Escapes

It took him a while to realize that he could easily get up from his new toddler-style bed, but now it's almost an obsession. He is so crazy tired, but has decided that he doesn't want to nap or go to bed at night. He's getting up again and again and we're reeling for strategies to get him to stay in bed so some of us can get some rest.

 

When he doesn't nap all day he's like a lunatic, limp and exhausted, looking for trouble by 3pm and you can't reason with him in the slightest. It makes my days very very long. Last night he escaped at midnight and was roaming the house! What to do?

Daughter for Daddy, Cheesecake for Mommy

Jackson got to spend the night with Grandma and Papa Barrett at their home in Santa Rosa ("Papa's House" as he calls it) and Dan and I got an evening with just the baby. We got some yummy PF Changs and then went to our favorite place in downtown Palo Alto, University Cafe, for dessert. We went there all the time pre-kids. Not so much anymore.

Bubble Cow

It's actually a dog that he calls a cow, but it does (or did, since it's broken now) spit out endless bubbles, to the delight of every 2-year-old and the relief of every mom sick of blowing and blowing on those bubble sticks.

 Other backyard fun. Me and Cosette hanging in the shade on these hot summer afternoons.

 Trying to amuse baby by holding hands.

 Enjoying the sandbox. This was before he started to get nervous about the sand making his hands dirty. He's a little particular about his hands, as I mentioned in the finger-painting post, so the sandbox is a bit of a challenge now.

 What a sweet little lady!

 He's very gentle with his Sissy.

 I didn't think we'd call her "Coco" but we do use that nickname all of the time. Here's Coco and The Bear (Jack) hanging out with Daddy while Mommy enjoyed a baby shower on Sunday afternoon.

 I think Jack's yelling "3 strikes, you're out"

Crafty Time

 Trying some more fun activities around the house. I saved and cleaned out egg shells for a week for Jackson to play with. He enjoyed handling and cracking them.

We also tried some finger-painting with the new easel Jackson received for his birthday. We love washable paint.

 He's still learning color names and calls a lot of different colors "blue"

 He was fascinated at first, then got pretty alarmed that his hands were covered in paint.

We had to wipe hands after ever dip since he finds messy fingers upsetting. Maybe finger-painting is not the craft for this clean kid.

 Cosette wanted to get in there. She doesn't mind making a mess.

 I ended up doing a lot of finger-painting myself with Jackson telling me what to draw (80% elephants, 20% lions), and what colors to use (mostly all red, which he called "blue"). The next time we tried painting we used brushes and that made him a lot less nervous. Pens and chalk are the easier way to go.

 Then we pulled off the smock to do a game Jack calls "hit the ball!" where we set up the t-ball, but don't really hit the ball off of the tee. We just pretend to hit it with the bat, then run the bases. He doesn't like to actually hit it because it messes up the perfect position of the ball on the tee. He swings, then proclaims "hit the ball" or "miss the ball" to indicate if he got a pretend hit or not. If he gets a "hit" he runs to the fence and back. His favorite play is to get a "double" which is even better to him than a home run. He loves the double.

Also, there is a lot of "Go Giants!" being yelled throughout the proceedings.

 He uses a ridiculously wide stance and a very long wiffle ball bat which is much harder to handle than the short bat that came with the set. The silly thing is that he is coordinated enough to hit the ball (and often catch it) every time, but he prefers to miss.

If you know even one thing about Dan it is probably sports. He loves sports: talking about them, watching them, tracking the stats, sometimes playing them. Jack is really enjoying watching baseball and is quickly learning the lingo. It's actually a little alarming. I thought that would start around 5 or 6 years old, but at barely 2 he is sort of following the game, reciting players' names, singing "take me out to the ball game," cheering, and even listening to the game on the radio in the car. This is way too young for this kind of passion! I'm not sure if he'll want to be a player or just a fan, we'll see how his interests develop.

Mr. Sticky

Another fun outing to see the Giants. This one was with ladies from my Mothers Together small group and their kids. We got a little ambitious on this one, thinking we could take multiple kids to AT&T park for a Monday afternoon game without the husbands. It was a raining June day and I was very fortunate to have asked my parents to meet us and help out. Otherwise we would have been doomed trying to get into and out of the stadium without a stroller and get the kids to sit through the game. We didn't see too much of the game, but the Giants pounded on the Cubbies pretty hard and Jack chanted "Go Giants!" throughout.

Bouncing Cosette in the Ergo forever trying to get her to sleep. We were in the second to top row in the whole stadium, which worked out nicely so I could stand and rock her.

 Jack and Papa sharing a cherro. Papa kept calling him Mr. Sticky from the sugary hands and he cracked up again and again.

 My parents watching the game with Claire, one of Jack's friends

Teaching Baby

Jack is teaching baby to use the exer-saucer.

2-Year-Olds Can Bake

We wanted to make something special for Papa since we didn't get to see him on Father's Day and we are visiting his house this weekend. Jackson has been really interested in watching anything I do in the kitchen, pushing the stool over and saying "I watch" for anything from making smoothies to toast, he must watch. He's actually pretty good about not touching or grabbing, especially if things are hot. So, being inspired by the toddler friendly French recipe below in my latest read (Bring Up Bebe, which is excellent, by the way) we made Papa a yogurt cake, and yes, Jackson did do much of it by himself. The key is that you use the yogurt container to scoop and dump the other ingredients, so the kids can do a lot of it themselves, with a huge mess of course. Jackson was pretty into this activity!

Dumping in yogurt containers of flour.

A little stir with the big spoon. Stirring was the most challenging part since the batter was thick. I admit to helping with this step a bit.

  Very carefully adding the chocolate chips. He wanted to do this one by one, which took a while.

 He did not try to eat the chocolate and thanks to his personal hygiene preferences he doesn't like his hands dirty so he didn't stick his hands in the bowl. Cosette did try to get her hands and leg in and succeeded. He's very serious about his work. I couldn't get him to look up, smile, or take the "bink" out.

 Cosette kept herself busy by munching on the side of the Bumbo.

 

 The last of the ingredients added

 

 with enthusiasm.

 Spooning it into the loaf pan. The batter was yummy, though I'm the only one who tasted it. Also a shot of the aftermath. Coco is a little stunned.

 "I love you Papa." Cake ready to deliver tomorrow.

 

 A little forlorn that we can't see Papa immediately. He spent the rest of the evening nervously asking to see Papa now. I guess we can't mention "Papa's House" a day in advance without upsetting the little guy.

Recipe: Yogurt Cake (gâteau au yaourt)

Summary: adapted from Bringing Up Bébé

Ingredients

• 2 (6oz) containers of plain yogurt (keep containers for measuring the other ingredients)
• 2 eggs
• 2 containers sugar (my son’s scoops were about 3/4 full)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• just under 1 container of vegetable oil (my son filled his)
• 4 containers flour (my sons were all different)
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 container mini chocolate chips or 2 containers of frozen berries (optional)
• Crème fraîche (optional)
• powdered sugar (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 F
2. Coat a loaf pan or 9″ round cake pan with cooking spray or oil.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the yogurt, eggs, sugar, vanilla, and oil.
4. In a separate bowl, combine the flour and baking powder.
5. Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture, stir until just combined. You can now add the chocolate chips or berries if using them.
6. Scopp it all into your baking pan, bake for 35-45 minutes or until golden and the cake springs up when touched (or when a toothpick inserted is pulled out clean). Let it cool on a rack.
7. Dust with powdered sugar (optional) and serve with the Crème fraîche (optional).

Preparation time: 15 minute(s)
Cooking time: 40 minute(s)

Number of servings (yield): 8