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?
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.
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?
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!!!!!
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?
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.
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"
Married almost seven years, and after several years of infertility we finally have our amazing, wonderful little Erik - and here we chronical his growth, our mishaps and life along the way.
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