Eating in

I love food. Thinking about food, buying food, preparing food, cooking food, eating food, sharing food- I love it all. As a direct result of this food fetish, my favourite part of the day is, bar none, cooking dinner. I look forward to cooking dinner like a kid looks forward to summer vacation, only my pay off comes every day instead of once every 12 months - take that grade threes!


When I was expecting Judah (aka carrying him out front like a 30 pound beach ball) I had several people say, "Just you wait, one day you turn around and you'll think, 'That kid is acting just like me'".


Up until Jude was about 9 months, I am happy to report, he wasn't acting much like either of us, what with the pooping in his pants every few hours, screaming when smiled at by strangers and throwing conniptions at the sight of the car seat. Around the nine- month mark, however, I started to see little mannerisms, sounds and facial expressions that would stop me in my tracks thinking, "Oh my goodness, Luke's been shrunken to a shorter, fatter, smoother version of himself and he's using a wooden spoon to hammer the couch back together" etc.


Other than his obsession with keeping the kitchen cupboard doors shut, Judah had been pretty much all daddy and not much mommy, until he caught the cooking bug. After months of holding him on my hip while I stir-fried, baked and boiled, Judah woke up one morning and thought, "Mom appears to be having way too much fun. I should get in on that culinary action!"


Judah now demands to be involved in the cooking process. This usually takes the form of Luke or I perching Jude on the stretch of counter where I do most of the prep. work. He watches me chop and provides a  running commentary of the action and a million inquisitve "an da?" which is his way of asking what something is. Once the prep. work is done, we move over to the stove and Judah's second perch next to the large utensil holder. From there he uses every single large utensil to stir whatever it is we're cooking up that night. It's an adorable dish-making activity and I love it!


Best of all, Judah loves to eat what we cook. Tonight he downed curried tofu like it was popcorn. I couldn't eat because I was too busy glowing with pride.


I want this family cooking of real, slow food to be his normal. I want him to eat vegetables when he goes to university. I don't want him to know that food can be cooked in a microwave. I want him to get as excited as his parents when trying a new kind of cheese (yes, we are geeks). But most of all, I want him to know that cooking for each other and with each other is an act of love; something the world can always use a little more of.

Mommy vs. Elmo

We have no television in our home. Not having a t.v. was a conscious decision Luke and I made years ago, because we know when we do have a t.v. we spend a lot of time watching people live their lives (or acting like they are) and not living our own. I know a lot of people who have t.v. who are amazing at controlling how much they watch- I am not one of those people. After about 15 minutes, pretty much every show seems interesting to me, "oooh I've never seen an old woman fight a koala bear before..." etc.

We do, however, have a computer, which in some ways is considerably worse than television. On the computer you can seek out stuff you actually like to watch and then you can watch it for HOURS! Enter Sesamestreet.org.

I love Sesame Street, I think they have amazing kids programming. I thought it was so amazing, it wouldn't hurt to let Judah watch a video or two of Elmo playing the piano, or an adorable kid tickling Grover. Not only would it not hurt, it may actually help his brain grow- I mean, they count to 10 every 25 seconds!

 Judah was mildly interested at first, he would groove a bit to Elmo's Song, he would smile when Grover got tickled. Then he got engaged, he would laugh when the Muppets laughed, sing his own adorable songs when they sang and then happily say goodbye after about five minutes. 

Then he got older,  wiser and ADDICTED! 

He wakes up and the first thing he wants to do is watch Sesame Street. He can hardly turn his head away from the video to eat his amazing pineapple snacks made by his awesome parents. He watches a video for about 4 seconds before deciding whether it's worthy of a full view. If it's not he grunts and points and says "dee" (please) until you switch it to a far more agreeable Monster song and dance number.

Luke and I looked at each other the other day and thought, "We have to stop the madness!" I mean, we don't want one of these 5 year olds who can sit in front of a screen for hours on end. We want a kid who begs to go outside to discover a new species of bugs,  who makes weird mixtures in the kitchen, who creates huge messy art projects, and gets lost in books. So, armed with our parental dictatorial power, we've cut him off of the screen- cold turkey. 

There were no videos for Judah-Mommy day (Friday is our day for just the two of us) and there will be no videos all weekend. On Monday, when he goes off to my mom's for the day, he may watch one or two, but I'm ok with that, after all being way more awesome than parents is what grandparents are for.

For now though, I'm happy with the decision we've made. When you aren't losing yourself to the screen, you get to do awesome stuff like ...

Playing peekaboo in the curtains,

giving mom bare bum piano concerts,

wearing adult boots while playing with Swedish toys,

making forts with dad 

and even...

sneaking off by yourself to read a good book.

Have a wonderful screen free (at least in part) night everybody!!

Love-Hate Day

Wednesday is kind of a love-hate sort of day for me. It has the dubious distinction of being the furthest day from the weekend on both sides, it has a weird spelling and quite frankly leaves me feeling generally uninspired. Enter love-hate day! A day when I can refocus on the good stuff in my day/ week and vent the bad.


Here are today's love-hates in pictorial form...

I love when Judah plays the didgeridoo...because it's incredibly adorable...obviously

I love how much Judah loves balls. He loves them so much that he sings them love songs.

I hate how my poached eggs usually shed half their bulk in the water and become ooey non-yummy gunk.

 I love that Judah has hair finally!! When it's dry you can hardly see it, but here's the dripping wet proof!

I hate diaper changes ...enough said.

 I like my Monet inspired front hall vignette (in the works)...I hope I will eventually love it with reckless abandon.

Heck, I just want Monet's house to be mine. Look at that dining room!!! YELLOW!

Turns out, Wednesdays aren't so bad after all.

New Year- New Blog...cliché ? Yes. Awesome? Still yes.

Here we are, our own little corner of the interweb.

This is my third (or is it fourth?) attempt to keep a regular blog. I always start with good intentions and end up finding myself stricken with laziness and a lack of inspiration. This time will be different, darn it!

Luke, Judah and I rang in the new year with a particularly over-zealous strain of the flu. We're only just emerging from the fog of Gravol, ginger ale and naps.

Although our quotidian reality is not that fascinating, this little project does help me fulfill two of my New Year's resolutions: to journal and to hone my extremely lacking photography skills. Now keep me honest people!

Now, for your viewing pleasure, a look at our year so far...

When fighting the flu a Viking helmet almost always helps.

As does eating raw orange peppers Iron- Chef style.

Judah's New Year's resolution: ensure all recycling is properly sorted.

Judah's idea of a great portrait: try to get behind the camera while your photo is being taken.

Happy New Year's everyone!