What do I have cooking?
Well, for dinner last night I tried something new. I made chicken shawarma, a really delicious Lebanese dish. It turned out pretty good. I served it with sauteed onions and red bell pepper, couscous, and roasted eggplant. With a hummus appetizer. And strawberry shortcake for dessert.
Yum.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Monday, May 14, 2007
Put a Little Love in Your Heart
How do you raise your children to be like these two? Simply amazing.
Sleeping in the Devil's Bed
For a couple of years now, Brendan's bed has been a box spring and mattress set on the floor of his room.
When we first put him in this big boy bed at the ripe old age of two, we did this so that if he rolled out of bed, he wouldn't have far to roll. Our initial plan had been to keep him in his crib until he was as close to three as possible. Mr. Brendan – independent cuss that he is – decided that he had other plans. Two days after turning two, he climbed out of the crib (on its lowest setting) when I put him down for a nap. That night he was sleeping in his new bed.
At first the transition was a breeze. He hadn't yet figured out that he could just get of bed any time he wanted, so once we put him down for the night, he'd stay in bed until one of us got him up the next day. He'd sit in bed in the morning calling out, Mama. Mama. Maaa-Ma! until I came in the room. This period of transitional bliss lasted roughly a month and then he figured it all out. Since that day our lives have been an up and down battle to keep Brendan in his bed at night. We've stopped short of putting a lock on the outside of his door despite the fact that's what our pediatrician advised us to do well over a year ago. Scott was adamantly opposed. However, I, being the one who had to round Brendan up and take him back to his bed every night around 3 a.m., toyed with the idea.
Over the course of the last year or so, we've looked at a variety of children's beds, trying to find one we liked and could afford. On some level we have been thinking that if Brendan has a real big boy bed, maybe he will take sleeping more seriously and act like a big kid by staying in his bed at night.
IKEA has several cute beds, but the quality isn't there. Even their nicer beds are essentially particle board. And, if you've ever struggled to put together anything you bought at IKEA using one of their loathsome pictographs (words, people!!!!), you know that you probably don't want your toddler sleeping in one of their beds.
Finding a good, solid wood bed for a child is not impossible, but once you do, be prepared to spend upwards of $300 just for something very plain jane.
Thank goodness for yard sales. Some elderly neighbors of ours are moving and are selling a lot of their furniture. I was able to buy a lovely antique cherry twin bed for just $20! It was missing the bed bolts to hold it together, but we went to a specialty hardware store yesterday and found just what we needed. Last night Brendan slept in his new bed and loved it. This morning he told us that it was comfy.
With one exception, he stayed in it all night last night. That's pretty good. Hopefully, it will prove so comfortable to him that he won't want to leave it.
When we first put him in this big boy bed at the ripe old age of two, we did this so that if he rolled out of bed, he wouldn't have far to roll. Our initial plan had been to keep him in his crib until he was as close to three as possible. Mr. Brendan – independent cuss that he is – decided that he had other plans. Two days after turning two, he climbed out of the crib (on its lowest setting) when I put him down for a nap. That night he was sleeping in his new bed.
At first the transition was a breeze. He hadn't yet figured out that he could just get of bed any time he wanted, so once we put him down for the night, he'd stay in bed until one of us got him up the next day. He'd sit in bed in the morning calling out, Mama. Mama. Maaa-Ma! until I came in the room. This period of transitional bliss lasted roughly a month and then he figured it all out. Since that day our lives have been an up and down battle to keep Brendan in his bed at night. We've stopped short of putting a lock on the outside of his door despite the fact that's what our pediatrician advised us to do well over a year ago. Scott was adamantly opposed. However, I, being the one who had to round Brendan up and take him back to his bed every night around 3 a.m., toyed with the idea.
Over the course of the last year or so, we've looked at a variety of children's beds, trying to find one we liked and could afford. On some level we have been thinking that if Brendan has a real big boy bed, maybe he will take sleeping more seriously and act like a big kid by staying in his bed at night.
IKEA has several cute beds, but the quality isn't there. Even their nicer beds are essentially particle board. And, if you've ever struggled to put together anything you bought at IKEA using one of their loathsome pictographs (words, people!!!!), you know that you probably don't want your toddler sleeping in one of their beds.
Finding a good, solid wood bed for a child is not impossible, but once you do, be prepared to spend upwards of $300 just for something very plain jane.
Thank goodness for yard sales. Some elderly neighbors of ours are moving and are selling a lot of their furniture. I was able to buy a lovely antique cherry twin bed for just $20! It was missing the bed bolts to hold it together, but we went to a specialty hardware store yesterday and found just what we needed. Last night Brendan slept in his new bed and loved it. This morning he told us that it was comfy.
With one exception, he stayed in it all night last night. That's pretty good. Hopefully, it will prove so comfortable to him that he won't want to leave it.
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