Friday Fun at the Riverwalk

The Riverwalk was our destination of choice last Friday after lunch. Nick loves walking by the river, and he especially loves the playground past Centennial Beach. He also adores walking back and forth on the bridges. 

Friday ended up being the best day of my whole spring break. I had a great day with both kids and I think they had a ball as well. I'm feeling kind of sad now that break is over, but it is only two months until summer. I will survive, I'm sure. 

Henry loves hanging out in the stroller, because he can move fast and watch the world fly by. 

Nick flies all by himself. He hardly ever moves slowly. We walked all the way to the park, where more fun ensued for both boys. 

Park-Hopping

Lately, when Nick gets bored, I've been taking him park-hopping. Novelty is the name of the game, and new parks are always exciting. We have mastered the art of park-hopping.

So here is our strategy. I always pick up lunch (usually Panera) and drive around a nearby subdivision. I tell Nick to "Look for a park!" I may pass up one that doesn't look fun or that is mostly for older kids, but generally I let him pick.

See, the brilliant part of this strategy is that the newness of the park enthralls Nick, and he runs around excitedly for at least twenty minutes. That is long enough for me to eat my salad and relax. A relaxing meal is rare around here, and if park-hopping buys a few minutes of peace, so be it.

Henry usually just chills in his carseat, but sometimes he sits with me on the bench and we get in some snuggle time while Nick runs.

New slides, new creatures to climb, and new woodchips to throw means that Nick plays until exhaustion hits. He has a very good nap after a park-hop. This helps Nick get his exercise quota in, and helps me maintain sanity. Plus, it's fun to watch him run around the park. I wonder if I burn more calories watching him run around while I sit on a bench?

Wordless Wednesday

A Busy Week

It's been a pretty long week, and I've been so busy with school that I haven't had much time for writing. Between getting lessons ready on Marco Polo and Zheng He and attending umpteen different meetings, I've had to get ready for an observation. It wasn't a bad week, just a really busy one. I'm so ready for it to be Friday.

Nick actually likes being busy. Lately he's been coloring in his Halloween coloring book and squishing Play Doh into everything. Tonight he ate two bowls of my carrot soup, as well as two garlic cheddar biscuits. I think he might be going through a growth spurt--he ate more than I did for dinner tonight. He loved when Greg took him to the park last weekend.





































This week, Nick was vibrating with excitement when he heard that his Grandma Toni was back from vacation. He literally jumped up and down when I told him the news. He was one happy camper when she stayed with us this week. Toni said he really did well at the library today. I guess he kept saying, "Lapsit!" (That's the program my mother-in-law takes him to every week.) Look at the pajamas she brought him from Sutter Creek, California. Check out the little boots on the footie part.

Breakfast for Dinner

After a long day of playing, running, dancing, and swinging. . .

Nick gets a little hungry. Last week, I was inspired to make a special breakfast for our dinner. Greg has been watching a ton of Food Network, and after watching the cooks make scrambled eggs, I decided I was in the mood to try my own recipe. Plus, I forgot to defrost any meat or fish.

What you see on the plate is a dinner in three parts. First, a spinach salad with oranges, strawberries, and goat cheese. Then, a lemon blueberry cinnamon bran muffin. Finally, there are scrambled eggs with spinach, peppers, and a generous amount of goat cheese. Because in this world, you can never have too much goat cheese.

The muffins are a recipe from Rick Gallop's "Living the GI Diet." I've been trying (not very hard, but trying nonetheless) to incorporate more foods that are GI friendly. GI stands for Glycemic Index, and this diet was recommended to me by my doctor since I have trouble with insulin resistance and post-prandial hypoglycemia. The idea with this program is to balance good carbs and proteins, to eat lots of fiber from good carbs, and to avoid white flour, sugar, and too much fat. I try to stick to white whole wheat flour, and I add things like flax seed and wheat germ to recipes all the time. Nick and Greg don't even notice.

Anyway, I'm going to share with you the way I've been making my scrambled eggs. I think this is my favorite way ever to have eggs. It's also quicker and easier than making an omelet.

Goat Cheese Omelet with Spinach and Bell Pepper

1. Dice most of a bell pepper (orange or red) and place in the frying pan (on medium heat) with a tablespoon of olive oil, a few sprigs of fresh thyme, and a big bhandful of spinach, torn into small pieces. Heat until the peppers are mostly cooked. Put the vegetables aside.
2. Heat a big frying pan (medium high heat) and place about a tablespoon of unsalted butter on it to melt.
3. Take five or six eggs and beat. I use Costco's organic cage free brown eggs. They really do taste better.
4. Add in two to three tablespoons of whole milk and beat some more.
5. Take the butter from the pan and pour just a bit into the mixture. There should still be enough butter in the pan to coat it. Beat the egg mixture a little more.
6. Pour the eggs into the pan and use a rubber scraper or plastic spatula to scrape the mixture towards the center as it cooks. Keep scraping as the eggs cook.
7. When the eggs are mostly cooked, add in the vegetables and keep scraping and stirring.
8. Add crumbled goat cheese (to taste, I use a ton) and a bit of salt and pepper. Enjoy. Nick sure did.

Actually, looking at these pictures is making me hungry. Perhaps I'll do breakfast for dinner again tonight. . .

Wordless Wednesday

Baby Push Ups and Starting to Pull Up

Nick can now do something I cannot: execute a perfect push-up. He just started doing this the other day, and he can hold it for quite awhile. Still no forward crawling, though.



I've been trying to give him lots of time down on the carpet and the floors. He likes the hardwood and linoleum the best. Maybe that helps him to slide better.
He really gets around for a baby who can't crawl with any purpose. Today he drove me nuts, insisting on doing baby push ups, backwards crawling, or butt scooting most of the day. Then he wanted to use my hands to pull up to a stand. He can't do this unless someone holds his hands just right, but he loves it. Nick would stand all day if he could. I'd be exhausted if I were him.




Yesterday Nicholas and I went to my dad and stepmom's place in Rosemont. We visited the park district there, and stayed for dinner and until Nick's bedtime. Our original intention was to visit the SplashPad, which we did, but it was rather cold, so we opted for the park and the swings instead. This July has been very odd, weather-wise. I heard on the radio today that the average temperature for this month was 69 degrees Fahrenheit. That's cold for July! Here are some pictures I took yesterday. Pardon the poor photography. You'd think I would get better, what with all the pictures I take of Nick. But, no. The one with my stepmom holding Nick? That is food on his face. Sweet potatoes, to be exact. Nick likes to smear everything on his face while he eats. Must make it taste better.

I also got some video of my dad helping him to stand. Boy, was Nick excited!

Today I read "The End of Overeating" by Dr. David A. Kessler. It was a scientific book about why Americans overeat, and it makes a lot of sense. There's no miracle cure, though. I was reading it while eating, and it made me choose blueberries instead of chocolate. He explains the way that processed and chain restaurant foods are designed to appeal to the reward centers in our brains, and how the combination of fat, sugar, and salt makes us happy. Sigh. Doesn't help with my cookie problem, but I guess knowing about it makes it less likely that I'll order anything at Chili's or Outback, ever. The book was well-written and the author's thesis makes a lot of sense.

Baby's First Doughnut

Today Greg and I went to the Farmers' Market in Oswego and to a beautiful park down by the Fox River. It was beautiful, and the weather was just perfect. Not too hot, not too cold--you don't get many days like this in July.

Nick loved the swings. He laughs so hard when he gets to go swinging. Here you can see him happily enjoying himself while an older baby surreptitiously checks him out. This little chic was extremely interested in my Nicholas. I guess I'd better get used to little girls checking him out.

The park we went to had a great view of the river, a bridge, and slides and climbie things that Nick will love in a year or so. There was even a misting station if you started feeling too warm. Here's Greg and Nick down by the path. Notice how he's sitting forward all the way in his stroller. Today was the first time I saw him do that. He kept leaning forward so he wouldn't miss anything. Nick is just happy to be there. Anywhere, actually. He seems to see each new place we go as a new adventure, even if it's a bathroom in a bar or a place to buy tomatoes. I wish I could get a shot of that kind of joy.

Below you can see Nick enjoying his very first doughnut. At the farmers' market, there was an older couple making fresh batches of mini doughnuts with cinnamon sugar. They made them right there in front of us, and boy did they smell good. We decided that Nick was old enough to try his first doughnut, so we bought a bag of 6 for $1.75. First I gave him a little taste, and then you can see what Nick did. He grabbed a huge chunk out of my hand and stuffed it in his mouth. Boy, was I surprised. He ate the whole darned thing, too. He got cinnamon sugar all over his little toes, and made the happiest "mmm" sounds. It's kind of neat when he has first tastes of new things. Nicholas seems to like things such as steamed peas and avocado just as much as doughnut or tiramisu. I guess the world is an adventure when everything is new.
I'm now going to make a rant about the town of Oswego, or whoever built this memorial. See if you can figure out what is wrong. . . I did a double take when I found it.
That's right, there is no apostrophe for "Veterans' Sacrifices." Now, I'm all for monuments, and I'm especially all for veterans, but can't they at least own their sacrifices? Stuff like this really makes me steamed. I just finished reading a book called Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss. She has the same issue I do with grammar. Every time I see a mistake, I feel the need to get out my red pen. I don't, usually, but I still feel a surge of rage. I'm an extremely tolerant, liberal, live-and-let-live kind of gal, except for grammatical situations. Since I work with non-native speakers of English, I'm pretty tolerant of them, because they have an excuse. However, couldn't the guy doing the carving get a proofreader before carving something into stone for posterity?!

Okay, I'm done ranting. Sorry about that. Time to put the baby to bed and perhaps plant some herbs.