Internet Woes

Just a note for those family members and friends eagerly awaiting another installment of photos -- we've been having terrible trouble with our Internet connection, which I will not go into here because it makes me frustrated. We'll get them up as soon as we can.

Library Books - week of January 21, 2008

I've been wanting to write all week but the stars (and nap times) have just not been properly aligned.

I am way, way behind on books! But we have had some really good ones recently so I wanted to put down a few short notes about some that we have enjoyed. Plus, a few updates on the train book list -- some from our library books, some from when we were home in Michigan. (Thanks for going to the library Mu!)

1. Grandmother Winter by Phyllis Root, illustrated by Beth Krommes
This book has the most lovely illustrations, which is what initially drew me to it. The story of seasons and animals is also beautifully written. I do love winter and this book evokes all of the feelings of cold, wind and being cozy inside under a down quilt. Oh, by the way, Eleanor quite likes it too.


2. I Want My Potty by Tony Ross
Eleanor has thoroughly enjoyed reading this book about a little princess who is potty training. The refrain "the potty's the place" has struck some sort of chord with her. Maybe it will inspire her to start using the potty on a more regular basis.

3. Ballerina! by Peter Sis
This is the second time we have checked out this book. It is a simple color book but Eleanor really likes all of the descriptions on each page (stretch, dip, flutter, etc.) and has them all memorized. I am pretty sure she's going to enjoy dance throughout her life.

We actually have returned this bunch but will hopefully be able to stay more on top of things for the next bunch of books.

Nana's Flower Cards

I come from a creative family by all accounts. My brother and sister are both very creative, my dad paints, my mom does all sorts of crafty little things, my aunt hooks rugs, and my Nana creates pressed flower cards. Here are a few of her recent cards -- she actually sent these to me in October of last year but I am only now getting around to sharing them with everyone. I think this new bunch are some of the nicest ones ever. My favorite part about the cards is the amount of love Nana puts into their creation; from the gathering and pressing of flowers, to the arrangements, to the final little note with where the flowers are from -- they truly are beautifully and lovingly made. Hope you enjoy the digital versions!

New Years Resolutions. Late.

I've been mulling over my resolutions for this new year and am only now getting around to actually expressing them. I've sort of been thinking in terms of several categories -- personal, family, others, green, home, for example. I won't bore you all with the details of all my more personal resolutions but I did want to put a few notes about my green resolution. In a word: bags.


I don't know what it is about most of my shopping experiences but I cannot remember my reusable bags! I'm talking about the bags that I already have in the car, specifically for shopping trips, so that I don't come home with a bunch of plastic bags. I seem to be able to remember them when I go to Whole Foods or Trader Joe's. I am not sure if this is because these are greenish stores or what, but everywhere else I seem to go in empty handed and come out plastic laden. The irritating thing is, I already HAVE the bags in the car! Anyway, my resolution should be clear by now: I must start remembering to take my bags in with me. I was thinking I might even make myself a little note and tape it to the steering wheel. There is no reason for me to go into Target or a bookstore or a clothing shop without a bag, especially if there is something specific I am going to buy, which usually there is.


Anyway, I am not looking to debate hot issues on this blog (for anyone thinking of trying to instigate by posting something inflammatory in the comments), I am simply putting down my thoughts -- probably more to help me remember than anything else.

Eleanor is a Book Fiend

Yes, she is a book fiend. She can practically recite a library book after reading it once. She likes to fill in the blank while reading -- for example, I say, "Put me down..." and she says, "said fish, not wish fall." (from The Cat in the Hat, by Dr. Seuss, of course) It's really pretty darn cute. So, we made her a little book corner in her room, complete with a book box and pillow seat. I think she likes it.

Can't Write. Too Tired. OK, just a little.

Henry and Eleanor (mostly Eleanor) kept us on our toes last night. So much so that I am too tired to actually put together any coherent thoughts. Yet I'm writing anyway. I know, makes no sense.

I just wanted to make a few notes on Henry's developmental milestones. He's recently, in the last week or so, started rolling from back to front. He is able to sit like a tripod for a bit and even sit up straight for a few seconds at a time. Won't be long before all of that is old hat. He is raking with his hands and it even seemed (maybe just due to my overtired stupor) that he was trying to use his pincer grasp this morning. Everything is going straight into his mouth, including some new foods. We've moved past rice cereal and he's tried banana and pear. Seems to like the pear a lot.

And, while I'm at it, a few funny turns of phrase that Eleanor has been using lately. She says "really" all the time: really tired, really cold, really funny, really scary, etc. Another favorite is "maybe": maybe this one, maybe just one more, etc. She is working on sorting out her pronouns as well. She still says "You are really heavy", instead of "I am really heavy", when I am carrying her and she wants me to put her down. She has, however, wrapped her mind around the concept of "mine", even though she still says "mine eyes" or "mine giraffe".


So, to wrap up this sleep deprived babble, I thought I'd put up some pics of Henry and Eleanor, each at about 6 months, just for fun. I don't think they look much alike:





(Would you look at the hair on that girl?!)

Cute Trains

The other day, Eleanor delighted as I took pictures of her "cute trains". She would rearrange this small group of blocks and then tell me it was a cute train. After I snapped a shot, she immediately wanted to see the result of her work. Here are a few of her cute trains:

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Grandma and Grandpa have been on, what I can only imagine, must be a lovely vacation in Hawai'i. They were very thoughtful and shared a small piece of Hawai'i with us in the form of two lovely pineapples, which came wrapped up in a box with a sweet little note and instructions on how to properly cut up a pineapple.



Knowing full well that we would not be able to eat two huge pineapples all at once, I decided to put one of the two to good use in an upside down cake. I used the recipe from my America's Test Kitchen cookbook -- one of my favorites for delicious recipes when you don't care how much butter is used. With my two little helpers at my side, we managed to get all the ingredients together. Other than the fact that I didn't cook it quite long enough and had to put it back in the oven after taking a slice, it turned out pretty darn good.



Oh, and by the way, the pineapples were divine. Eleanor ate about half the pineapple I had cut for the cake and there was still more than enough. Yum!

Busses and Trains

Here is a brief photo documentary of our trip out this past weekend. Our car was getting a nail hole repaired and we made it into a fun little family adventure.

Eleanor dashed out the door when we mentioned going on a bus and a train:


We waited for the bus, which was right on time:


The bus ride was pretty exciting, we saw lots of "cars, vroom vroom":


We ate lunch at our favorite kid-friendly restaurant, Clyde's. Lots of cars, planes, boats and trains to look at:


Then we waited, and waited, and waited for the train:


When the train did finally come, the lights blinked. (And, yes, Eleanor has a large smear of ketchup on her face):


On the Metro. By this time we were all ready to pick up the car and go home:

Crafty Night

Vince had a football night a week or so ago with some friends and I sat home and enjoyed some quiet time sewing and watching figure skating on TV. I had actually already seen the competition they were showing (Grand Prix in Paris) but I decided to watch again since a) you can never watch too much figure skating, b) there were some exciting things happening (Trent and Vise landing the first throw triple salchow in competition!) and c) the music was a nice background for sewing.

So, I made a baby blanket for Henry. Not actually a blanket, per se, but a little lovey that he can use to comfort himself so that I don't have to be up all night with him! Eleanor's blankie is a small knit square (thanks Barb P.) that she has dragged all over creation -- so much so that it hardly resembles anything other than a rag. But she loves it. And, it is conveniently small. I thought Henry might like something similar but since I am not a knitter, I put together a white textured cotton fabric and a blue cotton flannel that he can hold on to. I also appliqued his name on top, just because I thought it would be cute. All of my time with the Kuna, watching them sew with such patience and precision, really gave me an appreciation for the art of applique and reverse applique. It is fun to be able to put a bit of that same type of love into something for my son.





I've got a couple of other little projects going and some other ideas rolling around but I'm going to save those for another post since some of them are birthday and baby gifts -- I don't want to ruin the surprises before they go out. Though I might as well, I am embarassingly far behind with all of this. Ahh, well.

Favorite (Baby) Things - Teether

This favorite has the official two kid seal of approval. The Combi 4 Month Teether is an enormous hit with Henry just as it was (and frankly still is) with Eleanor. The Combi 4 Month Teether is an agreeable green piece of soft plastic with a yellow, pacifier-looking nub, which, I am sure, is the reason Eleanor still finds this particular baby item so appealing. It also has a light, tinkly sounding rattle incorporated into the design, just perfect for calling the attention of a fussy baby. Eleanor enjoyed this teether so much that I purchased the Combi 8 Month Teether but that was probably money wasted since it held her interest for all of 5 seconds.

The Slow Cooker and Turkey Chili

I got Vince a slow cooker for our anniversary. He had been mentioning how much he liked my mom's turkey chili cooked in the slow cooker and how it would be great to have that kind of food on a regular basis. My initial instinct was, "We cannot fit another single kitchen appliance into our tiny kitchen." The more I thought about it though, the more I realized that I, too, LOVE my mom's turkey chili. And, I began imagining other similar sorts of dishes that could be left to cook all day and ready for dinner. Who doesn't like having dinner ready without having to scramble around right as everyone is melting down from a hunger tantrum?

I have to admit, I love having it around. The one we got is a Rival 5.5 quart Crock Pot and it is working great. Very easy to use. I also thought that I would share the amazing turkey chili recipe that my mom uses but I was nervous since it was from a magazine -- I didn't want to infringe on any laws I might not have been aware of -- but thanks to the wonder of the Internet, I can happily link to the recipe for "Ginny's All-American Chili Chowder". It is very good with chips, rice, and/or cheddar cheese. Happy (slow) cooking!

Zoom, Zoom Ridin' in the Car...

Music Together class started up again today. I do love music class -- Linda is a great teacher, the songs are always lively and fun, and watching the kids dance about is so sweet. I do, however, get sick of listening to the same song over and over. Not songs, plural -- I quite like the songs. It is the song that Eleanor chooses to LOVE that I get sick of. I can tell this class it is going to be "Ridin' in the Car". As some of you may remember, Eleanor fixated on "Sandpiper" in the last class and cried frantically when the song would end. There was one day in particular where we listened to that song for about 8 hours straight. We did eventually move past the hysterics but she still asks for that song more than any other.

When we got home today and put the CD on, "Ridin' in the Car" happened to be the first song after the standard "Hello Song" and we were unable to get past it. I think she really enjoyed pretending to drive a car at class today, which I suppose is understandable. I mean who doesn't like leaning to one side as if driving at top speed around a hairpin turn? The funny thing is, "Ridin' in the Car" has many of the same components as "Sandpiper" does: a lively upbeat tune, several engaging but easy to remember verses, and a final verse that involves sleeping (sleeping by the sea in the case of the sandpiper, sleeping in the car in the case of this new song). We'll see if it sticks as her new favorite.

Holiday in Michigan

We had a lovely time in the Great Lakes State over the holidays. Here are some of the highlights in no particular order...


Henry's Baptism:


Finishing a really hard puzzle -- the one on the right. (I know, it doesn't look that hard!):


Christmas dinner:


A walk at the farm:


Trains at Henry Ford Museum:


Nine inches of snow:


Jackson the dog:


A tea party:


And, of course, hanging out with family: