Kisses, Knives, and Pixie Dust

Isn't it amazing how a kiss can cure all?  Well, when you're two anyway.  Mozart was messing around this morning ~ running, falling on purpose, and doing it all over again.  He thought it hysterical.  Until he accidentally on purpose fell on his face.  It was tragic.  Real pain, as evidenced by a real cry, not the fake one that he pulls out for attention.  I gave it a minute (I find that if I give it just a little time before I kiss it better, the physical pain has dissipated enough to allow the psychological healing to take over) and asked him does he need a kiss.  A teary, "I do," and he ran over to be mended.  Three kisses on his chin and bottom lip and he says, "Thank-you Mama," and is off playing again.

I recently read an article where a woman listed off a bunch of moms admissions of failures, or rather, near-misses with their children.  Most of them had to do with car seat mishaps - either they forgot to buckle the kid in, or it wasn't clicked into the base, etc.  And all I could think of was The Knife Incident.

So Mozart didn't crawl properly, really, until after he started walking.  At first I think it was difficult for him then perhaps he was just lazy about getting his belly off the ground, but by the time he had actually learned to crawl with his bum up, he'd figured out that he could get from point A to point B with a toy or two if he had his hands free - and so he Commando Crawled.  Having been through Basic Training and the inevitable Obstacle Course, I can truly say that it takes, much, MUCH more effort to do this than to hike yourself up to your knees and be on your way.  Nonetheless.  That is what he did.

So picture this now. At about 10 months old, we are relaxing after we all got home.  TW and I were both on the couch, and Mozart playing on the floor next to us in the kid-safe space.  We were each in our own little world for a bit before the next flurry of dinner-making and evening routine started.  I don't know what I was doing in my own little world, but when I noticed he moved from my sight I checked to see all was well.  He was playing with a collection of cloth grocery bags and nothing else was around, so all was good.  Then, two minutes later, I see the child making his way across the floor, Commando Style with a STEAK KNIFE in hand!!!  

He was fine, amazingly, as he was holding the knife by the blade.  Apparently TW's lunch bag was with the grocery bags - Heaven only knows why - with the flatware she brings back and forth to work, and he was such a clever little devil that he un-Velcro'd it to access the goods.

I think I will forever have that image of him seared into my mind.

There have been a couple incidences like this.  I'm sure there are with most kids.  And when they are over we look back and thank whatever magic was responsible for keeping them safe!  Did I mention a couple weeks ago that Mozart started asking for pixie dust?  Sometimes he would ask, but sometimes he would demand.  We had no idea what he was talking about.  Seriously. No clue.  Then he started referring to watching pixie dust, so I figured it was a cartoon or something that he'd been exposed to at daycare.   We could not figure it out.  Until yesterday. Pixie Dust is apparently Teletubbies.  I did the happy dance because he was no longer distraught (he did have to pull out his Big Boy Voice in order to actually watch the video).  I still don't know what magic protects him from parenting mistakes and bodily injury, but for now the mystery of the pixie dust is solved.

More photos...

I'd intended on getting this next batch out later on the same day as the last batch~ oh, good intentions!  The weekend was chalk-full of projects and business, and it seems that these days, Saturday mornings are the only days I feel it ok to sit and veg out (when I have enough brain left to type anything comprehensible).  So on top of the usual running around to get the most out of our CSA's, last weekend I re-caulked the bathtub, organized the kitchen cabinets. The caulking job turned out serviceable.  Though certainly not professionally done, it looks so, sooo much better than it did.  And I am still exceedingly pleased with the outcome of the kitchen - we still have a couple cupboards to do, but in general, I don't think it's ever been so neat and serviceable!

Because the weekend was stretched another day long, my work week was stretched a day short, but of course the same amount of work needed to be done ~ and in fact this week was was busier than most due to some unexpected happenings.  Usually I have moments in my day when I can make a phone call or do something for myself, but this week I barely had time for lunch!  Eeeep!  Then after work, somehow, was even busier than the usual even though we didn't pick up the CSA's (break from some, Mme. Child picked up others for us) as we filled the evenings up with haircuts, dinner with friends, marching in parades and going to the county fair ~ Whew!  At the bottom, I've got a couple photos from the fair, but now onto the photos I promised...

Mozart is STILL, a full month later, remembering his good time at vacation.
He often brings up going to the beach and staying at the vacation cabin.

When I saw this sign I thought it comical.
But it was no joke.

They stalked our camps at the beach, and if anyone dare be absent for more than a couple minutes. 

Mozart's castle's weren't quite as elaborate as this, but someone has a great imagination.

And who says that the beach is only for kids?
This man. In his full on adulthood. Sat in this spot, enjoying the waves and playing in the sand, for at least an hour. When I walked by, he looked up at me, with absolute joy and beamed, "This is great! Just like being a kid again!" You go sir! 

It's always a little sad to leave the beach, even if you've been there since early morning.

Coloring at Spanky's Clam Shack

Mozart got to ride a Pirate Ship with Mommy.  He had a blast and "Argh'ed" his way through the next couple days!

Still glowing after the Pirate Ship ride.

Mr. Independent will push his own stroller, thankyouverymuch.

That was a good vacation!

And now, barreling into Fall, I can hardly believe it is fair time already!  We marched in the kick-off parade with my work, and Mozart had a blast.  I did as well, though I was utterly exhausted by the time we arrived.  But not so much so that we skipped the sights.  And the pig racing.  I did not know they did pig racing, but it was pretty funny.

He didn't actually want to ride on any of them, but he loved the lights.

Crazy oddities, "With the head of a human, but no arm and no legs, she crawls on her belly!  She's alive, she's alive, she's alive!"

And more oddities. I missed the creepy call for this one - was distracted by fire-eating man...

Racing pigs. Starring such celebrities as Rush Limphog and Hillary Rodham Clinton.  Too bad my phone couldn't capture their amazing-ness - those blurs are the stars.

*I give up on formatting the spacing between photos ~ it is maddening.  Truly.

Promised photos...

Have I mentioned it's been a little hectic since returning from vacation?  No, perhaps not.  Too busy.

One Mozart quip before I share some of the photos that I promised:

After a long stretch of whining and being asked to, please, just speak like a big boy, he responds, "No, I am always YOUR baby!"

This kid doesn't miss a beat.  I have told him several times, often while snuggling, that he is growing up to be a big boy, but that he will always be my baby - even when he is an old man.  I did not see that backfiring when I said it.

And now onto the photos...

Where we were.

That's in the United States.

Ok, but seriously - we went to Hyannis, Massachusetts.  It was beautiful, and I love to take photos.  I don't have a proper camera, but I do have fun and like to find good shots.  The resolution on these are fairly poor - due to the lack of camera - but I hope you enjoy them nonetheless.

These buoys, standing tall - about 20ft or so - were at a park close to the Port.  

Same buoys, from a different angle, and with blades of grass in the foreground.

Buoys from a distance, with pebbled walkway.

I'm not much of a fisherwoman myself, but the photo called.

Statue of Sachem Iyannough, one of the Native Americans that assisted the Pilgrims on landing.  I am quite fond of contrast that the flag brings, but I've been told that it is distracting.  Your thoughts?

Knot at the Port.

Another perspective shot - grass and a tree.

The Port through ironwork.

Boat on water.

Was hoping to capture the balance between the water and the flower - not sure I got it.

Beached Buoys.

Taken at Cape Cod Museum of Natural History - On you left, that is a Clear Nosed Skate - new favorite fish of all time.

Exoskeletons of the horseshoe crab. Apparently the blood and shells of this creature have now been found to be quite valuable for testing the purity of medicines and for making sterile bandages.

Mini lighthouse - taken from a Duck Boat.

Beach Rose Hips - I tried and tried to get a photo with the actual beach, but none came out.  So you have beach grass and a couple well-to-do houses.  Still a bit fuzzy, but better than nothing.

So that's that.  I'll try to post some that are a bit more people-oriented next.  No faces of us, but happyiess abound.

Ah, Toddlerhood.

Tonight at the dinner table:

We were bribing Mozart to eat his quiche and veggies with pieces of crust from our own quiche.  All was going quite splendidly and then he says, "I gonna eat that toopid crust."
TW, somewhat shocked: "What did you say?"
Mozart, with a smirk: "That toopid crust."
Me, very seriously, even though the way he says toopid is just too cute: "We do NOT say that word."
Mozart "Toopid! Toopid!"
TW: "That's ONE."
Mozart: "Is toopid."
TW: "That's TWO."
Mozart, giving it up for a bit, goes one to talk about other things for a some time. And then: "Lilly said word toopid."
TW: "Well Lilly shouldn't say it either. That is not a nice word."
Mozart: "Poopy crust?"
TW: "That's ONE.  Again."
And finally he drops the potty mouth for the evening.

Later, completely unsolicited, he said, "Tank-you cooking, Mama."  And this was said with a sweet smile and absolutely sincerely.

And finally, I'm washing him up and saying goodnight so we can do the pass-off for the bedtime routine and he burst out into song, "Love you so much, Mama.  Love you sooo much Mama.  Mama love.  Love you sooo much Mama..."

Melting.

Back to reality...

Ah, vacation.  It is good.  Alas.  It is over.

Not sure I mentioned that we were going - it kinda snuck up on me, and then it was a whirlwind getting ready and we were off on our way.  We went to the Cape and it was awesome, awesome!  I might do another post with photos.  Ok, I will do another post with photos - I finally got that new SD card for my phone and I took many, many photos.  So, so wish I had a real camera, but I just know I'll be getting one for my birthday *hint*  *Hint*  *HINT*

We got back last Saturday evening and were immediately tossed back into reality.  Prancer's birthday (um, who gave that kid permission to turn 8?) was Sunday and we generally hold a party for him, so not wanting to fail on that count, we put our birthday hats on and pulled a party together.  I spoke with him the night before to see about what kind of cake he might like (should have done this weeks before, but everything seems to be very sneaky these days).  He said Neapolitan - to match his requested Neapolitan ice cream.  Ok - THAT, I can pull together in a heartbeat.  I did use a box mix and store-bought frosting, but I used some of my freezer jam and thickened it up for the filling.  I went to the store in the morning got the above-mentioned, hot dogs, hamburgers, veggie burgers, potato chips, candles, plates, napkins and balloons.  Came home and put the cake in, thickened the sauce, sliced tomatoes, onions, washed lettuce, made chip dip, and cut watermelon, and set up the backyard with balloons, streamers, presents and food ~ Thank GOODNESS for good weather!   TW ran to get a tablecloth that I'd forgotten and a couple extra chairs, made some punch, then set up the music. I stuck the cake in the freezer as TW went off getting Prancer and his dad, and Cake Master and Lashes showed up with more presents.

Prancer was ecstatic!  He climbed up on this little play structure we have and announced, several times, that this was the BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!!  Now, he says this every year, but it still feels good.   While I was disappointed that I didn't have the cake ready for his arrival, he was thrilled because that meant he was able to help put it together, "And sample everything along the way."

After we'd eaten, Prancer helped me place the candles and questioned whether they would stay lit. I said, that of course they would.  Hehe.  Of course they didn't, but he had a great time making a big show of pretending to blow the candles out, which was probably more fun.  And then FINALLY he got to eat the cake and ice cream properly, which, of course, meant that he could get to the business of his presents!  Ah, the bliss of an 8 year old.

Neapolitan Cake - vanilla cake, strawberry filling, and chocolate frosting.

Later that afternoon, I went over to my first Lia Sophia party - I won't go into the details, but let's just say that it was a bit more excitement than I thought I was getting into!  I did end up winning a lovely necklace, and ordered another for TW *SHHHHHH!* and then it was home to bed, and up for work.

But the excitement wasn't over because right after work we got to see Peanut!!  Her family comes out to visit the area quite often to see relatives and, thankfully, us and the foster parents of her brother as well.  We had such a wonderful time seeing her.  She is 9 now.  And if I can hardly believe that Prancer is 8, it is even harder to grasp that she is 9 and becoming quite a lovely young lady.  Once again she said that wants to come and live with us - that's always hard.  But now what I think she'd like is for all of the people to just live in one giant house.  Her parents really are doing an excellent job raising her up.

So after our visit with Peanut, then life really did get back to the normal work, food procurement, and food processing.  Tuesday we got milk from the farm.  Wednesday we got our fruit CSA.  Thursday we our veggie CSA.  Today, I made cantaloupe popsicles, apple sauce, and roasted beets.  I found a recipe for Moussaka that I think I'll try - sounds soooo good, and aside from the olive oil and spices can be entirely locally sourced!  Reality is pretty good sometimes, too.

Of cats and dogs.

I have to make this more to the point than story-teller-ish* as I've clearly done too much office work today and my hands are bothering me.  A whole post in and of itself, but I may not go there.

First the dogs.  Per Mary's request over at Bread and Roses.

I found the previously mentioned Chicago Dog at Captain Jack's Roadside Shack, which is new little joint in Easthampton on our way to blueberry picking.  I'm not sure if they have it regularly as it's not listed on their website as one of the items, but I will be going back to find out.  I did not take a photo - I often take a photo of very delicious things - as my phone was fresh out of memory, could not hold any more photos, and I was too hungry to erase something in order to make room.

From Wikipedia:

A Chicago-style hot dog, Chicago Dog, or Chicago Red Hot is an all-beef frankfurter on A Chicago-style hot dog, Chicago Dog, or Chicago Red Hot is an all-beef frankfurter on a poppy seed bun, originating from the city of Chicago, Illinois. The hot dog is topped with yellow mustard; chopped white onions; bright green sweet pickle relish; a dill pickle spear; tomato slices or wedges; pickled sport peppers; and a dash of celery salt. The complete assembly of a Chicago hot dog is said to be "dragged through the garden" due to the many toppings. The method for cooking the hot dog itself varies depending on the respective vendor's preference. Most often they are steamed, water-simmered or grilled over charcoal, the latter of which are referred to as "char-dogs." 

The canonical recipe does not include ketchup, and there is a widely-shared, strong opinion among many Chicagoans and aficionados that ketchup is unacceptable. A number of Chicago hot dog vendors do not offer ketchup as a condiment.

I'll let you head over to Wikipedia to get the History and such.  While, as you can see, they do not typically have ketchup, I do prefer mine with as I am notoriously a Condiment Queen.    I could also take or leave the onions, and while I first learn of these spectacular dogs in Chi-Town itself, I have never actually had it on a poppy seed bun.  As there is quite a lot to do in order to get everything on there, I often take a bit of a shortcut and my home version has dill relish, tomato, sliced peperoncini, ketchup and celery salt.  Ooooh, my taste buds just water to think about it....

And now for the cats.

It turns out Stubby was doing it too.  I know that BatCat was the main culprit, but pee-puddles don't form themselves.  Turns out they really were having a Pissing Match.

So now we have two porch kitties.  I was fairly worried about Stubby for the first week as he could hardly be coaxed out from under the porch even to eat, but he seems to have settled in nicely enough.  Sure he still yowls occasionally.  And he did try to sneak back in just tonight, but he seems to be holding his own. I got them each a Kitty Cubby for the porch and their huge tree-shaped scratching post is now on the front porch.  The neighbors must think we are nuts.

In my opinion, the house still smells of cat pee.  I've had feedback that it doesn't, but I'm not sure if 1) they were just being nice, or 2) they didn't get a whiff because they weren't in the right spot.  There is heavy cleaning in our future, but once it is done then it is done.  And then we will be able to get a new rug and new couch and new chair... ok, I may be a bit wistful now... but when we can afford it, we won't have to worry about pee and fur and scratching!

*TW informs me I am no good at this as I have "been typing away furiously over there," but really, I did have a lot more to say.

I should post...

Sorry about the absence.  No good reason why, just generally unmotivated.  We have done some awesome things in the past two weeks: the usuals of farmers market, CSA pick-ups and dairy farm, but also went to a museum and local volunteer-run railway station with new friends, blueberry picking, town fundraiser, and found the best place for Chicago Dogs this side of Chicago (YUM!).  Have many photos on my phone, but have yet to transfer them for sharing.  Perhaps we just need a revitalization.  Mozart knows.  Every morning he says, "Go on vacation?!? Today!?!"  Nope, not today kid, but it's coming very soon.  Very soon indeed.

Ladies and Gentlemen!

He did it!  He pooped on the potty!!  Oh, how we have been waiting for this!  Now we can get down to the business of REAL potty training.  I mean, having a pee pee accident is not fun and all, but one cannot profess to really be into potty training unless and until one has successfully pooped on the pot!  *

It all happened like this: 

We got home and nearly immediately Mozart announced his 5 o'clock poop, "Mama, I pooping!"

"Oh, wonderful darling.  How about going on the potty?" I say.

"No, I good."

*sigh*  

We go upstairs to get cleaned up and I put in the frequently watched Potty Power video for our viewing pleasure.  He watches, he answers the overly cheerful lady's questions, he sings along, and then we go about our evening of admiring the equipment for sale in a recent volume of TractorHouse Northeast**, running amok with packing material while the moms make dinner, eating dinner, and playing with tractors.

Then, an unexpected announcement, "Mommy, I gonna poop 'gain."

To which Mommy replies, "Hey, do you want to go on the potty?!?"

"No."

And both moms exclaim, "Ewe!" and "Grossness!" and "We were hoping you'd use the big boy potty." and "Cuz big boys use the potty!"  

He did say vehemently that, "I am a big boy!", but declined just then to go upstairs to do the deed.

Shortly thereafter, he did go upstairs to get ready for bed with Mommy.  I go about feeding the cats and am readying myself to take a walk when I get paged from upstairs: 

"Mama!"

"Yes, darling?"

"I did it!"

"Oh?  What did you do?" I ask looking up the stairs to see a completely naked boy dancing with his arms outstretched.

"I POOPED!! I did! On the potteeeeee!"

"You did!?! Really?!?"

"I diiiiiiiiid! Come see!"

I oohed and awed.  I exclaimed at the stink, and waved my hands about acting as if I were to faint from it.  We had a grand time.  As I made my way back downstairs, I overheard him repeating, "I got Potty Power!" over and over.  Apparently Grammie and Papa were called to share the excitement.  

We are very proud of our boy indeed.

*Sorry, folks, you knew this was a blog about family life. And you knew that we have a toddler.  And with toddlers comes potty training and these kinds of fantastic milestones.  I do want to point out that I did not take a picture of said poop to share with you.  You have, at least, been spared that.

** This brilliant publication, while somewhat boring for me to read, is endlessly fascinating to Mozart:

 

Eat more kale, they say.

And I finally figured out how!

I have known for some time that kale is good for you.  That we should eat more. Loaded with anti-oxidants and all that.  And last summer I was turned on to kale chips, which was fine and all, but I find that they become fairly intolerable if not eaten fresh. And who wants to turn the oven on in the middle of summer to bake them - even if it is only at 275...  Globetrotter came up with the idea of storing them with the freshness packets (silica, I think) found in vitamin jars and seaweed snacks.  I've yet to try it, but I have some hope anyway.

Today, I think I came upon a winner, though!  I can't take credit for the idea (the thanks goes to a random lady at our CSA pickup), and I've yet to tweak the dressing to perfection, but this worked so well, even Mozart ate his entire serving!!  And there was NO COOKING involved.  Not one hot burner or pot holder to contend with on this ninety degree day.  I did not take pictures - somehow I've managed to take the allotted 1500 photos my SD card will hold (again), so I need to download the good ones, and delete the others so I can start over.

Basically, you wash it, cut the hard spine out, and then massage the raw kale until it loses its chalky appearance and turns bright green. Rip it into bite size pieces, toss with your dressing and enjoy as you would any salad.  I used sesame oil and lemon juice, which was quite tasty, but I didn't measure and it could have used a bit more zing, so I'll let you experiment with your own dressings - and do let me know if you find one that works well!

We will be having this again.  And I am no longer afraid that nearly all of our kale from the CSA will go to waste as it has done every year in the past.  Nor will I avoid it like the plague if it is one of the offerings!

Pissing Match

It seems that's what we've got going on over here.

About two weeks ago we decided we'd had enough of BatCat peeing in inappropriate places and we put her out.  That is, she is now an outside cat.

For a very long time, we did not know which cat was the culprit of the random peeing, but we long suspected that it was BatCat.  She just has that streak of vengefulness in her personality that Stubby doesn't. But the evidence was building against her as well: she was often seen scoping out the places that had recently been targeted, my parents suitcase was peed in when they visited (she had recently been seen in their room, whereas Stubby was afraid), at times she would be found in other unhit places, sniffing about with her mouth open, and then when she escaped outside, twice, for long stretches, there were no further hits.    This was not done without a lot of thought, procrastination, and multiple, multiple attempts at trying to find her another home.  But we had no luck.  And the list of items that we had to throw away was growing exponentially.*

When it first started happening we took both cats to the vet to make sure there wasn't a medical issue.  Nope.  He said it was clearly behavioral.  We did all kinds of things the vet suggested, and friends who are good with this kind of thing, but the problem continues.  We looked into sending her to a "no kill" shelter, but it turns out that they do have to put down cats with this kind of behavior because they just can't rehome them either.  We nearly got a commitment to take her from a friend who has a barn and a lot of land so that she could be a barn cat, but it turns out there is a fox den on her land and that would be just as certain of a death sentence.

We tried to put her out and let her back in at night, but that really just seemed to make the problem worse.  So out she went.  For good this time.  We feed her twice a day as we did before, but we take the food in after a period of time so as not to attract animals or ants.  She finds her own place to pee and poo.  She sleeps under the porch or in a small cat hut I put on the back porch.

BatCat seems to be holding her own outside.  She is hanging around and coming like clockwork for mealtime.  At first she hid under the porch most of the time, but now she can mostly be found on the step or lounging in the backyard.  She has not given up about wanting back in though, and nearly every time we open the door she makes an attempt at installing herself as a house cat once again.

Since the change, Stubby has seemed much happier and more relaxed.  They never did get along all that well.  Let's face it, she terrorized him.  We are also much more relaxed with out the constant threat of something else being ruined.

Then, yesterday, she got in.  It was for less than a minute.  TW was leaving, she snuck in, TW called out, and I went to find her.  I thought she'd have gone upstairs right away, but I found her next to the stroller, and put her straight out again.  That was that. Or so I thought.

This morning, when preparing to go to the Farmers Market, I found that the stroller had been peed on, so add to the list below one reusable grocery bag, an umbrella, a blanket, and several brochures of things I'd wanted to check out.  I doused the stroller with Nature's Miracle, and we have yet to find out if that needs to be on the list of lost items.

So one of two things happened.  Either BatCat is extremely vengeful AND extremely quick about it. Or it was Stubby.  If it was Stubby, though, was this coincidence?  Was it because BatCat got in and threatened what is now his territory?  Or do we have a second problem on our hands?  I have scoured the house to see if there have been any other hits.  I have not found any new spots.  In one of the old spots I found what, most likely (?), is a small drop of missed grossness, but not a full hit.

I am trying not to be paranoid.  I am trying not to think about what we will do with Stubby if he has also acquired this very bad habit.  He is afraid of the outdoors.  He is a Scaredy Cat.  I am more scared about his survival out of doors... So now I guess we wait.

*List of Casualties (may not be inclusive due to being forgotten, not disclosed by TW, or not yet found)

1. Booster Seat
2. Foam Play Mat
3. Play room rug
4. Two shelves full of video cassettes (including classics such as Fried Green Tomatoes)
5. Three Pairs of shoes
6. Over-the-door shoe holder thingamajig
7. Two bathrobes
8. Skirt
9. A bra
10. My favorite satchel 
11. Our entire stash of tea
12. File cabinet 
13. And multiple cardboard boxes protecting other items in the vicinity of target areas
14. Other things listed in above post and possibly a wool rug, which we can't bear to admit.