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Ahhh finally, the dishes done, floor swept, laundry folded, kids in bed. Silence. As I enjoyed a little night cap and played around on the computer- I heard Jack thumping away on the wall upstairs. Knowing my little guy was upstairs awake at 8:30 and I was downstairs alone- I couldn't resist checking on him. He was in bed with a sly little grin, wide awake.
So next thing I know- there we sat, popcorn and Popsicles and a new episode of Hoarders. Jack toasted his Popsicle with a "teers" and we cuddled for about 45 minutes. I'm sure Hoarders isn't a kid-friendly show but I don't think Jack minded. That's when it dawned on me- I was lonely, and Jack was my little buddy.
Although I had a really tough day with the kids, this little sliver of Jack time made it all worth it. This is a piece of parenthood that I didn't know about. You always have a child, your child, there to talk to and love unconditionally. The pitter padder of little feet really do make life worth living.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
Let the games begin!
As I mentioned in a post earlier this summer, I have decided to enter my banana bread into the state fair. While registering for the contest, I decided to up the ante by entering a layered bar too- which I will cover in another post coming soon!
The Banana Bread
The recipe I used is an old one from my Grandmother Marjorie. I knew it was a keeper when I saw that she wrote "good one" on it, not to mention the card is FILTHY- always a good sign for a recipe. The reason this recipe works is because there is a specified amount of mashed bananas rather than a quantity of whole bananas as I have seen in other recipes. For the fair, I took Aunt Ellen's advice and roasted the bananas to deepen the flavor, but this is optional and the bread still turns out great without this step. Another adjustment I made for the fair was a cinnamon streusel. I've heard the judges want something -ahem- "sexy". Not sure if a streusel is considered erotic but I'm hoping it will at least give me some sort of edge.
I tried a few different types, some more successful than others.
Banana split bread- added chopped maraschino cherries and chocolate chips. It was OK, nothing special.
Reese's peanut butter cup- added a cup of chopped peanut butter cups- the peanut butter cup really didn't come through the way I envisioned. I think if I did this one over I would add some peanut butter to the batter and sprinkle a good amount on top of the batter before baking.
Chocolate Marble- I took 1/3 of the batter and added 1/4 cup of coco powder and 1/2 cup of chocolate chips and layered the chocolate batter in with the regular then swirled it. It was very tasty and was a keeper. Perhaps next years submission?
Now for the recipe, I decided to put down the original recipe with the extra steps later on.
Grandma Marge's Banana Bread
2 cups mashed bananas
3 eggs
1 c oil
1 tbsp vanilla
2 c flour
1 c sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
Preheat oven 350
Butter loaf pan (doesn't matter 8x5 or 9x5*) or butter muffin pan for 16 muffins
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, soda and salt.
In a large bowl whisk together bananas, eggs, oil and vanilla
Sprinkle dry ingredients over banana mixture and gently stir until combined
pour into pan and bake for 55 minutes for 9x5 pan or 65-70 minutes for 8x5 pan or 25 minutes for muffins or until toothpick comes out clean
* don't scrape the bowl too thoroughly for 8x5, sometimes it does cook over
Ok so here is where my twists come in...
Allow to cool in pan for 30 minutes, remove from pan and cool completely. Wrap in plastic wrap AND foil and allow to sit overnight. Enjoy!
Cinnamon Streusel Layer
1/4 c flour
1/4 c packed brown sugar (I like dark)
1 tsp cinnamon
3 tbsp COLD butter, cubed
good pinch of salt
Combine all ingredients into a medium bowl
Use a pastry blender or fork to cut butter into the rest of the ingredients until butter is not longer visible and small pea sized crumbs appear.
Pour half the banana bread batter into pan, sprinkle half the streusel over batter, cover with remaining batter and sprinkle with remaining streusel.
To roast bananas
preheat oven to 400
line a baking sheet with foil (optional but easier clean up)
place bananas- peel on- and bake for 10-15 minutes or until dark
allow to rest for 10 minutes before mashing
And now for my mistakes....
1. leave the peel on the bananas to roast- otherwise the banana flesh gets nasty
2. If using a wooden skewer to test doneness, make sure you put it safely in the trash. I learned this the hard way resulting in a skewer "impaled" in my arm when taking out the trash. A trip to urgent care later, I have learned my lesson. Fun Fun.
3. line bottom of oven with foil, thank goodness for self cleaning ovens.
The Banana Bread
The recipe I used is an old one from my Grandmother Marjorie. I knew it was a keeper when I saw that she wrote "good one" on it, not to mention the card is FILTHY- always a good sign for a recipe. The reason this recipe works is because there is a specified amount of mashed bananas rather than a quantity of whole bananas as I have seen in other recipes. For the fair, I took Aunt Ellen's advice and roasted the bananas to deepen the flavor, but this is optional and the bread still turns out great without this step. Another adjustment I made for the fair was a cinnamon streusel. I've heard the judges want something -ahem- "sexy". Not sure if a streusel is considered erotic but I'm hoping it will at least give me some sort of edge.
I tried a few different types, some more successful than others.
Banana split bread- added chopped maraschino cherries and chocolate chips. It was OK, nothing special.
Reese's peanut butter cup- added a cup of chopped peanut butter cups- the peanut butter cup really didn't come through the way I envisioned. I think if I did this one over I would add some peanut butter to the batter and sprinkle a good amount on top of the batter before baking.
Chocolate Marble- I took 1/3 of the batter and added 1/4 cup of coco powder and 1/2 cup of chocolate chips and layered the chocolate batter in with the regular then swirled it. It was very tasty and was a keeper. Perhaps next years submission?
Now for the recipe, I decided to put down the original recipe with the extra steps later on.
Grandma Marge's Banana Bread
2 cups mashed bananas
3 eggs
1 c oil
1 tbsp vanilla
2 c flour
1 c sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
Preheat oven 350
Butter loaf pan (doesn't matter 8x5 or 9x5*) or butter muffin pan for 16 muffins
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, soda and salt.
In a large bowl whisk together bananas, eggs, oil and vanilla
Sprinkle dry ingredients over banana mixture and gently stir until combined
pour into pan and bake for 55 minutes for 9x5 pan or 65-70 minutes for 8x5 pan or 25 minutes for muffins or until toothpick comes out clean
* don't scrape the bowl too thoroughly for 8x5, sometimes it does cook over
Ok so here is where my twists come in...
Allow to cool in pan for 30 minutes, remove from pan and cool completely. Wrap in plastic wrap AND foil and allow to sit overnight. Enjoy!
Cinnamon Streusel Layer
1/4 c flour
1/4 c packed brown sugar (I like dark)
1 tsp cinnamon
3 tbsp COLD butter, cubed
good pinch of salt
Combine all ingredients into a medium bowl
Use a pastry blender or fork to cut butter into the rest of the ingredients until butter is not longer visible and small pea sized crumbs appear.
Pour half the banana bread batter into pan, sprinkle half the streusel over batter, cover with remaining batter and sprinkle with remaining streusel.
To roast bananas
preheat oven to 400
line a baking sheet with foil (optional but easier clean up)
place bananas- peel on- and bake for 10-15 minutes or until dark
allow to rest for 10 minutes before mashing
And now for my mistakes....
1. leave the peel on the bananas to roast- otherwise the banana flesh gets nasty
2. If using a wooden skewer to test doneness, make sure you put it safely in the trash. I learned this the hard way resulting in a skewer "impaled" in my arm when taking out the trash. A trip to urgent care later, I have learned my lesson. Fun Fun.
3. line bottom of oven with foil, thank goodness for self cleaning ovens.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Potty Boot Camp
Earlier this spring Ryan and I decided it was time we thought about potty training. Jack seemed ready but we decided to wait until family visits and trips were over and we had several weeks to focus on the messy job.
Now how to do it? I looked to babycenter.com for help. Although it looked tough, we've heard good things about the 3-day plan by Julie Fellom and felt confident we could do it. Here's the link Potty Trained in 3 days or less.
I had to psych myself up do this but we set the date and there was no turning back... time for potty training boot camp.
Night before
Pulled out the potty and put it in the bathroom
Put towels on the couch
Put sippy cups with water all over the living room to encourage more "opportunities for success"
Day One
After Jack woke up, I showed him the potty in the bathroom and explained what it was for, then stripped him down and watched him like a hawk. Fellom suggests bringing the kid in every time anyone in the house has to go and giving lots of positive reinforcement with a "potty dance" or a treat. So this may sound lame but I couldn't come up with a good dance! I ended up going to the store for M&Ms by noon- classic bribery parenting. We had several accidents before our first success around 2pm, after that we had about a 30% success rate for number 1 and 0% for number two. BUT most of the accidents were in his booster seat which looks very much like a potty (at least that's what I'm telling myself). At the end of the day, Ryan and I were both exhausted from non-stop Jack supervision and major clean up at the end of the day. I'll be honest, I wasn't so sure I wanted to go on with Day Two but we're not a family of quitters (a nod to my dad)
Day Two
Something must have clicked while he slept because Jack was on his A-game from the get go. He would go a little then realize it and run to the potty, he even started emptying the tray into the toilet! Fellom suggests going out for one hour, making him go before you leave, and having the child diaperless with loose fitting pants on. We did this and Jack was fine. We got home and let him play in his kiddie pool, which he prompted peed in, but he didn't wet his pants! Ryan took him out later in the day and he said "potty" went when he got home- no accidents while they were out. At the end of the day Jack had a 70% rate for number one and 0% again for number two.
Day Three
Ryan went to work so I was on solo potty-duty most of the day. Jack did great... until I ventured out with him. I thought a quick trip to Target and the mall playground might be possible. I got what I thought was everything I needed- extra pants, portable potty, Lysol wipes and took out his usual diapers. Following the Fellom program, he went commando with sweatpants. Target was fine, then I took him to the family restroom at the mall to show him the little toilet. He didn't go, but also hadn't had anything to drink so a quick trip to the playground was next. He went wild (as usual) but then kept coming over to me, then after about 10 minutes I saw the classic pee silhouette. I grabbed him before any damage had been done (or so I thought). Only to find I had left my little kit on the kitchen table- ugh! In a mad dash for the car, I managed to get covered in pee and bump into a friend (Hi Stacy!) who luckily understood the urgency of the situation and didn't get offended as I rudely continued to run/drag/carry 2 screaming kids without a chat. Besides our little adventure Jack's potty stats were 100% for number one (minus the mall disaster) and N/A for number two- he only went in his diaper at nap time.
After one week of the program, I feel pretty confident at home, although number two has still been tricky. We have gone out successfully a few times but we aren't as busy as we usually are. I wouldn't say Jack is fully potty trained but is getting there.
(batch of bare-bottom cookies coming right up!)
Afterthoughts
-This weekend was exhausting. We kept the TV mostly off the whole weekend so he could focus on getting to know when he had to go. Keeping the TV off meant keeping Jack entertained. Although I love playing with my little guy, singing the ABCs gets pretty old after about 5th time.
-Glad we waited until Catie isn't so needy. She can be content hanging out on the floor for longer periods of time. We didn't have any major issues with her while were in the bathroom with Jack... we must have lucked out. There was only one time Jack had to go at the same time I was feeding her and had an accident- that was on the first day.
- Summer is a good time for this method, Jack has been naked pretty much the entire week, and if we stick to the Fellom program- he will be in the nude for the next 3 months
Now how to do it? I looked to babycenter.com for help. Although it looked tough, we've heard good things about the 3-day plan by Julie Fellom and felt confident we could do it. Here's the link Potty Trained in 3 days or less.
I had to psych myself up do this but we set the date and there was no turning back... time for potty training boot camp.
Night before
Pulled out the potty and put it in the bathroom
Put towels on the couch
Put sippy cups with water all over the living room to encourage more "opportunities for success"
Day One
After Jack woke up, I showed him the potty in the bathroom and explained what it was for, then stripped him down and watched him like a hawk. Fellom suggests bringing the kid in every time anyone in the house has to go and giving lots of positive reinforcement with a "potty dance" or a treat. So this may sound lame but I couldn't come up with a good dance! I ended up going to the store for M&Ms by noon- classic bribery parenting. We had several accidents before our first success around 2pm, after that we had about a 30% success rate for number 1 and 0% for number two. BUT most of the accidents were in his booster seat which looks very much like a potty (at least that's what I'm telling myself). At the end of the day, Ryan and I were both exhausted from non-stop Jack supervision and major clean up at the end of the day. I'll be honest, I wasn't so sure I wanted to go on with Day Two but we're not a family of quitters (a nod to my dad)
Day Two
Something must have clicked while he slept because Jack was on his A-game from the get go. He would go a little then realize it and run to the potty, he even started emptying the tray into the toilet! Fellom suggests going out for one hour, making him go before you leave, and having the child diaperless with loose fitting pants on. We did this and Jack was fine. We got home and let him play in his kiddie pool, which he prompted peed in, but he didn't wet his pants! Ryan took him out later in the day and he said "potty" went when he got home- no accidents while they were out. At the end of the day Jack had a 70% rate for number one and 0% again for number two.
Day Three
Ryan went to work so I was on solo potty-duty most of the day. Jack did great... until I ventured out with him. I thought a quick trip to Target and the mall playground might be possible. I got what I thought was everything I needed- extra pants, portable potty, Lysol wipes and took out his usual diapers. Following the Fellom program, he went commando with sweatpants. Target was fine, then I took him to the family restroom at the mall to show him the little toilet. He didn't go, but also hadn't had anything to drink so a quick trip to the playground was next. He went wild (as usual) but then kept coming over to me, then after about 10 minutes I saw the classic pee silhouette. I grabbed him before any damage had been done (or so I thought). Only to find I had left my little kit on the kitchen table- ugh! In a mad dash for the car, I managed to get covered in pee and bump into a friend (Hi Stacy!) who luckily understood the urgency of the situation and didn't get offended as I rudely continued to run/drag/carry 2 screaming kids without a chat. Besides our little adventure Jack's potty stats were 100% for number one (minus the mall disaster) and N/A for number two- he only went in his diaper at nap time.
After one week of the program, I feel pretty confident at home, although number two has still been tricky. We have gone out successfully a few times but we aren't as busy as we usually are. I wouldn't say Jack is fully potty trained but is getting there.
Afterthoughts
-This weekend was exhausting. We kept the TV mostly off the whole weekend so he could focus on getting to know when he had to go. Keeping the TV off meant keeping Jack entertained. Although I love playing with my little guy, singing the ABCs gets pretty old after about 5th time.
-Glad we waited until Catie isn't so needy. She can be content hanging out on the floor for longer periods of time. We didn't have any major issues with her while were in the bathroom with Jack... we must have lucked out. There was only one time Jack had to go at the same time I was feeding her and had an accident- that was on the first day.
- Summer is a good time for this method, Jack has been naked pretty much the entire week, and if we stick to the Fellom program- he will be in the nude for the next 3 months
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