What Happened to June?!?

I realize my last post was only on June 22nd, which wasn't all THAT long ago, but I feel like this summer is just flying by. What happened to June? Why do I feel so busy when I don't really have all that much going on?

Here's a rundown of what has happened since the last post (that I can remember!):
* Reid completed beginner swim lessons at the Y.
* I had lasik surgery on my eyes (6/25). YAY!
* I turned 32 (7/3).
* 4th of July.
* Two little boy birthday pool parties.

I'm sure there are other things... Here are some photos of all of the above, and then some, in no particular order.

Reid at Dawson's "Car Wash" birthday party. Yes, folks, those are blue spaghetti noodles (aka car wash brushes).

We gave Dawson a car wash curtain from Ikea for his birthday so he can have his very own car wash at his house. Reid freaked out and decided he wanted one, too, so we made a homemade one. It's still up 2 weeks later...

Me before the lasik surgery. Granted, I am not looking my best but I wanted to post the last photo of me in glasses for posterity. :)

The guys in their "chef" hats, which Reid decided to make out of dish cloths. They are making me a birthday cake (according to Reid).

My chef, with his "hat" and Spiderman outfit on. Who can say no to that face?

At the fountains downtown.

Yes, I told him not to climb the train...

My "birthday cake," a lemonade cheesecake-type pie. It was quick, easy, and yummy. :)

Fireworks on July 3rd. Ross and Reid watching the sky together.

I didn't take any official photos of Reid during swim lessons - they were chaotic enough without that - but I did want to document the day he played with markers about 30 seconds before we walked out the door.

Yes, that was my child in the creek downtown. That's what the city of Greenville gets for not turning on the fountains when they are supposed to be on! Reid, Camryn, Ceci, and Gideon didn't seem to mind....

Reid and Gideon, a friend from school.

Gotta love it when you know your birthday gift was enjoyed. Our (former) next door neighbor, Reeves, turned 4 and we got him a bubble gun. I looked out that evening and saw this - later, his older brother preparing to try to slide down without breaking his neck. Don't worry, their dad is a doctor. (Actually, he's Reid's doctor...)

Reid also got a bubble gun - a big hit!

And it makes LOTS of bubbles!

Food Battles

Because of Reid's super picky-ness when it comes to food, I have instituted the new dinnertime rule that he must try a bite of everything on his plate.

Mainly I started this because he does not willingly eat ANY vegetable anymore and has even started to turn away from fruit, which is the last really healthy thing I can count on for him. He has never eaten meat with the exception of pepperoni (which he no longer eats), bacon, bologna, and vienna sausages (the only one he has eaten with any regularity). Not the healthiest meats you can think of, I know.

Right now he eats some combination of the following things: peanut butter, jelly, crackers, pasta (sometimes), cheese, bread, some fruits, and yogurt. Oh yes, and the vienna sausages. Now and then I can get him to eat almonds, as well, but it is hit or miss. Did I mention that he is a juice-aholic? Carbs and dairy.... he's your man. Anything else? You can stuff it.

So, back to the new rule... I tried not to be too hard core about it because I know that if I push, he will push back harder. But I also was not backing down because he needs to broaden his tastes a little bit.

The other night we had chicken nuggets, corn, and broccoli cheese rice. (Hey, I'm no chef....) He chugged his drink as usual, ate maybe the equivalent of one nugget and then sat there. I let him know that he needed to try a bite of the other things as well. I specified that he did not need to eat it all, just one bite to see how it tastes. He tried the corn fairly easily, giving a lovely (and oh so dramatic) gagging sound before he spit out the one tiny kernel. Then he sat there some more.

I reminded him about trying the new food (cheese and rice - what's not to love?) and said we could turn the TV off if we needed to. He looked at me and said "okay" (meaning: "game on, lady"). So, off went the TV. The rest of us were finishing up so I told him he would not be allowed to get down until he tried a bite. So, he sat there. And sat, and sat, and sat. After about 15 minutes of sitting in the quiet I came over to him and gently - in my friendly mommy voice - picked up the fork and offered him a small bite. He gave a resounding "no." I could tell he meant it.

So, time to up the ante. He likes having choices so I gave him a few choices. 1) try a bite and go play, 2) go upstairs to bed until he was ready to try the new food, or 3) get a spanking. Now, I try not to spank often, but he knows what it is so it is a bargaining chip. Naturally, my child chooses the spanking. He called my bluff, the little punk.

I had no intention of spanking him for this - mainly because I knew it wouldn't help anything - so I said I thought he just needed to go upstairs to bed. He said okay and headed on up like he owned the place.

Ten minutes later I realized he was sound asleep, at 6:30pm. Yikes! I was worried that he would be up at 3am but thankfully he slept until 6am.

This morning, he tried to pull the same stunt with a banana, which used to be a go-to staple of his acceptable foods. After some discussion he said he'd go back upstairs, even though he had only been awake for about 45 minutes. It only took a few minutes for him to come back and eat half the banana so I'll chalk that one up to me.

I know he is getting tired of his 6-8 foods but it's his decision not to try the new things. Surely he'll get past this... right? Someone please tell me he will. If not, I need to go buy some stock in vienna sausages and jelly.

Pie, Anyone?

A few weekends ago, Reid woke up on Saturday morning and, for whatever reason, had it in his head that we were making a pie that day. I hadn't mentioned anything about a pie but he was undeterred. He grabbed the can opener and a spoon and was ready to bake. So... we baked. The only thing I could think of that I knew we had all the ingredients to was a chess pie.

Reid wanted to help, so he got to "mix" the eggs for me. He did a great job. This was taken right before I turned around to grab something, only to hear a "sluuuuurp." I knew exactly what it was... I turned to see Reid with a mouthful of raw eggs! He went to spit them out and tried to spit them back in the bowl. I caught them in my hand as only a mother would. :) What's funnier is that I think he only spit them out because of my reaction and not because he didn't like them.

The finished product. That part missing from the crust started out that way... that's how I found it in the freezer. Who knows how long that pie crust was in there anyway...

Tidbits...

Just a few things I wanted to be sure and record for posterity... :)

• Reid has learned the concept of wishing for things. Lately, Reid has been "wishing" for several things, most often a puppy, a baby, and a sister. The odds of him getting his wishes are pretty slim, but I guess he can keep wising! :)
• We went to pick up some of Ross' pants from the dry cleaner a few days ago. I take them to a place that has a drive-through because Reid is usually with me and it just easier. For whatever reason, he was fascinated by it on that day and kept asking why they had to wash the pants instead of me, what made them special, etc. When Ross came home hours later, Reid was so excited to show him the "surprise" we had got for him - the pants. It was just so funny because he was SO proud and excited about it. :)
• Reid has become fixated on the boogies in his nose. I realize this had to happen at some point and have tried not to make such a big deal about it, but I have to draw the line somewhere - like when I was making his bed and find some dried ones on the wall. GROSS! Now we're trying to make the point that we only wipe our boogies on tissues...
• The cutest thing Reid has come up with lately is the fact that he calls Parmesan cheese "Spaghetti Sprinkles." In fact, it's just short of a miracle that he is even eating spaghetti. He would not even touch it for the longest time but he has discovered it and now will eat it up - with spaghetti sprinkles, of course!

Let them eat cake!

I tried a trick this week that I read about a while back. Making a cake with cake mix and diet soda (and nothing else). Amazingly, it worked! You bake it using the directions on the box. Voila! Cheaper, easier, and no extra calories!

The "ingredients"

Finshed product. No problems rising and they taste good! If you are a batter-eater (as I am) you can taste the carbonation in the batter- which is kind of odd - but it doesn't seem to matter in the end.

The taste tester hard at work.

No complaints here! (Notice the frosting fumanchu... nice touch.)

Christmas Confections

I LOVE to make Holiday goodies of all kinds, and really have to hold myself back to not go crazy every year. (I'm itching to make Christmas cookies right now but am trying to hold off a week or so...)

Anyway, I was trying to think or something Reid could really help with and came up with chocolate-dipped pretzel rods... with sprinkles (of course). It was fun and we didn't make many this first time around, but they were good and turned out cute!

Reid in his Christmas apron... that I purchased in the dead of summer.

The beginning of the process. See the (relatively) clean counter, and the reasonable amounts of sprinkles being used?

And, toward the end. Now look at the sprinkles. Sprinkle madness! But Reid thought it was just right...

Shoving a fistful of sprinkles into his mouth...

Chocolate!

Before shaking the sprinkles off...

And after. Pretty cute, huh?