I imn't nuts

I had some major cabin fever last year - Sandy of LCCK recommended Vitamin D (as did my mother). Because of their advice, I decided to do a pre-emptive strike and have been taking a Vitamin D supplement sporadically and Cod Liver Oil everyday (CLO has vitamins A & D, and is high in omega 3's) throughout the year. Squeeze won't touch the CLO, but takes the vit. D every day. Good boy. So while I know it is only January, the weather has been -10 to -20 for the last month and because of that, we've been plenty cooped -- and I just wanted to do a little check-in and say: I'm feeling GREAT! Seriously - very optimistic, and even enjoying the endlessly snowy days. Especially the bright and sunshine-y snowy days.

The reason I brought this up is because a couple of people within the last week have inquired if I was going totally nuts, which I hadn't been thinking about at all. Not noticing that we are cooped has led me to the conclusion that I am feeling very balanced this winter, and that feels very good. In fact, I've been downright snug and happy. I think I have my Cod Liver Oil to thank. I give it to the boys as well - they clambor over each other to get their spoonful and beg for more. (We take the mint-flavored kind, which isn't very minty at all - it is actually almost a non-flavor, if that is possible.)

We have also noticed that our family has been a lot healthier this winter - any sickness we have had has been mild and fleeting, which was NOT the case last year during the cold/flu season. I've wondered if Cod Liver Oil has something to do with our total well-being. The only other difference is the eggs we are eating: our own chickens vs. store-bought. [And...I suppose I am soaking all of our grains vs. none at all. They do say that overall health lies within our gut.]

And finally, the "imn't" in this post title is a shout-out to my dear Diego, who invented the word and uses it regularly.

Brothers in the snow

Home Birth Safety Act

The legislative season has started in SD again, so much of my computer time is taken up with following and promoting and defending the Home Birth Safety Act. Last year, the state passed a bill that allows Certified Nurse Midwives (CNM) to attend homebirths, which was a strong step in the right direction. (Though very disappointing at the time.)

The problem? Roughly 1% of CNMs nationwide work in a homebirth setting. The rest of CNMs practice in the hospital setting. There is one CNM in the state of SD that attends homebirths. She had been fighting for years to make it legal, and finally - in June 2008 - was able to move her practice from WY back to SD, where she lives. Bless her.

So this year, the legislature is being lobbied to take the next step: certifying Certified Professional Midwives (CPM), who specialize in homebirths. This is their realm of expertise. That is what they do: attend homebirths. You may remember last winter, when I was all whooped up about this issue. Yes?

Currently, in the state of SD, CPMs are prosecuted and jailed for attending a homebirth. SD is one of nine states who follow that path. Can you believe it? It seems outrageous, but it is true. My very own midwife, whom we worked with this last pregnancy, is from SD and has served jail-time for assisting births in a home-setting. She was arrested for "practicing medicine without a license". She now works exclusively over the MN border until the laws change. In MN, CPMs are protected through state law.

The medical lobby is very strong in SD. But the fact remains: women and their families deserve the right to choose the care provider of their choice.

Eggy Oatmeal for the Three E's

The original recipe called for 1/2 cup rolled oats, 1/2 cup water and 1 egg. I'm pretty sure that I did 1 egg to 1 cup soaked steel-cut oats. I am going to try a smaller ratio tomorrow to see how it turns out.

Steel-cut oats are a whole grain, and therefore superior to rolled oats. Rolled oats are not a whole grain, though better than "instant" oats from which the nutritional value has been all but destroyed by high-heat processing. Why soak them? Like beans, soaking grains makes them more digestible, making the nutrients more available to our systems. They also cook much more quickly. The general rule for soaking oats (or brown rice, for that matter) is 7 hours. Perfect for overnight! It takes a little planning, but the amount of work is laughable.

[For more information on soaking grains, check out Nourishing Traditions from your local library. The basic run-down of nutrition and nutrient-dense foods at the beginning of the book is fascinating.]

Eggy Oatmeal

• 1-2 cups steel-cut oats
• Water to cover
• Pinch of salt
• 2-4 eggs

Directions:

• Soak steel-cut oats in filtered water overnight
• The next morning: cover with water and bring oats to a boil, then simmer on low
• Meanwhile, warm the eggs in warm/hot tap water
• Once the oatmeal is fully cooked, crack the eggs and drop them into the hot oatmeal
• Stir with a fork
• Serve with butter and honey, or butter and applesauce and yogurt

Cook's Note:

I usually make enough oatmeal to last for at least two breakfasts. The day after, I just put the oatmeal into a pot with a little water and heat it up. It saves on a lot of forethought to do this! Also, the purpose for warming the eggs is to allow them to blend better with the oatmeal. If they are cold, your Eggy Oatmeal is going to look more like fried rice.

Real Milk: curds and whey, and butter-making

I recently found a source for raw milk.  It is delicious. Diego calls it "creamy milk" and I've been drinking it with cooled earl grey tea, which makes for such a sweet and spicy treat. 

I have also been making curds and whey and have made butter with the ripened cream.  Instructions are below.

CURDS AND WHEY

1/12/12 Note: Edited for clarity and accumulated experience. This post gets so many hits that I wanted to make it more user-friendly.

Allow the raw milk sit out for 1-4 days in a bowl until the curds visibly separate from the whey. You can do this without fear of spoilage because the lactic acid in the milk breaks down the lactose and the milk will begin to ferment.

The cream will rise to the top and thicken.  Scrape (or spoon) this off the second day or so.  Underneath, the milk may look either liquid or solid.  If it is solid, your curds have started to set.

On my first attempt I was still unable to tell the difference between the curds and whey by the fourth day.  I stirred it up a bit, then saw it: the whey is a yellowish liquid and the curds are more solid and white.  If this isn't the case for you, let it sit another day or so.  The fermentation process is slower in cooler temps; conversely, the warmer it is, the quicker it will ferment.  It pays to check it each day.

When the milk has fermented sufficiently, dump the the contents into a clean dish towel secured over a large container, then hang, allowing it to drip. Don't squeeze - just let the contents hang until it stops dripping. This usually takes a couple of days and you may have to remove the accumulated whey to make room for more. The goal is to reduce the water content slowly.

Whey dripping from the curds

Once it stops dripping, you will have a container of liquid yellow whey, and in your hanging towel, solid white curds. The curds will have reduced in size and water content significantly. It is now homemade cream cheese.

Pick the lump of cream cheese off the towel and put it in a glass dish for storage.  This should keep for several weeks as-is.  Scrape the extra bits off the towel.  Put the whey in a glass jar for cold storage.  This will keep indefinitely; you will use it before it goes bad.

The reduced curds and whey

The whey can be used in conjunction with salt to ferment vegetables.  It can also be used as a preserving force to add shelf-life to homemade mayonnaise or ketchup. Or use it to soak grains and legumes, as the acidic medium to neutralize phytates, adding 1-2 tablespoons to the soaking water.

The cream cheese reminds me of goat cheese.  I've been eating it with dill flat bread . . . delicious.  It can also be added to soups or other dishes, adding a nice tang.

I followed the instructions from Nourishing Traditions to make curds and whey.

BUTTER

When the cream ripens, it looks not unlike sour cream. I put it in the blender and blended it on and off, on and off - giving it time to rest - until it thickened even more (and began to look like butter). I then scraped it out into a bowl with ice-cold water and "paddled" it with two flat wooden spoons until the water ran clear.

I salted it, and then...my, my, my...we ate it with dinner than night and it was unbelievably delicious. So soft and tasty. It beat store-bought butter hands-down. I couldn't believe it.

One-half gallon of milk yielded the equivalent of one-half stick of butter. Like my MIL said, "No wonder why butter is so expensive!"

To make the butter, I referenced The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It as well as following butter-related conversation on my Traditional Foods yahoo group.

* * * * *

A few people have recently questioned me on how I have time for experiments like these with two little ones. I have already responded to them, but I thought I would add my conclusions here as well.

First off, I do pretty much all my experimentation while Squeeze is home. Enough said.

Secondly, cooking from scratch is both a mindset and a lifestyle. It does take planning, and though I am long past the point of no return, I don't make allowances or keep processed foods in the house. Processed "food" just doesn't taste good - and there are many, many recipes that are quick and easy to make (and I keep a lot of soups on hand for last-minute eats).

Finally, I am driven by enthusiasm and curiosity. It means a lot to me to feed my family nutritionally-dense foods.  But even more than that, I enjoy eating REAL food. Junk leaves me unsatisfied and unhappy.

Diego this, Diego that - and Special Oatmeal

Diego had a quick fever-and-vomiting spell yesterday. It lasted from early afternoon through the evening, starting with complaints that his head hurt - a first. I gave him a warm bath with lavendar oil; he drank chamomille tea and had a slight temp at 100.2 and pecked at his lunch. He took an early nap and his temp was 101.7 upon wakening; then laid around listlessly and eventually threw up in early evening; and with that, his fever began to subside.

I found great comfort in my children's home health reference book: Naturally Healthy Babies and Children by Aviva-Jill Romm. Instead of feeling frazzled and mystified by his sickness, I was able approach it calmly and recognize that his fever was actually a good thing - creating an environment inhospitable to bacteria and stimulating his immune system. Perhaps some of my calmness was also afforded by experience, but I give major credit to Romm's book. It is filled with practical advice and insight, home remedies, encouragement, and best of all, it is specifically geared for children. If you have children, I highly recommend this book.

Another issue we've had recently is Diego refusing to eat eggs in any form. He says they want to make him gag. Funny, because he used to steal eggs right off my plate and beg for more. But such is the way with younglings: I'm not going to force him eat anything, though we do a form of the "No thank you bite", which I think is a terrific idea. I've read that it can take a child 12 times tasting a new food before they accept it. I find it too easy to just give up, but I've resolved to continue with asking him to take one bite of something, then being able to choose whether he will eat it or not. This kid is going to like squash (some day).

Back to eggs: I ran into the most fantastic idea this weekend. Oatmeal with eggs mixed in! I found it in Real Food for Healthy Kids, a book I have on loan from the library. It is a pretty good book, they opt for organic and even mention locally produced foods, but I cannot abide for their recommendations to keep things low-fat. Ay! Children need good fats for growing, and I cannot understand why we are still not over the outdated mantra of low-fat everything. I don't buy it. Whole milk, butter, full-fat yogurt and sour cream, olive oil, coconut oil, and yes, lard. Everyone needs fat; but especially growing kids.

Nevertheless, RFfHK was a good brain-stormer, providing lots of ideas to expand mealtime endevours. It is way too easy to get stuck in a rut. They describe the oatmeal with eggs as "custardy" and it most certainly was. I thought it even smelled a little like waffles. Eggy-oatmeal is an extra bonus for me, because I have always needed breakfast protein. The days of cold cereal always felt me feeling a little sickly and over-hungry by mid-morning. I still can't eat 'just' oatmeal for breakfast, unless I load it down with walnuts or almonds. I need the staying power of protein.

So...I soaked steel-cut oats overnight (soaking grains makes them more digestable, just like beans, and they cook up SO much faster), and warmed the eggs in the shell in tap water prior to stirring them into the fully-cooked oatmeal. Breakfast was served with bit of butter, apple sauce, and plain yogurt mixed in. I called it Special Oatmeal - Diego has a special fondness for oatmeal, so Special Oatmeal was very exciting indeed. He wolfed it down and didn't know the difference. I did tell him that Special Oatmeal has eggs mixed in - but he didn't buy it and asked for more this morning.

I am so pleased to have found a tasty way to get more good-fat and protein-packed eggs into his diet. The more I parent, the more I learn.

Untitled

I was so mesmerized by this cabbage:

I cut it open for soup this weekend

and felt sorry that I couldn't stare

at it forever

Patience as a goal, and a check-in on anger

Patience is a virtue - and one I feel that, at times, I have a tenuous grasp on. Motherhood pushes patience to the limits, of course, and that is exactly the reason why I'd like to cultivate it in my life. I suppose letting go of selfishness is part of the process, but what else? Counting to 10? Cooling off alone? Explaining yourself? These things have worked for me some of the time...

I find that there is a strange dichotomy within myself: at times, my self-control and endurance is deep, while other times...yikes...it is all I can do to control my irritation. And therefore, this very thing - growing patience within myself - is my next big personal goal, now that I am gaining ground on anger and better at understanding (and dealing with) it in my life.

Angrrrrr ---
I feel like I have done very well working towards identifying and understanding negative feelings, gut instincts, and anger flashes since reading The Dance of Anger and pondering it within my own life.

This has been huge. As a spouse, I can be a terribly frustrating person to argue with at times; because I can be very confused and confusing, with looping arguments and seemingly incongruent ideas and opinions. With a this-or-that and cut-and-dried sparring partner, spouse or otherwise, it can be a nightmare. I am learning how to say, "Hold on a minute...let me figure that out" during disagreements and better yet, to be able to mentally/emotionally grasp what I'm feeling before I open my mouth.

But best of all, instead of feeling grouchy about an upsetting feeling, say an unhappy gut reaction to something, I am learning to say to myself, "Why?" and then give myself an answer. I feel so much freedom with that: instead of paddling in a pond of confusion, I am learning to get out of the water and walk on dry land. And that, my friends, is quite refreshing.

I'm reading like a madwoman

You haven't heard from me all week because I am obsessively reading through No Logo during any and all spare time. I consider myself a fairly quick reader, but when the book is 500 pages thick, and filled with lots of gnaw on, combined with about an hour of reading time per day (more or less)...it takes a bit of time.

Bit by bit, this book is blowing my mind. It is, without a doubt, a force to be reckoned with.

2008 Booklist: Completed

• Chez Panisse Vegetables - Alice Waters
• The Heirloom Tomato From Garden to Table: Recipes, Portraits, and History of the World's Most Beautiful Fruit - Amy Goldman, Photographs by Victor Schrager
• The Read-Aloud Handbook - Jim Trelease (2007 Edition)
• The Compleat Squash: A Passionate Grower's Guide to Pumpkins, Squashes, and Gourds -Amy Goldman
• Good Poems: Selected and Introduced by Garrison Keillor
• Sugar Blues - William Dufty
• The Music of Failure - Bill Holm
• Mable Riley: A Reliable Record of Humdrum, Peril, and Romance - Marthe Jocelyn
• The Read-Aloud Handbook - Jim Trelease (1983 Edition)
• The Dead Get By With Everything - poems by Bill Holm
• Shipwrecked! The True Adventures of a Japanese Boy - Shoda Blumberg
• Author Talk - Compiled and Edited by Leonard S. Marcus
• Boxelder Bug Variations: A Meditation on an Idea in Language and Music - Bill Holm
• The Happiest Toddler on the Block - Harvey Karp
• Taking Charge of Your Fertility: The Definitive Guide to Natural Birth Control, Pregnancy Achievement, and Reproductive Health - Toni Weschler
• Writings to Young Women from Laura Ingalls Wilder: On Wisdom and Virtues - Laura Ingalls Wilder, edited by Stephen Hines
• Writings to Young Women from Laura Ingalls Wilder: On Life as a Pioneer Woman - Laura Ingalls Wilder, edited by Stephen Hines
• Positive Discipline for Preschoolers - Nelsen, Erwin, & Duffy
• The Dance of Anger: A Woman's Guide to Changing the Patterns of Intimate Relationships - Harriet Lerner, Ph.D.
• Many Thousand Gone: African Americans from Slavery to Freedom - Virginia Hamilton, Illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon
• Pushed: The Painful Truth About Childbirth and Modern Maternity Care - Jennifer Block
• In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto - Michael Pollan
• The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals - Michael Pollan
• Plain Secrets: An Outsider among the Amish - Joe Mackall
• Storey's Guide to RAISING CHICKENS - Gail Damerow
• Chickens: Tending a Small-Scale Flock for Pleasure and Profit - Sue Weaver
• The Cast Iron Skillet Cookbook - Sharon Kramis & Julie Kramis Hearne
• Smart Soapmaking: The Simple Guide to Making Traditional Handmade Soap Quickly, Safely, and Reliably, or How to Make Luxurious Handcrafted Soaps for Family, Friends, and Yourself - Anne L. Watson
• AFFLUENZA - De Graaf, Wann, & Naylor
• The Discipline Book - Sears & Sears
• Honey for a Woman's Heart - Gladys Hunt
• Good Poems: Selected and Introduced by Garrison Keillor

Waf-f-f-f-f-les

I have finally reached the domain of recipe-tinkering in my Kitchen Skill Set (to slang around some corporate jargon). It feels so good! My journey to 100% scratch cooking has been in process for 4-5 years now - before that, I subsisted on bagels & cream cheese with cut-up vegetables, taco salad, the occasional baked chicken breast, and spaghetti. And restaurant food, when I wanted something warm and filling.

But no more: I can cook. I can bake. I know many of the rules therein. Looking at a recipe doesn't intimidate me like it used to.

And so, this past Christmas week, when we wanted waffles for breakfast, I tinkered with a recipe from my favorite cookbook, How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman --- and ended up with a scrumptious masterpiece. I may be bragging, but they were definitely the best waffles I've ever eaten. Period.

Fabulous Whole Wheat Waffles

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
2 cups yogurt
2 TBSP honey
2 eggs, separated
4 TBSP (1/2 stick) butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

• Mix the dry ingredients
• Mix the wet ingredients, holding back the egg whites
• Mix wet and dry together
• Beat the egg whites until you see soft peaks (I used my handy-dandy non-electric hand-mixer, where I actually turn the crank - it belonged to our beloved former Minneapolis neighbor, Wilburn. The amount of tools he bequeathed us is astounding, and we use them practically every day.)
• Add the airy whites gently to the batter
• Cook, eat, then smack your lips and ask for more

And to all a goodnight --

Nothing to see here

I have many things to say, but no time to write them up. It has been cold-cold-cold here, and it is so thrilling. The temps hover around zero, getting down to the negative teens at night. Everything is white. It is lovely.

My brother is on his way here as I type, to stay with us for the week. I'm looking forward to relaxed conversations, a dance party or two, and perhaps some new poetry. For Christmas last year, he wrote up a compilation of poems for each person in our family as well as the extended family on my mom's side. It was one of the best Christmas presents I've ever gotten. Memory and mood in written verse: what could be better?

Toodle-loo!

I expound

I realized today that my enthusiastic ravings about No Logo the day before yesterday might be overly vague, so I wanted to follow up with some thoughts.

I have always felt extremely affronted with the breadth and depth of marketing in our lives. It is everywhere. While I don't think it is wrong to sell a product, I do think that we have reached the maxed-out level of insanity where living in an ad-saturated environment is so normal that it doesn't even phase us anymore. Or, even worse, we don't know what life is like in any other climate than this. It is normal to be advertised at, so much so, that I think a lot of the population would ask, "What is the big deal?"

Klein talks about "branding", where the product companies sell takes second place to the allure of the image they are hawking. They are selling an aura - an essence - a lifestyle. The public is being sold a dream - the promise of greater affluence, beauty, intelligence, even creativity - by a carefully crafted media blitz. What they are selling isn't even tangible, which is what makes this book so terrific: it actually provides form to the mist-like vapor of the promise of consumerism in our lives. (Even the government tells us to spend more, as an act of patriotism.) This lie is extremely seductive for all ages and people, even those who are aware of it. No one is immune.

If you have any interest in this topic at all, No Logo is an astute cultural criticism and wickedly funny. I'm about half-way through and have found myself chortling frequently. It is well-worth the read.

Culture is as culture sells

Says I,
"WICKED."

[As in, terrific! Wicked awesome. This woman puts lays out my inklings, theoretical hypotheses and observations I've tucked away, as plain as day. She puts into words many of my gut-instincts - the very instincts that make up my inherent distrust of the system and general misgivings on authority, or "what is". Flat out, she gives billowing form and extracts a tangible grasp on what exactly we are up against: ourselves. We, as humans, make up the marketing landscape. We design it; we sell it; we buy it: hook, line, and sinker.]

The book:
No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies - Naomi Klein

(Much thanks to my lil' bro, EDO, for pointing me towards it. I love that.)

Two-sixty-tuba

Diego likes to "tell time" these days. He'll look at the clock and say, "Oh - it's two-sixty-tuba" or "It's not late! It's only six-fifty-tuba!" How tubas got involved, I'll never know.

But wait: I do know. We have recently read Tiger Can't Sleep, and in it is a tiger who - you got it - can't sleep and is hanging out in a little boy's closet. He is extremely noisy and wild in there, doing everything from clicking the light bulb on and off and on and off to yes, playing a tuba. Oompa! Oompa! Oompa!

Oh my - I better get moving. It's two-sixty-tuba!

Locally produced foods

My SIL wondered how I got connected with our local food sources. This is just too good for a comment, so I am posting my answer.

• Vegetables: Farmers' Market. I started talking to the main vegetable vendor at our local Farmers' Market, as a precursor to stocking up. When I realized they sold from their home garden, I looked her up in the phone book, called, and set an appointment to come pick up my produce. I visited their farm twice - picking up carrots, potatoes, onions, cabbage, and green peppers. She even gave me a liter of honey "because you've been such good customers" the last time I was there. This will be my root cellar back-up in years to come, after we've drained our garden's supply.
• Beef: Small family farm in the area. My in-laws are neighbors to the farm's grand-daddy (he ran it himself before he retired and moved "to town").
• Ham: Small family farm in the area. Ditto. The ham we ate for our Early Christmas dinner was part of a pig that they bought earlier this year.
• Turkey: Family farm, via networking. A lady I know through a Midwifery Advocacy group sent an email letting the group know that her brother had turkeys available for Thanksgiving. I pounced on that one!
• Real milk: Area dairy, with jersey cows. The same lady from the Midwifery Advocacy group referred me to them, after I inquired about area milk sources. I am still in the investigative process on this one.

The prominent pattern in this list: networking. Going to Farmers' Markets and talking to the vendors is probably the most important. When I lived in Minneapolis, I took it for granted - there were so many vendors that I didn't even bother talking to them much. But as I shift in my paradigm of what food is, and where I want to get it, mixed with our current locale, I can't afford NOT to network with them.

This is something Barbara Kingsolver advocates in her book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle as well. Get to know the vendors at your Farmers' Market. Buy from them. But more so, why not stock up for the winter? If you have a chilled attic space or a cool basement space, you can do it. [Read Root Cellaring by the Bubels] If you don't have either of those options, invest in a freezer. These points were a revelation in my mind (granted, I read them in conjunction with moving to a house with a root cellar, glory be). Yes! Why not?! It tastes better, you are supporting a local economy, bucking the factory-food system, and more than likely, lessening the chemical-load in your system. It is a win-win-win situation.

Online, an excellent resource is Local Harvest. You can enter your zip code on this site and get an entire list of local growers and farms. Canadian provinces are included.

Decompressing, Local Foods, Billie Holiday, and My Sweet Boys

Who would have thunk it would take me a week to recover from Thanksgiving? Granted, we did have a Holiday Blow-out and celebrated Thanksgiving, Winter Birthdays (four of them), and Early Christmas in two days, complete with large feasts of turkey and ham. And, I suppose, we did have an extra five people in the house for 3 1/2 days - ages 10-15 - but that was fun! We enjoyed our company thoroughly. I guess I've been decompressing this week. Plus, the boys came down with colds and it has been a chill 7 degrees outside.

Both the turkey and the ham for our holiday meals came from local sources. I'm starting to make real connections in this realm, which means a lot to me. I always thought it was easier to get connected to this stuff in the city (as opposed to commodity-crop ridden SW Minnesota) because there are so many organized groups, established co-ops, and glamorous farmers' markets to choose from. To me, this area felt like a barren wasteland for the first year we lived here (and we've only been here a year and a half).

But slowly, slowly I've been establishing connections to local growers: vegetables, meat like cows and pigs, the turkey, and most recently - real milk (from jersey cows, no less). I'm going to make my own butter! Sour cream! And even more thrilling, I'll have whey to work with. I can't wait to ferment my own vegetables [think pickling, only raw]. I am pleased with our progress in the realm of locally-produced foods. We may never be 100%, but are working to exist more on that end of the scale. It is all a process, right? (Why is that so hard to remember at times?)

I've also been fostering a devoted affection bordering on obsession with Billie Holiday. Everyone who has gone before me is saying, "Doi!" in unison, but man! that woman was amazing. I can't get enough of her. She is terrific. So creative - and I can finally understand how someone could get so "into it" that they could forget the crowds as they were singing. The things she does...amazing. I think it takes active listening to truly savor her greatness. A lazy listener (as I have been in the past) might never connect. I have especially enjoyed listening to her in the car [errrr...minivan] - I can almost imagine myself in a dimly-lit club surrounded by suits as I'm rolling down the road with my tots in tow.

Speaking of...both my boys have been providing me with "Awwwww!" moments the past few days. I've been trying to slow my mind down and savor them:

1. Truen loves to dance - he always walks around be-bopping with "mom-checks" interspersed, where he toddles back to me for a quick hug before teetering off again to dance.
2. Baby T has also given me a couple of extremely insistent kisses the past few days. I had been trying to avoid them so I wouldn't catch their cold (too late), but he cupped my huge face in his little hands and followed my mouth with his until firmly planted. I resisted, but it was hard...
3. Today I had to run out to the chicken coop to make sure everything was properly secured during a sudden wind-storm that blew in. I took the baby out with me, but had Diego stay in the house (much safer, much faster). He watched me the whole way and had the door open for me when I came dashing back. His sweet thoughtfulness is enough to break a mama's heart.
4. Then, walking back inside, I saw that he had hung his coat up on the hook all by himself (we had made a quick trip to the library to pick up ILLs). Just like he takes off his boots every time we go to Grandma & Grandpa's house. Awww!!!
   

3 year old feetsies

I always used to wonder why 3-4 year olds always seemed to tromp around in rain boots, no matter what the weather. Aren't they for splashing in puddles? Ahem. Now that I have a 3-4 year old, I understand perfectly. In fact, this is exactly what Diego wears when we leave the house: his dino rain boots.

Why? He can put them on himself. Glory be! I love that. One less thing I have to wrestle with. They are lined with some kind of felted material, so they're warm(er) - but first and foremost, he can slip them on totally on his own (usually on the wrong foot, but that is another story - I mean, really - aren't the odds 50/50??). And they are so cute - I love seeing him traipsing around in them. I found the dino pair, a replica of his previous size, which Truen will wear next spring, at a thrift store and I snatched them up as quickly as possible, clutching them to my chest and cackling like an old hag.

While on the subject of footwear, we have inside shoes as well (or slippers, as it may be). Robeez: I still have him wearing them! They are terrific - warm (with socks), skid-resistant, adorable. Again, he is able to put them on autonomously and best yet: they keep his socks ON and CLEAN. His rain boots are a little bit big for him yet, so I usually have him slip his boots on over the Robeez - then he's always ready for a little indoor visit wherever we might go. We alternate between the blue Pirates and brown Dinosaurs I got on ebay a couple of years ago (he wore them last winter too).

The rain boots mystery has been sol-ved.

A Portrait of Pumpkin

• 13 months old
• 6 teeth
• 4-6 steps at a time
• Attempting to walk most places, smiling all the while (with plenty of balance checks, squatting, and a full-out crawl when he needs to get there fast)
• Nicknames: Little, Diddle, Diddles, Vous
• Says, "Tah! Tah!" when he sees our cat, Toots. Or our cat Bay. Or our outside cat, Outside Bay.
  
• Gets excited about bathtime and attempts to take his Night Diaper off to get in faster
• Waves bye-bye just a little too late (and with just his fingers curling up and down, up and down)
  
• Will press his little mouth to mine when asked for a kiss
• Small, much more petite than his chunky brother at this age
  
• Doesn't take a pacifier and hasn't since August - to the point of ripping it out of his mouth and throwing it on the floor if I put it in his mouth
  
• But really enjoys pulling Diego's pacifier from his mouth and rolling around on the bed with it (one of our nightly games)
• Loves books, particularly Winnie-the-Pooh and Some Bees, a teensy-tiny boardbook, and I am a Bunny (illustrated by Richard Scarry), one of the Golden Sturdy books [I love this one especially]
  
• While he's paging through them, he smiles happily and make an "Aurschhh! Aurschhh!" noise - he also tilts his face up to the ceiling and fake-laughs
• Loves spearing food with his fork and attempting to spoon things up - drinks from his sippy cup like a champ
  
• Eats table food - carrots, celery, beans, pasta, eggs, and potatoes are favorites
  
• Usually goes completely nuts and cries/whines/insists on being held during mealtimes (unfortunately for us) unless he is totally immersed in his food
  
• Obsessed with Diego's potty chair: OBSESSED
• Still nursing throughout the day and night
• Occasional Morning Naps
  
• Naps is in the same bed as big brother (we read before naptime and then snuggle off into sleep)
  
• Always wakes up from his nap first - I like this, though, because it gives us some sweet cuddly alone-time in the late afternoon.
• Favorite song: When the World is Running Down by The Police. When he hears it, this baby boy will stop in his tracks to dance the entire song through.
  

And finally, a story:

Today this little baby boy saw our Maya Wrap hanging from a hook. He shakily toddled towards the wall and pulled on the sling, looking at me with an expectant smile on his face. I said, "Ohhh, do you want me to put the sling on, Little One?" and pulled it off the hook and handed it to him. He smiled at me some more and handed it to me saying, "Eh! Eh!"

I put the sling on and popped him into it, and I could see by the look on his face that was exactly what he wanted. Then he rubbed his mouth on the shirt over my breast like a little newborn; I obliged and he nursed contentedly. Amazing. The communication skills blow my mind. And to think: he was just a little baby. How does this happen?

[Time.]