm simply regurgitating the infographic.)

After reading that entry, I had some seriously unpleasant thoughts toward the original poster, who is not a friend of mine. The poster is not someone I know. I only saw the post because a friend "liked" the post. Facebook thought it was important that I know what my friend "likes". I don't like the way it made me think about my friend. In all honesty, I wouldn't have known my friend felt this way if s/he and I weren't friends on Facebook. We don't see each other in real life other than at very infrequent high school reunions. The likelihood that GMOs would have come up in a conversation around a beer keg is quite low, right?

I have those same sorts of thoughts about political posts. Recently, the US government went into shut down mode. The last time this happened, I was a sophomore at Randolph-Macon Woman's College. One of my roommates' had a father who was (maybe still is) a Federal Judge. Not a Supreme Court Judge (that would be WAY cool and scary all at once), but I think he sat/sits on a Federal Appeals Bench in Arkansas. Anyway - the last time the government shut down, she wasn't sure she would be able to stay at RMWC due to the fact that her father wasn't getting paid because he wasn't working. Because RMWC was so close to DC, I'm quite certain that she wasn't the only one who was worried about this issue that year. The point is, all I knew about the government shut down then was that it directly affected a good friend of mine in a potentially life-altering way. However, it didn't come up in every day conversation with other folks, and she didn't really let it filter into her life beyond our circle of friends. Facebook has changed how large that circle of friends is.

I have friends on Facebook who are terribly opinionated about this shut down from all sides. Reading all of their posts got my head spinning. The military families will suffer (I have several friends who are either IN the military or are married to the military), those who are being "forced" to go on Obamacare will suffer, those who are thrilled to take advantage of the Affordable Care Act are celebrating its promise, and the list goes on and on.

And then there are the pray-ers. Oh for the love of the pray-ers! And the Crossfitt-ers. And the runners. And the bakers. And the crafters. And the list goes on and on about ways Facebook was making me feel insufficient.

You know what I've done in the last two days since I quit Facebook? I read an entire book from front to back in a few sittings. (Yes, I realize that's a luxury that I'm afforded because I'm a stay-at-home-mom with a child in morning preschool.) I also worked on making favors for Bennett's birthday party next weekend. I planned menus for the week. Bennett and I went for a bike ride. I worked on cleaning our house. I exercised more than once. I watched the season premier of Grey's Anatomy a week late. I watched my son enjoy gymnastics class. 

And not once did I doubt my choices as a mother, as a wife, as a homemaker, as a person. I really don't think I'll miss Facebook.

More Home Work

This afternoon, Bennett was feeling a little remorseful about some earlier behaviour and he offered to help me out with some jobs after his quiet time (read: forced alone time in his room behind a closed door so mama could regain some sanity time). 

He said that he was really good at folding towels. Lucky for him, I had a stack waiting for just this moment. 

That, my friends, is how a kid earns his first responsibility. And quite possibly a quarter if I see a repeat performance. 

I'm quite pleased to share this task with little hands now!

Million Tree Challenge

In honor of National Tree Day, the city of London gave away free trees today at several locations around town. We went to Masonville mall before gymnastics to select our tree. 

Bennett and I couldn't agree on the perfect tree, so the lady let us have TWO! I chose a lovely Tulip Poplar for our front yard. Bennett liked the looks of a Sycamore because it was "the tallest of them all!!"

The idea is that we get to plant these trees wherever we want in an effort to increase the tree population in this, The Forest City. 

I am pretty sure we will plant the Tulip Poplar in the front yard and use it to create a large flower bed out there. We still need to decide on a location for the Sycamore. They are both likely to get quite large, so they will be excellent shade trees. We were told that they will also both be good for climbing. That's a serious plus!

Montessori at Home

One of the reasons we fell in love with the Montessori "way" is related to homework. Students in his particular school are not likely to have *assigned* homework until the sixth grade. And that typically takes the form of long term project work. 

As I understand it, in lower elementary, the kids only have to take work home if they haven't been able to finish in their work sessions during the day. 

Until that time, his teachers have told us that the only home work he should be doing is home work. Like cooking with me, which will help him understand various points of math and number sense. He should learn how to make his bed and do so every day (we're BOTH working on that one). 

They also suggest that he help me clean. We've done laundry together. He wants to be in charge of folding wash cloths. He has also enjoyed helping me Swiffer, vacuum and sweep. 

Today, his self-selected homework was to carve a block of wood. He started with a butter knife. Then, HIS screwdriver. Finally, he wanted to drill. Together we used Brian's Drimmel after discussing the safety rules ad nauseum. 

And now we're climbing at the park where he's practicing his negotiating skills. (Not my favourite part of the "lesson".)

I've been linked!!

I couldn't believe my eyes when I discovered that another blogger linked to my blog and gave credit as a source of inspiration for her Quiet Boxes. How neat!

I guess I'd better keep up with this thing a little more frequently now. That's certainly a happy challenge to have.

Meal Planning

I was inspired the other day when I read a blog post by a high school friend. She was sharing her menu planning for the week and asking for inspiration, as she felt she was in a bit of a rut. I realized I was kind of in a similar rut. Although we as a family have adventurous tastebuds, I find that it's very easy to get comfortable making the same foods each week. I begin to lack motivation to make new items, but also, get so very bored with the same old same old, that we start to have sandwiches A LOT.

As I responded to this friend about her meal rut, I was reminded that back before Bennett was born, I had found myself in a similar rut and created a fun way to get out of it. One day at work, I simply started a running list of all the main dishes that Brian and I like to eat, with the caveat that it's something I know how to cook/prepare. I think we were also in a money saving point in our lives as well, so I was also trying to avoid the going out, which also becomes easier when I'm not planning our meals ahead of time. 

I wrote down a similar list this time. I found that it was quite a bit longer than before. 

 Since the creation of that list, I've added even more things to the list of "Food We Like". So, the possibilities are endless, right? 

The next step was to create a monthly Menu Calendar. So sophisticated, y'all. I wrote it in the same notebook with a pen. Before, when I was working, I took time on my lunch break to make a calendar on the computer and be fancy with the entries. This time, we're working for speed.

So, there you have it: Five and a half weeks of meals. You'll note that there are only three meals planned as "OUT", those are the nights that Brian and I get to have a Date Night because Oma has Bennett on Thursday afternoons. In an effort to cut down on spending, we'll cook every other date night week, even if it is just sandwiches! Also, the repeat of "Pasta" every Sunday is because Brian takes pasta to work for lunch. I make a huge pot each Sunday evening and we divvy up what's left. 

On the far right column, I made a list of special groceries I'll need to purchase each week based on that week's dinner items. I've also imported these plans onto my Google Calendar with a reminder in place, in case I need to take meat out of the freezer. 

Another thing to note is that I have since made some changes to this calendar, based on social events I'd forgotten about, etc. Also, some of the plans will be modified for me as I'm trying to cut down on my carbs, and will be beefed up for Brian who is trying to gain weight to support his weight training. 

For fun, I'll try to write a post about one meal a week with photos. I wish I'd taken a pic of tonight's dinner. We all had "egg sandwiches", but they were three variations on a theme. Bennett had an "egg in a basket" with a fancy gingerbread boy hole, Brian had two egg, bacon and ketchup sandwiches on traditional english muffins and I had an egg and bacon wrap with 1/4 of an avocado sliced up inside a whole wheat tortilla. If you can believe it, the tortilla had nearly 10 g of carbohydrates LESS than the english muffin. It was also a very lovely meal with the yellow, brown and bright green. I got lucky and picked perfectly ripe avocados at the grocery store today.

Funny-ism

This evening, on our way home from dinner with Brian, Bennett and I passed a Bell communications van. He asked who the man was and I said, "A Bell employee."

"Mama! What's an employee?" He asks. Always with the questions!

So I respond, "an employee is someone who works for a company or business. You know, daddy is an employee of Western University."

And I kid you not. Without missing a beat he says, "and you're an employee of ME!"

Cute pic of him drawing at dinner tonight. He wasn't scribbling! Drawing. 

Ants

Bennett is learning the itchy consequence of digging in an ant hill. It doesn't seem to bother him! Just tickly, he says. 

Rainy Day

Bennett and I spent the day together while Brian worked on his grant revisions that are due next week. 

After running several errands, we went to a spot called Tin Cup to play mini golf! Even though it was raining, we had a great time. 

10K

We needed something fun to do yesterday to take away the sting of Granna and Daddyo leaving after such a fun week. (I'll post about the week later. . .)

We decided to take our "new-to-us" bikes for a spin. We rode to the local mall where we had a quick lunch and then sat down to watch "Planes", the new Disney movie. It was GREAT!

I realized on our way back that Daddyo had installed a device on the bike I was riding that would track distance, speed and time traveled for our trip. We rode for 10 kilometers round trip.

I was so proud of Bennett for staying on his bike most of that trip. Brian had to help him up the hills, but for the most part, Bennett propelled himself. Way to go, big guy!!

More like this!

I LOVE this shirt on Bennett. If a person would like to send us clothes for whatever reason? This style is awesome on him. And he's in a 4T now. Hint, hint . . .

p.s. Please ignore the incredibly cluttered background. It's early.

Big Boy Bike

A neighbor spotted a bike that had been put out on the curb and mentioned it to us when he saw us walking by yesterday. We plucked it up and Bennett and Brian worked on making it ride-able this afternoon. Here is it in its "maiden" voyage.

Needless to say, Bennett is a very happy boy. He kept telling us that all afternoon, "I'm so HAPPY!"

Easter Weekend

We have had a super eventful long weekend! Brian had Friday off, so we were able to spend the whole day together as a family. Although it wasn't snowy, the weather hadn't quite warmed up, so we decided to take a family road trip to the Immigration Office at the Canada/US border to get my work permit paperwork taken care of.

We thought it would be a quick and easy trip to just stop in at Border Control on the Canada side and be done with it. Not so - they told us we needed to drive into Michigan and then cross back into Canada and "land" again with new paperwork. Not a problem, it was lunch time anyway! We had a nice lunch at Applebee's and an hour later were driving back across the border into Canada. We followed all the rules and found our parking spot and went in to get a number so that we could meet with an agent who would help us complete our task.

There were about four other folks in line with us, so we decided to take a seat since we figured the wait would be significant. (There were only two agents working the desk since it was a holiday, technically.) Slowly but surely, the line started to move as people pleaded their cases to the agents in charge. Some interesting cases: One fella didn't realize he was in Canada since he thought he was headed to Mexico. Drugs? Mental Illness? Moron? He didn't have an ID on him either . . . he's lucky that Canada gave him a geography lesson and sent him back to the States.

Another lady was crying because she'd been in the office for several HOURS at that point (it was about 1:30pm) and she couldn't prove to anyone where it was that she was going or where she'd come from. Not until she got her "boyfriend" on the phone and he explained their situation to the border guard.

Bennett was generally entertained by watching the guards inspect cars outside the window. We saw suitcases opened and inspected, we saw truck beds emptied, we even saw one man get frisked! Excitement!!!

The other way that he entertained himself was to simply wander around the room and touch everything. Several times we'd reprimanded him for picking at the foam innards of the couch/chair/bench that was beside our seats. It was vinyl and cracked and the foam cushion was coming out of the cracks. He wouldn't leave it alone. Finally, after nearly all the other patrons had left the office, Brian went over to Bennett to remove his hand from the exposed foam and try to redirect him. None of us could believe what Brian saw when he looked down and touched Bennett's hand. Bennett had been worrying a small plastic bag filled with white powder. WHAT THE HELL?!?!?

We all stood still and Brian immediately called over a guard and said, "My son was playing with the foam in this seat and he just pulled this out." The guards were very calm and instructed Brian to quickly take Bennett into the bathroom to wash his hands. I remained glued to my spot and didn't move until given permission. No way I was going to do anything that looked suspicious! They put the baggie in an evidence bag, told me not to worry and then simply picked up the couch/chair/bench and moved it to a secure location. At that point, I noticed small white pellets on the ground under the bench (!) and brought them to the attention of the agent.

Then they brought the drug dogs in. Apparently, they normally patrol the inner office very regularly, but because of the holiday weekend, they'd had the dogs outside more than usual and they hadn't made a pass through the inner office in at least two hours.

After we were all washed and got our breath back, the agent came to tell me that they had tested the "product" and that it was in fact cocaine. I still can't wrap my brain around the fact that my baby was exposed!! He's fine. We're pretty sure that he didn't actually touch anything other than the tied up tail of the bag, but still.

After that event, we finally got our paperwork processed, but were interrupted to give our identifying information to the supervising agent so they could file a formal report. We left after having been at the office for nearly 3 hours. Bennett was an absolute champion and handled it all very well. We drove immediately to Oma and Grandpa's because they were babysitting so Brian and I could go to a dinner party with some of his friends from work. We had a lovely time, but Bennett didn't fall asleep until 10:15. Having way too much fun at Oma's!

On Saturday, we went to an Easter Egg Hunt sponsored by the Byron Optimist Club. It was held at Boler Mountain, our local ski hill. Bennett decided that he wanted to go skiing, "This DISTANT!" (it's how he says, this instant. So cute!) We were able to convince him that it would be better to wait a year and to go find some eggs at this instant. He was content with that and had a great time digging eggs out of the snow. Afterward, we ran several errands and then had a quiet evening at home.

Today, Sunday, we played outside for a bit and got some chores accomplished before going to Oma & Grandpa's for an afternoon of fun. We did a small inside egg hunt, had a hot tub and then went out to a very rich dinner at Red Lobster - yay, Lobsterfest!!

And now, we're all ready for bed. Brian has to work, but Bennett has the day off from school (again!) so he and I will likely do normal Monday things - grocery store, Costco, perhaps some afternoon swimming.

Hope you all had a great Spring weekend! We are very excited to welcome the new season and say "Sayonara!" to the snow. (Although Leonard warned me we shouldn't take the snow tires off our cars just yet. Damn!)

Makin' Mama Proud

(I wrote this a couple of weeks ago - not sure why it didn't publish then!)

The last few times we've been to the grocery store, Bennett has asked about a certain vegetable. I have been hesitant to purchase it simply because it's not one of my favorites. However, in the interest of being a good example, I bit the bullet this afternoon. My mother and father will be particularly happy that their grandson encouraged me to branch out. Presenting tonight's dinner - my father's personal favorite (I think!): Eggplant Parmesan. I learned that if you cut it thin enough, it gets nice and crisp and you don't even notice the texture. Or, as we call it in my family, the "tasteture". The last pic is quite grainy because I had to zoom in a bit to sneak in on the little guy eating it. Yum!

Dad - I will definitely be adding this to our meal rotation and will be sure to make it for you when you visit next.

Early morning giggles

This morning was ROUGH! Bennett woke up on the very wrong side of the bed (just happens to be the MIDDLE of our bed - his head on my ribs, his feet digging into Brian's back). Therefore we were all kind of grumpy after that wake up call.

Bennett and I made it downstairs to get coffee and some breakfast. About half an hour later, he comes running to find me in the bathroom. He says, a little breathlessly: "Mom! I have to tell you something that I did. It *looks* disastrous, but it isn't *actually* disastrous." I was unsure what I'd find, but lordy that made laugh! I think he could have taken me to a mound of flour piled onto wet coffee grounds spilled inside of the couch and I wouldn't have minded. However, it was just a small pile of yarn - about half a skein - that had been unravelled in our foyer.

He was right - it wasn't *actually* disastrous. And it brought a smile to Brian's face when I told him about it.

Parlez Vous II

Just now, he said, "Merci Beaucoup" (please excuse my mangled spelling - I only took Spanish) and used it appropriately! Whoot for language class!!!

My Ear Hurts, Mama

Last night was a rough one for us. Bennett went to sleep a little later than usual, because we had gone to a Taiko concert at Centennial Hall to celebrate the 45th anniversary of his school, Montessori Academy of London. The concert was GREAT and Bennett really loved it. But it meant we got home about fifteen minutes after his usual bedtime and we still had to go through the routine. However, he was having none of it. So, we put him to bed with no tooth brushing, no stories. Boo! About 4:00, he came into our room and wiggled until 5:00 when he finally got up to go to the bathroom. (Thank goodness he didn't pee in our bed again, like he did a week ago.) He fell asleep again by about 5:30 but woke up crying at 6:00. "Mama! My ear hurts!!" I tried to comfort him, but he got up to go to the bathroom again. Turns out, he went in search of q-tips to "fix" his ear. Gratefully, he brought them to me and I told him that the q-tips wouldn't help, but I could give him some medicine to help with the pain. Two tylenol, some rocking and snuggling in his bed, he fell asleep again at 6:30 and slept until 8:15. He was still complaining of a sore ear, so we went to the pediatrician and she confirmed that he had a raging ear infection - "classic" is how she described it. She was also surprised that he wasn't screaming or clutching his head in misery. I replied that I wasn't so surprised because he'd never been much of a "sick kid".

We came home and spent the day shoveling (that's another entry entirely!), watching movies, playing in the snow and making cookies. He had a mini-melt down around bedtime, but went to sleep with no fuss. Here's hoping he sleeps well tonight!

For the record - this is his very first ear infection. He's 3 years, 3 months. Sweet!

Not so Indestructible

The super hero sustained some super-sized owies today.

Night Time Is the Right Time

For the last month, Bennett hasn't been napping during the day, which means that he's been going to bed earlier at night. Before, when he was napping, he often wouldn't fall asleep until 9:30 or so. Now, he's typically asleep by 7:30 - a life-changing difference, for sure!

Tonight, something went haywire. I was with him in his room (rocking, lying on his bed, sitting in his rocking chair alone, standing by the door trying to sneak out unnoticed . . . ) from 7:00 until 8:05. I finally was able to sneak out, even though I KNEW he was still awake and came downstairs to help Brian with dinner.

I was talking with Brian quietly in the kitchen about what had happened. He was in the middle of telling me a story about someone at work who has a two year old who puts herself to sleep. What's that? I don't know anything about that mess. Anyway - we both turned at the sound of the pocket door quietly slipping into its pocket. And there stood our son, shit-eating grin on his face, unders on backward, waltzing into the kitchen. "Dad! I got dressed and came down to help you." Oh yeah? We couldn't stop giggling. Brian went up to help him fall asleep and just came down. Now the door is opening again. Crap. My turn.

Make-It Monday, January 28

(Edited to add: please forgive the typos and lack of captions. I don't know why Blogger won't let me edit them. I'll keep trying! Also - Bennett had several costume changes as the day progressed. I promise these were all taken today.)

Since Bennett is in school five mornings a week, we have all afternoon to play and learn together. We survived last week without any prior planning or organization, although it wasn't really pretty. Over the weekend, I decided that we needed to put a little effort into what we do each afternoon. Neither one of us does well with lack of structure!

I've decided to try organizing the week like this:
Make-It Monday: Every Monday afternoon we'll take on some sort of "making" project. Today's effort will be detailed below. I've got ideas for Valentine's Day, baking/cooking, building, etc.
To You Tuesday: We'll practice letter writing. Don't be surprised if you find something fun in your mailbox! If you're a non-family reader, send me your mailing address - we'll surprise you too!
Library Wednesday: We've been going to the library on Wednesday afternoons for a while and will continue this tradition. (Need a clever name, though . . . )
Thursdays are Oma Dates: Bennett spends Thursday afternoons with Oma and Grandpa. Yay for everyone !!
Go There Friday: We'll visit a local place - park, museum, hiking trail, creek, etc.

So - today we made yogurt and pear sauce. My mom gave us her yogurt maker when we were visiting over Christmas. Bennett has been talking about making yogurt ever since. I finally got up the nerve to try and got the supplies we needed this week. It is going to take several hours to be finished - it's so hard to wait!

First step was to heat the milk until it "climbed" the sides of our pot. I got distracted, so our milk boiled over - ACK! I'm really hoping it doesn't affect the outcome.

Second - had to let the milk cool to room temp.

Third - we had to strain the cooked and cooled milk. Oh my that made a serious mess. Thank goodness Bennett likes to help me clean!

Fourth - mix a little cooled milk with "natural yogurt". We used plain greek yogurt that we had in the fridge. Again, a variation that I really hope doesn't affect the final product!

Fifth - mix that mixture into the rest of the cooled milk.

Sixth - pour the milk/yogurt into the seven jars and place in the yogurt cooker, cover and turn it on. Then leave it alone! Like a souffle, you have to be careful that you don't jar the maker while it's cooking. I'm not sure what will happen if it gets bumped, but I"m trying really hard not to learn.

Final product - write review here!

While we were in the process of waiting for the milk to cool, Bennett wanted to help me wash the dishes. He loves playing in the water so much! As you can see, there's was a lot of clean up from the cleaning. It means that my floor got washed, right?

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Parlez Vous??

Part of Bennett's Montessori education is French class once a week. He's been to two so far. Last week, he said, "Bonjour!" when he came home from school. Yesterday, he looked at me and asked, "Mom, do you know what a French fish says when he burps under water?" I was totally expecting a punchline.
I said, "No honey, what does a French fish say?"
He says, "Excuse moi! Not 'excuse me'."

Just proof positive that kids his age are at their absolute ripest for language acquisition. I love it! Now I've got to go learn some Francais, I suppose.

Neighbors

Monday is the night that Brian curls after work. He and three other guys have a match at either 5:30 or 7:45, so Bennett and I have the entire day to ourselves. After school, we have fun thinking of what we can do together to pass the time. Today, we spent the first hour after school looking for Arm & Hammer Washing Soda so that I can start making my own laundry detergent. This has been nearly impossible to find, so we gave up that quest and came home to have a snack before heading outside to play in the snow.

We had a nice snack and then got all bundled up in snow pants, thick coats, snow boots and hats & mitts. We went out the back so we could scrape the snow off the ice rink and deck. I didn't take my keys or phone with me because we were just going to be in the backyard. I didn't want my phone to distract me from having fun with Bennett and I didn't figure I'd need my keys if we were just on the back deck, right? Wrong.

As I closed the sliding glass door, I watched the lock slip down into place. Holy shit! Did I think to unlock the front door before we went out, just in case? I ran around to the front to check. Nopes. Locked tightly. Nice and secure. I'm wracking my brain trying to think of where we might have hidden a key. Of course, we hadn't gotten around to that yet. We've got one hidden now, you can bet on that.

I played with Bennett for a few minutes, but then I started to get chilly. Bear in mind that it was about 14 degrees F with a wind chill factor of probably 0F. Cold, cold, cold. I was super thankful that I'd had us put on snow pants at the last minute. So, I decided to check with the neighbors. We walked around the corner to neighbors that I figured would be home - at least the wife is usually outside smoking every other hour. We walked up to the front door and rang the bell. Nothing. Darn it! Who do we try next? Lots of cars are missing from driveways, so I assume that most neighbors are at work. Which is surprising, because I thought that most of them were retired! We tried the young gals who live right next to us thinking that they may have been given a key by the previous owners of our house. They weren't home. Finally, we tried two other neighbors before we found someone smoking in his back yard. He let us borrow his phone and I called Brian, who came right home to let us in. Whew.

I shouldn't be embarrassed, but I am. I am a grown woman and I can't believe I locked my baby and myself out of our house in this frigid weather. Bennett handled it like a pro and was so excited to see Daddy come home in the middle of the day. You can be sure that I'll have my house keys and my phone on me every time I leave the house now. And we'd better tighten up that locking mechanism on the sliding glass door too.

Sidenote - that first neighbor who wasn't home? She really was. I saw her outside smoking not ten minutes later. I really miss southern hospitality.

Dinner Bravery

My brother and mother will be happy to learn that I made Quinoa tonight as the side dish for dinner. I'm quite proud of the fact that it was delicious (I liked it even better than Ben's, but don't tell him!) and complimented the lemon-pepper baked tilapia to boot!

An even more awesome accomplishment? Hearing Bennett say, "I want some fish, mama!" and then eating it. I had to give up half of my serving because I hadn't figured he'd eat it and I didn't want to waste a filet by making one for him to leave cold on his plate. It was the easiest sacrifice of the day. Especially to hear him announce to Brian when he got home from work and sat down to eat, "Daddy! I tried fish tonight and I LIKED it!" Full of grins and truly proud of himself. (Brian ate his dinner in sixty seconds flat, so I feel safe in saying that this meal will be seen again.)

Bon Appetit! everyone!!!

Holidays have come and gone

We just got back from a week long visit in North Carolina. We had so much fun, I'm quite certain we wore Granna and Daddy-o out. Also, I think we might have provided Gunkle Ben with all the birth control he'd ever want.

One of the really neat things about visiting North Carolina is that when we go there, we always stay at 'The Cabin', which is really a nice sized house tucked in the woods near a small lake/pond, just off the Blue Ridge Parkway. It's my mom and dad's retreat, but their home is too small for all of us to stay together. Sometimes, it feels like we're all on top of each other at the cabin too, but at least we have enough toilets and beds to go around. The real plus is that Bennett sleeps very well there! YAY!

At the cabin, Bennett gets to spend as much time outside as he wants. There is no worry of car traffic (especially in the winter), and even though we're surrounded by woods, we don't worry about wildlife. He is in hog heaven! This time, he and Daddy-o built two bird houses, re-planted a blueberry bush, secured the anti-deer fencing around said bushes and the fruit trees, hiked all the way up to the top of Bull Head Mountain, went sledding on the road (the only place there was enough snow), and fiddled in the "garage", which is what Bennett calls Daddy-o's shed.

Brian and I got to read, watch movies, chat with family and I kicked his and Ben's butts at Dominoes. That's right. Call it beginner's luck if you wish, but I dominated. I wasn't so great at Mexican Train, but it was still fun. I also taught Bennett how to play Connect Four. He liked making the checkers drop and "blocking" me more than actually playing, but I think he'll get the hang of it soon.

For New Year's Eve, we went to the local bowling alley and played one game before taking a break for dinner. We had to eat on the "porch" of this restaurant because they were busier than anticipated. My burger wasn't cooked all the way and Brian was surprised that his "meal" didn't come with anything other than a burger. Not the greatest food experience, but we had fun with the family. After dinner, we went back to the bowling alley and played some arcade games. Bennett went to turn in his tickets (I think he had thirty total) and the sweet girl behind the counter let him have his pick of the prizes. He chose something worth 200 tickets and she handed it over without any fuss. So generous!

It is always sad to leave The Cabin, but leave we did. We had excellent driving conditions on the way home and made it from Sparta, NC to London, ON in 14.5 hours. Bennett was a most excellent passenger - we are so very fortunate! Before we left London at the beginning of our journey, I threw together a travel pillow for Bennett to use in his car seat in case he took a nap (and also because we had planned to drive through the night on our way down there - that's another story!) because I didn't want his head bobbing around as it usually does. That pillow worked wonders! His head didn't flop once, despite the fact that he pulled a lot of the stuffing out after he picked one of the seams.

We came home to several inches of snow - Bennett has already been skating, sledding and snow hiking. This kid is a lover of the outdoors!