Oh, the lure of the M&M!

E's been a wiggle worm at the table. We got rid of any type of booster seat; she's a big girl and can reach the table for meals. But lately I've been tempted to buy 10 feet of rope and tie that girl to her chair! She's up, down, on her knees, half-way on, backwards, behind, slumped, balancing, rocking, bouncing, fiddling, anything but facing forward! IT DRIVES ME CRAZY!

Today we tried a little experiment. She started dinner out with 5 M&M's in a glass dish right above her plate (so she could keep an eye on them) for dessert. Any messing about and I took 1 M&M out of the bowl and set it in front of me. She would immediately re-situate herself and continued on with her meal. Oops, slid off her chair, another M&M for me. Drat, legs off to the side, one more for Mom. And so it went. I did give one back because she went a whole 5 minutes without budging. All in all she got 3 M&M's and we were both delighted after our meal.

Have to get rid of that Halloween candy somehow!

Zebra Fight!

We went to the zoo this afternoon, and got a front row seat to this zebra fight!

*Sorry these shot's aren't the embodiment of excitement, but they're the only ones I got without a flurry of stripes and tails!

Mother Hen

What type of Mother Hen Are You?
by Montessorimom.com: Educational Resource

I don't know if I entirely agree with this, I even went back and switched a couple answers and it still came out 'Artistic.'

Comment Moderation

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A Princess Already?

Alright, I'll admit it; I'm not a fan of little girls pretending to be princesses, only agreeing to wear pink & purple, PJ's with Disney characters, and talking about fairies & unicorns. It's just not my speed. I avoided dressing E in pink at first, until I was so tired of passers' by referring to my infant as 'him' and 'he.' It's, I feel a similar aversion that the mom's of boys feel when they start making shooting sounds cocking their fingers in weapon shapes. Although I realize that what my daughter would be imitating is almost the exact opposite of a little Rambo, it's silly I know. Furthermore, I admit there are loopholes in my stronghold. Ballet, for instance. I jumped at the chance to see my little girl follow in my footsteps; starting dance at 3. Although, I would argue that my intentions were to instill discipline, giving her opportunity to explore one of the various facets of dance and movement that she adores. On top of all that, I know that pretend with imagination is crucial to development and the last thing I want to do is stifle her but I'm really struggling with this princess stuff, I can't shake it.


She was recently invited to a party where all the children dressed up as fairies, they all wrote a story about their adventures, played fairy games, painted their faces and made their own fairy wands. I cringed a little, not wanting my well-balanced little dinosaur lover to turn prissy. To be fair she had a blast, was by far the most eager to participate in the story time, but has since asked repeatedly to sleep with her wand. My friends warned me that these days were approaching, clearly I'm not ready to play along:

(this evening, 2 days after the party)
E - "Mom I want to tap you on the nose and turn you into something!"
me - "Alright. (leaning over)"
she gently taps me on the nose once and I start standing up
E - "No, I need to tap you twice!"
me - "Oh, ok" (I bend again)
E - "What did you turn into?"
me - "Um, a seahorse" (and I start to bob up and down holding my breath)
E - "Ok, I'm going to turn myself into a princess" (there's that word!)
me - "I'm not going to call you that" (what is wrong with me?)
E - "Ok, then I'll be a fairy who helps rainbows."

Serves me right.

Cupcakes Round 2

E and I have been baking a lot lately. The shorter daylight hours combined with the weather leaves little else in the afternoons between naptime and dinner. Today I was decided everything was to be done from scratch. We approved a recipe from the cookbook (people if you don't already have this on your shelf, stop what you are doing right now and go purchase it. It will change your kitchen life) then we set to work. They turned out great (like all their recipe's do) and the frosting is like nothing I've ever made (7-minute Frosting). I was thinking of Tania as I spread a thick layer over the tiny cakes, it reminded me of cross between *marshmallow fluff and meringue.

Mmmm...
*It should be explained here that marshmallow fluff is not used on the West Coast like it apparently is on the East. When my dear friend Tania moved out here she brought along with her the most ginormous tub of the stuff. Not really knowing what else (besides fudge) one would use it for my inquisitions were answered upon watching her make lunch one day for her children: fluff=jam. Peanut Butter & Fluff is as common as PB&J much to my surprise. I've never tried the combination, but her children naturally finished every bite.

Charlotte

E and I have movie night every now and again. She takes an early bath after dinner, climbs into her fuzzy-footsie jammy's, we make popcorn, and cuddle under a blanket to watch the show. We grabbed Charlotte's Web from the library and she really liked it. I, of course was comparing it to the animated version I grew up with the entire time, but made peace with it's computer animated sister early on. It's still a bit of a stretch to ask E to remain engaged for something longer than 40 minutes or so, but she continues her interest in her own way; dancing to the music, and of course asking lots of questions.

Well, right near the end as Wilbur is distressingly calling after Charlotte's children to stay and not "take to the wind," a spider literally dropped from the celling in our living room and onto my arm! I was so in the moment with the movie and all I just looked at it. As I quickly came to my senses, I swatted it and it curled up and fell onto the couch next to me, dead.

So strange.

I was so conflicted right then and there. Here I was mourning the loss of EB White's tremendous arachnid, and at the same time triumphant in killing this invader in my home.

To Neti or Not?

I got D a neti pot for Christmas. My sister and sister-in-law swear by them, and have in turn indoctrinated their spouses. Nothing about draining salt water with a little teapot into my nasal cavity is enticing, but D wanted one and so Santa delivered. I'm sure these things have been used in some cultures for hundreds of years, but to hop on the trailing bandwagon Western culture seems to embody in regards to alternative medicine felt a little, well, cliché. I mean these things are everywhere now, I recently saw a hanging poster in the window of a Walgreens seeming to shout out to the passing cars "Yes, we have what you're looking for! We have a whole shelf of nasal pots!" I felt like I was buying a Chia Pet, back in the 80's.

Well, last week I could feel a cold coming on: scratchy throat that quickly turned soar, aches, had the runny/sneezey nose, felt as if my ears were packed with cotton etc. I really held it a bay with Emergen-C (cranberry), and kept up my new exercise regimen, but I could feel the stuffy nose settling in next. To me, a stuffy nose is the worse symptom of a cold. I am a nose breather while sleeping, I find it absolutely baffling that people can sleep with their mouth open.

Enter the neti pot.

So I thought I'd give it a whirl, since all the big bad men in my family (now including my dad, who'da thought) use these things. I schooled myself on what ratio of water/sea salt to use, and just went for it. It's a little weird feeling your face fill with warm water. But at the end of the cycle, I could breathe, breathe deeply.

So cheers (everyone clinking their neti pots together)!
Here's to breathing through your nose!