Started out with three bad moods (the fourth was still asleep in his crib) and plenty of tears. We were all tired, and had a bad case of the “need a weekend”s. It wasn’t enough that we woke up and today was Friiiiidaaay! Nope, we all had to snip and swipe at each other till time to walk out the door (Nathan took Iliya to school so Max could continue sleeping), when apologies, “I Love You”s, and hugs abounded.
I hate when mornings start out this way, and the bad thing is that I know that there are a lot of things I can be doing (you know, like doing breakfast prep and making lunches the night before, going to bed earlier, getting up earlier, being a tad more organized, etc.) that can help our mornings run a bit more smoothly. I just get bogged down, because even though I’m not officially working, there are still things that I get paid to do (and I am seriously considering lightening my load in that area, too) and the balance – while not as hard as it has been, is still difficult to maintain, sometimes.
But I digress.
As of yesterday, I had finally finished a pile of work (the self-employed kind) that I had let prevent me from being the good wife/mom/person that I know I can be. Once again, I’d let the house go and was just feeling in an overall rut. You know, the kind of rut that screams, Okay…time to get things cleaned up and consider moving some furniture around, or this house is going on the market tomorrow!
Oh. You don’t have those kinds of ruts? Ahhh…I owe mine to my grandfather, who didn’t think it was any hardship to move to a new house every so often.
So anyway, we had a rough morning. The house was a wreck. I was seriously needing a new furniture layout in our strange back living room/Iliya’s art room.
It was supposed to be a nice day, so even before Max woke up, I decided that the day had to turn around and get better. I opened most of the windows in the house, let the chilly, spring-like air into the house, and got busy. Once Max woke up, we ate breakfast, and he played alongside me as I worked on rearranging some furniture (of course with the frequent break to play with him). Just after lunch, he went down for a nap, and I hit the cleaning hard. I didn’t sit down until just before Max woke up from his nap.
Ah well.
But let me just say what all I got accomplished today:
furniture rearranged
deep cleaned kitchen
cleaned out the toy basket in the living room
organized the toy closet
organized/cleaned out both Max & Iliya’s rooms
swept & mopped the house
cleaned bathrooms
other little things that aren’t really noteworthy but all combined, made for a big chunk of stuff
I had been doing really well, doing a little bit of maintenance every day so that I’m not hit with a huge, seemingly insurmountable mess in the house…apparently, I had let that go by the wayside in favor of knocking the rest of my work out, and I ended up a grouchy person. So now that things are back on track, I’m going back into maintenance mode, with a hit of reorganizing a couple times/week and I should be good.
And now, off to start a wonderful weekend with my 3 favorite guys…in the beautiful weather…without having to worry about doing an ounce of housework.
Okay, because I don’t want you to worry that our firstborn has fallen off the face of the earth, for lack of my posting about him lately, here’s proof that he’s still around.
Wonder what he’s doing? Oh…you mean you can’t tell? Well, he’s demonstrating the proper way to shave your armpits.
Would you like to see what Max has been up to gotten into lately?
Up until recently yesterday, if it’s gotten quiet in the house, I could assume he was looking at books. This kiddo LOVES looking at books. So I’ve never been overworried if things get a little quiet for a minute or two if I’m doing something like putting dishes away.
Things have changed.
To make my case, I will enter three photos into evidence.
Exhibit A.
The only thing that would make this better is if I had 1) caught him in the act or 2) thought to have photographed his dirty hands and face, where he’d been eating the dirt – before I cleaned him up.
Yes, I know. Totally my fault for leaving a plant in the floor. In my defense, it had been there for over 2 weeks, so I’d become complacent about it!
Exhibit B.
This one almost caused me to have a heart attack (though he climbed up while I was watching him, rather than me catching him after the fact). Then, I realized – we don’t have stairs for him to practice his climbing (something the physical therapist has recommended for him) so apparently our hearth provides the perfect practice opportunity. I shall not worry.
Exhibit C.
There’s no excuse for this one. No words, even. Just a little bit of giggling, because hey…
…it’s a baby booty. One that was undressed by said baby.
My favorite age is beginning to emerge. The one that spells T-R-O-U-B-L-E…but at the same time, is F-U-N.
Yes, that is a Led Zeppelin reference. But in title, only, because while I’ve listened to that song before, right off the top of my head, I have no idea what the song is about. Except rambling, maybe?
So in the interest of time and living up to the title of this post, let me start.
Today, Max had his 2 year well-child checkup. He’s doing swimmingly and his pediatrician is super duper impressed with how far he’s come in just 7+ months home. She asked about all sorts of things – his attachment, any sensory issues he may have, and the list goes on and on. He’s grown SO much in just 7 months home. When we got home, he was hardly on the chart for an 18 month old. Now, he’s in the 25th percentile for height (big surprise there, haha), 10-25th percentile for weight, and 1oth percentile for head circumference. Two shots and a TB skin test later, we were outta there. Boy, I hate shots.
He has a dentist appointment next week and his 6 month IAC appointment, also next week.
Yes, I realize that his 2-year check up came about 2 months late, and his 6-month IAC visit is also almost 2 months late. But in my scheduling-defense, he had appointments that got bumped by either the holidays or sickness or both. So better late than never, I suppose, right?
Iliya was the hero of the day when – as we were coming home from school (me pulling the wagon that carried both children) – Max started screaming about something. While Max has become the king of terrible (terrific?) two tantrums, it’s unusual for him to just randomly throw a major fit without provocation. Iliya and I looked at each other in bewilderment, when Iliya realized that Max had dropped the rubber ducky he’d brought with him for the ride…oh, about 20 yards behind us. Not sure how Iliya could see that far (it really was a tiny yellow speck on the sidewalk behind us), but I’m SO glad he did! He went back for it and solidly claimed the hero of the day spot in our family!
Max busted his lip not once but twice today. Once, compliments of himself…once compliments of Iliya. Both, accidents. *sigh* Life of a mom, right? Always cleaning up blood, it seems!
I made porkchops for supper tonight. They were DELICIOUS (if I must say so myself) but super duper salty. It seems that I don’t know how to cook porkchops and NOT salt them too much. Oops. And you know, if I say they’re too salty, then you know. They’re too salty.
I’ve got a couple of good photos of what happens when you leave a certain 2-year old to his own devices for less than a minute. But, I’ve waited too late to start this post tonight and in the interest of getting into bed, I’ll save those photos for another time.
There you go! My brief ramble for tonight. And with that, I will bid you a good night.
Christen L-First, Crosby has been having major terrible two fits, as well. We ignore them and he seems to get over within about 30 seconds. Thank God!
Quick question about the dentist. I was told they don’t need to go until they are 3. What did you guys take him in for? Do you think this is something we should do?
January 25, 2012 - 10:30 pm
Melissa -I love the fits for a couple reasons – 1) he feels safe and comfortable enough with us and would’ve probably never been able to let his feelings be known in the orphanage setting. So when I am tempted to get irritated with a fit, I just remember that it really is a GOOD thing. and 2) it’s quite entertaining to see his personality emerge!
As for the dentist – with Iliya, I found that it was better to go ahead and get him used to going to the dentist. Max didn’t really get dental care in the baby home and I figure that now is as good of a time as any to go ahead and begin getting him acclimated to the dentist. We won’t have his teeth cleaned or anything, yet.
christi -One of my kiddos said I love you the same way. Never have sweeter words been heard then when you child tell you they love you for the first time.
Today has been, at times, rough. Iliya has been tired and has cried..a LOT. Bless his heart…when he gets tired AND upset, he has such a hard time calming down. And sometimes, I have a hard time not perpetuating the issue when I try to get him to calm down. Threatening him with a loss of privileges doesn’t work because it makes him cry harder. Reasoning doesn’t work because…have you ever tried reasoning with a seriously upset 6 year old? But to let him cry & cry? I think that holding him is usually the answer…but in the heat of the moment, it’s sometimes hard to remember that. Something to keep in mind.
This time last year, we were still waiting to bring Max home. To everyone here, he was still known own as “Baby Brother” but on this date in history, we had finally settled on his full name.
Speaking of Max, he is talking up a storm lately. Not anything most people can understand, but he’s saying all kinds of things these days….”car” and “quack quack” being 2 of the things we hear most often (he loves cars & ducks…what can I say?).
And speaking of Iliya, he has gotten quite adept at the Wii Fit. We limit his “media” (movie, video games, etc.) time to a couple hours/week and one of the things he can choose to do is play the Wii. It is the source of much frustration and pride for him. It’s funny….just a few short weeks ago, he couldn’t complete the obstacle course and now, he has completed the advanced level several times and is the reigning champion (even better than his dad! :)). I wish I could post video of him but he always gets SO hot that he strips down to his undies…so any videos that I have aren’t that appropriate to share publicly. Oh well. Rest assured, though, they’re cute. :)
Finally, I just saw a commercial for a prescription to increase/lengthen your eyelashes. Really…A prescription for that? Interesting. It’s funny what you don’t know about when you don’t have cable at your house!
Tonight was the military banquet, and we were so glad to be able to go. I have been married to this man for over 13 years now, and for whatever reason, life with him never gets old.
Thursday, January 19, 2012 Posted in Attachment, Max
I’ve talked a little bit about Max’s emerging attachment…but I haven’t said a lot, lately, probably because I’ve been waiting for a moment when I can tentatively declare that Max has met most of the most important (at least to us) initial attachment milestones. His eye contact is great. He cries when I leave, recovers fairly well (some times better than others), and then is usually very happy to see me when I return. These are all great attachment markers (meaning – he’s accepting of me, sad to see me go, but is beginning to understand that I always come back for him). How far he’s come in just a few short months – it’s almost hard to believe he was ever a little baby that couldn’t stand for me to be near him, let alone touch him.
Then, a couple days ago, I took Iliya to the dentist, and while he was getting his teeth checked out, Max and I sat in the waiting room. There are a lot of toys available to play with, and there were also 4 other stranger-adults in the room – 3 of them women close to my age. It occurred to me that we’ve never been in a situation like that one…in a place where I can just let Max go play with strange adults in very close proximity. It would be a super-easy “mommy shopping” opportunity for him. So I decided to try a little something.
I let him loose.
And you know what he did? He played. And he checked in with me. And he played some more. Brought me a toy or two. Played a little more. Came and sat in my lap.
And he didn’t mommy shop. He didn’t really pay too much attention to the other people in the waiting room…his eyes were only for me. :)
It was a fabulous day to realize that his attachment is really solidifying!
He is getting quite comfortable with our family and some very close friends…but still shows a preference for us.
Is he strongly attached? No, not at this point. But I definitely think he’s making great strides in that direction, and it’s a very, very good thing to feel confident about! So we’ll keep on plugging along, hoping that our attachment continues going full steam ahead!
Aunt Kristy -This post makes me smile, though, I’m truthfully not surprised! God knew what he was doing :-)
January 21, 2012 - 12:30 pm
Granmom -I don’t know…surely Nana & Granmom rate right up there with Max having a preference for…afterall, we’re not following the Grandmother Code of Honor if we don’t pretty much give him what he wants :o) Seriously tho’, that is great that the attachment is secure. Love those two little fellas very much! (& y’all too)
Much of the music at our wedding (a little more than 13 years ago – gulp!) was fairly non-traditional (in terms of wedding music) and was by Russian composers. We were heavy on the Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov.
In the interest of doing things a bit healthier around here, I’m starting to make some of our own foods. It’s nothing big, really, mostly a bunch of experiments that floor me when they actually turn out and are as good as (or better than) the things I buy from the store. And, when I get Iliya (and I’m sure, eventually, Max) in on the action, he’s much more likely to eat whatever is on the table in front of him. So, it’s a win-win, for the most part.
Also, saving a buck or two on otherwise expensive foods is a nice perk.
Take butter, for instance. Organic butter from grass-fed cows (yes, it matters to us, but that’s another topic for another day) is incredibly expensive. So I decided to see if I could make my own. I’d never tried it, but figured it couldn’t hurt. And here, I shall share my successes and tips for you, should you decide to make your own butter one day. :)
I just tried to go back and locate the resources I used to learn how to make butter, but I can’t find the exact ones. No matter, it’s really quite easy and there’s not much recipe to it. So let’s start.
Get some whipping cream. There’s a grass-fed dairy about an hour from here that sells their milk to the local EarthFare and health stores. The milk is pasteurized, but only to the minimum allowed by the USDA, as to keep as many healthy enzymes in the milk as possible …and it’s non-homogenized, which really just means that I have to shake it to mix the cream into the milk. Anyway, we’re talking about cream here, though…so I would suggest that you get the least processed cream you can for this. Ultra-pasteurized may work…I’ve read that it doesn’t work as well, but I don’t know that for sure.
But I digress…
You can use a blender.
I tried a blender, and the minute that the cream started “whipping,” the blender lost any power it had. Yes, I have a cheap blender.
So I moved on to the Kitchenaid mixer with the beater attachment. I used a half-gallon of cream (which was really too much in hindsight, but it all worked out). To keep the cream from sloshing out everywhere, I just draped a large towel over it. Go ahead, have a towel handy…you’ll need it.
Turn the mixer on. The cream will eventually get enough air in it and become whipping cream (without the sweetness). Fascinating stuff, right there.
It seems like it takes forEVER for it to whip up. In the resources I used, I kept reading that you’ll begin wondering if you’re doing something wrong and then all the sudden, the separation of butter and buttermilk is finished. It seizes up and…voila! Butter!
I got to that point. I had been letting the mixer run while I cleaned up the kitchen, ran to the restroom, straightened up the living room. I finally thought it was no use, that I would never have butter.
And then the mixer began making a funny noise. Nathan and I both went to check on it, and they don’t call it “seizing” for nothing. All of the sudden, the butter literally seized up, and the buttermilk didn’t have anywhere to go but to explode out of the mixing bowl. Fortunately, I had that towel draped over the mixer. Unfortunately, we had pulled the towel back when we were checking on it, so we had buttermilk all over the kitchen.
Ah well.
So here, we got everything separated out. The butter and the buttermilk.
And to make the butter last, I had to wash all of the buttermilk off of it, so that it wouldn’t spoil. To do that, I just put a bit of butter in the bowl with some ice water (don’t want your butter melting with water that’s too warm!) and just mixed for a minute and poured it out. Eventually, I just took the butter out and ran it under cold water with my hands. The main thing is to get it looking like it does when it’s at the store.
Next, we did 2 things – used about half the butter to make a log of butter that I just rolled up in wax paper. And the other half, I measured out in tablespoons and refrigerated it that way. I had a little help with that part. :)
And here is the finished product!
It’s still so fascinating to me that I started out with a half gallon of cream and ended up with a yellow solid. Since the mixer did most of the work for me, it didn’t take long at all. And it’s pretty economical, too, especially considering how much high quality, organic butter costs.
So there you have it! How we made butter in one afternoon!
Carolyn -You are so much fun. I love the things you teach us and I want to try that too. Only thing is this ok if you have high clestrole? I don’t know how to spell that word. I’ve been looking at sugar-free desserts for a diabetic. I have some very good ones so far. I did roast my green beans and asparagus. We loved it. I make the salad now all the time where you rub the garlic in the bowl. I love your ideas.
January 18, 2012 - 10:43 am
Granmom -I still say we need to check with relatives to see who might have Grandma’s butter churn…now that would probably give you a work-out & some yummy butter to bake cookies with after your work-out. Don’t know that she was concerned with grass-fed cows, but the dairy nearby would sell them the mostly unpasteurized milk to make the butter with. Reckon it was the butter-churning that helped her live to almost 100??? Maybe you need to re-think the KitchenAid mixer :o)
January 18, 2012 - 12:54 pm
Rob O.-I’m a big proponent of butter – I’d rather use a tablespoon of real butter than 1/4 cup of margarine or other butter-like stuff.
I’ve never tried making my own, but you’ve kinda inspired me!
January 19, 2012 - 9:47 pm
Treva -When we had cows I regularly milked them and made my own butter. I’d make gifts of it for folks and it was always a hit. If you want to make it brighter in color you can cook shredded carrots in the left over milk and then strain the color out to add to the butter. Good way to add more color without using artificial food die. Can be artistic with bright color and in interesting molds.
January 20, 2012 - 7:37 am
Christen L-Oh I’m just cracking up. You are a regular Martha aren’t you?! I made real butter once (last year for Thanksgiving), but I flavored it with honey and cinnamon. I highly recommend it!!
They had just had a bath and their mama was trying to get a photo of them because she thought they were cute. It didn’t really work out because they were both very tired and the duck kept getting seriously distracted by the frog. The frog, loving the attention from the duck, couldn’t quit being a distraction. The mama snapped a few photos and decided to call it a night.
Moral of the story: the photos may not be the best. take them anyway.
It’s late. I’m sleepy and tomorrow is a holiday. We don’t have any plans, except to do no work – and only family stuff – tomorrow. So I’m working extra hard tonight, trying to make sure my online class is good to go and that my students can work…you know, if they want to. I may not last much longer <yawn> but I thought I’d do a quick “Brain Dump” while some things are uploading.
Tonight, on facebook, I saw a photograph of a child I haven’t seen since she was 3 years old. I wouldn’t have recognized her if she hadn’t been tagged in the photo. What happens when a 12 years pass since you’ve seen a 3 year old? They are all the sudden 15 and you feel old because, once upon a time, they were in your preschool classroom and you helped potty train them.
Oh boy. It’s made me want to look up other kids I once taught, but somehow I feel like that would put me in the creeper zone. It would be cool if I randomly came across them, though, sorta like what happened tonight. I’d love to see where they all are, now.
I created a video, tonight, for the students of the online class I’m teaching this semester. It’s an “intro” type video, and after I watched about 2 minutes of it, I realized I have a serious problem. Here’s the facebook status I wrote earlier: “ahhm, I just taped a video, introducing myself to my students & to go over the, ahhhm, syllabus, for my ahhhm, online class this semester. I, ahhm, videoed for 13 minutes and for some reason, only a minute and a half got, ahhhm, captured. I’m sort of…ahhhm…glad for that malfunction because, in less than 2 minutes of replay, I, ahhhm, realized that I need to retape anyway because of an apparent, ahhhm, problem I have when speaking. Oh dear. I AM that teacher whose “ums” the students probably count. SO embarassing.”
This, my friends, is why I stick to the written word when I can. And when I can’t, I just have to be cognizant of my “um” tendency. Which I was not cognizant of tonight. So even if I hadn’t had technical difficulties, that would’ve been re-videoed.
Max is back to sucking his thumb…part-time, anyway. His thumbs seem to be healed up, so I let him do it at night. During the daytime, though, we have a strict “no thumb sucking” policy. That sounds harsh, but it’s really not as bad as it seems. He seems to have pretty well broken himself of sucking them during the day (except for at naptime)…at times, you can see him contemplating a quick thumb suck, but almost 100% of the time, he thinks better of it. It’s funny to see the wheels turning in his head, though. I honestly don’t care that he sucks them, I just don’t want them to keep getting infected. So as long as he sticks to bedtimes, then hopefully we’ll be okay.
You’re going to think I’m nuts (I even think I’m a little crazy), but I think he can count to 10. At least sort of. If I say “one,” he says “two” and other numbers that are fairly discernible without my prompting are four, six, eight, nine, and ten. I keep trying to get this on video so that I can go back and watch to see if I’m going nuts, but the second I pull out a camera or my phone, he quits immediately in favor of hoping to get a chance to play with some technological gadgets. It’s frustrating. Nathan has heard it, though, and I just can’t imagine Max saying the same things over & over the same way without it being really counting. Now, he doesn’t have a good concept of 1:1 correspondence, but that will come. It’s just obvious that I count with him a lot.
We also had a physical therapy and an occupational therapy appointment for him this past week. Nothing really to report from those, except that the physical therapist is super pleased with his progress on the walking front – he still looks like frankenstein, but she said that his gait will get smoother and smoother the more practice he gets. She’s just thrilled that he walks 100% of the time, now! The OT’s visit went great – Max is right on track (even advanced) in some areas [he can string the whatever out of some beads] but very delayed in others [his pincer grasp is a "modified" pincer for whatever reason - he uses his thumb and middle finger about 80% of the time]. He also has a weak grasp that needs strengthening. So I’m doing formal therapy with him every other day and hoping for some improvement. I’m just thankful that his delays are pretty small at this point.
Nathan and I are attending a military banquet this weekend. He is going to be smashingly handsome in his mess dress. Me? I’d better get to looking for a dress. Yes, I LOVE to dress up. But I HATE to go shopping, especially for evening wear. It’s intimidating and I’m just not good at picking things out. And yeah, I wait till the last minute. So hopefully I’ll find something that doesn’t require altering.
Okay, my video is only 70% uploaded. I think my students can wait another few hours for it (like they’re online at midnight) while I go get some shuteye before my early risers begin waking.
It’s still so fascinating to me that I started out with a half gallon of cream and ended up with a yellow solid. Since the mixer did most of the work for me, it didn’t take long at all. And it’s pretty economical, too, especially considering how much high quality, organic butter costs.
by Melissa
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