1.5 weeks in pictures.

happy thanksgiving!  i know, we briefly fell off our diligent one post per week ritual...fortunately this is not because we were particularly busy over thanksgiving (three day weekend in exchange for working the holiday itself, not a bad deal), but because we were enjoying some serious relaxation and family time.  i really happen to love thanksgiving because it's truly a holiday to do just that--no religious obligation (unless you are david and devoutly practice footballism), no gift giving pressure, just a lot of warm smells and feelings.

a lot of people think of thanksgiving as a meal of strong tradition, a time to prepare old favorites with tastes to conjure fond memories, regardless of how time consuming (or fat laden) they might be.  as soon as i got really into cooking, i began to view this holiday instead as a time to revise those old favorites and to search for some new traditions.  culinary experimentation this year included a lot of roasting of vegetables...

...mixing of spices

...and new riffs on old favorites, like these bite-sized apple pies.

the big winner, as voted on by all participants in our meal, was this kale salad, which was a snap to make and is exactly what a heavy, starchy dinner needs.  green, bright, lemony and just enough heat to keep your tastebuds alive.  we will be making this frequently.

we did manage to squeeze in some exercise to offset all the eating and sitting, including a run with the kids in their newly insulated stroller:

as well as a surprise black friday evening in the high 50s that called for a nice long jog up and down the magnificent mile to check out the christmas window displays.

reese has continued with his forward motion, occasionally getting his belly off the ground (a true accomplishment), and has graduated to solid foods.  and by solid i mean breast milk with some rice cereal sprinkled in it.  i had forgotten how much i dislike feeding babies who don't know how to eat.  i just don't have the patience.  this is similarly a problem with my dysphasic patients, who look at me fearfully with food spilling out of their mouths and plead, "slow down!"  but, reese is getting used to the spoon, and is remaining open minded about prunes.

however, seeing as i'm convinced beyond reason that he's a perfect child and can do no wrong, i do not care about the food all over both of us, or the fact that he no longer takes naps in his bed.  lately his only naps are in somebody's arms, in his jumper because he fell asleep bouncing, or in the boppy because he fell asleep eating.  

my two professional cat nappers, one of whom turned 5 this weekend!

 
bean, who as we well know likes to mentally perfect any physical task before taking it on, reached for a spoon the other day and fed herself an entire bowl of yogurt.  remarkable.  each day into her toddlerhood she becomes more strong willed, so we are always searching for ways to make life run smoothly.  however, she also gets a little smarter, more engaged, and more fun as well, so it seems a fair trade.

exploring.

note the bruise from opening the door into her head.

my fierce peccary.

other than all the cooking and eating, we did manage to finish nani's birthday present (but forgot to take a picture of it unwrapped), 

as well as one of my xmas knits that i started a month ago.  it was horrifically tedious.  however, the only thanksgiving related sale i attended was at my neighborhood yarn shop, where i picked up a few skeins of this beautiful peruvian wool to make something nice for reese.  i stayed up late last night finishing my project, and as a reward today i made reese a quick little beanie just to play with the yarn.  it was a lot of fun seeing the patterns emerge...excited to make him another piece of some sort to match it.

 

anyhow, tomorrow it's back to the grind.  david (who is sitting next to me diligently fulfilling his word to read all of eating animals this weekend) and i will be back to work for a few days straight, but have high hopes of setting up the christmas tree sometime soon.  this officially marks the season wherein i can listen to christmas music nonstop totally unapologetically.  YES!

this week in pictures.

with very young kids, a lot of changes do happen in just a week's time.  for example, bean has gone from saying "NO" and vigorously shaking her head (in response to anything resembling an interrogative) to a gentle, soft, high pitched "no."  she appears to have long conversations with herself (also peppered with a fair amount of nos) that sounds an awful lot like speaking in tongues.  today i was being goofy with her and she looked at me and said, "no, mama."  she's already too cool for me.

my favorites!

reese is following the laws of physics; he's currently an object in motion that tends to stay in motion (whereas his sister stayed at rest for approximately 10 months).  he doesn't quite have the nimbleness of bean's ninja phase (think more along the lines of a tubby little salamander), but he is rolling, scooting, and nudging his way all over the apartment.  there's something really special about babies when they hit the 6 month mark and become giggly, slobbery little spheres of love.  david accurately described him the other day as "magically delicious."















we were off to a productive and exciting start with our first race together, a 10k around navy pier:

david ran much faster than we practiced...

...i ran much slower.

things got significantly less productive when bean cried/whined for 4 straight days.  unclear what was irking her, but it was a rather unpleasant time.  you can guess who the only person was continuing to adore her through her prolonged attitude problem:

the weather has been at times cool enough to keep us indoors (we saw the season's first snowflakes), although we've had two 60 degree days in mid november (that's weather karma for the 40s through the end of may).

magically delicious.

on the way to crawling and sitting like a pro.

 

 reading together.

 peek a boo.

 we're still working on hugs.

today was really the first in several that bean allowed me to accomplish anything, so we really geared up for maximal productivity.  much to her chagrin, i did finish her striped leg warmers, and in doing so have sufficiently distracted myself from my previous knitting project that now i'm eager to finish it.

 we also read through several catalogues to steal knitting ideas, read december bon appetit cover to cover (somewhat made up for the very disappointing thanksgiving issue), and finished eating animals.  i was overall really excited about this book.  it presents a lot of viewpoints and facts without being dry or overwhelming.  i have put it on david's required reading list--i think it does well to summarize not just the health, but a few key political, ethical, and moral reasons why i've chosen not to raise our children eating meat.

because some family members are harder to convince than those under the age of 2, i was happy to find leaping waters farm to provide us with a turkey this thanksgiving.  shipping a turkey halfway across the country isn't terribly efficient in any way, but at least this animal flew, scurried, pecked and mated without being genetically modified or pumped full of unnatural feed and antibiotics until its slaughter...a life known by far fewer than 1% of the turkeys that will star in thanksgiving spreads next week.  we are happy to support one of the few farms left with the ability to provide their animals with a good life and death.

this week, we are faced with the herculean task of choosing a thanksgiving menu...our work is cut out for us!

too cool for mom.

this week in pictures.

this week our little nuclear family was happily rejoined with its ruling monarch, princess bean, after a nice stay in michigan with her grandparents.  we were all very pleased to see her, but she was especially excited for her reunion with someone in particular...

we celebrated with a nice brunch for her return that happened to coincide with my parents' anniversary. it was a nice gathering with good fall food.  while cutting potatoes i got at the greencity market long ago to roast, i came across this cool little potato tree.  i love finding surprises (good ones...dead insects are less interesting to me) in my produce.

all four of us had sunday and monday totally off together.  david and i have attempted to recall the last time we had two consecutive days off together in chicago...we got as far as july and still couldn't figure it out.  sunday was a perfect day full of knitting, eating, babies and football. 

bean helping prep a kale salad

i gained a new appreciation for football this week...it's the only thing that can captivate david's attention enough to keep him satisfied to do nothing but sit in our apartment for long stretches (which is basically my life outside of work).  not only did he grace us with his company without rushing around to try and do the numerous things he must on his days off, he took on a yarn detangling project i gave up on months ago.  if you look closely at the following picture, you will see all four members of our family with their hands on yarn!

throughout the course of 1.85 football games, david turned this impossibly tangled mess into a number of neatly coiled little spools of yarn.  i was so impressed, i put down my xmas knits to do a small side project in honor of this feat.

 the pre-cut lengths of yarn seemed ideal for stripes, currently on the needles:

in other news, i finally replaced my library card that disappeared mysteriously with the rest of my wallet months ago.  i happened to be at the library sans children (with children in that huge building, finding one book is about all we can manage before the noise level becomes inappropriate), and picked up THREE books.  very exciting.  currently on the nightstand is eating animals by jonathan safran foer...i'm about 50 pages in and i'm truly enjoying a novelist's interesting and very readable take on this vital topic.

two more shifts and then looking forward to a long weekend with the kids.  see you all next week!

this week in pictures.

this week began with a very relaxing long weekend in michigan.  bean stayed on there with her grandparents, and while we always miss her when she's away, life is easier in many ways without a toddler around.  yes, toddlerlessness is apparent everywhere, from the scissors and full glasses of water left carelessly...perhaps gleefully on the floor, sleeping in until after 9am, and an unfamiliar feeling of leisure and relaxation juxtaposed with maximal productivity.  yesterday, for example, we went on foot to the post office, the apple store, for a run, and made dinner on top of the usual eating/feeding/sleeping/knitting requirements, the big boy in tow for all these tasks.  

as a result, for the first time in six months, i'm writing this blog from the living room rather than on the floor underneath my bedside table because we again have wireless internet (and i also finally replaced the a and s keys on my keyboard, missing since a few months ago when princess threw a plate at my laptop that had to remain open at all times while it acted as a router.  do you know how many words have the letters a and/or s in them?  my name, for example).  remarkable!  and so, from the living room, i present to you this week in pictures (a little more reese-heavy than usual).

from our big night out in ann arbor:

sour brown ale...weird, but very drinkable.

our second stop on our local brew tour:

before

after...we're real heavyweights

an impromptu game of peekaboo with that cute baby in the mirror

skipping two generations

clinging to the last days of 60 degrees this year...our last sleeveless run to navy pier?

at the orchard

little hands

big boy

almost took this little girl home with us

reese's happy skull hat done...twice over

on the needles:  first shipment of xmas yarn is in, as well as my interchangeable needle set.  busy fingers these days!

multitasking!