Friday, July 30, 2010

Dear 16 Month Old Rosalind,

I was still in the bed when I took this picture, but barely. Thank heavens you don't actually like to sleep in bed with us or I think I would have permanent neck trouble. The important thing about this picture though is your incredible WING SPAN!
I have noticed that other babies younger than you are getting long hair finally. You continue to get more and more hair, but it tends to go upward. I don't know how long it will go up before it goes down, but I am enjoying the show in the meantime.
This is not a picture of time-out, but I feel I should point out that you are in time-out regularly lately little Ms. Attitude. You don't like time-out but you do have a tendency to do whatever action it is that is forbidden and then go sit in time-out before we can put you there. The jury is still out on the effectiveness of this disciplinary tactic.
You have been fighting any sort of nap that does not take place in a crib. You are kind of habitual that way. So we have had some wing ding fits lately that then result in a total battle with sleep. This is you in the car with your head in your hands moaning slightly. It was as though you had just lost a fortune in the stock market and didn't know how to go home and tell the kids there would be no supper.

Other things of note -
We have started a very lax potty training regime in which you are rewarded with Reese's Pieces. We have had more success than I expected so far, but it is hard to tell if you like the candy or the flushing the toilet reward better. What you have not figured out is why that candy cannot be had at all times for any reason. It is hard to make you understand when daddy keeps eating it in front of you and he didn't go potty.
You can say the words momma, daddy (emphasis on the eeee part), Mamie, Pa, Coal, Eliot, cheese, shoes, juice, bite, mine, NO, go, away, duck, mean, bean, dog, moo, and please with regularity. You often repeat new words but then don't use them, such as pepper, boom, and purple. Today you said "bite, please" every time you wanted a noodle. I was impressed. It sounded like "buy peas" but I'll take it. You also sign "more","play", and "all done" as well. Communication is developing at a quick rate, but not fast enough I guess because you are starting to get easily frustrated when we don't understand.
Speaking of communication, you now come take my hand while pointing to the kitchen. If I follow you will point out exactly what you want. Usually it is for me to open the fridge and then you get your own cheese. We went through a package of cheese at lightning speed this week.
Otherwise your favorite foods are eggs, yogurt, and cantaloupe. I only wish these foods satisfied me the same way. I would never have to work out again.

Love,

Mama

P.S. I just had to delay posting this to go hunt you down. I found you in the bathroom transferring the water from the toilet to...everywhere else in the bathroom. And when you heard me say your name you totally startled and fell in the puddle you had made. There's one for the embarrassing stories to tell when you are sixteen! Now to give you a much needed bath.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Our Pie Came From the Television!

Netflix has had the canceled television show Pushing Daisies available to watch instantly. I adored this show while it was on. A little background, this guy has the unexplained ability to touch dead people and bring them back to life. He had a bit of a tragic childhood and grew up to make pies. So most of the show is set in his pie shop. Needless to say, you can't watch this show for very long without craving a pie. Even if you aren't much of a pie person...like me.

See...
Why yes, that is cheese on top. I had always heard of some subset of the population enjoying a slice of cheddar on top of apple pie so this didn't seem like such a stretch when we saw it. On one of the early shows a pear and gruyere pie is made. It is a testament to how good it looked and sounded that both Sergio and I immediately decided we should try and make one. It also says something about how good it looked that when we looked up "pear and gruyere pie recipe" all the top recipes were other people who wanted to make the pie from that show.
Anyway, after buying every ingredient but butter for two days we finally got around to making it. Sergio added a B for pretty.
It is quite yummy. Especially for breakfast.

Pie crust recipe here (we also used the baking instructions from this one).
Pie filling recipe ... um, I can't find it. It was your basic filling. Five cups of pears, 2 tbsp lemon juice, 2 tsp lemon zest, 1 1/2 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp cinnamon, freshly grated nutmeg to taste, 3 tbsp flour, 1/2 cup sugar. I think that was about it but I did that from two day old memory so maybe not.

Wednesday, July 07, 2010

Picture Post!

Months ago I dropped my phone in the baby's tub and didn't notice for about 45 minutes. Not long after that Sergio left his on the top of the car and it was run over by a stranger who then very kindly hunted us down and returned it. Since then we have replaced our phones. Just before I sent his back to the company he took a memory chip or something out of his and put it in mine. A tiny treasure trove of pictures showed up from the past several months. I thought I would share a few. The three top pics are from just the past few days and two of them come from our friends who hung out with us to watch Rosalind watch fireworks for the first time. Nikki taught her to say "boom" every time one went off. Rosalind seemed very content to watch from a distance while clinging to an adult.