A muffin Tin Lunch

Ben is not a picky eater. For a two year old I have nothing to complain about in terms of what he will eat. He will eat a whole avocado, polish off a greens and hemp protein smoothie like it's his last meal and eat bowl after bowl of berries and seeds. Ben likes to eat and is always open to trying something new, even if it results in gagging it up soon after...which was the experience with the raw pepper. But "good try" we say.

The problem is simply getting him to sit down and eat. Ben has far more pressing things to do in his day like build blocks, play with cars and read his books. He always has an internal to do list it seems and sitting at the table to eat is not always priority. If we can coax him there it is often only a bite or two later until he is off and running again. Clearly my meals weren't keeping his interest.

THIS has become the key to keeping meals interesting and lunch is now a highlight of the midday! I don't let him see what I am putting into the little tray until the lunch surprise is unveiled, I can get away with just about anything if I put it in the muffin tin!

Happy lunching!

The Christmas Picture Process...

"Ben PLEASE look at Mommy..."



"I am sorry, Mister Beebs can't be in the picture....okay FINE he can be in the picture..."




"If you stop thrashing around on the floor you can have a lollypop...yes and a freezie too!"



I sneezed...



"Ben THIS way...no THIS way..."





A 2009 Christmas Miracle!

"Baby Babybell"

We started talking to Ben about his brother from the moment we found out about him. We went against the advice I read saying you should wait until about 2 months before the birth to start talking about new siblings to toddlers because the wait is too long otherwise. To the contrary I have found that Gabriel (or "Baby Babybell") has become as a result of starting the dialogue early, already a fixture in Ben's life. I believe he has over the months begun to really understand what having a baby entails.

This morning we had our longest conversation yet about him. Ben was reading a Christmas book in his bed and fixated on a picture of baby Jesus at the end.
"Baby Babybell come after Santa come?" (his point of reference...)
"Yes, a little while afterwards"
"Babybell wear shoes?"
"Yes"...
"Babybell eat freezies?"
"When he is a bit older".
"Babybell watch Little Bear?"
"sure he can..."
"Babybell go on swings?"
"in the summer he can".
"Babybell lub Ben?"

"Oh yes Ben. Baby Gabriel will love you very much."

and cue waterworks...

I cannot express my excitement over watching their relationship grow as brothers. I am thrilled beyond belief for Gabriel because I know Ben is going to be a fabulous big brother; an example and a friend to him. Fortunately Baby Gabriel has passed the swing, freezie and Little Bear test!

Guide To Being Two Years Old.

Benjamin Alexander's Guide to Being Two Years Old

1- Pick a day when your Mommy is obviously a bit more tired/sore/cranky/pregnant than usual.

2- Don't say anything in a normal pitch or octave. This will make your Mommy's ears ring by ten am. She likes that.

3- Help Mommy make breakfast. Pour your orange juice into the container of raisins she is putting in your oatmeal. Then she will give you the whole container to cram as many as you can in your mouth before she has to throw them out.

4- Help Mommy make soup for supper. Grab a handful of raw diced squash off the counter and put it quickly in your mouth. Cry really hard and spit it on the floor because it is gross and not even close to the cantaloupe you thought it was.

5- When Mommy takes the hot soup off the stove to puree in the blender make sure you shriek really loud for no apparent reason as she is about to turn it on so she will forget to shut the cap tightly and scalding hot soup will spray all over her hands.

6- Don't tell Daddy when Mommy says the "s" word because her hands are burnt and there is soup running off the cupboards.

7- While Mommy is cleaning up the soup take all the winter clothes out of the coat closet and scatter randomly throughout the house.

8- Go with Mommy to see who is at the door. When you see it is a package that needs signing quickly calculate the 7 seconds that will take her. Exactly enough time to try to flush an entire roll of toilet paper down the toilet. Done.

9- Only eat popcorn and pears for lunch.

10- Rip all the flaps from your peek-a-boo books out while you wait for Mommy to get your nap bottle.

11- Practice your skills in determination and perseverance by not letting your eyes close no matter how tired you are. Sing as loud as you can in your crib for 2 hours and see how many times you can get Mommy to come back upstairs even though she said "this is the last time" last time.

12- When Mommy doesn't come back up take off all your clothes, your crib sheets, pillow case, put it in a pile and pee all over it.

13- Throw everything out of the crib and jump on your bare crib mattress yelling for Mommy until she finally comes in (note her hair sticking up, your snot on her shirt and the way her eyes won't quite open the whole way).

14- Nod appreciatively as Mommy tells you how Naughty it is to take off all your clothes and pee. When she takes your pile of wet bed clothes out of the room take an opportunity to pee again...aim for your stuffed bear on the floor.

15- Wonder how Mommy gets her face to get that purple.

16- After Mommy takes you out of the crib run into her bedroom while she wipes out the wet crib again and is to distracted to notice you in the forbidden room.

17- Get a half full water bottle off of her nightstand and pour it down the hallway making a pond.

18- Listen to Mommy talking to Daddy on the phone...You would also like him to know that today would be a day to come home a bit early if he can! You have lots of energy left!

19- As soon as Mommy hangs up the phone, run over as fast as you can and wrap your arms around her. Watch the purple drain from her face and her eyes start to open a little wider. Say very loudly "I LUB YOU SO MUCH MOMMY!" Then she will kiss you and give you a cookie.

20- When Daddy comes home flash your biggest grin (Yes, THIS one)




to welcome him home and listen while he says to Mommy "I don't see what the problem is, he seems great!"

All in a days work!

Its Beginning to Look A lot Like Christmas...

The day after Jon's birthday...as custom dictates...we decorated for the season. Out came the holiday rice krispies, popcorn (Is it ironic to eat organic popcorn and then polish it off with the most non food there is...being the marshmallow of course...it is like putting butter on a low fat muffin right?) apple cider and Christmas tunes. Up went the tree, lights and all the trimmings! I love this time of year! I know I have said this in seasons past...but this time I REALLY REALLY love it!

A Man Like This

Today as we mark the twenty eighth anniversary of his birth I am thankful for the kind, compassionate, hard working, dedicated, funny and sweet man that is my husband. In thinking this however I can't forget another anniversary. Twenty eight years ago today his mother became just that. Were it not for her, he would not be. Not only would he not be, he would not be quite him. Behind a man like this is a woman like her.

In my gratitude for Jonathan I am simultaneously grateful for all the sleepless nights, diaper changes, hugs, cuddles and adoration that went into him. For the love, effort, baseball games and kissed knees. It takes a lot of commitment in a mother's role to tirelessly dole out the support, compassion, kindness and perseverance to raise a man like this. It takes bubble baths, matching socks, birthday parties, homemade cupcakes and Halloween costumes. It takes muffins and mud
puddles, race cars and puppies. It takes small moments and big events. It takes selflessness and sacrifice. Everyday. It takes prayerful pleas, hope and worry. It takes runny noses, fevers, pride and many thankless days to raise a man like this.

To raise a man like this, a Mother must know that one day she will pass him on to another woman; who won't iron his pants quite the same, or remember he doesn't like orange juice with syrup but maybe she could love him almost as much as she. This mother knows that though she will never cradle him in her arms again, kiss a skinned elbow or hurt feeling she knows that no matter how far away he is, how busy he gets or how big he grows, no one can replace in the special part of a little boy's heart the love he has for a mother like this.

I am so grateful to be married to a man like this. I am so grateful to a mother like her.

You've Got Mail

Ben loves to get mail (don't we all?). When we walk down to the post box on our street every other night or so he squeals and runs in anticipation of what may be waiting for him. Jon flipped through the mail on our way home one night and said, "this is all junk mail, here you go Ben". He didn't mean to be cold..."Ben's mail" IS the junk mail (and he is thrilled to tear into it and see which optical eye wear is on sale this week and how many homes sold in our neighbourhood for 98.9$ of asking price)but when I heard it said out loud I thought, how sad... Ben is deserving of more than the junk, especially consider his degree of glee over the little envelopes. Fortunately not long after, Ben developed a secret admirer who began sending him lolly pops and love letters in the mail. Of late he has been getting little cars and packages too. Lucky guy... now he squeals a little louder and runs a little faster to the mailbox.

Live This

Earlier this year, Michael Pollan posted a request for reader’s rules about eating. Within days, he had received more than 2,500 responses. Here are some of Pollan’s 20 favorites:
1. Don’t eat egg salad from a vending machine.

2. Don’t eat anything that took more energy to ship than to grow.

3. If you are not hungry enough to eat an apple, then you’re not hungry.

4. Eat foods in inverse proportion to how much its lobby spends to push it.

5. Avoid snack foods with the “oh” sound in their names: Doritos, Cheetos, Tostitos, Ho Ho's, etc.

6. No second helpings, no matter how scrumptious.

7. It’s better to pay the grocer than the doctor.

8. You may not leave the table until you finish your fruit.

9. You don’t get fat on food you pray over. (Meals prepared at home, served at the table and given thanks for are more appreciated and more healthful than food eaten on the run.)

10. Breakfast you should eat alone. Lunch you should share with a friend. Dinner, give to your enemy.

11. Never eat something that is pretending to be something else (artificial sweeteners, margarine, etc.)

12. Don’t yuck someone’s yum. There is someone out there who likes deep-fried sheep eyeballs and, well, more power to them.

13. Make and take your own lunch to work.

14. Eat until you are seven-tenths full and save the other three-tenths for hunger.

15. I am living in Japan and following these simple rules in preparing each meal: GO HO – incorporate five different cooking methods, GO SHIKI – incorporate five colors, GO MI – incorporate five flavors.

16. One of my top rules for eating comes from economics. The law of diminishing marginal utility reminds me that each additional bite is generally less satisfying than the previous bite. This helps me slow down, savor the first bites, stop eating sooner.

17. Don’t eat anything you aren’t willing to kill yourself.

18. When drinking tea, just drink tea. I find this Zen teaching useful, given my inclination toward information absorption in the morning, when I’m also trying to eat breakfast, get the dog out, start the fire and organize my day.

19. When you’re eating, don’t talk about other past meals, whether better or worse. Focus on what’s in front of you.

20. After spending some time working with people with eating disorders, I came up with this rule: Don’t create arbitrary rules for eating if their only purpose is to help you feel in control.

I love it! In a continous effort to feed my family more whole, nutritious and locally produced and grown organic foods these are some great questions I can ask myself before serving!

Waiting For Gabriel

I was a little anxious about accepting a friends offer to take some pregnancy photo's of me but felt I owed it to poor Gabriel whose previous photographs had been glamorously taken by me in the bathroom mirror. I fear, if not for this kind offer of talent that would have been the accumulation of pregnancy pictures documenting this pregnancy. I should have remembered even when it felt like Ben's gestation would never end, it is such a fleeting, precious, unique and beautiful time...it needs to be captured with forethought and consideration. I will treasure these images.

Ben Gets the Hang of it!

Happy Halloween!

It is safe to say that Ben "GOT" Halloween this year! He practiced on Friday night at our church's (www.lds.org) "trunk or treat" event where participants decorated their cars and we trick or treated down the parking lot. On Saturday morning he went to visit Papa in his retirement home and then on to see Gramma and Grammpa. Ben was happy to help Daddy carve a pumpkin and when he was finished asked to do one for baby Gabriel, which of course we did. By 6 o clock, joined by a few friends (a lady bug, super girl and butterfly to be exact) our adorable (but VERY scary!) lion was ready for the real deal. It took three houses before he was off and running, confidently declaring "TRICK OR TREAT" with such gusto that he got two pieces of candy on numerous occasions. After examining his prize he would politely say "fank ooo"...and run as fast as his hairy little lion legs could carry him to the next house. Ben was happy to exchange his trick or treat bag for one made by mommy when we got home to enjoy some post Halloween apple crisp, rice crispy pumpkin balls and popcorn.

It seems we weren't the only family in our neighbourhood to enjoy October 31st...I bought 250 pieces of candy this (thinking I had learned from last year) and still ran out! Our neighbours like to do an elaborate haunted house each year and I would guess that brings our count of kids up a bit...