The Great Park Shatner Shenanigan

Tonight I had the unique experience of cleaning Rylan's shatner off playground steps at the nearby park.  It hit him so suddenly he didn't even have a chance to ask for the bathroom (or rather, the porta-potty.  As Rylan calls it, the "blue potty").  I was mortified, embarrassed, unsure how to proceed... how do people normally clean up human feces at a park?  I don't think much can prepare you for these moments in life, really.

In any case, we got through it with a borrowed package of wipes.  As I poked said wipes through the holes of the stairs to clean out the poop, I pondered what lesson I should be learning from this occasion.  I ultimately decided it must be the importance of patience and understanding with children even when our emotions overwhelm us with our own fears of inadequacy and shame.  Surely, at some point, I have put my own parents (or older siblings) in a similarly embarrassing and difficult situation involving one or more bodily fluids.

I gave Rylan a fun-size bag of peanut M&M's that someone had dropped on the grass--he ate it in his stroller, content to know that mom wasn't mad at him, just busy helping clean up the accident.  When I got back to him I discovered he was trying to clean the poop off his legs with some toilet paper that I had left at the stroller once grandma brought us some wipes to work with.  He really hates having accidents, and he hates being dirty.  So much so that earlier in the day he insisted he change his shirt because Emaline touched him with sticky hands.

I suspect the greatest gift I have for him is learning how to handle difficult situations with grace, to adapt to the unanticipated moments in life, and to know that sometimes, shit happens.

But in the future, I don't think I'll ever go on a walk without a package of wipes on my person.

Emme, One Year Old

March 11th, 2012

 A year ago yesterday we welcomed this wondrous baby girl into our lives at the hour of 1:00 AM.  She's been smiling at us since that very first day, exuding joy and wonderment at any given moment.

March 11th, 2013

There are only about a million more cliches I could throw out about Emme.  She's sunshine embodied, laughter and hope all wrapped up in sweetness.  We call her our Blonde Bear (because Emme-Bear she has always been, though blonde she has not).

I have learned a lot about how little girls are different from little boys, something that I didn't think was possible before I had one of each.  It's been fascinating, to be sure.  

We are ever grateful to have her in our lives--beyond her own pure goodness, she has given Rylan an opportunity to grow and become a wonderful older brother.  There is so much to say about Emaline, Emaline and Rylan, Emaline and her daddy, Emaline and her mommy... but this will have to suffice.  She is a wonder to have around and I wouldn't trade her for anything.

Library Woes

So yesterday everyone took a nap at the same time.  Everyone, that is, except for Rylan.  When I finally awoke I discovered him marking up one of the library books we borrowed last week with an orange highlighter.  It was also all over some snowman decorations and his body, of course.

I've worked in the mending department as an intern in the past.  I'm fairly certain these are marks that cannot be fixed.

The book runs $18 by itself.  Our library has books rebound when they first purchase them to ensure that they last longer, and I'm not sure how much more that will cost.  Additionally there is a $4 processing fee for having to replace the book at all.

Rylan really loves books.  Going to the library is the highlight of his week.  I don't want to take that away from him completely but I do need to manage the books more carefully, so I'm going to only allow him to pick one from now on, and a board book at that.  I'll be using the money I have set aside for birthday gifts to pay for the one he destroyed, which I think will likely be necessary.  Then I'll wrap up the damaged book and hope that he still likes pandas a whole awful lot by the time next October rolls around.

When I was young I destroyed or lost my fair share of library books.  It almost felt like a reward when we ended up getting to keep the book (or finding it after having paid for it), and I don't want that to be the message Rylan gets.  Nor do I want to shame him, because I'm willing to bet he just doesn't understand why we can't write in books (especially not those that belong to the library).  This is the only middle ground I can come up with.

Co-sleeping -- Big Changes in Bedtime

Rylan napping next to his favorite potty (which he keeps in its original box)

Up until recently I didn't have much of a bedtime routine.  I resisted the idea of such in a lot of ways, because I've heard some ridiculously complicated routines depicted by friends and family.  I wasn't willing to put in that kind of time.

I also didn't really believe that my kids needed to go to bed sooner than I needed it myself.  I figured when they were tired they would tell me.  And, it turns out, they were.  I just wasn't listening.

Rylan napping at the island

The reason I ultimately decided to look into a routine (or rhythm, however you prefer to call it) and "official"-ish bedtime was because I was going crazy at night.  I had tons to do, but two needy, whiny, frustrated children that constantly demanded my attention and couldn't seem to be satisfied.

And then I started reading about sleep deprivation in children.  And I knew Emme was suffering from it.  It started during our awful plague-flu through Christmas and kept going... and going... and going... and naps were getting harder to accomplish.  They involved 20 minutes to one hour of screaming, depending on the day.  She needed them desperately, but struggled to take them unless Kacey was home to help, which just wasn't reasonable.  Then we had a week where she would wake up screaming and freaking out and touching her only made it worse.  My instinct was to try and nurse her, which did not work out in anyone's favor.  She would claw her face, claw me, and sometimes even bite.

It was overwhelming.

A young Emme napping

Fortunately, when my younger sister was given a book on healthy sleep habits at her baby shower, I Resisted (with a capital R) the desire to roll my eyes.  I also held my tongue when she started reading it, hardcore, all the time, and plotting out her as yet unborn daughter's sleep habits.  And it's a good thing, because I ended up asking to borrow it.  It was a wealth of information, and not at all what I expected.  It accounted for the differences in a co-sleeping family, which made it readily applicable to our situation. I never thought I'd find myself referring to a "sleep training" book for help, but the one I linked above actually has a lot of merit and I am glad to have had access to it when I needed it.

I knew it would be a transition, but it was worth working towards a regular routine so that Emme could stop having these unnecessary struggles and I could stop feeling burdened by my children.  The latter feeling was pretty unreasonable, too, because after all, wasn't it my responsibility to notice their signals of tiredness and respond accordingly?  I completely missed it.  I had read about them, sure, but I had a better memory for the signs of hunger than I did sleepiness. I was waiting until they were OVER-tired to respond to their needs.  And while I knew better than to wait until my babies are OVER-hungry to feed them, I definitely missed the boat on sleep.

I don't really have a step by step of what we did, but here's what I can remember:

I started paying very close attention to Emaline so I'd catch her at the yawning stage but before the rubbing-her-eyes stage, take her to a quiet, dark room and turn on some music while nursing or holding her with a pacifier in her mouth.

I've since added a brown teddy bear to her naps to help her know it's nap time, and the white noise of a fan facing the wall.

Rylan has taken time but finally adjusted to "Quiet Time" when Emme needs her sleep.  I can trust him to be quiet in the same room or to play by himself out in the play area.  It took weeks for this to be accomplished. Sometimes I'd set him up with a movie to keep him content while I put Emme down.

And gradually, we took bed time down from 10 or 11 PM (I know, some of you are probably cringing at the thought of small children staying up that late) to 9, then 8, and finally 7.  It wasn't as simple as all that, and some nights it felt messy and frustrating.  But the payoff has been immense.

The kids sleep from 7 PM until 8 or 9 AM.  That's an additional 3-4 hours of sleep PER NIGHT.  Emme naps better.  Rylan doesn't need a nap every day, though he does take one in either the morning or afternoon some days.  Often I fall asleep while putting the kids down at night and wake up later at 9:30 or even 12:30, get a couple hours of work done and then go back to bed.  Other days I am able to extract myself once they are asleep and go to bed at a normal hour.  Either way I get about the same amount of sleep.

Rylan and Emme still sleep in our big king size bed.  The bedtime routine starts immediately after dinner (which used to be around 8, and now is at 5:30) with turning out most of the lights, brushing teeth, changing diapers/using the potty and putting on a pull up, reading a single book and singing a song (Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, per Rylan's request).

Snack Time

Figuring out what to feed your kids when you don't consider typical "snack fare" to be acceptable is a little bit tricky.

Things I have to figure out how to replace include goldfish crackers, toast, processed oatmeal and sweetened yogurt.  

Rylan napping at the counter after a snack

Rylan has a huge love of all things grain.  This probably dates back to our first semester going back to college when he developed an addiction to Gardetto's.  It took time to break him of that nasty little habit--I made my own "mix" using pretzels and healthier crackers.  But my goals is to actually limit the amount of wheat products he snacks on.  That means cereal, crackers, chips, bread and tortillas, off the top of my head. 

Emaline at the island (this is not a mom-approved scenario, just one I happened to capture before correcting)

Other than sourdough bread, I do a pretty good job of keeping wheat products out of Emaline's hands.  And mouth.  Though she does have a penchant (as all babies do) of finding anything another person may have dropped on the floor, be it a dime, a peanut or a scrap of bread. Bless her heart.

So, what are some of the things I've figured out so far?

Rylan ate this entire pickle.

 My kids love pickles.  And since I buy Bubbies brand, that means they're getting a lacto-fermented food every time I give them one.  I want to try growing pickling cucumbers this summer if I grow anything--I would love to make my own pickles!

Emaline also enjoys a good pickle.

Since Rylan has been exposed to Annie's Cheddar Bunnies and even their worse counterpart, Goldfish crackers, I have had to figure out something that gives him that crunchy cheesy experience without the ick factor (you know, the ick of preservatives, and boxed items that never really go bad--though they may start to taste like soap).  I don't remember where I read the idea, but I started making cheese crackers out of cheese.  That's it.  Here's a guide. 

Per the advice in The Nourishing Traditions Book of Baby and Child Care I found a package of dried anchovies at my local Asian food store (hint: they're in the frozen food section).  They smell reallllly fishy.  Kacey said our daughter smelled like goldfish food after she'd had some.  But the great part is that she loves them!  Rylan had a handful and hasn't really touched them since, but Emme just demolishes the things. I haven't tried them myself yet, but I may have to pick a less fishy fish to attempt, because I have an aversion to all things that grow in large bodies of water to overcome.

In regards to fruits and veggies:
For Rylan I do fresh and frozen fruit: apples, oranges, blueberries, strawberries, grapefruit.
For Emaline (who gets awful blisters every time she tries fruit) I do frozen peas. Leftover potatoes and carrots that have been cooked in chicken or beef stock are also an option.

I'm still working out on-the-go snacks (with the help of certain websites and ebooks), but we don't really go out too much this time of year so it's been less of a concern.  I hope to have it figured out before it causes trouble. 

Homemade Girl Scout Thin-ish Mints

I hear that it's that time of year when people buy lots of cookies from thosewhipper-snappers called Girl Scouts.  I've never been into it--buying boxes of cookies, that is. And I hated actually being a Girl Scout.  It didn't involve anything fun or useful like what my mom taught the Cub Scouts when I was growing up--not tying knots, or obstacle courses, or practical skills of any kind.  Just making dolls, so far as I remember. 

Anyway.  I invited a friend over to try making our own a few weeks ago.  We also made biscuits and peanut butter balls (posts for another day, perhaps) and the Thin Mint recipes we used (here and here) require you to freeze the dough, something I had not accounted for in how long it would take to make them.  We decided to wait until another time to actually bake them.

 Here is the dough rolled and frozen.  2 weeks later I got around to actually baking the cookies!

 Some of the cookies were definitely thinner than others.  My sister came up and told me I was slicing them too thick, so I tried it her way.  If the outer chocolate layer is thick (and mine was), it's better to have thin.  If it's thinner, I'd stick to the thicker cookies.

 I melt chocolate by putting it in a KitchenAid bowl and placing it on top of a small pot of steaming water--sort of a double boiler, but not officially.

 The finished product!  They took a long time to set.  In fact, I put them in the freezer to help them along.  My chocolate was too thick, it turned out.  Even frozen they would leave residue on your fingers as you picked them up.

 A side-ish view.  Looking at these makes me wish I had made all three logs of dough (I only did one) so that I could have one to eat right now.  Or, you know, not eaten so many that they're already gone.

I should also note that the chocolate I used was realllllly dark and I would lighten it up a bit next time.  Not to milk chocolate, by any means, but maybe 64% cacao was a bit much.

I have two more chances to get it right. Wish me luck!

Reading... Oh, About A Million Things

My book "staples." Sort of.   The paleo books are out just for recipe ideas.  Fermentation is an increasing part of my life.  Joy of cooking is my every day reference--like an encyclopedia for cooking.  Everyday Blessings is a book from my sister I'm meaning to squeeze in. Nourishing Tradtions? Well, you know. 

I have so much reading that it would almost feel overwhelming.  Except that it's all so good, that reading any of it is just delightfully fulfilling. Here's a partial list:

Your Self-Confident Baby (Half-way through this--wish I could have afforded it before Emme was born)

The Nourishing Traditions Book of Baby and Child Care (Mentioned this one yesterday)

Organizing Life As Mom (part of an e-book pack I bought)

The Everything Beans Book (How to soak, how to sprout, and recipes galore)

Nourishing Our Children

Nourished Baby (Sensing a theme yet?)

Plan It, Don't Panic (On meal planning)

Real Food Basics (2nd Edition) (on basics of fermenting, soaking, sprouting, etc.)

A lot of these are e-books, which is part of what makes it harder to sit down and read them.  I am trying to limit my time on the computer substantially because it increases my productivity exponentially to do so.  But it is, as always, an amazing resource for information, so I have to temper my desire for screen-free time with practical needs.

I have more that I am reading (or intending to read) but I need to calm down and take it one or two books at a time to get the most out of them.