Life with kids. Gabe had to stop and tell us something between every piece of clothing he was supposed to be putting on. Getting dressed is quite the process. He hops away singing, "Kick off your shoes and your socks because you know that Belgium rocks!" (If you watch Martha Speaks, you should know this.) Then we hear him from down the hallway talking to Chi. "Is the monkey playing the piano?"
Matt said, "Having kids is like living in Salvador Dali's mind."
Yes, yes it is.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Chi-isms
Probably one of my favorite things about young children is the way they mix up language. Chi is no exception.
"I carry you." He says this as he tries to get you to pick him up. He's just repeating the pronouns the way we say it to him. Pronoun confusion is hard to sort out. "No, you mean I will carry you." "Yes, I carry you." and round we go. :)
"Sit in my lap." When he wants to sit in your lap. Again for the humor of pronoun confusion.
"Please! Listen me!" He says every time he's not getting his own way.
I asked him if he had brushed his teeth (he usually does this with Matt, so I'm out of the loop), and he said with a big smile, "I brush my toothpaste." Which, I decided meant that he brushed with toothpaste.
R2-22 2 is what we call R2-D2 around these parts. Part of me hopes he never gets that right even though I know he will.
Instead of upside-down he says : up-i-di-di-down.
He also collects pemmies. That would be pennies to you or I. Actually, no, now to me they are pemmies. I suppose you could also have pemmies from heaben. This Christmas there were no Christmas wars for Chi because he sang, "jingle bells, jingles bells and glory to Gob in heaben!"
And of course the traditional lisp-y things like bafftime, and ss-anks you.
"I carry you." He says this as he tries to get you to pick him up. He's just repeating the pronouns the way we say it to him. Pronoun confusion is hard to sort out. "No, you mean I will carry you." "Yes, I carry you." and round we go. :)
"Sit in my lap." When he wants to sit in your lap. Again for the humor of pronoun confusion.
"Please! Listen me!" He says every time he's not getting his own way.
I asked him if he had brushed his teeth (he usually does this with Matt, so I'm out of the loop), and he said with a big smile, "I brush my toothpaste." Which, I decided meant that he brushed with toothpaste.
R2-22 2 is what we call R2-D2 around these parts. Part of me hopes he never gets that right even though I know he will.
Instead of upside-down he says : up-i-di-di-down.
He also collects pemmies. That would be pennies to you or I. Actually, no, now to me they are pemmies. I suppose you could also have pemmies from heaben. This Christmas there were no Christmas wars for Chi because he sang, "jingle bells, jingles bells and glory to Gob in heaben!"
And of course the traditional lisp-y things like bafftime, and ss-anks you.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
On being a foodie
A friend of ours calls us "Foodies." Both Matt and I have laughed that off. What is a foodie anyway? Usually some one with either some food expertise or at least a food snob comes to mind for me. I can't say I'm either. My love of fast food burgers takes me out of the snob category, I think. But really my friend was talking about how Matt and I can be very passionate about food, and our desire to make food from scratch, and to, where we purchase packaged/premade foods, to have them as unmodified as we can afford. Meaning we avoid things like high fructose corn syrup.
The funny thing is, we grate our cheese (for example) ourselves rather than buy shredded because it is cheaper by far to do it. Cheese isn't cheap. We like to save our pennies where we can, but I'm happy that the side benefit is that it tastes better. It hasn't been coated in corn starch to keep it from sticking which means a more robust flavor when you grate it yourself.
We make food like spaghetti sauce or beans or any number of prepared foods that can be bought from scratch or from basics (like canned tomato sauce) because it saves money. Most foods I can make in a half hour or under. If not, it's something saved for special occasions. Flour tortillas from scratch are so much tastier!
But it's a little more than being cheap. We've never had a lot of money. But we have been able to travel a bit and live in different places. We discovered most places have some dish or cuisine that they are especially proud of. Food is such a simple pleasure. When you sit down to savor food, and not just eat because you need to for survival, the food becomes a whole experience. And an experience that can be quite affordable. Food can tell you so much about a place. Understanding what people eat and the way people eat can tell you a lot about a culture. And eating hits up all the senses. Really, I don't understand how this makes me a foodie, and why others would not view food this way. It's sad to me to eat just to eat.
The only trouble I have is that I keep falling in love with food that I can't get where I am now. I miss so many foods...
The funny thing is, we grate our cheese (for example) ourselves rather than buy shredded because it is cheaper by far to do it. Cheese isn't cheap. We like to save our pennies where we can, but I'm happy that the side benefit is that it tastes better. It hasn't been coated in corn starch to keep it from sticking which means a more robust flavor when you grate it yourself.
We make food like spaghetti sauce or beans or any number of prepared foods that can be bought from scratch or from basics (like canned tomato sauce) because it saves money. Most foods I can make in a half hour or under. If not, it's something saved for special occasions. Flour tortillas from scratch are so much tastier!
But it's a little more than being cheap. We've never had a lot of money. But we have been able to travel a bit and live in different places. We discovered most places have some dish or cuisine that they are especially proud of. Food is such a simple pleasure. When you sit down to savor food, and not just eat because you need to for survival, the food becomes a whole experience. And an experience that can be quite affordable. Food can tell you so much about a place. Understanding what people eat and the way people eat can tell you a lot about a culture. And eating hits up all the senses. Really, I don't understand how this makes me a foodie, and why others would not view food this way. It's sad to me to eat just to eat.
The only trouble I have is that I keep falling in love with food that I can't get where I am now. I miss so many foods...
Friday, January 14, 2011
This one's for Gabe
Gabe is taking swim lessons now at the community center since the summer parks and rec lessons were a complete waste of time. He's doing better with it. This also provides a break from gymnastics, mostly because my wallet wanted a break, but also, I don't want him to get bored. He can't advance to the next level until he's seven.
We are working with him on memorizing math facts using trusty ole flashcards. He's doing well. He already reached his 100 AR books goal so he's had his lunch with his teacher. Obviously we still read, but there is no more pressure to read only AR books.
He drew a great picture of birds and bugs and worms and things. He is already showing a grasp on the concept of perspective. That's exciting to see because I haven't "taught" him drawing technique. But while he was drawing he kept saying callepitter instead of caterpillar. :) Hilarious.
We are working with him on memorizing math facts using trusty ole flashcards. He's doing well. He already reached his 100 AR books goal so he's had his lunch with his teacher. Obviously we still read, but there is no more pressure to read only AR books.
He drew a great picture of birds and bugs and worms and things. He is already showing a grasp on the concept of perspective. That's exciting to see because I haven't "taught" him drawing technique. But while he was drawing he kept saying callepitter instead of caterpillar. :) Hilarious.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Chi is 3!
Our little baby is now three! We had pizza for his birthday dinner and he asked for chocolate cherry cake. Were he gets these things, I don't know. But then he wanted yellow cake, so he had a yellow cake filled with cherries and frosted with chocolate. It was a Lightening McQueen cake too. It was fun to make.
He blew out all his candles. He also sang "Happy Birthday" along with us. He hasn't quite figured out that it's a song people sing FOR the birthday person. But, hey, if he's enjoying himself, it's all good.
He loved opening presents. For the first time he really got into the concept of opening gift after gift.
We started out a bit rocky. He was really cranky and I was worried his ear infection was back, but I guess it was really just a funk because he improved throughout the day, and I think, had a good time.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Weather
I've decided to become a weather person (well, perhaps a weatherman, it just sounds better. Can't man just be universal like in mankind?). Apparently there is no need to be right about anything going on at all in the atmosphere around here, so why not? I don't really mind the snow, but the amount of snow and how fast it came down, and exactly when clearly caught everyone by surprise. So, I figure weatherman is on the list of jobs that I could probably do. At least in Michigan.
What I've really done is to start a new blog about my various projects and their progress and process (how's that alliteration!) It's called Domesticated Nomad, since we've finally settled down from our wandering ways. You can find it over at www.domesticatednomad.blogspot.com. I figure I'm so good at keeping up on my blog posts over here (hee.hee.) why not have another one? Actually, I just like to talk about the project stuff, but I know most of my readers are really here to get updates on the family.
What I've really done is to start a new blog about my various projects and their progress and process (how's that alliteration!) It's called Domesticated Nomad, since we've finally settled down from our wandering ways. You can find it over at www.domesticatednomad.blogspot.com. I figure I'm so good at keeping up on my blog posts over here (hee.hee.) why not have another one? Actually, I just like to talk about the project stuff, but I know most of my readers are really here to get updates on the family.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)