Okay, last week may have been trying, but this week has been so much freakin’ fun. Orion has been a total doll — happy, playful, flirtatious and looking for a good time. Mr. Jokester, this guy.
Seriously, I’ve been laughing all week. Parenting is too much fun sometimes.
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See what happens when I don’t bug you for votes every day? We’re slipping in the ranks over at TopMommyBlogs.com. Mind giving us a quick vote? Thank you!
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Okay, so the above photo doesn’t have anything to do with this post, but who wants to see another boring shot of baby food, anyway? This one’s way cuter. (From Halloween-ish, ’09. Photo by Erik.)
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I just wanted to take a quick moment to share with you Orion’s current favorite dish, pumpkin polenta. He had such a hard time last week (and so did I — OY VEY) what with random high fevers, teething, and probably missing his dad, who was on travel all week for work, and this was literally the only thing I could get him to eat.
This recipe is adapted from The Petit Appetit Cookbook
2 cups goat milk (or whatever kind of milk you use, preferably organic)
1 cup canned pumpkin (pumpkin is one of the rare veggies that is just as nutritious canned as it is fresh)
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger (optional)
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
pinch of salt
½ cup organic polenta (aka cornmeal. I buy this in the bulk food aisle but I think it’s probably also available in the cereal aisle)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter or butter substitute
1 tablespoon maple syrup
Combine the first six ingredients in a medium saucepan and bring to boil over medium heat. Add in the polenta and whisk to combine. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes, whisking occasionally until thick. Remove from heat and stir in butter and syrup.
Et voila! A tasty dish that’s hard to resist, even for finicky eaters. Another thing that’s nice about this one is that it’s super thick and easy for not-so-dexterous spoon eaters to feed themselves.
Pumpkin polenta stores nicely in the fridge for a few days, or you could do what I do and freeze up individual servings in ice cube trays. (Orion will eat two or three warmed cubes of this in one sitting.)
Enjoy, kiddos!
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“Orion, do you want (fill in the blank) for lunch?”
“No!”
“Want to get in the car and go for a ride?”
“No! No!”
“Okay, Orion, time for bed!”
“Noooooooooooooo!”
We have officially entered into the thick of the “no” phase.
Orion’s been whipping out this two-letter refusal at just about every opportunity lately, whether he truly means it or not. It’s kinda surprising actually, because we really don’t say “no” very often… or, at least, I didn’t think we did. I mean, we stop him from causing harm to himself or another person, but other than in potentially dangerous/destructive (or insanity-inducing) situations, he really doesn’t get reprimanded very often.
But in the past few weeks, it seems as if “no” is his new favorite word. It’s hard not to giggle sometimes; he sounds so funny when he says it — in a deep, raspy pseudo-howl reminiscent of Chewbacca. It’s even funnier when he even scolds himself with an admonishing “no-no-no”, usually when he’s considering doing something we’d likely disapprove of, such as eating a days-old raisin off the ground outside
He even says “no” at seemingly random moments, like when he’s just hanging out playing with his trucks, which makes me think maybe he’s batting around a few naughty ideas in his head. Hey, at least the kid has a solid conscious. Hopefully that will serve him well in life.
In the meantime, we’ll ride out this “no” phase and see where it takes us.
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Day Three of solo parenting called for a new strategy and a new attitude. Monday and Tuesday beat the living bejezus out of me, so there was no way I could handle another day like those. No hanging out around the house waiting for bedtime today. No sir. Today was Operation: Constant Activity.
After a shaky morning of non-stop tantruming (him, not me), the most ridiculously uncooperative diaper change ever, and me getting purposefully clocked in the head with a wooden train, we headed out to have lunch with my friend, Molly. After lunch we checked out a park we’ve never been to (he’s completely sick of the one by our house, so a little change of scenery works wonders) and after that we went to the aquarium, which he always loves. We didn’t get home until 6pm, and then Skyped with Erik, had dinner, played in the yard and finally enjoyed a long bath—and I even got in the tub with him. We read our pre-bedtime books, even though he wouldn’t sit still for them, and when he asked for an extra cup of milk I simply gave it to him, without trying to convince him he didn’t need it. And then? Bedtime, with minimal fuss. (Translation: wine party for mama.)
It certainly wasn’t a perfectly easy day, but it was a complete 180 from the prior two days, all because I let go of any expectations I had and just went with the flow. Sure, he still got to bed 45 minutes late, but it was so much more peaceful this way.
And to tomorrow, I say, “Bring it.” (Okay, maybe that’s a bit much… Please be gentle!)
On a side note, when we walked into the Lorikeet exhibit at the aquarium, a bird landed on my head (look closely, it’s not a great shot) and just decided to chill out there for a few minutes. That’s a good omen, right?
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Do you think I should tell her that no matter how long she sits on that watermelon, a baby chicken will never pop out of it?
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I haven’t asked in a while, so could you please give verdemama.com a vote? Thanks! xo
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Oy, vey. This day wins the prize for the longest ever. Let’s see if I can stay awake long enough to type a few sentences to describe the past 20 hours.
The short version of the story goes something like this: Orion has had a 100 to 102 degree fever on and off since yesterday. No biggie—it happens, and it doesn’t seem like anything serious. He’s been in a good enough mood, but I’m just having to take extra precautions to make sure his fever doesn’t spike, he doesn’t get dehydrated or anything else weird happens. I kept him busy all day—we went to the beach to enjoy a cool ocean breeze and we stopped by the library to get him the movie Cars (even though he doesn’t watch movies or TV, I thought this might be a treat because he’s 100% obsessed with all things cars and trucks).
Yesterday, feelin’ a-okay
As the day wears on, his fever is getting worse and worse, and by 5pm, he’s on fire and acting like it. He squirmed through about 10 minutes of Cars before blowing that off completely, and I’m starting to realize I’m in for a very long evening, especially considering Erik is off on a business trip all week, which means I have absolutely no backup or relief.
I attempted to stick to the routine, but it didn’t unfold as I had hoped. Dinner? No thanks. Bath? Hell no. I wrestled him into some room temperature water in an effort to cool him down, but I’m pretty sure maniacal screaming does nothing to reduce body temperature. Usually we read books and head off to bed after the bath, but there’s no way that’s happening tonight. So I resorted to my failsafe plan—load him up in the stroller and set out on a neighborhood trek. Five minutes into the walk, he decides he doesn’t want to ride in the stroller, he wants to walk. Which is fine, except now I’m pushing an empty jogging stroller and trying to keep the reins on a fever-crazed toddler running barefoot through the park in his PJs at dusk.
Anyway, I said this would be a short story so I’ll condense the rest, which includes the following: four or five failed sleep attempts, reading every book in his library, watching videos of school busses and fire trucks on YouTube, “helping” me fold laundry and do dishes, and pacing the entire length of the house about 1,200 times. I finally succeeded in getting him to sleep at 10:30, a good 2.5 hours after his usual bedtime.
And now? I must drag myself to bed so I can recharge and get up and do this all over again. Single parents, I salute you. I don’t know how you do it.
Oh! And I almost forgot to mention that the cat came in from outside and jumped up to sit on my lap with a, um—how do I say this politely?—A BIG TURD HANGING FROM HER HINDQUARTERS, which I had to forcibly remove (with a paper towel, mind you).
That’s it. I’m officially off to bed. (Right after I sanitize my hands in boiling water.)
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Anyone with kids knows that cooking for finicky munchkins is tough business. Striking the perfect balance between balanced nutrition and wanna-scarf-it-down deliciousness is the Holy Grail for parents, and we’re forever chasing that elusive combo. Orion’s food is something I take very seriously (read: get psycho obsessive over) so when I was asked to review Organically Raised: Conscious Cooking for Babies and Toddlers by Anni Daulter (with Shanté Lanay), there’s no way I could say no.
First off, the book itself is gorgeous—a glossy paperback overflowing with beautiful photography of the recipes and some truly adorable kids, as well. The book starts by outlining some deets on eating organic and seasonal, as well as some fundamental nutrition info, and then dives into the recipes, which are divided into sections based on age. The theme running throughout the text is “conscious cooking”—an emphasis on preparing your children’s food with awareness and love, which is nice to be reminded of every once in a while.
What I like best about the book, though, is that the recipes stretch beyond the standard ho-hum fare you’ve seen in so many other kids’ cookbooks gathering dust on the bookshelf. These recipes don’t shy away from exotic flavors—expect to see plenty of fresh herbs and spices utilized—and unique food combining, such as a green bean, broccoli, kale and banana blend, to name one example.
I dove right into the “Cultural Café” chapter and prepared the California Quinoa with Superseeds, Coconut, and Cinnamon-Spiced Apples. (Quinoa is amazing and versatile supergrain that is high in protein and other nutrients. It’s really worth checking out if you’re not familiar with it. SO easy to use!)
Here’s the recipe.
1 cup peeled, diced apples
½ tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground sesame seed
½ teaspoon ground flaxseed
2 teaspoons coconut flakes
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 cup quinoa, rinsed
2 cups filtered water
½ teaspoon sea salt
:: Place the apples and butter in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in cinnamon, sesame seed, flaxseed and coconut. Add the lemon juice.
:: Reduce the heat to low and let the mixture cook while you prepare the quinoa. You want the apple mixture to be soft and the flavors to be well blended.
:: Combine the quinoa, water and salt in a medium saucepan over high heat. Once the mixture comes to a boil, reduce the heat to low. Cover simmer for 10 minutes, or until the quinoa is fluffy. Add the apple mixture and stir.
I substituted coconut oil for the butter, added a spoonful of honey (because my apples were still a bit tart even after cooking them) and held back some of the quinoa from the final mixture. The result was a yummy, nutty flavored dish that I ended up sharing with Orion for breakfast for a couple of days.
Voila! Cinnamon apples and quinoa goodness.
I’ll definitely keep reaching for my dog-eared copy of Organically Raised at mealtimes and wholeheartedly recommend to anyone looking to add a little healthy flavor to their children’s meals.
For more info, visit author Anni Daulter online at www.consciousfamilyliving.com.
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I just downloaded Jesca Hoop’s new album, Hunting My Dress, and I’m loving it. Gorgeous, haunting, inventive and ethereal, as usual. She’s one of my favorite artists out of the Hotel Cafe bunch, which is saying a lot because there have been so many good ones.
Jesca Hoop “The Kingdom” from Vanguard Records on Vimeo.
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Ever have one of those days that starts out great—you actually get to sleep in a little and even take a shower—and then as the minutes of the afternoon tick by, you slowly realize things are spiraling out of control? The universe—in the form of tree trimmers and sundry doorbell ringers—conspired against us today at the all-important naptime. After two aborted nap attempts, I skipped ahead to my plan of last resort—the car nap. But even that barely worked. It took an hour and a half of driving (and an hour and a half of V.A.M—Very Annoyed Mama), but it was worth it for this.
And after that? Some smiles. Not such a bad day after all. (But still, I hope tomorrow is kinder to us.)
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In Apple’s quest for total world domination, they’re willing to go just about anywhere and everywhere—including our ovaries. Okay, I keed, I keed. What I’m actually trying to say is, iPhone apps are amazing tools and there is literally an app for pretty much everything under the sun, including family planning.
Case in point: The Ovulator app. ($4.99)
I should mention I’m currently using this fertility charting app to not get pregnant (sorry, mom), but that will change soon enough. With Ovulator, you punch in your period info, and the app does the rest, predicting when your next period is, when you’re ovulating and even if your pregnancy is likely to result in a boy or girl, based on your conception date. (It’s worth mentioning that this app works best for ladies with normal cycles.)
Moms-to-be who are serious about conception can also track basal body temperature and keep detailed records of all manner of cervical excretions. (Apologies to the handful of dudes who read this blog re: the excretion talk, but what do you expect, really? You’re reading a mom blog!) Ovulator is also password protected, which is nice for keeping peeping toms out of your lady business, but the name, Ovulator—which will be boldly displayed on your iPhone home screen—definitely isn’t subtle.
Ovulator isn’t the only family planning app out there—it just happens to be the only one I’ve tried and I’m pretty happy with it. There are dozens of other fertility charting apps out there, including some here and here. A Google search or iTunes search will turn up many more. I’ve noticed fertility tracking apps tend to be a little pricier than most iPhone apps (like, around $5) but it’s money well spent. I much prefer this method of natural family planning over hormone-based contraception.
Do you already use a family planning app? If so, I’d love to know which one and what you think about it!
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