Obsessions and Insights

This Padre fan loves her pears and peas

I have a new obsession: making homemade baby food. I can't believe I didn't start sooner! My sister and several friends tried to convince me, and I finally gave into peer pressure. I'm so glad I did.

Not only does it save money and cuts down on the amount of baby food wasted, but it takes my domesticity (is that a word?) to a whole new level. I get this strange sense of satisfaction out of pureeing the food myself. Weird but true.

Seriously, if you are currently buying baby food, you should consider making it. All you need is a blender and some ice cube trays---and all the fruits and veggies you plan on pureeing, of course. This website has a lot of good recipes and ideas.

I also like that there is so much more variety than with the store-bought food. So far, Maddie has eaten homemade carrots, peas, green beans, broccoli, avocado, peaches, and pears. And there are bananas and black beans in the freezer waiting to be eaten. She has loved almost all of it (she's not a fan of avocados--where did this girl come from? I could live off them). Pears are her current favorite--I can't shovel them in her mouth fast enough.

So there's my plug for making your own food and saving a few bucks while you're at it.

In other news, I have had a couple of insights lately:

First, story time at the library is a great way to survive winter and get the kids to the library and out of the house. It has recently become a weekly activity in our home and I'm trying to solidify it as a habit. Today we had a couple of friends come with us and Isaac is finally starting participating during the songs (he just needed a little help from his friends). It was great.

My second insight pertains to cleaning up the toys. Isaac is old enough to help clean up his own toys, but let's face it, I can get the job done in half the time and half the effort. I realize, though, that me cleaning up after him doesn't exactly teach him how to "clean up, clean up, everybody everywhere..."

Last night, I said to him, "First, let's clean up the toys; after, we'll eat chocolate."

Those magic words lit a fire in him (my boy loves him some chocolate) and he cleaned the entire living room almost as fast as he messed it up earlier that day. I then rewarded him with 3 (yes, three) chocolate chips.

Ryan calls it borderline child abuse.

I call it sheer genius.

Tonight, all I had to say was, "First, let's clean up the toys," and he immediately yelled "After---CHOCOLATE!!!"

Just call me Pavlov.

While it looks like he's strangling Chase, he's actually trying to bear hug him from behind...not that Chase understands that...

This little girl is obsessed with her new table. Every time she sees it she starts grunting and leaning toward it. I can put her in front of it and it occupies her forever (or until her brother accidentally knocks her down).