....after August 18th. We're away on a family vacation until then, so I'm posting this same message on all of my blogs.
(I thought I'd be organized and write some posts and post date them for while I'm gone, but that never happened. Life got in the way, I guess ;-)
See you soon!
8.10.2008
8.01.2008
Stories Bedtime Son's My
My four year old son finds everything funny. If you cross your eyes at him, he'll giggle for 20 minutes.
There are many upsides to this of course - one being that when he's tired, instead of becoming cranky and prone to crying like most kids, he turns into a completely giddy, giggle monkey (although this is more fun that crying, it can make brushing his teeth tricky).
A downside to this is that his latest favourite source of chuckles is having his bedtime stories read to him backwards. I mean completely backwards - from the last page, starting with the last word.
Now this is not as easy as it sounds (granted he wouldn't notice if I messed it up slightly, but I'm too OCD for that ;-) Our brains are so programmed in our language that certain word combinations come off our tongue in the correct order, even if they're not read that way.
For example, consider the following phrase:
"Suddenly Thomas began to feel a pain in his boiler."
...read quickly backwards (by me!) would come out like:
"Boiler in his a pain feel to began Thomas suddenly."
In order to over-ride your brain's automatic word order sorting process and actually read every word in reverse order, you have to read the text much slower. This makes story time take much longer.
(Hmmm...!!)
Smart kid.
There are many upsides to this of course - one being that when he's tired, instead of becoming cranky and prone to crying like most kids, he turns into a completely giddy, giggle monkey (although this is more fun that crying, it can make brushing his teeth tricky).
A downside to this is that his latest favourite source of chuckles is having his bedtime stories read to him backwards. I mean completely backwards - from the last page, starting with the last word.
Now this is not as easy as it sounds (granted he wouldn't notice if I messed it up slightly, but I'm too OCD for that ;-) Our brains are so programmed in our language that certain word combinations come off our tongue in the correct order, even if they're not read that way.
For example, consider the following phrase:
"Suddenly Thomas began to feel a pain in his boiler."
...read quickly backwards (by me!) would come out like:
"Boiler in his a pain feel to began Thomas suddenly."
In order to over-ride your brain's automatic word order sorting process and actually read every word in reverse order, you have to read the text much slower. This makes story time take much longer.
(Hmmm...!!)
Smart kid.
7.29.2008
Surprise Stew ;-)
On the surface, it looked like chunks of stewing beef and potatoes in thick brown gravy. Little did my husband and kids know, it was spiked with veggies!!
(Heh heh)
I was nervous initially, because shortly after I added my purees, you could really taste them (oops). However after simmering for a couple of hours, the flavour of the meat had really come out, and it was delicious.
Here's what I pureed and added:
cauliflower
celery
tomato
onion
I also made a "spice juice" to add, made with fresh spices from the garden and some water:
basil
thyme
rosemary
sage
savoury
I threw in some peppercorns as well, although those weren't from my garden ;-) And of course there was beef oxo, to tie it all together.
My husband and kids all enjoyed it and cleaned their plates...
(Heh heh)
I was nervous initially, because shortly after I added my purees, you could really taste them (oops). However after simmering for a couple of hours, the flavour of the meat had really come out, and it was delicious.
Here's what I pureed and added:
cauliflower
celery
tomato
onion
I also made a "spice juice" to add, made with fresh spices from the garden and some water:
basil
thyme
rosemary
sage
savoury
I threw in some peppercorns as well, although those weren't from my garden ;-) And of course there was beef oxo, to tie it all together.
My husband and kids all enjoyed it and cleaned their plates...
7.28.2008
3 Parties In 2 Days
Phew! Glad that's over. Don't get me wrong, we had loads of fun, but now I get to have a "down day" on Monday.
I told Alyssa we had NO plans for today. (It was yesterday when I told her that... as I write this, it's about 1:30 am on Monday.) She said "Really? Can't we make some plans?"
Uh, nope.
No park trips, play dates, parties, swimming lessons... nothing. Yippee!!! Now I have about 300 photos to edit and a few discs to burn (I love all things photography related, though, so that's a happy chore for me).
I don't know where the summer has gone!! I know we're only half way through, but I had this vision of summer being this vast expanse of free time. What was I thinking.
Off I go to get some sleep...
I told Alyssa we had NO plans for today. (It was yesterday when I told her that... as I write this, it's about 1:30 am on Monday.) She said "Really? Can't we make some plans?"
Uh, nope.
No park trips, play dates, parties, swimming lessons... nothing. Yippee!!! Now I have about 300 photos to edit and a few discs to burn (I love all things photography related, though, so that's a happy chore for me).
I don't know where the summer has gone!! I know we're only half way through, but I had this vision of summer being this vast expanse of free time. What was I thinking.
Off I go to get some sleep...
7.24.2008
A Tip About Flossing Sticks
I use flossing sticks for my kids' teeth - this saves me trying to fit my big fingers in their little mouths and enables me to floss between all teeth, not just the easily accessible front ones.
I tried a new brand recently and thought I'd pass on this tip for anyone interested in trying flossing sticks. I forget the name of the brand, and I won't bother going to check, because the key point has to do with the handle: if it's flat, it's easier to use.
The new brand I bought has round handles, and they're really hard to hold in place. They slide around in my fingers, especially once they're slippery from being wet. The flat handled sticks are much easier to grip.
From now on, I'll only buy the flat handled kind...
I tried a new brand recently and thought I'd pass on this tip for anyone interested in trying flossing sticks. I forget the name of the brand, and I won't bother going to check, because the key point has to do with the handle: if it's flat, it's easier to use.
The new brand I bought has round handles, and they're really hard to hold in place. They slide around in my fingers, especially once they're slippery from being wet. The flat handled sticks are much easier to grip.
From now on, I'll only buy the flat handled kind...
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