crazy for coco puffs

does anyone else out there have a toddler who is CRAZY over a tv show? ben has crept into the crazy category over elmo. we used to watch it in the mornings before price is right because it was on. then, since he liked it so much, we started taping them so that we could access them at anytime. this is very handy. sometimes i'll put on an elmo episode when i'm trying to make lunch or dinner. somtimes, when i just need to send a couple emails. and now i'm in trouble. this kid knows that he can watch elmo at anytime. when the piano comes out and elmo starts to sing the ending song, ben sometimes begins to cry. if he's not crying, he's at least shouting, "dada! dada!" (which triples as a word for elmo, daddy, and santa - three very important people) in hopes that i'll play another one for him. now, don't get me wrong, i say "no" to watching elmo MANY, many times a day which leads to much crying and screaming if it's between 5 - 7pm (the tiredest hours of the day). i cannot handle this craziness over elmo anymore! we're going to have to make it into a set time of day and that's the only time he gets to watch...will that calm the craziness? i don't know. it's all trial and error, i guess.

0 degrees

it's always funny to me that when the sun comes out around here, you never know what people are going to wear. it's still cold...in fact, yesterday was one of the colder days we've had in awhile. my mom and i took ben in the stroller and went for a walk. having no gloves, my hands were crazy red when i finally got inside. but because there was sun, we saw people in capris and shorts walking outside! it's COLD out! what are you thinking? i don't know - is this a BC thing or are people this oblivious to "sun doesn't equal warmth" everywhere?

ben's first haircut

this past monday was a rainy day. what to do on a rainy day? find a kid's hairdresser. i called and we were in getting ben's first hair cut 30 minutes later. i had just enough time to find the Elmo's World on "hair" and watch the 2 minute clip of the kid getting his haircut. i told ben that he was going to go get HIS haircut too. he just stared at me.

BEFORE:

getting to sit in this tractor was well worth the $14 haircut cost. he was pumped.

AFTER:

ben got a treat at the end - a lollipop. he was a big fan of his first lollipop. overall, a great experience. he seems to realize that something happened to his hair because when we went over to the shulbas the other day, we got up to the door and i told him, "grandma's going to like your haircut!" and when grandma opened the door, ben grabbed his hair and pulled it up for her. pretty funny. it took me a couple days to get used to seeing him looking like a "big boy" - it's amazing what difference a haircut makes!

ben's cranky mix

in response to rachel's comments about what else is on the ben's cranky mix playlist:

1. you are the best thing - ray lamontange

2. right as rain - adele

3. one of those days - joy williams

4. don't let your feet touch ground - ash koley

5. when the night feels my song - bedouin soundclash

6. you don't know me - ben folds and regina spektor

7. viva la vida - coldpaly

8. bad moon rising - creedance clearwater

9. be OK - ingrid michaelson

10. a million dollars - joel plaskett emergency

you are the best thing

a long time ago, i made a playlist called "ben's cranky mix" which I would play when I was annoyed with ben's crankiness. they were all upbeat songs that were intended to extend my patience. well, ben is a big music fan in general so he's always asking for "muh! muh!" while nodding his head. i guess i must have been choosing this playlist more often than not because lately, if i picked any other song, he'd get angry and shout, "muh! muh!" while nodding his head vigourously...as though this would get his point across. and i guess he did because i'd switch it to the cranky mix. the cranky mix starts out with ray lamontange's You Are the Best Thing. well, after this song is finished, ben stops whatever he's doing and points at the computer, nodding his head, saying, "muh! muh!". when i go back and start the song again, he's happy. now, i'm actually a fan of listening to the same song over and over so i don't really mind but it's kind of funny, right? the other day, we listened to this song 10 times in a row! (the things we do for our kids)

well, a good friend of mine was over with her two kids yesterday and ben started asking for music. i thought, "i don't really want to listen to ray over and over with other people here" so i turned on a kids cd (which ben has been known to enjoy) and ben went nuts, screaming, "muh! muh!". i walked away. this is what you do when they start tantruming, right? i don't know. but anyways, i walked into the living room and left ben yelling and flailing in the kitchen over the music and he comes running like a wild man into the living room after me and falls. but he doesn't just fall. he falls at full speed into the sharp corner of the banister and gashes his forehead open and scratches up his cheek. oh my goodness. all over ray lamontange. oh ben.

we got a band aid on his head though it might of have been one stitch worthy and he recovered from his tantrum. later in the day, we listened to ray as many times as he wanted. because ben, you ARE are the best thing. ;)

locking doors

ben's latest favourite activity is running into various rooms in the house, shouting, "bye!" and closing the door. he doesn't know how to open the door yet though i'm sure that's just around the corner but this means you need to be near by to open the door again for him when he knocks. the funniest one is when he closes himself in the pantry. a bedroom or something, i understand - there are things to do in those rooms. the pantry is dark and there is no room to move so he just sits on my tupperware box in the dark and waits for me to open the door.

when ben first started doing this, he ran into the bathroom one day and locked the door behind him. i was in a total panic as i listened to him flushing the toilet and just before i was about to throw my weight against the door and break it down...(haha) i figured out that you can unlock it from the outside with a butter knife. phew.

i'd have to say that i like this closing doors activity better then ben's other favourite activites: pushing a chair up to the counter and putting things in and out of the microwave or emptying my spice rack and climbing up and down on the kitchen chair to line up the spices on the window sill.

soup update

like i said the other day, to make soup is a goal for this year. why spend so much on canned soup with all it's preservatives when i could "whip it up" myself? i think my first try at soup was a little lofty. i had to laugh that rachel's comment was that i had told her that her making soup looked like too much work. this soup that i made was too much work. it had so many vegetables! first i had to buy all those vegetables. then i chopped them all (which wasn't THAT much work because i used my Quick Chef). but it was still time consuming. then i missed a few ingredients. i figured, "oh well, i'm sure it'll be fine." and this is ALWAYS my problem when cooking - i think that not using all the ingredients will turn out a fine final product. it rarely does. you'd think i'd have learned by now. i ate a couple bowls of my giant soup recipe and then tossed it. i know, i'm a bad person. it was just terrible soup. i could see myself eating any more of it!

so today while perusing the weight watchers recipes online, i found this soup: that's it?

Easy Corn Soup
Place 1/2 cup of frozen, thawed corn niblets in a medium saucepan. Add 1 cup of fat-free chicken broth, 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper, and 1/8 teaspoon of cumin; bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Puree in a blender and then top with chopped jalapeno, if desired.

that's it? corn, broth, and some spices. it seemed doable so i threw it all in a pot just now and ate it for lunch. and it wasn't bad. a little spicy - maybe i'd do less cumin when i do it again. but if it had been terrible, it would really have been no loss - it was one serving of soup - not a giant pot. single serving soup could begin my success in soup making.

snow morning

off to get the sled from the backyard.

so yesterday evening, it snowed huge flakes! we watched it decorate the trees from our windows. it didn't seem to snow any more overnight but stayed cold so that all the snow was icy this morning. ben has this terrible cough and a runny nose - it just didn't seem right to subject all the kids at the church nursery to his germs. plus tim and i had terrible sleeps so we are pretty tired this morning. we stayed home. but we did not stay inside.

ben was so cranky this morning but it was not yet nap time so we headed out into the sunny snow day and brought the sled. i have to say, i love having some hills just behind our house. not far to go. tim went down with ben first. then it was my turn. i said to tim before he pushed us off, "nothing can happen, right?" because sledding makes me a little nervous. he laughed. we went racing down the hill, hit a bump, and toppled over. being much larger than my 18 month old, i fell on him a little...oops. he was none too happy with a faceplant in the snow. after we stood him up and dusted him off, he seemed fine though my fleece pants were soaked through. yuck. we didn't go home though but mostly just walked around in the snow for the rest of our time outside.

this hat's buggin me!

watching the sledders

(i know the mitten string should go inside the coat but when you then pull the mittens off and they're hanging there by the strings, it drives ben crazy.)

laughing at them yelling

let's go, mom!

(check out my new sorel boots that i got for christmas! LOVE them!)

we were too slow for ben - he headed out on his own.

the count

you know...the count from sesame street was a vampire. who picked that guy to be on the show? weird thought.

the fighter

tim and i hadn't gone to a movie in FOREVER but over the holidays, ben stayed with grams while tim, his brother, and i went to see "the fighter" with mark wahlberg and christian bale. i'd seen marky mark in a couple interviews and this movie sounded so interesting. (and you know how much i love mark wahlberg) the fighter is based on the true story of mickey ward - read a great write up here. wahlberg had been trying for 4 years to get this movie made. he had the guys who the movie is based on (one of them a former drug addict) living in his house. he worked out like a boxer for all 4 of those years to ensure he stayed in shape for when it got made. it's such an interesting story and the movie's been nominated for 6 Golden Globes. both wahlberg and bale are fantastic in it - especially bale, whose performance is so well done, it's scary. if you're a rocky fan, then you'll LOVE this movie and if you just like well-acted movies based on true stories, you'll also love this movie. watch the trailer here.

18 months looks like this

i hear other parents talk about each little thing that their child has done that is so amazing and i think to myself, "do i do this?". i try to reserve a lot of ben stories for tim and ben's grandparents and not proclaim them to the world via my facebook statues because not everyone thinks my child is as awesome as i think he is. but sometimes, a mom just can't help herself so i'm limiting myself to this blog post.

ben is understanding sooo much more of what we say to him. last night, i was at a tupperware party and tim was with ben. he'd had a late nap so i'd warned tim that he might not be as tired at regular bedtime. at 7pm, tim asked ben if it was time to brush his teeth and ben said, "no". is it time for bed? "no". after a little while, tim asked again and ben answered no. at about 7:30pm, tim said ben was looking tired so he asked if it was time to brush teeth. "yeah", he replied. after they brushed teeth, tim asked ben if it was time to read a book and ben went and got him a book to read. tim said, "is it time to have soothers?" and ben pointed at the bed and went down without a peep. :)

a few days ago, i put ben in the car and said, "we're going to grams and pop's house!" when we got to the corner where we turn left to go to their house, i turned right because i needed to first drop some books off at the library. ben pointed left and started to cry! whaat? i thought maybe it was a fluke. another day, i turned left at that corner and was heading towards my in law's house but then turned off at another street on the way to costco. he pointed out the window in the direction of their house and said, "poppa!" and whimpered. as it turns out, we discovered that if you drive on or past the street to my in law's house from any direction, ben can point in the correct direction towards their house! is this not totally crazy? he didn't get that from me - i'm always so lost! haha.

i've taught ben a few "signs" so that he could let us know when he was done eating or wanted more of something. and then after a few months of those two signs, i taught him thank you (patting his mouth) and please. he never did learn the sign for please, just started saying "peas". now, he mostly skips over the sign for more and just says, "peas!" when he wants something. when you give him something, he pats his chin. every once in awhile after i change his diaper, he'll even say thank you by patting his chin. aww. but lately, ben's made up a few signs of his own. if he scratches the back of his neck while pointing at the fridge, he wants pickles. yes. this took me forever to figure out. the poor kid's neck was all red. he also strokes his cheek for "house". don't know why but he does it whenever you say house. and the latest one is, in the morning when i'm getting him his milk and breakfast, he points at his toes and then up to the counter over and over until i figured out he was asking for "toast"! haha.

so there are a few of my mom stories. we're loving this stage despite some new frustrations it has brought but this little boy sure is fun to have around. we're loving being ben's parents.

make soup

i posted my new years resolutions over at mytrustnetwork.ca and one of those resolutions was to make soup this year. yes, make soup. i think i've made soup maybe...once. lentil soup from the recipe on the back of the bag the lentils came in. it was pretty easy however, for some reason i never made soup again. i know there are so many preservatives in canned soup so one time i bought a canned, organic, no preservatives vegetable soup and it was terrible. i had to throw it out after taking as many bites as possible. yuck. turns out i like those preservatives...aka. salt.

but really, if i made my own soup, then i would know what i put in it, right? my mom makes a wicked turkey soup post-holidays which i love and my mother in law makes all kinds of great soups. i need to just start putting the work in. i found a great weight watchers recipe for vegetable soup that i plan to try tomorrow and i bought all the vegetables today. i'll let you know how it goes.

flashback february 1998

in february of 1998, i bought the first issue of "Teen People" magazine. i kept it on my bookshelf for years and then put it into a box in my parent's crawlspace. this past weekend, my mom pulled said box out of the crawlspace and asked if i wanted to keep anything in it. well...if i've kept this magazine for that long, i guess i should continue keeping it?

here are some highlights from a 1998 magazine -

>jennifer love hewitt is on the cover for being in Party of 5

> the GAP ads show women in large denim shirts

> the page where they find stars out in the real world has a picture of Jewel signing a poster and 98 degrees hanging out in new york.

> there's an ad for the SERIES PREMIERE of dawson's creek!

> there's a milk ad featuring J.T.T and another with hanson!

>there's a feature article on the spice girls

what a flashback.

clean up

the worst part about christmas decorations is when it's time to clean them up. we've been putting it off and now just looking at them makes me feel lazy. augh. i guess we should go get the boxes out and get going.

happy new year

"Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man."

- Benjamin Franklin