We're taking Katherine to have her second scope tomorrow. The first one was about 10 months ago. Not looking forward to this at all and hoping it is not something we will 'get used to'.

Reminding myself tonight that there are alot, alot, worse things to worry about. My mantra of this last year: We'll take food allergies, we'll take food allergies, thank you for food allergies.

But still, my poor unsuspecting child. Blecht. Never fun to see them confused and scared.

Irregular blogger

As a part of my quarterly blogging plan (tongue firmly in cheek) I thought I'd get something down here tonight as I actually do want to remember it. It is a cute scene from my kitchen last night that I've already re-told a few times today and truly had that feel-good moment of "Oh I want to always remember this..."

I was cleaning up the after-dinner kitchen mess and Margaret was flitting around asking me for the millionth time if we were going to have time for Blokus, her current favorite game, before bed. I replied that I wasn't sure because I still had to clean the kitchen. Her response was to offer to help me. I'm never one to turn this down. I set her to work putting the leftovers in the pots/pans into various containers for the fridge. She has done this before and enjoys the task, especially the scooping and then later the matching of tops to containers. She was done with all but one small 1 cup square container when she told me she couldn't find the top for that one. I figured it was in the play kitchen in Katherine's room and told her to use aluminum foil to cover it. To my knowledge she'd never used aluminum foil. I turn back to my scrubbing at the sink while she's at it.

"There, Mommy. I did it."

Yep, she has. The dish was about 4 inches wide (square, remember) and she had managed to get a piece of foil that is approx 3.95 inches wide (by 12 inches, or whatever the length of the foil box is). So it wraps nicely on two sides but just barely hits the edges on the other two sides (though she did have it nicely centered, my sweet OCD child.) So I gently suggest that we'd like it to overlap on all 4 sides a bit. I assume she will take that off and start over tearing a larger piece, and even go so far as to hint at that solution.

"How's that, Mommy?"

I turn back to her to see that she has gotten another 3.5 inch wide piece and put it perpendicular to the original one, which is still there. I loved it. I was giddy with her problem solving flair. I just love watching her little brain grow.

And for the record we did find time for Blokus, though she got to bed about 30 min late.

Haircut Time

On Saturday both girls got haircuts, including Katherine's first ever! She was not that enthusiastic when we arrived and saw the 'big chair' but in the end settled down enough to get the job done (in my lap).


The last time I took Margaret for a haircut she was so leery of the whole experience that we had a full blown tantrum in refusal (the 3 times prior, were all fine...). So I was a little skeptical of how it would all go. After Katherine finished her turn though, Margaret stepped right up for hers. She did want to sit in Daddy's lap, who was along since it was a first for Katherine. He was happy to oblige and Margaret was done in 5 minutes. Here they both are with their new do's and post-cut stickers.

Pizza Night!

Before food allergies entered our world homemade pizza was a treat we enjoyed as a family fairly regularly. When we have had it in the last year or so I have given Katherine some alternate meal, since there is a lot about pizza that Katherine can't eat (milk, soy, wheat, egg and peanut are our allergy set). As she's gotten older she's obviously more aware of what we are eating and is ever desirous of our food. I often try to cook so that her foods are similar to ours, if not the exact same as ours. A cute thing she says lately: "We have to buy(or make) some ____________ for me," (with big expectant eyebrows raised) as if there is a readily available milk/soy/wheat/egg/nut free version of everything.

In particular she has shown some interest in pizza lately so this week I decided that I would attempt homemade pizza for all! I made our usual crust (in the bread machine with wheat flour) for the non-allergics and made a special crust for Katherine out of rice flour, potato flour, and tapioca starch (and obviously oil, water, yeast, sugar, salt). I found this recipe from a website for parents of kids with food allergies. (In fact, I've gotten lots of recipes there.) I must admit to quite a bit of skepticism as I assembled her 'dough'... it didn't look or feel like any yeast dough I've ever made! And despite the fact that yeast was an ingredient the instructions called for cooking it right away, with no rising time.

Well, in the end, as always, it is not how I perceive the food, but how Katherine does that matters. I have to constantly remind myself that she does not have the food history I do and therefore isn't missing the yummy crust and mozzarella cheese! I topped her crust with tomato sauce, Canadian bacon, pineapple, mushrooms and her special rice cheese.


Then I presented it to her...















She loved it!! She was so cute eating it. About halfway through the second piece (of three!) she said, "Dis is so yummy."

Truthfully I'll probably experiment with another recipe for the crust but for today I was happy to see her enjoying pizza with the rest of us!
















In the meantime, big sister helped roll out her dough ball and assemble the toppings (heavy on the cheese - ha!) for her pizza. Here she is enjoying hers too:

A Blog: Take 2

Two things inspired me today to want to post after all these many months idle.

1. I read my dear friends' Melissa and Pam's blogs, both of which are always so inspiring to me... AND...

2. Katherine just cracked me up moments ago, giving me an "Ooooh, I want to remember that" moment. Read on...

As I was emptying the dishwasher this afternoon Katherine was underfoot (not unusual) so in my attempt to stay on task I thought of a 'job' for her to do. This is not the first time we've danced this dance and it has worked well in the past for her to 'dry' some of the outgoing dishes from the dishwasher. So... I get out a dishtowel and give her a small plastic bowl and set her to 'work'. Meanwhile I'm flying around emptying the rest and cleaning up (possibly checking the computer for things too. hehe). After a few moments she puts her bowl in the correct cabinet and asks for another. I comply. We repeat this process a few times and I've all but emptied the dishwasher when I glance over to see her LICKING the bowl she is currently 'drying'. AGH! I almost fell over laughing while grabbing it away from her. I'm not talking about a dainty taste... no, she's licking it like it has the last bit of chocolate ice cream in the house on it or something (mind you, it was clean, just wet from the dishwasher). I turn around to wash that bowl out in the sink and turn back and she has the lid and is LICKING it with gusto now too. I could eat her sometimes she's so cute.

And no, I did not go find the three or so items she had already 'dried' and put away.

DAY!!!

Yesterday was Mother's Day at my house. Yes I know the rest of the country did that last week but we were out of town and David didn't want me to feel slighted so we simply postponed it for a week.

It was worth the wait.

Started the day with some snuggling in bed with Margaret. She's never been much of a snuggler so this is currently a fun change. (Ask me again in a month. haha) Then Margaret and Dad fixed us all breakfast.

Next up: Presents!
Margaret proceeds to pull out a file box full of things she's 'wrapped'. This is one of her latest things. She takes items from around the house and wraps them up in one of the many baby blankets around and then declares it is someone's birthday. Love it! Well, now it was my turn to open the 6 wrapped items. One puzzle, one my little pony, one Little People slide, one babydoll diaper bag, one teething toy, and one mozart music cube. Tee hee
Then they presented me with a lovely hanging basket that had been hiding in the backyard.

As soon as dishes were cleared and clothes were on we all headed out to the park for some fun on the playground.

For years all Margaret, ever the shy child, wanted to do was swing, presumably because she was separate from other 'scary' children. Well, now she's figured out the fun in climbing on all the various structures. You could almost see her confidence grow as she scaled each one! And of course sliding down was fun too!!















Katherine on the other had appears to have missed most of the shy gene. She was waving and flirting with other nearby children. She generally hammed it up and had a great time.























After the playground we had a quick lunch followed by naps. Afterwards we had a little more outside play time. To finish out the day Daddy grilled ribs, corn on the cob, and my personal fav mushrooms for us all. Delicious! Margaret was so cute with the citrus ice cream pie she 'made'.

One other cute tidbit of the day: First thing in the morning Daddy started us out with a rousing "Happy Mother's Day", arms in the air style. The girls caught on quickly and were joining him throughout the day as they declared their devotion to me. ha! Well, as dinner was almost over last night Katherine spontaneously raises her hands up in the air and shouts "Day!" and looked expectantly at me. It was soooo sweet.

Oh boy...

Thanks for nothing, Pam and Melissa. Now I'll never get any housework done if I attempt a blog.

In the life of every mom, especially of preschoolers, there are many moments of 'Oh, I should write that down' sparked by some cute, wry, or even wise moment of her children. Well, here's where I'll attempt that. Wish me luck.