36 posts tagged “daniel”

Daniel and I did some baking this morning. I say Daniel and I, but he was not really interested. Rather than participating, he instead played with his “Choo-Choo-Tommy” pop-up play train that my mom got him for his birthday. She found it at a yard sale for cheap and finally decided to buy it for him once she discovered it folded up nicely, thus making it easy to store and keeping it from constantly being in the way. This is a good thing, for it is quite large when unfolded. Being that I was in the kitchen, Daniel wanted to be as well, so I had to work around “Choo-Choo-Tommy” and my son all morning.

 In attempts to satisfy my sweet tooth and yet stay moderately on the healthy side, we

opted to make these “healthier cupcakes” that I saw in a magazine (sorry, I can not remember which magazine it was). They had three options: good, better, and best. My taste buds really wanted the “best” option, so that is what I had planned to make. According to the magazine, “Cake itself isn’t terribly fattening, but 2 tablespoons of frosting tack on 140 junky calories and 20 grams of sugar.”  The best recipe called for you to swirl in Nutella chocolate-hazelnut spread into the batter. I could not find it at the grocery store, so I just bought the Krogers version. When the cupcakes are finished, they have 17 calories and 2 grams of sugar. Not too bad, especially if you are officially tracking that sort of thing. I think that mine have a little bit less calories and sugar because I did not put an entire ½ tsp as called for. I just swirled in a little with a knife.

Being that I had run out of cupcake papers, I decided to use the rest of the batter to make the better option as a small round cake. After baking, you are to drizzle on homemade glaze= 1 ½ cups powdered sugar, 1 ½ tbs milk, and ½ tsp vanilla. I had to add more milk because it was just a messy clump when I added the exact measurement of milk. These have 32 calories and 7grams of sugar when completed. I, however, did not “drizzle” the glaze, I just poured it on the top. So, this most likely has more than the estimated amount, especially varying due to the size of cake you cut. The magazine suggested topping with a blueberry or raspberry, but I do not have those, so I outlined the edges with strawberries.

 Once they were done, we, of course, had an almost immediate taste test. I thought the chocolate-hazelnut cupcakes were great! And Daniel seemed to agree. I think though, after his effort in the kitchen, I am going to start telling him the story of that chicken that made bread. No one would help her make it, but when she asked “Who will help me eat the bread?” everyone wanted in on the action.

He asked for more, and I wanted another, but we stopped with just one each, even though they are “healthier options.” I am sure dinner will be followed up with another. As of now, I have not tried the cake with the glaze, so I am not sure of its outcome. In all honesty, I do not really want any of it. I guess I will take it to work tomorrow or try to send it to work with Thomas. I am leery though because I am not sure of its taste. I would hate to offer it to others when it is not very good. Perhaps if the glaze tastes bad, I will just blame it on the fact it is “healthy.” :o)

Oh, and in case you were wondering, the “good” version called for a specific type of non-trans fat frosting on each cupcake, yielding 82 calories and 13grams of sugar upon the addition of 1 ½ tbs of the frosting applied to the top.

 As for now, I shall go and use the rest of naptime to clean up the kitchen and be officially productive. When Daniel wakes, we’ll go for a run and play outside, for the weather has been clearing up as the day has evolved. After that, it will almost be time for Daddy to be home!

Damien, my world traveling engineer brother, tends to bring back neat little souvenirs to us once he returns home from his travels. As a result, Daniel has a closet sprinkled with shirts from foreign countries. Along with clothing, our little man is spoiled by receiving neat and unique toys from the places his uncle visits, such as a toy fire truck from Poland and a detailed wooden horse from Germany. Books are also a neat gift that Daniel receives. He has a picture book that is all in German, but the German words are right next to everyday beach and ocean objects, so if Daniel chooses for this book to be read, we can say each thing in English. Most recently, after returning from a trip south of the border, Damien brought Daniel a very neat picture book that has English and Spanish for each picture. These books we can work with, and we are always very grateful for the sweet blessings from our loving family. There is one book, however, that Thomas and I have begun to dread seeing Daniel choose at bedtime. Nothing is worse than when Daniel happily chooses this book for us to read:

It looks innocent enough, right?  Well, the old adage, “Don’t judge a book by its cover” applies here, for your assumptions of it being a great read would be sorely wrong.

For starters, it is from Brazil and completely in Portuguese. I know that this language has many similarities to Spanish, which I am familiar with, yet I can not decipher many words in this book at all. Being that the words are of no help, it would be logical to build off the images to help tell the story, using some simple inferring skills. It is at this point we encounter another issue: most of the pictures give you nothing to work with (see the horse and rock & chicken with book pictures), not to mention they are creepy (just look to your left!).

So, the story then has to come completely out of your head on a whim. Daniel has developed a new skill where he is aware of the amount of words on a page, and he can calculate how long you should talk in order to be reading all the phrases. If you appear to be cheating him of words, he will tap the page with his finger until you finish. Demanding isn’t he.

Another flaw: the book is l….o….n…..g... 111 pages to be exact.  Typically, with such a long story, we would admittedly flip a few extra pages with each turn of the page. However, a new part of little man’s bedtime story routine is that he holds the book, not you. You must, therefore, read each and every page, for absolutely none are to be skipped.

Recently, Daniel has been choosing this book each and every night, and we have endured its “reading.” As Thomas was taking him to bed a few nights ago, he made a comment about not wanting to read that book again. I, being the great wife that I am, quickly made it to Daniel’s room and procured the book in order to prevent the extended read for Thomas. Silly ol’ me just took it into the living room and placed it on the couch. Guess what I had to read the next morning :o).

A few more things that I do know about this book, beyond the frustrating things already stated:

1. The girl puppet finds a roach in her oatmeal and she and the boy puppet keep it, taking it to various other locations, for some odd reason.
2. A horse plays in a pile of trash that is stacked outside. The boy puppet collects a cup full of the trash and keeps it, for some odd reason.
3. Daniel really likes it,  for some odd reason.

I love to give gifts. I think part of that love might be shopping for the gifts to give and hoping for a deal, but, in the end, I think it is fun to buy, wrap, write a card, etc. and give it to someone else. So, when I checked my GoggleReader over the weekend and discovered Jessica (a fellow deal searcher and gift-giver) had found a deal to get a FREE Thomas toy from Toys.-r-Us, I knew that my little boy would love this gift, and boy was it at a deal! The hubby and I had plans to go and get him one during a little date we were enjoying without Daniel, but it turned out that everyone else had the same idea and none were left. It made me so sad. I had not told Daniel he was getting one, and even if I had, he would not have remembered that I was suppose to come home with one. I could have just bought him one and I would have had something to give, but it was the whole free part that was really important. I mean, if you have checked the prices, these particular ones cost between $11-13 dollars, so free is very good! On Sunday, after church, I put Daniel down for a nap and then headed to grade papers, for if I do not leave the house sometimes I will just occupy myself with laundry, dishes, the computer,  my husband, or my son, ultimately getting little to no grading done. As I left, I realized that I could easily get to another store, so I called to make sure they still had some trains left. Turns out, they did, but only 6 and all of Thomas. I was fortuantely able to get one of the reamining few, without letting my hubby know, so he was a little surprised too when I presented it to my little precious boy after bathtime that night. Yes, it was a little out of my way to get there. Yes, I graded fewer papers than I would have otherwise. Yes, I know I could have just bought one the day before and not worried about it, but just look at this little guy's face as he enjoyed his toy, as well as the brochure that shows all the other toy options. Tell me how I could have resisted that?
  

  And that, my friends, is why I love to give gifts.

We've been busy in the month of March, and more is still left to come. The busyness has been balanced with rest, so that has been nice.

For starters, Thomas has celebrated a birthday already this month. Being adults with families in different citiesbirthdays have turned into longer celebrations rather than just one day of fun. For the birthday person, this makes the commemorating extend for a week or more, which is always nice. On his actual birthday, Thomas took off for the day, which has begun to become a ritual for him.ically he does whatever he chooses on that day. His birthday fell on one of my teaching days this year, but being that the college I teach at was on Spring Break, I was able to join in on the fun, sans Daniel, because we took him to caretaker’s the two days I was off, just to keep him in the same routine. We had a mid-day date, complete with lunch at Thomas's favorite place and a movie he had been wanting to see. He and I accounted for 2 of the 4 total people in the theater. All in all, he had a very enjoyable birthday!

I was recently able to participate in something out of the normal daily routine. My cousin's church had a Ladies' "Spring Fling," and she invited me to attend. There were elaborate tables decorated in style (and these pictures are just from a few of the beautiful tables). I am not a crafty person, so seeing these cute, themed tables made me happy. There was a great turn-out and everyone was able to enjoy delicious food and quality conversations, as well as a great speaker......ME! When I was told about the event, I was thoroughly excited to just be in attendance, and then I was asked to be the guest speaker, which added to my enthusiasm. Anytime I get to talk about what the Lord is doing in me, through me, and around me, I can't help but be pumped. I truly hope the words I shared were absorbed with attentive hearts. Since the event, I've been decorating a table in my mind with all the items in my house. Who knows, I may have a mini-Spring Fling at my own home, just so I can use some of my beautiful items that have not seen too much use.......or daylight for that matter.

I took Daniel to get his picture taken recently as well. I have been putting this off for too long. He had not had an official photo shoot since he turned a year old, so this was long over-due. Upon calling for an appointment, I was able to secure a morning appointment for the next day. When we walked through the doors of the studio everything for Daniel's photo shoot was ready. There were also these adorable twin girls that had just completed their session. They had just turned 2, and their parents had brought along balloon bouquets to add as props. Needless to say, the balloons were the first of many distractions for Daniel. Eventually the girls' daddy took the balloons out to the car, and all kiddos erupted into tears. My little man completely refused to be happy with the staging done by the kind photographer, Matt. When we showed up, there was a rock wall of sorts in front of a spring backdrop. Daniel wanted to have a white rocking chair instead. In an attempt to get just one picture worth printing, I was willing to let him have about anything in the photo, which I soon discovered would include a mini-soccer ball, a stuffed cat, and eventually the rock wall from the start. Fortunate for me, the pop and blink of the flash bulbs made Daniel laugh, hence a few photos of good quality. Before I could even take Daniel to the potty, pack up his wardrobe, and call Thomas to tell him about the experience, my pictures were ready! After that experience, I will not go anywhere else other than Portrait Innovations. To top it all off, they were very appropriately priced. Add in to the mix some play-dates with friends, trips to the park, the submission of student projects for me to grade, visits with loved ones, a few days for me to be with gal pals, and other such events, you can see we've been up to much in March!

This is a first……and hopefully a last.

Daniel and I journeyed to the grocery store today, and although I normally avoid them like the plague, I decided that we would use a stupid cart that has a car attached. You know the ones I am talking about, for they are almost completely useless. The cart is almost impossible to steer, the basket portion is smaller, and there has to be even more germs on it than a normal buggy. After today, I now have a new reason to hate them.

A feature of these bothersome carts is that they place your child closer to the ground and they make a child a little harder to observe. Even though Daniel was securely bucked into the car, his arms still had the ability to reach out and grab. For 95% of the shopping trip, I was unaware that this accessibility was even an issue. When I leaned down eye level to hear something he had to say, I noticed Daniel had procured a canned good, fried apples to be exact, at the start of our shopping experience. At this point, it was somewhat cute, and I laughed a little at the fact he chose fried apples as his product of choice. I gently told my son that we did not need those and he should not grab anything else.

Once the shopping was complete, we headed to checkout. It is a well known fact that the checkout is surrounded by those “impulse buys,” mainly candy, that the stores hope you will succumb to and buy. Daniel found himself eye level and in easy access to some M&M candies. After a quick “Put those back!” from me, Daniel listened and did as told. A few moments later, I realized he had some Rolos in his tiny hand. I, of course, repeated the same phrase, and all was well again.

I guided the hopeless car cart to our vehicle. After unhooking Daniel, I proceeded to place him into his car seat, only to notice he was still holding Rolos! Not only was he holding them, he had taken a bite out of the golden foil that covered the chocolate caramels. Completely frustrated, I placed him back into the car cart, and we, along with all our groceries, trekked back into the store. I took him, and the candy, to the self-check out station. Lifting him out, I held him on my hip and the Rolos in my hand. I made him tell the older gentleman working the self-check out what he had done. None of it was intelligible, but Daniel sputtered out a sequence of remarks. I then translated what had happened, and the man was surprised that I had returned to pay. I then told Daniel that we had to buy them because he had already tried to eat them. It was also noted that even though I was buying them, he was not going to get to eat them.

After purchasing, the man thanked me again for coming back into the store, and he made some sort of comment about how he was glad I was trying to teach him a lesson. What was I suppose to do? Just let the kid keep them and leave without paying? I would surely hope people do not do that.

I am not sure if Daniel really understood what he did that was wrong, I just know that he understood Mommy was not happy.

As for the unintentionally purchased Rolos…..I ate them. I am, after all, pregnant, and chocolate is always good to me.

Last week when I was sick with Bronchitis, I took Daniel with me to the doctor. In all honesty, I was bit overwhelmed with the sickness, and I did not keep Daniel and his exploratory toddler nature from touching things in the doctor’s office that I knew he shouldn’t handle due to all the germs. Two days later Daniel had some mucus begin to appear in his eye, along with some redness. The pediatrician called in a script to clear it up and noted that it was most likely just a cold that was manifesting in his eye. Turns out that diagnosis was right, and Daniel began to run a HIGH fever, which also presented itself with a cough. I was not certain if the trip to the doctor with me was the origination, but it was certainly a likely culprit.Upon taking Daniel to the doctor, we discovered that he had an intense ear infection along with a red, scratchy throat. Again meds were prescribed, and the little one appeared to quickly be on the mend, minus some snot that has begun to pour from his nose. Today, Daniel is back up and playing. While entertaining himself, Daniel found Thomas’s ipod earphones. He kept bringing them to me and placing the ear bud on my arm or stomach. Although I knew he did not need to be playing with Daddy’s headphones, my curiosity let him keep them a bit longer. Once Daniel moved on to his stuffed animal, “Moosie,” it finally connected with me what he was doing. Moosie and I were being checked by Daniel, just like the doctor had done to him (and me for that matter) a few days prior with the stethoscope. Fortunately, he kept playing Dr. long enough for me to go and grab the camera. You’ve got to give the kiddo credit, for the way he is using the headphones truly does resemble the doctor’s tool.

As parents we sometimes use words or phrases we know our children will not be able to understand or comprehend, but we use them anyway, for they are just a part of our vocabulary and typical explanation of an event or situation. For example, I was recently in a store when I overheard a mother talking with her son, who was obviously preparing to buy a toy with some money he had saved/earned. As the child considered his options, he was torn between a few items, as most kids would be. She began to tell him that he only had enough money to buy the newly observed item “instead of” rather than “in addition to” his previous selection. Those two phrases were not really connecting with the kid, but they were typical phrases that an adult would use without cause for concern. It made me chuckle as I heard the mother and son try and resolve the toy dilemma, for I had only a day or two before done something very similar with Daniel.

We were on our way to run some errands, and Daniel, being the observant little guy that he currently is, realized that we were heading the direction of ourChick-Fil-A. This establishment happens to be one of his favorite places, and he can recognize it and request “fila….food.”  Anytime we travel towards this restaurant, he begins to say “food,” “momma eat,” or something of the like, no matter if he has just eaten or not.

In all honesty, we will often eat there, thanks to the annual coupon calendar my mother-in-law gifts us with at Christmas, gift cards, and mailers via the company to our home, some of which contain coupons for completely free items, which you can never go wrong with.(.....pardon while I continue a shameless plug…..) I am all about eating for cheap, which is an easy feat there. Their food is cooked in peanut oil, which is healthier than other options. Also, the company in general is a wonderful establishment that is heads above any other fast-food type of store, full of clean tables and floors, as well as mannerly employees. With an indoor play place, it has also been a nice place to visit on cold or rainy days. I also know one of the managers personally, and when he is there, we get even more special treatment than what is typically offered. All that said, we love to “eat more chicken,” as their company slogan suggests.

So, as we travel down the road, Daniel beings “Eat, Momma.” I, not planning on purchasing anything that morning yet realizing that we might run long with our engagements, therefore food might fall into the agenda, respond with a “Maybe, Daniel. Maybe.” Daniel is silent for a few moments. Next, he quickly chimes in with another “Food, Momma. Eat food.” Again, I reply “Maybe.”

I do realize that he does not really understand this phrase, yet that was the appropriate reply, for I was uncertain if we would get anything. It was the only retort I could manage, albeit an inappropriate one for a toddler.

“Food, peas Momma.” At least now he was using his manners (peas=please). My response however, was the same “Maybe, Daniel” as before. Finally Daniel responds “No, Momma, no BABY. FOOD,” almost as if I was not getting his request. Chuckling from his response, I, again, reply “Maybe.” “Mom! No Baby! Eat food.”

 Being that now I could not help myself from using the phrase and hearing him try and correct me on my listening abilities, I say “maybe” to him again.  Exasperated from my comments, Daniel changes his request….”Snack?”……A phrase to which I cave. “Okay, Daniel, we will get some food.”

And to make me fall even more in love with him, Daniel, in a high pitched voice proclaims, “Yeah! I excited!!! Food!’ as he clutches his hands into little fists near his smiling face.

Moments later, the boy held a .89 cent order of hash browns in his hands, and my heart began to become just as full with happiness as his tummy was becoming full with yummy food.

I have always been a person that enjoys warm weather and all 

that it allows. I do appreciate cold days too, for I like the variety, but after the fun holidays have passed, I am ready to move on to spring. Lately we have been having some brutally cold weather, for our region at least, and my tolerance for the harsh winds, snow, and sleet has grown very thin. I say all this to let you know that we have had a wonderfully, unseasonably warm day today, with an outlook for an even grander weekend, even though that pesky groundhog saw his shadow, threatening us with more winter. Not wanting to miss out on the sun, Daniel and I went out to play, away from the house, sans hats and jackets, like we might normally need to this time of year. (Confession: We went to an open neighborhood playground that really only exists for people who live in the glitzy neighborhood......but none of them were using it) He and I were the only ones out enjoying the day, for some odd reason, but this allowed me to relax and not have as much of an eye on him. He enjoyed digging in the wood chips, finding random things to show me, swinging, climbing, and sliding. He listened very well the entire time, until we were ready for our departure. Overall, this sunny day was a much needed blessing for me, and Daniel, too. The only regret: Daddy was at work, so he missed out on all the sunny fun.

Many of you will find this post to be of absolutely no interest to you. Others, however, may think this is perfect timing for you, or at least something that you can come back to in a few months when you are ready to being some "potty talk" in your own house.

I mentioned in an earlier post that we were sorta potty training Daniel. This, of course, is a daunting journey for most parents (curses to you parents out there that had the kiddo fully trained in a weekend). He's pretty much figured out the "gotta go" feeling, and during the day or evening, while at home, he is peeing 3-5 times in the potty!! I am utterly thrilled with this fact, especially since I understand that boys are much harder to train than girls. We've got to discover, however, how to transition this success to the outside world. As of now, he only goes in his potty, but he has major interest in the big potty, but just don't try to get him to sit on it! He is also sitting to pee, so there is yet another changeover that we will have to make at some point. Being that he just turned 2 in November, I can see why those things seem a little overwhelming at this point. He's even pooped in the potty a few times, but that seems to worry him a little after it has happened. From what I hear and read, this is normal too.

To help gear the kiddo up for the process or to encourage him in his attempts, I wanted to find him some videos that show or tell him what he needs to do. First off, I requested a free DVD from the Huggies folks. It has parent tips and such, but the best part are the songs that you can play for your toddler. Through this, Daniel learned the excitement of "wooshing" your pee down the potty. We had specific dance moves that we would do during celebration clips, after he had successes. With this being free, you can't really go wrong, so if you are training or thinking abotu training, just go ahead and ask them to send you one. One downfall to this DVD is that you have to play each clip individually, so after a few seconds or a minute, you have to move on to the next one, for it will not just "play all."

Another thing that I did was to explore YouTube for some teaching vidoes or fun potty clips. The best one, according to Daniel, is the Elmo potty clip. It has a catchy song and, well, it has Elmo!

I also hunted down some other appropiate clips for him to watch, and you can see those links below (please note, none of these are of the greatest quality, but they help to get the job done):

"Once Upon a Potty"

"The Potty Song"

"Super Duper Pooper"

There is a pelothra of videos that deal with toilet/potty training, but really, don't waste your time looking for many more. Trust that I have done the looking, giving you most of the decent clips. There is a whole series of videos that contain a Japanese tiger who learns to pee in the potty, but it is all in Japanese. Therefore, unless your kiddo is fluent in that language (or he can read English subtitles) they will not really work for you. And, I have a caveat to share......make sure you preview all materials first. I know this is a classic rule for folks in the world of pedagogy, but after Daniel had viewed some of the cute, decent clips I had found, he kindly asked me to see more, hence I began to click on other "suggested videos" for him to see, which I had not viewed yet. A few started off fine: a digital baby goes to a toilet and begins to pee on it, only to be completely swallowed by a toilet with a menacing laugh. Daniel did not flinch or batt and eye at that clip, but I can't imagine it was a good thing for him to see it. 

Ses@meStreet.org is a great site full of neat games and videos for kids that I sometimes show Daniel. There are even "lap games" that you can play with your kid, such as a hide-and-seek game. These require no knowledge of what to click or when to click it. Instead, they allow a kid to partipicate when he or she touches any key on the keyboard. For example, Elmo hides and your child touches any key, he or she has automatically found Elmo. On that same site is a video that discusses stopping what you are doing and making sure you go to the potty. We have not watched this one too much, but I do think that it could be very helpful, especially if you are working on trying to break a toddler of accidents, rather than just beginning the potty training process.

A final helpful thing that I have come across, other than a few books (but those are pretty easily acessed), is a potty time DVD that I found at a consignment store for $3.00. Now that we have it, I would say that it would be worth buying it, even at full price. 

So, there you have it: a mixture of potty training tools. If you know any other helpful materials or tips, please share them with me!