Thursday's my slow day...

Heh... I realized this morning that Thursday is my 'slow day'... yanno, the day that I cycle to work, work for a few hours, cycle home and then go do volunteer youth work in the evening?  Yah, my slow day!  Nah, this week wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

Victoria's been leaping.  She's started counting and her word count is increasing.  She's also demonstrating and expressing more empathy.  But the trade off has been that she's been hard to get to sleep.  Its been taking as much as two hours in the evening to wind her down enough to help her find sleep.  She also seemed to be coming down with a chest infection, but its cleared up as suddenly as it appeared.  Its a good thing, I was dreading caring for a sick baby yesterday.  But yesterday actually ended up being pretty productive what with getting a good chunk of my to-do list knocked out.

I'll be meeting with a couple of folks from the Youth Zone about a paid opportunity.  I'm pretty chuffed that they like me enough to actually pay me for my time, but I also need to be sure its within the scope of what I have time to do.  I mean, I didn't go volunteer there to get a job... I went to volunteer to gain experience with working with kids of that age group so that I'm ready for teaching them once I've started and I'm out of school.  I also need references for school in that arena, which will help with placement.  So I want to be absolutely sure its within the scope of what I can make time to do so that I'm not setting myself up for failure, as in burn out or bad references, downstream.  But it'll be on Sundays and it'll be working with the juniors ... 8-12s... which I have a pretty easy time with.

Anyhow, my fifteen minutes to blog isn't up yet, but its getting light out so I gotta get my cycling gear on and get on with my day.

So how's that blogging 15 min per day working out for ya?

Muahahaha!  Bwahaha!  What was I thinking?!!?!?!

Ah well, the bright side of New Years Resolutions is that they don't truly go away unless you throw in the towel and can always be improved upon.

I just got off of the busy part of my week: Saturday, Sunday, and Monday when just about everyone is home.  Victoria's been doing some serious developmental leaping which has been driving me insane because its interrupting her sleeping.  It's been taking as much as two hours to get her down to sleep, naps included.  Yesterday I was at my wit's end, but fortunately hubby was home and was able to give me time to do my bi-weekly meal planning and start on the grocery list.

Today, I'm enjoying some quiet, somewhat fearful of looking at my past overdue to-do list.  I know I gotta like oil the couch and stuff like that.  I need to find some good jams to help motivate me towards getting it all done.

Anyhow, quick food review.  I did some beef dishes to ring in the New Year since beef is expensive and not often on the menu consequently.  I found some true skirt cuts at Too Good Farm at a price that was too good to pass up for making beef fajitas.  I did this Marinated Flank Steak recipe, substituting limes for lemons.  It was a win, so its a keeper.

Then on Saturday, I meant to do this Lebanese Lentil Rice Pilaf, but I avoided it.  I've been trying to find good lentil recipes to start incorporating into our everyday living because its one of those foods that reportedly lowers cholesterol, which would help hubby a great deal.  However, a few weeks ago, I followed a lentil leek recipe that turned out to be a serious disaster.  It ended up being much harder to prepare than I anticipated and then it just tasted awful.  Hubby was trying to be a good sport and was eating it but the kids and I were totally turning our noses at it.  I can't remember the last time I threw food out like that.  So I was shy of trying this recipe.

However, I was wrong to avoid it.  This Lebanese Lentil Rice Pilaf was excellent!  I didn't do the caramelized onions, but the rest stood up on its own.  Victoria was scooping it up by the fistful like she couldn't get enough.  Arthur even tried some!  And its super easy to make, so it'll be coming back frequently to our table.

And finally as always on the quest for finding stupidly easy savory crock pot recipes, this Balsamic Beef didn't disappoint.  I only had a quarter cup of balsamic vinegar left, however, so I made up the difference in barbecue sauce.  But it still worked and came out super tender!  This was served last night with the lentils as one side and steamed broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots.  And tonight's left over Balsamic Beef will be pulled and mixed with barbecue sauce and served on bams with a side of oven roasted chips.

Anyhow, yesterday my morning was nearly completely ruined when hubby shared with me the story of Spozhmai.  It affected me on so many levels, thinking about what she said was her story... I mean, crimes against humanity committed upon this little girl and she being forced to wear a suicide vest.  I seriously hope she knows that she can stand on US or British Embassy grounds and ask for asylum rather than being returned to her family.

From that story also came a bit of a revelation.  Last Thursday when I went to go volunteer at the Wigan Youth Zone, my mentor (he's Muslim) asked me to come with him to the market to pick up some banners that the youth club had stored there.  Along the way, he saw a Muslim kid and his buddy that he had recognized from the youth club before, but hadn't seen in several months.  My mentor invited the kid and his friend to the youth zone for a chat and they said that they'd come, but I thought it was an empty promise.  Sure enough though, they both showed up and my mentor got them signed up for a program that's launching this next year-- it offers employ-ability skills to young adults and helps them get connected to careers through apprenticeships.

I mean, looking at these kids... I would have never guessed that they would have cared to show up, and certainly not sign up for this program.  But they did.  And rather than running idle with their lives, or worse, getting caught up in some of the area's gang activity, they've been pointed towards something constructive that can change their lives for the positive.  And I realized that as a volunteer youth worker, I might actually be taking part of being that front line against terrorism.  Kind of a spooky thought, really.  And also proof that I need to work on putting my biases aside.

I mean, sometimes I don't think much of my mentor because he's much more a youth worker than a business person, but then he does something completely amazing like recruiting some punk kid I would have overlooked.  And then, of course, I judged the kid without really giving him a chance... which was very wrong of me to do.  I have a lot to learn and relearn.

Youth work is really difficult a lot of times.  But then something life affirming and redeeming like that happens.

Things getting back to normal

Christmas and New Years holidays are done!  Now everyone gets back on their routines.  I've been looking forward to it as I'm a big fan of structure and routine that I can never seem to fully latch into since my kids are so random.

We purchased a new-to-us couch this past weekend.  It came with a matching 'Daddy Chair'.  The kids think its their new bouncy castle and have been pretty challenging.  I never thought I'd be grounding the kids from the couch.

Its a nice set destined for the formal living room of the new house.  Meanwhile, our old Ikea couch has been flat-packed once again and stored precariously in Arthur's bedroom.  That couch is destined for the kids' play room and so its a good thing its been taken all apart since it'll be going up two floors.

I was looking over progress for the new house over the past year yesterday, just to remind myself that there has been progress and hopefully over the up-coming weeks it'll accelerate.  Chris says that the breaking down stage is just about finished and that we'll begin the building back in stage soon.  That means I gotta get cracking again with vision stuff, nail down exactly what I want and how I want it, etc.

Feeling a bit uninspired for writing and feeling more the need to get doing.  Especially since my son's asking for cereal 9999999999999 times.  Now.

Evernote and whatever else comes up

First thing in the morning, coffee's perking.  I really want a cup of coffee.

So I've been trying to get things around the house a bit more organized.  And I've very recently broken one of my personal rules of the internet: never buying apps.  I had that rule mostly because with my exposure to the open source world, I always had it stuck in my head that there would always be an easy free work around.  Or that if I could better understand the technology, I could just build my own.  Also I never wanted to buy apps because... well... they're too easy to buy.  There's a lot of choice and sometimes even with demo versions, its easy to get excited about an app, buy it, and then find another app that had that additional bell or whistle that you were looking for.  So you gotta buy ANOTHER app.  And that's too easy.  You get nickel and dimed to death too since apps are relatively cheap.

The only exception I made to this rule in the past was buying Bubble School for Arthur.  But that's because Bubble School was so intuitive to use and he's really gotten a lot out of it.

But for myself, I persevered without much in the way of electronic organization except for free apps that came on my phone.  I'd love to be able to have the time to understand the technology better and build my own.  But I'm a mom and I need the end product yesterday.  I needed this organization app 6 months ago.  Please save me!

I was using a few apps on my Note 3 that came out of the box.  S Note / Action memo... slick.  Especially with the S Pen.  Scrapbook.  Awesome.  I've gotten addicted to being able to make written notes on my phone, clip it and store it in Scrapbook.  It was great for making up the kids' Christmas list this year and I liked it better than Pinterest.  Except that I couldn't share that easily and I couldn't make all of the information that snips linked to available offline... like for grocery shopping at Tesco's where the signal is poor and their public wi-fi blows goats.

I just got done with 'teaching' myself how to meal plan and grocery shop using only my phone.  I've been trying to 'teach' myself how to do with just the phone to be ready for school because if I don't have to lug a laptop or full sized tablet around and can do it all on my Note 3, all the better!

But I still needed something to help me remember to flip the mattresses.  Or research a utility rate before our contract was up.  Or remind me to rotate the house plants (or yanno, water them).  Since its end of year and everyone's on the resolutions kick and making offers on apps and doing their 'Best of 2013' lists, I went to see if I could find the right productivity app for me.  I checked out a few.  Tody-- which is iOS only.  I found a nice free android app for house routines... called something like clean sweep or something... but it kept crashing.  I was starting to get frustrated with looking and I thought, why not go back to basics and see what Google's done with Tasks lately.

Now for my task list of things to remember, I would be using Google Calendar already except that for house chores, I really can't assign a time.  And my 'all day' items are already jam packed with other information, like where each kid, my husband, and myself are each day.  I looked at Google Tasks again and was sorely disappointed that there hadn't been improvements on the web interface since I last looked at it.  Google Calendar is right there-- why can't these two marry?  So I started looking for apps that did that-- that married the two and found a couple.

GTasks, I found, had a super easy interface for creating task lists with reminders and had an easy to set up repetition scheme.  So I was able to design for myself my annual tasks, bi-annual, quarterly, monthly, bi-weekly, weekly, every 2-3 days and daily tasks.

And my writing time is up and I wasn't done writing.  But I promised only 15 minutes per.  Maybe I'll cheat later after the kids are off to nursery since its my 'day off' and write more if it strikes my fancy.  But more likely, I'll still be trying to get my head around Evernote, which is raved about but I'm still trying to understand how it'll be better than what I'm using already-- the 'Offline notebooks' for premium users (1 year came free with my O2 account) seems to be the only plus that I've found.  And the Evernote junkies say its real power is with using it by jumping in with two feet.  But I can't write on my clips with my S Pen.

Happy New Year! Resolution 1: Start blogging again

Hiya!  So, I decided I start blogging again as part of the suite of New Years Resolutions for 2014.  This portion's supposed to be good for me in showing me the growth I've experienced over the year where blurbs on Facebook status just doesn't cut it.  15 minutes a day, no more, no less.  So the egg timer's going and I'm doing some free form thought stuff.

Oh yah, no photos for these either.  Just words.  That idea's inspired by an old friend who did the same with his journal.

At any rate... A's seated across from me watching Timmy Time on my old mobile.  C and V are crashed out in the living room.  At about 4 this morning, V was inconsolable, so C has been bringing her down to settle and sleep in the living room so that I can get some uninterrupted sleep (so very thoughtful!).

I'm trying out a new task management system where I've listed most of my house chores and tried to spread out the work.  We'll see how it goes.  It'll probably still require some tweaking.

I'm having a cup of coffee.

I'm feeling a bit on the spot.  Live free form thought journalling, folks  =)

I'm looking forward to taking on mountain biking.  I've been day dreaming about canal rides and rides through Haigh Hall and exploring some of the back paths for months now.

I'm looking forward to doing stuff with the kids at the Wigan Youth Zone.  I want to grow my relationships there with the other volunteers and staff and show the kids that there are adults who care and don't think they're totally slackers so long as they find it in them to be respectful and open minded.  And that those adults would go out of their way to help them.  I want those kids to overcome the obstacles and challenges that are keeping them from experiencing a full, happier life.  I want to introduce new experiences to them, lend them courage and confidence, help guide them to doing what's right for themselves and our community.

I'm looking forward to making everything line up to going back to school.  I came across some road blocks there, but not anything a little time won't help.  In the meantime, I do need to make myself buckle down and start getting into the habit of studying.

I'm looking forward to having A. home more often and starting to accelerate his learning through play.  I'm so impressed with what he does with math.  I want to encourage him to pursue language a bit more.  And I want to have the opportunity to play games with him and continue to bond with him since we're still doing a little bit of catch up in that arena, but doing very well.

I'm looking forward to watching V. grow into her own person.  She's sort of at an annoying phase, truth be told, where she's so excited about life and the things around her and she wants me to be her constant companion for all of it.  Perhaps I should re-examine it all through new eyes or something, once I get past this feeling of being smothered by her at times.  She doesn't mean it like that.

I'm looking forward to getting into the new house, being able to add my personal touches to it and really leaving my mark and making it our own.  I'm looking forward to having some fantastic gatherings there as well and being a great hostess and sharing love and laughter with friends.  I'm looking forward to sharing all of that with my husband as well.

I want to cook up some great food this year-- I want to be adventurous and try cuisines I'm not familiar with using ingredients that are new-ish to me.  I want to pre-plan for holidays and start teaching these customs to my kids and have the ultimate holiday home, full of decorations and activities (and again that love, sharing, laughter bit).  I want to connect with new friends I'm making here and grow those relationships.

I want to feel accomplished with what I do.  I want to cut down on my stress and frustration and strive to live a fuller and quality life.  Getting slimmer would be really nice too, but I gotta get more realistic about that part before it happens.

Time's up!

Stupid easy Slow Cooker Terriyaki Chicken

This was copied from another site which apparently was spam-tastic, so Pinterest wouldn't let me move my pin.  No copyright infringement intended, its your own darn fault Pinterest pulled you!  ;-)

Crock Pot Chicken Terriyaki: 1lb chicken (sliced, cubed or however), 1c chicken broth, 1/2c terriyaki or soy sauce, 1/3c brown sugar, 3minced garlic cloves.  Cook on low heat 6 hours.  For thicker sauce: remove from crockpot and place in sauce pan.  Add 2 tablespoons cornstarch mixed with 1/4 cup cold water and bring to a boil for 1 minute.  Remove from heat and let stand 5 minutes.

Leek and Potato Bake

Leek and Potato Bake

1/2 pound potatoes
2 medium leeks
1 cup single cream
2 medium eggs
1/2 cup bread crumbs

salt and pepper to taste

Peel and slice the potatoes. Clean the leeks by slicing them lengthways and fan them out under running water. Slice these also. Layer the potatoes and the leeks in a greased baking dish, sprinkling a little salt and pepper over each layer. Mix the cream and eggs together in a separate bowl. Pour over the ingredients in the baking dish. Sprinkle some bread crumbs on top. Bake for 45 to 60 minutes, or until the potatoes are soft and the top is browned.

Lentil and Leek Salad

Lentil and Leek Salad

2 cups dried lentils
2 to 3 leeks, chopped, white parts only
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/3 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1/4 cup chopped coriander
1 large stalk celery, thinly sliced
2 to 3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
1 pound spinach, sliced in 1 inch strips
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Salt and pepper to taste Simmer the lentils in well salted water until tender, about 20 to 25 minutes, then drain. Saute the chopped leeks in half of the olive oil until they are soft and just barely beginning to color. Meanwhile, place the raisins in about a cup of scalding hot water for at least ten minutes, then drain well. Combine the lentils, the leeks and raisins. Add the parsley, coriander, celery, rice vinegar and half a teaspoon salt and toss gently but thoroughly. Add the remaining oil to the pan in which you sauteed the leeks and stir the crushed garlic in it for about a minute. Add the spinach and toss over high heat just until the spinach is wilted and the excess water cooks away. Squirt the fresh lemon juice on the spinach, toss again and add it to the salad. Toss the salad again and taste it. Season with salt, fresh ground black pepper and more rice vinegar or lemon juice, to your taste. Then let the salad marinate for an hour and taste it again. Nice drizzled with just a little more olive oil.

Mushroom and Leek Side Salad

Mushroom and Leek Side Salad

2 to 3 large leeks, washed and sliced
10 ounces mushrooms
1 cup vegetable or chicken stock
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh ginger
2 tablespoons flour and 2 tablespoons butter mixed together
salt and pepper to taste

Heat the butter in a fry pan until soft. Add the mushrooms and thoroughly coat them in the butter. Add the stock and ginger. Cover and leave for a few minutes until the vegetables are cooked. Add the butter and flour mixture a little at a time to allow the juices to thicken, but keep the liquid under boiling point. Stir continually. Season with salt and pepper.

Is Technology Integral to Toddlers Learning?

This past week’s Dispatches: How Safe Is Your Child’s Nursery that ran on Channel 4 prompted me to go check out Ofsted’s website for rating nurseries.  Obviously, I went to check out the nursery my son goes to.  The Ofsted website is in fact as terrible as the Dispatches report relayed.  Using the reports search page with the criteria of nurseries within five miles of my post code yielded nurseries in London on the first page (I live near Manchester).  But a general site search helped me find the nursery.  However, the usability of the Ofsted website isn't the point of this post.  Or perhaps in a way, it should be.

I went and read the report posted by Ofsted back in 2011… really, had it been two years since the nursery was last reviewed?  It gave the marks that I pretty well had anticipated for the nursery that I selected for my son.  When I went looking for a nursery, I wanted one that was very close to home.  I wanted a Montessori style atmosphere where children are encouraged to learn by play and learning is done at the child’s pace with the child’s lead.  I wanted my son to be exposed to a great variety of toys and play styles; to have social interaction with children of all ages; to have an experience with some structure not too far unlike what he will later experience in preschool.  I wanted a nursery that worked in frequent partnership with parents in identifying and encouraging their individual child’s development at home.  And I specifically wanted to see no televisions and a caring staff that actively and continuously engaged the children under their care.  The nursery my son goes to gets high marks for all of these.

So in reading the Ofsted report, I saw a lot of praise for those virtues I found in his nursery.  But then I found criticism in the areas that I didn't care for at all in my son’s early education—accessibility to technology.  The report cited that there was a computer that children had access to and that many children demonstrated that they knew how to use a mouse.  But then it criticized the nursery for not having cameras and mobile phones available for the children to play with.

Recently in the Wigan area, a nursery near Swinley was burgled.  Some £800 cash was stolen.  And the article bemoaned how the evil burglars also made off with the nursery’s Playstations, Xboxes, and Wii’s and how a fundraiser was being put together to replace this equipment.  I don’t think I should have to apologize for ‘not being with it’… but really… what are Playstations, Xboxes, and Wii's doing at a preschool nursery?  Had I seen those technologies at the nursery my son is enrolled in, I would have considered switching schools.  We have an Xbox at home.  Maybe I shouldn't send him to nursery at all.

I do realize my perspective comes from a place where I am afraid for children whose caretakers depend on gaming consoles to ‘babysit’ their kids.  I can see maybe with using motion sensor technology in concert with games that encourage movement as a part of learning and problem solving… perhaps.  I can even see technology being used to help preschool children who have learning difficulties or other conditions where a touchscreen is a very useful device for learning.  But for your average, normal bish-bash-bang toddler, is this technology really essential to their early learning?  Especially since many of these gadgets are so readily accessible at home?  Even in this on-going double dip (or more) recession, families are still managing to pony up for the latest iPad.

I’m not certain that for the average toddler, exposure to the latest technology at nursery is a good thing.  As demonstrated by my own toddler, he is a push button maniac.  Who could blame him when the hottest kids’ toys are electronic?  V-Tech, Leap Frog, Bruin, even Fisher Price offer their greatest variety of baby and toddler toys as electronic devices that instantly reward cause-and-effect oriented learning with flashing color lights and whimsical songs at the press of a button.  These devices have specific and limited functions however, that doesn't leave much room for imaginative use.  That is part of what concerns me.



My infant daughter has a Fisher Price bouncer with a toy bar with dangles just outside of her normal reach.  The center dangle is the highest one and is attached to a music box.  When my baby pulls on that dangle, she’s rewarded with a jaunty tune (Polly Wolly Doodle).  My son has been looking for the button on that device for three months now and still hasn't found it.  Both my husband and I have spent a great deal of time showing him how to pull the dangle to get the song that he wants to dance to.

Our son insists that there must be a button he has to push.  For now to him, the world doesn't work any other way.  I’d rather him have better knowledge of mechanical toys.  I’d rather him understand that things work in ways other than by the press of a button.  And I’d rather him have the opportunity to use his imagination more—he seems to be doing pretty well at this with stuffed animals and toy figures.

But back to the subject at hand—is having the latest technology really that useful to nursery school learning?  Maybe I have it all wrong?  Maybe there are activities and games I don’t have knowledge of that warrant the use of a digital camera by a two year old?  Maybe Ofsted has to use the same criteria to rate its nursery schools as it does its secondary schools?  Am I missing something here?

Have your say!

If spanking really works, why do you have to do it so often?

Aquanatal and Operation: Popeye

Aquanatal is simply wonderful.  I went to my second class last night.  The regular instructor-midwife was out last week because her sister was in labor, but she was back this week and worked us a bit harder than her substitute.  Plus, the regular instructor-midwife's accent was softer and easier for me to understand, so I was able to keep up with the routine and conversation better.

Even though I'm not the slimmest mum in the class, I seem to be the most fit.  I attribute this to keeping up after my son.  For the arm strength exercises, I wasn't having any issues while my exercise partners were wincing.  My years in competitive swimming has also been showing through in exercises that require just arm strokes or leg cycles, or in relaxation floating.  A bit of a compliment too-- the instructor was asking if I'd still be swimming competitively if I wasn't pregnant.  "Oh hell no... I haven't swum competitively for years and years, but it just sticks with you.  I hope all my babies are water babies."

And then my age showed when we were asked who were first time mums and who were already mums.  Most of the class raised their hands to first time mums.  "Who has one or more?"  Only mine and one other hand was up.  "Who has two or more?" That question left only my hand up.  "Boy or girl?  How old are they?"  I grinned nervously and answered that one's a girl and she's off to college (its usually quicker and easier to just say that since we're supposed to disclose all completed pregnancies to midwives)... the next is a boy and he's 16 months old.  And this next one is a girl.  The stares from the other mums are all shock: what an age gap!

The class is very enjoyable-- I'm getting a lot out of it and feeling good about myself.  I'm meeting other mums and sharing stories.  I think once both kids are at nursery, I'll look into a water aerobics class-- it's just been that good.  And its just a great break from having Arthur to myself for the full day, at the end of it.  If I have any frustration from our day, I can work it off then and come back home feeling refreshed mentally and physically.

The biggest frustration lately:  I'm embroiled in that age old parent versus child war on veggies.  Arthur used to be great with vegetables.  I was so proud when he got excited and even grunted for his broccoli.  Since he had that stomach bug weeks ago, however, and I gave him whatever he could keep down, he's decided he doesn't want his veg anymore and its been difficult to even get him excited about fruit now.  Its been bread.  Bread. Bread. Bread.  Crackers, breadsticks, toast, muffins... that's about all he'll take with the same enthusiastic gusto that he used to have for fruit and veg.  It breaks my heart and sometimes I can't even bear to watch him eat all that 'junk' while dumping all the 'good stuff' onto the floor.

Meanwhile, hubby says, "He's just being a typical toddlers.  He's still thriving.  He's still slender and active.  He'll outgrow it.  Just relax."  Well, maybe.  But I still have this overwhelming urge to ensure that Arthur's getting the most nutritious diet possible.  There is so much conflicting information out there on the subject.

A lot of parents have resorted to offering nothing but vegetables, or else sending their kids to bed hungry.  I just can't bring myself to do that.  I think its cruel and there are too many kids in the world who doesn't have a choice in going to bed hungry.  What a terrible luxury it is to have that as an option!  Most wouldn't do that to an adult, why do it to a child?

I wrote an article about Picky Toddler Eaters a while back, but it seems like the rules have changed.  I've research and referenced Dr. Sear's Feeding the Picky Eater: 17 Tips.  It is reassuring to read about toddler food binges.  We've tried the nibbler tray, but again, Arthur's reaching for only breaded items from the tray.  I've tried dips, but so far they just make Arthur gag.  Spreading and topping have similar results.  So, I'm giving 'Drink it' a go.  Today, I've added a new tool to my arsenal.  I now own a hand blender.

Besides bread, I can get Arthur to take drinkable yogurt in his sippy cups.  So, I have devised a plan for hiding veg in his eats... we're making smoothies and I'm adding spinach to them.  Plus, if I'm serving food with a sauce, that sauce gets treated as well.  I got three sippy cups ready to go.

Here's the quick recipe, if there's any interest...

• 1 small cup of yogurt
• 1 small banana
• 2 tablespoon scoops of blueberries (wonderful superfood)
• Eyeballed equal portion of fresh spinach leaves with their stems removed
• Splash of milk to consistency

And blend it with the hand blender.  Quick clean up.  Small footprint for storage and counter space too.  If I had known about this hand blender before getting the food processor-- because it does come with attachments for chopping-- I wouldn't have bothered with the food processor.  Since its smaller, its just perfect for preparing quick, fresh, single sized children meals.  It's going to get a lot of use after Victoria starts on solids.


Hopefully, I'll have some good news to report on Operation: Popeye.

50 Pre-Schooler Fine Motor Skills Activies

Here's a list of pre-schooler activities that involve the children learning how to use fine motor skills:

1. Writing
2. Drawing
3. Painting
4. Coloring
5. Chalks
6. Lego Play
7. Playing with Cards
8. Handling Scissors
9. Stringing Beads onto Pipecleaners
10. Play Dough
11. Puzzle Boards
12. Jigsaw Puzzles
13. Shape Sorting Toys
14. Finger Foods
15. Tissue Paper Mosaics
16. Food Preparation
17. Hanging Items on a Clothesline
18. Playing with Clothespins and the edges of boxes
19. Using a Spoon to pick up beads
20. Sewing and Lacing Cards
21. Gluing Beans onto Colored Paper
22. Sand Art
23. Pouring something from one container to another
24. Mixing Colors
25. Finger Puppets
26. Playing with Musical Instruments
27. Peg Boards
28. Zippers
29. Buttons
30. Velcro Strips
31. Tying Shoelaces
32. Snaps
33. Turning Pages
34. Playing with Pom poms and a muffin pan
35. Pipe Cleaners and Colanders
36. Screwing Nuts and Bolts
37. Playing with Stickers
38. Hole Puncher Crafts
39. Playing with Syringes and Turkey Basters
40. Playing with Kitchen Tongs
41. Stacking Blocks
42. Mr. Potato Head
43. Dropping Coins into a Piggy Bank
44. Making a Pine Cone Bird Feeder
45. Playing with Squirt Guns
46. Playing Tea Party
47. Squeezing Water out of Sponges
48. Sand and/or Water Tables
49. Turning Door Knobs
50. Folding Paper

Preparing Children for their First Day of School

This is mostly a transcript of my notes with my thoughts thrown in based on a class that I'm currently taking.

How to Prepare Your Child for Their First Day of School

Be positive, confident and enthusiastic about school.  Children are intuitive and pick up on what mom is feeling very easily, so its doubly important to remain upbeat about this important transition in their lives.  A number of activities can help both you and your child feel happier about this change.

• Buy uniform and school supplies together
• Talk about what they can anticipate out of their school day
• Walk by the school that they'll be attending frequently and talk it up
• Point out children your child already knows who goes to that school
• Read books together about the first day at school

If you have any fears, do a few things to help alleviate those fears.

• Meet the staff and ask about how the child's daily routine is going to be so that you can share this information with your child
• Ask about how long drop offs are and take that time to engage your child in activities going on at the school or nursery.  Some schools will have as much as a half hour for parents to visit with their children before they actually start their classes

Even before the first day of school, you can get a sense for how your child will take to being separated from mom at home.

• Go to a 'taster' day... a time when children can be dropped off at the school for about an hour to see how they adjust on their own
• Join community classes such as these that also utilize a 'creche' (hourly on-site child care) so that your child can experience being left with a play group while mom is in the next room

Skyrim, Drop In And Play, Aquanatal, and Baby Prep

Yes, I know I've been quiet here.  I took some time off to play Skyrim a bit.  I used to game a lot and now just do small quick spurts when it strikes me and I'll likely have less and less time to game at all in the upcoming months.

I've also been keeping busy with a few additions to our weekly routine.  Thursdays with Arthur at Drop in and Play has been enjoyable and helpful for both of us.  I'm so proud that he's the only toddler who pitches in at clean up time, though he won't take the fruit snack that they provide.  And I caught him singing, "The Wheels on the Bus" on his own this past week, which is usually the first song we sing after snacks.

Then later on Thursdays, I also go to Aquanatal, which is kind of like gentle water aerobics for pregnant moms.  I think this first round of Aquanatal has shifted things in my gut a bit.  I'm suddenly not able to eat as much at meals.  My pregnancy is much more pronounced, and I can feel Victoria's movements much higher, as high as two inches above my navel.  But I enjoy the class and a couple of the moms there are familiar to me, so I'm looking forward to making some friends.

We've also been doing some baby prep.  English mums have what's called 'V-day', meaning 'Viable Day' ... 24 weeks gestation when parents can expect that their babies will survive early labor with a strong likelihood of a normal outcome.  My v-day is this Thursday.  Therefore, its the time to be sure to have car seats bought, bassinet set up, newborn clothes ready to go, and the hospital bag packed.  We're about £60 short of having all of the basic essentials ready.  Infant bath and baby swing still needs to be unboxed, but her moses basket is ready.  She has loads of clothes to start out in.  I need to pick up a few travel sized toiletries and then I'm set.

I also managed to get my husband on board with being a more active birth partner this time around.  When I went to deliver Arthur, I took for granted that my husband knew everything he needed to know about how to support me.  He didn't know, and I think that contributed to my c-section.  He didn't feel empowered, especially what with being a foreigner in the US, to counter what the doctor told us.  Now that he's learned so much about how things outside of the US goes, he believes the doctor outright lied to us.  He's very adamant and committed towards seeing me through Victoria's delivery safely while honoring my wishes.

Beef Yakitori

Who knew Japanese could be so easy-peasy?!?!  Inspired by AllRecipes.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced
• 1 garlic clove, minced (I can't mince well, so I thinly sliced and chopped mine)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 pound cubed steak

Method

Stir all of the ingredients together (except for the cubed steak) into a nice marinade.

Let the beef cubes sit in the marinade for four hours.  I stirred mine about every half hour to make sure each cube was well covered.  It was a torturous wait as the marinade smells that good!

I ended up doing the marinade overnight this time around because some other dinner plans came up.  I do not recommend doing this, unless you like your beef yakitori to come out a bit more like beef jerky-- which isn't terrible but I would have liked my meat to have come out more succulent.

Skewer the cubes and set the marinade aside.

Grill the skewered beef for 10-15 minutes.  I did mine in the oven, on broil, turning them every few minutes until I was satisfied with how the beef cooked.

Serve with vegetables stir fried with the remaining marinade sauce and a nice side of rice.

Hubby recommends doing this one as a steak (and that would likely call for overnight marinade).

Things my son teaches me about himself

My son taught me something about himself this morning.

He knows how to walk.  He chooses not to.

This was demonstrated to me after he crawled to me carrying his bib (he has a strange obsession with wanting to wear his bibs all of the time now), standing up to take his bib and then walking half way across the kitchen before stooping down to crawl again.  His walk was perfect—not the hastened run that most first time walkers do where they rush ahead and barely manage to keep their feet under themselves.

His walk was poised, purposeful, balanced, deliberate and controlled.  His walk was experienced.

Chris and I were eating cereal at the table when this happened and Chris just about dropped his bowl in astonishment.  I remarked to Chris, “He did the same thing with his crawling—he knew how to crawl, but insisted on scooting.  He knew how to do it, but chose not to.”  Back then, I was honestly beginning to believe he’d never crawl but go straight to walking, like his older half sister did.

I glanced over at Chris, “I hope he doesn’t do that with his academics.” (knowing how to, but then not applying himself) And then I smiled, realizing, “That reminds me of someone else’s academic career…” and I eyed Chris with playful accusation.

Chris muttered under his breath, jokingly, “F--- you.”  To rub it in harder, I gave Chris another knowing look after a few moments of quiet.  We laughed.

At least if he does, I told Chris, because you’ve been there and done that, you can help me steer our son towards doing well anyways.  This is something I’ll need to keep in mind for the future—in how our little boy decides he wants to be.

Thursday was a full day

Thursday was the 20 week gender/anatomy scan for our next baby; watching the Olympic Torch go by; and my first Aquanatal class.  It made for an action packed day that even sent my son off to bed early without a bath because he was so exhausted.

First up was dropping Arthur off at his grandma’s while Chris and I went for the 20 week anatomy and gender scan for our next baby.  The baby presented very well for the ultrasound tech/midwife… she was able to quickly and easily get all of the baby’s measurements.  The baby is measuring perfectly for its gestation.  All of the organs, limbs, fingers, and toes are there.  Brain development looks normal.  Hearbeat is strong and all chambers and the baby’s aorta showed clearly.  This baby’s just perfect.

We finally got the gender… and it’s a girl.  Her name is Victoria Ann.  I am so over the moon—I really wanted a little girl.

There after, I spoke to a specialist about birthing options.  The midwives have been treating me with kit gloves a bit since I had a c-section with Arthur.  In England, c-sections are not nearly as common as they are in the US—most areas rate 10% or less c-section rate.  VBACs overall are preferred and there’s a good rate for VBAC success in England—around 87%.  So while I’m not going to have to fight for my VBAC like I did when I was in the US, the specialist was a little doomsday about how their threshold for recommending a c-section is much lower when someone has already had a c-section.

We deliberated over fetal monitoring for quite a while.  They of course recommend continuous fetal monitoring for prior c-sections moms to watch for any uterine ruptures.  I of course said, that’s rubbish, let’s do intermittent monitoring because no one can show me what the electronic signature for a uterine rupture looks like.  How do you tell if there’s a uterine rupture?  Pain and bleeding in between contractions.  I’ve given birth before… I trust my body will know what its doing and I trust I’ll know when the pain’s not right.

Wearing a fetal monitor won’t change that.  I want a warm bath if I need help in managing the pain.  I want to be able to walk laps and stairs if my labor stalls out.  Don’t make me decide to stay home until I’m stage 2, please.

We also talked a bit about using pitocin if needed.  I looked at the specialist sceptically, “won’t that cause more pressure on my c-section scar?” He honestly responded that it would which is why they would have to use it carefully.  I asked him if I’d be given other options first, like walking, bouncing on a ball, labouring upright?  The specialist resolved that it sounded like I had my mind made up and that those choices were ultimately up to the midwives and OB on duty when I’m in labor.

The culture for birthing in England is very different from the US.  The majority of c-sections done here are actually elected c-sections.  So often when a woman’s had a c-section, it’s because she elected it and likely wants another one.  So I think that the specialist was glad he wouldn’t have to sway me like that (try a VBAC first?), but I don’t think he was ready for the sort of sway he ended up having to do (no intervention please).

I’ll be making up a list of things to do and try during labor for both myself and Chris to refer to that we’ll push for before I’m given the drip or put under the knife again.  I’m considering adding to the list not to tell me how far dilated I am so that it doesn’t undermine my confidence.

I also asked about keeping my placenta, which the specialist said I’m absolutely permitted to do.  He mentioned encapsulation with a wrinkled nose and then how Muslims often keep theirs to bury and asked out of curiosity, what I would do with mine.  I responded jokingly, it’s a Native American thing… he looked astonished and curious at that and I laughed and told him encapsulation.  Time to get the food dehydrator on order.

After the appointment, Arthur and I had a few hours at home to relax a bit before going to see the Olympic Torch go by, about a mile from our house.  Chris took off early from work to go with us and the weather held—we were half expecting rain.  We found a really good spot for seeing the Torch turning slowly past a corner before it continued on.  Very cool stuff—once in a lifetime and I’m glad to have had Arthur and Victoria there to see it.

Aquanatal ended up getting cancelled.  I’m pretty annoyed with that.  I was told that it was for pool maintenance and that it was cancelled next week as well, but phone in a couple of weeks from now to see if it was still on.  Seriously?  Pool maintenance shouldn’t take two weeks to do.  I had been phoning the Wigan Life Centre earlier this week to find out if they were open on Jubilee Tuesday and they didn’t know.  So I think its time to pen a letter to management about their scheduling difficulties.  I want to take Arthur swimming, but if I’m not able to go check out the facilities first hand, I don’t feel confident taking a toddler where I don’t know what to anticipate.

It was an early night to bed for all of us.

Garlic and Lemon Breaded Cheese Stuffed Chicken

I did up this recipe tonight for dinner and sent some off to the grandparents as well...

Ingredients

• Oil for greasing the baking pan
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 4oz cream cheese (herb, if desired)
• 4oz shredded cheddar cheese (I used white, mild Lancashire cheddar)
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 1-1/2 cups crushed Corn Flakes (can also use Italian breadcrumbs or even 'Cheerio Dust', but Corn Flakes gives the best color and flavor, imho)
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 3/4 cup melted butter
• 4 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika

Method

Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius and oil the baking dish.

Butterfly the chicken breasts. If you have smaller breasts, get a meat tenderizing mallet and gently work the chicken to spread the 'wings'.

Mix the cheddar cheese into the cream cheese.

Spoon out the cheese mix into the butterfly wings. Spread the mixture with your fingers and then close the wings, wrapping the chicken around the cheese mixture inside. The cream cheese does a good job at holding and sealing the chicken together.

Break the egg into one bowl and add the milk. Beat the mixture to a nice omelet consistency.


Add the Corn Flakes and Parmesan cheese to another bowl.

Dip the chicken into the omelet mix and then bread them generously in the Corn Flakes and Parmesan.

Place the chicken onto your baking pan or into your casserole.

Melt the butter in your measuring cup. Add the lemon juice and minced garlic and mix.

Drizzle the butter, garlic, lemon sauce onto the chicken breasts. Pour the remaining sauce around the chicken breasts.

 Season with garlic salt and paprika to taste.

Bake in the oven for 30 minutes.

Here's what mine looked like when it came out of the oven!

Crock Pot Lasagna

And here, I thought lasagna was hard to do!  What was really surprising about this dish was that I was afraid it would turn out too runny what with cooking slowly covered in a crock pot.  But not only did it come out perfect, it even had a little crunchy cheese here and there.  NOM!  My husband lifted the cover 30 minutes after I had spooned the ingredients into the crock pot and was ready to renew his wedding vows right then and there.

Serves 8.  Prep time approx. 1 hour.  Cooks for 4-5 hours.

Ingredients

• 1lb minced beef
• 1 chopped onion
• 2 smashed garlic cloves
• 1 can chopped tomatoes
• 1 can tomato paste
• 1-1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning mix
• 12oz cottage cheese
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 16oz shredded mozzarella cheese
• 12oz lasagna noodles

Method

1. Brown beef, onion and garlic in a frying pan
2. Add chopped tomatoes, tomato paste, and seasoning and mix
3. Cook long enough for this meat sauce to get warm
4. Spoon a layer of meat sauce into the bottom of the slow cooker
5. Top the meat sauce layer with two layers of lasagna noodles.  Break up the noodles to fit them around the inside
6. Top this noodle layer with the cheese.  I found that spreading 2-3 tablespoons of cottage cheese first helps 'anchor' down the noodles.  Then spread the mozzarella followed by Parmesan.
7. Repeat adding a layer of meat sauce, followed by a layer of noodles, followed by a layer of cheeses again and again until all of your ingredients are used up.  I was able to get 3 layers in.
8. Cover and cook on low heat for 4-5 hours.