Moon sand!

Yesterday I made "Cloud Dough" or "Moon Sand" for Katie, and it was a resounding success. She prefers to call it "Moon Sand," probably because she can pronounce both "moon" and "sand" and because she knows what those two words mean. She knows what "cloud" means but I'm not sure about "dough." Anyway - she loved it.

It wasn't nearly as messy as I'd feared it would be. One of the two ingredients is oil, so I thought it might stain our flagstone patio. But it didn't - I swept the spillage into the garden and that was that. I was surprised how little did spill, actually. Must have been my repeated requests to keep the sand inside the sand table!

The recipe called for 8 parts flour and 1 part baby oil, but I read online that baby oil is actually toxic. It can be fatal if aspirated, although I don't really think that's a possibility with Moon Sand. But it can also make you sick if ingested, and that totally is a possibility with, well, everything a 2 year old plays with. So I went with canola oil instead. It doesn't smell nice like baby oil, but otherwise it's quite similar. The finished product feels smooth like fine sand but sticks together if you squeeze it. Katie had a blast doing just that. I also had bought her some neat little sand molds from the awesome school supply store I just found. I almost went crazy in there but managed to limit myself to the sand molds and some wooden beads for stringing. :)

Anyway, here's Katie, enjoying her Moon Sand! I put it in an old plastic storage container for which we've lost the lid. Apparently we stole it from my mother-in-law, as it has a label with her name and address on it. Whoopsie! And don't you love the stylish duct-tape-and-cardboard-box pedestal on which it sits? Seriously, I must secretly be a redneck.

Whee!

She'd lost interest after a while, until I tried to clean up the moon sand. Then suddenly it was fascinating again!

Oh, for an uninterrupted nap...

I am not ready for Katie to wake up from her nap yet. She fell asleep around 1:00 and instead of flopping on the couch, exhausted, I decided to spring into action.

First, I fixed one of Katie's favorite bath toys - a wind-up fish whose tail flips back and forth so he really swims. He recently stopped flipping, and Katie was pretty disappointed. I cracked that bad boy open, squirted in some WD-40 (my favorite fix-all!) and he's good as, well, used. He's not 100% better, but at least he flips a little now. I'm sure it'll be good enough for Katie.

Then, I quietly and stealthily hid both of Katie's Santa Claus dolls until next December. It's not that I don't want her to play with them, but I think they'll lose significance if they're just out all year long. I remember that I used to LOVE opening up our boxes of Christmas decorations every year, and seeing some favorite old holiday friends. The funny thing about these Santa dolls is that my mom gave Katie two identical ones - but we only officially "gave" her one. One lived upstairs in her room, and the other one downstairs in the den. She never saw them together, so I'm not sure if she realized that there are two! She might just think Santa is everywhere at once. LOL!

Then I decided to get a head start on dinner. I'm making a casserole for the first time in decades. I'm pretty sure I made one once before, but I really can't remember. What usually turns me off from casserole recipes is that they nearly always call for cans of condensed soup. I'm not a food snob (my love of Kraft Mac n Cheese is proof) but condensed soup just seems so salty and full of chemicals. I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Then I found a recipe for homemade cream-of-anything soup! And it's not even hard to make. It just takes a little uninterrupted time, which is why I decided to do it during nap time.

Unfortunately, Katie woke up screaming while I was chopping the onion. Luckily I hadn't put it in the pan yet. I turned off all the burners and went upstairs to calm her down. She went back into her crib without a struggle. Next I was elbow-deep in onions and mushrooms, and about to start making a roux, when she woke up again. She's been up intermittently ever since, making little snuffling noises and whimpers, but not full-on crying, so I'm trying to let her settle herself back down.

But I didn't get to finish making the casserole and I probably won't be able to during this nap. Too much going on! I refrigerated the cream of mushroom soup and the chicken I'd cooked in the crockpot. Hopefully it won't be too hard to heat them up later and throw them together with some frozen veg and some cooked shell pasta. Sigh. I'm on tenterhooks, waiting to see how this dish will turn out!

The other thing I want to try to do is make some "Cloud Dough" for Katie to play with. I've been waiting for a reasonably mild, non-rainy day to try this, so Katie can play with it outdoors. That stuff is NOT coming inside! It's 8 parts flour and 1 part mineral oil, and it's supposed to have similar properties to Moon Sand. It feels soft to the touch but you can mold it into shapes like damp sand. They had some in the sensory bin at school last week and Katie was totally engrossed in playing with it. Sounds super fun and super messy. Let's hope she won't protest too loudly when it's time to put it away.

Oh, and I almost forgot! I had a super scary moment today, and that reminds me - I need to make a trip to Home Depot when Katie wakes up. Maybe Cloud Dough will have to wait until tomorrow. Katie was playing in the backyard before lunch, and I was unloading the dishwasher. I can see her out of the kitchen window, but there's also more space on the side of the house where I can't see her. I got that "Spidey sense" that I hadn't heard her voice for a minute or two, so I went outside to see what trouble she'd gotten into. THE GATE WAS OPEN! She was gone! I don't think I've ever run so fast in my entire life. She was right out front, trotting along the sidewalk with the most triumphant smile I'd ever seen. Thank God! True to my parenting books, I didn't scream at her (aside from the "KATHERINE ELIZABETH!" I let out when I saw the gate open.) I simply knelt down beside her, took her hand and said, "Katie, I'm so glad you're OK, but it isn't safe for you to be outside by yourself. Let's go inside and have lunch." She screamed when I picked her up, of course, but only for a few seconds. I wonder if maybe she understood what had just happened?

Anyway, off to Home Depot for a new lock for our gate! SHEEEEEEEEESH!

School days

Hi Folks! Not much to report, but here's some random stuff that happened at school today:

I got a tiny one-up on a semi-Perfect Mom. She was supervising the sensory table, which today was filled with red-dyed rice and some sand sifters. Katie was enjoying herself and wanted to take one of the sifters (full of rice) and balance it on the edge of the sensory bin, spilling lots of rice on the ground. The mom in charge said, "Katie, please keep this toy inside the table," just like we're supposed to say. But Katie doesn't always respond to this "positive discipline" approach - it's as if she's saying, "But what I'm doing is so much more interesting!" She kept at it, so I intervened. I echoed the "keep the the toy inside the table" but I followed up by handing her one of the plastic spoons that was lying around, and saying "Look, you can scoop some rice into the sifter like this!" (This is known as redirection.) Problem solved. So hah, other mom, I'm not totally useless after all!  I guess it wasn't so much a one-up but a demonstration that I am, after all, a competent parent. :D

I also got into some weird conversations with Weird Dad. I've been puzzling about this guy for a while now. He is the only dad in our class, except for some dads who come once in a while when the mom is sick or something. (Which, by the way, is cool - it's great having dads at our school.) He's really nice and super friendly - he always has a smile on his face and he just adores his son Cadence. But he is utterly useless as a supervising parent, because he'd rather talk to people than watch the kids. You can tell that he loves the kids, but he's just so much more interested in chatting than supervising. Usually he can be found floating around, talking to people or following his son, even when he's supposed to be supervising something. Several times I've heard Teacher Donna have to remind him to watch his station. Supervising is kind of a big deal with two-year-olds. You can't just wander off!

He always looks at me and smiles at me like he's dying to be friends with me because he's friends with everyone and why on earth haven't I talked to him? What I mean is, it's not because he thinks we have anything in common or wants to talk to me about anything in particular, but because he's a huge extravert who needs to be talking to someone at every second of every day. The first conversation today went something like this: 

Me: (trying to start up a friendly conversation) Isn't it cute how the kids are becoming more friendly with each other? Katie knows Cadence by name because we've seen him a few times at the park.

Weird Dad: Oh yeah, you know, it's funny, we have a lot of people chasing him around the park because he just won't share that toy, it's so weird, I ask him to share but he says no until he's done playing with it, and then half an hour later he's ready to just let it go and let the other kids play.

Me: (puzzled, because we've never had any such interaction with Cadence - there was no toy around and he was just playing like any other kid) Oh, uh…yeah.

W.D.: I don't know why, he just won't share until he's bored with something, and then he will.

Me: Well, that sounds perfectly normal to me!

W.D.: Yeah, i don't know.

<thank goodness something interrupted us at this point>

It's conversations like these that make me wonder if I missed a huge chunk of the conversation, or if I'm visiting another planet? I'm definitely missing something!

The second conversation went like this. It was during clean-up and I was in charge of spraying and wiping down the tables, and W.D. was in charge of mopping the floor.

Me: Ah, just like at home, huh? (Meaning, the constant mopping and wiping)

W.D.: Oh sure, it's so great to be here, the kids love it.

Me: (changing gears) Oh, well, yes, we love it here too!

W.D.: It's so nice that the kids are so close in age and they're going through the same things, which means the parents are going through the same things too.

Me: Yes, it's really wonderful. We love Little Hands.

So you see, he really is nice…I just don't know who he's talking to in his mind. He's definitely not talking to me, at least not in the way I define talking to someone. He's more talking "at" me, if you know what I mean. Weeeird.

Let's see, what else happened? Katie had a marvelous time with paints, her clothes will attest to that. She was covered in pink, red and white paint (Valentine's day colors) from bellybutton to thigh - precisely the height of the crafts table. But hey, at least there wasn't much in her hair this time. Her hands are bright red from the dyed red rice. Interestingly, Teacher Donna had us each make some more dyed rice during Parent Discussion, with the dual purpose of teaching us how to make it, and making more for the next class. One of the moms wondered if it is colorfast once it dries, and I said I doubted it. Judging from Katie's hands, it looks like I was right! 

Oh, and the class admin called me out for not turning in a form. I'm both annoyed and ashamed about this. The form in question is a doctor's note excusing me from taking a TB test because I'm pregnant. I told her I'd give her the form after my first prenatal visit a couple of months ago, but my doctor refused to write me a note! However, it's totally obvious that I'm pregnant, so I figured that my growing belly would be enough proof for the school. Evidently it's not, and the admin is really ticked off at me. But I don't know what else to tell her...I'm pregnant, so I'm not going to do the test, but I can't get a doctor's note. I volunteered to give her a copy of my ultrasound pictures, or of the email that Kaiser sent me saying my pregnancy test was positive...ugh. Super annoyed.

But mostly it was a good day at school. It is so cute how much Katie loves it! She totally knows her classmates by name now, and we have a great time during the drive there, talking about who we're going to see. Then on the way home we talk about which kids we saw. And of course she has to tell Dada all about school at dinner. Love, love, love this age! (Well, most of the time, hahaha!)

I've grown!

No, I don't mean my belly - although my GOODNESS, that has grown too! Yay!

I mean I've grown as a parent. Is there any better feeling in the world than conquering some difficult situation that seemed insurmountable just weeks ago?

Some of you may remember the Trader Joe's Meltdown of the Century that we had a while back. It was a mega-tantrum that culminated in me yelling at Katie and frantically driving her home while she screamed and tried to wiggle out of her car seat, then me bursting into tears and apologizing to her when we got home.

Well, today we went to Target, and of course, made our usual detour to Babies R Us to ride the "Elmo Zoe Vroom Vroom Car." On the way back to the car, Katie refused to ride in the cart. She wanted to stand on the side of the cart and hold onto the edge, and since it was only about 4 inches off the ground, I let her. Good practice for the cable cars, I figured. Eventually she fell off and nearly rolled under the cart wheels, but she got up with hardly a whimper and not so much as a scratch. Whew.

The Powell-Hyde line, via Target

But I could see the writing on the wall - refusal to ride in the cart usually means something's brewing. And by "something," I mean a tantrum. Okay, stay calm. We made our way to the car with Katie "helping" me push the cart. When we reached the car, Katie decided the trunk would be a nice place to "Katie climb!" At this point I was low on sleep and hungry, and I just wanted to get home. So I said no and picked her up and tried to put her into her car seat. You can just imagine how well that went. Much like Trader Joe's. But this time, I didn't panic. I got into the back seat with her, and shut the door. I didn't try to force her into the car seat, and in fact, I stopped talking about leaving altogether. I started picking up trash from the back seat, and let Katie crawl around the car as she pleased. The instant I stopped trying to force her, she calmed down. I found some stickers and one of Katie's favorite books underneath the passenger seat. And wouldn't you know it? She got really interested in them and let me put her in the car seat. No struggles, no screams, no tears, no yelling (from me).

Hooray! I'm not saying it will always work out this nicely, but I'm so relieved to know that I have other options besides yelling. I really feel I owe it all to Katie's preschool, which introduced me to "Positive Discipline."

Elmo Car Vroom Vroom! I have about 100 pics of this same pose, as we seem to go there about once a week. It never gets old.

More football funnies

Before I begin, I am pleased to announce that THE NINERS ARE GOING TO THE SUPER BOWL! Woohoo! This is the first time they've been in it since I became a fan in the late 90's. The only downside is, now Anthony wants to go to his annual Super Bowl guys-only bash in Las Vegas, whereas before he said he wasn't going. Grr.

Anyway, we've been glued to the TV for most of the playoff games, even the AFC ones, because we wanted to know what the Niners might be up against if they made it this far. We were watching the Bengals vs. Texans game, and the camera had zoomed in on a player sitting on the Texans' sideline. Katie looked up at the TV, waved and said, "Hi, black man!" Anthony and I looked at each other, dumbstruck. WHAT? What can she possibly mean by that? Where did she hear people being referred to by their skin color? OMG, WHAT DO WE DO ABOUT IT?

Then the camera panned on someone on the Bengals' sideline, and she said, "Hi, orange man!"

Apparently Katie had thought the Texans player's dark blue jersey was black. The Bengals have orange on their jerseys.

WHEW!!!!!!!!!! Dodged a bullet there. But really, you should have seen the look of shock on Anthony's face! Priceless!

A small culinary success...

In keeping with my New Year's Resolution to find three more recipes for the rotation, I made Red Beans & Rice for the first time yesterday. I made it in the crock pot, and it came out pretty decent! Unfortunately, one of the ingredients I added (not sure exactly which) made it pretty spicy. So Anthony and I were able to eat it, but I couldn't share any with Katie. So that really defeats the purpose. I'll have to tweak the spices next time. (Pretty sure it was the chipotle powder.)

I was amazed at how much effort it was to make this dish, considering it's designed to be a no-fuss, simmer-all-day kind of thing. I read on the interwebs that everyone in New Orleans eats red beans & rice on Monday, because Monday was traditionally wash day and housewives wanted something that they could throw in a pot and let cook while they were busy with the washing. Sounds good to me (except the part about having to do the laundry!) I suppose I should have already known this factoid, as my mom grew up in New Orleans, but I guess I forgot. My main recollection of red beans and rice is that my Granny would bring us a couple of cans of Blue Runner red beans in her suitcase when she came to visit. Even though they were from a can, MAN were they good!!

The recipe I found online really was simple. But that's not accounting for the Toddler Factor. When I see a simple direction like "chop an onion and a bell pepper and sauté until translucent," I know I'm in trouble. I might be able to chop the bell pepper without Katie offering assistance. Maybe I'll even manage half of the onion. But then the demands of "See up! Katie see! Hold me!" start, with ever-increasing volume. I'm reading a parenting book right now and there's a chapter near the end on "Cooking with Children," so maybe that will help me. Another solution might be to find recipes that will still be ready by dinnertime if I start them when Katie goes down for her nap.

Anyway, the red beans came out pretty good, spiciness aside. I don't think I could stand to have it once a week, though. Maybe once a month? (That's about how often I do laundry anyway, lol!)

What's cookin' in your kitchen?

Tantrums...

I've got something I want to get off my chest. Yesterday we were giving Anthony's brother a ride to pick up his car, and before we could get Katie buckled into her carseat, she threw a tantrum. Not the worst one I've seen, by any means, but a bit of a screamfest. You know the ones - "Do you want your water?" "NO!" "Do you want your lambie rattle?" "NO!!!" "How about Sophie?" "NO!!!!" "Would you like to play with stickers?" "NO! NO! NO!" and so forth.

The tantrum lasted about 10 minutes, and at one point I had to get out of the parked car and walk her up and down the street. When we finally got her settled down and buckled in, Anthony's brother said, "Once you have a second kid, the tantrums are a lot less frequent." I thought this was an odd thing to say, since his first child was six years old when he had his second. I would hope by age 6 the tantrums would be less frequent, and I said so. He said, "No, I've heard it from friends with kids who are close in age. It's because the first kid knows they have less of your time and attention once the new baby comes."

This bothered me even more. It implies that the reason Katie is throwing tantrums now is because she knows she can get away with it. And that's because I've *let* her get away with it. That thought makes smoke come out of my ears! Is the implication that I'm somehow giving Katie too much time and attention and that's leading to tantrums? (More smoke is coming out.) And if we take it a step further, is having 15 kids the solution to tantrums, because none of them will get much attention at all? I'm not a fan of that family that keeps on having kids, but I bet you their kids have all had tantrums at age 2. 

Age 2 is the tantrum age. 2 year olds and tantrums are like bread and butter. Peanut butter and jelly. Peas and carrots! And I don't think Katie has them because she thinks she can get away with it. I think she has tantrums because it's darned hard being a toddler and she has no other way to express her frustration and anger. I'm working myself up into a tantrum myself! :) 

Well, moms of the blogiverse, what do you think? Am I off my rocker?