Future Shoe Salesman

I took E to try on shoes at a children's shoe department about 2 weeks ago. The other day he noticed my shoes lined up on their wire racks in the closet. He proceeded to drag our the right shoe from every pair and present it to my foot saying, "How 'bout dis?"

Lasagna and Chocolate: A Toddler's Perspective

Incidentally, an experience with the lasagna from the last post was how we discovered that E calls all new things he finds exceptionally delicious, "chocolate." He had had tastes of chocolate here and there and seems to love it with his mother's fervor, but he hasn't had it enough to firmly identify it. Therefore, when he demanded more and more of what he called, "dewishus chocwit," I knew he was granting my cooking his highest honor.
What else earns these raves? Some cookies? Chocwit. Panera souffles? Chocwit. Vanilla pudding? Chocwit. And mint iced cream? You guessed it... Chocwit.
Oh the cuteness.

MY Kind of Lasagne

True Italians and lasagne aficionados may want to click away before I even get started. I may strike horror in your heart with the following post.

Now that I've warned you, here's the first shocker. I really don't like lasagne very much. I don't eat beef. I don't love the taste of ricotta, and it makes me very sick, and I'm not into really heavy meals unless they involve potatoes. My husband, however, is a total lasagne fiend. He would eat it multiple times a week if only I would make it for him. Up until now, he's had to get his fix from those frozen meals or when we dined out as I was very insecure about my ability to make it. 

As his birthday and Canadian Thanksgiving approached, I tried to think of something I could cook that would make him very happy. Lasagne came to mind as always, and when I mentioned it at work, someone told me that the recipe on the back of the no boil (NO BOIL? I thought. AMAZING!) Barilla lasagne box was quite easy and that I could substitute all kinds of things. 


I ran out and bought all the supplies I needed, made it, and it was DELICIOUS if I do say so myself. Actually, Hub and E said so as well, so I'm not just imagining it. Here's what I did:


Instead of Ricotta, I used Lactaid (you may recall my lactose intolerance) cottage cheese.
Instead of ground beef, I used ground turkey (NOT the all white meat kind)
Instead of 4 cups of mozzarella, I used 2 cups of part skim mozzarella.
Instead of Barilla marinara I used Classico cabernet marinara (it's delicious and was on sale)
I forgot the eggs, so just added a little olive oil instead and prayed it would work.


The verdict: VERY tasty, much more healthy and much lighter than the usual lasagne. The only failing was that due to the egg issue, it wasn't as "stacked" and compact as it usually would be. But it tasted amazingly good. I did it! And now, thanks to Jen's suggestion, I will be making 2 lasagnes at once, so I can freeze one and save myself some dinner prep.


P.S. The flat Barilla noodles were VERY good. And once again, let me remind you that they can't even search me, so I'm not in the market for free stuff.

Some Days

Some weekends I feel on top of the world and like I have everything under control. Others I don't even know where to start. This weekend is one if the latter.

Anticipating Parenting Struggles

A couple instances got me thinking on my parenting. First, my cousin has been dealing with some pretty heavy duty tantrums in her home with her 3 year old and is working hard on parenting solutions. Second, Jen mentioned reading some books about parenting of which I'd never heard. I read some of the baby and one year old books and even "The Happiest Toddler on the Block" (which I loved), but I think it's time to educate myself on the more advanced parenting that is fast approaching with E.

We, as a family, I would say are all 3 highly sensitive people. Hub deals much better and is able to close it down, but I think he still has that empathy as well. This seems to be the biggest stumbling block we have when dealing with other people, daycare, etc with E. I want to educate myself as much as possible so I can provide him with a firm foundation for school and life. We worry a lot about his success in large groups of children. 

So I've done some searching and came up with these books. Can anyone tell me if they've read them and like or not like them? It's so difficult with a sensitive child because I read everywhere that it's estimated that only 15% to 20% of the population is like this. That must be why most people think we're either A. Full of crap when we mention it or B. Just want an excuse to baby our wonderful child. Well Eff them. 

Here's the list. I appreciate any insights!

The Hidden Gifts of the Introverted Child: Helping your child thrive in an extroverted world

The Strong Sensitive Boy

The Highly Sensitive Child: Helping Our Children Thrive When the World Overwhelms Them (This title in particularly struck me as accurate)

 

A Little Bit of Endo, A Little Bit of Celebrations

I saw Endo today. My triglycerides have come down over 100 points on the Met, and my "good" cholesterol has gone up! My bad cholesterol is a little higher than before, but I attribute that to the Birthday celebrations. I was quite bad. I made homemade lasagne for the first time! I shall share what I did and how I tweaked it so that I found it delicious instead of gross soon. I also ate lots of sugar free pie and a delicious pumpkin muffin from the Hub. 

Now look at me getting all distracted by food. Anywho, thank God it indeed was as many of you observed, a case of insulin issues aggravating my triglycerides. Now I won't have to go on THAT kind of medication too. Now, I just have to get more pissed off over the fact that I have to investigate every little food decision while people way less healthy than I can shovel it in. Oh the sadness. 

Speaking of birthdays. Happy happy to my wonderful Hubby! I wish Hallmark made cards as good for Daddies from babies as they do for Mommies from babies. The ones for hubbies aren't as good as for wifies either. Anyone else notice this depressing discrepancy? What the heck? Just because men express it less doesn't mean they don't like some good ole sappiness on their birthdays. Mine is a little sweetie under that crabby old man demeanor. ;-)

Cute Baby Stories - Travel Home Edition

• Upon long and intensive study of the trees as we flew over Baltimore, "Wook! Bwoccowy!"
• Displeasure over wearing a coat... which he calls a "jack," and which he pairs with the word "off" when he's over it. Tee hee.
• Mesmerized by the quavering leaves of a brightly colored aspen, "BUTTUHFWIES!"
• Upon studying everyone around him in the airport security line as they begin to remove their shoes - leaning over and dutifully unfastening the velcro on his own.
• Noticing a man very resembling his grandpa as we are preparing to board the plane, "HI Papa!!"
• As we take off over the trees of Baltimore, "Bye bye Bwoccowy!"

Yes, we're back after a long weekend of very limited cell and online service in the beautiful Appalachians of home.

Accidental Cleaning Trick aka The Post Blogger Lost

My original post was all witty and stuff. Oh well. Now you get the "sum up." (movie anyone?)
We have a lot more carpet spills than we used to. I spend a lot of time figuring out best cleaning practices.
Did you know (discovered through laziness, brain cell loss, call it what you will) that if you spray a carpet stain with Nature's Choice Shout laundry treatment and then cover it with a wet cloth you leave there all night long, that you won't even really have to scrub the next morning? The stain (even blueberries) will disintegrate?
Sweet huh? Sometimes dingy-ness pays.
Note: this particular shout does not make me gack from the chemical smell. Highly unusual for me. Two thumbs up. And my blog is not searchable, so I'm not just saying that for free stuff. Want to share any clever tricks you've discovered with me? I could use them!

IF Follows Even on the "Other Side"

Today I went to get my blood drawn for the appointment where they test to see if the Met has made a difference in my blood lipids. That's a whole anxiety post in itself.
What really struck me however, was my encounter with the phlebotomist. I've had her before. She's really sweet and always makes children small talk. This time, she asked (as I clench up because I hear it so often) if E is the first and only. When I nodded, she murmured, "That's so sad."
What? Conflicted immediately. She's so kind that it's hard to be angry. And I guess it is a little sad in some ways. But those are personal. What's so sad to her I wonder? Is it our decision itself? Is it that we or E are missing out on the joys of siblings? Will he not have as good a life as an only child? (which I reject) Is it that she assumes it's out of our hands?
Mind still whirring, I stuttered something about possibly adopting. As always, I lamely feel the need to defend my decisions. It's not until afterwards that I know what I wished I had said...
"It's not sad at all. It's miraculous and awesome that we got this chance at all. We are in love now with the family life we lucked into. Every single day is a blessing, and I am content and as happy as I've ever been. So please congratulate us that we are where we are when so many still struggle."

Letters

Oh E,
You break and re-make my heart in a million tiny (good) ways every day.
Love,
Your grateful Mommy

Murderous

I type up a fun post I've been thinking about all day after not posting for real for days. I am all excited and hit "Publish." It doesn't work. It merely saves. I do this multiple times. I click "Save" to be sure to save my work and Blogger assures me it is "saving..." I pop out of blogger and go back in to, indeed, Publish this time, except that it hasn't saved my post. Oh but wait, it has, but it's saved only the first 2 sentences of about 4 paragraphs. Effing great. I haven't been liking you much for a while Blogger, and tonight I am beyond annoyed.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Because this little video warms my heart, and I just love it. And because I figured if I could use a little heart warming right now, maybe you could too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCjJyiqpAuU&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Sent from my iPod

Bullets: Sleep, shoes, holidays and more

• Thanks for all your kind words regarding our sleep situation! I wanted to clear up though that he's sleeping great... with me. That means that I go to bed when he does and get up when he does, (napping sometimes too), thus MUCH less me time. Much less me time equals much less blog time.
• We are looking into getting him his own mattress, and me sleeping with him less and less time until he's used to it. Lots of modifications to his room needed. 
• Sometimes I feel like I have a million things to do and no time to do them.
• I can't lie. I'm more than a bit jealous at the imbalance in the number of girls shoes available to boys shoes. And not just the styles.. the actual difference in number.
• Go ahead. Go search Ebay, or Amazon. Check me.
• Halloween decorations come out today! (as soon as the little man awakens)
• I am turning another number in the thirties this week. ACK! This is getting a little frightening folks.
• We are loving this beautiful Florida fall weather. Finally! Temps in the 80's during the day and 50's-60's at night. THIS is where it's at. Now we can work outside without melting into an incoherent puddle.
• What are you up to? What's your weather like?

Sleep Update

Sleep. It seems it's been the main theme of my life since E was born. Anyway, a few of you have asked how it's going on that front. I imagine you can tell by the lapse in my blogging and commenting that we aren't perfect in that arena right now. He's back to going to bed easily with me and falling asleep fairly well. He still awakens a lot in the night talking or fussing. I think his brain is just buzzing right now. We tried the toddler bed, and it was just a big fail. I think our next tactic is to get the full sized mattress, put it on the floor for now and sleep with him less and less each night until he's used to sleeping in his own room by himself. I don't imagine we won't have fallbacks, but we need to get back to some semblance of our normal. 

Any thoughts on toddler adjustment to new beds welcome as always. 

Christmas Card Traditions

Yeah yeah. I know it's not even Halloween yet, but my post in Christmas cards got me wondering what all of you who celebrate it do. Do you send letters? E-cards? Traditional cards? Or do you not send any? Personally I love cards, but I wrestle with the cost and waste of it all in so many ways. I think I enjoy e-cards just as much from less immediate family. Thoughts?