A Litte Break

After a long week with the girl I made sure she got in some good Daddy Time today.  I love watching these two play together.  Don't ask why she's wearing her shirt on her head.  I have no answer except that she's two and that's what she wanted to do.  Tonight David and I are  headed out on a much needed date.  I can't wait!

Untitled from Ellie Saldana on Vimeo.

Last Two Teeth

Would you believe this sweet angle lay in bed and yelled at me for more than 90 minutes before finally falling asleep?  I then spent the duration of her nap a prisoner in my own home, scared to make any noise for fear of waking the monster.  My efforts were in vain.  She woke after only 45 minutes and then spent the rest of the afternoon rubbing her eyes and crying.  These are her last two teeth, her last two teeth, her last...

Everything I've read says that the first two teeth are the hardest.  Kids get used to the sensation and each subsequent set of teeth is easier.  Lies!  How did your house cope with teething?

Cinnamon Peanut Butter Rice Treats

I love Rice Crispy Treats but unfortunately there is no way that I can eat them since I can't eat sugar and marshmallows are full of it.  I could probably learn to make my own marshmallows with a different sweetener and then make the dessert but that is more effort than I am willing to put into what is supposed to be a simple treat. Tonight, with a little inspiration from the back of my cereal box I came up with a delicious, though very different, rice cereal treat.

Cinnamon Peanut Butter Rice Treats (adapted from the back of my Erewhon Crispy Rice Cereal box.)

1/2 c peanut butter

1/2c rice syrup

1/2t vanilla extract

1/2t cinnamon

2c rice cereal

Mix peanut butter, rice syrup, vanilla and cinnamon together in a bowl.  Stir in cereal.  Form mixture into balls and enjoy!

I didn't actually measure any of the ingredients, the above recipe is just an approximation of what I used so don't dirty a measuring cup unless you feed you need.  These treats are ready in less than 5 minutes and are really good.  It's taking all my will power to resist eating them all.

If you are like my family and can't eat sugar or potato then you know how hard it is to buy cereal.  I have found two brands that make a rice cereal I can eat: Erewhon and Barbara's.

Dress Up

Tonight while making dinner I heard, "Dada, let's play dress up.  What you going to wear?"  I could hear them back there getting dressed and then I heard, "Here, dada. Here's your fairy wand."  "Can't it be a sword?" "No, it has to be a wand."  "OK, it's a wand."  That's when I went back to peek.

Sorry the photo isn't better.
Flora caught me and insisted I "Stop taking pictures."

Lazy Sunday

Now that I am a mom there is nothing I miss more than lazy Sundays.  Sleeping until ten, eating a big brunch, spending all day in my pajamas and reading a book or watching a movie can be the perfect way to end a weekend.  Once you have a toddler it's just not possible.  Usually we spend Sunday running errands or going for walks.  Sometimes I think David and I enjoy running errands as a family because sitting in the passenger seat of the car while the other drives is the closest thing we get to relaxing while Flora is awake.  For that 15 minutes we're in the car she is restrained and can't jump on us or bring us a new puzzle solve.  Don't get me wrong, I love the cuddles, stories and puzzles but sometimes I just want to sit and do nothing. Today was the closest I've come to nothing in a long time.

Because Flora pretty much never gets sick, and believe me I'm not complaining, it also means that she almost never has days where she is happy to sit around and cuddle.  Today however, she did not feel good.  She's not sick but she is teething and does have a nasty diaper rash.  (More about the diaper rash at the end of the post.  I need some advice.)  The day started off with a lot of this:

Followed by even more of this:

By nap time I was desperate for relief so I offered her a short walk to the videorama and the movie of her choice IF she would nap.  She negotiated and got some popcorn added to the deal. Yesterday was similar to today and instead of napping she lay in bed, exhausted, for 2 hours saying "I all done napping" and I was not interested in a repeat performance.  I don't know if my movie/popcorn bribe worked or if she was just too tired to fight sleep today but she did nap.  Then, we did rent a movie.  Curious George with Will Ferrell voicing the man with the yellow hat.

The movie was what you'd expect but the afternoon sitting on the couch snuggling my exhausted and grumpy little girl while she ate popcorn and watched "Monkey George" was great.  It was the closes thing I've had to a lazy Sunday since she could crawl.


Ok, now back to the diaper rash.  Flora is fully potty trained except at night when she wears one diaper;  the same kind of cloth pocket diapers she has been wearing since she was tiny.   They have always worked great and she never had diaper rashes when she wore them all day.  Now, all of a sudden, she keeps getting a nasty bright red rash on her bottom.  I don't get it, her but is dry and gets air all day long but that one diaper at night seems to be causing her serious problems.   It was so bad today that I went out and bought some disposable diapers to see if that would help.  Any moms, or dads, out there know what might be causing this new problem?  Her diet hasn't changed so I don't think it's food related.   She never poops in her diaper so it's only urine and I'm pretty sure she doesn't pee until the early hours of the morning because we've tried to go diaper free a few time and never had trouble until then, so it's not like she in the wet diaper for 8 hours. Taking her out of diapers completely is not an option at this point because though she hasn't had a daytime accident in months she has never woken up dry.  Come on wise parents, what's you're advice?

Goodbye 2010!

As you may have noticed I haven't been in the mood to blog for a while. Maybe it's been the weather, or feeling like I'm in a rut, or just being really busy.  I'm not sure what has kept me a way from the blog.  I can tell you I've spent way more time reading other people's blogs than I probably should.  But now it's New Year's Eve, I'm spending a quiet night at home with my two favorite people, and I've been reflecting on the year and how lucky I really am.  Sometimes I can get too caught up in wanting things to be better, or easier, to enjoy the way things are right now.  Tonight I looked through pictures from the past two months and it was a great reminder of how lucky I am today.

Here is a quick photo recap of everything you've missed.


Flora still spends a lot of time being goofy.  I think David may be tickling her in this photo.

The week before Thanksgiving we had a few people over and made tamales.  Flora had a great time squishing the masa between her fingers.

The day after Thanksgiving we went to a tree farm to cut down our tree.  It was an exciting day for Flora.  There was snow on the ground and she got to pet a horse and goat.  We forgot her gloves so her hands got too cold and she kept asking us to warm them up.

She also got to make her first Christmas ornament at the tree farm.  It involved a pine cone and a lot of glitter.

When we got home it was time to decorate the tree.  Flora loved it and continued to redecorate the tree until we took it down the day after Christmas.  She seemed to think that the ornaments got lonely when not together so she would cluster several together on one branch.  We got the tree for her, so even though it was not the most attractive way to decorate a tree we left it the way she wanted it.  She also put most of the play food from her kitchen in the branches of the tree because all of the animal ornaments kept getting hungry.

My aunt Kathleen bought her a leotard, tutu, fairy wings, and a wand (not pictured).  Flora thinks the whole outfit is pretty amazing and likes to fly around the house in it. 

Flora learned that Dada is really fun because while Mommy will tell you not to draw on your face with marker Dada will actually draw on your face for you.  

I didn't mind because let's admit it, she makes a darn cute cat. 

On Christmas Eve we went Peacock Lane in SE Portland.  It's a street that has been going all out with Christmas lights since 1929.  It was a cold, wet, and windy night but it's only two blocks and Flora loved the lights.  She even got to see Santa one last time. 

She started to get a little chilly near the end of the walk.

When we got home from the lights it was time for Flora to open one present.  It was, of course, new jammies.

She put her jammies on and it was time to put out cookies for Santa.  She also left carrots for the reindeer.

Though she has been excited for Christmas morning for weeks, and by pretty excited I mean she's been singing Christmas songs non-stop for weeks, when the day finally came she was a little confused.  Or, perhaps she was just groggy.

But then she found her easel and her whole mood changed.  This girl is artistic and she loves to paint.

Then it was time to try out her new Pillow Pet, also known as the "Pink Present" she asked Santa to bring.

But then it was time to head back to the easel.  That's kinda how the whole morning went.

I made cinnamon rolls, from scratch, for Christmas breakfast.  Flora loved hers and asked for another.  We said no and scrambled her an egg.  It may have been Christmas but that doesn't mean she gets to eat cinnamon rolls all morning.

Dinosaurs!!!

More food for her kitchen.

Cutting her food in her new tent.

Snuggles in her new tent.

We went to my aunt's house for Christmas dinner.  Flora wore her pretty dress.

We were trying to get ready to go but as usual, Flora wanted to do her own thing and that did not involve getting in the car.  In the end we did make it out the door and we had a great time with my family.

We've been taking it pretty easy since Christmas, spending a lot of time at home because Flora doesn't like the cold and complains after being out for more than a few minutes and schools are on break for the holiday which means that the children's museum is too crowded for me.  We'll head back to the museum next week but I have learned that if you take your kid to Ikea at 9am before they open it's not crowded and there are almost no employees on the floor so you can let your kid run around and get some exercise on a cold wet day when you're out of ideas.   Mostly we've been at home painting, gluing and flying around the house.

Happy new year to all of you!

How did you ring in the New Year?

Cookies for Santa

I've been terrible about blogging lately but I wanted to share the recipe we are using for Santa's cookies.  I promise to give a Flora update after Christmas.

This is the first year that Flora has been excited about Santa so this is the first year that cookies have been important.   This year our "cookies" are actually Peanut Butter Blondies.  Why?  I hear Santa likes them.  

Peanut Butter Blondies adapted from here.

Wet Ingredients

1c Earth Balance

1 1/3c  Granulated Fructose

2 Eggs

1t Vanilla Extract

1 16oz Jar of Chunky Peanut Butter

Dry Ingredients

2c Non-enriched Organic White Flour

1t Baking Powder (Rumford brand is both aluminium and potato free)

1/2c Carob Chips

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line 9x13" pan with parchment paper.

2. In medium size bowl combine wet ingredients with a fork.  It's hard work but mix them until the consistency is even.  (You can use a mixer but the blondies will have a consistency more similar to cake.  Using a fork to combine the ingredients will give them more of a brownie texture, which I prefer.)  

3. In separate bowl, combine dry ingredients.   

4. Stir dry ingredients into peanut butter mixture.  Then fold in carob chips. 

5.  Bake at 325 for 25-30 min, or until the top of the blondies look dry.  Knife may not come out clean so don't use that as a gauge. 

Enjoy!

What are you leaving out for Santa this year?