Liam: “Da go work. Da come home?”
Shannon: “That’s right, Daddy is at work right now. Don’t you think he’s coming home?”
Liam:Â “Praaaabbbbly?”
Shannon:Â “Definitely.”
Liam:Â “Praaaabbbbly.”
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Mini Monday Roundup
Here are a few pictures from the weekend:
Riding his “horsie” at Gran and Granddaddy’s house:
Music man:
“Liam, the phone’s for you”:
Helping Dad with the yard work (in his PJs):
Off to pick up sticks:
Little boy, big stick:
Sweeping the walk:
Alien invasion:
Grasshopper:
Headlight:
Grasshopper:
“Hi Dad!”
“Hi Liam!”
Monday: It’s What’s For Dinner
Despite failing to create a Saturday Splurge this week (many thanks go to my mom and grandmother for feeding our sick, pitiful little family on Saturday night), the interest in food rages on. I’ve brought food back into the realm of creative outlet and have been working hard to create new, interesting things for dinner. Matt and I are also both trying to do a better job of eating better (for me that means eating less, eating whole where possible, and replacing as many crackers and bread products as possible with fruits and veggies — for Matt I think it means limiting his fast food and beer, though he may beg to differ…). I find that I work harder to make things look nice when I’m taking pictures and recording results (as has been the case with the Saturday Splurge meals) and that things that look nice create a better dinner experience for me so I thought I’d bring it to the blog.
Behold, my first non-Saturday-Splurge meal worthy of pictures and written word: It’s called Chicken, Mushroom, and Polenta Lasagna, the recipe for which can be found here. It was awesome. I think that anything that starts with organic tomatoes grown with love by my Mama and fresh herbs from DFM could hardly be anything but. Throw in pesto, mushrooms, and polenta, and we’ve got a winner!
Here’s a shot of the freshly pureed tomatoes (although no camera that we could afford could really capture the beauty of the reds):
Here’s what the tomato and herb mixture looked like (if only there were smell-a-vision, because folks, it was pure heaven in here) before I stirred and began simmering:
Here’s what the whole thing looked like in process:
Here’s the final product:
Top that off with one of our favorite spinach salads and we’re in business, baby!
Toddler Dressing
Liam’s really trying to put on and take off (unfortunately not always with the best timing) his clothes lately. This morning he was so proud of himself as he put on his own jacket (albeit backwards). It was too cute not to grab the camera:
And…he’s off!
21 Month-Old Parrot
Parroted phrase of the moment:
“Oh, gracious!”
Used in a sentence: “Oh gracious, nose runny!”
Runners up: “Oh geez!” and “Oh my gosh!”
Awesome.
Easy-Off Sides
A few minutes ago, Liam pooped in the potty.
After he was finished I put him in a pull-up (they’re soooo much easier to put on a squirming kid while he’s standing up, so I’ve started using them for the times when he successfully uses the potty).
After that he ran into our bedroom and turned on the television.
After that I went into our bedroom and told him to turn it off.
He ignored me.
I told him again, this time making sure he knew that he would go into time out if he chose not to do what I told him to do.
He ignored me again.
He went into time out.
I went into his room to release him and talk to him about what he had done to get there.
I opened the door and found him standing in his room, naked-as-a-jaybird from the waist down.
I guess those easy-off sides work just as well as advertised.
I’m not afraid to use duct tape in the future. I may not be smarter than Liam, but I have access to more materials…
Affirmative
Liam doesn’t use the word “yes” but he’s got the meaning down pat. Instead of “yes” he says “O.K.” Here are some examples:
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Liam: “Mama please carry. Please back up. Please carry.”
Shannon:Â “Liam, would you like for me to pick you up?”
Liam:Â “O.K., O.K., O.K.”
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Shannon:Â “Liam, we’ve gotta get dressed so we can go to the store soon.”
Liam:Â “Get aaaaallllll ready.”
Shannon:Â “Yep, we’ve gotta get all ready.”
Liam: “O.K. aaaaallllll ready. O.K. go to store. O.K. RIGHT NOW!!!”
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Liam: “Mama muffin. Muffin cool off. ‘Nother muffin, please. Muffin numnumnumnum.”
Shannon:Â “Lemme guess, you want a muffin?”
Liam: “Muffin, O.K. Muffin O.K.”
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I think you get the picture and in case you wondered:Â yes, it is completely adorable!
Let This Be A Warning
This is what happens when Liam and I are sick for 5 days:
What you are looking at is an entire full-length couch plus two laundry baskets completely full of clean, unfolded clothes. There’s another load in the dryer and a pile of dress shirts on the back of the other couch and I haven’t even washed the load of sheets and towels that needs to come next. Seriously. My dear, dear mother spent almost four hours cleaning the equivalent mess that had taken over our kitchen. There is still much more to be done. It’s going to take me a week to get my head back above water. I’m already having nightmares about what the house will look like when I get pregnant again. Wow.
Baby’s First Shower
This morning, Liam took his first shower.
This little experiment was born out of necessity/sincere desire. I usually shower at night (it’s either that or get up earlier in the morning, and I think that anyone who knows me knows how fast that decision gets made) but last night I was so sick and tired (literally) that the idea of doing anything more than brushing and flossing was overwhelming. I figured that the likelihood of us leaving the house today was slim-to-none and if I felt dirty enough I could shower during Liam’s nap.
I neglected to factor in just how good a hot shower feels when your body is achy and you have a head cold.
It sounded so good to me this morning that I decided it was worth the risk of doing it while Liam was still awake (plus, he had milk and snot all over him just from breakfast, so I figured that cleaning him up a bit would be a bonus). I still can’t believe how well it worked. I kept him busy identifying letters on the shampoo bottles and opening and closing my tube of face wash. He did pee on me, but the tub needs to be cleaned anyway and pointing the sprayer at him is a lot easier than changing a diaper. This is still not my first choice on how to take a shower (the soothing effect of the warm water is lessened a bit when you feel a finger poking you in the bum and a little voice saying “What’s that Mama? What’s that?”) but it’s nice that we’ve reached the point where it’s an option to shower while Matt’s not here.
We’re both still feeling a bit puny, so I imagine that this will be our big activity for the morning. We’re just a thrill a minute, aren’t we?
Dear Liam,
Thank you so much for listening to my plea. I’m still trying to figure out how you got internet access (if you have an iPhone under your mattress you’re going to have some ‘splaining to do), but I’m very grateful, nonetheless.
Love,
Mama