Excitement in the Living Room

I’ve torn my rotator cuff somehow and have been grounded from driving while on some drugs that make me just a bit loopy. Not being able to lift my arm up has been a challenge, but keeping Claire occupied hasn’t been too difficult. Earlier in the week we collected TONS of acorns outside in a wicker basket and when Claire woke up from her nap she found this:


Acorns – say it outloud – do you say “egg-corns” or “a-corns?” Just wondering…it’s a bone of contention around here and I know I’m right regardless of how this word is spelled ;-)
Oooh…someone is EXCITED and grabbing their chair for a closer look:

First we worked with some tongs and transferred the acorns to a basket. I got the idea from a Montessori preschool lesson where students transfer cotton balls to various containers with tongs.

My tongs were a bit tough for Claire’s tiny hands to handle so after a few tries with the tongs, I gave her a tablespoon and she went to town transferring the acorns one at a time into a shallow ice cube tray.

Claire really took her work seriously, just look at the concentration in her face in this shot:




Good fun that lasted for HOURS. The acorns are still in the living room and we might make a wreath from them or perhaps a meal!  I’m thinking of trying the honeyed acorns, although the griddle cakes are running a close second….yum.  Foraged food from our own yard, how cool!

Pretty in (Beet) Pink

A supper of spaghetti turned into a colorful mustache as Claire ate her fill and demanded more sustenance last night.  I was out of pasta and offered her some roasted beets which she had turned down earlier.

Boy were they a hit this time around! Look at her colorful face. Interestingly, this is the first time she’s squinched her face together in a grin when I asked her to “show youd smile.” To get Claire smiling in most pictures I just tickle her or make a silly face…or catch her laughing for the most natural look. I just wish this picture wasn’t so blurry – darn night time flash shots!

Make sure to look through the full album below, there are some really cute shots of her teeth covered in beets :-) Now that Claire is so interested in cooking with me, I’m going to start posting some recipes for things we’ve made together – starting with these beets.

View Full Album

I had no idea what to do with beets so I flipped open my trusty cookbook (Nourishing Traditions) and found a recipe for roasted beets. I baked them (unpeeled) in the oven at 250 for 2 hours as directed but found they were still too tough. I upped the heat to 350 for another half an hour at which point the beets were soft, super sweet and easy to peel. There’s a great soup recipe I’m going to try next time we hit the farmer’s market (of course I cut and paste this recipe ages ago and have no clue the source, tsk tsk, I know)

Chilled Beet Soup w/ Potato

2 onions, diced
2 sticks celery, diced
2 carrots, diced
2 pounds beets, diced and peeled
Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
8 cups of water or stock
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons superfine (caster) sugar
6 medium potatoes, washed and not peeled
sour cream to garnish if you care for it

Place the onions, celery, carrot, and beet in a large saucepan and cover with the chicken stock. Season with salt and pepper. bring the mixture to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook for two hours or until the beet is completely softened. Allow the mixture to cool slightly.
Transfer to a food processor and puree until very thin. If the soup is too thick for your taste, add a bit of water.

Chill the soup overnight.

The next day, add the lemon juice, vinegar, and sugar. Taste and adjust the seasoning accordingly. The soup must have a sweet/sour balance. In a large pan covered with salted water, boil the potatoes until soft. Remove and halve them. Pour the could soup into bowls, put two hot potato halves in the middle of each bowl and add a spoonful of sour cream.

Just Hangin’ Around

I worked so hard to get this picture of Claire and Isabella hanging on the monkey bars together…I think it took about 20 takes…just as Claire would start hanging Bella would jump off and vice versa. Above is the closest I could get to a tandem hang. You should of seen the girls today (this photo is from a few weeks ago) they were hanging and swinging like little monkeys!
It's really quite amazing to see how strong their little arms and core muscles are. There are a few more “hang time” photos below and some pics of the girls chowing down on some strawberry smash lollipops Lauren brought along.

Claire doesn’t seem to have inherited my sweet tooth, she usually takes a few licks and passes her sucker along to me (yum!) Today she was eating squirts of mustard on a spoon right out of the fridge. Yes, she’s definitely a strange one.

A Book-Loving Gardeners Dream Come True

I’m convinced that sometimes things happen for a reason…an unexpected detour while traveling turned up a great place to visit.

After a long couple of days on the road visiting with family and dropping my sister off at her house in upstate NY, I was coming home and found myself too drowsy to drive safely. I’ve heard of too many instances of people getting into accidents after falling asleep at the wheel and the multiple cups of coffee and roadside calisthenics just weren’t waking me up (if you live outside of Binghamton consider this my apology for doing jumping jacks and jogging around my car like an idiot in front of your house).

I called the ever reliable husband to find me a cheap place to spend the night and settled in to take a much needed rest in Binghamton, NY…thank you Comfort Inn – your beds were AWESOME and $59 bucks for a room in a quiet stretch of town was much appreciated!

  I’ve been to Binghamton before when I was 11 or 12 – we’ve got some family friends in the city and I remembered hitting up this great carousel in Ross Park and I figured I’d take Claire for a romp through the park and then hit the road to continue our journey home.

Alas, the carousel was shut down but I found this GEM of a garden that you must absolutely visit if you have children:

The Story Garden at the Binghamton Discovery Center

That’s their official website above,  but I really liked the article here by Leslie McGuire who gave tons of details about each of the vignettes found in the garden. You can see in my pictures that there are separate areas in the garden broken down by theme (ie: The Friendship Garden, The Determination Garden, The Adventure Garden). We visited each of them and Claire LOVED it. The whole story garden is a very manageable and toddler-friendly three quarters of an acre and each “room” features a children’s story come to life. Little mailboxes filled with related children’s literature are scattered throughout, although Claire was too eager to climb and interact with the gardens to sit and read...but that’s what is great about this place, there is tons of flexibility in how to experience everything!

    

At nearly 2 years old, Claire adored the sculptures-especially the little bears while she played Goldilocks; the little houses were adorable and she climbed, jumped and explored for a good 2 hours. I imagine an older child would recognize more of the story elements and appreciate this place even more!

With the Ross Park Zoo, on the other side of the park (maybe 1/4 of a mile?) and the Discovery Center (a hands on children’s museum) across the parking lot, there are 3 great attractions in one place. Can you beat it?

Oh! Did I mention the story garden and carousel ride are F-R-E-E, what a great deal for a lovely afternoon. I really wished we lived a bit closer, this is somewhere I could visit at least once a month, especially since the children are encouraged to help in the veggie garden and there are weekly story read alouds throughout the gardens.

   Pack your bags. Go. I promise you won’t regret it.

Posting Montage – AKA Call Me A Cheater-pants

Ok ok…I get the hint. Here are some new pics for all you witty commentors.

I’m too busy to write a lengthy post (camping trip to prep for this weekend), dinner to cook, toddler to chase…you know how it is) but here’s a catch up post showing what we’ve been up to these past couple of weeks.

We’ve welcomed a new kitten into our home. Dan came up with the name Walter and its stuck.  Walter finds the oddest places to hang out and he and Claire are getting on pretty well!

View Full Album

We’ve picked and quickly eaten the last of the harvest from the blackberry bushes on the side of the house. I have no idea how they go so big so quickly and no, Dan did not get to enjoy any of these. You snooze, you lose…I myself barely ate any as Claire gobbled them up faster than I could pick them.

View Full Album

We cooked some delicious tapas for the annual party at the grands’ house and Claire put her Pat-A-Cake skills to good use helping to ROLL out the dough. The original plan was to bake these (a savory version) but since we couldn’t get lollipop sticks at the grocery store we made tiny little pies instead.

View Full Album

Cousin Aidan came down from Boston for the Tapas party and Claire attempted to entertain him by shaking all his toys very close to his face while saying “baby baby baby!” Aidan stuck his tongue out a lot which Claire found pretty funny.

View Full Album

Ok! August blog posts are officially caught up. Click “Full Album” above to see the images larger and view a few additional ones.

Share My Cupcake? NO!

Another highlight of last weekend’s bridal shower for were the delicious cupcakes for dessert. These cupcakes were TASTY and Claire enjoyed every single bite.

I made the mistake of asking for a taste - take a look at the last image (in black and white) where Claire is glaring at the camera and saying her newest word, “MINE!”

View Full Album

Ever the toddler, Claire now chants “no no no” with a rolled n sound when you ask her a question. Her head shakes no at the same time, it’s rather cute if you don’t allow yourself to get frustrated!

Ahhhh…the beginning steps towards independence. Slideshow linky here, enjoy!

Dandy-lions

You might call this a weed - Claire thinks otherwise.

These funny “bubblas” as Claire called them, were her favorite toy at the outdoor bridal shower we attended Saturday (congrats to Aslan and Tanesha on their upcoming wedding!)

View Full Album

If you look closely at the photos you’ll see Claire is sporting a tattoo of her favorite grocery store. Shhh…don’t tell GrandBob!

Plenty more pictures of Claire blowing dandelions here in the slideshow. I had trouble picking out my favorite but this photo below is one of the frontrunners. I love how you can see a few of the seeds flying away as she blows on the dandelion head. I’m thinking this might be a photo shop project waiting to happen…which photo did you like best?

Cinderella

It’s been a looooong time since I posted a picture of Claire helping complete a chore. Here’s Claire with her newest passion – cutlery. Don’t open that dishwasher without having a few spoons and forks for her to put away!

-------------------------
Edited to Add -
For those who sent an email about the photo link - Claire is 4 or 5 days old in the photo. We had just gotten out of the hospital that morning (or afternoon because I really, really liked the food and wanted one more meal out of them!) and I was working on completing the semester interim reports. Nothing like a deadline to beat with a newborn in the house! Even funnier, it was post #6 on the blog...and I thought I was strapped for time with a newborn - HA! I'm lucky if I can write once a week now. I cheat by writing all my posts at once and set them to publish throughout the week (which is why Claire appears to wear the elephant shirt 3x this week). Believe me, I am soooo not as together as I appear to be online!

Miss Muscles

Look at Claire flexing her super strong biceps! She’s really been putting a lot of time in at the playground gym. Wowee kid, you sure are looking buff and tough!

I snapped this picture just after Claire’s attempt at blowing bubbles – what a proud moment it was indeed. Here’s another snapshot with her hands blurred from fervent flexing lol:

Ok – just one last look at that CUTE flexing kid (and another angle for her printer happy aunts to choose from :-)

Night, night!

We interrupt this busy day of errands and play to bring you…

some peace, quiet and restful thoughts! Claire and I are taking it easy this week – long days of swimming and playing outside are priority number one. Walking up the hill from the beach has been rewarding, wild raspberries are ripe for the picking and boy have we eaten our share! I think at least a pint every afternoon – delish!

If only I could transfer Claire from her carseat to the hammock! It would be a wonderful way to spend an hour, swaying in the summer breeze and perhaps snoozing too. Really, what could be better?

For now I’ll just settle on some PEACE and QUIET in the backyard puttering in the garden and reading while Claire dozes in the car.

Life. Is. Good.

Ahhhh…are you sighing with me?

Bubbles!

The word “bubbles” is one of Claire’s favorite things to say. She loves to watch bubbles floating down the creek near our house and is thrilled to play in tons of foamy bubbles in the tub. Claire squeals “BUBBLAS!” whenever she sees ‘em.

Claire was really desperate to try blowing some of her own bubbles outside. As a result, I got to see a little of that toddler frustration everyone has warned me of. Claire was trying so hard but mastering the long exhale with pursed lips proved tough for her.

Did she want her mommy’s help? Nooooooooooo!

   

So I stepped back, and let her experience some frustration as she tried to figure it out herself. With a few foot stomps later (and much flying spittle) she did manage to blow a bubble – just one. It was enough to make her happy though and I quickly filled the yard with some for Claire to chase after. Crisis avoided.

Can you say Entomologist?

The other working title I was toying with:
Regina did WHAT with a cake stand? LOL

Another rainy day has spoiled my plan for raising a nature-loving kid who spends much time outdoors swimming, running and chasing after the multitude of critters in our yard.
It has rained so much this summer! Granted, playing outside in the rain doesn’t bother me – Claire’s even got the cutest pair of little rain boots to wear (thanks Kelly!). But thunder and lightning? Yeah, two things we’re going to avoid.

Fast forward to my warped thinking – and my attempt at bringing some nature indoors. Now most people would come up with a cute craft involving flowers and grass and would weave their daughters tiara.

Me? I’m not that crafty so I brought in a couple of new pets:



Meet Millicent and Marty (or fshzzzz and zzzzz as Claire calls them). Are you cringing yet?
Yes, I brought many-legged creepy crawlies indoors for my daughter to play with. AND I put them in my gorgeous glass cake stand.

What?! Why?!

Well, because nothing else let us watch them as closely and clearly. Might be time to find a terrarium perhaps…? heehee

View Full Album

Millicent and Marty are big hits over here. Claire LOVED watching them, as did Dan - and me of course! They are still on our kitchen table happily munching away at the leaves Claire collected (you wouldn’t believe how much they can eat) and crawling around. I’ll have to release them back into the wilds of our front yard tomorrow

…and run that cake stand through the sanitize program in the dishwasher.

If you’re not totally grossed out here’s the link to the slideshow here and some info on keeping giant milipedes as pets (yes, really). The science teacher at school keeps these guys in his room and I sure miss visiting them!