I cheese!

AM, who is almost twenty months old, has recently started to have a vocabulary explosion. Each day he's saying more and more. While he mostly identifies nouns, he has also begun to say mini sentences using verbs he sometimes creates.

He has a habit of saying "cheese" (though it sounds more like "cheeth") every time I take his picture. Yesterday he pointed to my camera and identified it as "I cheeth." As in, when I see that object, I say cheese.

This afternoon, after saying "bye" to his nanny, he proudly ran up to me and announced, "I bye! I bye!" Yes, AM, you said goodbye.

He then picked up his toothbrush, gave it a swish or two in his mouth, and said, "I teeth!"

My favorite moment was a few weekends ago. After returning from minyan one Sunday morning, D asked the ever-important question, "Who wants to go to Dunkin Donuts?" AM quickly raised his hand and yelled, "I do!" I don't know where he learned to raise his hand, and I don't know when he started saying "I do," but I know he loves food, and he figured out the way to tell us in no uncertain terms!

I love hearing his new words! Before long, I know he'll be speaking like a pro, and if I'm lucky he'll be a little chatterbox like YS. For now, though, these little gems are too delicious not to share!

YS's Messianic Prediction

On a daily basis, I am amused and amazed by the things that come out of YS's three and half year old mouth. Not only is it amazing to see how all of the best and worst features of D and I have come together to form his ever-developing personality, but it is truly incredible to watch the wheels in his head turn as he thinks and makes determinations about the world around him.

This morning on the way to school, we were listening to Uncle Moishy sing about Yerushalayim and the day we will all return there. With a great sense of urgency in his voice, YS asked me the following question:

"But Ima! When is Moshiach going to come?!"

I replied that I wasn't sure, but we must pray every day that he will come soon. His reply...

"Ok, but it may take a while, so we have to be patient. It may take a few weeks."

How do you reply to that?! My response: "I hope you're right."

Save the Children

As a Social Worker, I am a mandated reporter of child abuse and neglect. Therefore, you can only imagine the concern I felt when reading this brie label. Are the little farm girls being trafficked from nearby Canadian territories and forced to make brie with love? Is the cheese company in violation of child labor laws? Should I call ACS immediately and report them?

For now, instead I decided to wrap it in some pastry dough, brush it with jam and brown sugar, bake it to a nice melty consistency, and eat it with graham crackers.

Worth the Splurge

I like to think that I'm fairly responsible with money. I try to buy clothes for the kids from the clearance rack, I stock up on expensive grocery items when they're on sale, and I resist buying the entire stock of Baby & Child Restoration Hardware, even though I ooh and aah over the merchandise all the time.

There are, however, a few things that are definitely worth splurging on.

When YS was around 10 or 11 months old, it was time for him to get his first haircut. We took him to the local barbershop and got him a $10 cut. He screamed the whole time, I left covered in bits of hair, and we were both a bit traumatized. The barbers, while perfectly nice when D is in their chair, were not exactly prepared for smaller, more sensitive clientele....neither were the other customers, for that matter. The next time we tried to take him there, he started screaming before we even walked in the door.

Then we discovered Someplace Special! Suzanne, the owner, is like a baby whisperer when it comes to cutting kids' hair. She gets on the floor and follows them around on her knees while they play with trains - what could be better?! She also has an entire collection of tv shows and movies, so YS (and now AM, who has had 2 haircuts of his own) can watch "Blues Clues" while getting a trim. She is patient and kind and possesses the ability to be stealth and full of distractions when the kids get suspicious of her scissors. The last time we were there, she somehow talked YS - who is scared of loud noises and most anything unfamiliar - to let her use the buzzer on his whole head!

While I'm sure the kiddie boutiques in Manhattan are even more expensive, Someplace Special is not cheap. Shelling out $28 for a boy's haircut is painful, I'll admit it, but it is TOTALLY worth it. I'll splurge on my kids' happiness (and my sanity) any day.

Shabbos Shekalim

Since we're having honored guests for Shabbos (Bubbe and Zayde), I decided to step it up a bit when it came to my meal planning. Here's what we've got:

Friday Dinner:

Challah*
40-Garlic Chicken
Steamed Green Beans
Butternut Squash Kugel
Napoleon Cake*

Shabbos Lunch:
Challah*
40-Garlic Chicken
Brown Rice
Cauliflower
Spiced Chickpeas
Rice Krispie Treats

Right now my house is drowning in the smell of garlic. I made three batches of the chicken recipe, so I actually cooked with 120 cloves of garlic! It was burning my nose and eyes when I took it out of the oven. Hopefully it tastes good!

*In the interest of full disclosure, these items were purchased at the local bakery. The rest is homemade. And all of this in the week my local kosher grocery decided to close down!

Did I mention I love food?

I scream, you scream!

I love food. A lot. I think it's safe to say that I spend a good part of my day thinking about food - excitedly mentally preparing for my next meal or snack. As far as food relationships go, though, I'd say I have a fairly healthy one. I try to eat a relatively well-balanced diet, and I'm not obsessed with counting calories or "food rules" or weird cleansing elixirs that come in little glass bottles (eww). I have a lot of favorite foods; here's my top ten list:


1. ICE CREAM!!! It's never too cold or too hot or too early in the day for a huge dish of ice cream. Breyer's makes the best chocolate, Baskin Robbins in my local kosher go-to spot, and Ben & Jerry's is Greyston's biggest costumer. Peanut butter and chocolate, jamocha almond fudge, mint chocolate chip, soft serve vanilla with caramel topping....mmmm....bring it on!

2. FRENCH FRIES. Golden, crispy, fried potato goodness. The local pizza place (more about that in a minute)has the best fries. They look likes the ones to the right. I eat too many, and I love every second of it. I used to think that ketchup ruined fries by covering up the delicious taste, but I have recently decided that it actually enhances the flavor.

3. PIZZA. I once stated that you could melt cheese on a shoe and it would taste delicious. Well, melting cheese on dough shmeared with tomato sauce and baked to bubbly goodness is even better. I remember with sadness those years of lactose intolerance when I missed out on pizza. B"H that passed!

4. EDAMAME: I have recently started incorporating edamame into many of my dishes. Yummy! Healthy!

5. GUMMY CANDY: I love gummy candy. Probably the only reason I don't eat it all day long is that it's so hard to find kosher gummies, outside of strictly kosher markets. When I was pregnant with YS, D went to the store and filled up a huge bag with gummies, and I happily carried it around wherever I went. What a good husband.

6. PAD THAI FROM GAN ASIA: Once of the reasons I sometimes really miss living in Manhattan!

7. INSTANT MASHED POTATOES: You're probably saying "gross!" Why would she specifically love instant mashed potatoes? Aren't real ones better? No. They're not. Instant mashed potatoes are creamy and delicious and easy and quick.

8. POMEGRANATE CHOBANI GREEK YOGURT: See my blog from the other day regarding this amazing food.

9. BRISKET EGG ROLLS FROM ABIGAIL'S: Smoky, crispy, meaty deliciousness. These eggrolls are reason enough to eat at Abigail's, but in reality everything on the menu is unbelievable. I once ordered a mojito and they offered to bring it to me in a flower vase. Really? Thanks, but I don't need that much mojito. Would I like a flower vase filled with brisket egg rolls? Yes please!

10. REESE'S PEANUT BUTTER CUPS: Peanut butter + chocolate = heaven. Duh.So there you have it. Some of my favorite foods. There are more, and they do include broccoli and cauliflower and grapefruits, so don't think that my entire diet is filled with gummies and instant mashed potatoes. I'm sure I'll write more about my favorite foods soon. After all, someone has to give a proper shout-out to those yummy pierogies I eat several times a week!