MacGyver and the Nip-Napper

MacGyver

My oldest seems to take after his father in many respects, both positive and negative. My husband is an amazing 'Jack-of-all-trades' and fixes, or finds someone to help him fix nearly everything around our house. His ability to repair & do handiman jobs is one of the traits I appreciate so much. Our son is trying to be just like his Papa. He takes whatever 'tools' he finds, sometimes hit toy tools and sometimes random utensils from the kitchen, to 'fix' his toy cars and trucks. The other day, he informed me that he was 'fixing' his toy car. I mumbled some positive reply and continued with the laundry. Sometime later, he appeared with a door-less, window-less toy car and proudly informed me that he had 'modified' his BMW. I asked what tools he had been using and he produced our wine opener and a tea-ball-strainer. How my 3 year old  managed to remove toy car doors & a windshield with those household objects, I will never know. I think that even MacGyver would have been impressed with those skills!

The 'tools' and removed car parts

The Nip-Napper

My husband and I LOVE the affectionate kisses, slobbers and hugs we receive from our two boys. As they have grown, those small acts of affection have changed from an open-mouthed, silent, slobbery sucking action to a quick hug or a silent peck on the cheek. Our favorite is the "AAAHH-BWAAAH!" kiss that our boys gave us from around 10 months through to 2 years. My husband enjoyed it so much, that he re-taught our 3 year old to kiss that way, even though he had started kissing normally with a slight smacking sound. Our younger son has just started giving those slightly slobbery "AAH-BWAH" kisses. He seems to notice that we like them & enjoys giving them to us repeatedly, especially after naps. However, recently he's started starting with the "AAH" part of the kiss and leans in as though to kiss, but does a large chomp on my shoulder or cheek. With only 4 teeth, he manages to clench his jaw so tightly that it inflicts a huge amount of pain. As a result, I shriek "OUCH!" He lets go & smiles at me. He got what he wanted: an exciting response. Regardless, we will continue to enjoy all those physical tokens of affection while we can because we know that a day will soon come when they won't want to be hugging or kissing us anymore.

Long Overdue: Father's Day

My husband is a wonderful Father. His parenting skills extend from wrestling diapers onto a wriggly baby to wrestling with a rambunctious pre-schooler, from re-wiring a baby mobile to re-routing wiring, so that the children won't be able to attack it, from creating simple meals when Mama is at her wit's end to simply putting up with Mama at her wit's end, from disposing of dead birds to reposing with earphones and a squalling newborn, and the list goes on. He's my 'Knight in Shining Armour' on many an evening when my patience has worn thin and the boys are heading into 'the witching hour'. He's devoted and dedicated to his family which means so much to me, especially in an era when the only thing anyone seems devoted or dedicated to is pleasing themselves, or making themselves look and feel better.

Each year since he become a father, we've made him a handprint in clay as a present from our oldest son. With 2 children, that would be a lot of clay and not easy to display, so we painted a picture for him, using handprints. It includes all three of our handprints and took more than a week to complete since each of the boys could only do a few prints at a time before getting bored, and because a lot of layering was needed. However, I was pleased with the end result. My oldest can't see the whole picture & when asked what it's a painting of, he says very matter-of-factly, "Handprints!"

Eat, Manger, Essen...

My boys all enjoy their food. My husband savours his Italian pasta. He spends hours using every pot and utensil in the kitchen to spatter tomato sauce on cupboards, floors, ceilings and walls with the sole purpose of creating "Papa's special sauce" as my oldest has named it. I have to admit that it does taste pretty good & I do appreciate having containers full of pasta sauce in my freezer.

My 3 year old loves eating pasta - almost any kind - and will eat enough for 2 adults if he's really hungry. He also loves pizza, end enjoys helping Mama make it; he actually just eats all the grated mozarella cheese and drives his cars through the flour while I make it, but to him, it's 'helping'.

My youngest must enjoy the feeling of food spraying past his lips & onto every object in a 1 meter radius, including whoever is feeding him. He loves eating & our grocery bill has definitely increased since he started on solids, but I am convinced that I end up wearing more than half of the food I prepare for him!

Today, I made Calzone. It's the Italian version of an English pasty or an American pizza-pocket, but don't say that to an Italian! My son  loved the fact that the cheese was 'hiding' inside the pizza. I just used my regular pizza dough, rolled very thin into small rounds & then popped on my filling (bacon & cheese & pizza sauce). Then I folded the circles in half and pressed the sides together well. I put them on a very well oiled baking sheet & put them into a hot oven until they were golden. YUM! Later, I prepared a pear raspberry tart for tomorrow (the original recipe is apricot & pear from Real Simple, but I changed the topping & added a chocolate base, instead of just almond).

All that, just to say we each enjoy our food in different ways.

Inflation, deflation and re-flation

Deflation
My poor garden has been 'deflated' by the never ceasing hot winds which bring heaps of dust, sand and rubbish into our yard. Despite the high walls and copious watering, my poor plants look weary and withered. I've spent several trips to the 'plant souq' asking for plants that will last the summer, but to no avail. They all seem to 'deflate' in a few days. I found some hardier looking varieties today, so we'll see how they survive.

Deflation and Re-flation
My oldest son recently asked, "Mama, are you putting on your swim-boobies?" as I was putting on my bikini top. I explained what a bikini is, but the term 'swim-boobies' stuck. I suppose that lovely push-up bikini top or 'personal floatation device' (bought at La vie en Rose Aqua ) which helps my 'girls' stay 'afloat' instead of sinking down to my navel has been aptly re-named.

Inflation
The cost of living where we live has been increasing dramatically. As we watch our grocery bills soar and other expenses from gas to education rise, we wonder how long we can afford this. We've started a budget to keep track of exactly where everything goes. We estimated our expenses in particular areas and set a rough budget. We re-evaluated the budget a couple times, but in several areas (groceries, being one), we are forever over-spending. Part of the increase in spending is due to rising eating habits of growing young boys, and the increase in diaper sizes. However, the cost of a pack of diapers, and the cost for meat and veggies has also increased. At the moment, we have been managing to save a little, but we're not sure if the benefits of being here (monetary) outweigh the deficits (support of family and friends) anymore. When the boys start school, we will definitely be heading somewhere new.

I'm going to call my Daddy!

When I asked my oldest to clean up his toys yesterday, my darling boy announced, "I'm going to call my Daddy and ask him to take you away!" I nearly died laughing, so he shouted at me because he presumed I didn't understand. What HE didn't understand is that I wish his Daddy would come and take me away for a few hours or a day or a week! The discipline (not necessarily all bad things) that we inflict on our children are the very things that we wish we could have inflicted on us. I wish someone would make me sit down for 2minutes and do NOTHING! I wish someone would force me to take a nap. I wish someone would insist on preparing me a nice healthy meal. I wish someone would make me go to bed early. I think you get the picture!

This morning was Father's Day Baby Craft morning at our house, and I completely forgot to take pictures, so here's a picture of Tavian a month ago painting himself and his highchair with beetroot.

Something fantastic about Doha is the amount of free or very reasonably-priced children's and family activities that are available here. One event that we particularly enjoyed last month was the 'Kite Festival'. I tried to upload a short video, but something went wrong with the server - apologies!

Last night we made Salmon in Orange Sauce - made my own recipe with dill and garlic, but this link has an easy version, and Marillen/Aprikosen Knoedel with Streusel. Both of these are dishes that my husband dislikes, so we enjoyed them while he was out.

Why Men avoid Doctors

I have made a very significant discovery about why men avoid going to the Doctor. It all starts as children (doesn't everything?) when their mother's, who are converned about 'preventative medicine', begin dragging them to see the Doctor for colds, coughs, bumps and bruises. The bumps and bruises seem to increase as the boys grow. Then come the stitches and broken bones. A book which I recently read about raising boys (The Wonderful World of Boys) said that the primary goal of guardians and parents of boys was to keep them alive and from harming themselves or others until they are of legal age to take on that responsibility themselves. Needless to say, that in itself (never mind the instilling of values, etc) is an immense task. Mothers end up taking their sons to the emergency room far more often than they will take their daughters. Boys just like to push their physical limits. Back to men. It is my theory that since men have had SO many unpleasant experiences in Doctor's offices, clinics and hospitals as children, they try to avoid those places as adults. This is quite understandable! My own son has never enjoyed going to the Doctor, but since his stitches, he REALLY doesn't want to go - Case in point!

I made an easy & yummy lamb stew last night  from an Annabel Karmel cookbook I pureed it into soup for my boys, took out the meat chunks for my husband and everyone enjoyed it. I also made healthy brownies with spinach and carrot purees in them (from the Deceptively Delicious cookbook I mentioned in an earlier post).

One of THOSE days.

Well, it wasn't all bad, but the latter part of the afternoon was really one of THOSE days. Right after his friend left, my oldest, not wanting to leave the couch during the epic & gripping film 'Toy Story', decided to pee right where he was. How he got it on 4 cushions (2 seat cushion & 2 back cushions), I do not know! I tried to get him to go to the toilet to change & we had a meltdown. No, not just a minor crying episode. This was a full-blown, kicking & screaming, throwing & hitting tantrum. It lasted ages. I tried EVERYTHING.... talking, changing rooms, cuddling, quiet time, shower, my bed, calling Papa on the phone, etc. However, because there was so much screaming and upset, the little guy wasn't getting any attention and decided to scream as well. He wasn't hungry or overtired... just in a foul mood, I guess. Eventually my 'knight in shining armour' arrived and I retreated to my neighbor's with the younger one and the excuse of some books that I had promised to pass on to her. At least there was a bit of tranquility at her house, and by the time I returned, at ours as well.

The garden is suffering in the heat. Even the 'summer plants' I purchased recently are not doing so well. I think I will take the self-starters from last year's summer plants that keep popping up here and there, and transplant them to places where I want them. At least I know they'll last the summer.

I was so impressed with myself for getting dinner on (just Mushroom risotto... I make my own version, but here's a simple recipe http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/reallyeasymushroomri_70240), making dessert (home-made butterscotch pudding http://www.canadianliving.com/food/butterscotch_pudding.php) and baking simple cookies (a cross between macaroons and amaretti) all while having my oldest's friend over. Oh, I failed to mention that I fed my youngest his dinner as well (pureed apricots, chicken and butternut)!

Now, I'm off to do dishes and clean up the kitchen. No deep thoughts tonight! I am in desperate need of a tall adult beverage... something strong!