Sweet, Sweet, Perspective on Toddlers

I've read two posts in the last week about the Toddler years (basically anything between 1 and 5) and I am LOVING them. Because as parents of a 1.5 and 3.5 year old there are many times that we need to give each other a little pep talk of, "its going to get better". The older they get we know new challenges will be presented but, right now, patience is thin, brains are crashing with over load and some days you wonder what the heck we were we thinking! And let me tell you, kids bedtime and mommy's bottle of wine can't come quick enough.

On the flip side, now that my son is approaching 1.5 yrs things ARE easier than a year ago, and we know it. The first year is just a blur of well, blur, cause you never remember much later except for snippets. Now, I'll admit it feels like complete mayhem most of them time around here, but there is also a LOT of fun. They are funny, smart, fascinating little kids. Becoming active,  joke-telling, goofy members of our little family pod. We laugh a lot. Those are the days that we say, "There it is! The reason we had kids!"

At around 15 months old, with both of our kids, was when I felt like my head was starting to literally lift. For a long time you have that feeling, like when you go to a party or gathering with two (even just one) toddlers, you leave the party feeling like you never actually made eye contact with an adult the entire time you were there. Its a really strange feeling. With your first baby its hard because it one of those times that you are acutely aware that your life is CHANGED. And you sort of feel like that, in general life, for a long time. That you spend all you time looking down. When each of my kids were around 15 months is when I really began to feel like I was seeing the world around me for the first time. It is a good feeling.

And now the next stage we look forward to is self sufficiency! This is why my first JOY DAY post was about A getting out of bed on her own. And I remember the first time a while back, when she went to the bathroom totally by herself, washed her hands and rejoined our activity: heaven. Every step towards happy independence IS joyful.

So this week I saw this piece "Toddlers: The Hours Are Long, The Years Are Short". Love it. It also referenced Ask Moxie's "It Gets Better: Toddler Edition". I recommend both of these readings for any one who is living with their head down right now. Or for anyone who's head is slowly raising to find themselves holding pom-poms for independence.  My favorite sentence on Ask Moxie: "they are still little boys even though a lot of days it's like having two adult roommates who just like to snuggle a lot."

I can't wait!

But we still look around and say to ourselves, breeeeaaaaathe. Its going to be over soon. She won't always have this ridiculously cute lisp. And his 1 year old feet won't always be this chubby.

First Birthday Fun!

It's actually been almost 6 months since N's First Birthday party but I have yet to showcase the photos here. Since N is about to turn 1 and a 1/2 in a couple of weeks, I am feeling nostalgic.

This was a really, really fun party for me to plan and design. I went all out with the "Farmyard" theme and I was really proud of the way everything turned out. It was a beautiful end of summer day just like his sister's 1st birthday. Lots of friends and family were there to enjoy with us. I had so much fun with the cake and cupcakes and decorations and birthday "activities". The photos below are a perfect mixture of the work of my photographer sister Barbara Brush and Brian Samuels (of Brian Samuels Photography) who we hired for that day. Brian was amazing and blended right in to the action. He caught some great moments that I missed because, like most hostesses, I was in the kitchen for the first hour of the party.... Enjoy!

The decorations...

The food...

The cake (and cupcake garden!)...

The fun...

A few days before the party I thought of this idea--- Using pictures that I cut out of all of my extra invitation I made a "clothesline" type of thing and asked people to safety pin a message for N that he will read on his 10th birthday. It was a big hit! And really really sweet to read them all now from all ages that were at the party.

Face painting!

Happy Mardi Gras! (recipe for Jambalaya)

In honor of, well, February I guess, I decided to make Jambalaya for dinner this week.  This super simple recipe turned out great, although it made enough to feed a small army!

CHICKEN & SAUSAGE JAMBALAYA

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 small onion, diced
½ red pepper, diced
2 ribs celery, diced
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon whole thyme
½ teaspoon chili powder
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 package sausage, sliced thinly
1 lb chicken, cut into chunks
½ cup white wine
1 can diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon tomato Paste
2 cups white rice
1 large can chicken broth
¼ teaspoon salt

Heat oil in a large roasting or sauté pan over high heat. Add onions, peppers, celery, Creole seasoning, pepper, thyme, chili powder and garlic; cook for 5 minutes. Add sausage and chicken and cook an additional 5 minutes. Stir in wine, tomatoes, tomato paste, rice, chicken broth and salt, cover, and cook over low heat approximately 30 to 40 minutes, until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender. Salt to taste and serve.

If you are making it for two adults, I'd cut it in half. Its a little bit spicy so you can cut down on the Cayenne pepper to make friendly for all ages. Although my 1 year old did demand to try it and then ran off with the spoon to lick it clean!

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!

So here is what happened this year. As a holiday that I loathed, both as a single and as an attached girl, I suddenly found value in Valentine's Day this year. Just another excuse to have fun and shower the family with love. 1) First, I had not noticed, in life previously, that you can buy decorations for your home for almost any occasion. More importantly I didn't realize that as my kids got older that would be something I would actually WANT to do. We had tons of fun decorating the house with A. Anything is magical at 3! And even 1.5 year olds will play for hours with holiday themed window clings!

2) We had tons of fun making valentines that would actually be passed out to her preschool class. And anytime there is a big "party" at school the excitement turns up a few notches at home. What I did not know is that Valentine's day is right up there with Halloween in the candy department - no matter how many notes that go home with the parents that say "do not bring in candy". I will be mentally prepared next year -- And I'll remember to block out more time for me on the treadmill :-)

3) We received valentines this year from our 3 year old (with help from the babysitter) and the presentation was super amazing! (This is in the lead for a JOY DAY post but lets see if something else beats it out this week)

4) Making Valentine's themed treats is fun. My go-to recipe for Tri Berry Muffins from Barefoot Contessa look all pink and purple when you bake them! BUT, one must be careful when making heart shaped pancakes, as my husband found out this morning. The the shapes can mistakenly get a little "dirty" :-) 

5) And finally, although on a much smaller scale, setting up their little gifts on the eve of Valentine's Day and watching their reactions in the morning was like a teeny, tiny Christmas. 

Hope your day was filled with fun and love too!

Water Color Valentines! (little master pieces)

Our big craft project this week, of course, are valentines. A is in preschool this year so we get to make them for more than just our family.

One of my favorite things to do for almost any event is to "re-purpose" some of the beautiful paintings that they have already created. This year we made special watercolor paintings to use just for our Valentine's Cards, but if you are like me you probably have piles of paintings that you just don't know what to do with. You don't want to throw them out but....

So here's an idea: Just use pieces of the paintings! It is amazing to see the perfect little masterpieces that exist within the larger one. Kids can free-form express themselves while painting, but really mom is in charge of the final composition.

Tip: Let the kids use REAL PAPER and REAL WATERCOLORS. Messier and not as washable but so worth it. Take a painting away when its only partly "finished" and let it dry for a little while while they work on another. Then when you give back the first for more painting, the layering will be fantastic!

Other supplies for this project came from, my favorite, Paper Source in Cambridge, MA.

There were actually a LOT of little moments this week when I was filled with appreciation for my little bundles. It was a special week. This mild winter helps a ton.The one moment I want to highlight though is my daughter getting to wear her recital dress for the first time.  Much to my dismay they have already passed their dresses out when the recital is not until May. Explaining to a 3 year old over and over on a daily basis that we are supposed to be keeping the dresses nice just feels futile. But so far she has managed to only wear it the one day she brought it home.  I was lucky enough to feel like a fly on the wall when I took this video: Pink dress 

I wasn't like this as a kid. I wasn't into dresses (although I could bore my parents for hours with my performances) I can't relate to this in anyway now other than seeing such miraculous joy in her it spills over into me. The "Toddler & Tiaras" type dress is hard to swallow but look how HAPPY SHE IS!  Love it!

Does anyone else have a moment joy moment from the week that you want to share? We would love to hear them!

Capturing Time

So I decided at around January 3rd to participate in the Photo A Day project. Granted that means I missed three days but I have been keeping up ever since. There are days that I almost forget and I take picture of something random, like my cat snuggled in my bed right before I get in. Other days I actually remember to pull out my camera at a moment that is telling of my day. Like today when I caught N's protest on the streets of Cambridge. He just sat down and wouldn't move. He wasn't screaming. It wasn't a full blown out tantrum. Just a protest that he didn't want to leave. So he went limp on the sidewalk and just sat there. And I let him. Sometimes it's easier. I let him sit there for a few minutes, pointing at trucks and "talking" to me. I took photos.

As much as a lot of these photos seem trivial on a daily basis (like the one I took of my blueberry muffin batter) I imagine when I look back at them at the end of the year I will enjoy them. They will give me a sense of where I was a year ago, or ten months ago, or 5 months ago. When you have young children those can be very different spaces of time. So in that same line of thinking I've decided to capture the joy of the year as well. Parenting is so much about just getting through. Getting through this stage, this event, this meal, this bedtime, this night..... But along the way there are those moments of sublime joy. And in the 99% of the day of "getting through" its hard to remember the 1%. It's probably why my favorite article ever about parenting (with the most telling title) is the NY Times "All Joy, No Fun". But the reality is that each week has a moment. Maybe more than one, maybe less, but I want to make Friday JOY DAY. Starting now, each I will write about one moment of pure parenting joy from the week. This leaves 48 more weeks for me to come up with something. Per usual, it's to help me keep things in perspective.

And to be clear, this week's moment of joy was NOT N's Occupy Porter Square stunt. Not even close.