U Can't Touch This

In general, 3rd grade girls are not paragons of coolness (especially 3rd graders with shamu-sized hair sprayed bangs). But I remember being at a friend's birthday party when I was 9 and thinking I was pretty cool. Now why would I think that? Well, I was dancing to MC Hammer's "U Can't Touch This" and you can't get much cooler than that, right? There we were a bunch of dorky 8 and 9 year old girls bopping around to an older sister's mix tape and then MC Hammer came on. Wow, I loved that song.

Now, nineteen years later, Peter loves that song! For Father's Day my brother Kyle and his wife Renae gave Ryan one of those nifty Hallmark cards that plays a song when it is opened. Peter immediately fell in love with card the first time he opened it and it played "U Can't Touch This." He carries it around the house, opens it and proceeds to bust a move. He wags his head, spins in a circle, pops up from his knees, stamps the ground, and wiggles his shoulders. Thanks to his almost hourly performances this week I've learned a couple of things: 1. My 2-year-old is more coordinated than me; 2. He's way cooler now than I was as a 3rd grader (at least he thinks he is).

That Kind of Mom

One day last week Peter decided he wanted to go outside after eating. As I watched him play in the backyard I had a horrible realization: I'm "that" kind of mom! You know the kind that lets her kids run around half-naked in filthy clothes with slimy faces and sticky hands. So I apologize to all those mothers I've observed over the years with unkempt and questionably dressed children. I'm sorry I thought bad things about you and now I understand. Sometimes you just have to let your kid run around with no pants, an oatmeal dotted shirt, snow boots (Peter INSISTED he wear those), sticky peach juice hands, snot-covered face and hair containing remnants of the last meal.

Yes, Peter stopped himself when he noticed the water on the slide. I guess he thought he was already dirty enough.

Peppermint Body Wash

My newest favorite thing is Burt's Bees Peppermint and Rosemary Body Wash. After working outside in the yard there is nothing better than taking a slightly cold shower with this body wash. I immediately cool down and the peppermint makes my skin feel incredibly clean, fresh, and tingly. It's so nice it almost makes it worth it to do yard work! Now if I could just get it to give me a massage...

Adventures in Food: Japanese Style

My best friend Faith thinks I'm a picky eater. I've never really thought of myself as a picky eater, there are just some things I refuse to eat: seafood, mayonnaise (and anything made with it), hard boiled eggs, fake cheese (American Cheese is a national disgrace), canned vegetables (why turn a perfectly yummy vegetable into a mushy metallic-tasting horror), anything pickled, mustard, tomato soup, tofu, anything spongy, and hot dogs (mmm...mechanically separated parts). Although the act of listing my dislikes makes me realize that I am only proving my friend's theory/myth about me.

Anyway, Faith decided a while ago that she is going to turn me from a whitebread Utah suburbanite into a cosmopolitan foodie (isn't it cute that she actually thinks that is possible!). So we started a monthly ethnic lunch—she originally proposed calling it the "let's make Kristin eat like a big girl" monthly lunch). So far we've had Indian and Thai food. I had tried both of these years before so I wasn't completely unprepared for the experiences. I've discovered I do like Indian food but not Thai food. While I generally liked the flavor of the Thai, I had a hard time with the texture.

For May, we decided (correction: Faith decided) to go to a Japanese restaurant and sushi bar. I didn't see the point in having a Japanese lunch because I love teriyaki and tepanyaki style meat, but I guess that wasn't good enough. So about a week ago we went to a local Japanese restaurant (I'm not going to give the name of the place because I think it would be unfair for me to rate their food). Even though Faith promised me beforehand that she would not make me eat any seafood, I was still nervous. While I have always found Japanese food to be beautifully presented, I've never thought it looked that appetizing.

We started off with a Tempura sampler (basically fried vegetables, calamari and shrimp). I was definitely underwhelmed by the tempura veggies. I thought they tasted fine but would have actually liked them better without the deep frying. Next it was miso soup. I thought it was pretty yummy except I kept getting distracted by the nasty floating cubes of tofu. For the main entree I ordered the Tonkatsu lunch special. Tonkatsu is a breaded pork loin cut into thin strips. I couldn't decide whether I liked it or not because the meat was very tough (Faith said that is not normal); I'm pretty sure I would have enjoyed the flavor more if I hadn't had to work so hard to chew the meat. Fortunately, the Tonkatsu was served in a bento box (like the picture above) with rice, California rolls, pot stickers, and slightly pickled cucumbers. I like rice and pot stickers so they were safe. I was not a fan of the cucumbers (remember my abhorrence of all things pickled). Finally, I had to eat the California rolls (essentially an inside-out sushi roll with imitation crab meat). I gingerly placed one in my mouth and discovered within .5 seconds that I HATE fake seafood as much as real seafood. It was all I could do to swallow it and not spew it all over my cute bento box. A few minutes later I decided to try the California roll again so I could say that I really did make an effort. My second attempt was no better than the first. I boxed up the leftovers from my lunch (and there were plenty) and took them home with the idea to try the food again in the privacy of my own kitchen. Basically, I had the same reaction to the California roll at home as I did at the restaurant except I was able to spit out the half-chewed glob into my sink.

So here are my conclusions. Do I like Japanese food? Yes and no. Would I ever choose to go to a Japanese restaurant? Absolutely not. Would I ever go to a Japanese restaurant again if friends wanted to? Yes, but I'd stay clear of the tofu, seafood (fake and real) and California rolls unless our table was unusually close to the bathroom.

(Note to Faith: thank you for trying to improve my palette and expand my culinary horizons. While I am not having as much success as either of us wants I do appreciate your help.)

The Backfiring of Handy Manny

Until about 2 months ago, Peter has not been a fan of TV; rarely anything would grab his attention for longer than 30 seconds (with the exception of Olympic diving). Generally he would ignore the TV completely and I was happy with that...until recently. Peter is becoming increasingly curious and clingy, meaning I cannot do ANYTHING without him being right there with me. While I love my son and appreciate his "help" when cleaning, I really wanted just 20 minutes a day to myself to do fun things like wash dishes or scrub the kitchen floor (I lead a very exciting life).

At the end of February I started Cartoon Campaign 2009. My idea was that if I could get Peter to watch 1 episode of some cartoon in the morning I could have that blissful freedom for at least a short while. So I started poking around the Disney Channel and Nickelodeon for possible candidates. After weighing the pros and cons of the various shows (ie. animation style, colors, characters, age appropriateness, music, storylines, level of annoyingness, etc.) I narrowed it down to 2 shows: Handy Manny on Disney and The Backyardigans on Nickelodeon (yes, I overthink things!). So everyday after breakfast I would sit with Peter on my lap and watch one of those shows. At first we would only watch a few minutes slowly increasing the time daily. Soon Peter showed a definite preference for Handy Manny and would watch an entire episode with me (each episode is composed of two 12 minute segments). Then for a week I sat next to him as Peter watched Hanny Manny, eventually working my way farther from him each day. After about a month of this conditioning, Peter finally would watch 24 minutes of TV everyday by himself. SUCCESS!

Unfortunately, my plan was a little too successful. Now Peter is absolutely obsessed with Handy Manny. He has turned the sign for "more" into the Handy Manny sign. Now all day I rebuff his desperate attempts to watch the show all day (I'm convinced he would watch 3 hours straight if I let him). And of course I exacerbated the problem by buying Peter a Handy Manny toolset. My plan has completely backfired on me; I think I would rather give away my 24 minutes of me time each day to not have to listen and watch Peter beg all day for his beloved Handy Manny. I guess this is what I get for trying to control my son.

Peter watching Handy Manny with his toolbox.

Make Up Your Mind!

I love winter with its quiet snowy days and chilly nights. And I love spring with its mild sunny weather and bright botanical pageantry. But I struggle with the "in between" weather. Cold and rainy one day, blistering hot the next. 50 mph winds on Thursday, suffocatingly still air on Friday, blizzard on Saturday. Make up your freakin' mind! And to think my mom thought I was indecisive when trying to pick out what to wear to school every morning. My fickle nature seems downright stable and predictable when compared to mother nature. It's very frustrating trying to explain to a 2 year old that we can't go outside because its subarctic out there when the previous day we spent 23 hours on the swingset. In fact the only good thing about the ever changing weather is that Peter can continue to wear his adorable hat from Oma P. I can't help but smile when I see Peter running around with it on.

My Blogging Problem

Hello...is anyone out there? If not, I completely understand; generally a 2 month absence does not fall under the heading of "Brief Blogging Respite." I was worried this would happen when I started my blog last fall. I've never been good at journaling or friendly correspondence. In fact abysmal failure is an appropriate way to describe myself when it comes to returning e-mails, writing family and friends, keeping a journal, recording important dates and milestones for Peter, etc. I even have a hard time with Facebook (the simplest of all mediums).

Let me describe for you my typical thought process when receiving an email:
1) Wow, it's so nice to hear from _____. I love knowing what's happening in ____'s life.
2) I must write _____.
3) Oh, wait. My response needs to be as equally lovely as the original.
4) Crap, I don't have time for that right now—I'll do that later.
5) Hmm...it's 1 week later, I should write _____ back now. Wait, since I rudely have waited a week to respond, it needs to be even better and longer than I planned. Eh, I'll do it later.
6) Crap, crap, crap! Now it's been months and I still haven't responded. Now I have to write a long newsy epistle. It needs to be perfectly crafted with clever wit, insightful observations, amusing anecdotes, and satirical reports on my life. That's going to be difficult. I think I'll do it later.
7) Now, it's been 8 years. It would be embarrassing to respond now. I hate myself.

Yep, basically some variation of the above goes on in my pathetic little mind when faced with recording my life with words. As you can see I have a huge problem with procrastination and perfection. I'm so overwhelmed by my need for perfection that I procrastinate doing anything. But I foolishly thought that the public nature of blogging would apply enough pressure for me to overcome my neuroses (well, at least 2 of them).

Unfortunately, I failed to account for the obvious: numerous people reading my blog would compound the need for perfection, thus sending my procrastination into overdrive. And I also made the foolish mistake of thinking my son would let me within 10 feet of the computer while he's awake. And I didn't realize that my son would become an insomniac forcing me to grab the nearest pillow whenever he actually sleeps, leaving me very little computer time. And I didn't account for the fact that fatigue plus life would leave me in a bit of a melancholic state for several months. Oh well.