Piggy cake

The kids' primary contribution was the decoration - sprinkles and chocolate chips. Moments after the photo, the eyeballs were enucleated and digested by my assistants. 

I baked an almond cake and 3 cupcakes last night after E went to bed. Today, before we decorated, he went to the little kitchen and baked a pretend cake in his pretend oven, while barking out orders to his sous, Em. We decorated and ate a real, rather tasty almond cake with a very simple buttercream (butter, powdered sugar, milk, vanilla, red food coloring).

Peachy pops

E's first recipe. Blend peaches, yogurt, and honey, freeze, roll in sugar sprinkles. The recipe photo included a gumball garnish which, to E, was the most important piece of the process. 

We already had Dixie cups and Popsicle sticks. We shopped for ingredients, including gumballs. I warned E that we would have to wait for the mixture to freeze. He was incredibly patient. He went to bed knowing the pops would've ready in the morning, and he woke up asking about them. He ran to the fridge, pulled out a pop, and brought it to me (still in bed). He happily rolled them in sprinkles, plated them with gumballs, then dove in. 

He loved preparing then eating his snack. And it's slightly healthier than the cookies and brownies we've been making nightly, at his request. 

Recipe #2 (piggy cake) was not even a little healthy, though. I'm trying to convince him to look beyond the snacks and desserts in his recipe box... 

Adventures in toddler cooking

...cooking with toddlers, not cannibalism...

E loves all things kitchen. In his play kitchen, he prepares elaborate meals with unusual menu items like lettuce soup. At the children's museum he loves the laminated recipe cards and shops for all the ingredients on every card. 

For Christmas I bought him a recipe box with kids' recipes, and he has selected a couple that we've made together. He helps shop, prep, and garnish. 

Of course, Em helps. She is often his sous in the imaginary kitchen adventures and usually looks on during our cooking sessions. She is an eager taste tester as well. 

Kids say the darndest things

So many little moments I need to remember. 

11/1/15: E offered to drive to the store to pick up some meatballs. 'Only, I don't know how to drive.'  I love this kid!

11/7/15: Sherri is taking care of the kids for the weekend. She talks to Em about giving up the binky because she is a big girl (she still uses it when she sleeps). Em says, 'no, I'm still a baby because I use diapers'. Fair enough. 

11/11/15: E must have had a nightmare about hot lava. He's near tears with me in the morning. I reassure him that there's no lava coming. After school he breaks down with Sherri. Text from Sherri: 

'Oh man. He climbed in my lap and tears running down his face. I told him u nor daddy would ever let lava get him. I also said Jesus would protect him if he was ever scared..he said..I know he will my class told us he will. Stacy that is some deep stuff!' 'I want the bad things in my head to not be bad. I don't like bad things.'

She told him he could pray to Jesus and Jesus would take the lava away. So they did. And then this text:

'E is so precious! We were reading books and he looks up and says so sweetly...Sherri I'm so glad I prayed to Jesus with you...because I feel so happy inside now! I told him..Jesus always hears the prayers of a child first! He's so happy now!'

I'm very grateful to have a nanny who knows the solution to these things. And such a tender-hearted child. 

18 months!

Our little whippersnapper is 18 months old today! She is such a strong, confident lady - as the art on her wall reads, 'though she be but little, she is fierce.'

Favorites right now: Puzzles, books, Elmo, water, socks & shoes, Dora.
Her favorite book: Anything with Elmo, anything with flaps
Her favorite food: Hot dogs, bacon, candy (such a sweet tooth!), apples, bananas, raisins
Her favorite activity: Driving her Little Tikes car, trying to drive mommy's car

Her vocabulary is amazing. I haven't counted, but I'm sure she can say more than 100 words. Some of her favorites right now are Sock, Jacket, Blanket (all paired with finding said object and carrying it across the room), Hot dog, Ear, Binky, Car, Mommy, Daddy, Ethan, Milk, More, All done, Soon ('see you soon'). She knows most of her body parts, articles of clothing, foods, animals and their sounds.

She loves throwing things away (and usually lets us know when she throws away important items, like the socks she was wearing), loading and unloading the dishwasher, emptying drawers (she loves the whisks), feeding the dogs, and helping with the cooking. After E puts together a puzzle, she wants to take it apart and put it away, which has led to more than a few sibling fights.

She sleeps in a big girl bed and comes and finds us in the morning or after naps. She climbs up & down stairs with ease, sometimes trying to stand but usually on her hands and knees. She absolutely loves to go through the dog door, probably because she knows it's a no-no, so we have to check each time we hear the door open - was it one of the dogs or the 1-year-old?

She gives hugs and kisses generously. I love those open-mouth kisses...

15 months

Emily turned 15 months old today, and we are waaaayyy overdue for an update. 

She is such an alert, observant, and interactive little girl. When I ask Ethan to take out his binky, she hands hers to me. If anyone says the word, 'change', she starts to pull off her shirt. If we put on her shoes she heads for the door. She is starting to show an interest in puzzles, though it's mostly taking apart Ethan's completed ones. She likes to bring a book to me and will turn the pages but doesn't exactly care about hearing the words. 

She shares food with Ethan, mom and dad, and especially the dogs. She loves the dogs and is so sweet and gentle with them. 

She's saying many more words than E was at her age, including hi, thank you, roar, mama, and hop. If E is doing something, like hopping, Em is trying to do the same. 

She started walking just before her 13-month birthday and has been on a tear ever since. She loves to climb the stairs. Unlike E, she insists on descending facing forward, scooting down from step to step, and she's quite good at it. She loves to climb any steps and even ladders. She has figured out how to climb into the Learning Tower, which allows her to stand at counter height in the kitchen. 

Em loves to dance, whether to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse or mama reading Barnyard Dance before bedtime. So cute!

She also is beginning to show her girliness. This morning she took 2 rings from a stacking toy and put one on each wrist, then strutted around the house. Like her brother, she loves shoes, and brings her sparkly blue shoes to me to wear most mornings. 

She's a good eater. I learned yesterday that she adores black olives. Huh. She'll also eat raw onions, raw brussel sprouts, salmon, ahi poke... 

She brings us such joy. The kids have started to play together intermittently, which is delightful, though it's brought the expected conflict from time to time. 

Sweet Em turns 9 months old

Lovely Emily is 9 months old! It's truly amazing how fast it all goes. A few more months and she'll turn one and then we won't have itty bitty babies around here anymore!! 

But for now, we still do have a sweet squishy baby in the house. Em is just a delightful baby. Not as squishy as E was but still extremely huggable, kissable, cuddle-able. She's an excellent sleeper, which is great except that I don't get a lot of late night rocking the baby to sleep nights. I just put her down at bedtime and in a few minutes she's out till morning. Boring. 

She eats anything and loves it. I was watching her devour rice, broccoli cheese chicken stuff, watermelon-lime-mint salad, dewberries, sweet potato fries, and some of her brother's hot dog and I was struck (not for the first time) with how she closes her eyes dreamily as she takes each bite. Mr Leaven reminded me that I could capture it with a photo. Every time I look at the pic I laugh. Pure bliss.

She hasn't quite started crawling yet but she's getting around in her own way, dragging her little torso, pulling herself forward, spinning, crawling backwards, Jedi mind tricks. She got halfway out the dog door today, despite not being able to crawl. She often pulls herself up almost to a stand and can raise herself to sitting and even crouching from the ground. She loves to stand with her hands on your shoulders and is fairly steady without support. 

No words yet, though there's lots and lots of babbling. Adult conversation inevitably makes her babble. Loudly. 

She is fascinated by her big brother. Whenever they are in the room together her eyes are on him. He is definitely in a 'mine' phase, so she ends up losing a lot of toys to big proprietary brother, but she lets them go graciously. He does occasionally throw her a bone, if you will, bringing her a pacifier or toy or piec of bacon (or, only once so far, a literal bone from the dogs' toy box). 

Her hair is coming in pretty dark, possibly with a hint of red but I think that might just be a hallucination. She has 6 teeth, 4 on top and 2 on bottom. She's long and thin, though she still has those pre-walking thunder thighs. 

Her favorite toys are her brother's cars and trucks. She doesn't seem to care for baby toys or stuffed animals so she gets to share E's huge assortment of buses, trains, cars and also the puzzle pieces she enjoys nibbling upon. 

She's a very active little lady. It's not unusual for her to arch her back and squirm like crazy till you basically drop her on the floor. She's as independent as her brother was/is, only wanting to play with a toy or eat a particular food if she can pick it up herself. She loves pulling herself up to your face the grabbing your nose, hair, ear, that really tender area just below your eye... Her nails (aka talons) need clipping once a week or you can lose chunks of skin to her exploration. 

The more I describe her, the more I understand what a little adorable spitfire she is. I love her to the moon and back and am so very proud to call her my daughter.