Where is Ham and Cheese????

"I can't find Ham and Cheese. Where is Ham and Cheese?"

These were the shouts we heard from Madeleine's bedroom last night. Ham and Cheese. What is she talking about? She went in there looking for a story ...

She comes back crying, "Can't find it mommy. Can't find Ham and Cheese with Eggs".

Ah .... she was looking for Green Eggs and Ham. Daddy to the rescue - he found it in the laundry basket (don't ask).

A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A.

A new cookbook that I purchased on Amazon arrived today. I wasn't quick enough to hide it, so now *someone* is waiting for me to get rid of one. That stupid "buy a cookbook, get rid of a cookbook' rule that David came up with. Pfft. I can fit it in the cabinet, but I digress.

Madeleine and I were upstairs chilling out before she went to bed. She brought in Green Eggs and Ham to read but when she saw my new cookbook, she wanted to read that instead. A girl after my own heart.

She put it on her lap and looked at the cover. Then she traced over the words with her finger and every time she got to an 'A', she stopped and said 'A'. Hmmm. Gave her Green Eggs and Ham and asked her to pick out the A's on the cover. She did. In fact, she entertained herself for a good 15 minutes picking the A's off the pages of her book. I'll admit it, I was happy to have a night off from Green Eggs and Ham.

One letter down, 25 to go!

It was bound to happen one day ....

I have a vague memory of laughing at my friend Carrie's story about how her son locked her out of the house. Well guess what happened tonight.

I ran out to the garage and grabbed some pulled pork out of the freezer to defrost for supper and realized I forgot the homemade barbecue sauce. I went back out to the garage and turned around in time to see the door close. No big deal, I thought, as I hunted in the freezer.

"I locked the door mommy!" Madeleine squeals from the other side of the door.

No way. I flew to the door and tried to open it up. Sure enough, she had locked the door on me.

I tried to get her to unlock the door. "I can't mommy. It needs to be locked."

I sent her downstairs to get David (Mr. Oblivious) to come up and unlock the door. I heard her playing in the kitchen, I heard her talking to Sophie and I finally heard her going downstairs. I waited and waited and waited.

I started pounding on the door, yelling for him. Nothing. Madeleine comes back up stairs. "You making noise mommy." YOU THINK.

"Madeleine, please unlock the door so mommy can come back in."

"I can't mommy. Too hard"

"Please go downstairs and tell daddy that mommy is stuck in the garage."

"OK"

I waited and waited and waited. I thought about going around the back of the house to the basement door and just scaring the crap out of David, but the stone steps leading around the side of the house were icy before the ice storm last night and I was only wearing slippers. I figured if I opened the garage door and rang the front door they'd both ignore it, figuring I'd get it. I started pounding on the door again. Madeleine came back upstairs.

"Is daddy coming upstairs to unlock the door?"

"No. He is watching football." NICE.

I finally got her to twist the lock so I could get the door opened. I went downstairs.

David looks up, "Why were you banging up there?"

"Didn't she tell you she locked me in the garage?"

"She told me mommy was stuck in the garage but I didn't know what she meant. You were making a lot of noise."

Seriously dude. Our neighbor across the street is getting a key ASAP.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy New Year to all!! One of my goals for 2009 is to be more organized and I am hoping that means more frequent blogging. :)

Between a few vacation days and work closing down over the holidays we've had a glorious two weeks home. Alone. Together. Two weeks. I am amazed at how quickly Madeleine can tear through the house and leave destruction behind her.

Madeleine is also big into being a 'holper' and has learned she call pull a chair up to the counter to reach what she wants. If the chair doesn't get her close enough she has also figured out climbing on the counter will ger her where she wants to co. I am contemplating chaining the chairs to the table so she can't move them anymore. I've already been told I can't nail the chairs to the floor.

Wishing everyone a happy and healthy 2009. We are looking forward to the new addition to our family in June. Madeleine had been wanting a baby brother but this week she claimed she wants a baby sister instead. Whether we are blessed with a boy or a girl, she has already made it clear she will NOT be sharing Baby Tad with the baby. "MY Baby Tad mommy. Not the baby".

Two Going on Twelve

A recent conversation at our house:

"Mommy, I NEED animal crackers"

"No Madeleine, not now. It is almost time for supper."

"Mommy, don't you tell me no!"

Nice. A preview of the teenage years?

Trials and Tribulations of the Toddler Bed

A few weeks ago when David’s parents came to visit, I had the brilliant idea of converting Madeleine’s crib to a toddler bed. I figured his dad could help take the front part off. Has she outgrown the crib? No. Does she climb out of the crib? No. Is she getting body parts stuck in the crib slats? No. I just figured almost 2 ½ was old enough to transition to a toddler bed.

The first morning I went in to get her at the normal time. I turned on the light and Madeleine wasn’t on the bed. Her pillow and blanket were in a pile on the floor. Checked under the pile – nothing. Then I heard the distinctive sound of a little snore and this is what I found:

The scene from the Wizard of Oz where the house landed on the Wicked Witch played out in my mind. She was under there with baby doll clutched in her arm. How she managed this one, I’m not sure. I just know that taking her out required a bit of finesse. I didn’t want her to try and get up on her own and wind up bumping her head and getting stuck. Getting her out from under there reminded me I hadn’t used the dry mop under her crib in a while.

Over the next few mornings I’d go in her room and find her in all different locations – in the closet, by her hamper, in the middle of the room and right in front of the door. I decided to tuck the blankets in underneath the mattress even though it wasn’t too cold. Nice idea, but, well, she was getting out from underneath the blankets somehow and landing with a thud on the floor. “Mommy, mommy, holp me”.

After the 4th night in a row where I had to go in on 3 separate occasions to pick her up I decided I needed a new plan of attack. Last night I tucked her in on both sides and made sure she was in there snugly. Apparently too snug. At 9 PM I heard “Mommy, mommy, I shuck”. Ooops, had those blankets a little too snug and she couldn’t roll over. I loosened them slightly and we made sure she could roll over before I left the room. Fast forward to this morning – SCORE – she was still snug in her bed.

Twelfth night is the charm, I guess!

The Little Elephant

Madeleine hasn't shown much interest in Halloween before this year. The first year she looked ticked off that I dared to put her in a costume:

Last year she was sick and not all that agreeable when it came to taking pictures.

This year, we brought her to the Halloween store to find a costume. There were 4 or 5 animal costumes in her size, so we lined them up and let her choose. She raised her arm up to her face like an elephant's trunk and trumpeted. An easy choice in her mind.

One of the benefits of living in our neighborhood is not being able to look into my next door neighbor's house while standing in mine. The downside is our street is 1/2 mile long with no street lights. We went to 8 of the 12 houses on our street and she came come with a bucket full of candy. This year I got smart - instead of walking with her and ultimately carrying her, I broke out the wagon to take her around:

The flaw in this plan was someone expected wagon-to-door service and didn't want to keep getting out once we got to the house. Ah well, she has fun and that's what counts.

Bad Blogger

Yes, I am a bad blogger these days. :( Not going to focus on the bad though!

I think Fall has arrived here in Iowa. The temperatures dropped last week and the leaves and the stupid walnuts are falling from the trees.

Seriously, I hate the black walnut tree in our front yard. Aside from the fact I swear there are squirrels up there trying to lob walnuts at me every morning, they make a mess. The walnuts themselves look like green apples from a distance. When they fall they tend to split open and at first the smelly juice is yellow before it turns an even uglier green-black color. Did I mention it stains? Mix smelly, smashed open black walnuts and a 2 yr old and see what you come up with. Thankfully I have managed to get her hands washed quickly. She has learned. Now she just kicks them.

We went apple picking a couple of weeks ago and had a good time. I would love to post pictures I have taken but I cannot find the battery charger for the camera. My friend Cynde took this one:



She had fun. We picked a bunch of apples, bought apple turnovers and checked out the pumpkins. She polished off 2 apples herself and managed to make a couple of friends. They decided it was better to sit in the shade and eat apples than pick them in the hot sun.


So far I haven't done much with the apples other than to eat them. I did make a batch of Overnight Apple Butter that I like. I made an Apple Butterscotch Bread that used the apple butter but I really didn't care for it at all. Had a funny taste to it, which is sad since I like different quick breads for breakfast. Pull a slice from the freezer and go!

I no like ...

Oy. That's all I hear these days: I no like this cheese', 'I no like this green stuff', 'I no like this shirt.' It wouldn't be so bad ... but she has eaten that cheese and spinach before and has worn the shirt many times. I pointed that out to her ... and now I hear 'I no like that shirt - anymore'.

I have been lax with the picture taken but through no real fault of my own. OK, I misplaced the battery charger for the camera battery. Personally, I think it walked away someplace and I should look for it in someome's kitchen. Haven't gotten that far yet though. :)

Sigh, just not motivated to write anymore tonight. Who am I kidding? NCIS is on.

YEAH! We are potty trained!

Dare I announce we are potty trained?

OK, so she peed while we were checking out the pumpkin last night, but doesn't it count that she KNEW it was coming? That she announced "Mommy, Ma'line peeing!" as she squatted on the walkway?

What counts is that she has not had an accident in daycare for 2 weeks (knock on wood) and she is very good (usually) about going at home. We just need to work on (me included) making sure she goes prior to going outside or getting involved in a project.

It has been cold and rainy here most of the week. I fear summer is over and we are swinging into Fall. While I like the change of seasons, the leaves changing colors, apples and pumpkins, I wish we had a little more of the HHH weather. I know my tomatoes were wishing it had been a lot hotter (and sunnier) this summer.

Ma’line no like ….

I have been hearing that quite a bit these days when it comes to meal time. The other morning I was getting some breakfast together for her. I washed some grapes (her current favorite) and cut her a slice of Zucchini Carrot Bread, topped with a schmear of cream cheese. ‘No mommy’, she says, handing it back to me, "Ma’line no like this bread". Wouldn't even try it and it was a brand new recipe too! Sigh.

Last night I made a new recipe – Ziti with Cherry Tomatoes, Spinach and Gorgonzola Sauce. This recipe came together pretty quickly and was quite tasty (got to love that) so I had all the ingredients out on the counter when I whipped up the sauce. I watched out of the corner of my eye as a little hand reached up onto the counter and grabbed the container that held the rest of the gorgonzola. I watched as she picked up a crumble and stuck it in her mouth, fully expecting to see it come back out. "Mmmmm”, she says, "Ma’line likes this", and then proceeds to the silverware drawer where she pulls out a spoon. She walked over the table, sat in her chair and proceeded to eat what little was left in the container.

Fast forward to supper time. I had grilled up some chicken breasts to mix in with the pasta so we had a little more protein. She was happily eating the pasta, chicken, tomatoes and sauce and then happened upon a piece of spinach. The look on her face was priceless and she promptly spit it out. She looked at it all mixed in with her pasta and then looked over my plate. "Ma’line no like the green stuff" she said and spent the next five minutes picking out every speck of green and giving it to me. Should I mention she has eaten spinach before?

It seems my 2 yr old has pretty diverse palate. Counted among her favorites are feta cheese, salami, kalamata olives, black olives, blue cheese dressing and now gorgonzola cheese. When it comes to veggies and dip, she chooses pepper slices (green and red) over anything else. She loves salmon and gobbled up a pasta casserole that was made with sliced eggplant.

But she won’t even try zucchini bread.

Happy Birthday David!!

OK, I am a day late BUT better late than never, right?

Since Madeleine is aware of the concept of a birthday (I think) I figured we'd start celebrating each of our birthdays. OK, who am I kidding, it is an excuse to make a cake!!

David isn't a big fan of chocolate cake or really sweets) but I know he does like carrot cake. I found a recipe for an Orange-Pineapple Carrot Cake that sounded good plus, bonus, it was made in a 9 by 13 pan (no layers!). Madeleine cast her vote for an Elmo cake but I convinced her Daddy would like the carrot cake better. It was simple enough to put together and it tasted great. One change I would make would be too add a little more spice; maybe some nutmeg and a touch of cloves. I cut the recipe for the frosting down by 1/3 and still had plenty to cover the cake. I grated some fresh nutmeg on the top. YUM.

Of course, instead of singing 'Happy Birthday Daddy' she sang 'Happy Birthday Madeleine'. I told her it was daddy's birthday. 'No mommy. Ma'line's birthday'.

Approaching the End of the Summer

Hard to believe we are already approaching the end of August. I know the neighborhood kids start back to school this week. Next week Madeleine moves up to the Toddler Room. Techinically she should have moved back in June when she turned 2, but they didn't have room until the older kids went back to school. I am hoping the new room will help with the potty training. They go more frequently in that room AND they have their own bathrooms.

We did manage to go on one mini-vacation this year. Madeleine and I headed up to Minneapolis last weekend. We went to the Minnesota Zoo, Cascade Bay and attempted the Mall of America. Who knew New Kids on the Block would be giving a free concert? On Saturday morning we met a friend of mine and went to a wonderful bakery for some cinnamon rolls before going to the farmer's market. Of course no road trip would be complete without outlet shopping (chopping! chopping!) ... but not shopping at any ole outlet ... shopping at a chocolate outlet.

By far, any activity that involved water was Madeleine's favorite. At the zoo we came upon some fountains where lots of other kids were already running through them and playing. Many had on bathing suits. As you can see, not having a bathing suit with us didn't stop her!

We were chatting about it on the way home and decided we were going to make out girls weekend an annual tradition .... where to go next year??!!??

A Night at the Beauty Parlor

I have been having a lot of trouble with my laptop this week freezing up on me this week. Not liking me playing around with pictures or even surfing the web. Anyway, been running a ton of virus scans on it, etc., hasn't found anything so fingers crossed all is back to normal.

Last night we came home from eating out and Madeleine needed to get into her pajamas. Procrastinator that she is, she decided daddy needed a 'pony' (as in ponytail) before she could put her jammies on. Just over her arm, on the bed, you can see a sample sized bottle of Clinique's 'Happy' perfume. Apparently daddy's hair needed to be sprayed with it before getitng combed.

I'm almost done mommy!!

I was hoping she was going to break out the barrettes. :)

Olympic Games of our own

I've been running crazy for the last week, but I thought that I'd post a video from Madeleine's tumbling show last week. They all marched out as if they were in the Olympics - theme music and all. Too cute. I need to get better with the camera.



After the march, the kids basically went around and showed us what they like to do. Since it is a parent/tot class, I am already in the know. Once she got the hang of it, she decided she loved jumping on the trampoline. She has since discovered she can bounce on her bottom but hasn't quite figured out where to go from there!



When you see her looking down at the trampoline it is so she can find the smiley face she is supposed to be jumping on. So, I think it is safe to say she likes going to tumbling, so we'll enroll again when the Fall session starts.