While the boss* is away

* Ryan's college nickname is "Boss". It does not mean he is actually the boss. Well, he is in fact the boss of a few people at his office, but around here, he's probably last in line for that title.

Recently, Ryan was away on a business trip. While he was gone, I succeeded in selling a piece of furniture from our living room. We want new furniture and agreed that this piece should go. When the nice craig's list people came and took the chair, it looked to me like our living room grew. There was a wonderful big empty space where there chair had been, and I felt like I could breathe more easily.

Ryan got home from Denver a few hours later. He didn't notice the new vacancy in the living room, and I didn't mention it to him. I wanted to see who would notice first between him and Julian.

We brought Julian home from school and he ran right through the formerly-occupied space as if he had been able to run that path his whole life.

And several more hours passed, and still Ryan did not notice. During that time, Julian asked about certain missing toy trains, missing puzzle pieces, but not a very large missing chair.

I am comforted, actually, because I was nervous about selling a perfectly good chair. I feel validated that none of us actually ever sat in it.

Take your guess: Did Ryan notice, but think it wasn't worth mentioning? Will Julian be the first to point out "where wocking chair go?" Will Ryan suddenly say, "Hey, you sold the chair!" Will Ryan read this post before that happens?

I'll be waiting.

To be or not to be

As Julian has been adding more proper grammar to his sentences, I notice that it's usually one step forward, two steps back before we get any new verb usage smoothed out.

"To be" started out very well for us a few months ago, in the form of the contraction "That's" (pronounced "dat's") so that he could say "Dat's mommy's iPod" or "Dat's a fire truck!" instead of the babyish excuse for a sentence, "Fire truck!"

Current usage of the verb "to be", however, includes predicting the future without the use of the helping verb "will":

Me: I'm going to turn off the lights now.
Julian: It be dark.

Me: I'll eat one of your orange slices.
Julian: Dey be all gone!

And, of course, simple descriptions of how things "be":

Me: Your doll has no shirt now!
Julian: She be cold!

January M-C News

1. Ryan posted new pictures.
2. Whitney is writing a book (with Heather) and has interest from a couple publishers.
3. Julian doesn't know it yet, but in July, he will become a big brother.

Happy New Year!

No one cares what you had for lunch

Maggie Mason, a well-known blogger in San Francisco, has written a book of 100 ideas for blog entries. She aims to provide inspiration for bloggers who are stuck on writing about their cats and other mundane details of their lives, and has titled it No One Cares What You Had For Lunch. I like the book, and have been using it, but today I will contradict the claim she makes.

Today you should care what I had for lunch, because it was leftover zucchini latkes made by Karen for our Hanukkah party. They are delicious themselves, but the best part is the yogurt sauce that goes with them. Here is the zucchini latke recipe. I encourage you to try it out, even if you're not celebrating Hannukah.

ZUCCHINI LATKES

- Grate on a microplane:
about 8 zucchini (unpeeled)
1/2 a red onion or 1 small one

- Mix together:
3 eggs
2 cups flour
1/2 cup water

- Mix batter with veg. Add:
a big pinch of salt
about 1/2 cup chopped chives
a bit more flour or water to make a consistency like thick cake batter

- Heat oil and drop into pan- spread them out thin in the oil with the back of your spoon a little bit. Cook thru and drain on paper towels.

DIPPING SAUCE
for 1 pint whole milk plain yogurt, mix in to taste:
juice of 1 lemon
a couple big pinches of sea salt
a heavy dose of garam masala (around 2T)
a heavy dose of turmeric (around 1T)
a heavy dose of garlic powder (about 1T- could also use fresh minced garlic)
you could add other things like, chopped mint, chopped shallots (raw or pickled)
keep adding more spices until it tastes good. you need to put in a lot.
let it sit for a few hours in the fridge to marry all the flavors.

I Shpy

Tonight is the first night of Hanukkah (which you can spell however you want). We'll have the Flibbs over for dinner and light the candles in a couple of menorahs. Tomorrow my mom will come up from L.A. so that at our Hanukkah party on Sunday, I won't be the only Jewish mother in the house.

Julian is obsessed with playing "I Spy" whenever he sees a picture with lots of details. He has a subscription to Animal Baby magazine, and "I Spy" is a feature in each issue. So... I was excited when I saw this printable "I Shpy" activity on the Chabad web site. It's not really 2-year old appropriate, but we'll find other things in the picture to quiz him on.

At "school" this week, Julian made latkes, decorated a Jewish star, and painted a menorah, made out of blocks. Perfect timing because when these 8 days of Hanukkah are over, we can turn our attention to Christmas trees, Santa Claus, and giving. Oy, do I love December.

Talent that cannot be denied

What’s he saying? Here is an approximate transcript:

ABCD. No, no ABCD. Ring around the rosie, pocket full of posie, ashes ashes all fall down.

I feel, I feel, I feel like a morning star. Shoefly don’t bother me.

This old man…

Good bye, so long, farewell my friends. Good bye, so long, farewell.

Bye bye to mommy, Bye bye to (points to self) Julian…

2shirt

(Adding to this post... I quit my job at LeapFrog... I realized this was confusing if you didn't know that I'm not working there.) I've decided that I'm not trying to figure out what I'm doing with the rest of my life. Julian's schedule is going to change so much over the next few years, and I've volunteered myself as primary supporter of that schedule. So for now, I'm focused on the next six months. We'll see what the summer brings.

One of the things I want to try my hand at during the next six months is making, and possibly selling, clothing for children. Especially boys.

Today I took a plain light blue t-shirt, and sewed a numeral 2 into the inside, and then cut out the inner piece to reveal the dark blue fabric I had sewn in. Ever since Julian was born, I had looked forward to him wearing a big 2 when he turned two years old. And here we are.



Yes, I will take orders on this...

Halloween confession

It hurts to admit it, but Halloween was more fun when we went to the Castro, dressed in silly costumes, and drank a lot with our friends. Ah, the early '00s.

This year, I was witness to at least six tantrums, spent two hours being cold at a playground, and was put in the awkward position of comforting a frightened Julian who buried his head in my arm and cried while his smiling classmates sang "Happy Birthday" to him. Welcome to the terrific twos!

I have posted pictures from this holiday. And here's one for you from our last Halloween in San Francisco when we dressed up as my grandparents.

An Apron for Amanda

Sounds like a children's book title, doesn't it?

It was Amanda's birthday last week, so I made her an apron. Her birthday party was an ice cream social, and the creative Miss Pxpxnikolas made the ice cream herself (her privacy is being protected from curious high school students who might be googling her). Since she's not typically a domestic goddess in the kitchen, I thought it would be nice to reward her efforts with a related gift. (This might not sound logical, but it makes sense to me.)


I bought fabric that I thought went with the ice cream theme, and here are the results.

Apron-making is sort of a trend right now among the craft bloggers, and you can see some amazing ones in this Flickr pool.

Giving handmade gifts is on my List of Things I Like To Do and Want To Do More Often. Amanda's birthday always inspires me.

P.S. My t-shirt in this picture is a handmade gift from my little sister.

Birthday 2.0: King for a month

It's birthday month in this house, and I believe that one's birthday month should be packed with all kinds of special activities. Julian's really kicked off yesterday with a trip to the zoo and then a birthday party for him and all of his mom's group buddies. In the next 14 days, eight of them will hit the big 2.0.

We parents had a great time watching our nearly-twos bang into each other, bang into walls, and shovel chocolate cake into their mouths. Julian wore his fabulous purple crown to the party.

If J-dog really knew how to take advantage of his birthday month and act like royalty, here's what I think he'd decree:

1. All meals should consist of three courses: bunny crackers, scrambled eggs, and yogurt with infant cereal mixed in. Please stop presenting unfamiliar foods to me.
   
2. If we are getting in the car, the destination ought to be Totland. There is no reason for any other outing.
3. When I say "again," everyone will oblige my request. I might say "again" ad infinitum. The words "this is the last time" shall never be spoken to me.
   
4. Going to school every day is acceptable, however Mommy shall stay there with me the whole time. Daddy too, for that matter.
5. The ban on drawing on materials other than paper shall be lifted.
6. I will be allowed to watch videos of myself as a baby for many hours each day.
   
7. At all times, my comfort objects "Paci" and "Quackers" should be nearby. They are currently imprisoned in my crib, and I need unlimited access.

Since he cannot express himself in such terms yet, he's stuck with the choices I make for him. Such is the life of a two year old. Stay tuned for more birthday adventures.