Time to potty train?!

Just a quick story...

We've been dealing with a pretty fierce diaper rash around here. So, last night after Nora's bath, I pulled on her leg-warmers and a shirt and let her run-around "nudie-pants" to let her dry out and get some air on her nether-regions. Yes, I knew this was pretty dangerous, but we have mostly wood floors, so I figured if she started to go, I could quickly move her off the rugs to a moppable area. She was so enjoying her freedom, running around the living room (yes, she's a full-time walker/runner now!) giggling all the way. I really got a kick out of her sheer delight.

At one point, I went into the kitchen to grab something, when I started to hear water running. "Huh?", I thought, then "Ooooh noooo" as I sprinted to the source. Yes, it was Nora, no, it wasn't water. But, I had to be so proud. She had walked into the bathroom and was standing right next to the toilet to do her business. She even managed to miss getting any on her leg-warmers! Thankfully, the bathroom is tiled and all was quickly cleaned and sanitized.

Now we just have to teach her how to take off her own diaper and hop onto the pot!


P.S. Anybody on blogger know why my formatting is so crazy? It's maddening!

Real life.

After my last post, I was convicted, then I read a friend's blog post and was VERY convicted.

So often, when I read the blogs of friends and strangers, I get a picture in my mind of what their lives must be like...

* filled with well-prepared, nutritious and perfectly-presented meals,

* kids who are always smiling and well-behaved,

* homes that never have dust-bunnies, refrigerator science experiments or "what is that SMELL coming from the garbage?!"

* hours of nightly family Bible studies, deep, insightful, life-changing dinner-table discussions...

...you get the picture. And, it's easy for me to compare, get down on myself and think "Gosh, I am falling so short." After posting about my bread-baking, I thought, if I was reading that on someone else's blog, I would probably think "yeah, right, like I have time for THAT!" The truth is, I have been wanting to bake bread like that for several months, and it probably won't happen again any time soon!

But truly, blog life is just glimpses of our real lives - what we want the outside world to see (and let's be honest, with a blog the outside world could be anybody). Maybe it is also how we want to remember our lives when we look back in a year or more. Some folks just show pieces of their lives - cooking, home remodeling projects, crafting, theology. Others are brutally transparent and are an open book. I know for me, this blog is a way to record life, motivate me in many areas, but also to find beauty and joy in the mundane things I do from day-to-day.

I was recently inspired by a lady who humbly posted a picture of her dirty, in-need-of-scrubbing toilet on Facebook just to show the world that she didn't have it all together and that was ok. I often say that I feel more comfortable in people's homes when there are dirty dishes in the sink - it just feels more homey, real, like we are part of the family. So, here goes, some real life...

What my floors look like most days. No one warned me, before I became a mom, of the insidiousness of Cheerios (I find them, quite literally, EVERYWHERE in our house).

Unfortunately, more of this has been happening at our house than I'd like to admit. I wish I could say that my daughter never saw a television screen before the age of two, but Baby Einstein seems to be the only way to keep Nora from wanting to play in the garbage or empty the pantry while I'm making dinner!

Folks, this is about as bad as it gets.

Yes, that is my lower half. Yes, those are wool hiking socks, 15-year old Birkenstocks and some workout capries covered in flour. This is what my hubby came home to the day I made bread. Thankfully, I recently found this website. P.S. Please, don't nominate me for "What Not to Wear".

So, there you have it. A little bit of my daily dirt to balance out my last Suzy Homemaker post. Such a reminder of how abundantly gracious God is. He is teaching me how to better mother my daughter, but forgives me for the occasional mind-numbing, t.v.-babysitting session. He daily romances me despite my dirty workout wear, Birkenstocks and what you couldn't see in the picture. And, though my floors may be covered in cereal dust, He is slowly, but surely, cleaning and polishing my heart just for Himself.

My new arm workout.

Ha! That's what kneading 8 pounds of dough will do for you! 100 years ago, this probably was the only arm workout most homemakers needed to keep their arms and shoulders fit, now we need bicep curls and pushups to do the same thing! : )

I would love to make bread-baking a regular habit around here. There's just something so homey and comforting about the smell of fresh-baked bread, not to mention all the health benefits. I am trying to take this time while things are relatively simple around our house to learn some of these skills, before more kids come along and life gets complicated again.

A friend recently lent me her grain mill and 2 bins of wheat grain while she is in the midst of a move. I've been eager to try my hand at bread-baking with a mix of whole grains using the soaking method. I have been reading recently about the benefits of soaking grains before baking or cooking with them. In short, traditionally, grains were always soaked for long periods of time to allow for better digestion and nutrient absorption. You'll often hear whole grains recommended for a healthy diet, however, without preparing them properly, they can be hard on our digestive systems and may even be the cause of some food sensitivities. With the advent of commercial white flour, many of these methods have been forgotten.

A couple of good places to read up on reasons for soaking your grains:

Nourishing Practices: Soaking Your Grains

Be Kind to Your Grains

Here is the recipe I used (I know it looks complicated, but is really much easier than I thought it would be):

Combine the following, cover and soak for 12-24 hours (I soaked for 24 hours):

1 cup kefir (like yogurt, can be found in dairy case - or use cultured buttermilk or whey)

3 cups of water

11 cups of ground flour (I used 9 cups of whole wheat and 2 cups of kamut)

2 1/2 cups oats

1 cup honey

3/4 cup coconut oil, melted (can also use butter or olive oil)

1/3 cup flax seed (optional)

After soaking, activate the yeast by combining:

1/2 cup water

1 tsp. honey

2 1/2 Tbsp active dry yeast

Combine the activated yeast with the soaked flour and add the following:

1 1/2 Tbsp sea salt

I didn't include these, but you can also add 2-4 Tbsp dough enhancer, 1 cup unbleached white flour, sunflower seeds, if desired.

Kneed for 8-10 minutes. Remove to a greased bowl and cover with a towel. Let sit until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours. Punch down and divide into 4 loaves. Roll out each loaf into a rectangle and roll up to make a well-formed loaf. Place in greased bread pans and rise again until doubled (about 30-45 minutes). Turn the oven on to 350 degrees and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let

cool.

Yum-yum! I think this is by far the best recipe I've ever used with a very rich flavor. The only problem was that some of the ingredients I added after soaking did not completely mix into the dough - a few slices were a bit salty or sweet (from the honey). I think a larger mixer might fix this problem, or halving the recipe for a smaller amount of dough. I may try that next time.  I originally found this recipe at Passionate Homemaking.

An added benefit to baking bread during the cold, wet and dreary days we've had around here is that the oven makes the house extra warm and cozy!

What are some of your favorite comfort foods to make when it's cold and dreary out?

Dancing Queen.

Here they are folks, some video of our little dancing queen. I think Nora takes her dancing lessons from these guys. The first video is a bit shaky because I was trying to dance with her. See if you can't help but smile!

We so love her!

15 months!

Nora turned 15 months this past week. The months just seem to go by faster and faster and our little one is changing by the minute. Some new things we've discovered about our girl:

* She's an extrovert (WHAT?! How do 2 introverts make an extrovert? We're still trying to figure this one out, but may leave it to the geneticists). She still hasn't entered that "stranger anxiety" phase. When we go places like the grocery store, Nora can't help herself but try to catch every stranger's eye, give them a smile and start going through her animal noise and sign language repertoire. When they're not easily baited by her chocolate-brown puppy-dog eyes, she starts yelling "HEY PEOPLE LOOK AT ME!" (or more like "YAAABABA MMMM PIKUPIKU).

* She loves to dance. If she even hears a hint of music somewhere, she'll start swinging her hips - that little tushy is going, back-and-forth, back-and-forth. We may have a future salsa or hula dancer on our hands! She even gets her head going a little like this SNL skit. I'll post a video as soon as I can catch her at it!

* She loves to share. She's constantly giving me things: toys, lint, kleenex she's just ripped to smithereens, and occasionally, she'll kindly hand me a mouth full of partially-chewed food, just in case I didn't want to go to the trouble of doing it myself. Hopefully we can continue to encourage the sharing of toys, but not so much the partially-digested food.

* She's caught on to a lot more than she wants us to know. We've been working with her for months on animal noises and more recently some animal signs. She's caught on to a couple, but usually just goes back to her favorites - the lion's growl or the lizard lips (remember this post). We had given up and just figured we should give it time. Well, I was watching Nora's little friend Adelaide a few weeks back and I was holding Adelaide in my lap looking through a book of animals. Nora was playing a few feet away with her back to us. I started asking Adelaide what noises the animals made and from the corner of my eye, I saw Nora signing many of them and making animal noises we had never heard before! That little stinker was holding out on us. So, for now, these are the signs she's done consistently: bird, fish, dog; and noises: lion, lizard, fish (ok, not so much a sound as the fishy mouth), occasionally the monkey and for a dog she acts like she's trying to whistle (not sure where that came from).

* Our laid-back girl is on the cusp of walking. I tell you, our little one is never in a hurry. She's always taken her time at reaching what we mommies are told are those all-important milestones., I take it as God's way of teaching me patience and trust in Him, because I could easily get consumed with worry and "what-if's". I really think she just hasn't *wanted* to walk enough yet to really do it. Here she is taking a few steps ...

(her new favorite toy is the bottle brush, I know, I know, probably not the safest thing to be walking with)

* Unfortunately, we've also entered a whining phase. Nora is still not super verbal (at least not words mommy and daddy can understand) which I think frustrates her as she's becoming opinionated about things.

As she's becoming more and more willful, we're also getting more and more of a whimpering-whine from our girl. I'm torn between trying to teach her more signs or just encouraging her to speak her words. I know I've heard from different places that kids who sign are slower to talk - but she needs to be learning some form of communication for the sake of our sanity! *Any helpful advice is much appreciated on this!*

Despite the occasional whine, Nora is still smiles and laughter, snuggles and kisses, chubby toes, a fuzzy head and an overwhelming joy!

Hold On To Your Kids - Book Review

I first heard about this book while listening to a La Leche League podcast. It was recommended as a good read on issues related to parent/child attachment and greatly intrigued me. To be honest, prior to reading this book, my knowledge of "attachment theory" was limited to practices such as babywearing, breastfeeding and cosleeping. Since becoming a parent I've quickly learned of the different parenting "schools", which can create quite a bit of debate in parenting circles. I was eager to learn more about the "attachment" approach and glean whatever truths I might find there.

The premise of this book is very simple, that today's kids are becoming more and more attached to their peers than their parents. They are looking to their peers as "compass points" to get their bearings in the world, to form their values and to find affirmation. The authors offer that a child's attachment to their parent is the one thing they should not grow up without. However, culture, technology, even parents themselves encourage this "peer-orientation". They posit that this peer-orientation undermines parental authority and has led to modern-day ills such as bullying, hyper-sexualization, eating disorders, etc. They do not just describe the problem, but offer tools to maintain and reestablish parent-attachment:

* Make the relationship the priority.

* Learn how your child attaches (what special way they feel loved).

* Create intimacy - cultivate an intimacy with your child that peers can't compete with.

* Create structures and impose boundaries that protect the relationship - i.e. FAMILY vacations, FAMILY celebrations, FAMILY meals, etc.

One of the most practical recommendations that I feel I can implement even now is to learn how to "collect" my child. The art of collecting, the authors write, is the reconnection that happens when the parent and child have been separated, no matter the length of time. For a mom of a toddler, it may simply be the time after a nap -instead of quickly scooping my daughter up and putting her in the car to run errands or in a highchair for lunch, to hold her for a few moments, snuggle her, tickle her - the important part is to make eye contact and illicit a smile. One of the authors writes that for him, collecting his teenage daughter after several months of feeling disconnected from her took a weekend away at a cabin, playing games, taking walks together, no cell phones, no internet.

As I've meditated on the thesis of this book, I found it's ideas applied so much to our own relationship with our Heavenly Parent. Until we truly understand the deep and gracious love of God, Our Father, and come into an intimate relationship with Him, we are merely looking to our peers, other human beings, as our compass points. It is when we know the Father and His love that we can feel true security and freedom and begin to love others with confidence. As a parent, my ultimate goal is to lead my child to be "Godward-oriented", to look to Him over myself or my husband, peers, culture or anything else on earth. However, I do believe that as parents we are also to be the utmost earthly-authority in our child's life and, especially for a young child, her orientation to us is a form of Godward-orientation (not that I am calling myself or my husband God, but that our authority is a God-ordained one).

While I don't ascribe to all of the authors theories or recommendations, I found this a very valuable resource in my journey as a mom. I would highly recommend this read to you parents out there!