Fostering sibling relationships

One of the things that I’m hoping is that my kids will have good relationships with each other.  However, hope isn’t going to take care of that.  It’s a great place to start, of course, but it’s not enough, because kids are often selfish and sometimes mean (on purpose or not), and their siblings often take the brunt of some not very pleasant behavior.  At least, this happens in our family.  Maybe other people’s kids aren’t like that…

It must be working to some extent, because when Sim woke up from his nap today, he began calling, “Hannah!  Hannah!”  This was new.  He almost always wants me after his nap.  Hannah wasn’t readily available, so I went up. 

“I wanted Hannah,” he explained, in a somewhat annoyed tone.

“Hannah’s downstairs.  Would you like to go find her?”

“YES!”

The discoveries of our resident escapee

Hildy, Michael’s rabbit, has discovered that SOMETIMES the cage door is not always fully secured on the  bunny cage.  She’s also discovered that, in those instances, she can grab it with her teeth and work it back and forth until it opens and she can come out.  She’s also discovered that the kids sometimes drop oatmeal at breakfast and that, if she makes a stop under the table, she might have a lovely oatmeal snack.  Then, too, the rug in the dining room has great traction and makes for a superb track to race around multiple times at top speed.  AND she’s discovered that we can have a tough time getting her back to her cage once she’s in the front rooms of the house, what with her predator-avoidance instincts and all.

This means that we sometimes come back from being out or come downstairs from putting the kids to bed and find a bunny on the loose.  (Gypsy, being a well-behaved bunny (like Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail), would never deign to leave the cage unless invited, and sometimes not even then.)  Generally, I just leave her until she gets tired, because once that happens, she’ll go back without too much of a fuss. 

When we first got the bunnies, I wasn’t really into the idea of “house rabbits.”  Poop, I thought, and pee.  Nope.  No WAY.  However, and I’m hoping that putting this in writing is not going to change everything, we have yet to have a bunny accident outside of the cage since they have become fully box trained.  No joke. 

So I don’t worry about the escapism too much.  I prefer it to happen while we’re in the house so that we can secure the parts of the house that aren’t so safe for bunnies, but really, it’s pretty cute to look up and see a happy bunny hopping about. 

Impatience

Naomi asked the other day, “Is the baby going to come out soon?”

Um…no…6 more months. 

A major treat for all the kids

The girls love going to the dentist.  They love it, truly.  I told them on Sunday that we’d be going to the dentist on Tuesday, and they began celebrating.  Yesterday when I said it was time to get ready for bed, Hannah said, “Oh good!  This day passed really quickly and tomorrow is DENTIST DAY!!!” 

Today was Simeon’s first time actually getting his mouth looked at, and the girls were so enthusiastic for him that he was completely hyped up about it all morning.  The dental hygienist who worked with him loved it, because he hopped up in the chair, opened his mouth, uttered not one complaint, and was a model patient.  She used a regular ol’ toothbrush on him today, since it was his first time, but I don’t think he would have minded the other type, either.  He was completely agreeable for the dentist to look at his mouth, and he looked hilarious and quite cute in the dental chair with sunglasses on.  I was sorry I forgot the camera…

No cavities for anyone!  Plus, they all got balloons, new toothbrushes, floss, flossers, stickers, and magnetic calendars with their dentist’s name on them.  Sim also got a tiny little plastic ninja, Naomi got a tiny little plastic alien with a parachute, and Hannah got a bouncy ball. 

AND for a little icing on the cake, because of the fluoride treatment they got, they don’t get brushed or flossed at bedtime tonight.  This is a favorite perk with Hannah, especially. 

The dentist has retained her reputation as one of the best-loved outings of the Bernstein children. 

I forgot to mention

that I completely trashed the kitchen in making the casserole, and then had to dash out to a seminar on pediatric urology (the fun never stops around here!).  When I got home, my dear husband had cleaned up the mess I’d left behind, besides putting the kids to bed.  He’s dreamy. 

In which I wax eloquent…

…about casserole.  “What?”  You ask yourself.  “Casserole?  What is there to wax eloquent about?  We have casserole twice a week.”  Or maybe you’re of the school of thought that casserole is an abomination, and you would never wax eloquent about it unless it was the ultimate and final demise of all casserole everywhere.  In which case, you may want to stop reading now and come back when I’ve posted more pictures of the kids.

My family had casseroles regularly when I was growing up.  I liked them.  They were good, and they were comfort food.  Some of them involved broccoli, some of them involved sausage and black olives, some of them involved eggs, some of them involved tuna, some of them (made by my dad) were called “Amalgam Casserole,” because he put all the leftovers he could find into them and baked them up.  Okay, so those were not always my favorites.  [Dad, I’m sorry, but some flavors don’t blend well.  And even cheese can’t always cover that.  But I do appreciate your efforts to feed us, nonetheless.]

One thing casseroles always involved:  dairy products.  Milk, cheese, cream of mushroom or celery or whatever soup.  Mmmm. 

When I started out to make the casserole tonight, Hannah asked what I was doing.  “Making dinner.”  She wanted to know what I was making.  “Casserole.”  Then came the kicker:

“What’s casserole?”

My kids haven’t been able to eat dairy.  Hannah and Naomi both have lactose intolerance issues, although they can handle some cheeses in small quantities and also yogurt.  Simeon is just plain allergic to dairy.  Casserole has not really been in our menu rotation since…6 1/2 years ago.  Enough so that when I went somewhere with the kids a few years ago, Michael made himself a tuna casserole and ate the whole darn thing for meal after meal while I was gone (But not for breakfast.  I don’t think.).  He got the recipe online, since we don’t really have any casserole recipes. 

How, you may ask, did I manage to make a casserole?  Did my children magically start to handle dairy better?  NO!  I discovered, thanks to this recipe, that one can make a vegan bechamel!  This may mean nothing to you, but there was one line in the recipe that caught and held my attention:  “We used all the roux to create a sauce with the consistency of thick, heavy cream.”  The heavens opened, angels sang, and a whole new world of recipes (using magical vegan sauce the consistency of thick, heavy cream) opened up to me!

Vegan cream means that I will be able to make casserole!  I can make the vegan bechamel and I can add it instead of the milk and cream soups!  This changes everything!  I can make chowder that everyone in my family can eat!  (Will they?  I don’t know, but it won’t be harmful to them!)  I can make tomato cream sauce!  I can…the possibilities are mind-boggling!

Of course, you may be rolling your eyes at this point.  I know, I know, there are vegan cheezes, there are vegan cream cheezes, there are vegan cream soups, there are soy creams that are thick like heavy cream.  I know that, but have you ever tried that stuff?  It’s not very good.  And if you have tried it and thought it was fine, have you ever read the ingredients?  I’m not into gums and 40-word ingredients.  I’m also not into having lots of soy in my diet, so we use rice milk – that’s how I made the vegan bechamel. 

All I’m saying is that I made chicken and rice casserole today using the roux method, and it was good.  Everyone in my family ate it.  EVERYONE.  Even Naomi, the resident food-separatist and judger-of-food-based-solely-on-how-it-looks ate this casserole, after finally trying a bite.  She was convinced she wouldn’t like it, but she ended up eating a huge serving.

And Michael said it was a make-again dish.  Michael is a generous and loving husband, and I love him very much.  I appreciate that he always thanks me for making dinner, no matter what it is that I am serving him.  But he doesn’t tell me things are make-again dishes if he doesn’t really think they’re make-again dishes.

Casserole.  It’s the little things, isn’t it?

Great news!

Chocolate tastes good again and doesn’t make me sick!

Happy St. Valentine’s Day!

Last week – or 10 days ago?  A box arrived from Grandma Ellie and Grandpa Larry, bearing some Valentine’s Day things.  Crafts, pillowcases (made by Grandma), dresses for the girls and their twin dolls. 

We had just done some making of Valentine’s cards a day or two before that, and everyone had enjoyed themselves.  Hannah had made a list of the people she wanted to send cards and worked from that.  Naomi had made cards and done so until she tired of it.  Simeon had worked on two cards the whole time, devoting lots of attention and stickers to those two. 

The box included some crafts to make and give as Valentines, as well as some pre-made Valentine cards.  The crafts were well-received and Hannah helped Simeon and Naomi make theirs.  The cards were well-received, and Hannah decided to send out even MORE cards than she’d made. 

Naomi decided that she didn’t want to give away ANY of the cards or crafts.  She didn’t want to give the ones she’d made, she didn’t want to give the ones she’d received in order to give, she went so far as to label one of the crafts “To Mimi Love Naomi.”  I’m not sure she’s really into the SPIRIT of the day yet. 

However, we did have some cute dresses and hairdos today.  I don’t recall if I’ve mentioned that we sometimes have some trouble with hair brushing at our house.  The girls love to have long hair, and Hannah has really THICK hair, too, which is beautiful…except when it’s not brushed.  And when I brush it, you’d think that I was torturing her with hot pokers, rather than holding her hair and doing everything I can to keep from pulling it.  This isn’t fun for either of us, and the prospect of shaving her head gets more and more attractive with each screaming fit over hair brushing. 

I decided to find some hairdos that might offer motivation for the suffering, because if you’re going to end up look gorgeous, dahling, sometimes it’s worth the trouble to stand still and not scream when Mom is brushing your hair.  I found this site, which not only has hairdo ideas, but also has hairdo videos.  This is key, because however thorough a description is, with pictures, I don’t seem to be able to easily translate that into real life.  The girls love this website, and enjoy having me page through so that they can select a hairdo for that day. 

{Sim isn’t being tortured here…he’s “smiling” for the camera.  Yeah.  Great phase.  But you can see that he’s clutching his new donut pillowcase.}

This morning we had fun looking through the Valentine’s Day hairdos, and ended up picking two different, cute ones.  Simeon felt slightly left out, but was completely mollified by the two Amtrak videos that I let him watch on Youtube.  He’s not that into hairdos, but trains are pretty awesome. 

These are the Valentine’s Day dresses, too.

Here’s Naomi’s hair from the back.  The picture isn’t that great, but the braids form a heart. 

Here’s the right side pigtail on Hannah.

And here’s the left side. 

Simeon eventually decided he did want in on the pictures.

Can’t you feel the love?

Can’t you see the fake smile?

Things we’ve learned this week

1.  Unplanned trips to the ER aren’t fun.  Of course, are there any planned trips to the ER?  At any rate, Naomi’s fine, despite falling off the counter.

2.  Naomi didn’t take me seriously in the past when I told her not to get on the counter. 

3.  Now she does.

4.  Two trips to Children’s Hospital in one week is more than I prefer.

5.  The first one was for the same child, for a checkup (not for an emergency or injury), and her kidneys (which is what they were checking up) are fine.

6.  The kids can play hide and seek in their room for an hour. 

7.  Sometimes, an earlier bedtime for that night is just what someone needs.

8.  I’m starting to come out of morning sickness.  I think.

9.  The house can get pretty darn messy when I’m sick for 6 weeks.

10.  Simeon knows the term “fire hydrant.” 

11.  Sunny days in winter are fantastic.  (Well, we knew this already, but we relearned it.) 

12.  Naomi is currently my most dedicated garden helper.

13.  Naomi actually does like a whole bunch of vegetables.  She’s been holding out on me, but now I know.  And she does, too.

14.  Simeon can eat an astonishing amount of food.  He’s little.  Where does it go?  Of course, Hannah is like that, too.  Naomi has always subsisted on a small amount, with occasional enormous meals, but her sibs eat like horses.

15.  My regular clothes are almost too small for me. 

16.  Michael still really doesn’t like to drive to or from work:  too much traffic.  Thank God for the bus!

17.  Michael can make fires that send enormous cinders flying out onto the carpet. 

18.  Besides the cinder flying and carpet singeing, Michael really does love to make fires.  This one, too, is a reconfirmation of something we already knew, I guess.

19.  Hannah loves helping her siblings make crafts.

20.  Hannah learned to crochet.  Not from me, but from a dedicated friend of ours. 

21.  Hannah can translate the right-handed demo of crocheting to her very own left-handed use. 

How to get your kids to start running your house

Well, I suppose that’s somewhat optimistic.  They’re not running the house yet.  And I guess I should also qualify that I don’t actually want the kids to run the house, because, even if they have a bunch of great ideas, they also have some pretty…um…interesting ideas, too. 

However, Hannah loves to read.  This is a good thing in many ways.  Of course, it often results in certain of my reading materials, such as Family Fun magazine, disappearing before I have a chance to read them.  Also, I mentioned before that Hannah took my copy of Large Family Logistics and I haven’t gotten it back.  I did get a couple of chapters in before she took off with it, though, so we’ve instituted Afternoon Chore Time, and that has made a big difference in our household. 

The other day, Hannah came out of quiet time with a great idea.  “Mama!  This family has the buddy system, where an older kid is paired up with a younger kid to help them do things!  I think we should do that.  Right now, I’ll be Sim’s buddy, and when the new baby comes, I’ll be his buddy [Hannah’s hoping for a boy].  Naomi has to be in training to be Sim’s buddy, though, because she has a lot to learn.”

Well, I didn’t see any need to argue with her proposition.  Hannah decided to be the Buddy Trainer.  I heard her explaining some of the finer points of Buddyism to Naomi, especially about keeping your buddy happy by letting him have a turn with the toys.  It can’t hurt, I thought.

The next day, Naomi unearthed a toy that was highly coveted by the younger set, mainly because it hadn’t been seen in a while.  Hannah and I were doing a math lesson.  This could have been a recipe for disaster, but Naomi immediately handed over the toy to Sim, then said, in a stage whisper to Hannah, “See, Hannah?  I’m keeping him happy by sharing!” 

Another superpower

I talked about the superpower that I have in an earlier post.  Well, pregnancy brings another one:  I am a Super Smeller.  (Incidentally, this reminds me of the They Might be Giants song Supertaster.  Very amusing.)  There are some drawbacks to this super power.  For instance, if something doesn’t smell appetizing to me, like these crackers that Michael and the kids like, it REALLY stinks.  I can smell them on the breath of someone sitting next to me, even an hour or so after that person ate them.  Suffice it to say that those crackers are banned during pregnancy.  Or Michael can take them to work.  Mint doesn’t smell good to me right now, either.  Bummer.

On the other hand, I’m quite sure that Indian food, which I love, has never smelled this good, even though I’ve always loved it.  And fresh fruit is FANTASTIC!  We got some oranges a couple weeks ago that more than made up for the loss of mint.  They were that good.  And Michael has found that, when he’s baking bread, he just needs to be sure to sit near me so that I can tell him when it’s done…by the “done” smell.  I never knew that baking bread had a “baking” smell and a “done baking” smell – not the burned smell, which also signifies that it’s done, I guess.  The “done baking” smell seems to last for a couple of minutes before the “early burning” smell sets in.  So, as you can see, it’s a useful super power in some ways. 

And when you look at some of the super powers that the X Men have, I find it hard to credit that Potty Ninja or Super Smeller powers couldn’t be somehow worked in.  I mean, wouldn’t it be helpful to have someone who could smell danger approaching, or at least make sure the food isn’t going bad?  Wouldn’t it be helpful to have someone who could remind all the kids at the X Men school to go to the bathroom before their trips on their X Men jet?  That thing can’t be convenient to bring down for a potty break. 

No, really, we like nicknames

The new baby has a nickname.  Michael came up with it:  Quinque.  The kids have all wholeheartedly embraced this nickname.  Sim, admittedly, said, “Keenkay” for the first few days, but he’s got the pronunciation down now.

Chores

This morning, as I was doing something else, I heard a repeated clunking noise that sounded vaguely familiar.  Not having my mind fully on what the clunking noise might be, it only occurred to me how annoying it was, partly because it wasn’t happening at regular intervals.  The clunking noise was coming from where Naomi was, and I was just about to ask her to quit when I realized – she’s sweeping.

Yeah, so now I’ll offer a little helpful hint:  If someone is helping you with chores, don’t tell them to cut it out!  Especially if that someone is a person to whom you are supposed to impart the knowledge of how to do chores so that they will be well-equipped for doing chores when they’re on their own later in life. 

Aren’t you glad you read this today?  It will change your life.