The Great Binky Give Up - Phase Three

Today we packed up half the house and moved this circus to Golden Gardens Park, which is as beachy as Seattle gets. Little Sir was torn, he was excited to go to the beach (sand and water are his two favorite forms of matter) but he knew why we were going, and he wasn't very excited about that.
I knew that we had to get the Mimi business out of the way first thing so we could enjoy the rest of the day. Little Sir was not as ready to get down to business.



This was his reaction very soon after arrival when I told him it was time. He recovered quickly, though.



He "held his Mimi in his mouth" for a few moments while holding onto the little boat that would carry it away to the new baby who lived far away.



He placed the Mimi in the boat along with some special pretty rocks we picked out on our way down to the water as a present for the baby. (Rocks are his third favorite form of matter, and more readily available than sand and water, which is a major bonus.)



He held the boat for a few moments to say goodbye,



Then he place the boat on the ground near the water and told me that the water would come to take it away. (Yes, my child understands tides, he is brilliant.)



He turned



and walked away.



His understanding of tides is still limited and it was clear that the tide was going out, so I offered to walk it out into the water for him.



He agreed and stood on the beach to watch me as I walked it out about 20 feet. (I did NOT want it to come back!)




Away it sailed.



If you look close (or click through to photobucket and look at the full size photo) you can see an orange speck floating out to sea.



When I came back I didn't ask him how he felt, it was heartbrakingly clear. I just snapped a series of photos as he watched the boat sail away.




We quietly ate lunch and after a while I told him I was very proud of him. He said "Yeah, I'm a big boy, but I'm still sad." And then I shoved a hand full of sand down my throat to make myself feel better.
The seagulls helped lighten the mood. I started throwing the remains of Little Sir's sandwich up in the air and they would catch them in mid air while putting on the Seagull version of an ultimate fighting match. It was very impressive, especially for the boy.



Little Sir decided to get in on the action and spent some quality time chasing seagulls.



He was much happier when he returned.



Then we built a sand castle together.



He dutifully destroyed it.



Later I took him for an ice cream cone and for awhile all was right with the world.

He fell asleep in the car without the assistance of a Mimi but was rudely awoken by a hungry little brother who screamed half of the way home from Golden Gardens. There were some tantrums and tears over the Mimi and after some time I decided to skip the nap.

Tonight I put tomorrow's Mimi on his pillow for him to use when he went to sleep. However, I told him that he could only use it while he was actually in bed. He could also choose to come sit with me in the big red rocking chair and I would rock him and sing him songs, but the Mimi could not come. He held the Mimi in his mouth for just a few seconds, then threw it back on the bed and joined me on the rocking chair. He fell asleep not long after as I rocked him and sang to him, no fuss, no tears, and no Mimi! I am so proud of him and I think we are both going to be OK.

The Great Binky Give Up - Phase Two

Phase Two was much easier on the little dude. While he was at pre-school today the Binky Fairy paid a visit to our home to take away one beloved Mimi and leave a very special present.



Little Sir was a little sad when I came to pick him up from preschool and we talked about how the Binky fairy had been to our house, but all of that sadness disappeared when he walked into the family room.



Along with the new "VERY BIG!!!" digger was a note from the Binky Fairy with her picture on it (it's a photograph of a toy I got off Google images.)



And a photograph of the new digger with the Mimi it was trade for.



I tied yesterday's balloon to the digger to help tie the two events together. It helped, he made a comment about the balloon and the Mimi that went away in the sky on the balloons.



This was his initial reaction (dampened slightly by the fact that he had just spilled water down the front of him - and no I did not intend that pun, that's just how it came out.)




He happily spent the rest of the evening playing with is new digger, never asking once about his Mimi.



The Binky Fairy (who must only be a distant relative of the Tooth Fairy) also left him some of his favorite candy, Smarties.

The only trouble we had revolved around a parental mistake. I made something he had never had for dinner tonight and we struggled over dinner for far too long. This left the poor little guy too tired for our scheduled "practice" night of going to bed without his Mimi. We had talked about it several times over the last two days and he had agreed to it, but when the time came, he was exhausted and bedtime was a series of tantrums and crying until our "practice" was over and he got to have his Mimi while he was actually in bed.

I will be more careful the rest of the week to make things he likes for dinner and to get him to bed early enough to (hopefully) prevent a repeat of tonight.

Wish us luck!

(oh, and less anyone think I've gone off the deep end spending a ton of money to wean my little dude of his Mimi, the balloons were from the dollar store and the digger was a $3.00 find at Goodwill. No need to spend a ton of money where a small amount will do. I do have something a little more expensive planned for the last day, but the whole affair will be under $30.00)

The Great Binky Give Up - Phase One

Little Sir has been a Binky (he calls it his Mimi) baby from day ONE! One of his first words was Mimi (we didn't know what it meant for several frustrating days.) He has been known to proclaim his very sincere love for his Mimi. Once I asked him who he loved more Mama or Mimi. He actually had to stop and consider it for a moment. He did say Mama with a little pang in his voice. Then I said, "But you love your Mimi too, don't you?" He then smiled and happily told me "Yes!"

We have tried getting rid of the Mimi before, but I just didn't have it in me to follow through. Once he cried for 4 hours straight. Once he was just so sad he couldn't sleep and told me his heart hurt a little bit. How is a Mama supposed to stand up to that?

Well, with his third birthday approaching, and his continual (and disgusting) habit of rubbing his Mimi on various things, including me, him, the pillow, blankets, furniture, dogs, floors, ect. I have finally decided that this is the week.

Last week we talked about it every day. We talked about how he would like to send away his Mimies and we came up with a 5 day plan. Today was PHASE ONE!

The Special Balloon Send-off

Little Sir got to go to the store and pick out 5 balloons (it actually takes 4 to carry a binky away.) He got to keep one of them and the other four were to send the mimi that he chose to nap with today off to the new baby who needed it.



I helped him write a note to the new baby,



and he drew a picture for the baby.




Then we attached the Mimi and the note to the balloons and took the to a park near our house. He "held Mimi in his mouth" one last time.



He was concerned, but still willing to smile for a picture.



He took some time to contemplate what was about to happen.



Then he let go.



He watched the balloons float away for a bit (doesn't this face just make you want to die? I nearly did.)



When I asked him how he felt he didn't answer, he just looked at me like this. (And then a little part of me actually did die. Hurry, someone please tell me I'm not a horrible person and heartless mother.)




Then we quietly watched the ducks together for a while and before long. . .




my sweet silly boy was back to his wonderful self.



Wish us luck this week. Phase two starts tomorrow.

Yes, I think I remember this. . .

Once upon a time I really loved to cook. . . and I vaguely remember being fairly good at it.

I used to be inspired to cook fresh tasty things regularly.  Nowadays it takes a minor miracle to create enough energy to inspire me to try to wrangle the two Littles, during "witching hour", and cook.

Thursday my friend Sonya and I were at the Lake City Farmer's Market.  (Oh, how I love summer in the Northwest!)  One of the vendors there, Patty Pan Grill, makes the most incredible veggie quesadillas which have no "no no for Duchess" veggies in them and the grill dude will happily make it w/ vegan cheese for me!!!  I LOVE THEM!

It occurred to me that I needed to eat these more often than my farmers' market budget allowed.  So, I was gonna hafta cook.

Friday afternoon I went to my fridge and pulled out every veggie in there.

Patty Pan's veggie mixture (as far as I can tell) is : some sort of wilted green leaf, carrots, parsnip or maybe rutabaga, onions, garlic, cauliflower, beets

My mixture was a little different:
My wilted green leaf was hearts of romain, carrots, cauliflower, orange pepper, onion, sunflower sprouts (So Good, try them) garlic, tomato.


I think you could probably put any fresh veggie in and have it be good, although, I did purposefully go light on the peppers.  I didn't want them to dominate the dish.
The key is, you need A LOT of veggies.



That's my largest bowl in my generic nesting bowl set.  Probably 8 cups.

And you need them sliced/ chopped very thin.


This little device was very handy in preparing this dish.  I picked it up at a garage sale a couple weekends ago.  I'm not much of one for kitchen gadgets.  I figure if you can't do it w/ a nice knife, a wooden spoon, or a spatula, then it shouldn't be done.  This gadget, however, I will make an exception for.  It proved itself highly useful.  I could not have sliced those veggies that thin with a knife.  I also used it to grate my cheese and it worked like a charm.

Next, I fired up my grill.



Here are the veggies fresh on the grill, they take up my entire two burner griddle. I also noticed the dude from Patty Pan's sprinkle some red spice on at this point. I don't know what it is, but I guessed from the color and the very slight taste, that it is probably cayenne pepper. I added some of that, some paprika, a little cilantro and salt.



Let them cook for 5-6 min, then throw a tortilla on the grill, add cheese, add your veggies and cook just long enough to toast the outside of you tortilla.



Then, cut it in triangles and eat and enjoy. The Duke and I sure did. All those veggies made 4 quesedillas. I must say, though, one fills you up very well.

I can't wait to make this with fresh veggies from the market!

When I should be doing boring things, like laundry. . .

I can often be found doing something else. . . ANYTHING else.

Recently it was entering two logo design contests. Why did I think I should enter any logo design contest? No other reason than I have laundry that I don't want to do.






Click on the logos to visit the respective sites. I love them both!

The Mania Continues

The Duke and I were the grateful recipients of a well used table and chairs 9 years ago when we were married. The table and chairs are solid wood, but frankly, their function was much higher than their form. They were probably made in the 70's and looked like it. "A New Kitchen Table and Chairs" had been on our proverbial "list" for about 4 years. I finally came to the conclusion that this particular item was not going to make it to the top of the list for a very long time yet.

Enter my manic creative/ decorating/ nesting phase. . . a couple of weeks and good amount of paint, glaze, and polyurethane later. . .



And we have a "new" table and chairs.



They aren't perfect, this was my first crack at painting a piece of furniture, and I made a few mistakes.



But over all, I am very happy with them!




I love how they look in my kitchen! So much so I even deep cleaned (half) of my kitchen.

Hey, I can't do it all. We are out of milk, diapers, eggs, bread. . . come to think of it I haven't been to Costco in about a month. . . I'm off.

Getting Inspired and Sharing @

Reinvented
The Shabby Nest

Soxs the Dog

The Duke gave me this adorable book for my birthday a couple of months ago.  I showed you the bear I made for Little Lion and of course, Little Sir had to have a cute toy too!

Meet Soxs the Dog.  He is actually made from a pair of my unwanted socks as well as one of the Duke's partner-less socks. 


His patch, nose, and vest are made of felt.  He doesn't have eyes, as of yet, because I'm not sure what I want to do yet.  Any suggestions? 

Eyeless or not, Little Sir loves his new puppy (and honestly, so do I!)