14 Months

At 14 months, LE is exploring all of the boundaries. Her face questions, "Can I touch this?" "Are you going to stop me from crawling upstairs alone?" "Is this food?" "Can I press the buttons on your {insert electronic item here}?" "Does making the Phonics Bus play the alphabet for the 10th time in a row push your buttons?"

John and I spend most of our time with her laughing. She's very expressive and tells babble stories with a lot of emotion. She waves her arms around in the air, and when she runs, it's as if she's getting pulled along with a string tied to her bellybutton. 

She loves to share or pretend share. Sometimes she's very adamant that you will take the Cheerio that she is offering. She'll pry open your fingers, put it in the palm of your hand, and then close your fingers back again. Then she'll open your fingers to take the Cheerio back.

LE's favorite thing to do these days is to give kisses. She'll smack her lips together and lean in. We get them very frequently, but sometimes she'll give them to Felix (her stuffed elephant chair), LeLe (the doll she was given by another young girl), the bookcase, and other kids. She just loves kissing.

We also love that she's become more of a snuggler lately. She will come lay her head on us if we're sitting, or she'll ask to get picked up and nuzzle her head into our neck. It's really sweet.

Her favorite activities include

• using a bucket to put items in and walk around with the bucket on her arm,
• making the Phonics Bus sing the alphabet repeatedly while she dances to it,
• lifting up my shirt to laugh at my bellybutton,
• playing in the bathtub,
• putting my clothes around her neck,
• riding on our shoulders,
• chasing us and being chased,
• having wind blow in her face,
• eating with a fork, with or without help,
• squealing at animal sightings,
• touching her pointer finger tip to our pointer finger tips,
• squeezing her fists and giggling while John says, "Squeeze!!" 

As a couple of weeks ago, she's just shy of 20 pounds and 29 inches tall.  A little peanut.

Note: She didn't climb in her toy bin. I put her in there to see how she'd react, and she was very content for a surprisingly long time. 

Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

Doesn't that look a-mazing? A few months ago, I compiled a mini-recipe book of cupcake recipes to go along with the cupcake carrier that our friend, the bride-to-be, registered for. Ever since then, I've been wanting to make each and every one of them. We'll get there... in time.

I'm not completely sure you took the time to actually look at that cupcake. I'll dissect it for you. 

The top tastes a lot like a toasted creamy marshmallow. The middle is a cold, tangy lemon curd that drips down the side. {Confession: I bought this from World Market when they had it buy one, get one free.} The bottom is soft, sweet lemon cake that's not too lemony, as I feared it could be with the amount of lemon zest.

This is my first time with this recipe, my first time with my kitchen torch, and my first time to make meringue. If I can manage to get these whipped up with a 14 month old toddler running around the kitchen, you can definitely make these! I won't lie-- these are very laborious (even without making my own curd) but not too difficult.

Here are the little guy's friends, ready to get eaten.

I technically didn't have a big piping tip like the recipe called for, but it didn't matter one bit. Use what you have. I recommend making the cake part one day in advance (but no more than one day), and once the icing is made, these need to be consumed within the day. So, invite your friends over for tea one afternoon. Or, enjoy them with alongside a minty, tangy mojito at an evening barbeque.

Or, wrap them up and give as mini thank-you's. I promise they'll be appreciated.

Here's where the recipe came from. {I halved the cake and icing recipes and used a little less than one jar of curd to make just 11 cupcakes.}

Let me know if you end up making them!

I linked up to

 

Baked Oatmeal

One of the coffee shops near our house sells baked oatmeal. Personally, I find regular oatmeal to be too heavy and sticky, and frequently I feel a little sick after eating it. Baked oatmeal is perfect, though. It provides great nutrition, fills you up for a long time, can be made in advance, is not time consuming, and is able to be modified to your heart's content. Plus, my family loves it, especially LE.

I searched the internet and my favorite food sites for a promising baked oatmeal recipe, but my search came up a little short. I ended up combining a few recipes and techniques from many places to come up with my recipe.

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 25 minutes

Preheat your oven to 350.

Gather your ingredients:

• 3 cups old fashioned oats
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons of ground flax seed (optional; added for nutrition only)
• 3/4 cup chopped, toasted walnuts
• 3/4 cup dried cranberries or other dried fruit
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup whole milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4-1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted (or substitute unsweetened applesauce for part or all)
• 1/4 - 1/3 cup agave nectar (I prefer just 1/4 cup... use even less if you're using applesauce; substitute brown sugar or honey, if desired; Remember that you can always add sugar when you serve it.)

Take 7-8 ramekins or one square glass pan (8x8 or 9x9). If using butter: Pour enough butter into each ramekin or pan to coat the bottom and edges. Reserve excess butter. If not using butter: Spray each ramekin or pan with cooking spray.

Pour excess butter into next ramekin.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper to catch spills when baking, and place ramekins or pan onto the baking sheet.

In a large bowl, use a rubber spatula to combine the first 5 ingredients (oats, baking powder, flax, salt, cinnamon); then add the next 2 (nuts, cranberries) and stir again. {If using a dry sweetener instead of agave or honey, add it here.} 

In a separate bowl, slightly whisk the eggs. Then, add the rest of the wet ingredients (milk, vanilla, remaining butter or applesauce, agave nectar or honey) and whisk to combine. 

Make a little well in the middle of the dry ingredients bowl, and pour the wet ingredients into it. Mix, using the rubber spatula, until everything is just combined.

Pour about a 1/2 cup of the mixture into each ramekin (or the whole thing into the square pan). Gently even out the tops a little.

Place the ramekins/pan with the baking sheet into the oven on the middle rack. Bake for 25 minutes or until the tops are starting to brown.

Cool slightly; serve in the ramekin with some milk poured over it.

This will keep in the refrigerator for up to one week with each ramekin covered with plastic wrap. Zap in the microwave for one minute or reheat in the oven at 325 for about 10 minutes or until warm throughout. {I don't preheat the oven when I reheat it.}

Enjoy!!

13 Months

LE's face above pretty much sums up my feelings on the weather this last month. It has been extra dreary. It's snowed, hailed, rained, and whatever other kind of cold precipitation that you can think of. It's as if God is extending winter by a month to make up for the month of sunshine we got in Fiji. It's months like these that I'm thankful we have LE to entertain us, and since she's at the perfect age to keep cooped up indoors. She's started to get more cuddly, loves to giggle and be gently tickled, loves bath time, squeals with delight every time she sees our cat, pulls on her highchair when she's hungry, and is completely weaned from breastmilk and formula. Most notably...

She's still a little wobbly at times, but LE's preferred method of transportation is walking! She just mastered getting up on her own without support, which has opened up a new world. This first set of photos was taken when she could only go about 3 steps before falling. She would cautiously take a step, catch her balance, and then go again.

You'll notice a clip is almost a permanent accessory for her. At least, that's the case until she realizes it's there and slowly pulls it out and puts it in her mouth. Her hair has gotten long in the last two months, and without support, it goes directly in her eyes.

On a "warm" Thursday (in the 50s, I think), John was off of work and our family of 3 took a trip to the zoo. LE's first trip there was with the mom's group and me when she was about 4 months old. This time she actually noticed the animals were there, though, admittedly, I think she was more interested in watching the kids walk around. She wore her grump-face almost the whole time.

Last year, she went on the carrousel and instinctually held onto the bar. This year, she was not enthused with the carrousel. Perhaps me hitting her on the head on her way up to the seat didn't help, but she wanted down the whole time. The only time she smiled is when we would circle around and see her dad standing on the side.

Nanny sent a tent that she found in Spain for us to play in just like my mom and I did when I was LE's age. It was a really sweet gesture that actually made me tear up. After Mom died in April 1998, I carried the photo of us peeking out of that tent until mid-way through college. I looked at that photo every time I missed my mom.

LE instantly loved the tent. It was the best form of peek-a-boo with her inside and me outside. She opens the flap, laughs from her belly, puts it back down, and does it all over again a second later.

One day a huge box was at our front door. It's the type of box that will be perfect to turn into a mini playhouse next winter (but I'd prefer to not think about next winter right now). Inside the box was a gray plush elephant chair named Felix from LE's Godmother, Ashley! LE doesn't quite get the concept of sitting in a chair for any reason other than getting fed, so for now, Felix is more of just a giant stuffed animal, and she loves it! Seriously, I think she thinks Felix is a relative of Sweetheart (our cat). Throughout the day she'll go put her face up to his face and giggle. Or she'll touch his trunk and giggle. Other times she goes and lays across him briefly as if she's giving him a hug. 

Many crummy weather days later gets us to Easter, which was a remarkably pleasant, sunny day. We went to church, stopped by our friends' home to congratulate them on the Easter baptism of their son, and then headed home to light up the grill. We cooked a fabulous lunch with coffee-crusted grilled porkchops and bourbon cream sauce, grilled asparagus, and a simple salad with homemade sun-dried tomato basil vinaigrette dressing. It was so nice to get to have grilled food again!

After recovering from our food coma, we all went outside. LE felt the cold, prickly grass under her bare feet for the first time. She took a few steps and then stopped, looked up at me, and wanted to get picked up. I guess we'll work up to that.

She explored the grass around her, pulling up a blade, breaking it, and then pulling up another.

Meanwhile, John was working on finishing building our square foot vegetable garden. I did all of the studying up on the garden and planning, and John did all of the construction. We plan to have lettuce, spinach, two kinds of peppers, tomatoes, snap peas, cilantro, parsley, shallots, green onions, tomatillos, carrots, radishes, mint, dill, thyme, chives, basil, and rosemary. Whew!

LE wanted to taste test for us. John reminded me it was probably cow manure compost that she was testing. Oops.

Thanks to Granny for the Easter outfit and to Mimi for the tent dress!

Touring John's Office

Anyone who has come to visit us has taken a tour of John's office campus. It's a spectacular place full of creativity, artwork, and whimsy. Just before we headed off to Fiji, LE got baptized (more on Fiji and the baptism to come, I promise). Her Godmother, Ashley, and Ashley's husband, Dustin, came up from Austin for the baptism. Oh how I loved having friends come visit!

Here's a *glimpse* of where John works {when he's not traveling}. There's so much more there that wasn't captured; who has time or energy for a 3 hour tour?

In case it's not obvious, Ashley is imitating the penguin.

LE was sick but still well-behaved.