Lemon Face/Yellow Day

Today, since Nadya recently learned her first “color” word, I decided that we would have Yellow Day!  I gathered around every yellow thing I could find in the house.  Paper, crayons, magnets, blocks, a doll, and even a lemon!

She definitely had fun playing with the little “yellow picnic” I set up for her in the living room. We played with her blocks, and I talked to her about how they were all yellow, even if some of them were different shades.

Then, she found the lemon, and the fun really started.  She actually seems to like lemons most of the time.  We probably look like a strange family in the grocery store, because one of the ways we keep her happy is to buy a lemon and let her play with it and chew on it while we are shopping!  But, while she’s used to shaving off a little lemon zest with her teeth, she is NOT used to straight up lemon juice.

So, I took a milkshake straw, and used it to screw a hole into the lemon, to let juice out without cutting the lemon up (Nadya was so happy about the lemon, I knew it would have broken her heart!)

Just a little force, using the straw like a screw, and we had a nice hole in a still intact lemon!

Nadya decided to have a try!  At first, her lemon looked so tasty!

Hi, lemon! You are my lemony friend, right?

She happily gnawed on it for a minute…until she got a taste of full-on lemon juice.  It was pretty obvious how quickly her opinion of the lemon changed:

"I'm still trying to like it...I'm still trying to like it. Oh, no. Oh, no, this was a bad idea."

After that, she was definitely over trying to eat the lemon.  But, she still happily played with it for at least another 20 minutes.  She kept digging her thumb into it, and squeezing the lemon to watch little droplets of juice run out.

Yellow Day success!

Love,

Liz, a.k.a. Mama

Pigtails and DJ’s Birthday Candles

Haven’t posted for a few days, but for good (and lazy) reasons.

Lazy reason:  The rechargeable batteries for our camera were in our extra x-box controller, and I didn’t feel like putting them back in to take pictures.  Whoops, did I just admit that?

Good reason:  Thursday was DJ’s 26th birthday.  We decided to open up his (our) blu-ray player the night before, to watch The X-Files….on our TV screen!  (Instead of on our computer.  Have to love Hulu Plus!)  Of course, we were watching the The X-Files to commemorate his other gift, a copy of the “I Want to Believe” poster in Mulder’s office.  We fully embrace our dorkitude!

I dressed Nadya for the day, and found that her hair is finally long enough for pigtails again!  (After her hair cut, it was a bit too short.)

Seen lurking in the background: The wild and elusive Birthday Boy!

Gazing wistfully off into the forest, toothbrush in hand.

We went out to his parents’ house for the day, where we had DJ’s choice of fajitas and this awesome bean dip for dinner, and then settled into our respective comfy chairs to rest our stomachs before they exploded from forcible expansion with deliciousness.

Nadya chased her grandpa around and taunted him by pointing at him and shouting “BOB!”  It is funny because, when DJ’s younger sister Emilie was a little baby, she used to call her dad “Bob,” despite all efforts to teach her the word “dada.”  The running joke was, “Who is this Bob, huh?!”  Well, for most of Nadya’s life, her Grandpa Marc has been telling her, “You’d better not be like my daughter and call me ‘Bob’!  I’m ‘Grandpa’!”  So, of course, that backfired on him, and now she takes great glee in stalking him around their house, yelling “BOB!  BOB!”

When she finally took a break from grandpa-baiting, we all (DJ, Nadya and I, his parents, sister, and Grandma Odette) sat down for confetti cake and ice cream!  Unlike her last birthday, where she utterly refused to taste her own cake, Nadya was quite willing to dig in (to my piece, of course.  Mom’s food is always better for some reason!)

It was a nice, relaxing day for everyone, and I’m so glad that DJ was able to have a nice birthday.  He really needed it, and definitely deserved it.

Love you, DJ

Liz, a.k.a. Mama, a.k.a. Baker of Boxed Cake, Extraordinaire

Grape Candy

It’s been a real struggle to get Nadya to eat something, anything at breakfast time.  (Well, truthfully it’s a struggle at any time.)  It is very difficult to get her to eat.  Even the tastiest, most creatively healthy foods end up either entirely ignored, or tossed on the carpet.  I mom guilt myself, and wonder, “Is this my fault somehow?  How do I get this kid to eat?!” but then remind myself of a certain Louis C.K. skit, and know that it is not just me!

But, what is the answer?  What do we do?  So far, I don’t know.  She is slowly beginning to warm up to foods on her own, but there are still more days than I’d like to admit where she lives on pretzels, craisins, plain rice, and boobies.  I want her to eat healthy, and try to tempt her with yummy avocados, banana and yogurt smoothies, veggie stir fry, anything I can think of, but she stubbornly refuses to do anything but turn up her nose at it.  So frustrating!

Finally, lately, I’ve gotten her into the habit of eating cereal in the morning.  Great, right?  There are a ton of healthy cereal options out there that are tasty, too.  I had her eating Mini Wheats, and was trying to edge her towards Cheerios, when the inevitable happened…DJ dragged home an enormous box of Lucky Charms.  NOOOOOO!  It’s not that I have some vendetta against the cereal, but I had a sneaking suspicion that she wasn’t going to be eating the “cereal” part of it.

Of course, my suspicion was quickly confirmed, and after that, all she wanted for breakfast was Lucky Charms (and all she wanted from Lucky Charms were the marshmallows.).  (Anyone who would say, “Just feed her something else!” hasn’t experienced the horror of trying to feed a finicky toddler something other than the single thing she is demanding.  It’s a ton of fun, if you’re the kind of person who deeply enjoys small repetitive tasks like, say, picking 200 bits of wet cereal out of the carpet three times by lunch.)  But, annoyed as I was that she was demanding this sugary cereal, I did notice that she was far more willing to eat it, and would seem excited to run to the table for breakfast, which was definitely out of character for her.  So, the second task:  How do I use this to get her to eat breakfast (but healthier breakfast, a.k.a. not a cereal she can sit and pick the marshmallows out of)?

My answer?  ”Grape Candy” cereal, or, as you may know it…..Raisin Bran.  Ha!

Who knew bran could be so exciting?

First, I made it desirable to her by pretending that it was only for mommy and daddy, and she couldn’t have any.  After a few minutes of getting her worked up, she was climbing on our laps, demanding to try it.  Then, I told her that it was “special grape candy cereal,” and that it was just for daddy, but “because you’re being so nice this morning, we’ll let you have some.”

Worked like a charm!  ;)

Now, when DJ is out of the house in the morning, we sneak into the kitchen to “steal the grape candy cereal,” and gloat over having gotten a bowl of daddy’s cereal.  We make a huge production out of it, and it is very fun, especially when compared to our previous “I hate breakfast, except when it is soaking into the living room carpet,” scenario.  I’m hoping that soon I’ll be able to move her on to trying other breakfast foods.  (Oatmeal with fruit?  Dare I dream?)  For now, I’m content that she isn’t eating marshmallows and pretzels for breakfast.

Love,

Liz, a.k.a. Mama, a.k.a. Stewart of the Magical Grape Candy Cereal

Wood & Coffee

This morning, DJ and I definitely needed a pick-me-up (that’s what we get for watching The X-Files until 1:30 AM!), so we stopped over at Cabin Creek Coffee for some much-needed caffeine.

Nadya and I got our mocha on! She had a chocolate milk, but tried to steal my blended iced coffee, too!

When she gave up her attempt to steal my mom-crack, she turned her intimidation tactics towards DJ, forcibly stuffing his shirt with straw wrappers. It was pretty damn funny. ;)

After a while, she grew bored of her “coffee,” wandered around until she found the door to the neighboring antiques mall, and insisted on going to check it out.

Crazy Toddler + Thousands of Dollars Worth of Fragile, Hundred-Year-Old Thingamajigs = A Very Happy Toddler / A Very Bad Idea
We did not stay long!

Nadya needed to work out some energy, and we were rebooted by our coffee, so we picked up DJ’s sister and her friend, then took a walk at the Island Park.  Nadya had fun, but in a now rare display of clinginess, wanted to hold my hand the entire time, which was very sweet!

it's beautiful here, even in early spring, when nature isn't quite in her full glory. It was nice to get some fresh air. Our walk sure wore Nadya out--she's napping great today.

All in all, a fun afternoon!

Love,

Liz, a.k.a. Mama

Onion Fun

Sometimes the best “toys” are things that you have lying around.  A paper towel tube, a cardboard box, or, in this case, a pair of onions that spent a few too many days out on a sunlit counter!  I led Nadya out on the deck to minimize mess, and let her try to figure them out.

The sprouts seemed to be her favorite part, at least after she finished peeling off the papery skin.

She discovered pretty quickly that onions don't taste great on their own. Somehow, that didn't stop her from trying a few more times to take a bite!

She would have played like this for hours!

After a while, to distract her further from her quest to actually take a bite out of the onion (I wasn’t sure how safe that would be, now that it’s sprouted and old), I brought her back inside.  She lifted the onion up in the air, and asked, “Wawa?  Wawa?” so, I took her into the bathroom and filled the sink.  The S.S. Onion Ring set sail, and Nadya (and I!) discovered that onions (or, at least old onions) float!

All in all, the onions kept her happy and interested for about 40 minutes, which as any parent of a toddler will know, is equivalent to a few hours in Nadya time.  Thanks, Onion!

Love,

Liz, a.k.a. Mama