50 posts tagged “m”

(or, how M never ceases to amaze me)

Tuesday was a gorgeous day and evening, and we'd planned to grill burgers and sweet potato fries.  There was a bit of prep involved, though (I had to make the burger patties and Rae was cutting the sweet potatoes and mixing in the spices) and M, bless her heart, was waiting somewhat patiently in the kitchen for one of us to be finished so we could go outside and play with her (she's been riding her bike and wanting to shoot hoops down at a neighbor's house).  While waiting (and asking, perhaps not quite as often as she could have, when we'd be finished so we could go outside) she got the urge for a snack.  She asked once for a piece of chocolate (we still have chocolate from V-day) and when I said not before dinner she asked for an apple, to which I of course agreed.  When she opened the fridge to get one, she saw a tupperware of sliced red bell peppers that I had left over from something last week (omelets?) and asked if she could have those instead.

Now, I know she likes red bell peppers.  It's one of her favorite things to snack on when we make homemade pizzas.  We know this because we try just about everything with her (like red and yellow onions, garlic, sage sausage and fresh shredded mozzarella when we make pizzas) because she's curious and we want her to know what stuff tastes like before she poo-poos it.  By doing this she's discovered that she really likes raw, fresh cut red bell peppers.

Back to Tuesday.  She changes her mind, asks about the peppers, to which I say, in a rather shocked fashion, Sure, sweetie, if you'd like.  She grabs them, sits right on the floor, opens up the tupperware and begins munching contentedly.  Rae is dumbfounded, and I'm smirking at M as she noms her second slice, and we go back to prepping dinner.  About half way through the tupperware M says, I sure like these red peppers.  By the time Rae and I are finished with our work, M's eaten the entire tupperware full of red bell peppers.  She pops up, actually thanks me for the snack, and she and Rae head out to shoot some hoops.

It just goes to show how much we parents do have a say in the habits our kids form.  Sure, she asked for a piece of chocolate first, when isn't candy the first thing on a kid's mind?  But when told not before dinner, she found another, healthy alternative, and was actually happy for it.

And she got her piece of chocolate as an evening snack - after dinner.

Yeah, I know, it's Wednesday and I'm just now getting around to writing about the weekend. I've been busy. In fact, I really don't have time to write much right now, so this'll just be a quick recap of the highlights.

Saturday is swim lesson day. While we were there, we ran into some acquaintances from swim and t-ball last spring, and got to chatting with them about the kids (their girl is a year older than M, and they have a 10 year old boy). Come to find out that R is in kindergarten at the same school M will go to in the fall. She'll have a buddy at her new school! We're all very excited by this, as hopefully it'll make the transition easier. We'll see.

Saturday also brought a renewed interest in her Big Girl Bike. Yes, the bike we bought for her birthday last year, and which she's ridden a total of .. once. Well, Saturday Rae was able to convince M to give the bike a try this spring, since she's grown so much in a year. She did, and the two spent an hour (or more?) ridding around the neighborhood, back and forth. She loved it, and it's all she's wanted to do since.

Saturday was also the first grill of the season, and I grilled a serloin while Pop sauteed some huge sea scallops and asparagus. Top it off with some olive oil and rosemarry bread and a great red wine, and it was a lovely dinner. Great way to start grill season.

Sunday, after lunch, we took M to Grant's Trail so she could continue to ride her bike and we could have some more interesting scenery than just walking back and forth in the neighborhood. We walked while M rode, and we covered 2.5 miles in about 90 minutes. It was a lot of fun, she learned the rules of the trail, stayed in her lane, moved over when it got crowded and pedaled the entire 2.5 miles. We stopped to look at the Clydesdales at Grant's Farm Stables, and even took a pitstop to hunt for four-leaf-clovers. We had one minor mishap as she was watching some birds instead of where she was going, and went off the trail and down in the culvert, which Rae stopped her from falling, but got her ankle banged up in the process. Rae's ok, just bruised, and M learned the lesson that when you're riding your bike, you can't be doing other things.

Monday was more bike riding in the neighborhood while I grilled porkchops and Rae made asparagus and a rice dish. After dinner there was more playing in the neighborhood and we got to visit with a younger couple that have a 2 year old who live just two houses down. It was a great visit, and M even gave the little girl her tricycle (because she's all about the Big Girl Bike now, y'know). Yesterday was playing with the older neighborhood girls while I grilled burgers and sweet potato fries, with fresh salad and excellent rootbeer (a new one we'd never had before - very spicey and rooty!). Can you tell we've been waiting for the weather to get nice again!?

M's running commentary before it got started:

M: Michelle Obama, poppa! Look, it's Michelle Obama!
***
M: Poppa, where do you think Sasha and Malia are? Do you think they might come out with Barack Obama, with their dad?
Me: No, sweetie, I think they're at home tonight.
M: Nah, you're proabably right, they're probably with a sitter.
***
M: Poppa, look! There's Barack Obama! Hi, Barack Obama! Look, poppa! Why did he just kiss that woman?
***
M (pulling up her stuffed chair to in front of the TV): Why is he shaking everybody's hand? I couldn't clap that long, my hands would hurt.
M: Barack Obama just waved to me! Hi, Barack Obama!

***
M: Poppa, is our Vice President Joe Biden?
Me: Yep, there he is in the background, with the blue tie.
M: Oh, hey, there he is, there's our Vice President Joe Biden! Hi, Joe Biden! How do you spell Joe?
Me: J*O*E
M: J*O*E And how do you spell Biden?
Me: B*I*D*E*N
M: B*I*D*E*N (then I hear her whispering Joe Biden, and spelling it out, once, twice, three times) I love Joe Biden, he looks cool. Why does it look like he's sleeping?
Me: He's not, sweetie, he's just looking down.
M: Oh, it looks like his eyes are closed. He looks like he's sleeping.

***
M: Who's the woman in the green shirt?
Me: Nancy Palosi
M: Nancy Palosi? (says "Nancy Palosi" to her self) That's a funny name. Nancy Palosi.

***
M: She claps fast. What's her name again?
Me: Nancy Palosi.
M: Nancy Palosi. I giggle every time I say her name. Nancy Palosi. She claps faster than Joe Biden.

Fancy Nancy at the Museum by Jane O'Connor

 

My review

  rating: 4 of 5 stars
M seems to really enjoy this book, but as a Firs Reader book, it has some pretty difficult words in it.  That's not to say it's not good, it is.  The story is fun, and M likes hearing the big fancy words and the bits of French (merci!) that get sprinkled throughout.  It's a fun read and easy enough to explain the fancy words, I just think she'll learn more of the words in this book through listening and looking at the words and memorizing rather than sounding them out on her own.  Not a bad thing, just a different approach to the First Reader.
 

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Picky Nicky: A Picture Reader with 24 Flash Cards by Cathy East Dubowski

 

My review

  rating: 5 of 5 stars
My kiddo got this for Xmas past (it's now Feb) and she just recently pulled it out to start reading it.  I like a lot about this First Reader book.  First, it has a bunch of words she already knows (mom, dad, is, the, Picky Nicky) which is a real boost to her feeling like she can do this whole reading thing.  Second, there are obviously words she doesn't know, but she can sound out easily enough.  They don't have tricky silent sounds or difficult combination sounds, and it doesn't take her long to latch onto the right letter sound (like hard or soft e, or remembering that th is "th") and figure out what the word says.  Third, it also has pictures that she can see and "read", and what's more the picture words rhyme, so that further helps and gives it a sometimes sing-song quality that makes reading fun.  Of the three first reader books she got, I like this one the best.
 

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Evidence that M's actually learning something at preschool.

The scene: Tuesday night, Rae and M watching college basketball after cartoons (just before bedtime).
M: Mom, I'm rooting for the green guys [I think Michigan State was playing]
Rae: Well that's good then, because I think the green guys are winning
M looks at the TV.
M: Do they have 47?
Rae looks at the TV.
Rae: (a little shocked) Yes they do! How did you know that?
M: (rather proud of herself) I just looked at the score, and 47 is the bigger number.

So, she knows her team's winning, looks at the score to find the bigger number, and knows what that number is when looking at it.  She didn't say "Do they have four and seven" which she sometimes does, she said "forty-seven", and not only that but knew it was bigger than the other number and that that was her team's score.  It made me smile.

M's had a nice Christmas. She's an interesting kid, she's never been one to be all about the presents. From her second birthday on when she's opened enough presents, has a handful of things she really likes, she's finished and just stops opening gifts. This year was no different. We opened 4 presents Xmas Eve, from us, and that was great! She loved her Etch A Sketch, and we read a couple of the books at bedtime. Xmas Day she got all the stuff in her stocking (including a new digital camera) and her kitchen set, and that was enough! She put on her sticky ear rings, her matching "fancy finger rings", took some pictures of her kitchen then played with her kitchen. At my grandparents' place, with presents from aunts and uncles, cousins, grandparents and great grandparents, it was too much. About half way through she was finished. She opened two or three more because the family members were bugging her about it, then she just stopped with four presents to go. We opened a couple of them the next day, and still have two more under the tree. We still haven't given her two of our presents, and we just might wait for her birthday.

Anyhoo, all that to say she's really been all about the "events" this year. We had a carriage ride to see the lights at the park a month back, where we saw Santa and had cookies and hot chocolate.  We did a Solstice Celebration a couple weekends back, and she really got a kick out of the drumming and chanting and flute playing. She loved the Gospel Xmas Eve at church. She enjoyed our trip to KC and is looking forward to seeing more family in Iowa this week. Right now it's all about the events moreso than the presents, which is cool to see, but makes for a .. different sort of holidays with a little one. I know she enjoys her presents, she's told us so, but her reaction to them has been .. muted I guess.

Oh, funny thing, her favorite present so far? Not the camera, not the kitchen, no, it's the $15 Etch A Sketch! Why? Well, she loved playing with the one at the Panera Bread over Thanksgiving, and she's very good at making things with it, but more than that it's because it was an absolute surprise to her! She said, "Thank you for my Etch A Sketch, I really love it. I was so surprised. I didn't even know I was getting it! I knew what I'd ordered from Santa, but I didn't even think you guys would get me an Etch A Sketch!" It was cute. Particularly the "I knew what I'd ordered from Santa", like Santa = Amazon .... wait ... hmm...

Sometimes when I eat the crunchy cereal I can't hear you saying I Love You.

- M, this morning, when Rae was dropping her off at school.

We've always told M that we are always with her, in her heart, and that if she gets sad or misses us, if she listens closely, she can hear us saying I Love You from inside.  Yesterday and today she's been sad to leave us and go to school (too much fun over the xmas holiday!), and this is what she said to Rae while they were talking about needing to go to school and work after our vacations.

Started off as a super lazy morning.  I woke up just before 8a, watched a bit of Sports Center, occassionally jumping to the Food Network on commercials.  Rae started stirring just before 9a, and that's about the time M woke up and came into our bedroom.  We vegged for another 10 minutes or so, watching the last of whatever cooking show was on Food Network, then turning to ESPN just in time for the top-10 plays of the week, and then finally got ourselves moving.  Had oatmeal and engilsh muffins and hot chocolate for breakfast.

Now, Rae and I are sipping coffee at the dinner table while Rae is going through December's Cooking Light mag and picking the handful of things we're going to bake this weekend, and making a list of stuff to get at the grocery. I've got holiday music going on accuradio and M is singing the songs and dancing around the living room. It's a good morning.

We're also planning out our xmas eve dinner, something nice just for the three of us.  While looking over possible entres Rae says, "You should bake the bread for our dinner."  So now I need to find an easy bread recipe formula and get up the nerve to make my first loaf of fresh bread.  Fun fun!

We got six boxes of the Red 40-free candy canes at Whole Foods this afternoon, and decided to make the first peppermint bark of the season this evening.  We use this recipe, nothing too fancy, but then I think it's pretty hard to make peppermint bark fancy.  In addition to the dye-free candy canes (which have a stronger peppermint flavor than regular candy canes) we also use peppermint oil, about 2 tsp.  Add that to two pounds of melted almond bark and voila, great tasting peppermint bark.  There's a whole photo recipe of our baking prowess on my flickr.