Words to remember

Polka nut pajamas.

“My jams have polka nuts, Mama!”

Macamole.

“Mo chips with macamole, pease.”

(see also slalsa)

I not needing to.

“I not needing to take a nap in a little bit ok, Mama?”

Hold you.

(She’s sick today for the first time in a long time, so I’m hearing this a lot and it’s accompanied by a chin quiver.)

Luhyooo!

These days, whenever I say, “You know what?” my girl responds with an exuberant “Luhyooo!” She got it from me and I couldn’t be happier. I’ve been in the habit of tossing in random “You know what? I love you!” here and there and she now beats me to the punchline. She’s actually saying that I love her even though it sounds like the other way around. (See Hold you, above.)

Mommies.

“Mo mommies, pease.” (Referring to edamame. See also bonzos for garbanzo beans.)

Yest-a-day – a truly timeless word in the world of Mackenzie.

“Mama took a shower yestaday.” (As I towel off my hair.)

“I broke my foot yestaday, huh.” (Referring to June 09)

Note to self: Last week she started referring to herself as “Sensie” or even “Masensie” instead of “Sessie”. The addition of the “n” rocked my world.

My friend once wrote a blog post on the day her daughter’s beloved companion changed from “lello duck” to “yellow duck”. I didn’t get it. Now I do.

New plan: Freeze time. Halt all pronunciation progress until further notice.

 

Three moments brought to you by Mackenzie

Moment 1: Last night’s bedtime prayers

Mackenzie: We thank Thee for… Mama’s eyes.

Me (slightly flattered): We thank Thee for Mama’s eyes.

Mackenzie: We thank Thee for… different eyes.

Me (slightly humbled): We thank Thee for different eyes.

Mackenzie: We thank Thee for… other eyes.

Me (stifling a chuckle): We thank Thee for other eyes.

Mackenzie: We thank Thee for… eyes.

Me : Indeed.

Moment 2: In the hallway after church today

Mackenzie and I are holding hands, and she is clutching her paper from Nursery in her other hand, while Scott walks beside her.

She confesses that she only “did a little color bit on the paper” (because the girl cannot seem to summon the force to press DOWN when wielding a crayon).

Then, in a spectacular display of cuteness, she tucks her prized drawing firmly under her chin and grabs Scott’s hand with her newly unoccupied hand.

“I’m holding both hands,” She proudly points out as she walks happily down the hallway, chin to chest to keep the paper in place.

Moment 3: Walking into our house after church

Me (upon realizing I had a very full bladder): Just a minute, Mackenzie. I need to go potty big time before I can help you get lunch.

Mackenzie (joining me in the bathroom): I need to go potty little time, Mama!

 

Lovely, Lovely Christmas

This year was the first one since I’ve known Scott in which we spent our Christmas alone as a little family. It came right on the heels of a busy interview season, a trip to NYC, and a surprise trip to CA for Thanksgiving. It was also sandwiched between the two parts of Step II for Scott’s Board examinations, so we were determined to stay put and have a nice quiet holiday.

Christmas Day 2007 saw me 9 months pregnant with contractions and Mackenzie arrived the next day.

Christmas Day 2008 saw us hop a plane to Europe.

Christmas Day 2009 saw us with… eggnog french toast with cranberry relish (so yummy it’s probably our new tradition), a bowl full of oranges (a long-standing tradition), thoughtful gifts, and a relaxing day at home with our nearly-2-year-old.

We had an impromptu Christmas Eve potluck in which the Beans arrived spectacularly late, bearing way too much food. That is often our way.

Our sweet friends made a fantastic main dish with edamame (that’s not just skipping the meat, that’s embracing beans. So nice of them.) And we added the following to an already full table (rated out of 10):

• A Roquefort and pear strudel appetizer made with phyllo (9, one point docked for the fact it’s terrible for you)
• Fruit salad with pineapple, pomegranate, oranges, and blackberries (10)
• Homemade whole wheat rolls (10)
• Autumn Farmer’s Market Salad – arugula with toasted walnuts, roasted butternut squash, citrus vinaigrette, pomegranate seeds, pomegranate molasses drizzle (9 , one point docked for the “crunch” from arugula that we rinsed 10 times and still couldn’t get totally clean. Sorry friends!)
• Pumpkin Clafouti for dessert (2, I didn’t like it and it’s not healthy. Other people DID like it, but I’m writing this blog post, so I get to rate it. )

We had a lovely, hectic little nativity with a newborn baby standing in for Jesus and two toddlers playing most of the other roles.

Then it was home to open a present for Mackenzie: jammies! We headed to bed after retelling the story of Jesus’s birth and singing Christmas songs around the piano (a tradition we maintained many nights in December.)

We woke up, had a lovely breakfast, and as per Bean tradition every dish was cleaned before we sat down for a slow opening of gifts, one by one. Much to the chagrin of our families, we don’t do Santa in our house. One upside is that Mackenzie associates each gift with the person it came from. She still talks about the giver when she plays with things “My purse from GRANDma,” she’ll say with a smile.

Here are a random sampling from the gift-opening:

• A coveted first baby dollie (with another to follow the week after Christmas), a “stloller” to push her in and changes of clothes for all her fashion needs.





• Scott bought me a darling little giraffe ring holder to keep on the dresser. I only own ONE ring, my wedding ring, but it’s priceless and I have a tendency of taking it off to work out or cook and panicking when I can’t immediately locate it. This little gadget was so thoughtful, I swooned.
• I bought Scott some of his favorite gum, some needed socks, a new razor (since I left his old one in a hotel), and other fairly boring and practical things. It’s a good thing I’m cute.
• Mackenzie was spoiled rotten, really, with wooden trains, puppets, a twirly skirt and books. She kept thinking every present would be jammies though because that’s what she opened the night before.



• As is our way, Scott bought HIMSELF (from me) a few video games he’s jazzed about and a great book of piano music. The video games were purchased by trading in old ones (something I fully support).



• Mackenzie and I received darling homemade aprons, and this was good because I’m an apron addict. There WILL be pictures of Mackenzie in that stinkin’ cute apron. Mark my words.
• Scott received a water filtration bottle that will come in handy for our trip to Mexico this year as well as for our emergency preparedness as a family. Really cool gift, actually.
• One of our favorite gifts was a gift of cash with instructions to use it to bless the lives of others. We called up a local soup kitchen we admire and asked what their most needed items were. We stocked up on oregano, lots and lots of dollar store deodorant, and then raided our own cupboards and closets for warm clothes, shoes and toiletries we could give to those without. It was such a lovely gift for us to be able to focus on the needs of others.

We truly had a marvelous little Christmas and felt so much love from family and friends.

 

My mom skills need honing

Today, I failed at making homemade playdough.

It is sticky, rather goopy, and not at all functional as playdough.

And, I now have a sticky and rather goopy saucepan, plate, spoon, and ziploc bag to show for my labors.

Let’s talk about this for a minute: I majored in chemistry. CHEMISTRY, people. I worked in a lab. People paid me money to conduct research. You’d think I’d be able to heat up some salt and water and flour properly.

In reviewing my lab notebook from today’s experiment (laugh) it would appear the first step that posed a challenge was described thusly:

Heat mixture over medium heat until thick and rubbery.

“Rubbery”? Could you qualify that a bit, please? I stirred and cooked and stirred until the cows came home and things were looking quite thick. Apparently they weren’t looking quite rubbery. Hindsight hurts.

Then came:

Knead in extra flour until dough becomes manageable.

Let me intercede here to mention that I am a bread maker. I make my own pita, buns, loaves, sourdough, whole-grain… I know how to knead, people!

Fail.

I added flour, and then I added more flour. My hands just got stickier and stickier until I decided to call it a day, and put Mackenzie down for her nap. Then I retreated to my computer to work on easy stuff: Product development, user interface design, and technical writing. It was a nice break.

Mom work is tough!