The week in food

The past week has been full of food:

-finally mastered the art of marmalade, and made 6 pints with meyer lemons from my parents' trees, and one lemon from my very own baby lemon tree.

-amazing homemade yogurt, following MamaSoule's tutorial:

http://www.soulemama.com/soulemama/2010/08/how-we-make-yogurt.html

-found a new favorite soup that the whole family loves- Butternut Squash Pear soup from Denise Jardine's new book, The Dairy-Free & Gluten-Free Kitchen. (I am neither but partner and child are gluten intolerant.) It's a pureed soup, and I'm thinking it would also make really good baby food with a little tweaking, but I don't know any babies anyway.

-made several quick batches of gluten free crackers (to eat with marmalade).

-today I am attempting to make my own pesto.

Highlights of my Week

-The gluten-free zucchini bread I made from a gigantic zucchini, as well as the pumpkin and butternut squash soup I made collaboratively with our house guest. Hurray for fall produce and a capable kitchen companion.

-Going on a 6:20am walk around the neighborhood with E last Saturday. It was just getting light, and everyone was asleep except us and a few other people, and it felt like a secret. Plus we had a really good talk, and he loves me.

-Every single E hug and kiss, especially in the morning when his hair is all messy and his breath smells like feet, but his blue eyes sparkle and warm up the whole house.

-The mini-date L surprised me with last night, babysitter included. She took me to a chocolate/coffee shop and we sat outside drinking extremely delicious hot chocolate and just talking, but it felt fresher and exciting. She looks just as beautiful (maybe even beautiful-er) outside of the house we share. Wow! Dates are fun!

-Birthday party planning for E. It is going to be AWESOME. It’s Ancient Egyptian themed and he made golden pyramid shaped invites with each of his friends’ name written in hieroglyphics. Yep, I’ve memorized the alphabet, pretty much.

-The book I am reading: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

A Brief Interview With The Almost Seven Year Old

Mama: If you could fly, where would you go?

E: I’d fly to Disneyland and go on the Jack Sparrow ride.

Mama: If you were invisible, what would you do?

E: I’d sneak around on Halloween and scare people by shouting, “Boo!” and they’d look around and no body would be there. Or! I’d stand still and people would bump into me but me super confused cause they wouldn’t see anything there. They would be so creped out! That would be awesome. Also, I could hide out where robbers live, and I'd arrest them without them seeing me.

Mama: If you could read minds whose mind would you want to read?

E: Yours.

Mama: Mine? Why?

E: Because then I would always know what you were thinking, and surprises wouldn’t exist, because I’d always be able to know about them if you were thinking about them. And if you had a special treat planned, I’d know about it, and so I’d behave really well.

Mama: I bet you can guess what I’m thinking now.

E: That you love me?

Mama: Yep, that’s what I was thinking.

We Are Completely Moved In!

We finally finished unpacking! Horray! A friend is moving here this week from far away and will be staying with us, so that was the extra push we needed to finally do it. L and I had been avoiding our room, and it was the worst of all, with a row of boxes at the end of out bed like where a Hope Chest would be, except uglier. We found places for everything, even if I did fill my drawers up very full. The place looks good, and I want to keep it that way. E’s room was the first to be unpacked, because he’s so special, I guess. But now we are all special. I’ve just started reading Room by Emma Donoghue, and I think it’s making me think and write like an imprisoned five year old. “House is unpacked and that’s like empty but with things.” It’s really really good so far.

My favorite thing about unpacking is finding things we thought were gone, or had forgotten we were looking for, like my collection of wooden and plastic toy chickens that used to live on my window sill in my last apartment. I also found all my cameras, and thank god, because I am so tired of the crappy resolution of iPhone cameras. I used to have a gigantic SLR camera with me at all times, and then I got super lazy. But E hasn’t stopped being adorable and photogenic all the time, so I have no excuse.

We spent some time this weekend looking through my photo albums my mom made for me. When we were at my parents house on Saturday, E and I went though the gigantic trunk of dress up that my sister and I played with everyday of our childhood. E and I made away with a small but exquisite sampling to add to his dress up chest: a rainbow clown wig, a red “rock star” wig that my sister got when she was 3, a glitter baton I’ve had since I was 4, a plastic sword that is perfect for magic tricks, the blue and orange clown suit my mom made for Halloween that I wore in third grade and in fourth grade, a silver sequiny sash, a blue floral skirt I made for my 5th grade school play, and a few beaded necklaces. E fits into the clown suit! I love when that happens, when the things I loved turn into things he can love. He’s thinking maybe he wants to be a clown for Halloween. We looked though the photo albums to find the two different Halloweens when I wore the clown suit, once with the rainbow wig, once without.

My photo albums are glorious. I think they actually make Elliott a bit jealous, which is hard to watch. He sees the life I had and wants it. Of course, he’s only seeing the photos we wanted to put in, but still. He loves to see the birthday parties, the summers at the beach, the swim team and soccer. The dad who took me to airplane museums and baseball games. The aunts and uncles and snowy adventures. Quite a different life he has in some ways. L and I had similar childhoods. Girl scout camp, sisters, church, soccer teams. E is in a city, and his back yard is small. Both his parents work full time now, so there isn’t the luxury of afternoons that I was used to.

We have a kid who is learning how to be safe on busy city roads. He knows about speeding cars, and buses, and how to ride a train. We have a kid who knows that there are always people asking for money right outside the train station and that people who hang around the playground talking to the trash can are probably “sick in their heads” and he shouldn’t stare or play near them. Sometimes L and I are surprised when we go on evening strolls with him and we turn the corner and we are on a busy street littered with junk food wrappers, beer cans, and cigarette butts. E has an eye for “treasures” and is always trying to bring home trash. He sees colorful things on the ground and goes to pick them up. We are always shouting “drop it!” so he stops holding on to that broken piece of glass, or bit of used hairbrush that he finds so amazing. It’s disgusting. Sometimes I think how lovely it would be to go on walks in the county, or even the suburbs, and let him pick up the things he finds. A pinecone, an earthworm, a rock. Here, I’ve had to teach him that he can’t take little rocks from people’s front yards or from the sidewalk in front on a church. I’ve explained that those are “landscaping rocks” and that people had to pay for them, so they belong to them. It seems like such a silly concept when I have to explain it, and answer his questions. “But where do they get them? Are they made in a factory or do they take them from nature? I don’t get it.” It's weird.

I can’t tell if I have a cold or if I have leftover dust allergies from unpacking, but either way it’s highly unpleasant. I’ve definitely done more sneezing than is appropriate for one day. Good thing we also discovered a dozen little packs of tissues.

And with that, I bid you achoo! (adieu, of course-it’s a pun, E-style. Extremely clever and hilarious.)

-B Star

Gnomey Hat Homework

My son started Waldorf school yesterday! We were all so excited that I even blow dried his hair, and it looked really good and super extra blonde. He picked out an awesome outfit, but his top was wrinkled and he made me run it in the dryer so the wrinkles would disappear and he wouldn’t look sloppy. First graders care about that sort of thing, I guess.

So anyway, this morning, after breakfast, he informs us that he had homework that he had “forgotten” until that moment. He said all the kids have to bring in a gnomey hat, because they are going to make gnomes today. A gnomey hat? Sure, that sounds like normal homework. I’m pretty sure he made that up, because who assigns that as homework with out giving the parents a heads up? Not everyone has gnomey hat-making supplies lying around, right? I mean, I guess if you are a Waldorf family, there’s a good chance you do have felt and thread, but still. Anyway, he ran to grab the extra orange gnome hat that we made the other day for a gnome for our new nature corner, but didn’t use because it was too small. because we DO have extra gnome hats lying around. So there we go. Fake made-up homework done and done!

Yesterday E reported making beeswax honeybees, learning how to color with rectangular crayons, and he’s pretty sure he already kinda knows how to play the pentatonic flute! I let him show me on my old flute, and no, he doesn’t know how to play it. That’s ok. He was so excited to learn from his teacher that they each get their very own flute (Did he think they'd be sharing? Gross.), and eventually they will be knitting their flute cases ALL ON THEIR OWN! He made knitting needles! I didn’t have the car when I went after work to pick him up from his friend’s house, so we rode the bus. Specifically, we walked a half a mile to the bus stop, then waited for the bus for ages, then we rode the bus. And the whole time he told me about his day.

This is unusual. I have the kid who has never told me more than a few words about his school day when asked. Sure, stuff slips out, and I’ve gathered bits and pieces, but if you ask him, “How was school?” he says, “Good” or “Stupid” and nothing else. Sometimes I’ve been able to trick him by asking really odd and specific questions, like “Hey E, did Nick have string cheese in his lunch again?” And he’ll accidentally answer, “No, he had yogurt though, and I really liked the sandwich you packed. Nick called me a butt head and the teacher didn’t even notice!” or something like that. And then I know that Nick is a meanie face.

I take it as a really good sign that he talked about his day for an hour straight. Yes, it took an hour to get home via public transportation. But that hour included the MAJOR CRISIS of E’s feet getting blisters from his new school shoes. It was completely tragic, especially because he was ALSO HUNGRY, and didn’t even seen to notice the two clementines and granola bar I shoved in his mouth, because he was still STARVING, and he didn’t know which to complain about so he just moaned and sat down in the street. (Have I mentioned my child is ALWAYS hungry?) Thank goodness for his friend’ mom who handed us a container of delicious pasta with meat sauce as we walked out the door. Yay for eating dinner on the edge of the sidewalk while waiting for a bus! And yay for Waldorf school and tiny gnomey hats.

Hurricane Irene

I would have written a post about how a small chunk of our ceiling caved in due to a water leak upstairs. It would have been witty and absurd, because when you come home to your ceiling on the floor, that's absurd.

But then Vermont happened. Hurricane Irene that is. She flooded my favorite state, tore it to bits! And I thought I had a water leak!

http://this-small-planet.com/2011/historic-flooding-in-woodstock-vermont-from-irene/#more-249

This is Woodstock, Vermont, the town where I got married this past Spring. This is sad and very upsetting and I wish I was there to help.

B-Star

Babies.

This is the second Saturday E and I have found ourselves in the toy store, just trying to have a regular browse among the legos and lunch boxes, but end up turning to each other every 5 seconds and saying, "Where did all these babies come from?" Of course, if he's feeling literal, he will promptly explain that all these babies came from uteruses, then traveled through the cervix and out the vagina. And that's where babies come from. That is what my 6 year old will tell you. It is also what he told his entire preschool class when he was four because they were studying families. That was an exciting day. I loved those phone calls.

Back to today. Babies were everywhere. Infants, toddlers, crying, smiling babies. Strollers, car seat carriers, pregnant bellies. And we really like babies. I mean really. Last week, E and I tried to have a simple game of catch with a ball in the driveway we share with our next door neighbors, but then they came out bringing their 18 month old and E missed every stinking catch. He was completely useless. He turned into jello. And then the other day I was dropping E off at summer camp and the camp director had brought her tiny baby that day and it was dressed in tye-dye with these tiny tye-dye feet and I just stared at it. Like creepers who look at women's chests and not their face. I'm like that with babies. "Oh, you're here too? I only see your BABY." I had to shake my head, blink a lot and remember who I was supposed to be talking to. "Yes, Jess. Right. Good Morning. Nice baby. I mean, Hello."

So the toy store was kind of awesome and kind of like torture because babies are so great but none of them were in OUR family.

We had to learn to deal. We proceeded to have an EPIC day of make-believe, using E's best most wonderful three baby dolls, Annie, Charles, and Jack. I sewed some cloth diapers with tiny velcro closures, but what really made it awesome was the baby carrier I sewed, sort of like a Baby Bjorn, except more awesome and made to fit my son. He was so into it. He was walking around the house carrying Annie strapped to his chest so she could see. Then he packed a diaper bag and we took them to the park.

I bought E Annie when he was very young. I think he must have been about 2, but maybe less. He was walking, but not really talking. I'm pretty sure I named her. We got her at a thrift shop, cause hey, I've never really had loads of money, and any way, I'm a bit turned off by the way baby dolls are marketed only to girls, and the dolls themselves usually are only girls. Weird. Anyway, I sorted through a nasty pile of naked dolls, and Annie was the best. Also, let's be honest, I have a real thing for orphans, so it only makes sense that I'd "adopt" a baby doll rather than buy one. Never take me to an animal shelter. I WILL leave with a dog.

Annie came home, was washed very well, and quickly became a favorite. E sleeps with her almost every night, and she came to camp in Vermont with us for two months, which left her extra dirty, but of course, we love her just the same. She has those cute/creepy eyelids that close when she's lying down, so she can sleep for real, which is great. Charles (who is a "she", by the way. I learned this today, from E) has painted on blue eyes that are always looking at you even if you've just put her down for a nap.

All of his baby dolls came to us as lost naked orphans. I sat down one day a year ago and made a dress, a vest, a blue fleece hat, a cheetah print scarf, and a snow suit. It is HARD to make doll clothes, let me tell you. Their arms don't really bend in regular places, so how do you make sleeves? Now they have diapers. And a kick ass baby bjorn.

It was really wonderful to watch E care for the baby dolls today. I told him about how I used to be so good at feeding him with a bottle while cooking dinner for myself, how I'd tuck the bottle under my chin and hold his whole body with one arm. Of course, he mastered this technique while feeding Annie today.

We were standing in the sun at the park, and E had just gently set down all three babies on a blanket by a tree. They were napping. I knelt down and cupped my hand around his chin and brought his eyes to mine. "You are going to be such a great dad when you grow up," I told him and kissed him. I've always known this about him. I knew this when I was crying on the couch cause I was a nineteen year old girl and had just been dumped and he was two and tiny, but he toddled over to me with a sippy cup of water and rubbed my back. I've known this since I bought him a dirty baby doll for a dollar and handed it to him and he hugged her the whole car ride home and called her "pwetty baby."

For all the shit my kid gets into, and all the crazy jumble of life that's always going on, it was really great to spend the day remembering who this kid really is, and why it is so fantastic to be his mother.

B-Star