Archive for the ‘Instagram’ Category

Laugh until you cry

Thursday, June 28th, 2012

Last night was Miles’s night to put Ian to bed. (We switch nights because it’s too cumbersome for one person to be in charge of bedtime every night, and he and I do bedtime differently — which I think is good for Ian.) He was in the bathroom after Ian’s snack, so we went upstairs–past the bathroom door–to Ian’s room to read and wait.

When we got in his room, he cheerfully said what sounded like “Daddy fart do it”. I wanted to laugh but didn’t and was immediately internally upset that somehow he has learned that word — one that we don’t typically use ourselves. Over the next several minutes, long after Miles had joined us, he kept saying it occasionally. He frequently repeats phrases over and over (and over and over) until we acknowledge that he’s said it or that what he’s observing is correct. I, of course, was ignoring it because I didn’t want to encourage use of the word by acknowledging he was saying it–which would require me to say it. So he kept repeating it.

And I kept cursing daycare because he must have learned it there.

He brushed his teeth while Miles was taking care of some of the dirty diapers from daycare. Then he flushed the toilet, and Ian immediately giggled and said “Daddy fart do it!” After a couple more times, we realized he was saying “Daddy flush toilet.” And then I couldn’t control my laughter. Because I was so sure that daycare must have been where he learned it –and I even was blaming the annoying girl so I had someone to blame (it’s so absurd to think about it now still). I laughed until I cried and I couldn’t make it stop. (This is a trait that runs through my mom and sister as well.)

Then, all of the sudden, Ian’s face turned red and his cheeks were scrunched up and he burst into tears. Huge. Big. Crocodile tears.

photo taken by Miles: http://instagram.com/p/MZglHcsbaV/

Then I couldn’t stop laughing/crying at this. But then I heard him say “Mommy sad” and the laughter part of my laughing/crying went away. I think we share the empathy superpower. He was crying because I was ‘crying’ and then I couldn’t stop crying because he was crying about me ‘crying’.

We could’ve continued this crying cycle for a long time, if we hadn’t gotten the subject changed to talking about his day at daycare. *phew*

Halloween Treats

Tuesday, November 1st, 2011

Ian moved up to the Toddler A room last week, and kids in that room were encouraged to bring treats for Halloween. (The letter sent home noted that they are peanut-free and there are kids in the room who are allergic to peanuts (read: Ian) so please bring treats that are store-bought and peanut-free.)

Of course, I couldn’t think of anything that’s really toddler-safe as far as candy goes (sure there are some candy that are probably OK, but most are a choking hazard because of size or chewiness.) And almost anything that is chocolate was manufactured in a plant that processes peanuts, so Ian needs to stay away from the chocolate bars even if they aren’t a peanut product. (FYI, Hershey’s manufactures their peanut candy in a separate facility, so their plain milk chocolate bars are OK. Their allergy warning is for soy, milk and almond. Hershey’s is also the only brand of chocolate chips we can buy.) There were some items that we decided were OK for Ian, since we’d be watching him eat them and they were peanut free: smarties, Rice Krispie Treat bars, milk chocolate Hershey’s bar. Other items I thought weren’t toddler appropriate (Jolly Ranchers) or weren’t safe peanut-wise (Crunch bars). He enjoyed the things he could eat, and as long as we offered him an alternative, he didn’t have much of an issue handing over some of his trick-or-treat candy either. And when he woke up this morning, he didn’t remember how much candy he gathered last night (we only went to 5 houses anyway!) Miles’s coworkers are well-fed today.

Woah. This was not going to be a post about his peanut allergy.

It WAS going to be a post about what we sent for his treats. Kool-aid Playdough. Recipe below.

Kool-aid Playdough

Kool-aid Playdough

(recipe originally seen here)

  • 1-1/2 cups flour
  • 1/4 cup salt
  • 2 packets Kool-aid (she suggests 2 packets for sweeter smelling and brighter playdough, but you could do only 1 packet)
  • 1 cup boiling water
  • 1-1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil (or canola or olive)
  1. Mix flour, salt and Kool-aid in a medium-sized bowl.
  2. Add boiling water and oil. Mix with a wooden spoon until sticky.
  3. When not too hot, pick it up and knead like you would while playing with playdough to further mix in the dry ingredients.
  4. Store in air-tight containers. They will keep for a few months.

Pro tip: when making more than one color, boil several cups of water and then as you are ready to mix one color, ladle the boiling water into your measuring cup. This way, you don’t have to keep measuring water + bringing it to a boil for each color.

This cost me $0.10 per batch (I got the Hy-Vee brand Kool-aid, which was 10 for $1) because I have everything else on hand. I made 2 batches of orange and one of green and was able to make over 18 ‘servings’ for daycare. When I made this recipe for Ian a few months ago, I did several half-recipes in different flavors/colors and it made plenty.

With Kool-aid, my first fear was that it would stain horribly. To  my pleasure, it does not stain your hands, bowl or spoon. I have not experienced stained clothes. I have experienced Ian having some pieces on his feet and small pieces get rubbed into the carpet — it comes out with normal carpet stain remover.

For Ian’s treats, I formed them into pumpkin shapes and put them in bags. I used a sharpie on the bag to draw Jack-o-lantern faces and attached a little label explaining what it was and the ingredients (they look like sugar cookies).

This playdough is made of edible items, but I would not encourage kids to eat it. I tasted it, just for knowledge’s sake, and it is nast-ay. Like eating ocean water. The Kool-aid does NOT save it. So though it is technically edible, I’d call it non-toxic. It is very sweet smelling though.

 

 

I love this photo

Friday, October 14th, 2011

Talking with uncle Tony

I love this photo. Miles wishes he was smiling. I love it because daddy is just talking on the phone with his friend and son is sitting in his lap, pretending to do the same. With a remote control he picked up and decided was a phone, even though he knows it’s not. It’s an innocent, real moment and I’m so glad I was able to capture it. Just moments before, he was doing it–on the floor in front of Miles–and I had to go get my phone. Ian got up then, and I thought I had missed the moment. Then he sat in daddy’s lap.

And at the last second, right after I pushed the button to take the photo, Ian gave his precious camera face. Thank God my camera has a slow shutter response.