The kids get cooking
I’m not the only one who likes to cook in our house. We hauled the play kitchen up from the basement and put it in Berry’s room. It was a hit with Chef Berry and soux chef Duncan. There has been corn eating, pie making and lots and lots of tea drinking. Hmmm…. where do you think they get the idea of drinking cup after cup of tea?
Keeping birthdays naturally colored
I had so much fun at Duncan’s birthday party that - as exhausted as I was - I had a hard time falling asleep last night. This morning, even though Kevin has Berry downstairs and Duncan is still sleeping, I can’t get back to sleep for thinking about it.
All considered, everything went well. It rained practically all day, then stopped for 1hour and 55 minutes of the party. Pouring recommenced at 5:55 p.m. But it worked out OK as almost all the kiddos left, a few people and family stayed and we opened presents. Opening presents took an entire hour. Were there a lot of presents? Yes. Was he totally focused on thoroughly playing with the present he’d just opened, showing no interest in opening the next one? Totally. Bless him.
So Duncan is now 3 years old. Both he and Berry have a love of the Little Einsteins TV show, so we decided to use that a theme this year. In prior years (both of them) we went for a small, family party with “birthday” as the theme. But, as Kevin says, “you’re only 3 once.”
To go with the Little Einsteins table cover, plates, napkins, party hats and balloons I decided to make a Rocket cake. There were several obstables to that.
1. Um…a cake that’s not just round? That defies my cake making abilities.
2. How do I get red and blue icing without using Red No. 40? Artificial food coloring is banned in this house (along with MSG, artificial sweetners, high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oil *).
So Kevin and I (mostly Kevin) set about experimenting with natural food colors. For Berry’s birthday, I found a bottle of natural food coloring at a local health food store.
Seelect 100% Natural Food Coloring, Red/Strawberry, 2-Ounce Bottle (Pack of 4)
But it didn’t turn the icing strawberry red. It make it…well…kinda purple-y red. The cake was good, anyway.
For Rocket, I wanted RED red.
First Kevin tried boiling down some rhubarb from our garden. Then he added lemon juice to…um…change it from a base to an acid or something. There was an actual scientific principle at play.
(Must pause here, Duncan has woken up.)
Rhubarb made a pink color. Rhubarb + lemon juice made an orange-y pink color. Crushed cherries made a nice dark red shade — but cherry red (duh!), not Rocket red.
Next I tried melting and reducing a strawberry fruit pop. According to the ingredients, those are colored with the strawberries themselves, beet color and turmeric. I guess the yellow of the turmeric is supposed to turn the purpleness of the beet color into red. In any case, boiled down a bit it turned into a murky brownish orange. Not something I want to frost a cake with.
Finally, I decided to simply puree some strawberries. Mmmm…a nice red at last. Unfortunately, when mixed into dairy-free buttercream icing (earth balance margarine instead of butter), it turned a lovely shade of pink. Since it had a bit of an orange tinge, I added our red-purple natural food dye. It darkened it up a bit, but remained quite pink. The icing was also a bit soft.
The blue (for the windows and belly) was fairly easy to figure out. Crushed blueberries. I can’t remember if Kevin cooked them a bit first. Then he added baking power (or soda) — again to do something chemtastically scientific with the adic/base composition. It made a nice light blue/grey.
To actually make the Rocket cake, I found these instructions online (they’re down at the bottom of the page). I went one step further and made a bottom for Rocket as well. Since I wasn’t about to buy Twinkies, I used some extra cake for the engines.
And here it is - the edible, melting, pink finished product. Not as good as the creations on Andrea’s Recipes (her husband made it, no less), but did I mention that it was edible? 
* Disclaimer: there are some MSG-containing soups in our pantry, but I will not be buying any more after a recent declaration (I believe I proclaimed: MSG is evil! at the dining room table). Kevin still drinks soda. Ugh. And, occassionally, we eat foods with hydrogentated oil, but as little as possible.
Contests, kids, yada yada
I’ve been swamped with work lately. I’m not complaining. Although I don’t want to be doing it on a Saturday afternoon.
The kids are great. Duncan got in a super pre-school (super education and super expensive). So lots of work couldn’t come at a better time. Looks like we’ll be staying in Rochester for a while.
Berry will be ONE next week. I’m making a strawberry-flavored cake. I found natural red food coloring and strawberry flavoring at the natural foods store this morning, so I’m really happy about that. No Red Dye No. 4 for us! (is it 4? or 2? or 5? who knows, we just don’t eat it)
A quick link to the Safer Landing Blog. They write about safer gear and baby news. They’ve got a contest going for BPA-free feeding stuff. I’m always up for a contest. And keeping the kids safe.
My tea is cosy
I’m not sure how we found the pattern. I think I was looking for strawberry images to use to make a Christmas tree ornament for Berry. Yes, we’re like that. We found some faux-Robeez in Target with strawberries on them and we were delighted to buy them for her. We’re going to do it until she’s old enough to protest.
Anyway. So I was looking for strawberry clip art/line drawings. And I found a pattern for a strawberry tea cosy. I had to have it. But I don’t knit.
Fortunately, I’m related to one of the world’s most fantastic knitters. (Ah, flattery, flattery. It works on my Mum.)
I got this in the mail today. It deserves the humongo-sized photo treatment.
Just looking at it makes me happy.
Kevin gave me the awesome tea pot for Christmas. It’s a Made in England traditional Brown Betty. And it holds 8 cups of tea. I drink a pot every day.
Now my tea is cozy.
And we’re not alone in wanting to cover Berry with fruits. In the card Mum sent with the tea cozy she wrote, “P.S. What do you think about making one as a rather cute winter hat for Berry?”
It’s a plastic, plastic world
I’ve always been a bit suspicious of plastics that touch my food. Especially hot food. Whether it’s plastic cling wrap or leftovers being heated in the microwave, something never felt right.
For a while, I used glass Pyrex dishes to reheat my lunch. But then the lids cracked, or stopped sealing tightly and someone gave me a bunch of food in Gladware that I just kept reusing.
But now I have little people to take care of. And the recent controversy about cancer-causing BPA in baby bottles leaching into milk has reawakened my awareness and desire for plastic-free eating.
Kids use a lot of plastic. From the Avent bottles to Gerber dishes and whatever-brand-they-are spoons and forks. Plus the sippy cups. And baby food processor. And everything.
It’s a confusing world out there in Plastic Land. Which are OK, which are possibly harmful? And why don’t all of my plastic containers have numbers on them? If they don’t want to tell me what it is…what does that mean?
Here’s what I’ve learned: #s 1, 2, 4 and 5 are OK. #s 3, 6 and 7 are bad.
Why does Gerber sell their organic baby food in #7 containers? I’m making the effort and expense to buy organic food for my child. I didn’t order it with a side of cancer, thank you.
Also, polypropelene = good, polycarbonate= bad. At least I think that’s right. Let me check the notes I wrote on the fridge.
Thanks to Z Recommends for that info.
I haven’t yet figured out if all of the various plastic items we use are OK or not. Berry’s Avent bottles are going, to be replaced with some of the Born Free
The Nuby’s? I’m not sure. Duncan used to drink warm milk out of those — heated up in the microwave — and I was planning on using them for Berry when she gets to that point. At least I have 5 months to do my research.
It may seem like overkill. But we eat as much organic food as possible — especially the kids — to reduce our exposure to pesticides, antibiotics and other things we don’t want in our bodies. Yeah, we have a thousand plastic toys (hopefully not painted with lead paint) and live in an old house (I’m signed up for a lead abatement workshop this week). But I believe that the little things we do make a difference. And you have to start somewhere.
How often does a 2-year-old pee?
I don’t know the answer to my question.
At one point I would have said about every hour. That’s how long it’s safe to go without a diaper in between trips to the potty.
Yes, we’re taking trips to the potty.
Then I would have said 15 minutes after he last peed in the potty. Because that’s how long he went diaper-free before peeing all over my new shoes.
Today, I’d say it’s right after we put the pull-up diaper back on after sitting on the potty. Because he won’t pee in the potty anymore. He says it’s hot. We don’t know what that means. Does it mean it hurts? That his pee is too warm and it freaks him out? Perhaps he has no idea what the word “hot” actually means. Does he have a UTI? Was I really supposed to be doing something special with his little intact penis that I haven’t been (even though the books say not to)?
What I do know is that he has amazing bladder control. The boy can sit on that potty for ages without peeing, start to pee and immediately stop himself and jump up declaring, “All done pee-pee!” And then, if you don’t put a diaper on, he still doesn’t pee. Even after ANOTHER trip to the potty. It’s only when the diaper goes back on that he unleashes.
He always was a bit unfathomable.
So that’s what’s going on in our lives at the moment. We’re taking a bit of a potty break (one that doesn’t involve sitting on the potty), trying to figure out if there’s something physically wrong with him that’s hurting when he does pee (he also grabs at his diaper when peeing), reassessing and trying not to appear frustrated.
I did ask him at bathtime last night if his pee-pee hurts. He said yes. So maybe it does. But then, as I was putting him to bed, he informed me that I have ants in my nose and bees in my ears… so you never can quite trust what the toddler says.
Why no blogging (again)
Life just keeps going by. I know it’s supposed to do that and it’d be very bad if it didn’t.
But I half-compose blog posts in my head - when I’m falling asleep or am in the shower or cuddling a baby. Unfortunately, we don’t yet have computer interfaces in any and all our flat surfaces (we will in a few years, probably), so I’m rarely near a computer when these blog thoughts surface.
I’ve wanted to write about how often a 2-year-old pees, how I managed to convince said 2-year-old to not wake me up at night, the challenge of finding new clients and working, the fact that Duncan is now two years old. But then I don’t. And then it becomes too much to write about at once. So I don’t write at all.
Then there’s the challenge of someone resisting a nap and someone else wandering off across the room with the wireless mouse while saying “poo poo.”
Now he’s taking the mousepad, too. I know we don’t NEED a mousepad with a wireless laser mouse, but we use one anyway. I’m getting a truck on the keyboard instead. That’ll be useful. And now a train. Must go.
What room is this again?
I’m waiting for Kevin to get into the shower so I can do my bedtime routine (the bathroom isn’t big enough for 2 people to both do things unless one is standing in the bathtub). So here’s a probably equally confusing explanation about our bedroom situation (no, the who sleeps where situation).
We have 3 bedrooms. Currently one of them is our room, one is Duncan’s room and one (the one without any closets) is my office. The one that’s our room used to be the guest bedroom/my room/the nursery. It is now just “Mummy and Daddy’s room.” Duncan’s bedroom used to be the room we called “Kevin’s room” even though we both slept in there (unless I was pregnant, then I slept in “my room” which is now no longer mine).
Confused yet? Good.
So my office will become Duncan’s room and Duncan’s room will become Berry’s room. And our room just finally stays our room.
Why the crazy room switcharoo?
Berry’s future room (Duncan’s current room) is already painted lavendar. My office is a strange peach color. The plan for Duncan’s permanent bedroom is to paint it a lovely turquoisey sea blue. The office needs painting anyway. Moving Duncan into the office (post-painting) means I only have to paint 1 room instead of 2.
Also, Berry’s room has a closet. She’s a girl. She needs a closet. The office has bookshelves. Duncan has approximately 7 million books.
Lastly, the office is the furthest room from our bedroom. So if we close the door at night, hopefully Berry waking up (either in a bassinet in our room or in her own room which is a little closer) won’t wake up Duncan. Plus she’ll be closer for us to hear her. By closer, I mean by like 4 feet. But maybe it’ll make a difference.
So now you know where we all sleep — or, as the case may be like last night, don’t sleep but instead keep getting out of our beds and playing with our cool fishy nightlight.
And Kevin not only got in the shower in the space of writing this post, but also appears to be done with his shower. So I’ll have to further wait until he’s dried off and out of the bathroom. So much for getting to bed early.
Why there have been no photos lately
I was looking through this blog’s posts earlier today, for some photos of Duncan in the sling, and I realized I’ve been totally lame lately about posting photos of him.
There are a few factors at work. While I love my laptop that I got in March, it only has 2 USB ports, so I have to be selective about what gets plugged in. Usually it’s my mouse and the printer - the 2 peripheral devices I use the most. I used to also have my webcam, camera dock and other things plugged in, too, through a USB hub.
But I’ve found the USB hub just doesn’t work well with the laptop for some resaon. It’s powered. I don’t know why it causes problems. But devices don’t load up properly, everything needs to be reinstalled all the time. It’s just a pain. I’ve tried it a couple of times and have just given up now.
In order to get pics off my camera, the dock has to be plugged into the USB port while the computer is booted up. Sometimes the computer needs to be restarted again before it recognizes it. And then the camera can be put on the dock to get photos off. Except my photosharing software doesn’t work anymore, so I have to manually click around and find the photos on the card on the camera and move them into a folder on my harddrive.
So it’s a pain. No more just setting the camera on the dock and pressing the button and being done.
I guess that’s the biggest factor. If I had to buy a laptop again, I wouldn’t buy a used one. I’d shell out the extra dough and get a new one with 4 USB ports and a card reader. That way I could have my stuff plugged in all the time (as I don’t actually take the laptop anywhere most of the time, although its essential that I can when I need to).
I have the same issues with the web cam. I have to restart a couple of times to get the computer to recognize it and the USB hub just messes everything up. Kinda takes the spontenaeity out of seeing someone online and wanting to web chat with them. Oh well.
I’m hopeful that if things go well this year, I’ll just buy an updated computer in a year or so. I do like my toys.
So this was supposed to be a post with photos of Duncan…not a dissertation on why there haven’t been any and about my dislike of my USB hub.
Here’s the boy in the snow recently:
And a recent hairdo after taking his nap with damp (post-shower) hair: 
Hot tea for Mummy
Quick story of the day before I get to work:
We’ve all picked up some dreaded sickness — a cold — somehow, that’s been keeping Duncan ill and cranky since Friday night.
Working from home, this means that I’ve been toddler tending more than working this week. Which is fine except 1) I don’t get paid and 2) I have a major deadline to meet. So work has been in the mornings during “Daddy daycare” (except when major cranky crying episodes neccessitate Mummy cuddles - it’s not like I can concentrate when there’s screaming going on, anyway), during naps and after he goes to bed at night.
Fun for me.
Naps have been cut short or woken up in the middle of this week. And by the time bedtime gets here, I’m wiped out — as I’ve got the sore throat/stuffy nose thing going on, too.
Anyway. That’s not the story of the day. Just me complaining.
The story of the day:
I was deciding out loud whether or not to make a cup of tea before I came upstairs to work. Hot tea = throat soothing + caffeine. I asked Kevin if he wanted any. Nope. I did, though. And Duncan came running up to me in the kitchen as I was pulling a mug out of the cupboard.
“Di doh!” (Duncanese for “Here you go.”) He handed me a little blue plastic tea cup from his kitchen set. What a sweet boy, making me pretend tea in the morning.
Just goes to show he’s really listening. To everything we say. He started saying “icky” this morning after I explained I was wiping the ickiness from his face after breakfast/sneezing. Great. He’s sure to be a literary genius now.
