The One About Connor.....

Every day when I pick Ryan up from daycare, his teacher hands me a piece of paper detailing what he had to eat for breakfast, lunch and snack, the activities the class did, and even the times he napped and went to the bathroom. 

And every day when I pick Ryan up, I scan the sheet and then ask him about his day.  He's starting to provide me with some really reliable answers.  Often what he says matches up with the "cheat sheet" I'm given by the daycare.  He will usually tell me he played with ...." X"  He will tell me what he had to eat for snack. He does not usually talk about the kids in his class and I usually don't ask anything specific about them. 

So I was really surprised one day when I asked "What did you do today?"  he replied, "Connor hit me." I asked him "Where?"  And he pointed to his stomach and told me "It hurt.  Connor baaaad.  I no like Connor."   I figured surely Ryan was no angel himself and asked "What did you do to Connor?" Ryan told me he "Pushed him." So we talked about how he should talk to his teacher if another kid hurts him. 

A few days later when I picked him up, Ryan started talking about Connor again.  This time, Connor had kicked him in the leg.   We talked through it again.  Then I asked if they could be friends and Ryan told me "no." He still didn't like Connor.

This week the daycare held it's annual Open House.  I always go.  It's a great opportunity to talk to the kids' teacher and find out what they are working on, how they are doing and look at all the cute crafts they make.  And this year, I was dying to know what was up with this Connor kid.  

So I went and the first question I asked was, "What is going on with Ryan and Connor?"  Silence. Then the teacher asked "Who?" And I told him all the stories Ryan had told me about Connor.   

That's when they informed me that there was NO little  boy named Connor in Ryan's room.  

Or in any other room Ryan has ever been in. 

"Connor" does not exist.

And apparently, Ryan gets along very nicely with everyone in his room. 

I am still trying to make sense out of this.   Further investigation is needed.

Tomorrow when he goes to daycare, I'm hoping to ask him to point Connor out to me to clear this whole thing up.  And I'm really hoping he points to someone real and that "Connor" is not an imaginary "enemy" he's created for himself.

My little goof.

Thumbsucking Continued...

About a month ago, I had refreshed my memory on some techniques to break thumb-sucking.   I consulted with Josh about the "plan" in our mommy-daddy huddle that night and then the next day we put our plan into action.

I had read that for toddlers, if they are not aware of their thumb-sucking it is best not to bring attention to it.  Rather, distract the child when you notice them doing it.  Have them clap their hands, sing a song, have them hold something for you or bring something to you. ANYTHING, but distract, distract, distract. 

This plan didn't last long.  I determined he was very aware he was thumb-sucking.   Also, it was really hard not to bring attention to it.  Especially when the check-out lady at the grocery store and other such strangers would ask him if his thumb tasted like chocolate.  To which he looked interested and happy and gave it a thoughtful suck before replying "yes." I would then give them the "look"--the one that said "thanks a lot, you just made my job HARDER."

So we scrapped that plan and tried method number two: Comparing him to a favorite character out of the tv or book.  His favorite bible story is the one about Baby Moses.  So we would say, "baby Moses doesn't suck his thumb.  Don't you want to be like baby moses?" But he didn't because now he's pretty sure his thumb tastes like chocolate.  And that is far more motivating than being like baby Moses whose thumbs don't taste like chocolate.

Lastly we tried the "Big Boy" approach.  I'd tell him he is SUCH a big boy and tell him all the cool things he gets to do as a big boy.  And then I'd talk about how thumb-sucking is for little boys like baby Dylan (since Dylan has decided to be a thumb-sucker too.)  He didn't care.  He'd just stare at me and smile and run away with his thumb stuck in his mouth.

So, I had started just plucking his thumb out of his mouth without saying a word when I noticed him sucking his thumb.  So far, he's let me do that without a fuss. Until last night during story time.
I plucked his thumb out of his mouth and he resisted.  Then he gave me a determined, fiery look that said, "I am determined to keep this thumb in my mouth and will continue to do so no matter how many times you try to take it out."  I opened my mouth to give him the "big boy" speech.  But instead these words escaped....

"Ryan do you want some caaandy?"

I was desperately resorting to good old fashioned bribery.

He looked interested and nodded.

"Oookay.  If you try REALLLY REALLLLY hard not to suck your thumb I will give you candy when we are done reading."

And you know what?  He tried. so. hard.  He did not put his thumb in his mouth ONCE after that.  And when we were done I gave him candy.   He much preferred real chocolate to fake "thumb" chocolate.

We're still trying it again today.   Who would have thought? Good old fashioned bribery.  Whatever works folks.

Fall!

Tomorrow, it is officially autumn.  And it already is starting to look and feel like fall around here.

Yesterday, Ryan, Dylan and I went to the park and took a little nature walk. I had hopes of making it very educational. I thought we would talk about autumn and what happens to the weather and trees in the fall.  I thought we would pick up a few leaves and discuss what kind of trees they came from--oak, pine, etc.  I thought we could talk about the pretty colors the leaves were turning.  

But Ryan had other plans.  Ryan picked up a few sticks, instead of leaves, because that is way more interesting to him.  He smacked the sidewalk.  He pointed his stick at me and growled.  He threatened to poke me with the stick.   I threatened to take the stick away.

So he turned around and ran away, stick in hand.  He spotted a stink bug covered tree.  Then he set about smacking them with his stick.  And so our "educational" nature walk ended.

Smile and Say Cheese!

I think my husband is a pretty cute guy. When we were dating and newly engaged, I took a lot of cute couple pictures.

See? Isn't he handsome? 

Then we got married.

When you get married, some things change for the better.  But some things just....change.

Like your husband's willingness to be photographed.

,

He began to give me "the glare of doom" anytime I went to take a picture of him.  And I would say "Smile! You'll want to remember this day/event/period of life and someday when you are 80 you will appreciate this piece of photographic evidence of how wonderful our lives are! So smile!"

It wasn't long after this that the glare of doom began to morph into what I call the creepy mutant face.

This is now standard if I try to take a cute couple-y picture. It often appears behind my back.

I think we've gotten a good one. Until later.

Then I yell.

"REEEALLY? SEERIOUSLY Josh? EVERY TIME?

Yes. Pretty much every time.  Although in this little gem he has glow-sticks behind his ears and up his nose.

I've taken to sighing quite heavily when it comes time to put pictures of us in the family album.  Because my husband is wearing his creepy mutant face in nearly every single picture. 

But........Very very rarely I am still able to get a good one.

Swappin' Meals

So, because we could all use some more meal ideas, and after a friend offered to share her meal plan in exchange for some of our meal favorites, this post is dedicated to some of our typical dinners. 

I want to take a moment to add that most of our meals include meat.  When I was in college I went through a semi meatless period of life. Not because I don't like it, but because my roommate was basically the healthiest person on the planet and is responsible for teaching me to read food labels, enjoy soy milk, try tofu, et cetera. Thanks to her I learned ramen noodle soup, iceberg lettuce, and anything dehydrated in a box is pretty much nutritionally devoid.  She also taught me canned vegetables were so packed in sodium they basically weren't healthy anymore.  So now I always buy my vegetables fresh or frozen.  The woman even ate seaweed wraps. I drew the line at those.  At any rate, she taught me other sources of protein besides  meat.  But that was before I married Josh.  Having a meat-less meal is heresy to him.  I have tried to sneak some things by him...but it never works.   If it doesn't have meat, he knows and then I'm stuck with  a lot more leftovers than I can eat. And I have a one week limit to any food I make.  In my mind all food is inedible after a week's worth of time.  So. not. worth it.  So all our meals have some sort of meat in them.

Monday:  Chicken Curry in Coconut Milk. Serve with rice.

1 chicken, cut into chunks
1 tbsp. chili powder
2 tbsp. curry powder
1 tbsp. paprika
1 tsp. cumin
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 onions, chopped
2 small zucchini,  chopped

1 cup carrots, chopped  ( I usually just use baby carrots)
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
2 tbsp. olive oil
3-4 potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
1 cup coconut milk
3 cup water
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in a skillet and fry onion and garlic for 1 minute. Then add the chicken and continue cooking for 3 minutes. Add all the spices and stir together well. Add the potatoes, zucchini and carrots. Let cook until tender. Add the remaining ingredients.

Tuesday:  Broccoli, Rice, Chicken Casserole

Ingredients

• 2 cups uncooked instant rice 
• 3 chicken breasts cut into pieces and cooked in a skillet.
• 2 cans  cream of chicken soup
• 2 tbs butter
• 1 (16 ounce) package frozen chopped broccoli
• 1 small white onion, chopped
• 2-3 cups shredded cheddar and/or mozzarella cheese
• panko or breadcrumbs

Directions

1.        Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2.        In a medium saucepan, bring the water to a boil. Mix in the instant rice, cover, and remove from heat. Let stand 5 minutes.

3.        In a 9x13 inch baking dish, mix the prepared rice, chicken,  cream of chicken soup, butter, milk, broccoli, onion, and  cheese.  Sprinkle some cheese and breadcrumbs(panko) over the top.

4.        Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until cheese is melted. 

Wednesday: Crock-pot BBQ chicken

BBQ Drumsticks in the Crockpot

24 sm. chicken drumsticks, or what's needed
Italian seasoning (enough to taste)
1/2 c. Kikkoman Lite Teriyaki Sauce
1/2 c. barbecue sauce
1/2 c. water

Place chicken drumsticks in crock-pot. Season with Italian seasoning. Pour 1/2 cup teriyaki sauce over chicken and cook for 2 hours on low heat. When time is up, then add the barbecue sauce by mixing the barbecue sauce and water together. Pour over drumsticks. Cover and cook on low heat for 4 more hours. Serve chicken and sauce over rice or noodles.

 Thursday: Homemade pizza

*Betty Crocker Pizza Crust in a bag. according to directions.

*Add pizza sauce and mozzarella cheese.  I also add some garlic powder and parmasian cheese.

*  Add toppings.  We like green pepper, sausage, chopped red onion, and pepperoni. 

*Bake for about 10-15 minutes.

Serve with side salad.  (Romaine, shredded carrots, cucumber, dressing, crutons) 

If we are splurging I'll make breadsticks from a can. 

Friday: By this time of the week I'm usually tired of making food and hope there are leftovers available.  Usually there are. 

Saturday: Baked potato buffett

Wash some potatoes and bake at 400 degrees for about an hour or so. 

Cook some bacon and crumble

Set out shredded cheddar, sour cream, butter, heat up some broccoli

Let everyone add toppings to their potato and enjoy. 

 Sunday: Pot Roast

3-5 lbs. roast
Salt, pepper, season all to taste
Sliced onions in rings
Can of cream of mushroom soup
1 pkg. onion soup mix
1-2 soup cans of water
4-5 diced potatoes
Diced carrots

Put roast in slow cooker with seasonings. Mix cream of mushroom soup, onion soup mix, water, and onions. Add potatoes and carrots. Season to taste. Pour over roast. Cook in slow cooker for 8 hours. Easy and delicious.

 So there they are.   I usually try to pick some sort of frozen veggie to go with what I make especially if it doesn't have veggies in it.  I will also serve fresh or canned fruit.  I try to pick canned fruits that are in light syrup if they have to be canned. I usually try to pick meals that take the least amount of time and effort to prepare.  After work, making food is about the last thing I want to do.  So whatever I make has to be fast and easy!

When Grocery Shopping Sucks

Sometimes, going to the grocery store with a two year old and a three month old is easy as pie.  Sometimes, it is not.

Today it was not.

First of all, Ryan told me about ten times on the way to the store that he wanted a "green car" which meant he wanted the "car" shopping carts.  I told him maybe next time.  It's not that I really care if he has a green car cart or not, it's just that  for some reason those carts are not infant-seat friendly and poor Dylan is tipped so far backwards  he looks kinda red in the face from all the blood pouring to his head.

Ryan took it pretty well.  He did not fuss or complain.  But about three minutes into the store, he had to pee. This was demonstrated by yelling " I gotta pee!" and smacking his crotch.  Of course by this point, I had several items in the cart.  And for some mysterious reason, Shop'n Save put their bathrooms up two flights of stairs.  The idea of taking the babyseat, leaving the cart and walking up two flights of stairs was not appealing. I asked if he could hold it.  He said he could. 

Then about five minutes later the crotch slapping started again.  SO I said if he really needed to go, I would take him.  But he said no, he didn't need to go anymore. 

It wasn't until we were fifth in line at the deli counter with five people behind us that he started to cry because he just couldn't take it anymore.  I was in the middle of pleading with him that as soon as we were done at the deli counter I would take him, that the baby woke up and started to wail for no apparent reason.

And so I abandoned the cart. Grabbed the baby and we ran through the store up those flights of stairs and into the women's restroom.  And Ryan peed for about three minutes straight.  Then he announced he had pooped on the seat for all the other bathroom patrons to hear.  He had not in fact pooped on the seat.  He had just splattered a little.   So we cleaned it up. Then we marched down the stairs and tried to locate our cart. We were just in time to claim it from some dutiful cart boy who was wheeling it away.

Sometimes, grocery shopping just sucks.

Fun Saturday Morning

I love Saturday mornings.  The pace is so nice and relaxed compared to a week-day morning when we rush about trying to get everyone ready for the day, in the car, and rush off to work.  This morning we joined some friends at the zoo. 

It was a perfect fall day.  It required a sweater.  But it was sunny and the weather warmed to a nice breezy 70 degrees by the afternoon.

Our zoo has four tiger cubs.  We've watched them grow since February from itty bitty cubs to these half grown monstrosities.

Dylan was mildly terrified in the penguin house.  I think it was the light dancing off the ceiling and the scary shadows.

After the zoo, we did a little yard-work.  Josh mowed the yard, and I had the coveted job of cleaning out the grass and weeds growing in the cracks of our patio. 

The wet looking area is the patch I finished that was about an inch and a half thick and had completely overrun this area of our patio.  It was hard work and I must admit, Josh had to help me some. 
It was during this job, Ryan ran up to me and yelled, "Mama, I got this you!" (translation: I got this for you) and threw a dead mouse at me. 

Yes, it hit me.  Yes, I screamed.  Yes, he was touching it with his bare hands.  Yes, he laughed when I screamed.  Yes, I washed his hands about five times afterwards and had a little talk about things that we don't touch.

Three Month Milestones

I have always loved Dylan's tiny toes.  In the picture above, he was two weeks old.

Now, Dylan is three months old.  He is awake for longer periods of time.  He goes to bed around 9:00 and wakes up around 2 a.m. for a feeding, then sleeps until around 6:30 a.m.  Not too shabby.  He weighs 16 pounds.  And, this week, Dylan found his toes! 

He is also able to bear weight on his legs for short periods of time when supported.  So, we  tried out the exer-saucer tonight for the first time. 

He really liked it.  

Dylan has also kicked up the drool.  It's time to bring out bibs, because he's soaking his clothes with it!  What a big boy!

My Sister

 When I was six years old, on September 12, 1989, a really neat thing happened.  I got a little sister.   It was one of the best things that has  happened in my life.   I remember right after she was born and my dad took my brother and I to meet her for the first time in the hospital. I thought I had never seen anything so cute.   She was so tiny. And very bruised.  All her fingernails were purple and she had a huge purple bruise on her head.  The reason? She had tried to enter the world with her arm wrapped around her head.  The nurses said she was "waving hi" on entry. 

The  day she got to come home from the hospital, I made a huge banner welcoming her home.  

She was a big deal in my world. 

She still is.  In fact, she is one of the people I respect the most.  She is lively, energetic, funny and beautiful.  

 

...and one of the strongest, bravest people I know.  My sister married a navy boy.  Long absences come with the territory.  When she was pregnant with her first (and so far, only) child, her husband was scheduled for a six month deployment before the baby was due.  We all worried for her.  I'm sure she was worried, but Havilah put on a brave face and cheerfully tried EVERY possible thing that could naturally induce birth.  Including playing tennis at 9 months pregnant.  And she succeeded.  Two days before the scheduled deployment, my sweet nephew was born.  And then the heartbreaking goodbye for six months. 

Since then, Havilah has weathered two more long deployments.  Often this means she is raising my nephew as a single mom for stretches of time.  She held down a full time job during these times and is also a part time college student.  My sister is so strong. 

And yesterday was her birthday.  And she spent it alone. So, Havilah, for your birthday, I can only say I miss you SO MUCH! I wish we lived closer together.   And we appreciate the sacrifice you and Noah and Evan make--the sacrifice of being together for many special and daily occasions/events--so Evan can serve our country and protect our freedoms.  I think you are one of the bravest, sweetest, most beautiful people I know.  Happy Happy birthday.  The day you were born, the world gained a great gift.  

Sunday Experiments

Every once in a while, Josh has to go in to the lab on weekends.  Sometimes, we get to go as a family.  Ryan and I hang out and read books or watch movies while Josh sets up his experiment.  Then we usually find some grub together.  Josh's experiments usually involve the use of robots like the one below.  So, while we are out eating, the robots are back at the lab doing most of the work.

Today, Josh showed Ryan some cool science. 
He blew up a glove and brought out some liquid nitrogen.

Then Josh put the glove in the liquid nitrogen and we watched the glove shrink.

Josh then brought the glove out and we watched it return to it's normal shape and size.

Ryan was pretty impressed.  When it was over, Josh poured a little liquid nitrogen out on the floor and let Ryan chase the mist it made. 
Then Josh took us to a frozen yogurt place called Razzifresh.  I had never been before.  He discovered it when I was in the hospital with Dylan and had taken Ryan.  It was pretty neat.  I really enjoyed the topping buffet which had a bunch of fresh fruit!

Glow Stick Bath

Yesterday was a lazy Saturday after a long and busy week.  Josh had to go into work which left me wondering what to do with the kids.  More specifically, what to do that didn't cost money or require a long drive.  So I broke out Josh's shaving cream and let Ryan paint with it.

  We drew a few letters.....

and then I added food coloring for some added fun when his interest started to wane.

After that, I cut the sides off of a box and wrapped it in tinfoil.

We talked about how the tinfoil was "shiny." And then I broke out the markers and let him draw on it.   It would have been better if I had colored Sharpies since marker did not quite "stay" on the tinfoil.  So, I improvised and let him pick some artsy things to stick on from my scrapbook drawer.

Josh then came home early and we ran some errands.  I had seen a really fun idea I wanted to try with him on Pintrist (Thanks Holly Browning for introducing me to Pintrist).  So we picked up some glowsticks at the dollar store.

We waited until it was dark for bathtime.  And then the "special activity" began....

 It was a HUGE hit!  Ryan loved his glow-in-the dark bath.  It was pretty cool for us adults too!

When we put Ryan to bed that night, he took his glow sticks with him.  It was the first night in a really long time he did not ask to sleep with the light on, which was an added bonus to the whole activity.

Here we go Steelers....

In the spirit of football season......

Here we go Steelers! Have a great season.