First you take some punkin and add some chocolate and stir it all up.
Den you add some oil and stir that up.
Den you add some crackers that you smashed up with the smasher and stir it up really well for a long time.
Den you add one more chocolate chip.
Den you bake it in the oven so it all squishes together.
That's how you make punkin chocolate.
Recipe by C. age 3
R took M to Children's a few days ago to see the opthomologist for her six month checkup. It was a long appointment for them since they dilated her eyes and did a number of tests. Plus M was very sick; she and I had been in the ER the night before because she was having such a hard time breathing (thankfully her O2 levels were good), so she was low on sleep.
But the good news is her eyes are improving and the odds of her vision correcting by the time she is a tween/teen keep getting better. We also found out the lazy eye part is not due to weak muscles (so not patching her was the right thing to do), but a result of her trying so hard to focus. Her vision is still as bad as mine is so I have some idea of what it's like for her without her glasses, and I can see how she'd go cross eyed trying to focus. I don't even try, it just gives me a headache.
So the optometrist here in town is getting her new glasses, which is good since her old ones aren't working well at all. They are way too small, and the earpieces broke during the move (yes eight weeks ago). They were replaced once with earpieces from a pair that didn't quite match or fit, but one broke again within a week. We tried various types of tape, but then finally gave up and let the half earpiece do its best. They really are pretty pathetic.
Once we get the new ones in I'll post pictures, both of her current pitiful pair, and her fun new, purple, pair.
C and I went on our first long road trip together a few weeks ago. My grandfather (Pepaw) had just come home after a stay in the hospital and a rehab center, so we went to help out for a few days while my father was out of town.
C was a real trooper, handling the two 10 hour days in the car like the seasoned traveler he is. Of course, getting to watch movies for the whole trip helps. :0)
It was a fun trip, with some very memorable moments:
I can't wait to see what future car trips hold...
Who has a little curl
Right over her left ear
When she is good
She is very, very good
But when she is bad
Well, in this case, she's still pretty good
She also loves tuna casserole
And has a very silly brother
Who has taken to sleeping in his hat
C started helping us in the kitchen when he was about, oh, 18 months old, I guess. He has always loved to pull up a chair to stand on and help us in any way we would allow, stirring things, pouring ingredients out of the measuring cups, spooning things into baking dishes, whatever.
One day when I was fixing dinner I smelled one of the spices to see if I wanted to add it to whatever it was I making. C, as my ever present helper, watched me sniff it, and of course asked to do the same. I let him, not realizing I was creating a monster.
Ever since, any time he is helping in the kitchen he wants to smell the spices. He will spin the spice rack, pick up whichever looks most interesting, and take off the cap and smell it. As you can imagine, this has led to a number of spills (sometimes into whatever is being cooked), and some funny faces the few times he has dumped something into his hand and then tasted it.
Yesterday he helped his daddy make peach mango salsa for the pork chops we were having for dinner and of course had to smell the spices as they were added. While R was cleaning up the dishes, C continued through the spice rack, until he got to the cyan pepper. By the time R turned back around, C had a handful.
Turns out it was his second handful; he had licked the first one off his palm. In the few seconds since he had licked the first handful he had poured a second handful and was getting ready to lick it as well.
Then it hit. The heat from the cyan pepper.
The second handful hit the counter, his eyes started watering, and he started wimpering. R gave him some milk, but it took him a few minutes to settle back down. He likes spicy food, but I think it will be a while before he wants anything too hot, and I think he learned to go easy on the spices.
Or at least to not lick them out of his hand.
GRITS: Girls Raised In The South.
Both of my babies were born in the Deep South, so by definition M is a GRITS, but she really earned her t-shirt during the move.
Since the car trip from my parents to our new home was nine hours, we decided to break up the trip so that we could arrive early Monday morning and start moving in. The logical stopping point? Memphis. Since we had the dog with us, hotel choices were limited. So poor us, we had to stay at the Westin on Beale street.
We arrived in Memphis Sunday afternoon, just in time for dinner (at least for bodies on Eastern time), plus the dog needed to be walked. So we split up, my mom, M, and I went to get carryout, while R and C went to find Hannah a patch of grass.
After some discussion, we decided that while in Memphis, one must eat BBQ. After more discussion, we went into The Pig on Beale Street and, as with most places these days, were sent to the bar to order carryout. While we were waiting on our order the very nice lady behind the bar gave M her very first glass of tea. Of course it was sweet tea; very sweet tea.* M loved it.
It should be noted that due to the large amout of toys, books, movies, and general stuff in the backseat of the car, M's shoes had been lost in the mess.
So my 14 month old baby girl was waiting on pulled pork BBQ and drinking sweet tea, while barefoot in the bar of The Pig on Beale Street. GRITS indeed.
*We watched her sweeten the next batch: one whole pitcher of sugar, plus another 16 oz glass full. I told the lady fixing the tea if M didn't sleep that night we were bringing her back to play...
Well, the move is over, and it went smoothly all things considered. From Wednesday to Monday 6 adults, 2 children, and 1 dog logged 4,951 miles by car and air.
Once we arrived, however, things got a little crazy. In the first two week here we spent two nights in a hotel due to no utilities, unexpectedly purchased a refrigerator (and went for broke and got the washer and dryer we were going to wait on), took trips to the pediatrician and the ER, and needed a plumber. This week the owners are replacing the roof on the house, so we are still waiting on "normal."
We are, despite all the craziness, starting to get settled. The children are enjoying day care, R has unpacked and set up his office and starts faculty meetings tomorrow, and I am still unpacking boxes and trying to find room for everything. Two hundred more square feet of closet space would help.
There are lots of stories to tell, and I even have some before and after pictures of the house decorating (DIY even), but for now I'm off to bed. There are people coming here on Saturday, and I have several flat surfaces to find tomorrow. Goodnight, y'all!
Wife. Mother. Daughter. Sister. Friend.
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