They Love Cous Cous

My children, that is. AND my husband.

That means...wait, can it be true? All four of us agree on a side dish?

Me: We're going to be seeing a lot more cous cous around here, guys.
Kids: Yaaaaaaay!!

You see, my kids don't like rice. Rice! White rice, brown rice, the color doesn't matter; they don't like it. Who doesn't like rice? I know, they're weird. And, since hubby and I are trying to eat a certain way, that third dinner dish (#1 - main dish, #2 - veggie, #3 - healthy grain) is always an issue. Brown rice is one of our staples. The kids simply don't like it. Oh, Nicky will eat some, especially if I mix it in with whatever that night's meat is, so he can't taste it quite as much. Nicky's become quite philosophical about eating foods he doesn't like. I wish I had adjusted so well to it. But Kalen whines about it, and when I remember how much I hated eating the veggies and such I disliked as a kid, it doesn't seem at all nice to feed them brown rice three nights a week. So, next week I'm heading to the farmer's market to buy cous cous and quinoa in bulk. (I don't know yet whether the kids like quinoa, but I love it with leftover chicken for lunch.)

Don't get me wrong, I so do not cook around my kids. With some rare exceptions, they eat what we eat for dinner. No "good" foods for us while the kids have grilled cheese, fish sticks or mac & cheese. Heck, if they're getting grilled cheese, so am I, dammit! Yeah, it's better to avoid the whole cheese thing...I'm not losing weight as it is. Mmmm...cheese....

Where was I? Ah, cooking for the kids. Nope, I'm totally unindulgent when it comes to food. I don't cut off sandwich crusts, I don't stock sugary cereals (Honey Nut Cheerios is as sweet as we get, and I only buy that about every fourth box of Cheerios), white bread is never brought into the house, and I don't cook separate dinners. So, I'll still make brown rice, because it's healthy and Jason and I love it, but it looks like the cous cous will be replacing rice at least half the time.

Project Funway

Okay, so I'm a bit of a Project Runway addict. And I've recently been introduced to Project Rungay and may be suffering a bit of an addiction there, too.

A few weeks ago, Project Peepway was brought to my attention, and the boys, who have seen bits & pieces of PR when I have it on during the day, thought it was hilarious. (Go on, watch it...I'll wait...)

So, last week, Kalen comes bounding down the stairs with a box and all of his rubber duckies. He proceded to line up the duckies (aka Peeps) on the floor alongside the box (aka Runway). For some reason I didn't get a picture of it. I did, however, get photos of the models.


The best part was Kalen saying, "You are out. You may leave the runway." Complete with cheek kissing. And now Nicky, who previously had no interest in the show, can't get enough of PR. That's my boy!

Dr. Kalen, Pet Doctor

Happy 5th Birthday, sweetie!

Peace Out

Each year, my boys, along with a couple of their friends, attend Culture Camp at our church. Culture Camp can easily be described as a concept in a few short sentences, but it's hard to relate how much the kids actually learn in that same short way.

First, I suppose I should answer the obvious question. Think of Culture Camp as sort of the UUs' answer to vacation Bible school. Culture Camp, and the related Peace Out camp for younger kids, is a study of peace and the people of the world. Each year, they "visit" three different countries, and the children learn about customs, language, food and art. This year, I believe the kids visited Costa Rica, Tibet (wonderfully appropriate choice this year!), and South Africa. The prevailing theme throughout, however, is peace.

I love this. I can't convey how much I love it. Not only are the kids excited to learn about cultures different from our own, they're learning at an early age how peace can influence us all. The best part is that the counselors don't talk down to them. I don't believe children need to be treated in the Victorian fashion...they are not miniature adults. However, neither are they stupid, and the difficulties of the world do not need to be completely hidden from them. By exposing them to what's going on in the greater world at such a young age, I hope we're raising young men who will be aware of the global culture and who will fight (peacefully) for what is Good and Right.

That's not to say this camp is about what's wrong with the world. On the contrary, it's all about what's right. It has opened up some great opportunities for discussion, though. It becomes easier to explain the political undercurrents surrounding the upcoming Olympic Games when they've already had a simple exposure to Tibet and China. When we see Nelson Mandela flash across the television screen, his complex life becomes something relatable when they've read stories of his homeland, listened to the music of his people, and chowed down on mealie pap they made themselves.

We are citizens of the world, a fact which too many people forget, and which others take for granted. I hope my boys will do neither.

Hey, Moms!

Through BzzAgent, I've found a website that may bear further investigation.

Kids-in-Mind is a movie-reviews website with detailed descriptions of many films, with (ready for it?) kids in mind. It has ratings and detailed descriptions of Sex & Nudity, Violence, and Profanity. Here's the review I posted at BzzAgent:

I really like this idea - it may help with my decisions about what movies my kids see in the theater. It's a little much - I mean they call to attention a gentlemen kissing the back of a woman's hand in greeting in a period movie and a dance instructor wearing shorts and doing high kicks under the "Sex & Nudity" heading, which is more than a bit over the line of "You're kidding, right?" On the other hand, they give very detailed descriptions of possibly offensive scary scenes, violence, name-calling, and profanity, so you can be well aware of what your kids might be exposed to. Or, if you're like a lot of the moms I know, what great conversations you can have with your kids after they view the movie. ("So, why do you think it was wrong to blame the hobos?")

So there you are - take a look and decide for yourself.

Visit Kids-in-Mind

Those pin-things are sharp!

When last we left our heroine, she was facing this sewing to-do list, to which "take in waistband on Nicky's too-big PJ's" was added.

...time passes...

And ta-da! The PJ's, karate uniform, and dress pants are all marked off the list. (The crowd goes wild.)

The bag lining is mostly done. Twice! The first go ended up two inches too narrow, thanks to a misinterpretation of the tutorial I was following. Ah well, it's fixed now. I got the flap lining sewn on, complete with magnets...

Before:


After:


And the interior lining is sewn, with cell phone and pen pockets and nifty little "Fashioned by Aimee" label from the box mom bought me about twenty years ago (no exaggeration):



...and it's pinned in place!



Who knows if it will get hand-sewn in tonight. It's 6:15 and I haven't even contemplated dinner. (Hey Hon, feel like stopping by Subway on the way home??) I've left the most labor-intensive job for last...I'll probably get to it on Friday. Behold the pile of pants awaiting cutting-off and hemming! (And please ignore the stained carpet. Have I mentioned the two young boys in the house?)

Kid & Puppy Fluff

As we usually get to once or twice during the summer, we're puppy-sitting for our dear friends. Meet Kaleigh:

The boys love having Kaleigh over, especially since we're a dog-loving family without a pooch of our own these days. (And we'll be poochless for the forseeable future, until we figure out which - if any - breeds are compatible with Kalen's allergies.)

Kaleigh turned fourteen this year, and I remember the day Heather got her in my freshman year of college. Jason and I had been dating about three months. Heather and her husband hadn't yet, although they would be married a full year before us. Age before beauty, and all that... (Man, she's going to get me when she reads this, but it was just sitting there, waiting to be said. Can you really blame me??)

Isn't that crown the perfect advertisement for Medieval Times? We went for Father's Day, at Jason's request. Later that evening, Kalen dubbed himself King Kalen. Thankfully, he has little knowledge of what kings really do and has not yet commanded any of us to do his bidding. He feels all-important, however, which is pretty fun and quite important for a Royal Highness, make-believe or not.

Water, Part Deux

Just to add to the amazing water journey this week, Nicky decided today to tackle the giant water slide. (Yes, we're talking the kind you see at water parks!) He hated it - he didn't like being dumped into the pool of water at the bottom without goggles. But he did it, with no prompting from me at all.

Speaking of Water...

Nicky had his second swimming lesson today. Miraculous, I tell you! First, though, a little background for those who have tripped across this blog and don't know the situation...

Nicky was born 12 weeks prematurely, and one of the results of this (the only one still around, really) is a combo of Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) and ADHD. (For a brief intro to both, read Kids in the Syndrome Mix. Your public library probably has it, and it has the best synopsis of both issues I've ever seen.) The SPD has been his major hurdle in life. SPD presents differently in every person who has it, and in his case, it manifests in oversensitivity to physical stimuli (including temperature, noise, and - to a lesser degree - texture), dyspraxia (weakened hand & upper body strength and the resulting fine motor issues), etc. Water on the face and head has always been a tantrum-inducing stimulus. Bath time = not fun. Shower time = let's not even go there. Pool? Hah!!

So, combine that oversensitivity to water with a lack of pool access, and the kid - now eight years old - has spent very little time in water. This has always bothered me, mostly for safety reasons (I believe every child must be a strong swimmer), but also because I have fond memories of hundreds of hours of pool time as a kid, and I knew that if he could overcome this hurdle, he would be opening the door to endless fun. Four years ago, we enrolled him in Infant Swimming Resource, which, despite the fear and - some would say harsh - "push through it" technique to which he doesn't usually respond well, did result in him being able to doggy paddle his way across the pool. However, as I mentioned above, we have not had regular access to a pool, and that skill was gone in a flash.

Fast forward to 2008. Our county opened up a brand-new, awesome aquatic complex just a few miles from our house. (Mom: "And this, boys, is why we pay sales tax." Kids: "Yay, tax!") An indoor lap pool, indoor instructional pool, and outdoor water playground (complete with floaty-currenty-river-thingy, water spraying everywhere, and kid- and adult-sized water slides) all add up to irresistible temptation, at least for me. And they offer swim lessons. Nicky had his first lesson yesterday, during which he put his face in the water a couple of times. Today, I lost track of the number of times his face got wet (on purpose)! Yesterday, after lunch, we went back and hit the outdoor play area, and wow! Both kids had a blast, and Nicky even went off on his own, bouncing his way around the river several times and basking in one of the calm pools. As we left, he declared, "Swimming is now my favorite activity in the whole world!"

More than multiple stops on the honor roll, more than his advanced blue belt in karate, more than anything else he's accomplished to date...I am more proud of his conquering this fear than any of it.