Highlights

We have had a great week around here, though not necessarily frustration free. The Monkey is experimenting more and more with limits, and he seems to get frustrated over not being able to communicate with me...or his toys. So there's been hitting and more than a little screaming. Thankfully, we have both been able to move on from it pretty quickly. Still, I'm glad it's Friday, and we have two full days with two extra hands...minus those six or so hours of golf on Saturday (that my Other will be playing. He will also be compensating me with a few hours to myself on Sunday...so don't worry. I'll be getting my time too. Rest easy.).

I found the picture below when I was sorting through some photos from earlier this month. My son has my eyes and many of my expressions. Everything else on him looks like my husbands. But this? This looks like me, even on a perfect day! Therefore, it's one of my favorite photos of him. In fact, it's sort of descriptive of how I feel (and look, really) as a Mom most days.

Another challenge I've been facing with the Monkey is boredom (his, not mine. O.K., mine too). He loves to be around people and see new things. So when he has the pleasure of spending the entire day with just me and his ho-hum toys, he gets a little cranky as the week progresses. To sort of ward that off we've been getting out more. Here are some highlights of what we've been up to this week:

Edible Play Dough. Of course, this was at home, but something new nonetheless. I used this oatmeal play dough recipe, hoping he would squish it and sculpt a masterpiece. Here's what he did instead:

Library. Though the toys didn't bear the highly valued VTech logo, or sing to him, or teach him Newton's theory of relativity, he seemed to enjoy himself thoroughly.

Nature Center. Someday soon we will try a hike out there, but this week we just explored their museum. It's nice to discover another place in town to help me wear him out where he can learn and grow.

Graham Crackers. Did y'all know that graham crackers are dairy free??? I don't remember what day I figured this out (they all run together, when surviving living moment to moment), but they literally saved me from the pit of despair that particular day. I ate approximately one full sleeve of them. (Just a teeny confession here: I fell off the dairy free wagon on my trip back home, but I'm back on now. What? Like I wasn't supposed to eat Mexican food in Texas? Besides, Jesus forgives. That's the premise of Easter, so consider it an experiential Bible study, K?) 

Date Night. Tonight I will wrap up a great week with a romantic dinner with my Other at our favorite Italian restaurant here in town, while the Monkey spends some quality time with his grandparents. (We have a gift certificate there that expires in a couple of days. I just adore mandated romance, don't you? But I'm certainly not one to look a gift certificate or free child care horse in the mouth. I will be savoring every moment and bite...do I have to wear makeup?)

How do you keep your little one busy week to week? I'd love some ideas!

Memory Lane

Last week I had the pleasure of revisiting my hometown. It was the Monkey's first long road trip, and we had a blast! It was so great to see family and friends I haven't seen in years, but we just picked up right where we left off the last time we saw each other. Here are a few highlights (I'm still not great with the camera, but I'm working on it):

We stayed near the site of my high school, which is now a parking lot for the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium. It was a tiny private school, and I was there for both elementary and secondary education. While it's hard to believe there's nothing left of the place I knew, the memories I made there are indelible. (And see? It doesn't look so bad after a little photo doctoring!)

We also went back to my grandparents' old neighborhood. The railroad tracks below are where my Grandfather and I used to ride bikes during the summer. I'll never forget the day we saw a snake, and he urgently told me to get away, saying (thick with his North Carolina accent), "The only kind of snake I know is nineteen feet long and poisonous!" Thus I grew up with an unhealthy fear of snakes. Thankfully, I've traded such childishness for a more rational fear of flying.

Our last full day in town was filled with several pleasant surprises. We ate at Don Juan's, a place at which I literally grew up eating. I vaguely remember sitting in their hazardous 1960's style high chairs, and it was one of the last meals I had before I moved away in my twenties. I kind of knew it was still open, but I was thrilled to see business still booming during the lunch hour, hoping it remains successful in the years to come so my son can have his own memories there. He sat in one of the hazardous 1960's style high chairs, and we shared a half dozen several Kiddie Burritos. (I've heard they have other menu items besides that and chips and guacamole, but I can't corroborate that because I have never ordered anything else.)

                                 

Per my sister's request, we stopped by the day care we both attended growing up. My sister is 12 years my junior, so the fact that we shared the same preschool and kindergarten teachers already seems pretty incredible to me. So imagine my surprise when--30 years after the fact--I ran into my kindergarten and first grade teachers, still there, and still teaching! We had a nice visit, but the best part was introducing them to my son. I can say with certainty that he's someone they never would have expected to meet. It filled me with the best kind of pride and sense of accomplishment that I will try to remember as we stumble back into our routine here at home. (I was somewhat perplexed that some of the playground equipment I played on as a child was still there, but I'm sure it's just because it's made of metal and very durable; there was hardly any rust.)

Dairy Free Pancakes

I love cake. Any cake. Or anything cakey or cake-ish. So breaking up with butter has been downright awful at times. (It's not like I can bury myself in a gallon of ice cream while I grieve.) A couple of weeks ago, I finally just couldn't take it anymore. I had to have some pancakes. Somehow I managed to pull off something all three of us thought delicious. I just made some changes to a basic pancake recipe I found on the Googleweb. Here's what I did:

Ingredients
1 C all-purpose (unbleached) flour
2 TBSP organic pure cane sugar
2 TBSP baking powder
1 TSP salt
1 egg
1 C unsweetened almond milk (more or less, depending on desired consistency)
2 TBSP (unsweetened) almond butter

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add egg, milk, and butter, and blend well after each addition. Lightly coat large skillet with cooking spray, and cook over low heat. Yields approximately 12 pancakes.

Next time I will use whole wheat flour, but at the time I didn't have any on hand. We ate every single pancake over the course of 3 days. They were still delicious left over!

My New Journey

I gave up dairy for Lent this year. I've been sick--and I mean really, really sick--for the last three months. Based on what my friends have been experiencing, that doesn't seem to be so unusual this year; but I'm tired of getting some sort of infection, being on antibiotics, well for a week, then sick again. A couple of my friends quit dairy a year or so ago, and they both said they noticed a dramatic change in their overall health.

So I thought, "What the hell? How hard can it be? I can give up cheese on my burgers and milk in my coffee. That's why there's soy, right?" Little did I know (when my judgment was clouded by all sorts of symptom controlling drugs) that I would be giving up anything worth eating. Dairy is in everything! I was so surprised!

Oh, what a tangled
Web we weave,
When we fail to realize
We are being naive!

Well, it's with mixed emotions that I announce that giving up dairy has done this body good. It has forced me--a girl who grew up eating all things heavily processed--to eat more whole foods. I eat more fruit, more veggies, and (in recent days) a ton of almond butter. It's my new chocolate milk.

It's not for everyone, but I feel great! And I've felt great for almost two full weeks now, which is a record for me over the course of the last 3 1/2 months. So I'm thinking I'll stick to it long term. And I've had a chance to pay more attention to the messages my body is sending me because I have to be extremely conscious about what I put in it now. (I'm not a nutritionist or any type of scientist by any stretch of the imagination, so if I read an ingredient on a box that I don't recognize or can't pronounce, I just put it back. It's not worth my time looking it up.)

The first few days were brutal. I had to remind myself on several occasions that if I can bring a child into this world I can do this. I still miss butter every day; not as a spread, but as a baking ingredient. I adore my sweets! I crave something scrumptious several times a day: a berry crumb bar; pound cake; or even just a chocolate chip cookie. The good news is I'm sort of learning how to recreate those things dairy free. They don't taste the same, but they are delicious, and I'm excited about posting some of my concoctions here in the near future!

Oh, and I'm not losing weight. Not yet. My cravings have been so strong that so far I have been replacing my dairy calories with other (for me, healthier) fats that have equal or more calories.  My goal is to be and feel better. If I shed what's left of my baby weight in the process, that will just be (dairy free) gravy.

This experience has been everything but boring, and right now I'm enjoying and am intrigued by the discovery and personal growth that has happened along the way. (Of course, I did just have some coffee, and a little dark chocolate. Don't ask me how I feel about it first thing in the morning. In fact, don't ask me about anything first thing in the morning.)