Motivation

GUESS WHAT???

WE'RE POTTY TRAINED!!

This is a... what word do I want to use? Struggle? Battle of wills? for nearly a year. I fully planned on being done with this by the time school started in August. Syd had other plans.

I will not bore you, nor gross you out, with details. But suffice it to say that this last gem pictured here helped seal the deal. 

We were shopping and Syd grabbed this off the shelf. It was more than we usually spend on a "non-occasion" gift, so we agreed that he only gets this after he's potty trained. It hung here for about a month with nothing happening other than talk. 

"That's mine when I'm potty trained!" "Yes - want to try going on the potty?" "No. Maybe later."

Finally, I took it down and hid it. It had lost its luster. It took a week before Syd realized it was missing.

This weekend, after being warned numerous times over the past month and having the Easter Bunny inexplicably take his last few remaining diapers after dropping off some candy and dinosaurs, we switched, with no looking back. And he is golden. He has done so well. I know he could have done this earlier, but we had to wait until HE decided to do it. He gets his stubborn honestly - from both sides of the family, and, as I've been learning, from both sides of both of us. 

After his first fully successful day, he asked for his Lego helicopter. It was still in hiding, which shows he hadn't lost sight of his goal. We told him he has to make it a week. 

4 days and counting!!

Silver Lining

I came home today and cried.

I caught 5 students plagiarizing. Deliberately. When I asked them why, only one student responded, and he blamed it on laziness.

My disappointment and anger over the incident left a bitterness in my mouth. It was quite tangible. And it made me realize something - 

I love my job.

Not the standardized tests and hoops we have to jump through. Not the constant meetings and incessant data entry and compilation. The every day interaction with youth and promise for our future. And there is promise for our future.

With the exception of one, I've never had these students before their junior year with me. And our school is large enough that I don't recall having seen three of them until they walked into my classroom in August. But in the 6 1/2 months I've had these classes, I've gotten to know my students. These 'kids' all have their own personality, their own hopes and dreams, their own fears and weaknesses.

It is frightening to think of the broad future and where we're headed as a society. It is easy to say our youth are typical teens who are lazy, disrespectful, and take the easy way out. But it is angering to blindly apply these labels to all teenagers.

We were young once. We all got tired. We all made mistakes. We all took shortcuts. But it is through these experiences that we learned more about ourselves, that we grew from our mistakes. And it usually stemmed from having disappointed someone.

I am still very angry at these students. I am even more disappointed in their choice of actions. All five have so much potential for their future. All five are smart, funny, interesting kids with eclectic tastes and  talents. All five made a mistake.

I just hope getting caught in flagrante delecto and seeing the sadness on my face was the point of recognition needed to help them move in the right direction. I hope this is a lesson that will stay with them even until they are the ones disappointed in their children, or students, etc.

And for myself, the sheer ability of this incident to illicit the reaction I had demonstrated to me why I will continue in this profession. I see so much hope and potential in tomorrow's leaders. And I appreciate knowing that I am instrumental in helping them all know someone expects more.

A Eureka Moment

One night this past week I was lying in bed, my night owl brain trying desperately to, again, conform to the morning person patterns on which our house runs. (I am the sole night owl. It has been a continuous struggle.)

Random thoughts sometimes fly on nights like that. I have no recollection as to what stirred these memories, but I was suddenly taken back to my junior year of college. Allow me to expound...

Early spring. I remember because I had been tricked by Mother Nature into wearing a light sweatshirt that was quickly revealed as being too light in the mountain-top gusts of wind that whistled past my frame. I was on my way to some obligatory meeting. I don't recall what; it obviously didn't make an impression on me. All I know is that I was feeling dread and wishing the time would go by so I could go back to "our" dorm room and cuddle w/ Steve and warm up.

As I walked across campus to the meeting, I saw, not even a foot away from the heavy traffic in the fading light, a minute creature huddled on the ground. I was astonished this was lying here and went to look closer. It looked like a baby mouse, but its tail was much too long for a mouse. I looked up and saw a knot of branches and leaves and figured it was a baby squirrel that fell out of its nest.

Photo Courtesy of: http://www.aaanimalcontrol.com/cutesquirrels.html

So, I picked up the newborn and cradled it in my hands for the next two hours, trying desperately to transfer some of my waning body heat to it.

Steve was a trooper. His hands are always so warm, and he gladly took over the maternal cuddling of the baby. The two of us made up a bed in a shoebox, but the baby woke every hour during the night and squealed for his(?) mommy. He was cold and hungry. Every time he woke, Steve or I cuddled it again to warm it up. The next day, we got medicine droppers and fed it milk mixed with corn syrup until we could find someone to adopt him. Thankfully, we only had to wait until the end of the day, as it turns out a woman in housekeeping had raised squirrels before.

Why is this important? It's not. But it's curious. I realized I've always had an affinity for the name 'Sydney.' Steve and I named the baby squirrel Sydney the Squirrel. We would check in with the woman in housekeeping regularly until she informed us he'd been released to the wild. Our first 'child' together was named Sydney, and our first CHILD together is named Sydney. There must be a connection, somewhere.

Granted, Steve's great-grandfather was named Sidney. And my favorite character from A Tale of Two Cities is Sydney Carton. We didn't find out gender when we were pregnant, and the neutral name seemed to fit quite well. But I was so excited to realize I had used the name in the past that I woke Steve just to make sure I was remembering the name correctly. I had not thought of our squirrel in years. 

The human psyche is fascinating. Other than a desire to see Sydney, Australia, I have no idea why the name strikes such a chord with me. Regardless, my son has a name that suits him wonderfully, and has history in it - not only within his father's ancestry and literature, but within our Nichols Family history, as well. Fascinating, and beautiful.

Quick Update

We had yet another snow day today. The snow started late last night, as Steve and I were headed to bed, so we missed out on all the "soft, fluffiness" and only got to play in the cold, hard, icy snow that broke off the car in sheets and crumbled to dust when you tried to make a snowball this morning. 

But isn't he daggone cute? A former student knitted this hat for Syd this past summer.  We had a lot of fun making footprints and trying to make snowballs, but the wind eventually blew us back indoors.

The household is finally getting healthy again and today was relaxing. All in all, it was a wonderful day. 

I'm Pretty Sneaky - Black Bean Brownies

What can I say?

I've begun to earn the reputation at school of always adding some vegetable or another to baked goods. Zucchini bread; carrots to applesauce cake, etc. Well, this time, I made Black Bean Brownies!!

Let's be honest - who doesn't get so caught up on balancing life, work, family, chores that we make mistakes w/ our diet - or providing for our families in that arena. This way, you don't have to worry or feel guilty about missing some component. Making these this evening also followed on the tail end of a trying virus that had Syd eating almost nothing, so getting protein and roughage in him while he ate chocolate is worth it all!

The best part? My boys like them!!

1/2 can (of 16 oz cans) of black beans, rinsed and drained
3 eggs
4 Tbsp flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
pinch of salt
3 Tbsp oil
vanilla
nuts - which I woefully left out - but here's hoping Syd continues to outgrow his allergy!

Blend it all (except the nuts) in a food processor and pour into a greased baking pan. Bake at 350 for approximately 30 minutes. The top should be set and the edges should be starting to pull away from the sides of the dish.

Happy Veggie Baking! Let me know how your recipes turn out!

Two of My Favorite Things - Zucchini Fritters & Veggie Spaghetti Sauce

I've developed quite a friendship via Twitter with a seemingly random group. We are pediatricians, SAHMs, librarians, writers, and, I believe, a lawyer. One thing we all have in common, the ties that bind, are that we all have children of all age ranges, and we all love food - cultural, natural, tricking-the-kids-into-eating-veggies, cleaning-out-the-pantry food.

Smiles may be one universal language, but so is food, and my tweeps make me smile as well as indulge my love of food.

That being said, and in efforts to utilize more veggies in life, I promised them I'd share two recipes I have that I thought would be too difficult to type out in 140 characters, especially once I got all the twitter handles into the message.

The first I promised is for Zucchini Fritters. These lovelies are truly divine when they're fresh. I thought they got a little soggy after chilling, but I would recommend trying to reheat them in the oven to crisp them up again, if you have leftovers. The recipe is courtesy of a parenting magazine.

Prep Time: 15 minutes plus 2+ hours draining and chilling time

Cook Time: 20 minutes

2 lbs zucchini, cleaned & grated

2 tsp sea salt, plus more for sprinkling

2 large eggs, beaten

3 Tbs freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or other hard Italian cheese

1 Tbs flour

1 Tbs fine breadcrumbs

freshly ground black pepper to taste

Olive Oil for frying

1. Put shredded zucchini in a colander and sprinkle with sea salt. Then, place a plate and weight on top of the zucchini to press out excess water for 2+ hours (put colander in the sink)

2. Transfer zucchini to a clean kitchen towel and squeeze to remove any remaining moisture. In medium bowl, mix the zucchini w/ the beaten eggs, cheese, flour, breadcrumbs, and pepper. (For gluten-intolerance, the flour and breadcrumbs can be substituted). Chill for 1 hour. (Mixture should be soft but not watery.)

3. Fill a deep skillet w/ 1 1/2 inches of oil and heat over medium-high heat until it sizzles. Add rounded spoonfuls of zucchini mixture, taking care not to crowd the pan (remember, adding the mixture cools the oil, so add slowly and carefully). Fry until golden and crisp, about 5 minutes, turning once halfway through. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the fritters to paper towels to drain. Sprinkle while hot with sea salt. Repeat with the remaining zucchini mixture. Serve immediately.

SO YUMMY! I could easily have eaten the entire batch. I ate them plain, though I could easily see this  being dipped into a tzatziki or some other tangy dip.

The other recipe, a fantastic Veggie Spaghetti Sauce, I posted in May of 2011. The only notes I would like to add to this are that it definitely is too watery as it stands. I would recommend either reducing or eliminating the extra 2 cups of water at the end. It requires watching so it doesn't burn as it cooks down, but I think that would make a huge difference in the viscosity. My goals now are to try this w/ spaghetti squash and see how the boys like it. I did begin adding frozen spinach, and that added some interesting issues to the immersion blender - the fibers in the frozen were rather stringy and clogged the blade. I would like to keep the spinach, but I need to determine how to keep the fibers out - perhaps fresh spinach would be better. I also reduced the red pepper and celery and increased the leek, but the beauty of recipes is that they are meant to be tweaked to your own tastes. 

I hope this is helpful to anyone who stumbles upon this page. Happy cooking, all, and Hail to Veggies!

Bittersweet Weekend

 This weekend was long and bittersweet, for several reasons.

The Sweet:

We finally got a decent snow. My school system is desperate to get a minimum of 10 inclement weather days this year, or we are required by the state to start after Labor Day next year. Now, anyone who is familiar with the Murphy's Law knows that if we start after Labor Day next year, we will lose all our teacher work days and carry school into July because that is when we'll get our 10+ days. 

We were closed with Hurricane Sandy. And now with the remnants of Storm Iago. Apparently, this is a year for the 'named' weather.

That being said, the snow was welcome for 3 reasons: 

1. Simply put, it offered us a day at home.
2. It is much better timing than hitting this upcoming week (our first round of SoLs is the 30th). 
3. We're closed Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Thus, we have a 4-day weekend.

 Syd snoozes. He sure knows how to sleep hard! I only included this because, well, it's cute.

 We got out of school early on Thursday. I had just enough time to get to the grocery store and get home before the sleet started. By 3pm, it was snowing. Here, Syd and Daddy play in the snow after dinner. It is an excellent way to use of the last vestiges of energy! It also offered excellent Daddy-son time, as Steve had to go out of town the next day for the entire extended weekend for business.

What isn't shown above is that this was a beautiful, wet snow. This took me back to my days in Wisconsin when our lake-effect snow would come. It was perfect and wet and heavy and made the best snowmen. Knowing the area in which I live, I knew the packing ability would diminish by dawn, so in the half-light after dinner, we made Sydney's first snowman. The next morning, Syd and I went back to take pictures before the sun did its damage.

 Not bad! Mommy did most of the work on the base of the body, but Syd and Daddy helped with the middle ball and the head. Syd placed every piece of accessory himself.

The Bitter:

Unfortunately, while we were gearing up for the weekend and Daddy's business trip, I was awaiting news from my sister about Pop pop. He passed away Thursday. 

Yours was a beautiful life, Pop pop. You are loved, and you are missed. I only wish I could be there in person to give Grandma a huge hug and say goodbye to you.

In addition to all that was going on this weekend, Skye had been quite ill. 

Kitty Skye died on Saturday. 

This was difficult to handle solo because Syd was witness to everything that occurred with her.

Skye, you were a wonderful kitty. I still wait to hear your soft padding coming down the stairs and your squeak hello. I love you.

The Lesson:

Life, and all it entails - it's joys and sorrows, ebbs and flows. It brings to mind the song by The Byrds:

To everything - turn, turn, turn
There is a season - turn, turn, turn
And a time for every purpose under heaven

A time to be born, a time to die
A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to kill, a time to heal
A time to laugh, a time to weep

To everything - turn, turn, turn
There is a season - turn, turn, turn
And a time for every purpose under heaven

A time to build up, a time to break down
A time to dance, a time to mourn
A time to cast away stones
A time to gather stones together

To everything - turn, turn, turn
There is a season - turn, turn, turn
And a time for every purpose under heaven

A time of war, a time of peace
A time of love, a time of hate
A time you may embrace
A time to refrain from embracing

To everything - turn, turn, turn
There is a season - turn, turn, turn
And a time for every purpose under heaven

A time to gain, a time to lose
A time to rend, a time to sew
A time to love, a time to hate
A time of peace, I swear it's not too late!