Harnessing of the Toddlers

Ellie, Lily and Liam are all walking now, so I gave in and purchased "harnesses." Jack doesn't like it when I call them leashes and I understand that, but horses wear harnesses. Oh well. Can't get away from the facts I guess. What brought me to this moment, you ask? The fact that I took them all out of their stroller in a public place wrought with dangers like strangers, moving cars, stores with folded shirts and pants well within the reach of 6 little arms. Within seconds, they were off (fast) in different directions and threatening both their lives and the store displays. I'm not sure why I thought my perfect children would stay near the stroller and just look at all the temptations. Note to self...16 month olds won't listen when the desire to touch and destroy pulls stronger than the force of gravity.





I didn't buy the plain blue harnesses, but I got little animal backpacks. Surely that will take away from the attention. 3 beautiful children running around with cute animals on their backs? Hardly will that dispell the attention. I'm sure I'll get some rude comments, under their breadth, but loud enough to hear. Let me put out my disclaimer before anyone reading this thinks I'm a total control freak and thinks that I can't get my children to obey. I'm harnessing them for their safety. So that they are able to get out of that dang stroller and touch and explore within the safety of Mom's reach. They LOVE to walk and run and they get miserable sitting in their stroller all the time. I, frankly, can't blame them. PLUS, I have THREE toddlers to save from their own destruction. SO, they will be harnesses with their little animal backpacks (dog, horse, monkey) and everyone will be happy and relaxed.

Happy New Year!

I can't believe how much has happened in the past year! It is already 2008 and the babies are 16 months old. Jack and I recently celebrated our 4th anniversary, although "celebrated" has taken up a different meaning. This year, we actually got to go to a restaurant, a nice restaurant for adults. It is different going out now and leaving the kids at home. I never fully relax and enjoy the dinner. Don't get me wrong, I love going out, but in the back of my mind, I wonder if they ate enough dinner, if they had their teeth brushed, if they were in bed on time, if they had a hard time going to sleep, if they wonder where their Mommy and Daddy are... Obviously the people with whom Jack and I leave them are very capable, but the questions are always there. I guess that is part of being a parent though.

We all had a great Christmas in California too. It was nice to get away from the snow and cold temps and actually play outside most of the day. The kids love my parents' dogs, cats and in general, their house. There are more rooms for exploring and much more going on with my siblings coming and going, friends visiting and outings with Mommy and Grammie. They rode the Merry Go Round, walked on the beach, played on lots of playgrounds, went out to lunch and played with their 3 cousins and their aunts and uncles.

They didn't really "get" opening presents, but they did like playing with their new toys and especially all the boxes and tissue paper. It would be relaly quiet, so naturally, I'd go check on them and they'd all be sitting in boxes waving tissue paper around watching it move and crinkle. The wonderment of it all!

The flights were rough. On the way to CA, my mom accompanied us, since we went out a week early and Jack still had to work. We bought a total of 4 seats for me, my Mom and 2 babies and we took on their huge carseats for the flight, thinking that since they were used to them, maybe they'd sit in them and fall asleep. No such luck. One, two or all three were screaming the whole flight. In fact, one fellow passenger "helped" by asking the flight attendant to ask me if it was his ears and what could be done about it. Pretty sure he was really upset about not being able to move and about missing a nap...not his ears. On the way home, we did use some Benadryl and it worked on Liam but not on the girls. I had them in my row with no carseats. It was easier to not have the carseats because the girls were able to fall asleep on my legs and on their seat, after they screamed for about 20 minutes. Again, I had more "help" from other passengers. So, if you are reading this and were on a flight between Denver and Orange County and were ANYWHERE near our seats, I apologize, but there was nothing I could do. It doesn't help me when you stand up in your seat, turn around and stare at me. I'm not hitting them. It doesn't help when you tell me to turn on Nickelodeon on the TV. They don't watch TV and it wouldn't stop their screams. If, however, you have a way for me to get to the airport right when the flight takes off so that they can have their naps at home, then I'm all ears. A private plane would work for us.

We've also been busy playing in the snow and learning abou tthe wetness and the coldness. They love being outside and so far, haven't minded their gloves being on. It doesn't take much for them to figure out that they need gloves in the snow.

We took a walk in the snow around our street the other day. We live on a cul-de-sac so the kids were able to basically walk anywhere without me worrying about a car coming. Lily actually climbed over snow banks to get to our neighbor's Christmas decorations. She would also put her face fully in the snow and eat it. Liam liked picking it off his gloves and eating it and Ellie would have nothing to do with eating snow.

In other news, our fish, Chester, died. Yes, it is sad. We left with our very capable friends while we went to California. Apparently, he died on Christmas Eve day. Oh well. There was always something kind of wierd about him. May he rest in peace. We will get a new fish, to be named Chester2, but we're waiting until March. The kids and I will be in California for a month coming up and I don't want to have to worry about finding another babysitter for our fish.

A Happy 2008 to everyone!!!!!

Christie

This photo was taken last year, just before Christmas. I can't believe how they have changed. Ellie (on the right) looks like the "heavy" in the mob. :)

Today it is snowing and we are all stir crazy. The kids are recovering from colds, teething and are very demanding in wanting to be close AT ALL TIMES to me. Right now, I'm hiding in the kitchen and they are contained in the playroom.

Here's a cookbook recommendation for all of you with young kids: "Superfoods for Babies and Children," by Annabel Karmel. It has great recipes for starting at 6 months and going up to 3+ years. She has a bunch of info in the front on what kids need to grow and how each nutrient helps. Each of her recipes focuses on one ingredient and gives some nutritional information on the side as to how the meal will benefit your child. She also makes food interesting and fun for older kids.

My kids love her chicken balls and I like it because I'm able to sneak some veggies in them. Here's the recipe:

Finger-Picking Chicken Balls

1 TBS light olive oil
1 med. onion, finely chopped
1/2 c grated carrot
1 lg. Granny Smith apple, peeled and grated
2 6-oz boneless skinless chicken breasts (uncooked), cut into chunks
1 TBS chopped fresh parsley
1 tsp chopped fresh thyme or 1/2 dried (optional)
1/2 c fresh white break crumbs
1 chicken bouillon cube, crumbled
salt and freshly ground pepper
all-purpose flour for coating chicken balls
vegetable oil for frying

1. Heat the olive oil in a pan and saute 1/2 the onion and the grated carrot for 3 minutes,
stirring occasionally
2. Using your hands, squeeze out a little excess liquid from the grated apple.
3. Mix together the grated apple, chicken and sauteed onion and carrot along with the raw
chopped onion, parsley, thyme, bread crumbs and stock cube and chop for a few seconds in a
food processor.
4. Season with a little salt and pepper.
5. With your hands, form the mixture into about 20 balls, roll them in flour and fry in a little oil
until lightly golden and cooked through, about 4-5 minutes.

To get a little "extra" calories in them, I add some sour cream on top and they go for it! Jack even likes them and had some for dinner last night. Can't go wrong with a dinner for everyone! I also end up with more than 20 so I freeze half the batch and can pull them out as I need to.

Update

I think that both Lily and Liam will be proficient walkers by Christmas. Liam is doing great! I watched them all walking around the play room this morning and had a vision of the trouble that is about to ensue. Ellie has also figured out how to move obejcts near other objects in order to climb higher. Uh oh!

Little People with Personalities

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We stayed at home and had some great friends over. John and Stephanie, from church, came as well as our nanny extraodinaire, Ginny, and her boyfriend, Jeff. We had lots to eat and drink and even squeezed in a game before calling it a night.

The babies ate it all...turkey, stuffing, garlic mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and bread. They had to go to bed before dessert was brought out, but the next day, they had some pie and LOVED it! Who doesn't like pumpkin pie, expecially when it is made from a real pumpkin and not Libby's from a can?

Ellie, Lily and Liam are growing in leaps and bounds. I recently looked up online where to get toddler leashes. I know...I always looked down on people who "tied up" their children that way. Well, I'm all about contianing them, especially when we are around a lot of people. Ellie is very much a walker and is working on running. Lily will be walking most of the time by Christmas and Liam will follow soon after. If I take them all out somwhere and they want to walk, not sit in their stroller ( I can't blame them for that!), then I'm not having all 3 toddlers running in different directions? Who to chase after first?

They love kissing each other as well as fighting over toys. I don't buy in 3's anymore, because whether I have one spoon or 30 spoons that are exactly the same, the desirable spoon is always in the hands of another. As you can imagine, that gets old really quickly.

Their personalities are becoming more and more apparent. Ellie is sweet as pie, but will throw a glorious tantrum if things don't go her way. Case in point...I was dressing them for church yesterday. Trying to get out the door. I put on her shoes that matched her dress. She saw her other, worn and ragged sneakers on the table and pointed and yelled. I told her that those shoes are for outside, not church. Well, I guess she isn't able to reason and think logically yet :) and she threw a fit. Yes, she laid on her stomach on the floor and cried and cried and ecen got in a kick or two. Shoe selection, if appropriate for the season, isn't a battle that is worth it for me, so she won that one. She also gives the sweetest hugs and kisses.

Lily is definitely boss-girl of the household. She takes and takes and will yell and scream if an obejct is taken from her. It doesn't have to be an object in her hand. If it is within a 5 foot radius of her, she considers it hers. She is also sweet and knows what "lovie object" belongs to whom. Today, I was looking for Ellie's doggie for naptime and came downstairs to look. Lily crawled into the toybin repeating "da da da." Lo and behold, Lily popped her head out of the toybin with Doggie in her hands. She's a love.

Liam, Mr. Handsome, is the mellowest of the crew. He definitely has his limits, but he has already learned that what a girl wants, a girl gets. For the most part, he allows his sisters to take something from him and he then goes and looks for something else to play with. He rarely gets to play with an obejct for too long, with his two sisters milling around. He is trying to walk, presumably to keep up with his sisters. He loves to be held for a while after he wakes up from a nap...I love it!!!! The others usually just want down to play.

We are headed out to California for Christmas. I'm so excited to take the kids on a walk by the beach in the early morning hours when it is still cold. My mom and I dress them up warmly, drive to the beach, get ourselves a nice hot cup of coffee and stroll around the island in the bay. There are always lots of animals...birds, dogs, cats, seals as well as lots of Christmas decorations up for the kids to look at. It will not be a white Christmas, but it is the next best thing.