Over the last couple of years, I have wacthed my son's imagination develop. The first signs of an emerging imagination (try saying that 3 times fast) came when he pretended to talk to someone on the phone.
Once he was a little older, he started making up these stories in his head while he played. He would get out all of his trucks or race cars, for example, and then come up with some scenario in his head that he would play out.
Then yesterday, there was yet another development. He involved other people in this imaginitive play. Anthony and my son were up in our bedroom sweeping it. My daughter and I came up a bit later. I had decided it was a good time to change the sheets/blankets on the bed. The kids we quite interested in the whole process (I'm glad they find it interesting!).
When I was finished, they jumped up on the bed to test out the clean sheets. They were jumping around for a bit and having a good time. Then my son asked me to get up on the bed. Then he said to Anthony, "Are you coming daddy? You have to get on. We are going to sail away." Anthony climbed on the bed with all of us. Then my son picked up a pillow, pretnding it was the ships steering wheel, and sailed off into the deep blue see.
"Where are we going Captain?", I asked him.
"We are going to the movie place (read movie theatre)," he said.
"And what movie are we going to watch."
"A Veggietales movie." And with that we continued to sail away. At last we were done sailing, and figuring it wouldn't be very much fun to pretend to sit and watch a movie, he said, "Ok. We watched the Veggietales movie and now we are playing."
I don't know why, but the whole thing just made me smile. Even at age 3, when all the seemingly big milestones (smiling, crawling, walking, talking) have past you by, each day brings something new, something to be excited about, something to cherish.
Sincerely,
The-M-O-M
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Friday, June 22, 2012
American Calzone
So, first of all, I would like to say that after doing some research (since I needed to name this recipe I came up with) the recipe on my blog that I call Stromboli is actually a calzone. Who knew?
Any who...Anthony and I (and the kids) always go out to eat with his family after church on Sundays. We typically migrate towards places with buffets since it's easy to please a wide variety of tastes that way and get your fill. A pizza place we go to used to put subs out on their buffet. One of which was called an American sub. It was so good. But then one day the said they weren't going to put them out anymore. So since then, my run in with the American sub has been few and far between.
Now a couple of weeks back, I was doing my monthly grocery shopping. At the one store I was in, they had an insanely good price on Hormel Pepperoni and Hormel Salami. Like a 9oz. package for a dollar or something like that. So, I being the frugal shopper that I am, decided to spend money I hadn't intended on spending to take them up on their good deal. :) Funny how that works. I didn't really know what I was going to do with it other than maybe make some sandwiches for Anthony for work and feed it to the kids for lunch. (The kids love pepperoni, and though I didn't know it when I bought it, they also love salami.)
Then one day for whatever reason, I thought an American sub sounded good. Then I thought of all that meat in the refrigerator that would be great for an American sub or something of the kind. That's when I thought of an American sub crossed with a Stromboli. And thus my idea was born. (Not like I'm the only one to ever think of this.) I tested out my recipe and it was DELICIOUS! Tastes just like the sub I was making it after. Here is the recipe for your tasting pleasure!
Here's what you need:
2 1/2 C. flour
1 C. warm water
1 packet (1/4 oz.) yeast
1 T. sugar
1 T. oil
1 tsp. salt
Cooking Spray
Pepperoni and Salami (ham would also be nice, but I didn't have any)
Honey Mustard Dressing (I used Kraft)
Lettuce
Tomato
Onion
Oregano (optional)
Garlic Powder (optional)
Parmesan Cheese (optional)
Here's how you make it: (most of this is from my Stromboli post)
1. Combine the first six ingredients until you get something that looks like this.
2. At this point, use your hands to form the dough into a ball. Then knead the dough for a few minutes. I knead the dough right in the bowl, because I'm lazy and don't want to have to flour my counter top and then clean it up afterwards.
3. After a few minutes, form the dough into a ball.
4. I spray the dough ball with olive oil cooking spray and then cover with a wet paper towel to keep the dough moist while it rises. (I sometimes make my dough the night before and allow it to rise over night in the refrigerator. If I do this, then I cover the bowl with plastic wrap.) Allow to rise for at least 30 minutes.
5. Spray a pan with cooking spray. Then roll the dough into a rectangle.
Any who...Anthony and I (and the kids) always go out to eat with his family after church on Sundays. We typically migrate towards places with buffets since it's easy to please a wide variety of tastes that way and get your fill. A pizza place we go to used to put subs out on their buffet. One of which was called an American sub. It was so good. But then one day the said they weren't going to put them out anymore. So since then, my run in with the American sub has been few and far between.
Now a couple of weeks back, I was doing my monthly grocery shopping. At the one store I was in, they had an insanely good price on Hormel Pepperoni and Hormel Salami. Like a 9oz. package for a dollar or something like that. So, I being the frugal shopper that I am, decided to spend money I hadn't intended on spending to take them up on their good deal. :) Funny how that works. I didn't really know what I was going to do with it other than maybe make some sandwiches for Anthony for work and feed it to the kids for lunch. (The kids love pepperoni, and though I didn't know it when I bought it, they also love salami.)
Then one day for whatever reason, I thought an American sub sounded good. Then I thought of all that meat in the refrigerator that would be great for an American sub or something of the kind. That's when I thought of an American sub crossed with a Stromboli. And thus my idea was born. (Not like I'm the only one to ever think of this.) I tested out my recipe and it was DELICIOUS! Tastes just like the sub I was making it after. Here is the recipe for your tasting pleasure!
Here's what you need:
2 1/2 C. flour
1 C. warm water
1 packet (1/4 oz.) yeast
1 T. sugar
1 T. oil
1 tsp. salt
Cooking Spray
Pepperoni and Salami (ham would also be nice, but I didn't have any)
Honey Mustard Dressing (I used Kraft)
Lettuce
Tomato
Onion
Oregano (optional)
Garlic Powder (optional)
Parmesan Cheese (optional)
Here's how you make it: (most of this is from my Stromboli post)
1. Combine the first six ingredients until you get something that looks like this.
2. At this point, use your hands to form the dough into a ball. Then knead the dough for a few minutes. I knead the dough right in the bowl, because I'm lazy and don't want to have to flour my counter top and then clean it up afterwards.
3. After a few minutes, form the dough into a ball.
4. I spray the dough ball with olive oil cooking spray and then cover with a wet paper towel to keep the dough moist while it rises. (I sometimes make my dough the night before and allow it to rise over night in the refrigerator. If I do this, then I cover the bowl with plastic wrap.) Allow to rise for at least 30 minutes.
5. Spray a pan with cooking spray. Then roll the dough into a rectangle.
6. Spread the dressing over half of the dough. I didn't measure. Just use what you think is enough. Just don't put too much or it will be really runny on the inside.
7. Place a layer or pepperoni and a layer of salami on top of the dressing.
8. Then place a layer of lettuce, a layer of tomato, and a layer of onion on top of the meat.
9. Fold the other half of the dough over top of the toppings and crimp edges.
10. If you would like, you can sprinkle some oregano, garlic salt, and Parmesan cheese on top of the dough at this point. I do, and my family likes it, but you wouldn't have to.
11. Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes.
Voila! And so yummy! This one is definitely a keeper!
Sincerely,
The Mommy Chef
The Mommy Chef
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Fan-tas-TICK
Let me set the scene for you. I driving down the street I live on, looking forward to coming home after being at work. I notice as I pull up to the stop sign in front of our house that my mother-in-law was looking intently out the front window. Weird!, I thought to myself. They aren't normally sitting and staring out the front window. Her and the kids are always doing something fun together.
Then as I walk up to the side door, it opens for me. Weird!, I thought to myself. They don't usually open the door for me. Probably because most of the time they don't know I'm home, but still...
Then I walk in to find my MIL and son standing at the door. My son didn't have his shirt on. Weird!, I thought to myself. He's not normally topless when I get home.
Then I notice my MIL pointing at my son, with this interesting look on her face and trying to mouth something to me. Obviously confused, she asked, "Did you get my message?". Well, that can't be good!, I thought to myself.
"No," I said.
"He got bit by a tick," she told me.
I have to admit that in that moment I thought I must have walked into someone else's house. My son, bit by a tick? Not possible., I thought to myself. Not that he is immune from such things happening, I just never thought it would be something I would be confronted with in my lifetime. I mean, I know we have ticks in this area, but I naively thought they were mainly in wooded areas and you only got bit if you spent time in those areas. Well, I'm here to tell you that is not the case. They were only outside for a little bit in the morning and all they did was walk around the yard and look at flowers. Not the kind of activity I thought would lead to a tick bite.
My MIL said she woke Anthony up to ask him what to do. He didn't know and apparently, figuring he wasn't going to be any help to anybody, promptly went back to bed. I was pretty sure I knew what to do, but wanted to make sure I did everything exactly right, so I opted to call the nurse at my pediatricians office so she could walk me though the removal process. (Which, by the way, is silly because I have a nifty little first aid print out hanging on my fridge that covers things like this and I never seem to use it.)
Let me just say, removing a tick is not as easy as it sounds. Either that, or I'm just an idiot, but either way, I couldn't get the stinking thing out. My biggest fear was to pull on it too hard and rip off the body without getting the head out. So before I made the situation worse, I opted to schedule him a doctors appointment and let the professionals remove it.
Now, not a lot of things gross me out. At least I like to think I have a higher tolerance for gross things. But I don't do bugs. I just don't handle them well. And trying to yank this thing out was just almost more than I could handle to be honest. And, the doctors appointment was a couple of hours away, so I was forced to look at this thing on his shoulder for awhile.
I wanted to keep my son occupied and still so he didn't mess with the tick, so I put on a Thomas movie for him to watch. We were sitting there watching it, waiting for the minutes to go by so we could get this thing removed, when my son gets my attention.
"Mommy," he says, "there was a bug in my ear. It was tickling me."
I look over at his outstretched finger to see this bug crawling quickly up his hand onto his arm. What is that?, I wonder. I get up to take a look at it.
"That no bug!", I said. "That's a tick!" At this point I'm freaking out a bit and a little annoyed. Oh, and a little confused. This can't be a different one...but how can this be the same one? I quickly grab a Kleenex and pick up the tick. Then I look at the spot on my son's shoulder where the tick was. It was gone. Sure enough, it was the same tick.
Why this one let go I'm not so sure. I thought they stayed attached to you for awhile to get their fill. Whatever the reason, I'm grateful. That was certainly easier than taking him to the doctor. And I'm also grateful my son brought it to my attention before the tick decided to attach elsewhere or on someone else. I'm grateful that the tick was intact. Apparently, in terms of tick removal, this is a big deal. So hooray for that!
During this whole ordeal, my son was the picture of calmness. He didn't even bat an eye. So lastly, I'm grateful that the tick bit my son and not my daughter. That sounds like a weird thing to be grateful for, I know, but if you know much about my daughter, you know why. Bugs freak her out. Trust me, if there is an ant or a spider in the house, she will let you know it. If an ant crawls by her high chair, she yells out, "Ant, ant!" and is too terrified to eat until you remove it from her presence. If there is one on the floor, she yells out "Ant, ant" and, as upset as she is by it, it too scared to move. So I can only imagine what it would have been like had it been her and not my son. I think that trying to remove the tick from her would have been a lot more traumatic. My MIL actually said my daughter was freaked out when she realized it was on my son and she kept looking down her shirt to make sure there was nothing on her!
Now we sit and wait to make sure that he didn't catch anything from the tick. He was bitten by a Lone Star Tick. Fortunately, this tick doesn't transmit Lyme Disease. Unfortunately, it can transmit Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and a few other diseases, though rare. Let's pray for the best!
Sincerely,
The Mother Who Has Felt Like She's Had Bugs Crawling On Her All Day!
Then as I walk up to the side door, it opens for me. Weird!, I thought to myself. They don't usually open the door for me. Probably because most of the time they don't know I'm home, but still...
Then I walk in to find my MIL and son standing at the door. My son didn't have his shirt on. Weird!, I thought to myself. He's not normally topless when I get home.
Then I notice my MIL pointing at my son, with this interesting look on her face and trying to mouth something to me. Obviously confused, she asked, "Did you get my message?". Well, that can't be good!, I thought to myself.
"No," I said.
"He got bit by a tick," she told me.
I have to admit that in that moment I thought I must have walked into someone else's house. My son, bit by a tick? Not possible., I thought to myself. Not that he is immune from such things happening, I just never thought it would be something I would be confronted with in my lifetime. I mean, I know we have ticks in this area, but I naively thought they were mainly in wooded areas and you only got bit if you spent time in those areas. Well, I'm here to tell you that is not the case. They were only outside for a little bit in the morning and all they did was walk around the yard and look at flowers. Not the kind of activity I thought would lead to a tick bite.
My MIL said she woke Anthony up to ask him what to do. He didn't know and apparently, figuring he wasn't going to be any help to anybody, promptly went back to bed. I was pretty sure I knew what to do, but wanted to make sure I did everything exactly right, so I opted to call the nurse at my pediatricians office so she could walk me though the removal process. (Which, by the way, is silly because I have a nifty little first aid print out hanging on my fridge that covers things like this and I never seem to use it.)
Let me just say, removing a tick is not as easy as it sounds. Either that, or I'm just an idiot, but either way, I couldn't get the stinking thing out. My biggest fear was to pull on it too hard and rip off the body without getting the head out. So before I made the situation worse, I opted to schedule him a doctors appointment and let the professionals remove it.
Now, not a lot of things gross me out. At least I like to think I have a higher tolerance for gross things. But I don't do bugs. I just don't handle them well. And trying to yank this thing out was just almost more than I could handle to be honest. And, the doctors appointment was a couple of hours away, so I was forced to look at this thing on his shoulder for awhile.
I wanted to keep my son occupied and still so he didn't mess with the tick, so I put on a Thomas movie for him to watch. We were sitting there watching it, waiting for the minutes to go by so we could get this thing removed, when my son gets my attention.
"Mommy," he says, "there was a bug in my ear. It was tickling me."
I look over at his outstretched finger to see this bug crawling quickly up his hand onto his arm. What is that?, I wonder. I get up to take a look at it.
"That no bug!", I said. "That's a tick!" At this point I'm freaking out a bit and a little annoyed. Oh, and a little confused. This can't be a different one...but how can this be the same one? I quickly grab a Kleenex and pick up the tick. Then I look at the spot on my son's shoulder where the tick was. It was gone. Sure enough, it was the same tick.
Why this one let go I'm not so sure. I thought they stayed attached to you for awhile to get their fill. Whatever the reason, I'm grateful. That was certainly easier than taking him to the doctor. And I'm also grateful my son brought it to my attention before the tick decided to attach elsewhere or on someone else. I'm grateful that the tick was intact. Apparently, in terms of tick removal, this is a big deal. So hooray for that!
During this whole ordeal, my son was the picture of calmness. He didn't even bat an eye. So lastly, I'm grateful that the tick bit my son and not my daughter. That sounds like a weird thing to be grateful for, I know, but if you know much about my daughter, you know why. Bugs freak her out. Trust me, if there is an ant or a spider in the house, she will let you know it. If an ant crawls by her high chair, she yells out, "Ant, ant!" and is too terrified to eat until you remove it from her presence. If there is one on the floor, she yells out "Ant, ant" and, as upset as she is by it, it too scared to move. So I can only imagine what it would have been like had it been her and not my son. I think that trying to remove the tick from her would have been a lot more traumatic. My MIL actually said my daughter was freaked out when she realized it was on my son and she kept looking down her shirt to make sure there was nothing on her!
Now we sit and wait to make sure that he didn't catch anything from the tick. He was bitten by a Lone Star Tick. Fortunately, this tick doesn't transmit Lyme Disease. Unfortunately, it can transmit Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and a few other diseases, though rare. Let's pray for the best!
 |
| Isn't that just enough to gross you out? |
Sincerely,
The Mother Who Has Felt Like She's Had Bugs Crawling On Her All Day!
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Preschool Schme-school
When my son turned 3, I took him into his pediatrician for his yearly well visit. During the visit, his pediatrician asked me about my plans for preschool. I usually go into these visits very well prepared. But that question caught me off guard. Is it really time for preschool already? Man, these years have flown by! I thought to myself. I suppose its true that most parents would be sending a child the same age as my son off to preschool in the fall.
I hadn't really given it much thought, partially because it snuck up on me and partially because I wasn't sure I ever had serious intentions of sending him. I explained that I hadn't given it a whole lot of thought and that I didn't really intend on sending him in the fall. I went on to say that neither Anthony nor I attended preschool and that I like to think we turned out OK.
She explained to me that in her opinion, while two years aren't really necessary, she could see where one year would be beneficial. She explained that it would give him contact with kids his age and let him develop his social skills, get him prepared for a classroom setting (i.e. following rules), and that it would give him the opportunity to engage in "art things" (that's not the term she used), such as making crafts, painting, etc., which aren't always possible for busy parents to engage their kids in on a regular basis.
I could see her point. But, while he doesn't have daily contact with kids his age, he attends Story Time at the library, is in Sunday School at church, and I schedule play dates for him as much as our schedule allows. ST and SS do help prepare him for a classroom setting, and they also give him some opportunities to engage in "art things".
Art is the one area that I felt like I could improve upon at home however. As much stuff as my son and I do together, as much time as we spend together, for whatever reason we don't color much, don't paint, don't do crafts, don't really do any of that. I really felt bad once I realized that and felt like he was missing out on an opportunity to nurture his artistic and creative side while spending time with me.
So I set out to do at least on craft a week with him as well as spend more time coloring/painting/drawing with him. I must say that he is beyond excited about all the new things we are doing together. Crafts are now one of his favorite things to do, and when he gets bored he often comes to me and says, "I want to do a craft!".
So I thought I would start sharing some of them with you, in case you have little ones and would like to try them out.
One week in Sunday School, he learned about David and David's love of music. They learned that David played the harp to his flock and to the king. And then they made a harp in SS. On the little take home paper, as an extension of what they learned, it asked you to find other things around the house you could use to make music. The idea of a guitar sounded cool and from there, I rounded up what I thought we would need to make it and we got started.
Here's what you need:
A shoe box
A paper towel tube
Tape (duct tape or packaging tape)
Wide Ribbon
Various sizes/widths of rubber bands
Crayons/Markers
Scissors
1. Cut a medium sized whole in the lid much like you would see in a guitar.
2. Let your child decorate the inside (or bottom) of the lid.
3. Once your child has finished, have him/her help you pick out various rubber bands and stretch
them across the lid.
4. Place the lid on top of the show box upside down (so that the bottom of the lid is showing) and
tape it to the shoe box.
5. Tape the paper towel tube to one end of the show box to make the handle of the guitar.
6. Tape one end of the ribbon to one of the top corners of the shoe box and tape the other end to the
other top corner of the shoe box to create the strap.
Voila!
This is by far his favorite one we have done together thus far. He was so excited about it that when it was time to wake Anthony up, he said he wanted to "drum it the whole way upstairs to get Daddy up". The lingo needs a bit of work, but we'll work on that later.
Sincerely,
The Crafty Mom
Monday, June 18, 2012
"Frock" the Combine
My son was playing in the basement on Saturday with some "new" Hot Wheels he had gotten from a garage sale earlier in the day. He was racing them all down his little loop-dee-loop race track to see who would win. I was upstairs in the kitchen enjoying my peace and quite and getting a few things done when I heard my son walking up the stairs.
Once in the kitchen he keeps mumbling something about "Frock the combine" and asking me to come get him from the basement and bring him upstairs.
"Frock the combine?", I ask him, a bit confused as to what he's talking about.
"Yea, frock the combine. He's scary!", my son tells me in a perfectly serious voice.
"Oh, you mean Frank the Combine...", I said.
"Yea, frock the combine.", he says again. Apparently he can't say Frank.
In case you are not familiar with Frank the Combine, he is the combine in the movie Cars that chases Lightning McQueen and Mater out of the farmer's field after Frank caught them "tractor tipping". My son has a miniature Frank the Combine as well as a Lightning McQueen and Mater. It was a set he received in his stocking for Christmas. He was so excited to get it and I thought had enjoyed playing with it thus far.
Once in the kitchen he keeps mumbling something about "Frock the combine" and asking me to come get him from the basement and bring him upstairs.
"Frock the combine?", I ask him, a bit confused as to what he's talking about.
"Yea, frock the combine. He's scary!", my son tells me in a perfectly serious voice.
"Oh, you mean Frank the Combine...", I said.
"Yea, frock the combine.", he says again. Apparently he can't say Frank.
In case you are not familiar with Frank the Combine, he is the combine in the movie Cars that chases Lightning McQueen and Mater out of the farmer's field after Frank caught them "tractor tipping". My son has a miniature Frank the Combine as well as a Lightning McQueen and Mater. It was a set he received in his stocking for Christmas. He was so excited to get it and I thought had enjoyed playing with it thus far.
I chuckled to myself. "You're scared of Frank the combine?", I ask, not really sure what's so scary about him.
"Yea, he's scary!", my son says again. "You need to come down and get him and bring him upstairs so I can't see him so then I won't be scared."
I follow him downstairs and then cleverly (or at least I thought it was) asked, "Well why don't you just hide him so you can't see him?"
To my surprise, he replied, "I did! But I can still see his tires!". I am often surprised by how clever and smart he is and his ability to try to reason things out or solve problems, but at this point I really shouldn't be. It was pretty clever of him to think of hiding Frank to start out with, or at least I think so.
I looked around. I couldn't see him anywhere. "Where is he?", I asked. My son pointed to the front of the treadmill. He had hidden him between the treadmill and the wall, but if you looked really hard you could still see one of his tires.
I picked up Frank and said, "Mommy will hide him so that you can't see him at all. Then you won't have to be scared anymore!" I then hid him under some blankets. "He's sleeping now."
My son smiled, intrigued by this idea and where I had hidden him. But then he said, "No. You have to take him upstairs. I know he's there. He's scary."
"Why do you think he's scary?", I asked him.
"Well because, he's mean!", he said.
"To Lightning McQueen and Mater?", I asked.
"Yea.", he said.
Then I thought I might be onto something. "Well, he was only mean to Lightning McQueen and Mater because they were bad. So as long as you behave and don't do anything you're not supposed to, Frank won't bother you.", I explained to him.
He seemed satisfied with this. So I left Frank tucked under the blankets and went back up to the kitchen to finish what I had started. But a few minutes later, my son came up the stairs again asking me to take Frank upstairs. "He's not sleeping.", he explained to me. "He's scary. I can't be left alone with him. You have to bring him upstairs."
I mean, I know that most fears are irrational, but seriously. I guess we have another one to add to his list: heights, woodpeckers (because apparently the sound they make is scary), and Frank the combine.
Sincerely,
The-M-O-M
The-M-O-M
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Spring Is In Full Swing
Now I realize that several (or all of you) may be thinking that spring has been over and done with for awhile. And while the warmer than usual temperatures we have been having all spring long might lead you to conclude that, it is in fact spring for exactly one more week. Just so we have that clear... :)
This year, my son has been super excited about all of the wonderful things that happen during spring. Last year he really could have cared less, but this year he is so interested in all that nature has to offer. First and foremost, he LOVES flowers. It has become a daily event (well, it probably happens several times a day knowing him) that we go around together and check out all of the plants. We see how they have grown, which ones have grown buds, and which ones have started blooming.
His brain is truly a sponge and he is just so naturally interested in the world around him and so thirsty for knowledge. It truly is amazing to see all that he has learned, and the best part is he doesn't even know he's learning things, he's just having fun. At age 3, he knows the names of more flowers than I probably knew at age 20, no joke. As we look at all of the flowers, he says things like , "Look, the Lillies have buds!" or "Look! That one is about to open up!". One day I even caught him talking to the one Hosta buds. He said, "Hello little buuuuuuuuuud. You need to open up so I can see you and smell you!".
Speaking of smelling flowers, it's not unusual for him to smell the yellow Lillies picture above (his favorite) and have yellow pollen all over his face. FYI - that stuff stains your skin, and it doesn't come off easily.
Something new that we are attempting this year is growing plants from seeds. So this is part of our daily checking, looking to see how our seedlings have grown.
The other thing that my son is excited about is all the wildlife we have this year. Since we got rid of our dog, who must have scared most of the animals away, we have gotten to see quite a few little creatures up close.
This year we put up a Hummingbird feeder. We have had several Hummingbirds this year (though I think they are more interested in the flowers by the feeder than the feeder itself) and as soon as I solve the ant problem we are having, hopefully we will have a lot more. I love coming home and having my son run up to me and tell me stories about the Hummingbirds the saw that day.
We also have many other birds. We have seen some Blue Jays and Cardinals, and a Robin has chosen to make our tiny red leaf Maple tree its home. My son was excited to discover that the nest has eggs, and he can't wait for them to hatch.
We also have a ton of rabbits this year. We have always had rabbits around where we live, but our dog kept them out of our yard for the most part. The kids love to look at them in the yard. And while they are cute and fluffy and neat to look at, they have become a bit of a pest for me. I had to put up a fence to protect my Morning Glories since they chewed several of them off to a nub and may soon have to put one up around the back flower bed unless I want all of my Sunflowers to disappear.
Where is my daughter at in all of this? (You might be asking yourself this since I didn't mention her.) Well, we normally do all of our exploring while she's napping right now. One time when we were looking at flowers, she picked up a shovel and dug up one of my Morning Glory seedlings and she will routinely pluck off flowers and buds if you don't keep an eye one her.
Sincerely,
The Nature Lover
This year, my son has been super excited about all of the wonderful things that happen during spring. Last year he really could have cared less, but this year he is so interested in all that nature has to offer. First and foremost, he LOVES flowers. It has become a daily event (well, it probably happens several times a day knowing him) that we go around together and check out all of the plants. We see how they have grown, which ones have grown buds, and which ones have started blooming.
 |
| He is posing with the Lilly that has grown taller than him. The yellow ones off to the side are his favorite flower. |
Speaking of smelling flowers, it's not unusual for him to smell the yellow Lillies picture above (his favorite) and have yellow pollen all over his face. FYI - that stuff stains your skin, and it doesn't come off easily.
Something new that we are attempting this year is growing plants from seeds. So this is part of our daily checking, looking to see how our seedlings have grown.
 |
| He is posing with all the seedlings in our new flower bed at the back of our property. He is most excited about the Sunflowers we planted back here. |
 |
| The fish pond is where his two outdoor loves, plants and animals meet. He loves to see the Lillies blooming as well as feed and watch the fish. |
We also have many other birds. We have seen some Blue Jays and Cardinals, and a Robin has chosen to make our tiny red leaf Maple tree its home. My son was excited to discover that the nest has eggs, and he can't wait for them to hatch.
 |
| The tree they are in is very small so the nest is low enough that we can lift my son up and he can see in. |
Where is my daughter at in all of this? (You might be asking yourself this since I didn't mention her.) Well, we normally do all of our exploring while she's napping right now. One time when we were looking at flowers, she picked up a shovel and dug up one of my Morning Glory seedlings and she will routinely pluck off flowers and buds if you don't keep an eye one her.
Sincerely,
The Nature Lover
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Traumatized For Life
One of my main goals as a parent, as I'm sure it is for all parents, is to try not to do anything that might traumatize my kids. It seems silly for that to be a goal really, because why would you do something to traumatize your own child. But I'm just saying, we hope that nothing we do inadvertently traumatizes them.
So I decided the other day was D-day. I was going to give that thing a bath if it was the last thing I did. My daughter and I were inside accomplishing various tasks around the house. Like her big brother, she loves to help. I thought that I would make the task of washing her lovie sound like a fun thing that she could participate in. (I'm stupidly optimistic like that, though I should know better.) I said, "Come! Let's go give Sheepy a bath! She'll go splish-splash in the bath just like you do and will be all nice and clean then." I said all of this in a high-pitched, excited voice to get her interested. She willingly followed me and seemed excited about it.
That is until we got to the washing machine. She put Sheepy in for a second, but once she realized what we were doing, she grabbed Sheepy out of the washer and took of into the other room and hid from me. When I found her and tried to remove Sheepy from her kung-fu grip, she screamed.
That's when I decided on Plan B, trickery. I waited for her to become busy playing and put Sheepy down. She kept a watchful eye on me for a while, but eventually became engrossed in something, put Sheepy down, and forgot all about her. That's when I swooped in, snatched Sheepy, and stealthily snuck her off to the washer.
All was going we well. She didn't even notice that Sheepy was gone from the spot she had dropped her. That is until she fell, bumped her head, and wanted Sheepy to comfort her. She stood up and went to the spot where Sheepy was, stood there for a moment, and then heard the sound of the washer running. She immediately ran to the laundry room door. BUSTED! There's no fooling this kid. She stood at the door and broke down crying and saying "BAA! BAAAAAAAA! BAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" (She calls her Sheepy "Baa" since that's what a sheep says and she can't yet say Sheepy.)
I felt horrible. But there was nothing I could do. Then I thought, maybe it wouldn't be so bad if she could just see Sheepy. I had laundry to get out of the dryer anyway. I thought, 'She can see that sheepy is alright and then she can help me with the laundry". (Again, stupidly optimistic.) STRIKE THREE! She just stood there, pressed her hands and face against the door on our front-load washer, watched Sheepy go round and round, and yelled out "BAA! BAA!". Needless to say, we didn't get much laundry done.
She was the most hysterical I had ever seen her. Even once we went upstairs she just walked around, pouting and saying "Baa!". I started to fear that I was traumatizing her for life. Poor thing. But alas, before bed, Sheepy was dry, the two were reunited, and the events of the evening seemed to have instantly been forgotten (I hope). Honestly, she was so happy to have her back, I don't think she cared what she smelled like.
And might I just say, Sheepy looks brand new. (And doesn't have a funny odor)
Sincerely,
The Terribly Traumatizing Mother
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)