Plank

Over dinner recently, our family had a heated discussion about how hard (or not) it is to hold a pilates plank for a minute.  Mimi demonstrated the proper form for us and Dash got down on the floor to help.  Does it count as a plank if his belly touches the ground even when he pushes his arms off the ground?

I love you

Best sentence Dash has uttered to date? "I love you, mama."  Precious. 

There is a close runner-up, though.  He ran over to me recently and said "Mama mama!" then leaned in close to my ear and whispered very gravely "Cow named Max!"  He really loves those barnyard animals at the local science museum, especially the cow who is in fact named Max.

Napkins

We use what feels like 400 napkins a day at our house since Ella insists on a napkin with each meal and then usually asks for a few more as the first ones get a little dirty.  And since Dash wants to do everything Ella does, he always sits down and says "Na-kin!" until we bring him one of his own.  So in an effort to be a little more green, we have started using cloth napkins instead of paper napkins.   In an unexpected bonus, the kids have discovered that the cloth napkins make endless awesome dress-ups.  Check out their Russian grandmother cuteness at dinner tonight.

Things we are not ready for

Since we woke up this morning, it's been a rainy, dreary day, meaning that many of our usual special Saturday activities like walking to the Farmer's Market, spending time in the yard, taking a walk to visit friends, or going to the park didn't happen.  To make up for the fact that I spent the afternoon shopping by myself and the kids got dragged around on errands with Josh, I had the bright (or so I thought) idea that we could have family movie night after dinner.  Sounds really fun, right?  Everyone puts on their pajamas, we curl up on the couch to watch a movie, and we eat some kind of yummy treat.  I proposed the idea to Ella who was so excited about it she could barely sit still at dinner.  After we finished our turbot, sweet potatoes and green beans (lesson one:  eat a healthy dinner to make up for the movie snacks), she zoomed around the house picking up toys, putting on her pjs, and even giving herself a sponge bath.  She was undoubtedly super excited about movie night.  Dash had no idea what was happening, but every time we said "movie night," he said "Dashy coming!" so we decided to let him join us for the first little bit and then have the ultimate movie treat - popcorn mixed with peanut butter M&Ms - after he went to bed.

So onto the couch we went.  We showed Ella previews for Shrek, Toy Story, and The Incredibles, and she picked The Incredibles, I think because we told her the little boy in the story is named Dash.  The movie started and (our) Dash loved it.  He exclaimed loudly about everything he saw: "Big car!  Loud boom! Silly boy!" and was chattering with great enthusiasm pretty much constantly [Aside:  I have conveniently forgotten that with Ella, we didn't let her watch any television at all until she was two].  Ella was much quieter tonight although she did manage to ask every two minutes when we'd have treats. 

My first inkling that maybe this plan was not well-suited for our very young crew was when the first scene showed a chase scene between a bad guy and some police officers including guns and several loud building explosions.

My second inkling was when Ella started asking "Mommy, do you like this movie?"  I said yes and asked if she liked it.  The first time I got a yes, the second a kind of, and the third just a head tilt.  I finally asked her about 30 minutes in if she was bored, and she said that she was.  I probed a little more and it was clear that all she really wanted was some M&Ms and a familiar show from Nick Jr.

So maybe we picked the wrong movie.  Or maybe Ella's attention span just isn't ready for something more than her usual half hour, preschool-geared show.  In the end, I realized that while sometimes I feel like my kids are growing up SO fast that I can't even keep up, they are really still very little people and I shouldn't hurry the growing up part.

Eggplant Parmesan

Since I just wrote about how Ella rejected my middle eastern burgers tonight, I should be fair and give her credit for an excellent dinner moment earlier this week.  I'd made eggplant Parmesan, knowing that it might not be a meal that she or Dash would be very excited about, but with an abundance of tomato sauce in our freezer, eggplant in our farm box, and basil in our garden, it was an easy call.  Oh, and it's yummy, right?  Our family plan for the last several months has been to make food that we (as in the grown-ups) find delicious and healthy, and just to serve it to our kids without doctoring it for them or making them separate dishes.  If they eat what we make, great.  If they don't, well, they are unlikely to starve, especially if they look around the floor for all the cheerios that get dropped throughout the day.  Basically, Josh and I just decided that we want for us all to eat the same dinner together every night and we want to show our kids that all kinds of food can be yummy.  So on this particular night, I brought out the dish of eggplant parm to the screened porch where we were eating, and Ella looked at it very dubiously and said "Mama, can I pick out the eggplant?"  I told her that that would be awfully hard to do that so she should just eat whatever part of it she wanted.  Without any further prompting, she proceeded to eat one bite, then the entire helping.  She proclaimed it delicious and then asked for a second helping.   It was a family dinner MIRACLE, I tell you.  The next day she told my mom that at first she didn't think she liked eggplant Parmesan, but then she tried it, and she liked it!  Dash meanwhile, ate his serving, and then said "Mo pizza!  Mo pizza!"  Whatever, bud, you can call it anything you want as long as you keep eating it.

(And for anyone interested, the eggplant parm recipe from Cook's Illustrated is freaking delicious).

Omar again

I made hamburgers tonight with a middle eastern bent including a ton of spices and a bunch of fresh green herbs and onions chopped up finely in them (they were delicious, I thought).  Ella, however, took a few bites around the edge and left most of hers on the plate.  I asked her if she didn't like it or if she wasn't hungry, and her reply, with complete sincerity, was "Well, Mom, did you know that Omar does not like hamburgers that have vegetables in them?" 

Little boy

I don't know if it's the clothes, the haircut, or the three syllable words but Dashiell sure seems like a little boy rather than a baby these days.