Food and Fish Stories

Today I am feeling: Like it should be Friday. And it IS Friday! This week got a little drab when on Monday I had one of those dark nights of the soul when I thought that my children would probably be better off being raised by hyenas than churlish, crabby, yelling me. I put the kids to bed, drooled and snotted on Mark’s shoulder for a while, and woke up feeling better. I decided that I needed to call a truce between Sam and I and work more on going with the three-year-old flow. Obviously if he’s going to stick his finger in a light socket that’s not ok, but pulling over the chair to play with the faucet at the sink? Probably ok, and not worth a fight.

We’re heading down to Portland today to visit my parents, and Sam is bringing 3 of the rather feeble tomatoes our plant on the porch spit out this week to show them. I think the entertainment and attention from other people will be good for him, and hopefully we’ll get to use the pool if the weather is nice.

Exercise: Well, I haven’t gone all Rocky this week like last week. Exercise has mostly involved walks of about 2 miles to and from the village playground, some of them rahter slow when Sam decides he’d like to walk as well. But, it’s exercise, and I’m getting it. We’ve also (I think) made the decision to move Sam to the M/W/F preschool class, so he’d be going 3 time a week instead of 2, and with slightly older kids, which I think he’ll like a lot. There’s a little family-owned gym with a babysitting service right across the street...

Caroline: We exchanged the baby swing in the living room for the exersaucer. She wasn’t really enjoying the swing anymore, and is much more interested in seeing what we’re doing. I had a little pang putting the swing away, as the next time we’ll see it will be when another little one joins us in who knows how long. Or when we move, which God willing will be the first of those two occurances.

Sam: We went to see Ponyo yesterday, and it was so incredible! The film actually kept Sam’s attention for its entire length, which is no small feat. The animation is so gorgeous and so detailed. Like, the two main characters are getting in a boat and a crab creeps up the wall behind them, or an octopus crawls into the house. Who else would have thought to include that? The best part, though was the story. In the American version, the boy would have found Ponyo and mad capers would have ensued while he attempted to hide her from his judgemental and bitter mother. Instead, he instantly explains to her that she is his pet turned into a human, and instead of freaking out she simply acknowledges that there are indeed strange things in the world, and they make dinner. Combine that with a lovely scene that positively depicts breastfeeding, and I was sold.

Projects: Feeding Sam. Seriously, the kid is an eating machine all of a sudden. Yesterday, he had a huge bowl of yogurt and granola, two peanut butter sandwiches, two apples, milk, a bunch of goldfish, a whole piece of pizza, and part of a chocolate shake. Is this a preview of teenhood? I made an effort this week to move him gently towards weaning by telling him that he can nurse when I see him in the morning, at rest time, and at night before bed. So, I’m thinking that he was nursing at other times because he was actually hungry. Go figure.

Milestone: A very nice neighbor brought over a bunch of plums from her tree, which I cooked and pureed for C. I wish I’d had the camera ready...”Heeey, these are pretty goo..*puckerface!* *puckerface!*”