Overheard

Two funny incidents I need to share...

The first happened a few months ago.  At the time, J's favourite CD was a lullaby one of original songs promoting breastfeeding (a free gift from WIC, you can download it here).  It featured one song that goes, "It's alright, it's okay" multiple times, in multiple verses.

Source: breastmilkcounts.com

So when I overheard him singing "It's alright, it's alright, it's alright" in a somewhat tuneless way, I was about to correct him to include "it's okay".  Then I heard the next line: "She moves in mysterious ways."  It seems that the dozen times he has heard Mysterious Ways by U2 in his life has had an impact - even if it was out of tune!  (I don't get to play 'my' music much any more.  Possibly the first time he heard this song was in utero when we went to see U2 in concert in Vancouver.  His hearing was supposedly developing that week and he sure kicked along with the vibrations.)

The second incident was this week.  A wee while ago I was throwing our recycling in the community bin at a local school when I noticed the library had been culling their big books collection.  Being an educational magpie, I swooped up anything that looked like emergent reader stuff before the rain started and brought it home.  J had a blast (and still is enjoying) turning the giant pages and having me read to him.  He even can 'read' along with me for some bits.

One of his favourites is a book called It Came To Tea by Hope Hucklesby (not to be confused with Judith Kerr's The Tiger Who Came To Tea).  It is about an intimidating stranger coming to door, shyly requesting help with a puncture, and eventually he is invited in for tea, where he turns out to be quite sweet.  The illustrations feature a very shaggy, muppet-ish monster with knobbly knees.

Anyway, I am doing something else when I notice J playing with his motorcycle and toy lion (shaggy mane!), saying something in a deep voice over and over again.

That's when I realise he is quoting the book, using his lion as 'It' and his motorcycle as a prop: "Bike's got a puncture.  Could use a patch or two.  I'm not sure how to fix it -- do you know what to do?"

A good reminder that he soaks up everything he is exposed to, and then it comes back in some form!

Balloon Festival

Last night we took the boys to the Plano Balloon Festival.

J has liked balloons ever since we read a Clifford book about a hot-air balloon.  (It's a phonics reader, so nothing outstanding in the plot!)

We weren't counting on the traffic hold-ups, so we missed seeing the balloons take off from the launch site, but we could see them as we walked the mile into the festival area.  It was 6pm and still 96*F (35*C)!  That's Texas for you!

There were thousands of people there, and lots of balloons (big and small).

We had our picnic tea and perused the band, while soaking up the atmosphere.  J got a free balloon, which he was very excited about and waved his hand so much that it flew away about 5 minutes after taking this picture!

We tried to stay for the 'glow' show, where the balloons are lit up by the fuel burning in the dark, but the boys got too antsy.  It was just as well we left when we did.  We got caught in the first of the traffic snarls as people left (still more were arriving - in a cooler 86*F/30*C evening) and it could have been MUCH worse.

Next year we'll try to get there a bit earlier.

Pulled Pork and BBQ sauce

Pulled pork sandwiches are pretty popular here, so here are my recipes, cobbled together from multiple ones found online to suit what we had in our pantry.

Slow-Cooker Pulled Pork

5 lb boneless pork shoulder (butt roast)
1 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup water

Combine spices and rub on meat.  Put seasoned meat in a 6 qt slow cooker.  Add water.  Cover and cook on LOW 6-8 hours / HIGH 4-5 hours, or until tender.  Remove meat and rest 10-15 minutes.  Pull apart with two forks, slice or chop meat.  Serve with barbecue sauce on soft rolls.

Not-Your-Traditional Barbecue Sauce

(This was heavily adapted from an online recipe - one of the few that didn't include root beer, because I don't like it - but is mangled beyond recognition from its source... mostly because I kept adding stuff!)

4 oz apple sauce (1 baby jar!)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup red wine
1/2 - 1 Tbsp hot chilli sauce (start low!)
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup ketchup
1 tsp dry mustard
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp Vegemite or Marmite
1 Tbsp molasses
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

Combine ingredients over low heat.  Simmer for 30 minutes, or until thickened to your liking.  Cool and refrigerate.

Before and After

At last, C is fiberglass free!  (If you want to see the backstory, see here.)  I promised I'd post pictures of C after his cast came off, and the damage he had inflicted to the cast itself.  So here are the 'before' shots.

 Check out that pristine white cotton padding, and beautiful blue fiberglass webbing!

And here are the 'after' shots, taken just before we headed to the hospital.

Scuff marks and worn-down toe to prove C can move!

It has been funny watching C get used to moving without the cast on again.  He is still crawling as if it is still there (lifting and rotating from his hip) but we're told this is usual for the first wee while.  He sure is loving the ability to bounce with both knees, and to stand with straight legs too.

From August-September 2012

He is certainly enjoying life.

What I've Been Watching...

I love our Amazon Prime membership, especially the instant video selection.  Here's what I've been watching lately:

Cake Boss

A family run bakery in New Jersey and the fun (for me!) of watching them construct and decorate elaborate cakes for weddings and other functions.  A long way from my buttercream efforts.  I'm halfway through season 3!

Rubicon

N and I have enjoyed this spy thriller series.  It's a pity it was cut after one season.  The finale was a bit weak after the suspense had built up, but it still left some things unanswered.  Room for a second series for sure.

Life

Another cop show, but with a quirky main character.  Detective Charlie Crews has been interred in prison for the last 12 years.  His conviction was overturned and he has returned to the force, with a new outlook on life.  We're partway through the first series so far, and it's rather compelling.

Inspector Lewis

I love BBC Masterpiece drama, and we've eventually caught up to the current season screening on PBS.

From my Kitchen...

We ran out of pancake syrup the other day.  I just hadn't got around to getting it, so when I spied a simple recipe in one of my Destitute Gourmet cookbooks, it was sure to be made!  3 ingredients later we have a yummy syrup for less than I can buy it, and it tastes better.  Not to mention, no high fructose corn syrup or other additives in sight.

I didn't have the usual vanilla essence in the cupboard because I've got some heavenly pure vanilla essence from Mexico that we bought on our San Antonio trip.  (Along with the vanilla flavour, there is a delicate aftertaste reminiscent of coconut, despite the only ingredients being alcohol and vanilla beans!  It gives a slightly tropical hit to the syrup.  Mmm.)

Homemade Pancake Syrup

Simmer 1 cup of brown sugar with 1/2 cup of water until the sugar dissolves and stir in 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence.  Simple, eh?  I think you could probably fake maple syrup if you substituted maple flavouring - just like a bought one!

At the moment, my syrup is masquerading in the fridge as molasses because I haven't relabelled the jar. I hope it lasts longer that way. :o)

Alongside pancakes, I've enjoyed a swirl of this syrup in our homemade yoghurt.  (My 'go to' yoghurt flavour is honey and a dash of cinnamon.)

We've had our EasiYo maker in North America for the longest time, but I can't afford the packet mixes here (and I'd have to get them sent from California).  So this option is out.

I don't have a candy thermometer so it makes heating milk to the right temperature a little hard, but I've experimented successfully with adding an active plain yoghurt to warmed milk and then putting that in the EasiYo, but the results were variable and the process messy.

Then I found this recipe to make yoghurt in a slow cooker.  Perfect!  I set the timer and I don't have to worry about getting the right temperature, and it makes a 1/2 gallon (2L)!  I skim a bit of the whey off the top before I scoop it into containers (so it is thicker), and it's done.

What I've Been Reading

I've had a few books on the go lately and thought I should share.
(All images from www.amazon.com)

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

This was a compelling read.  I've heard great reviews of the movie but wanted to read it first.  It may have been because we are here in the southwest, but I could 'hear' the voices of all the characters so clearly.  I'm glad we live in more enlightened times (comparatively), but I fear there are still echoes of these relationships still sounding.

Canning for a New Generation by Liana Krissoff

A girl after my own heart.  As I've been looking for canning / preserving recipes over the summer I have been restricted by the lack of variety in recipes, and that many of them call for way more produce than I can deal with (i.e. start with 100 lbs tomatoes).  This beautiful book has adventurous recipes (cardamom plum jam, cumin and paprika pickled turnips, etc.) alongside more traditional ones (strawberry preserves, grape jelly, all-purpose tomato sauce, etc.), and uses a variety of preserving methods (fermentation, freezing, water-bath, freeze-drying, overflow).  It also deals with smaller batches, which is ideal for me.  I hope this copy is available in the library next time I find I have a glut of something from our food co-op.  The tomato sauce is really good, by the way!

Agatha Christie and the Eleven Missing Days by Jared Cade

I love reading Agatha Christie mysteries and thrillers.  She is definitely the 'Queen of Crime' for me, so this biography was interesting to read.  I had completely missed the fact she was a 'missing person' for 11 days in 1926.  The book is an account of her life and draws deeply from family sources and Christie's books.  It was a bit sad in places, and given her dislike of any reference to her disappearance, I felt a little guilty to be reading about it in such detail!  It has made me want to go back and re-read some of her mysteries and find some more of her pseudonymous works (under the name Mary Westmacott).

Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett

And something lighthearted to finish with.  Extra Yarn is a picture book with delightful illustrations by the conceptual artist for Coraline, Jon Klassen.  It follows the knitting of Annabelle, whose box of yarn always has some extra.  And it has a little moral for the greedy too. ;o)

Guaranteed to make you smile :o)

I spotted this on one of my favourite blogs this week.  It is a song by NZ duo Flight of the Conchords, raising funds for Cure Kids.  They collected a bunch of lyric ideas from kids and roped in some celebrities to sing them.  Anyone who has kids (or worked with them) knows how hard it can be to string those random things together.  Bravo!

P.S. I need to get back into the NZ music scene.  I didn't recognise a couple of those celebs!

Fun food

The last wee while has seen us ordering our food co-op basket every fortnight (every 2 weeks for the North Americans).

Here was one week's treat - corn that had pretty red kernels when raw...

 that faded when cooked but still had the red colouring on the cob!

In August I ordered an 'extra' one week - 20lbs of tomatoes.  More about that later.

And this week we have squillions (well, it feels like it) of Hatch chiles.  Quite a seasonal treat down in the Southwest!  We had a casserole version of chiles rellenos for dinner, since it seemed easier than the rellenos I made a while back when Grant visited.

From the mouths of babes...

At 3am Tuesday morning... C practising all his favourite new sounds after a feed...for 15 minutes: "SSSSssth"; "ooooooooo"; "Quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle".  No wait... that was the magpies*, but you get the gist of the babbling!     [*Denis Glover's poem The Magpies.]

Tuesday, after I got cross when he disturbed C just as he was falling asleep - J's first spontaneous (i.e. unprompted) apology: "I sorry.  I wake up Cawib."

A couple of weeks ago, as I got dinner ready I hear, "NO CAWIB!" followed by grunts that usually mean J is pushing C away or forcing his fingers off something gripped tightly.  

I go to investigate, "What's happening?"  C is nowhere near J, has nothing in his hands, looks happy.  

J says, "Cawib eat."  

I check C's mouth.  Nothing, not even a sticker or crayon.  "What did C eat?"

"Cawib eat Jofadin."

Sure enough, two little tooth-like indentations fading from J's forehead!

Public Safety Announcement

In addition to warning you stay out C's way when he is in a fiberglass leg cast (that thing can deliver a hefty bruise if aimed carefully enough), I came across a post the other week that I wish I'd read while I was in teachers' college.  Although I've never needed to rescue someone in my care while swimming, I was looking for the wrong signals.  And I personally know at least one family that tragically lost a member to drowning.

The blogpost linked to a site with an article explaining what drowning really looks like and a further link to a video of what has been termed the 'instinctive drowning response'.  We've been conditioned by television and the movies to look for someone splashing wildly or calling for help, and I can remember being taught to raise one arm if I needed assistance in the water.  But when people really do need help, they're not able to behave this way, and the window of opportunity between distress and needing resuscitation is short - possibly less than 30 seconds.  I strongly urge you to go check out this site before you next head out to spend some time near water.

On a lighter note, do you know how hard it is to keep a crawler away from water in the home?  Even emptying a dishwasher is a hazard for C's cast, since he wants to climb in, and in the bath, and in the toilet, and play with drips from his sippy cup... He is desperately waiting until he can have more than a spongebath again!  Me too.  I'm tired of all the chasing.

Here's one of his favourite dry spots.  It gets him close to J's seat at the table (where all the fun stuff happens) and is a bit of a mission for Mum to reach in around the table legs!

Real Life vs. Reporting Real Life

The title really says it.  It's not that we've not been up to much, we've been up to too much!  Consequently, this blog (and you, dear readers) have suffered my neglect of the blogosphere.  In order to make amends I propose to post many small posts in quick succession (bless the 'schedule' function in Blogger) to catch y'all up with happenings in our family, kitchen, and my head (if I get that far).  So, here goes...

We have discovered what every parent of young children needs to know in a hot Dallas summer - the council splash parks.  These fabulous locations are dotted around our baking hot city and provide free, COOL entertainment for those not inclined to wallow in a deep pool or run their air-conditioner ragged.  They are perfect for young children who cannot be left for a second near a traditional pool, or even a paddling pool.  Chlorinated water sprays from a myriad of fountains, pipes, and moving sculptures (think the Wellington bucket fountain on Cuba St, kiwis!) and then runs off the rubberized surface to drain away and be recirculated.  You'd have to work hard to drown here!

We have had a number of fun visits over the last month to our local spray park in Lake Highlands.  J has no fear!  C tried to out-do his brother in the fear stakes on our last visit and crawled through every jet of water he could reach.  Which makes our abrupt halt on visits all the more difficult.  However, water and casts don't mix.  Yes, poor C has broken his leg!

It happened as we left the splash park on August 5th.  N was carrying C and slipped on the sandy surface as we came down an incline on our way back to the car.  He broke C's fall, and was alright himself, but C hollered for a good while.  We thought, given the fright of dropping vertically very fast and his overdue need for a nap, that he would calm down and sleep it off.  But when he woke and couldn't put weight on his right leg (crawling or pulling up) we knew that something wasn't right, and we were off to the ER to be checked over.  That night he had a temporary splint and we went back the next day to see the orthopedic specialist.  As best we can piece it together, C's foot was caught under N's hip and twisted as he landed.  I'm just thankful that N was able to keep hold of C so well that there weren't more broken bones!

C is now in a cast until September 10th.
It hasn't really slowed him down at all.  In fact, it seems more like resistance or weight training for muscle building.  The cast's toe is showing a great deal of wear from all the crawling.  So here is the 'before' shot and I'll have to post an 'after' shots just before he gets it taken off.

We can't wait until the splash park is back on the agenda!