@&*%@#

If Kieran doesn't eat his oatmeal (real oatmeal, even, with milk and raisins and brown sugar and cinnamon) the top of my head is going to pop off revealing the dreaded demon EVIL MOM and she's gonna rain a storm of goat's breath down on the kitchen.

"Mom. Mom! I can't eat my oatmeal cuz I'm hugging you!"
"Mom, I like you."
"Mom! Do you like my smile?"
"Mom, can you see me winking at you?"
"Mom! Can you hear me? I love you!"

"Kieran, eat your oatmeal already!"

Tuesday Night Dinner

Melissa Summers over at Alpha Mom wrote about Family Day on Monday (Sept 25th). She asked that readers blog about their own family dinner experiences. The entire thing is to highlight the fact that, statitically speaking, the children of families who eat together have less problems with addiction and destructive behaviours.

When Kieran was born, Sean and I discussed the fact that we wanted to sit at the table together for meals. We both felt that this was the healthiest way to raise a child. We instinctively knew that sitting down at a table, together, was nutritionally and emotionally healthier for Kieran. And, not only that, but it strengthened our bonds as a family.

So, everyday, with only the most rarest exceptions (and I'm not counting outings or the odd time we grab a pizza and flop in front of a movie on a Friday night where we still eat as a family), Sean, Kieran and I sit at our kitchen table (no dining room) and eat a meal together.

Here we are eating one of the boys' favourite meals: Taco Dip. We also call it "Nacho Dip" and "7-Layer Dip" even though I rarely get all layers in.

Most often it is made of homemade guacamole (3 avocados, 3 cloves of garlic, 1-2 TBSP lemon juice, 1-2 tsp salt), sour cream, salsa, grated cheese, diced green onion and sliced black olives. I sometimes put refried beans in and, even rarer, I have also put in seasoned ground beef. Mostly, though, I just do the vegetarian option.

It is a meal that last only a few minutes as the boys (and myself) make short work of the stuff.

Eating with your hands is fun!

Cycles, Fertility, Motivation

I never track my fertility. I should. I should have a little widget for the website or something. It would be a little box, just below my Flickr badge and just above my CoComments badge and it would give you an update on where I am in my cycle, with notes I add in.

It might say:
Sept 19, 6:30pm - Face is flushed. Feels like I've an elevated temperature, like a low-grade fever.
Sept 21 10:30pm - Feeling mildly depressed with an undertone of panic.
Sept 22, 11:00am - Absolutely no motivation whatsoever. Lazy as shit!

It just occured to me (because that's how clueless I am most of the time) that I get these little slumps every month. I get this bottomless pit feeling where everything feels wrong and I feel paralyzed and unable to do anything. There is a whole lot of "what's the point" feeling associated with being patient with Sean or cleaning up or sitting down and working on Hamilton Birth Revolution articles (btw - none this week as I can't seem to sit and think straight for long enought to complete anything coherent.)

So, there I was I was thinking about all this and a single clarified thought rose to the top of the heap: PMS.

Could I be experiencing PMS? Could my PMS cycle begin right after I ovulate? Is that what was going on when I felt slightly feverish the other night; was I ovulating?

How could I properly know if I didn't track my bloody (no pun intended, but of course, if I point that out, I probably did want to intend the pun but didn't want to sound smarmy by pointing it out and I could trust that everyone would get the pun... gack!) cycle and note down all these little psychological and phyisological nuances.

You'd think at 35 I would have this stuff sorted!

**I just started an account over at MyMonthlyCycles.com. It's free (though they have premium services for a moderate fee) and you can track your cycle and add los of info like temp readings, cervical mucous state, pms sysmptoms, weight tracking and, of course, period info. The idea is to build up a comprehensive profile so that you can accureately predict bleeding days, ovulation day, fertile days, etc so that you can get pregnant, not get pregnant, not stain your clothes or just know more about your fertility cycles (me!).

If anyone uses a different online or computer based system, let me know and I'll give it a look-see.

Hamburger Helper Giving Away Cash!

Do you do volunteer work? Are you a member of a registered non-profit organization in the US? I bet your organization could use some funds.

My pusher friendly neighbourhood PR guy, Charlie, tipped me off that Hamburger Helper is going to be giving away grants up to $15,000 every month until the end of May 2007. One lucky, and needy, 501(c)(4) non-profit will be chosen each month.

Interested? Just go to the My Home Town Helper website for details and application instructions.

If you have a neighbour or a friend who isn't as cool well-read internet saavy as you, but might be interested in the grant, pass the info along by clicking on the email icon at the bottom of this post or printing it for them.

Names Meme

A meme, courtesy Dragon Mad Knitter.

My 10 Names Meme

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: ( pet and current street name) Declan Robinson
   
2. YOUR MOVIE STAR NAME: (grandfather/grandmother on your moms side, your favorite candy) Judy Blizzard
   
3. YOUR "FLY Guy/Girl" NAME: (first initial of last name, first three letters of your middle name) P. Mar
   
4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) Red LLama
   
5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born) Marie Hamilton
   
6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name, first 2 letters of mom's maiden name and first 3 letters of the town you grew up in.) Pallecoham
   
7. SUPERHERO NAME: ("The", your favorite color, favorite drink) The Red Cola
8. NASCAR NAME: (the first name of both your grandfathers) Albert Denis
   
9. FUTURISTIC NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne and the name of your favorite shoes) Satsuma Blundstone
   
10. WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother/father's middle name ) Marie Albert

How very odd to look at these and try to imagine going by those names. They seem to all have their own personalities as if just looking at the name can conjure up a fully formed person, other than myself.

Let me know, in the comments, if you decide to play along - leave us a link so we can look at your answers!

I Got Peed On

Kieran is down to a nap every other day or so. Usually the naps happen mid to late afternoon.

Except for one incident in the first week of potty training, he has also been dry during his naps. He has even had one dry night!

Before he fell asleep today, I got him to take a pee on his potty. "You can't lie down on mummy if you don't pee on the potty. That's the deal."

Reluctantly, Kieran sat down on the potty, waited a few minutes and produced some pee! He jumped up after finishing, "I did it Mom! I so proud!"

So, imagine my surprise when I was lying on the couch watching The Weatherman with Kieran alseep on top of me and I felt my thigh get very hot. I jumped up as fast as I could, given that I had a 40+ pound sleeping preschooler on me while I was lying down, startling the heck out of the poor boy.

His pants were soaked, my pants were wet and the couch, thank goodness, was dry.

I laughed when Kieran asked what the heck was going on. "You peed on me, you silly willy! You're not supposed to pee on me!"

You know what else he's not supposed to do? Poop on his bedroom floor.

The pee is easy. Kieran is a pro at peeing in the potty. But poop? That's an entirely different matter. He is more than reluctant to part with the poop.

Last night, after having lots of wonderful fibre-y foods all weekend, Kieran annouced he needed to poop. I didn't think much of it, to be honest. I mean, it's been three weeks and he's become an expert at holding on to his goods until a diaper goes on his tush.

He began to pull his pants down, in preparation for some potty action and then decided against it. Why don't I read the signs! I know, it was because the season premiere of The Amazing Race was on and I trying to talk with my little sister on the phone! Yeah, I can admit that I'm a less than stellar parent.

I really should have put together first the warning that poop was imminent, secondly the aborted pants drop and thirdly the retreat to his bedroom. Heck it was those things that signalled peeing on his bedroom floor in those first few days of potty training. But the kid has been crying poop wolf for a couple weeks now, so I was lazy.

Immediately after doing the deed, Kieran came into the living room and told me. He had no pants on and poop smeared on his butt cheeks. "I pooed on my floor, Mom. Not peed, pooed. On the floor in my room."

I walked into his room and couldn't see anything. Then I spied his pants, lying in a heap about six feet away from me. I took a step closer and was overwhelmed with the smell of it! He had really done it! A few more steps and I could see, just behind his train table, a perfectly formed brown log about 4 inches long.

Holy moly! He'd really done it!

I had to laugh. In truth, this is a good thing. Pooping on the floor means that Kieran has finally managed to poop outside of his diaper. For that I am proud and I recognise the big leap. I'm hoping this will be like the pee: a couple of accidents and Kieran will suddenly be a little expert.

Here's hoping. I really don't want to find out what it's like to clean up after him on a mushy day.

The Best Veggies To Hide In Food

Preschoolers are notorious picky eaters and usually the last thing they'll eat are vegetables. So, if you have a preschoolers or young child who won't touch vegetables how the heck do you get them to eat anything except noodles and meat?

You hide the veggies in the food!

My favourite veggies to hide in foods are:

Broccoli
Chop it up fine, including some of the stalk, and put broccoli into anything that's got cheese or cream sauce. Mac & Cheese (homemade is best, but you can make improvements to boxed), Stroganoff Hamburger Helper and any kind of rice or noodles and sauce. If you don't do dairy based stuff, you could put it into a rice dish or any Asian-style meal.

Broccoli is a nutritional powerhouse, providing: "a good source of Protein, Thiamin, Niacin, Pantothenic Acid, Calcium, Iron and Selenium, and a very good source of Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Riboflavin, Vitamin B6, Folate, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium and Manganese." NutritionData.com

Carrots
Grate one or two regular sized carrots, or buy the bag of baby carrots and put a handful through the grater. I use an awesome crank grater I got from a Pampered Chef party. The fucker cost me an arm and a leg, but I can't live without it for grating carrots and cheese. Again, any cheesy or creamy sauce will take grated carrots. It may turn your meal orange, but who cares when you know your kid is unwittingly eating a healthy meal.

Carrots is another nutritional beast as it's a: "good source of Vitamin B6, Pantothenic Acid, Iron, Potassium and Copper, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Folate and Manganese." NutritionData.com

Spinach
Buy a bag of frozen spinach. Don't get the one that comes in a tin; get the kind that comes in nuggets in a bag. This is another one of my secret weapons. When you make mashed potatoes, any kind of sauce, pasta, anything, toss in a couple nuggets of spinach near the end of preparation or before baking. The best part: this veggie doesn't even take any extra preparation effort!

Spinach provides lots of fantastic nutrition, such as: "Protein and Phosphorus, and [it is] a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Vitamin K, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Vitamin B6, Folate, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Potassium, Copper, Manganese and Selenium." NutritionData.com

So, what veggies do you hide in food?

Technorati: preschoolers, toddler, kids, picky, food, veggies, vegetables, sneaky, hacks, parenthacks
bloggingbaby

I Tattoo, Do You?

Barb and Susie over at Pop Goes The Culture have posted their latest podcast. This one is about tattoos.

I thought that I'd post about my tattoos (one actual, one future) on my blog instead of leaving it in their comments. I thought y'all might enjoy the pictures.

So, here is my tattoo.


I got this to mark my 19th birthday. 19 is the drinking age here in Ontario. More importantly, a few months before my 19th birthday, I moved out into my own apartment . I was still finishing highschool (at the time, Ontario's highschools went to Grade 13, and you attended it if you intended to go on to University. If you only went to college, you could stop going to highschool after Grade 12.

So, I was 19, living with a roommate in a duplex apartment, getting welfare so I could go to school fulltime. I was finally legal to drink, drive, vote, marry, have sex with adults, buy cigarettes... Though they all became legal for me at different times, at least by 19 I was finally beyond having to wait to become legal for anything else except, perhaps, pension! It was a momentous time in my life. And so I marked myself.

It took me months to find the right image to permanently mark my body. I guess I was lucky in the way I took certain matters very seriously when other kids my age were impulsively abandoning their reason to experimentation. Oh, I experimented. I just made sure I did the research first! (One day I'll tell you about my experimentation with drugs and all the work I put into that little project!).

After much deliberation, I finally settled on the image you see above. It's taken from the cover of Leonard Cohen's Book Of Mercy. I hadn't read many of the poems in this little volume but I'd loved the two interlocked hearts image on its cover. It spoke to me of a sacred kind of love entanglement that I was hoping to one day find. (Hello Sean!)

As with most things in my life, there is a punchline. It's kharma giving me a good old slap on the arse, letting me know not to get too comfortable with myself and my life.

Did you look at the tattoo and the link to the book's cover? Did you notice how the image, on the book of poems about Leonard Cohen's faith, religion and spirituality, that book by the Jewish Canadian poet, did you notice that it's two hearts taking the form of a Star of David? Yeah, I didn't either.

I had that tattoo on my right shoulder, above the shoulder blade, for fifteen years before I realised it was a Star of David using hearts instead of triangles! Not that it bothers me, an atheist who was raised Catholic. But, somehow, it just seems so fitting for me!

I love tattos. I particularly love when people get sleeve-work done. That's when the arms, between the shoulder and the wrist are completely covered in ink. I think it's stunningly beautiful. Here is a picture of my friend Mama C-Ta where you can see some of her sleeve-work.

I want to get sleeves done, after I lose some weight. I was going to get a tattoo commemorating Kieran's birth and I still plan to. Sean talked with a friend who owns Sinkin Ink in Hamilton about getting me a gift certificate for my Christmas present that first year postpartum. Unfortunately, it's a pretty reputable company and they have a policy against inking pregnant and nursing women for safety reasons. Of course, now that I'm not nursing or pregnant, I can't afford to get the work done.

Here's my sketch of what I want the tattoo to look like:


It says, "I Knit Life" and the yarn forms the name "Kieran".

You know, when I first got my tattoo, my Granny moaned, "what will your grandchildren think of you? How will you feel about this when you're old?" I can only imagine that, if I'm lucky enough to have grandchildren, I'll be able to tell them funny stories about my body art.

Like my stretch marks, these drawings on my body will mark out who I am and help put some of what's in my heart, out on my skin for others to see.

Technorati: knitting, tattoo, momcast, ink, colour, drawing, bodywork, tattooing, commemorate, popgoestheculture

Pee, Cuteness, Yarn

This is an odds and sods sort of post.

Pee Update!
Kieran woke up this morning and asked that I take off his diaper and jim-jams so he could go potty. He then proceeded to pee about 1 1/2 cups of liquid into his potty. Impressive!

Yesterday, we took a rather long walk to a local market and Kieran said he had to pee. I begged him to stop and wait and he did. Everyday he gets up, strips down and uses the potty until after his evening shower when he gets his bedtime diaper on. The only exceptions are when we go out for long trips where potty training isn't practical.

I'm very impressed with his progress and I love that we are down to one or two diapers a day! We just need to get that elusive poop in the potty and then I'm pretty sure fairies will join us for an afternoon of cupcakes and tea and dancing through flowers.

Kieran The Paramedic
On Sunday, we attended a corporate family day where Kieran got to ride a bus through its wash cycle and around its garage, jump in those inflatable jumpy things and sit in a both a firetruck and an ambulance. My little truck nut was in heaven!

I HAVE Been Knitting
Even though there has been a lack of knitting related posts lately doesn't mean I haven't been knitting my little heart out.



This is the log cabin blanket I made my niece in honour of her second birthday. I've finally finished it and have half fo the ends woven in. It started, initially, as a stash busting project to get rid of lots of odds and ends of craft cotton left over from making washcloths but it was soon apparent I would need MANY more balls. You can see where I decided on a colour strategy.



I taught myself how to crochet in order to make this border on the blanket. I was originally going to do a small picot edge, as it appears in Golden Hands Issue 10 (also called Creative Hands outside the Commonwealth), inspired by Jess Hutch's use of the same. However, the scale was all wrong for this blanket and this "Leaf Border" was a beautiful fit.

My hands ached a bit due to the unfamiliar way of holding the work, the yarn and the needle. However, I found the movements you make as you wrap your yarn and catch your loops are rather balletic and graceful. Especially when you hit your groove and start crocheting faster.



I've gotten started on my Mrs Beeton's. I like this pattern. It is deceptively easy and a surprisingly fast knit. It's my first time working with lace weight, however, and lace weight MOHAIR at that. So, needless to say, I went through a few trial cast ons before getting the stitch count right and being pleased with the progress.

I'm taking a break at the 3 needle bind-off adaptation where the ruffle meets the cuff. I'm a tiny bit intimidated and my natural response is procrastination.



I've been procrastinating with a few Mason-Dixon Knitting inspired dishcloths using up the bits leftover from my supposed stash-busting blanket that was supposed to use up my leftovers from making dishcloths. Anyone else spot the unending cycle?

I love this little pattern and I love the colours! I can't wait to fill the whole house with these. Who in their right mind would be buy those plain terry cloth washcloths when you can have what is essentially the drag queen of wash cloths to do your dishes or scrub your bod?!



I also took a few days to whip off some socks for Kieran. They are 7" long from toe to heel, using Knitty's Magic Toe-Up Cast On, a four point increase for the toe, a reverse round heel and a Russian Bind Off/Lace Bind Off (p2tog, loosen stitch, slip back on left needle, repeat). They were fast and easy to do.

Five Years Ago

Five years ago, I walked into work. There was a voicemail from Sean, "Check CNN.com or something, I just heard on the radio that a plane flew into the World Trade Center!". By 8:30am or so, just minutes after the first plane hit the tower, CNN.com and just about any other major news source was flood with so many people, almost noone was getting through.

Like everyone, I thought it was some sort of tourist plane or commercial airline that had somehow, tragically, gone far off course. Did the pilot have a seizure or a heart attack? How could this have happened. The fact that it was deliberate was one of those singularity events you can't predict because it is so far beyond your imagination.

An email arrived from Sean, "A second plane has hit! What the fuck is going on?!"

I ran into my boss' office and asked if she'd heard the news. My voice cracked as I was explaining it to her. The enormity of the physical damage and the loss of life was just starting to make sense after the initial shock and numbness. I was beginning to feel sick to my stomach.

We found some radios in the office and a TV and my boss, the Communications Director for my company, jumped into action on the phones, gathering intel to pass along to employees in the two companies we served with employees scattered from one end of North America to the other.

The WTC housed many insurance company offices. My company was an insurance adjusting company. That day the insurance industry as a whole lots hundreds of colleagues. We were getting man-on-the-street photos emailed to us almost immediately as people from our company were heading in to the WTC and offices around it for meetings. Our people in and around NYC jumped into action to help with evacuation efforts.

I wanted to go home and throw up and sit and just absorb the details, but I was set to launch an intranet to a few thousand employees in two countries. Launch day was September 12. Instead of pleasant and unobtrusive welcome messages, the news page of the intranet was filled with first person accounts of the mayhem in NYC, warnings about anthrax and tips for how to deal with tragedy. Like a news reporter or an insurance adjuster, this fathomless pain was a goldmine of story ideas.

Leaving work a little early, Sean and I went to our friend Sarah's house. There we sat in front of the television, watching the news coverage and tried to shake the otherworldly feeling we were carrying around with us all day.

Five years later, I'm still shocked people could decide to take innocent lives in such an epic way. I don't understand a mind that believes taking life is OK.

As you remember your own experiences from that horrific day 5 years ago, please don't forget that the equivalent number of people as died in the towers, mostly poor and undereducated people, die each month in the United States. Those people go unmourned, all but ignored by the media and charity organizations. How can you make the world a better place with less violence, less poverty, less disease?

Out Of The Mouths Of Babes #583

Kieran, quoted:

"I don't want to eat lunch. I don't like to eat."
"I don't like potty training."
"I don't like sleeping."
"I don't like computering."

Good lord! They are so high maintenance some days!

So, I walked into the living room, after spending about 15 minutes on the computer, to find this, yesterday.

The Galactic Fire

As a result of all this manipulation exposure to burgeoning love of scifi, Kieran has begun to fill his imaginative play with scifi scenarios.

First came the TARDIS. This wardrobe in Kieran's room has become his personal TARDIS. He has keys for it, just as the Doctor does. When he enters, the TARDIS makes the appropriate teleportation noises (this is the one most like Kieran's immitation).



Early in the potty training adventures, we promised Kieran could have a Dalek if he pooped in the potty. For the last few days, he rarely gets off his potty in the hopes that the poop he knows must soon be coming lands in the potty so he can get that Dalek. Since the post office just dropped off a package that has a 7" blow up Dalek in it, I'm really hoping he manages it today.

Kieran has developed a chivalrous streak from watching all the scifi shows. The basic premise is, after all, rescuing someone or something or at least defeating some sort of evil. So, Kieran often offers to come to my aid.

In a very recent twist, Kieran's room has been transformed, in his mind at least, into his very own spaceship. He calls it The Galactic Fire. Is that not the most beautiful and brilliant name for a spaceship?!



He invited me into The Galactic Fire with a flourish yesterday and showed me a little of what his ship can do. For instance, he has a number of remote control devices which can drive the ship through outer space while also acting as both a phone and a television remote. The television screen took up an entire wall. Can you guess what was playing on the set? Doctor Who!

After telling his ship to drive through outer space and putting a little Doctor Who on the wall sized television (oh, how I long to live in his little world!) Kieran had a nice chat on the phone with Tom Baker. I laughed so hard I cried.

Haven't got a freaking clue what I'm going on about here? Check out this Beginner's Guide to the Classic Doctor Who Series.

I Hacked My Kid!

Check it out! I have a hack featured today in Parent Hacks!

This is my second featured hack. Earlier this summer, Parent Hacks featured my hack about making a water play set in the house for those days when it's too freaking hot to take a child outside.

This is a great site. I'm adding their button to my right hand column to proudly proclaim my love for the site.

If you came to visit Momcast from Parent Hacks, take a moment to say hello. And don't forget to come back for updates on how potty training is going (yes, we're still chugging along with that). You can even subscribe to Momcast so you'll never miss a post!