Apple Season

Nanna and Pappa's apples are ripe, so we spent today making applesauce, dried apples and fruit leather.

Oliver got to climb the apple tree. While spotting him (he's never really climbed a tree before) I was reminiscing that I remember when these trees were planted; I was probably about his age. They weren't of climbing height back then.

Elsa desperately wanted to climb as well...until she realized she was up high, the branches were poky and she had to hold on herself. She opted to keep her feet on the ground.


Howie was a big help as well...


Seven or so hours of apple cleaning, machining, and cooking and I came home with a huge bowlful waiting to be canned and enjoyed over the winter. We made both chunky-with-honey and smooth-with-sugar versions with the thought that my little Howie will be big enough to enjoy the smooth version in only a few months, while the rest of us really like the chunky style. The evening ended with fresh, warm, homemade applesauce topped with vanilla ice cream. Absolutely delish!

Tickeled my funnybone #5682

As he hung onto my leg yesterday, he jumped back and said "Ow!! You got WEEDS growin' there!"


In the evening, we could hear a siren going by in the distance. He jumped up, ran to the door, and said "It's a firetruck! Mom! Can we go to the parade?"


Maybe I should shave my legs more often...

Nah.

Hungy!

How is it that this one little belly can pack away more groceries than her brother and mother combined? It's ridiculous.

Just over a week ago, she was battling a bad ear infection, and it seemed like she just hadn't been happy since then. I was beginning to wonder if some foods were bothering her, she was endlessly "Hungy, hungy HUNGY!!!" Today I've been feeding her every time she's asked (she had double servings of everything for lunch, and since then has had crackers, pears, raisins and right now, goldfish. And it's only 4:00), rather than making her "wait til snack time" or "Sorry, you've gotta wait till supper." Whatdayaknow, this afternoon she's been nothing but smiles.

Oops. Guess it takes lots of groceries to keep that little potbelly happy.

Gender Stereotypes

Something he'd do for hours, even at one year: Driving tractor

Back in the day when attending the university, I took General Psychology. Although a huge lecture hall class, it was great. I enjoyed it, the prof was great. She taught us lots of interesting stuff about the wonderful human mind.

But I know she never had kids.

Know how I know this? She tried to claim that boys and girls are the same, it's our gender stereotypes that make them boyish and girly.

Her new thing at the time was that when she heard of someone having a baby, she wouldn't ask "boy or girl." She figured that started the gender stereotype right then and there. Instead, she'd only ask "how is the baby doing?" Because that was so neutral.

Hmmm. Well, Miss Ellinson, although Elsa loves mud puddles and Oliver sleeps with a baby doll nightly (he did try a tractor once, but I don't think it was very comfy, cuz he hasn't tried it since), I still beg to differ.

Cuz I'm pretty sure that the first time Oliver sat on the floor with a tractor, he went "brrrrrrmm" all by himself.

• That Elsa had definite opinions on clothes at the ripe ol' age of 10 months. That she'd find her bright pink shoes and coat and insist on wearing them all day. Every day.
  
• And that Oliver still could care less. (Although he does finally know the difference between church pants and not church pants.)
• That Oliver has loved tractor rides since the day he was born.
• That Elsa's still on the fence about actually getting on a running tractor.
• That just yesterday, Oliver was headed into the "forest to shoot a deer, but I didn't see one so I just shot the tree instead." (We have a forest, not the woods at our house. Not sure where that came from.)
• That Elsa was following along...carrying a purse. In fancy sandals. That she picked out. And insisted on.
• That while Elsa loves to catch the cat and hold onto it (usually by the tail) Oliver barrels on by yelling "I gonna get that cat! Gonna get Thelma!" with his gun and making gun noises.

I'm pretty sure that at least a few of those things have nothing to do with someone asking their gender when they were born. Pretty doggone sure.

She still insists on that coat and shoes if she can find them.

Or anything shockingly pink will do in a pinch.

Attempting this again...

Computer. Flying shoe. Coffee. Keyboard. Puddle. Sudden blank screen. Scolding. Towel. Blowdryer. Mumbling. Grumbling. Keeping fingers crossed. Musical-start-up-notes. Sigh of relief.

You connect the dots.

***

Casualties: touch screen. And my cup of coffee.

A new year

...a new toy box.

Or kid box.


The toys have officially outgrown the tub many of them (although not close to all) were living in, so I decided to use some money the kids were given for Christmas to invest in a toy box. So far, it seems to be a great investment! I love that they're covered up and out of sight-if only until morning.

In the process of putting the toy box 'in' we also did some heavy duty reorganizing, and:

Elsa FINALLY moved into Oliver's room!!! Yay.

That move has been a work in progress for some time. About a month or so ago, she was still getting up at night (she was 1 in Oct). One night-at 4 in the morn- we got fed up with her late night party, and finally evicted her from our room. Since then, I've been taking her pack-n-play up and down in the living room, daily. But, she's sleeping through the night. And, now, her bed finally fits in Oliver's room!

With her and the Christmas tree, as well as a lot of toys out of the living room, man, have we got room! *insert a little sarcasm here*


Happy New Year!!

Oh, for....disgusting.

Ever tried toilet water? How about drinking it out of large-sized lego blocks? Not appetizing? Hmmm, you mean I should STOP those kids?

Um, yeah. The house grew strangely quiet as I was transferring my newly made laundry detergent into jugs. And I soon discovered why. Yuck. My nose is still wrinkled.

On the laundry detergent thing-I just made a batch of soap that Jan had linked from her blog, and although it has about the consistency of, well, snot, it seems to work as well as the store bought kind. Yay! What I'm really loving is the cost: about 70 cents for two gallons of detergent! (and you still only use 1/2 cup, same as the store kind.)

Simple Gifts

Ah! Something that made me say "my thoughts exactly!" I was just reading Better Homes and Gardens (turns out we're getting one decent magazine for free) and came across an article about kids' toys. Turns out they actually do enjoy those simple, boring, non talking/flashing/beeping toys more! I've always thought this, and now the 'rest of the world' has discovered the simple truth. I had to chuckle at the little girl in the article who left her fancy doll at a friend's house, and said, 'that's ok, mom. That doll talks to much.' I guess it's more fun when you can tell your doll what to do, rather than the other way around.

This made me think of something we talked about at ECFE one day last year. It stemmed from a MPR report about the decreasing ability of kids to 'self regulate.' A study done since I don't remember when has measured the length of time kids of different ages are able to stand still, without moving. Today's 7 year olds are preforming at the level of the 3 year olds of 50 years ago. (I might be off a little on the age...but you get the drift. They fidget.)

Why is this? It's being attributed to the increase in structured play and elimination of free playing time, along with stricter limits. Back in the day, the area kids were aloud to roam covered many city blocks. In a recent Reader's Digest article on the same sort of thing, a dad 'let' his 12 year old daughter play in the driveway by herself. Gimme a break.

I see a corrolation with increasing ADD/ADHD...do you?

So...my conclusion? Yes! Not only are the blocks or other simple toys my kid-o's will probably get for Christmas cheaper and less annoying-they're making them smarter!! And then, when they start to drive me nuts with their antics, I can send them, (or right now, mostly Oliver) outside by himself and consider it at least one parenting job well done.