well, hello strangers.

I haven't been blogging much lately because I just can't seem to find the time to do more than the Weekly Check-in and Montessori Monday posts. January was a really hectic month for me and I'm hoping February brings more peace, balance and opportunities to reflect on this life that seems to be whipping by (hey, there is an extra day this month - that has to count for something, right?). Anyway, a couple of you requested "more Kale" in recent comments, so - here you are! 

• We started toilet training on the weekend. I'm a bit panicked about the issue since Kale MUST be toilet trained to start his new school in September. I know - September is far away - I know, I know! But I'm a planner (and a panicker) and so I can't help but worry about this faaaaar in advance. Anyway, we decided to give it a shot this weekend and see how it went. Kris and I were both totally shocked at the end of the weekend when Kale had only had one accident. He hasn't had any accidents at home this week (school is a different story) and he's running to the toilet on his own when he has to go. This also means that we have a naked toddler running around our house all the time. I know that we still have a long road ahead of ourselves, but I think we got a great start. 

• Kale is obsessed with Pingu. Kale has shown little to no interest in television up to this point. The only time he ever watches is when he eats his breakfast in the morning and I'm trying to get ready for work. I normally put on Dinosaur Train, but I could put on the Chinese news station and he wouldn't care. Then along came Pingu. Now it's "mo can-gu, mo can-gu" whenever we turn the tv on. Not familiar with Pingu? It's a stop-motion claymation series about a family of penguins. There are no words. It's thrilling - watch for yourself: Pingu video. 

 

• Kale is dealing with some separation anxiety. At school last week he cried the entire morning, two days in a row. Thankfully the third day he seemed back to his normal self, but drop offs have been tough. He is so excited to go to school, but as soon as we get there he starts to panic and clings on to me. I literally have to peel a screaming, red-faced toddler off me and pass him to his teacher to get out of there. Thankfully he's only crying for 2 or 3 minutes and then calms down and enjoys the rest of his day. Still, it's really, really hard and I miss my happy boy that would point to the door and tell me to "go!" when I dropped him off. 

The truth is, Kale is the coolest person that I know and every day he gets more and more awesome. Kris and I are continually astounded at how lucky we are to have this little man-baby live with us. Even if he is naked all the time.  

Montessori Monday: Texture Boards

I'm so glad that I started linking up with Montessori Monday hosted at Living Montessori Now. Every week there are so many amazing idea's that parents are sharing and I've found a lot of great new blogs to follow. If I'm not following you, please, please leave your url and I'll definitely add you to my blog reader! 

Activity: texture boards (sensorial exercise)


Age: 20 months

Materials: I made these boards myself using some wood boards I found at the craft store. I glued on pieces of felt, sandpaper, bumpy paper and foam sheets. You can purchase texture boards (or 'tablets') if you prefer, but these were a super easy DIY. 

Purpose: The purpose of the Montessori Sensorial curriculum is to teach the child how to explore the world around him, in order to better appreciate it. Activities are designed to isolate one sense at a time, to refine it, so that the child can discern the slightest differences. Touch activities teach the child to identify, match, and grade textures, using only his sensitized fingers.

Read more at Suite101: Teaching Texture in Montessori: The Tactile Sensorial Activities | Suite101.com http://andreacoventry.suite101.com/teaching-texture-in-montessori-a107507#ixzz1kuIoeDBk

Since Kale is still pretty young and his focus for things that don't "do" something is minimal, I kept this exercise simple and let him lead the way. Since he's really into taking things out and putting them away, I let him explore the box of boards without much of a presentation. He was immediately curious about the different textures, but as suspected, the boards didn't capture his attention for too long!

We spent some time showing him how to rub his fingers across each board very lightly (too heavy and he'd numb the nerves in his fingers and not be able to feel the different textures). As we did each one, we practiced saying "rough," "smooth," and "soft." 

Once he got a grasp on the new words, we were able to ask him questions so he could point out the correct board. We started with, "which one is smooth?" but then found we could keep his attention longer if we asked things like "which one is soft like Bubbie's (the cat) face?" "Which one feels rough like papa's beard?" 

I plan to make duplicates of these boards so we can working on matching exercises in the future and at that point we can try adding a blindfold so we can isolate his touch sense. 

weekly check-in

I totally fell off the wagon this week! I'm really having trouble keeping on top of work, school (did I mention I'm taking a class on Monday nights? In Toronto? DOWNTOWN Toronto? Which involves me driving through rush hour after working a full day?!), the house and managing to still spend quality time with Kris and Kale. My new assistant starts tomorrow (sounds fancy, but totally is not) and so I'm anticipating another couple of crazy weeks until we figure out what we're doing (I'm anticipating our time to go something like this: me: "Umm, excuse me, uhhh, yes, please, do you mind, uh? doing something for me?" Her: "uh, yeah, that's what you pay me for, right?" me: "umm, well, techincally, yes, but uhh, oh nevermind, I can do it! You relax!"). Anyway, here's the weekly run down: 

#janphotoaday

I totally failed this week, which only increases my utter awe for those who manage to do 365(+1) projects. I can't even last a month! I only managed to take two photo's for the challenge this week:

"guilty pleasure" Bacon Avocado Tomato Havarti Sandwich from With the Grain. Seriously the best sandwich I've ever eaten (and I've eaten a lot of sandwiches). The guilty part? $15 for lunch. 

"inside your fridge" produce, beer, juice - essentials.

'Tis a lesson you should heed, if at first you don't succeed, try, try again. 

That's right - despite my January failure, I'm still going to try this: 

  Who's in???

2012 Declutter Calendar

This weeks tasks were all about declutter storage shelves, which for us, means the basement. However, Kris has told me that the basement is off limits for me. He's been working on decluttering that space since we moved in back in May. Besides, after decluttering the linen closet last week, I got hooked on closets and ended up doing mine, Kris's & Kale's. I don't have photo's of those to share, but did promise to post one of the linen closet once I finished (which I'm sure you've all been losing sleep over in anticipation): 

 

 

 

 I really should have taken a before shot, because this closet was a hot mess. I managed to get three bins of random medications and toiletries into one big bin and used the two smaller ones for my hair dryer and flat iron and the other for shampoo's and whatnot. I purchased the new laundry bins which fit just about perfectly in the closet (we actually had to remove the trim around the bottom). 


Sometimes I just open this closet and stare at it. It brings me peace. 

Menu Planning

So I swear we ate this week, I'm just not totally sure what.... We only ended up cooking three meals off the menu plan, ordering in one night, making a quick pasta another and I have no idea what happened the other two nights. 


Chicken w/ Balsamic Bruschetta Vegetables


Natural Noshing has quickly become one of my favourite food blogs in the past few weeks. Like the other recipes I've tried from here, this one was simple, quick and full of flavour. 

Portobello and Black Bean Enchiladas w/ Roasted Poblano Sauce


I was about 10 minutes into this recipe before I realized that it was not a weeknight meal. During the week we have about 45 minutes from prep to plate to make dinner before people (ok, me and Kale) start snapping and getting cranky from hunger. To be fair, it does suggest making the sauce in advance, but I have a tendency not to read the full instructions before I dive in. In the end, I was totally glad I did make this because it was delicious AND there was enough for me to have for lunch the next day (HUGE bonus for me). I used a cubanelle pepper instead of poblano and feta instead of queso fresco and it was absolutely perfect. 

Sweet Potato Chicken Curry


Again, I should have read the instructions before taking this one. It required 1.5 hours of simmering and so we ended up eating a quick pasta and finished this up to have for dinner the next night. As far as curries go, this was not a favourite. I like a bit of spice and this one didn't deliver. However, it was packed full of good stuff that Kale loves - peas, chickpeas, sweet potatoes, chicken and carrots - and he gobbled it up.

What's on the menu this week: 

Orange Chicken
Baked Potato Grilled Cheese
Bacon Lettuce Avocado & Turkey Sandwich w/ Spicy Chipotle Mayo
Chicken Fajitas 



 

Montessori Monday: Threading Beads

I really enjoyed participating in last week's Montessori Monday hosted by Living Montessori Now. I found some really great Montessori and Montessori-inspired activities to try with Kale in the future and also gained a few new followers (hello! welcome!). 

Last week Kale came down with a really terrible flu. We kept him home from school most of the week and took it easy. We did have several instances where he thought he was feeling better and started running around and playing and then we learned the hard way that he was still pretty sick (read: he threw up all over us. Twice.). So for this weeks activity, I was looking for something that would keep him calm and focused. 

Activity: threading beads

Age: 20 months

Materials: pipe cleaners, wooden beads, bowl, tray

Purpose: development of fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, development of patience and concentration

I've seen a few beading kits for 3+ (like this one and this one), which I think will be great down the road when Kale is more into sorting and can handle the string. To avoid frustration, I thought you would be able to better handle putting beads on a pipe cleaner and it worked great!

Kale really focused hard on getting each bead on and was thrilled when he was able to slip the pipe cleaner into the bead. I love to watching his reaction and seeing how proud he is of himself.

As he gets older, we can paint the beads and try sorting them on different pipe cleaners and use them for counting exercises. We'll also try string as his fine motor skills improve.

Does anyone have any other good idea's for working with beads and threading for this age group? I'd love to hear some suggestions!

Check out other great idea's by clicking on the button below:

weekly check-in

I really didn't do much blogging this week because Kale has been sick with a pretty bad flu. Every time I think he's showing signs of getting better, he tells us he's not. How does a 20 month old tell you he isn't feeling better? By throwing up avocado all over you. 

#janphotoaday

I found this challenge really easy to keep on top of when I was on vacation at the start of the month, but now I'm finding it harder and harder to remember to do. I cheated a couple times this week by taking two photo's in one day and using a picture I took with my DSLR.

 

(Top: morning; Middle L-R: water; something you bought; sweet; Bottom L-R: someone you love; reflection; shoes)

2012 Declutter Calendar 


Again, this was much easier to stay on top of when I was on vacation! Most of the tasks this week were around cleaning out bathroom drawers and getting rid of old products (skin care, meds, etc.). We don't have much storage space in our bathroom and so we keep most of our bathroom stuff in our linen closet. With no time during the week to get things done, I decided to tackle the entire closet on Saturday. 


The problem with decluttering is that I'm the type of person that likes to start from scratch. I scour pinterest for great idea's on how to organize and then I want to throw everything we own in the trash and buy everything new. Unfortunately our budget doesn't agree with this method and so often I've got to work with what I've got. In this case, it's our array of mismatched towels and linens and random half-packs of every cold medication under the sun. 


Things are looking much better, but there are a few little things that I'd like to get to make the closet that much more organized and clutter free. I'll post a picture later this week to share the results! 


Menu Planning


Every now and then I make a menu plan and everything on it turns out amazing and this was that kind of week! 


Review of what we cooked last week (with photos!): 

Easy Quinoa Vegetable Stir Fry 
I was super skeptical about this one since it seems to lack vegetables. I added an extra zucchini that we had hanging out in the fridge and I suppose you could add anything you like, but we just went with what was listed and the zucchini. I also didn't add nuts because, well, I hate nuts in hot food. It's weird. Anyway - it was really easy to make and it was bursting with flavour. I thought that maybe it wouldn't be enough as a meal, but Kris and I were both pretty satisfied (Kale is on a hunger strike due to the flu this week). 

Ole' Chicken Skillet
I forgot to take a picture of this one, which is too bad because it looked and tasted amazing! This recipe is definitely getting added to our favourite one dish meals! Again, I was skeptical because this really looked like winter comfort food and then it suggested adding avocado, cilantro, sour cream and tomatillo salsa. It just seemed an odd combo. But guess what? It totally worked!!! My mouth is watering just thinking of this one....

Roasted Chicken Wraps with Black Bean Salsa & Guacamole
I was really excited for this one because I love Annie's Eats blog! However, it was probably at this point that I realized I was likely killing Kris with the cilantro and avocado (he's not as much of a fan as I am - but really, who is?). Unfortunately, I think this meal suffered from a lack of super fresh ingredients. It was good, but likely would have been better if the cilantro was fresher and the guacamole was spicier (we left out the jalapeno for Kale who continued his hunger strike and didn't end up eating anyway). 

 

Cilantro & Lime Fish Tacos 

Closet Cooking is another one of my favourite food blogs and so I was looking forward to this one too! Like many of the other recipes from this site, this one did not disappoint. Kris told me that this was the best fish taco he's ever had (to be fair, I think this is the third fish taco he's tried). The cilantro lime crema was the perfect touch and totally worth the extra few steps. 

What's on the menu this week:

I'm attempting to give Kris a break from the cilantro/lime/avocado combos this week...unfortunately I think I might have overdone with the chicken recipes....

Chicken w/ bruschetta vegetables 

Orange chicken 

Baked potato grilled cheese 

Sweet potato chicken curry

Portabello and black bean enchiladas

 

Montessori Monday: Water Pouring

A few weeks ago I was looking online for a sandpaper letters tutorial and stumbled across Living Montessori Now. This blog, written by a certified Montessorian, is FULL of Montessori inspired activities and hosts an amazing Montessori Monday link-up. I've been wanting to share on this blog more of the Montessori activities we work on at home and so I've decided to link up as often as I can. 


First of all, I have to say that I am by no means a Montessori expert. Kale started attending Montessori school in September at 16 months and we have been so pleased with the program and how well Kale has responded. For us, we found the Montessori method to be a natural fit with our attachment parenting style and so while we may not have been intentionally practicing Montessori since birth per se, we find a lot of the theory behind Montessori and AP to overlap.

Before Kale started Montessori, I did a lot of reading (specifically 'Montessori Method' by Maria Montessori and 'Montessori from the Start' by Paula Polk Lillard and Lynn Lillard Jessen) before coming to the conclusion that it was the right fit for us. Since he started at Montessori, we've had the opportunity to observe him work at school, attend some parent-information nights, and I've continued reading (both books and blogs) to learn along with Kale. Now, on to our activity! 



Activity: Water pouring.


Materials: wooden tray, two ceramic pouring cups, two tin pouring cups with handles, sponge, two glass bowls. 


Purpose: to develop the muscles involved in pouring; to teach the child to pour from pitcher to cup in a neat fashion; to teach self-reliance.

For those of you new to Montessori, the three part lesson was developed by Maria Montessori as a way to help the child to better understand the materials and to allow you to see how well the child is grasping and absorbing what you are showing him (from 'Teaching Montessori in the Home' by Elizabeth G. Hainstock). 

Part 1: Recognition of identity

Make the association between the object being shown and its name. "This is....." Repeat until you feel that the child understands the association. 

 

Part 2: Recognition of contrasts

To assure that the child understands, say "show me the....."  

 

Part 3: Discrimination between similar objects

See if the child remembers the name himself. Point to the various objects, saying "what is this?" He should be able to say the name correctly. If not, help him. Repeat until he is able to do it.  

Kale absolutely loved this activity! It's amazing to watch his focus and concentration when working on pouring the water. He's 20 months, so his attention span is short, but he worked on this for at least an hour and wanted to do it again 30 minutes after we finished. It did get messy at times, but I gave him a towel and encouraged him to clean up his spills which he was happy to do. 


The best part of it all? Watching him work on an activity that he gets so much joy and satisfaction from. It instills a sense of pride and accomplishment in him. It encourages him to be independent. It literally makes my heart swell watching him. 

weekly check-in

This week was crazy.

• I returned to work after three weeks of vacation to over one hundred emails. 
• The student that is interning with me until June started on Tuesday and I didn't have a work plan ready for her. 
• I spent all day Wednesday interviewing potential assistants for my job. 
• I toured a new school for Kale to start in September. 
• I started two courses for a certificate program I'm taking (one requiring me to drive downtown Toronto during rush hour). 
• I blogged almost every day for the home tour series. 
• I had a migraine on Friday morning that had be hugging the toilet at 2am and struggling through the rest of the day in a gravol induced coma. 

The good parts? 

• I hired an assistant for work. 
• I think I found a school for Kale (more on this in a future blog post). 
• Kris, Kale and I had a visit from our friends Steve & Emily that included Nana coming over to watch Kale while the adults went out for dinner. 

Here's the rest of my weekly check-in: 

#janphotoaday

If you're on Instagram and you'd like to follow me, search "Randalin." 

(TM: routine; MR: childhood; MM: where you sleep; ML: close up; BR: in your bag; BM: something you're reading; BR: happiness)

2012 Declutter Calendar: 


If you're interested in the 2012 Declutter Calendar, you can find it at My Simpler Life. I got off easy this week because most of the days were about cleaning your nightstand (don't have one), under the bed (our bed is on the floor), and cleaning a shelf in the bedroom (did it last week!). Our main task was to clean out our junk drawer and then organize it. I was torn about this one because even though our junk drawer is a total disaster, sometimes we take it out and put it on the floor and let Kale explore it while we're trying to cook. It's one of our main distraction tools in the kitchen! In the end, I stuck with the calendar and tackled the job yesterday morning while Kris was at the gym. I didn't take a before picture because it was down right embarrassing, but I did take an after shot because I'm pretty proud:

I had all of the stuff that needed to be re-assigned a space or thrown out on the counter and decided to let Kale have one last kick at the can. I pulled up a kitchen chair and he went to town looking through it all. While he was amused, I decided to clean out the fridge. It's one of Kris's weekend chores and since he'd let me sleep in for a bit in the morning, I thought I'd get the fridge done while he was at the gym. I was working away and Kale was quite content making a mess of the mess. I was having a moment of "wow, look at me. Clean junk drawer, happy kid, doing Kris's chores. I'm pretty amazing. I CAN DO IT ALL." 

And then I heard a "swoosh" sound and look over just in time to see Kale dump an entire box of cereal on the counter and proceed to cut it up with his wooden toy knife. 

Menu Planning

Since I forgot to take into account that I would be at school one evening and ended up throwing some chicken nuggets in the oven another night when I was still recovering from my migraine, we didn't get through all the meals on last weeks menu plan. 

Review of what we cooked last week (with photos!): 

Garlic Bacon Artichoke Pizza

We've made some pretty amazing homemade pizza around here and I have to say that this one disappointed. It didn't pack much flavour and if it wasn't for the bacon, it would have been a total fail. Verdict: did the trick, but wouldn't bother making it again. 

Honey Glazed Chicken Sandwich

This was great because it was really, really fast. There was no marinading involved, which is good for me since I always get home at 5pm and realize something should have been marinading since 2pm. Verdict: good for a quick dinner. 

Cajun Chicken Pasta

We rarely ever eat pasta with cream based sauces, but I'm glad we made an exception for this one. The recipe was really straightforward and it made enough for us to have seconds and lunches for the next day. The chicken was a tad too spicy for Kale, but he devoured the pasta. Verdict: definitely on our make again list - but not for awhile. It's pretty heavy on the dairy (good if you're trying to pack the calcium into your little one, bad if you have a lactose sensitivity and don't want to gain 8 pounds in one sitting). 

Shredded Beef Taco

This one was an easy sell for me. Cilantro, lime and avocado - pretty much all of my favourite things to eat. This was soooo easy and perfect for a Sunday (because who doesn't love to smell roast beef cooking all day long on a Sunday??). We served our tacos with tomatillo, sour cream, avocado, lettuce, mozzarella, cilantro and lime and they were amazing. The only bad thing was that we were left with a massive pile of beef. Verdict: nom, nom, nom. We'll make this again, but with half the beef. 

What's on the menu this week: 

Quinoa stirfry 

Chicken skillet

Roasted chicken wraps w/ black bean salsa & guacamole

Cilantro and lime fish tacos

home tour: where we relax

It's day four of the home tour and today's theme is "where you & your family relax." If you missed the earlier posts you can look back here: 

day 01: where we eat 

day 02: where we sleep

day 03: where we work & play

We just moved to this house in May, shortly after our parental leave ended and Kris and I both were back to working full-time. We literally had no time to put into making this house our "home" in terms of design. After a few months here I wasn't convinced that this was the perfect place for us and I had no motivation to put any work into the house. Kale's bedroom was pretty much the only space we put any real effort into and it was the room we tended to spend our time relaxing in as a family. 

A month ago our living room was very different. We had a dark brown couch, large dark wood bookcases, heavy curtains and a tiny tv. I began to detest the dark space so much that I didn't even want to sit in the room. 

After a couple days off work, I decided I couldn't stand it any longer. Kris and I scrounged up our pennies, dropped Kale off at his grandparents, and hit up Ikea. To be totally honest, I thought that by this point in my life I would have moved on from buying furniture at Ikea, but that's just not reality. Besides, I really did look at quite a few other furniture stores and didn't see anything I liked. 

We got rid of EVERYTHING from our old living room and started from scratch. The room looks a little sparse right now, but starting with the basics has inspired me to add some personal touches and consider staying in this house a little bit longer... 

 

 

There is another place that we relax.....the bathroom. 

 

The only place I get to use the bathroom without an audience is at work, so clearly it's not me relaxing here. Kris, however, logs some serious iPhone time here. 

 
I LOVE a hot bath, a glass of wine and a good book. I try to get in there once every couple weeks for a good soak and to warm my bones. 


Tomorrow: favourite parts of your home! 

home tour: where we work & play

It's day three of the home tour series being hosted by Our Journey! I have to be honest - I'm pretty impressed with myself that I've been able to stick with this. I'm normally lucky to get one post a week in and here I am posting every day. If you missed Monday's post - "where we eat" - you can check it out HERE and Tuesday's post - "where we sleep" is HERE.

In our house there are four floors - an unfinished basement, the main floor with the kitchen, living area and dining room, the second floor with two rooms and the bathroom, and then a large open space in the attic. It took us a long time to figure out what to do with the second floor and attic and we've moved the rooms around a lot. We've just recently merged our office and bedroom to free up space to put in a playroom for Kale. It is sooooooo nice to have the majority of his stuff in one area that is organized and made just for him. I'm planning to do a more thorough tour of this space in the future with some explanation of the thought I put into designing it - so consider this a sneak peek! 

Remember yesterday's 'where we sleep' post when I showed Kale's amazing bedroom and our totally blah bedroom? Yeah, ditto with our work spaces. Kale has a great, new, well designed work space, and our work space is, well, it's this: 

 

Kris and I used to have separate work spaces, but we gave one up to Kale. Now we have a desk in our bedroom. Hrmph. The good part is that the desk fits in a nook that has a window that spans the space, giving us an amazing view of the neighborhood from the fourth floor. From his space, Kale only has a view of the neighbourhood from the third floor. HAH! We still retain the upper hand......(right?!). 

Tomorrow's theme: where we relax!