Little Chef

I think every child likes to help out in the kitchen, and Kyrie is no exception. She has been assisting me with 'cooking' for a few years now, mostly with baking. Her main jobs are ingredient pourer and stirrer, and her interest usually lasts until she's been allowed to sample the chocolate chips or lick the spoons. Then she suddenly has some serious playing to attend to. Well, it's a start!
The best way to begin as a little chef, is probably to be a little eater. Thankfully, Kyrie has never been an overly picky eater, though she has become pickier at age 4 than she ever was before. She likes mushrooms on her pizza or fresh in a salad, but not in any other dish. She loves guacamole, but dislikes avocadoes. It's often difficult to predict how she will react to a meal. However, we always know a few things about Kyrie:
1) She loves soup, especially chicken noodle.
2) She has a sweet tooth.
3) She will eat (& negotiate) as much as she needs to get a candy treat after her meals.
4) She eats small portions.
5) No matter how much she eats, she will want a snack (or several) 30 minutes later.
Attending to Kyrie's snack habits can quickly become a tiring task. We have told her that she needs to eat more at meals a thousand times, but at the end of the day she is going to eat in the manner that best fits her biology. For Kyrie, that means small meals and several snacks throughout the day. I try to be understanding of this, no matter how frustrating it is to constantly have to fetch and/or monitor her snack acquisition.
Over the weekend, as she was pestering me for another snack, I placed crackers, peanut butter and a butter knife on the counter. Then I told her to grab herself a plate and the stepstool because if she wanted a snack, she was going to make it herself. We have practiced spreading in the past, so she was pretty eager to prepare her own peanut butter crackers.
Here is Kyrie making her first batch of PB crackers:

First, some peanut butter.

I love how carefully she is spreading the PB in this photo.

The taste test!

And, of course, the clean-up!

Picnic Fun

As the summer days begin to wane, our thoughts turn to the coming fall. I love the fall, so it is hard for me not to wish it here more quickly. However, I am enjoying the somewhat lazy pace of these final summer days. In a few weeks, we'll be back to our busy schedule as classes, lessons and story times resume. Both children will be back in swim lessons and at story times, and Kyrie will continue with dance lessons (a ballet & tap combo) and art classes.

This week, we started our Bugs/Gardens/Picnic unit. Our unit began with a nature program about ants at one of our metro parks. Every month, they offer preschool lessons about a variety of nature topics. There are stories, crafts and games. Afterward we will play at the park and have a picnic. It was a really great introduction to our theme. Because of our theme, and to take advantage of the last of our summer days, I have been trying to get the kids to a park to play or picnic as many days as possible. On Friday, I packed up a picnic dinner and the entire family headed to a large park near our neighborhood. We had a nice picnic, played on the playground and then went for a short bike ride. It was a very fun evening!

Avocado Milk Shakes

I found & altered this recipe from an issue of Family Fun magazine. It was quite delicious with the avocado taking on the role you might usually assign to a banana. When we think of avocado, we usually think of savory dishes, but I did a little research and found that in many countries avocado is used almost exclusively for sweet dishes and desserts. Its creamy texture and mild flavor make it a very adaptable fruit (yes, it is a fruit). Here's the recipe:

1 avocado, cubed

4 scoops vanilla ice cream

1/2 cup milk

Optional: chocolate or caramel sauce to taste (can be added before or after blending)

Optional: whipped cream to top

Put all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

The Age of Aquarium

We've been working on getting our aquarium all set up for a few months now. We started with the castle and then added 5 Bloodfin Tetras. This past weekend, our aquarium store had a big sale, so we were able to finish it off.

We now have big rocks and a 'tree' and lots of beautiful live plants. Our 4 Tetras (one died about a month ago) were joined by shrimp, snails, frogs and other fish. The tank is beautiful! You can't help but wander over to watch everyone swimming around so happily. It's a great way to take a break from the day!

Serenity Now

Need to relax? Take a little break and watch the happy fish in our aquarium!

Brush-a, Brush-a, Brush-a

I wanted to post this too cute photo of Degen "brushing" his teeth first thing in the morning. Degen had his first dental appointment on Friday, but I couldn't take any pictures because I had to hold him on my lap. He did a great job letting the hygienist brush his teeth, though he got a little squirmy when the dentist counted his teeth.

Stuck in the Stroller

The carnival was not quite as appropriate for Degen, though he did get to ride some rides and play a few kiddie games. While he was stuck in the stroller waiting for Sissy to go on (another) ride, I gave him the squirt bottle I brought to help us keep cool. Here is the fun that ensued:

"Mmmm... refreshing! What a cool, new sippy cup!"

 

"Hey, what does this thing do?"

"Oh my goodness! I sprayed water in my face!"

"This is the MOST FUN EVER!! and I will do it 50 more times!!"

Fun Slide!

Kyrie & Darren went on this slide about 10 times! After Kyrie worked up the courage to go down by herself, Darren took Degen down a couple times. The kids LOVED it!

CARNIVAL!

Our theme this week has been the circus & carnival. We read books about the circus, made clown faces with foam shapes and ate circus-themed snacks. It's a very fun unit in which we also reviewed: shapes, colors, patterns and rhyming. The perfect end to this unit was attending St. Andrew's Parish Festival & Carnival.
We saw the carnival rides being set up on Monday, and Kyrie has been making daily inquiries into our attendance since then. Darren was able to come home from work a little earlier this evening, and we made our way to the church (Degen & I drove so we'd be able to make a quick escape as necessary and Kyrie & Darren rode the bike so they could linger). Darren and Kyrie each got unlimited ride wristbands, and we bought a few tickets to play games, too. It was a great evening!

Darren & I got a kick out of this because it was so old (check out the guns)- what a classic!

Degen is fussing in this photo. He was so sad that he was too small to ride the alligators with Sis! "Let me in!"

Kyrie was very excited about the Ferris wheel, and this one was the perfect size for her! (She also really liked sitting next to this little girl. They talked the whole ride, and Kyrie told me that little girl made her laugh!)

Finally, Degen gets to go on a ride: the train. He loved it!

There were a few rides that everyone could go on like this one!

Time to Eat!

Carnival food is always a treat! We shared a hamburger, hot dogs, a brat, grilled corn-on-the-cob and chips! 

After we had some dinner, there were games and more rides. It was a really nice evening for our family!

Open Wide

As many of you know, Kyrie has really struggled with anxiety concerning all things medical. This has stemmed from the traumatic testing she has gone through because of her urinary reflux and resulted in fear towards almost all medical situations. We have been working with Kyrie to overcome some of this anxiety, including taking her to speak with a pediatric therapist.
Recently, we took Kyrie to the optometrist for an exam. Figuring that an eye exam had to be one of the least stressful, it would be a barometer for the extent of Kyrie's anxiety and for the effectiveness of her therapy. Thankfully, she did really well with just a little bit of anxiety when she got some eye drops. With one "good" appointment behind us, we knew we needed to attempt going back to the dentist.
Kyrie's first dental appointment did not go well at all. She was terrified and crying before the exam had even begun. I had to hold my screaming, crying, scared-out-of-her-mind baby girl in my lap and hold her down so that the hygienist could look at and brush her teeth. Not our finest hour. In fact, it was the hour that first convinced me that we needed to take Kyrie to talk to someone about her anxiety.
Flash forward to today. It's been more than six months since that first visit to the dentist. Since then we've been to therapy, read books about the dentist, watched Mommy & Daddy at the dentist and, of course, talked and talked about the dentist.
Today, she was nervous and worriedly asked to sit on my lap, but did not balk when she was told that big girls sit in the chair. This visit was a world apart from the last. She cautiously touched the dental tools that were explained to her, answered questions quietly and opened her mouth wide to show her teeth. She needed some prompting with the last one, but she still did it. I stayed right by her side the entire time, touching her hand or leg when I could see the worry building up. She got through the entire visit without a single tear or angry protest. The hygienist (who was also there for Kyries' previous appointment) was very impressed! Both the hygienist and the dentist said that her teeth were beautiful!

Though she was very nervous, Kyrie was very brave today! Knowing what my baby girl has gone through and how scared she has been of this appointment, I cannot fully express how proud I am of her bravery. I was so concentrated on being bright & bubbly (and when you think of me, aren't those just the exact words that come to mind? yeah right!), prompting her with excited questions and expressing excitement over every little tool that I couldn't think about or process the weight of the moment. But sitting her now and reflecting not only on today's appointment, but every horribly sad & traumatic appointment that she has had to endure, her bravery brings tears to my eyes. Where I once only knew dread, I now feel hope!

Tandoori Chicken

 This is what I made for dinner last night: Tandoori Chicken!

My approach to cooking meals is fairly simple: cook what you've got! I shop the market sales with coupons in hand to fill our pantry shelves and freezers. Typically, I have quite a few choices when it comes to ingredients. Sometimes I get the perfect combination of ingredients and inspiration, and something wonderful will come from the kitchen. Et voila, last night's dinner! 

As per the usual, I started thinking about dinner before breakfast. I try to rotate through meat: pork, beef, chicken, fish so that we have more variety in our meals. We rarely have the same thing for dinner more than once a month, and often I will only recreate the same dish once every 2-3 months. Yesterday, I spun the wheel o' meat (no, I don't actually have one), and it came up on chicken. All we had in the freezer was chicken thighs, and when I am cooking with chicken thighs my mind immediately turns to thoughts of Indian food. Usually, I make some sort of curry, but I wanted to do something different because I didn't have any Indian "bread" to go with it. I decided on a dish that I didn't think required the bread: Tandoori chicken. 

I found a recipe in my Indian cookbook and went through the ingredient list. Then I checked some other recipes on-line to get a baseline for the preparation. This is usually my process when trying a new recipe. I am bad at following a specific recipe, so I like to combine the best ingredients & processes from multiple recipes. My go-to place for recipes is allrecipes.com. My favorite things about this website are that you can change the serving size and it will alter the entire recipe for you, and I also highly value the comment section because you can see what other cooks did differently. 

The bulk of the work for this recipe lies in the marinade. I am so grateful for the fabulous box of Indian spices my mother sent me for Christmas last year. It's wonderful! I skinned and scored the chicken thighs and set them to bathe in a spiced yogurt marinade all day. I decided to bake the chicken, but I wanted high heat with easy broiling (without heating up the whole house), so I put the chicken in the toaster oven. I used a drip pan to keep the chicken from getting mushy. 

I cooked the chicken at 500 for 10 minutes and then poured ghee (clarified butter used in many Indian recipes) over it to "seal" it. I only saw this process mentioned in one recipe, but it sounded authentic and just plain delicious. Then I coated it with more marinade and put it back in the toaster oven, lowering the temperature to about 450. Then I just watched for it to get the charred appearance that Tandoori chicken is known for. 

Usually, we eat family style so I don't do a lot of  "pretty" plates, but I was so pleased with how colorful & perfect everything looked that I couldn't resist throwing in a dash of display! And it wasn't just a pretty dish, it was delicious, too! I will definitely be making this chicken again!

Degen at 18 Months!

Degen is an adventure! He is an active, little boy who likes to climb, dance and play with his big sister. He's a brave boy! Too brave perhaps, as I am completely convinced we will wind up in the ER with him multiple times before he reaches manhood. He enjoys bike rides, music and playing at the park, especially the slides. He likes to play with cars & trucks, look at books and make 'art' with crayons & finger paint.

All that play works up an appetite. And though Degen is a picky eater, when he likes something he will eat a lot of it. He really enjoys cheese and fruit, especially blueberries. He also has a sweet tooth just like Mommy & Sissy! (That sweet tooth is soon to be joined by all 4 of his incisors.) At the end of a busy day, you can find Degen splashing in a bubble bath with a popsicle! 

Degen Richard Aurelius

Height: 30 1/2 inches (10%-ile)

Weight: 21 lbs (3%-ile)

Snooze News

Here is sweet Degen sleeping in his crib. Now, he's been sleeping in his crib at night since he was about 8 months old, but this picture was taken during a nap. That's right, a nap! In the recent past, Degen napped in our bed while nursing and any attempt to move him resulted in immediate waking and screaming. But my little boy is growing up. I can now nurse him and then put him into his crib where he's napping longer than he ever has before!
I'm also happy to report that he's doing better sleeping at night, too. There have been more nights than I can count where I've been up 2,3,4,6 or more times. Progress that we'd made prior to the move was undone by a new environment, but recently, he's been up only once (or twice) and there have even been a few nights where he has slept the whole night through! More sleep makes for a happier mommy!

This picture is a very common one in our household lately. In the past month or so, Kyrie has come to our room in the middle of the night and asked to sleep in our bed more times than I can count. I usually grunt out my acquiescence from the depths of slumber. At some point, I will feel a little crowded and find my way to Kyrie's room and finish out the night in there. And when Degen wakes too early (and he always wakes too early for me), I'll bring him into Kyrie's bed to try and eke out a few more minutes of snooze.
These nights of musical beds are actually kind of nice! I think that must sound strange, but I really love sharing sleep with my family (we did co-sleep with both kids until they were 8 & 10 months respectively). I also love the option of multiple comfy beds to share!

Chester the Woodchuck

Here are some photos of Chester. He lives the life of a carefree bachelor underneath the old shuffleboard court. He's quite skittish, which is funny because he's also quite chubby so when he gets spooked he just looks adorable running back to his den. 

 

I actually had to do a little research to figure out whether our friend, Chester, was a woodchuck or a groundhog. I've called him both, so I was relieved to find out that they are the same thing.

And if you have spent as many hours of your youth as I have, wondering exactly how much wood a woodchuck chucks if a wood chuck would chuck wood? Then I will tell you that I have found that he probably would not chuck much wood at all because he seems to really like grass.

Mermaid Video

La Maison

Okay, so I've heard some grumbling that there aren't photos of the outside of the house. I know that I haven't really posted any, and I definitely want to have some for the future before & after pictures. 

The house, as viewed from the street:

This is our street:

The back of the house:

View of the backyard from the house:

View of the house from the backyard:

 Future home of the garden:

I want to use this space for a fire ring & backyard camping:

We don't have a deck or patio, so we're using the old shuffleboard court for the kids' pools, toys, planters and some seating:

We haven't done anything with the outside of the house, but I hope that next year we can make her a little prettier.

Mermaid

Kyrie was having a blast cooling off in our backyard pool this hot, hot afternoon!

When she did something amazing! She started floating on her back! This is an activity that has completely terrified her during swimming lessons, but in the comfort of the small pool and of her own free will, she found the courage to try.

We are so proud of our little mermaid!

Degen in the "big" pool!