Clean Teeth and Hats! (oh my!)

So we are continuing to work on more of "big boy" bedtime routine. We are brushing teeth at the sink (at least for the nigh time brush at least). It's made it a little more awkward to brush his teeth like these, but he's learning and doesn't get distracted AT ALL!

Daddy helping Christopher brush

And while doing this, we have to make sure he keeps both feet on his stool. He likes to do some sort of flamingo dance and swing one leg around, not very safe.

Sometimes he just thinks the whole process is just too much fun!

The next day, after his morning nap, Christopher saw one of his hats and decided he needed to wear it right then. "Mama, hat!" "Mama, head". Okay baby...

Sorry some of the photos are grainy, he is 20 months old and hard to get to slow down for photos. If he's across the room and I say "Christopher, smile for the camera, say cheese", he stops what he's doing, comes running up to the camera, looks right into the lens and says "Cheeese" and in the next split second turns around and is back to what he's doing, all this in about 3 seconds, leaves me with lots of these:

But then I occasionally get the money shot, sort of:

Another "what mama?" shot

His choo-choos

His ducks, all lined up

Putting the troops in line

Running around chasing Cody with Cookie Monster in tow

It's a run-by petting! (that's Cody)

On to his books and other toys

Digging deep

And it's a baby toy! (I really have to get the rest of those put away.)

Silly boy, what are you doing?

Oh, time for a rest and a nap on Spartan's bed huh?

My child, really, there is never a dull moment!

Boo Boos and Body Parts

Christopher got a boo boo the other day. He was running at the park while at daycare and decided to use his face to stop a fall. I thought the learning to walk phase was tough, no, at least then he's going at like .0000000000000001 mile per hour and can't hurt himself very badly. Now he's trying to run, he's getting better at this but sometimes his body goes faster than his feet.

So the other night I came home to my son, looking like Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer.

Yeah, he's in pain. Horrible pain. See? Actually he wasn't, he even lets me put neosporin on it. I think this hurt mommy more (as do most injuries he gets). I'm trying to take a photo of his boo boo and he's just hamming it up for the camera.

Cheese!

(Oh, and this is while his other eye tooth is cutting through)

Nice milk drool kiddo!

So then we started playing.

This is what he does when I ask him to "Close your eyes!"

"Where's your head?"

"Where are your ears?"

"Where are your teeth?"

Ahhh, multi-tasking.

"Where's your nose?"

Uh, okay, that's far enough with that finger.

Laughing at daddy!

Where were we?

"Where are your eyes?"

Good job little man!

With your little red nose.

It's healing up really well so hopefully it will be gone soon. The joys of parenthood!!! :)

Feta and Oranges

Christopher and food. Some days he is a great eater, some days, not so much. However, I try not to overfeed him so if he's not hungry, he's not hungry. If he wants more, he can have more (after he eats everything I gave him that is). He will say no to something that he just ate up the day before, then completely chow down on something one day that he refused the day before. So sometimes I know it's not that he doesn't like it, he's just being picky.

So the other night, I had left over feta and I wanted to see if he'd eat it. I had my doubts. Feta is strong. I gave him a larger piece, it went in, it came out. No luck. So I took a piece and ate it, "mmmm, that's good!!! Yummy!!!" gave him another small pieces that could just go in, no bites. He gave me a face and I quickly said "eat, eat, mmmm, that's yummy right?" Quickly it was gone, his face turned to surprise, then he said and signed "moooree?" Success!!! Yeah!!! My kid officially is a lover of Dolmades AND feta.

The feta experiment:

Wow, he likes it!

So I added it to his dinner. I got him this cute new plate that is more like a big boy plate but still suctions. That night he had a veggie patty, orange pieces and some feta.

But this is what happens when I put the orange pieces in with the rest of the plate

Christopher is not an Equal Opportunity Eater, no EOE here!

And gone!

"mama more?"

He ended up finished the rest, but perhaps next time the orange waits :)

Girlfriends and Grandfather Clocks

We spent Father's day over at my parents. Grandpa and Dad spent the day up in the Santa Cruz mountains visiting wineries and just having a good ol' time. Meanwhile, Grandma and Mommy had toddler duty. And I wouldn't really consider it "duty", Christopher is so much fun, even when he skips his morning nap... urgh.

So after putting him down (twice!) and hearing through the monitor a loud (and not sleepy at all, after falling asleep in my arms) "Momma? Momma!" (twice!) I looked at Grandma and said, "let's just get out of here and move on with our day". Off we went to the mall.

One of the best stops was when we went into Gymboree. They have these three little chairs in front of a small tv. I've never used them with Christopher since he's been too small but I thought we'd try to see if he'd sit while we shopped. Success!!! He sat and was enjoying it. Then he started organizing their chairs so they lined up. Yes, my almost 2 year old organizes, he is so his mother's child.

While he was busy cleaning up for the store employees, a little girl came to watch tv. Her dad said she was 17 or 18 months old so very close in age. She was dragging a pink backpack from the store with her. Christopher tried to have a little "conversation" with her and she just smiled with amusement. It was then, that my little Casanova pulled his move. He got out of the orange chair he was sitting in, positioned it just so, then looked at his new friend and patted the seat of the chair in a "here, sit here, it's all ready for you". Her dad and I lost it. She decided instead to leave. He kept looking down the aisle calling out and looking around. I thought, well that was it. No, she came back a few moments later carrying a second pink backpack, this one she placed at Christopher's feet. So cute. She then put hers on the floor and decided to lay down for nap time. I guess she hadn't taken her morning nap either. However, Christopher isn't one just to lay down and he proceeded to chat up her dad (getting the details on his new girlfriend no doubt). It was pretty cute. I think I have to thank daycare for his great social (and dating?) skills. It's too bad I didn't get anything on camera, but I think David and I are in for it when he's older. He'll be that 4 year old with 3 girlfriends, I just know it!

So back at home later (after a great afternoon nap) Christopher got some Grandpa time while Daddy bbq'd.

Posing with the Grandfather Clock

Helping Grandpa wind it

So curious

Dolmades! Oopa!

I love to cook. And I love to try to cook things I've only ever eatten out at a restaurant or elsewhere. This past weekend I decided to try my hand at Dolmades (Stuffed Grape Leaves).

I have been wanting to try them for a while but have been looking for a good recipe. This wasn't something where I just wanted to use Martha Stewart's recipe, I wanted a "grandma's" recipe. And I found one, or a YaiYai as the recipe said.

So I ground the meat, onion, one egg, lemon juice, mint, dill and parsley and added in rice.

It smelled MUCH better than it looked.

Then I boiled the grape leaves for a while to take out the vinegar taste from the jar.

Then as Christopher watched from his highchair eating dinner, I assembled.

The naked grape leaf.

With filling:

Roll the top down (with steam in)

Fold the sides in:

And roll up and I have a dolmades!

Many!

Then line in a pan with some chicken broth. I put plates on them to stop them from floating and unwrapping.

And... that's it for photos. They cook for two hours and it was late. They went in the fridge and I made a sauce for them the next day at Grandma and Grandpa's for Father's Day. They were a hit. I have a few things I'd change next time, but I'm told they were good.