The Return of the Baby

Sydney will be our only child. It has taken me, for good reason, some adjustment to come to terms with the fact that, as he grows, healthy, strong, smart, my baby is gone, replaced by a little boy. And then, I put him to bed while he's still awake, and I leave the aquarium playing Fur Elise, and I hear him babbling to himself. And then it gets quiet. And I sneak in to his room, and find him wrapped up in his blue elephant that Megan and Shelly bought him when he was 3 months old. My baby is still there. I will never lose my baby.


I will never lose him, but at times, it is obvious that the adventurous toddler is trying to prove he is most certainly NOT a baby. Here, he crawled in to the footstool/storage bin we have in the den while Daddy watched him. He curled up with Mommy's vintage Care Bears and played with a bike pump.

Mommy had a small heart attack when she saw that Syd was crawling up on the banister between the living room and the kitchen. That very night, after he was in bed, the couch was moved against a solid wall.

Prior to the couch being moved away from the banister, Daddy and Syd watch the football playoffs together.

Sydney and his best friend, Zane, play peek-a-boo between the chair rungs. Zane is 7 months older, which made a difference when they first became friends, but as they both age, they merely synch up more. They have so much fun together and willingly share pacy's and water bottles. My big boy was so proud of himself when he managed to climb on top of the box of shelves Mommy was going to put together for the kitchen.

Sigh. As much as I hate to lose my baby, I cannot help but look forward with hope to days when I do not have to change diapers. And this fuels my hope. Syd loves to play with his potty and pretend he's using it...I'm hoping that over summer vacation this year...

I can't believe how quickly it all happens...

Bringing Shakespeare Home

A very brief post, here. I saw this campaign on Shakespeare Geek - essentially, one of those 'let's change the world' campaigns to bring Shakespeare performances to hospitals and retirement communities. I can't resist spreading ol' Willy around, so please help out.

Visit Shakespeare Geek's site, or follow the borrowed directions below to place your vote. Just be sure to try to place it every day so we can jump from 32nd to the top 3...

How To Vote

1) go to http://www.refresheverything.ca/shakespeareinhospitals

2) go to the bottom of the window and click "Join Refresh Everything"

3) Fill in the sign up info (name, age, valid email address, password, retyped password, prove you're not a robot, click 'done')

4) Hit "vote for this idea"

5) Repeat each day

6)TELL YOUR FRIENDS TO DO THE SAME!

My Return to the Kitchen

After the endless biscotti baking of the holidays and receiving baked goods from loved ones, too (YUMMERS!), I actually started to get tetchy to get back in to the kitchen. I've been here - crock-pot roast anyone? (Was truly fabulous - marinated in merlot, garlic, a touch of balsamic vinegar, olive oil, celery seed, rosemary) But I haven't baked since before Christmas, including my weekly muffins.

I had buttermilk left over from something - I don't even remember what it was at the moment, and I couldn't help but think that pancakes sounded ideal for this morning - the end (almost) of one semester, a 3-day weekend coming up, a beautiful weekend ,too, after a week of some pretty frigid temperatures and hit-or-miss snow. Mmm...Buttermilk pancakes.

I didn't have a recipe, but I did a search and found one that had been reviewed over a hundred times at 5 stars. So, I'm bringing that to you, now. Enjoy, and let me know how yours turned out. Steve isn't keen on blueberries in pancakes, but since you drop the blueberries in after you spread batter in the pan, I made some with and some without. I have come to the conclusion, though, that making these one at a time is rather time consuming, so I think I may have to treat myself to a griddle pan that'll go on more than one burner.

Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes

Whisk together:

2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Beat together:

2 eggs
2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup (half a stick) melted butter

Additional ingredients:
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Fold the wet ingredients in to the dry ingredients. Do NOT over mix! It is better to have dry lumps than to over mix, otherwise the pancakes will turn out heavy.

Drop the batter on a skillet - I greased with olive oil - and if you want blueberries, drop them on top of the batter. They'll sink in to the airy, fluffy batter.

Oh so yummy. Syd ate about half of mine...

Snow Day #3?? And Happy 15th...

Today, I was going through my normal morning routine - up, nurse, wrangle a toddler while I wait for Steve to finish getting ready and leave and for Nanny, Steve's grandmother, to arrive. I walked in to the kitchen to see that I had missed a voicemail - Nanny was calling to say school was canceled. I laughed. Yeah, right. We got a negligible amount yesterday, and every speck was melted by 2pm. Why would we be canceled another exam day?

But she was correct. I can only assume that some of the roads outside of the city are still in poor condition. Sigh. I wanted this semester over and a break, small as it may be, between this and the next. Now, exams will continue in to next week and I won't have planning between the two semesters.

But things could be much worse. I am home with my Snickerdoodle again, and I cherish every moment I can spend with him.

Today, too, is our 15th anniversary - I know, we had our 9th in October, but this one is our selected date for dating. I say selected because our relationship grew out of friendship, and when we realized we wanted to see each other, and do it exclusively, we didn't even know what date to set, so we picked a date that fell between when we realized our feelings and our first kiss. 15 years. I can hardly believe how much we've experienced, shared, struggled with, and look forward to for the future. Another 15. Then another. And so forth and so on.

Who'd have thought these two crazy kids would meet and fall in love?

Steve at about one year - we guesstimate. Wasn't he a cutie?

Me. I'm going to assume it was my first birthday.

Our first vacation together to the beach. So young...

And I'd do it again, in a heartbeat.

Snow Day #2

So, it dusted my street last night. School was canceled, but my street is already completely melted. Today was supposed to be the first official day of exams. I can't help but wonder - "Why, Mother Nature...Why?" Frankly, I need an end to this semester. I want to get it over with, and I am now out of a teacher work day on Friday and a three-day weekend unencumbered by guilt for not finishing my grading. I look forward to the end of the semester simply because, outside of graduation, it is the only time in the school year that I feel closure.

But, I am home with my baby boy, who is growing so quickly, and I love it. We've been practicing our numbers and our emotions lately - we show each other 'happy' and 'sad.' Oh, and today we've already opened every drawer in our dresser and successfully thrown the diapers out on to the floor...one by one.

So, I'll return to more contemplative thoughts on the morrow, when I have to return to grading - unless the storm system that wasn't supposed to hit us decides to swing this way and actually deliver what was projected for this area. For now, with the streets clear and a peaceful nap behind us, I think we'll go to Target.

Sigh...

End of the semester. 'Nuff said. A new post will arrive soon...