Drama

There is lots of Drama going on in our house lately....it typically stems around cleaning up toys, or eating food. We've had lots of conversations about attitude, and how to change it!
It's some days difficult when dealing with these conversations, is my job as well.....the whining never seems to leave me alone! Mike wonders why I need silence in the evenings.
Here is a typical conversation at clean up....although consider yourself lucky, he's not screaming though the conversation.

http://youtu.be/6VKJkOPads4

We are working with some fierce independence these days as well! He insisted on combing his own hair.........he can only get the front. Not too bad.




How interesting that he looks so much like his Uncles who around the same age were asked to comb their hair, and also only combed the front!!




This picture reminds me of my grandma who turned 100 in September! We (the family) filled her house with flowers of all kind! I can't wait to see her in November....isn't she so cute?




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He's Four

I can't believe he's four. The second he turned four his attitude certainly changed. He has a lot of power now, well, he thinks he does. He's gotten much more social with children this year. He no longer lists teachers as his "friends" at school.....we are still working on not freaking out when other children cry...that one is very hard for him.
This is the top ten for Erik this year.
1. He still loves to read, all day, all night, all the time. I hope that never changes.
2. He drops whatever he's doing to play on the floor with his beloved Daddy.
3. He likes yoga......well he likes Downward Dog. ( I think his teachers at school taught him this so they could wipe his ass after he poops).
4. He loves fruit, chicken, hot dogs and sausage.....he hates every thing else that passes his lips.
5. Well, he loves chocolate and ice cream.
6 He likes to sing, loudly, all day long....did I mention loudly?
7. He's super snugly in the mid afternoon.
8. When his hair gets long its curly.
9. He still struggles a lot physically, but is improving. He'd prefer to read a book.
10. Except for the day of his birthday where he said he wanted to be a Sargent, he typically says he wants to be a Merman when he grows up.
I wish I could keep him small forever, and let him grow up all at the same time. He still has a crazy sense of humor he had has a toddler......I hope he keeps it forever.








He's really into reading and figuring out what things say. This is his view from the toilet....I'm not surprised the first word he could spell was T-A-M-P-A-X





It translated well to the magnetic board.



I find spelling everywhere, on my front door, refrigerator.


"Momma! I made a sentence!" A sentence that melted my heart.


"I spelled Elijah!" Me: Who's Elijah? Erik: A guy


Can you get this? It makes perfect sense to a 4 year old spelling phonetically it spells, QUIET......See it now?


It's also been a tough month for Erik. His Grandpa George passed away, and Erik's confused as to where he went. He knows about heaven, and knows that's where things go that die. However he thinks everything that is gone, goes to heaven. His pumpkin that died, the mouse the cat caught etc. I told him my phone died the other day and he asked if Grandpa had it in heaven. He adores Grandpa George and we will work very hard through pictures and videos to make sure that Grandpa's memory lives on with Erik.















We'll miss you Grandpa! We love you!

one year post op!

June 11 is one year since the day of my surgery. I am feeling like I haven't lost enough weight, comparing myself to others who've lost more. It's so hard not to compare, and even harder since I haven't lost a pound in 8 weeks. I pray it's just a plateau!
I'm scared every minute that the weight will come back! Since the day of the surgery I've lost 68 pounds. Since I started the process I've lost 93 (remember I had to lose weight before they'd do the surgery).
Once I look at pictures though......I can see it (I can't feel it). I hope you can see it too!
No more hiding in pictures behind children, props and uh....pumpkins! A Pumpkin! Really? How did I think that made me look smaller?

Zucchini, Zucchini, Zucchini oh my!

     Our garden is growing and growing and growing zucchini.....and nothing else.  We get two to four zucchini a day and a family can only eat so much steamed zucchini so I've starting searching for other uses.
     Erik won't touch anything green unless it's a pea or an M&M. He'll happily pick the zucchini - but is very vocal about not eating it. I was looking on Pinterest (don't you LOVE that site?) for zucchini recipes and I found several that ROCK so I combined a few and tweaked them and came up with two that are SO yummy I had to share them here! You must make them.....today, as soon as you finish reading this, you won't be sorry!!

     Our oven is a crazy show, the top works great but the oven won't heat up unless the burners are on and kept on the whole time you're baking so you really have to babysit things and can't leave the kitchen.  I should just call my landlady and make her fix-it but she sits in my house ALL day whenever they come over and I feel her judging me....and I can't deal with her so I just make it work.  I'll call her when it's fall and we really amp up the baking, until then I'll just "Becky-rig" it and make it work.
     It makes Mike nuts to watch me cook.  He's a big rule follower.....and I'm not!  Bet you couldn't figure that out right?  I love to make him crazy by adding something the recipe doesn't call for or (gasp) substituting something else!  The best way I make him nuts is not timing anything I put in the oven.  He can't stand it!  He's finally stopped asking me how many minutes are left because my answer is "my nose will tell me when it's done".   I'm also the queen of taking several recipes and combining them into what I want, which is what happened here.
     Here's the winners!  Zucchini Bites - I would like to call them Zucchini Crack because you can't stop eating them until they are all gone.  I'm sure you have all the ingredients right now, and I suggest you double this because I didn't and Mom and I ate them all by ourselves in less than an hour (and then we didn't eat any dinner so that cancelled them out! right?).

                                 Zucchini Bites
Ingredients:
2 cups zucchini - grated
2 eggs
Some onion powder (I really have no idea how much - a couple shakes)
1/2 cup cheese (I used cheddar - but use whatever you like)
1/2 cup bread crumbs (I used Panko - because that's what I had - but any kind would work)
Salt and Pepper - a few shakes of each
Italian seasoning - one good shake

Directions:
1. Preheat Oven to 400.  Spray a mini muffin tin with PAM
2. Squeeze out that zucchini in a kitchen towel (I think it's totally gross - and then I worry that I'll have zucchini in my washing machine-but no one wants soggy zucchini crack )
3. In a bowl combine all the ingredients
4. Using a spoon fill muffin tins all the way to the top and bake until the tops are lightly golden browned and set (somewhere between 15-20 minutes).

These are AMAZING hot right out of the oven and they are still amazing cold after they've been sitting on the counter calling your name for an hour.  Seriously hide them from yourself - or double this recipe.

Here's what they look like when they first come out (do NOT judge the appearance of my pan....just keeping it real people).  Look at that - some were eaten before I could even take a picture! MOM!

Here's what they look like after about 15 minutes

 

See that?  We made 24 - and there are only 7 left!!!  Mom and I were the only ones eating them!  Crack I tell ya!

After an hour there were only two.......Poor Mike - he didn't get ANY!  Sorry Mike!


Here's the other recipe.  I have no pictures because I was making dinner for Erik at the same time and I just couldn't do that many things!

Zucchini, Banana, Chocolate Chip Muffins (to a 3 year old they are  ONLY chocolate chip muffins!)

Ingredients:
3 Eggs
1 cup applesauce (I used the cinnamon kind - if you don't have that add a couple teaspoons of cinnamon to the ingredient list)
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 cup grated zucchini (I did not drain it)
1 cup mashed banana
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips (I may or may not have added a tad more to use up the bag)

Directions:
1. Preheat over to 350
2. Spray muffin tins or loaf pans (I chose muffin tins - but you can make 2 loaf pans with this)
3. In a large bowl, beat eggs until light and frothy. Mix in applesauce and sugar. Stir in zucchini, bananas and vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and chocolate chips; stir into the egg mixture. Pour into muffin tins or loaf pans. If baking loafs bake for an hour.  If baking muffins watch them and pull them out when a toothpick comes out clean, about 15 minutes.
I made mini muffins and it made 64!  Erik ate 3!  Woo Hoo!!  Tricked him into zucchini!

I hope your garden is spitting zucchini at you!!!  Happy beginning of summer!!!!!

Do Mermaids Have Vaginas?

Conversations with three year olds are nothing short of crazy! Here's just a snippet of the conversations I've had with Erik over the last week.

Erik's comments about the Universe after reading "Goodnight Galaxy"

Did you know that some stars become black holes and then they can REALLY suck it!

Our solar system ordered a Milky Way? Is that like a milkshake?

Mama? Have you ever fallen on a wishing star? (A valid question for a Falger like me!)

Did you know that all stars turn into gas balls and the diamonds!

After a day of being sent to his room for tantrums

I have lost my mind a lot today and I need to go to bed - please turn on the dark!
When I checked on him after an hour he said, "hi sweetie.....what's up?"

And after spending an afternoon with these lovely ladies the question of the day......
Do mermaids have vaginas?



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Location:Doris Ave,Alum Rock,United States

Play with me Mommy!

Erik requests this "play with me Daddy" every night from his Daddy. They play Legos, trains, airplanes....boy stuff. Tonight it was requested of me! I really hate Legos.....seriously, I can only envision how to make towers, but Erik always requests a "Police City Motorcycle". I was excited to be invited.

Anyway, tonight I played......I did my best. We had prom! Disney Prom! First we had to pick everyone up in a carriage.



-But only one couple in a carriage is no fun, but I don't know about mixing company - looks like Beast has been dumped by Belle and is dating Ariel! We added more friends.



Peter and Wendy seem to need a chaperone already, it looks like they are too close to get a Book of Mormon in between them!!!

We made it to the dance to find lots of other Disney friends dancing away!!!



Ah couples have gone back to their correct partners......and all is well with the world!



Until that hand you see crashes down on the entire prom as it declared " Rocket ship landing!"
Well it was fun for Mommy for about five minutes!!!! I'd better brush up on my Lego building.

You poop tomatoes?

Goodness I meant to be better on this blogging!  It's so hard to find the time to write - by the time I come home in the evening I want to make myself as publicly unpresentable as possible, feed my family and then do nothing.  Which means spending the evening playing trains, reading books, making car noises and playing Candyland, which Mike calls CandyScatter since Erik just scatters the cards all over the place.

Weight Loss Update
  I'm 6 freaking pounds from losing 100, and I've been there for weeks!  I started exercising pretty regularly and of course that made me gain weight.  So, do I stop exercising?  Because seriously I HATE it - but I continue to do it hoping I will like it.....right. I can't wait to say "I lost 100 pounds!"

Erik
Erik is still the brightest light in my life and keeps me cracking up!  If you follow me on face book I'm sure you've seen all the craziness he says. 
I had to run some errands last week in a shopping center that has all his favorite food places (not my child at all). We were only going to Michael's and he knew that - but he still had to let Chili's know he was thinking about it.  He refused to walk into Michael's until he had paid homage to Chili's, loudly, in front of Michael's.
Imagine him, arms outstretched towards Chili's, a pleading look on his face as he exclaims - "Oh Chili's, I know you're missing me, I'm missing you too. Mommy says you are 'spensive' and we can't eat dinner at you.  I love you so much, someday I will see you again". 
LIKE I NEVER FEED HIM!!!  People are looking at me like my child is starving.  Look at this picture!  He is by no means starving - he just wants a love affair with Chili's.

Erik is completely potty trained now (Yeah for me!) but he still needs "help".  Which means when I go potty in public he has to come with me, and go as well.  We have to share a stall because he can't be outside the stall alone or he's looking under all the others saying "Hi! I'm Erik!
This is typically not a problem until I realized I was receiving a visit from my monthly friend.  This is tough with a toddler.  It hadn't even crossed my mind that someday I would be in the situation where I needed to change my business.......in front of a 3 year old. A very loud 3 year old who narrates EVERYTHING he sees.
I tried to distract by getting him to turn around, or look at the ceiling, anything to give me a minute to change.  I managed to change my stuff without him taking too much notice, but being newly potty trained he OWNS the flusher.  He wants to flush every one's stuff, including in public. I tried to reach behind me and flush but it was one of those infrared fancy self flushes and I had no choice but to stand up first to figure out how to flush it.  I tried to block his view - but no way.
He looked in the bowl, looked up at me and said in a voice full of wonder and surprise "Wow Mom!  You can poop tomatoes??  My response "Yep!  I ate too many tomatoes!"  Whew! Saved!   I could tell the lady in the next stall was muffling her own laughter.

Mike took Erik out to lunch today to another of his favorite spaces - El Pollo Loco (The crazy chicken), Erik was happily announcing to anyone who would listen that he was at "El Loco Cholo" (The crazy gangbanger) - and we live in a predominantly Hispanic area - with a high rate of gang issues.   Mike I'm sure was quickly hurrying him through that lunch - and then to his horror Erik noticed a Starbucks across the parking lot.  He immediately began to yell "there's a Starfucks daddy!" Over and over. 
Erik LOVES to changes words around and make them sound silly - I HOPE that's all he's doing with this little switcheroo.  We've told him that's a dirty word and he needs to spit it in the trash. He spent the afternoon saying "Starbucks- Starfucks" over and over.  He spent a lot of time in front of the trashcan tonight!

I can't help but giggle.................which is really not helpful at all.

I can hear him on the monitor now laying in his bed whispering "Starfucks, Starfucks, Starfucks - it's a dirty word"

Potty Time

It's certainly not party time! It's been hell in our house for the last couple of weeks as we tackle the challenge of potty training. Potty training SUCKS big balls. It's true. I've potty trained hundreds of kids, but I used to send them home at night.....here its 24/7 ugh!
We set up a chart and have been easing into it for 6 weeks. Every time he sat on the toilet he got a star, every time he went, he got a monster sticker. We spent weeks with no monster sticker and then we had a week off school where he was just in underwear and he hates to be wet....so voila, potty trained! He still needs a sticker each time he goes. Have to figure out how to taper that off. We worked very hard to be on the regular potty too.....no baby potty for us!



However we have made tons of progress this week and we are now diaper free except for sleeping. He's made it through school without accidents and a couple quick trips to the grocery store. We did have an accident in the mall to which he proclaimed to every one who passed him afterward "I will not pee or poop at the mall, that's gross!"



Gross is a new word in his vocabulary that he is trying out ALL the time! (Thanks Mom!) Ipad apps are GROSS if they don't work. Mommy is GROSS if she makes him pick up his toys......you get the idea.
In other news I'm trying really hard to get to 100 pounds lost, but I can't seem to get off these last five pounds. It's easier to eat more now and I'm worried I could fall back into old habits.....sigh.
I'm excited about starting the Thrive Across America program tomorrow at my work, it's a great exercise program through Kaiser and looks awesome! Maybe that will jump start me.
I've been walking to gear up for it, however I am my fathers daughter and I am genetically wired to fall,over nothing, while paying attention to my feet. I fell a few days ago and messed up my knee,



And my foot......sigh



However my foot was only sore for about three days and I'm good to go! Lets hope I don't fall during the 8 week Thrive challenge!



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The end of 2012

I was much better at blogging before there was a demanding 3 year old taking over my life with his whiny, poopy cuteness.  I apologize for the lack of activity, but I'll catch you up!

Weight Loss - Still losing, but it's slowed down a bit, which is to be expected. My hair has finally stopped falling out.  Hopefully it will now begin to grow back.  The pieces that have grown back are grey.....they are not welcome here.  I'm down almost 100 pounds, I'm about 2 pounds away now.  I'm scared to death I will gain the weight back.  It's a battle every day to remind myself to make good choices and to exercise.  I hate exercising, that feeling hasn't changed at even 100 pounds thinner.  Are there people who enjoy exercising?  In all honesty I'd prefer to sit in my pajamas and look at Pinterest.  I love the way I feel after exercising - but I really struggle to motivate myself to do it.  The other day I walked with my co-workers over 5 miles....5 miles!!  My toenails have now revolted and one is threatening to fall off if I ever do it again.

This picture was taken on Friday night - I think it shows how much weight I've lost.  Mike's shrinking as well because he's stuck not eating all the things I used to cook so it's a win win!

 

 

 

Now let me go back to October and the last blog post.  We dressed up for Halloween as Jesse, Woody and Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story.  I have to say that Mike was a great spot wearing his Woody costume, and wearing it in public at the school Halloween Carnival!

 

 

Erik's been working really hard on potty training.  Well....not really.  Mommy's been working really hard on potty training and Erik sits and makes noises and occasionally if we are lucky he will (in his own words) "pop out a yittle nugget!"

We started a potty chart last week hoping to help the situation.  He gets a gold star if he sits down, and a fancy sticker of his choice for actually producing something.  There are LOTS of gold stars, not so many of the other stickers.  We just went and bought lots of cool underwear that he is now wearing over his diapers.....hopefully he'll be inspired.  He's in the last size of diapers, and even those are hard to find.  There are no more choices - must be potty trained!

 Erik has also started school at the elementary next to our house.  He goes a couple times a week and receives PT, OT and Social skills. He loves it!  He cried the first few days because it was hard to say goodbye - but he's really enjoying it now.  He especially loves the PT named Coach Tom who takes him to the cafeteria to play Basketball.  There are only 5 children in the class and 2 teachers. I had to fight for this placement for a year, and I finally won.  The school district really shouldn't go up against Mommas who know what their children are entitled to.  They denied him services the first time but I kept fighting and voila he now has services for a year!  He still goes to my school as well, I wanted him to keep that routine as well as the exposure to typically developing children.  He's doing great at both places!  Well, except for the eating.  He won't eat or drink at either place.  Funny, he eats and drinks with no problem at home, and I've never seen a child who enjoys a restaurant more than Erik, but for some reason he won't eat at school.
   Back in the fall we took a trip to the beach house to visit my family.  Erik loves his Papa and Mimi so much!  It's so nice that they were able to come here and we were able to go and spend time with them.  Erik loved just letting it all hang out!

We had great fun on a boat ride with a friend and Erik really loved being on the boat.

My three boys - My Daddy, My Son and My Hubby.  Love this picture (if only they weren't all squinting)

Christmas blew in and this year was the first year that Erik's really "gotton" the whole concept and he didn't want to miss any part of it!  He learned about Hanukkah from Sesame Street and insisted that we have a Menorah!  Thanks to my good friend BC who gave him one they'd had in their family for years.  We lit the candles and Erik said his own little prayers after skyping with friends who celebrate and watching them light their candles.  Technology is amazing!

We of course had our own tree which Erik would not leave alone.  I told him a hundred times a day to "look with your eyes not your hands" until anytime he was close to the tree he would yell "YOOK WIF MY EYES!"  He sure got as close as he could with just those eyes!

I finally had to give him his own Christmas tree.  No laughing at it - I'm not a seamstress, nor can I draw and cut Christmas trees.  This just had Velcro and little material ornaments.  I imagined him decorating and redecorating and leaving my tree alone.  It was a great idea I got from Pinterest.  He would walk by it - tear all the ornaments off and then use them as "winter airplanes" and I spent the whole month putting the ornaments on. Pinterest fail.

In December we were lucky enough to go back to the beach and spend some time with my college roommates.  There is nothing like friends you've known for twenty years. I love these girls so much and I so rarely get to see them - but when I do it feels like no time at all has passed between us.  Love that two of them have children almost the same age as Erik.  We had a blast - and I think the kids did too!  While we were there we took Erik to his first movie.  Monsters Inc.  He loved the popcorn, and the previews, and about 10 minutes of the movie.  Sigh - wasted 25 bucks!

We should have just stayed where the weather was gorgeous on the beach!

Happiness!

Thank you Jaci for loving Erik - He loves you too....in an aloof boy kind of way.

Good girlfriends are there no matter how many miles and years come between you!

 

 Now we are into the real year and all the fun and vacationing of the holidays has to end.  I still try to plan one fun little thing for Erik to do each weekend.  Last weekend we went to see some friends goats since they had lots of babies.  Erik loved it and has talked nonstop about it since.  He asks when we can get goats, and chickens.

 Sigh - I don't do animals, especially the outside kind.  I told him when he's 13 he can have an animal because you have to have "teen" in your age or it's against the law.  I also told him Disneyland was closed for Christmas because he really wanted to go - but I couldn't deal with the Christmas crowd.  I know, I'm going to hell for lying to my child.  Don't judge - I think many of you will be there with me.  I've heard you tell your children lies too.  Maybe the lies of parenting don't count.

Mike's goal for 2013 is a garden.  My goal for 2013 is not to kill him when I end up doing all the work on "his" garden.  We'll see who wins.  Erik has his seeds all picked out.  It's going to be a LONG wait for the warm weather!

  My goal is also to enjoy every second of the crazy kid.  Even when he insists on dressing like Peter Pan to go to the store, or visit Grandpa.  Please note that my child does not have the usual Peter Pan pocket knife in his carrier - but he does have the crocodile that wants to eat Captain Hook.

Happy 2013!

Oh...and I hope to do better about blogging!