It's a tradition. And, apparently, one Biscuit looks forward to doing!
It was Oscar's first year "decorating." In hindsight we should have saved his first year for next year.
Whereas Biscuit didn't figure out for years that the candy was edible, Oscar was a bit quicker to cotton on to that idea. He only seemed to like the Skittles but licked several gumdrops, peppermints and a bottle cap. He's quick this one. Then he was up on the table and in pursuit of more.
He did manage to help squeeze some frosting and stick on some candies so it wasn't a total waste. And I got to finish his masterpiece for him. Which was fun.
Meanwhile Biscuit has become quite independent at house decorating.
I'll have to post photos of the finished masterpieces another day. This year they're living on the mantle, high above inquisitive fingers.
Here's to another year of decorating. And to finally, finally remembering to use the gingerbread house mold I've owned for years but always unpacked too late in the season.
I think it started because he didn't like the music. But he's such a little copy cat you can get him to do anything. Even as you drive to Home Depot to pick out a ceiling light for the living room. The living room is now much brighter. And the new light fixture casts odd shadows but looks really cool.
In other Oscar news he is suddenly interested in books especially interactive books like Touch and Feel Farm and Pat the Bunny. He likes to show off that he knows his animal sounds. To type them out they'd all look like baaah baaah but there are definitely distinctive sounds for sheep (duh!), cow, duck and chicken. Dog sounds like oof, oof. His daycare provider says he can meow but I'll have to hear it to believe it. Kid knows his animal sounds but actual, useful words not so much. We've got "hot" down cold (the kitchen is very, very hot. so is my morning coffee.). And "baba" (bottle) is a sure thing. Mama and Dada are there too but nothing for big sister Biscuit. Unless you count the occasional kiss, the periodic hair pull and, today, the game of rolling the wooden car that turned into throwing the wooden car at big sister's head. Kid has an arm. Just as I was typing this he woke up crying so I snuggled him with a little bit of milk in his baba and he drifted right back to sleep in my arms. That almost never happens--he's so cuddly when he's sleepy.
My camera broke. It's been semi-broken for a while and a month ago it just gave up. I loved that camera (a Canon G10). Now I'm reduced to my iPhone. I love my iPhone but I still miss my "real" camera. Still, for portability, the iPhone wins and some moments are captured that would have been missed.
Kids walking, holding hands.
Oscar offering his beloved baba to a cat we met
Bucket carrying (to prepare for apple picking at Apple Hill on Monday)
The actual apple picker
Auto mechanics
Another view
Ok, so maybe the iPhone isn't so bad (or maybe the kids are just too dang cute?) Looking through these, it seems I need to do better about taking photos of the big kid.
Oscar got his first haircut today. Mr. H was happy. I was a little bit sad. I already miss the curly mullet.
He sat in my lap and was a surprisingly good boy for the trim even though he didn't like the special cookies I got him as a distraction treat.
Here he is just before the trim waiting for Great Clips to open (curly mullet intact)
And here's a not-so-great after shot of the side/back.
Quick shout out to Great Clips (at Marconi and Fulton). Cheap and convenient are what I look for in a haircut and they were both those things (especially since we were there when they opened so no line and plenty of attention). She did a good job considering the wiggling and they went a above and beyond with a cute little "first haircut" card to which they stapled a few curls. Adorable.
Lately Oscar has been pulling caps off pens, grabbing pencils and generally scribbling on anything he can find. It occurred to me he might be ready to paint. And he was!
I have an idea in my head for a family art project (one canvas per family member) and Oscar was up first with his primed board leaned against a bale of straw and his clothes stripped down to the diaper.
Biscuit was very impressed he knew how to make green. ;) I gave him yellow paint and blue paint and it was like a miracle!
I was more impressed at how he managed to dip the brush end of the brush into the paint on the palatte and get it on the board without 1. eating it 2. grabbing the wrong end of the brush or 3. falling over. Kid still doesn't have much balance.
Look, I even took a video (which is admittedly very hard while also holding the paint palatte and supervising the kid).
Now I just need to figure out the rest of this paint project.
Biscuit can officially handle the Farmers' Market shopping. Hand her a list and a $20 and she's good.
Even if it is hard to get a leafy cabbage in a bag.
She's polite with the cashiers and other shoppers (and sometimes gets some screamin' deals for being small and cute!)
Gotta love that outfit. It's her favorite high heels (purchased with her allowance--they aren't my style). Her favorite piece of clothing, her "shwacket" as in shirt/jacket. It's a knit top with a built in sweater of sorts. Plus the pink poncho to set it off. High fashion indeed.
Meanwhile Oscar is finally, finally back to himself after a full week of miserable flu.
Back is his natural habitat. I have no idea what we're going to do with him come winter.
So, Oscar has the flu. But does this baby look sick?
This was an hour after he spiked a 103 degree fever and barfed all over the table (and me) at a restaurant. Tylenol. It's a wonder drug I tell ya. Very effective on baby fevers.
Speaking of obvious tips, here are some kitchen tips that have seemed AMAZING and SO ORIGINAL to me and yet are almost certainly not original at all.
1. when you have a bit of leftover, cooled, stale water in your tea kettle use it to water your houseplants.
2. keep a piece of fresh ginger in your freezer. When the recipe calls for fresh ginger, grate some off the frozen hunk. Don't worry about the skin. It's ok.
3. frost brownies with peanut butter straight from the jar.
I've been meaning to write an Oscar update for months. No time like the present to jot down random thoughts.
At his 15 month appointment he weighed in at 25 pounds (we knew he was finally gaining some serious weight). He's going on 12 teeth but it's hard to verify 'cause he bites. Hard. But I think all four molars have finally broken through.
He can be a picky eater. I don't think he'd eat a cooked carrot if his life depended on it but he loves to dip raw carrots in hummus and lick off the hummus. His favorite (healthy) food is probably cooked cauliflower. Strange, no? He also loves grapes and pretty much every other fruit. Not real big on bread/carbs and he no longer likes yogurt. Or meat. Basically he's a paleo-vegan eater (plus milk). He likes to feed himself but when he's done, watch out. He chucks it and he's got an arm. Our floors will never be clean again. He doesn't like sippy cups much but loves, loves, loves his bottles of milk and can serve himself water (messily) from a regular cup.
He's still not much for walking, he's got several strange non-walking modes of transport including walking on his knees, scooting on one knee, crawling, bear walking etc and if you hold even one hand he'll walk all over. He loves to push his shopping cart. Oh look, a very typical video, right down to the lack of pants or shoes.
He talks! Sort of! BaBa is his favorite word (bottle). Plus he's got DaDa, MaMa, Bah (ball), UhOh and Wow. Also Dat (that) and another Bah that I think is bird (or hey, look, something above my head that is just as likely to be an overhead light as a plane or bird).
He kisses perfect little puckered up smacks on the lips and he gives the best loves where he lays his head on your shoulder and wraps his arms around you and just melts into you. On the other hand he also slaps, hits and bites. Fickle child.
His favorite activity is definitely getting into things he shouldn't and taking them out of the place they belong. Got a shelf you need emptied? Call me. As for favorite activities of all time, close on the heels of wreaking havoc is playing in his sandbox, putting lids on containers, playing with his red ball, peek-a-boo and swinging.
I must admit, we love him, but this is kind of an obnoxious age. Lucky he's cute :)
Are you in a late summer cooking rut? May I offer some recommendations based on my cooking for the past week? This is basically a list of links to Smitten Kitchen. What can I say? She's good!
Corn Tomato Pie--after a summer obsession with this last year I managed to forget about it till last week. It sounds gross, I know, but it is so. good.
Bacon Corn Hash--This doesn't sound great either but was delicious. I never harvested the potato crop (I burned out on the garden about the time the potatos died back. In July?) Anyway, Oscar and I weeded and harvested the other day and found a few potatoes the bugs had missed. So hash was made.
The hash was our dinner entree so I wanted to top it with a fried egg as suggested by Deb. But we were out of eggs. So I sent Biscuit out to the chicken coop with fingers crossed.
"No eggs," she told me upon returning empty handed.
"Bummer!" I said.
The hash was delish without fried eggs but when I mentioned the concept to Mr. H he was bummed about the lack of eggs. At some point, many hours later Biscuit piped up, "well, actually there were three eggs. But I hid them."
"Hid them?" I asked. "Where?"
"Well, I didn't hide them, I threw them at the fence. I really didn't want to eat fried eggs on my dinner."
My gosh I'm still laughing days later. She threw them. At the fence. To avoid eating them. I'm sure the chickens saw that and hate her a little bit right now.
Over a month ago I dutifully documented Oscar's first steps. And then he resumed life as an avid crawler. A prarie dog of sorts--stand up to see stuff or reach things he shouldn't--then back to hands and knees to go anywhere.
Until yesterday at a friend's house when he decided to test out walking just a teensy bit. And I took several spectacularly bad videos of the four grown ups and three big kids cheering him on.
