Birthday Cake

....was about the only thing that saved the party yesterday.  Although I'm usually a half decent cook, my birthday dinner for Scott yesterday bombed.  Hard.  It was so bad that I stooped to the level of bribing Ben with extra cake if he would eat my fish.  During the meal, I actually whispered in Ben's ear and said, "Ben, if you will eat some of my fish, I'll give you an extra piece of cake for dessert. "  Ben whispered back, "OK Mom, I'll do it."  He was even discreet about it!  That is definitely a sign of a baaaaaaaad dinner. 

The family tradition is to have the birthday person select the birthday dinner and type of birthday cake.  Scott chose whole fish, rice, and asparagus for dinner. He selected German chocolate cake for dessert. By the way, did you know that German chocolate cake is a tough cake to make from scratch!? When you have some free time, check out how many steps are to that cake in Joy of Cooking -- you have to melt some chocolate on the stove, sift some other ingredients, fluff the butter, make meringue with the eggs....good grief! And then there is the clean-up!  Anyway.....

Whole fish.  Sigh... Only Scott.....  So, no one in the family really likes to eat whole fish (except Scott), but he says it "makes him feel like a king" and why wouldn't you want to do that on your birthday?  (Well, one reason I can think of is that the fish is staring at you through the meal, but I digress).  So, I went to the local fish store to purchase a whole fish yesterday -- a seafood specialty store, no less, only to find out that they don't have any whole fish at that location, only fillets.  Part of me though, hmmmm, no fish at a fish store.  Strange.  The other part of me thought, darn, I was so looking forward to deboning a fish. So, instead, I got some salmon fillets stuffed with crab cakes.  I thought that would be a nice fishy birthday treat.  I paired the fish with broccoli rice au gratin and steamed asparagus.   

The asparagus were tasty, but the fish and the rice were just plain awful.  1) I definitely need to find a new seafood store. You know, like one that sells fish.  2) The rice was like eating a cheesy salt lick.  I don't usually make rice from box kits, and we had all forgotten how salty it is!  Ewww! 

Poor Scott asked after dinner, "Have I been extra bad this year?" No dear, I just forgot how to cook yesterday.  Sorry!!  Fortunately, the cake was tasty, even if it does have coconut in it.  Happy Birthday again, Dear!  (Enjoy your economic tome and unassembled wheel barrow too!)
 
(Here's a photo of a VERY happy Ben eating his second piece of cake.)

Yellow-Bellied Sapsuckers

What a glorious weekend we just had!  Seventy degrees in March -- what a treat!  We were so active this weekend that Monday's rain is almost a relief to have to sit inside for a little while, at least for me.  Maybe even for the kids too, who spent just about all day Friday through Sunday outside exploring the yard and playing with the neighbors' kids. 

Scott and I also played outside too -- cooking on the grill, eating for the first time outside on the deck, and even tackled what will be the first of many, many (many...) yard tasks by trimming and bagging all the low-hanging branches from a super thorny tree.  Although it's hard to ID without foliage, I'm pretty sure the thorny trees are common honeylocust, and they have these crazy 3-4" long (yes, really 3-inch long) thorns on the branches.  You could get seriously hurt on these things -- farmers out west use these trees as natural fences for cattle!  By removing the low branches, we've hopefully prevented the kids from impaling themselves on them. I'm really happy that the first phase of yard safety is over since those thorns really hurt!   

I've been looking forward to the spring to see what sort of birds live in our yard. Since we have some large hardwoods in the neighborhood and a very large meadow habitat pretty close, I'm hoping we have an even wider variety of backyard birds than at our previous house.  One of my neighbors, a hard core birder, mentioned that our town is along the migration route for hawks so the fall should be pretty spectacular too. 

It's been a few years since I've noticed any new species of bird at the feeders or in the backyard, so I was very excited when I spotted something new climbing up the sweet gum tree outside the window.  I grabbed the binoculars hung by the window to check it out.  A long running family joke, Scott said in his most authoritative tone, "Is it the yellow-bellied sapsucker?"  (Scott guesses yellow-bellied sapsucker for everything.)   I ran upstairs to a higher window for a better look.  Would you believe it really was a male yellow-bellied sapsucker?  Imagine our surprise!  That's fun birding humor, right?  Is anyone going to read this blog anymore if this is what passes for funny?  Regardless, Scott is going to have to pick a new random bird species to guess for the next years. Perhaps a yellow-throated vireo...

Opening Day Jitters

It's finally here!!!  Opening day for lacrosse umpiring!  My first game was supposed to be tomorrow, but my assignor asked if I could take an extra game this afternoon, so now today is opening day (huge thanks Pete for last minute babysitting!). 

I never think that I'll be nervous before early season games, but yet I am.  Today is not even a "real" game -- it is a scrimmage so both the players and the umpires can get the feel of the game.  Still, it's about 1:30pm and the nerves just kicked in.  Big time.

I really don't know what I'm worried about.  I know the rules and arm signals.  I am sure of field positioning and foul position setups. I'm in good shape. Overall, I'm ready.  And, I have an excellent 'mom' voice (and a shiny set of yellow and red cards) if anyone really acts up, so things will be under control -- and hopefully will even be fun since it is a game and it's 60 degrees outside in MARCH!  So, why the nerves?? It's only high school lacrosee right??

Hmmm.  I'll have to ponder that one.  Maybe the nerves have to do with being so conspicuous after so many months of hiding indoors.  Maybe I'm secretly worried what people think of me in my little black kilt and oh-not-so-stylish all black turf shoes.  Who cares -- it's 60 degrees and it's time to go get ready!

Little Mirrors

Partly driven by Lent and partly by a desire for a calmer household, I've been making a very conscientious effort to be more patient and even-tempered lately. (Not that I wasn't trying before, I swear!)  And, even when I'm not feeling so patient on the inside, I've been trying to keep my voice even and "pleasanter" so I don't sound like a raving lunatic so often.  Having a small child that is a small monkey with selective hearing makes this challenging.  (Note to Ben, you cannot 'qualify' for cookies after breakfast so don't bother to have a tantrum about that one again, OK?)

In yet another ongoing household experiment, I've come to realize that children reflect my mood like little mirrors. When I'm happy and bubbly, we're all happy and bubbly.  When I'm feeling stressed or moody, they are too.  Biologically all this reflection this makes sense because children are programmed to copy their parents to learn language and behavior.  I just never realized that this applied to emotions too. It's only taken 7 years of observations to get to this point of realization. Good one, Scientist CC. 

So, the positive news is that I can, in part, control how pleasant and kind we are to one another during the day just by setting a good example!  Just!!  So that's not so bad, right? A calm mom coupled with the lack of food dye and nearing the end of the terrible 2s means that things are going to steadily improve!  

The bad news is that this parenting thing has just gotten a little bit harder...again.  There are already so many other things to think about on a daily basis (raising children with healthy bodies, healthy minds, coordinating schedules, managing bookbags, juggling activities, supervising homework, pulling Ben off the furniture, doing the household stuff, etc., etc.).  Now, I have to try to do an even better job of keeping it a postive attitude, even through some of the less pleasent stuff (the "drudgery").  One thing at a time, I guess.

Speaking of one thing at a time, it's awfully quiet upstairs....where's Ben?
(Oh, right, he's eating the toothpaste again.  Awesome!)



 

Hark! It's the Carpet!!

This weekend we found Caroline's carpet!  If you'd seen her room of late, you would know that this was no small feat. Caroline is the keeper of all the teeny tiny toys in the house (e.g., Polly Pockets, Calico Critters, Pet Shop, Dollhouse, etc.).  Her room had become a giant jumble of little colored plastic things strewn in a thin layer over the entire floor.  Actually, I'm embarrassed to admit that her room had started spilling out into the hallway.

In the past, when we cleaned up her room, the cleaning consisted of putting one type of toy into a ziploc bag or box and then sticking the container either on the closet floor or around the perimeter of the room.  Even though her room was picked up, it didn't really feel clean. 

Perhaps fueled by the super fun doctor's visit on Friday or pent up energy from being stuck inside (but more likely from subliminal advertising on Clean House), I decided to tackle Caroline's room and find some sort of system of organization.  Target anticipated my need to declutter and kindly put their cubby storage system on sale this weekend (thanks Target!).

Caroline and Abby really got into helping me clean things up, especially when she saw the labels I made for the bin.  The labels, unfortuantely, aren't staying on too well with tape, so I'll have to break out the glue gun later to make this more permanent, but you get the idea.  There's one type of toy per bin.  They're easy to take out and easy to put away.  The real test will be to see whether this level of cleaness can be maintained for any period of time.

It's too bad I don't have a before and after shot, but I probably would have gotten a call from Social Services for the before shot anyway.  Here's the end result:    

   
AND this wasn't even the only home progress for the weekend!  Scott hung some blinds in the bathroom, so we no longer have a sheet over the window!  We're expecting calls from the neighbors later today expressing their thanks on this one.  :-)

Two Cookies and a Shot of Whiskey Please.....

Deep, deep sigh.

This morning was Caroline's 5-year old well visit at the pediatrician. Those of you with 5-years olds know that the 5-year old well visit is a doozy because multiple vaccinations (i.e., SHOTS!) are necessary. Abby had to get 4 shots at that visit, and I wasn't sure how many Caroline would need. Caroline, of course, knew about the impending needles and was....less than thrilled by the prospect of the appointment.

I don't know why exactly but the well visits always take at least 45 minutes and usually an hour, so this time I planned ahead and brought four books to read, three of which were new from our recent scholastic book order. I figured I could keep Caroline and Ben mostly occupied with four fairly long picture books.

We arrived about 10 minutes early for our 9:45am appointment. Unfortunately, the appointment was scheduled at 9am. I completely blew it. Today's doctor visit was for 9:00am, but next week's dentist appointment for Caroline is at 9:45am. So, I asked the nurse if she'd like me to reschedule, but she said we should stay. I had had Abby's 7 year old well visit last night (no shots required), and the doctor's office was running 25 minutes late even though we had the first appointment after dinner break. I figured the nurse was being nice to us today since we were understanding last night. Good karma and all.

Take a guess how long we were at the doctor's.

No, now guess higher.

TWO HOURS AND THREE MINUTES!

Do you know how difficult it is to keep a climbing 2-year old off a computer, a spinning chair, and out of a trash can and a biomedical container for 2 hours while trying to comfort a completely hysterical Caroline? (who only needed 2 needles and one nasal vaccine) Any germ that was lurking in our exam room was found by Ben who had time to touch each and every surface in the room.

We quickly went through our 4 books. Then we read the two books provided in the exam room: the magazine "American Lifestyle" and a nonfiction book about sloths. Sloths?!

I had promised Caroline that we could go to the bakery and get a cookie after her shots, if she was brave. OK, she wasn't brave at all. I had to use a full body restraint on her for the shots, but we were all starving and fried by the end of the appointment. I thought a tall shot of whiskey would be nice in lieu of a cookie, but I settled for an egg salad sandwich.

Taking children to the doctor could be one of the circles of hell in Dante's Inferno. Taking kids to a crowded post office would be circle 5 or so, and taking kids to the pediatrician is more like circle number 8. I'll reserve circle 9 for later.

Hey, at least it's going to rain all weekend.

Channeling Jack Bauer

Does anyone watch the show 24?  You know when Jack Bauer screams, "Nooooooooooooo!"   Well, that is my day now.  All day. 

Ben is putting the capital T in Tantrum lately.   While I realize that he is 2 years old and this is how it is, he is officially making me crazy.

Me: "Ben, it's time to put on your shoes."
Ben: "Nooooooooooooo!"

Me: "Ben, you have to finish your grapes before you get some pretzels."
Ben: "Nooooooooooooo!"

Me:  "Ben, we're leaving to pick-up Caroline from school soon."
Ben: "Noooooooooooooo!"

Me: "Ben, you are the most ornery person that I know."
Ben: "NOOOOOOOOOOO!"

You get the picture.  I've been taking deep breaths and praying for patience.

Fortunately, he still has his good moments too (between the tantrums).  He's still a cute and loving little boy.  Caroline has added the "Who let the Dogs Out" song to his repertoire, so that is entertaining when alternated with the "If You Want to Be My Lover" song.

Here is a recent good moment.  Caroline spelled out the message in blocks (although it's a little dizzying to read over the carpet).  How can someone that cute and innocent looking be capable of such intense tantrums??