September 28th, 2007 at 11:37 am
(Update)
Damien woke with a perfectly dry diaper, a new first for him. This is a good sign that he is getting closer to being potty trained.
Sergey can climb up and down stairs, on his own now, which is good because we don’t have a gate for them. Sergey will walk up to the edge of the stairs, sit down turn around and crawl down backwards, just like he should. I still watch him just in case and to reinforce proper technique. Damien has reverted to crawling down backwards as well when in my and Sergey’s presence. I think he just want more attention, though I do praise him for walking down like a big boy holding the railing, I also praise him for being a good big brother and showing Sergey how to crawl down correctly.
Sergey got a present from godmother Erin and Nate. Damien spotted the gift and asked me to open it or let him open it. But I told him it was for Sergey to open, so Damien went to Sergey and said “open, openâ€.
Damien knows that most new things are off limits and are not toys, so he won’t touch them. When he wants an item, he will grab my hand and direct it to the object he wants, if I touch the object while Damien is holding my hand, Damien feels he is now entitled to have the object. Usually I say no not a toy, and move my hand away. So Damien will look for the hand of some other authority figure. The fun happens when the unsuspecting adult will say oh that’s nice, and touch the object, then quick like a whip Damien will snatch the item and run off with it.
The boys both had fun with the ribbon bow that was on the gift, the totally unraveled it and warped it around themselves, then started running, jumping, and dancing around the room.
Nate and Erin’s present for Sergey was a new push/ride bulldozer, it even has flashing lights and sound. There is also a secret compartment under the seat to hide stuff, Sergey spent about half an hour playing with this feature alone.
4 Comments
September 27th, 2007 at 11:32 am
(Damien, New, Update)
One of Damien’s favorite books is Go Dog Go, and there are two dogs that meet over and over again and have variations of the following conversation.
“Hello.”
“Hello.”
“Do you like my hat?”
“I do not.”
“Good bye.”
“Good bye.”
Damien is starting to imitate and repeat songs, stories, and shows that he sees or hears.
We were getting Sergey ready for bed when Damien started playing with two of his guys and repeating the scene from Go Dog Go.
Two guys walk towards each other.
“Hello” says the first guy in a friendly cheerful voice.
BOOM! There is a huge explosion and the first guy is blasted off the edge of a high cliff where he falls to his doom.
At this point Olya and I can’t stop laughing, and Damien decides to join us but it is clear that he does not know why we are laughing, but just wants to join in.
Too cute.
new and update
2 Comments
September 26th, 2007 at 3:47 pm
(Food, New, Recipe)
I have always like the bread pudding at Famous Dave’s, but they are like way out of the way now, so I decided to try making some at home, and try out some different recopies, this is the culmination of the experiments.
INGREDIENTS:
12 slices of bread
4 cups of milk
9 eggs
1 and 1/2 cups of sugar
3 teaspoons of vanilla
1 and 1/2 teaspoons of salt
6 oz package of Goldens & Cherries (dried fruit)
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
9 x 13 baking pan
STEP BY STEP:
- Soak the dried fruit.
- Lightly butter the backing pan.
- Shred or cube the first 6 slices of bread and flatten into the pan.
- Beat eggs in a large bowl.
- Add in sugar, vanilla, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.
- Add in milk.
- Add an even layer fruit on the layer of bread.
- Shred or cube the second 6 slices of bread and flatten into the pan, on top of the fruit.
- Add the batter using a saucer.
- Heat oven to 300, allowing the batter time to soak in.
- Bake uncovered for 75 minuets (1 hour 15 minuets).
- Bread Pudding will rise during baking, allow it to sink back into the pan.
- Cover with aluminum foil and wrap in a bath towel for 30 – 60 minuets.
- Server warm with ice cream, caramel sauce and whipped cream.
HINTS:
Hint 1: Soak the dried fruit in two cups of milk or water for 15 – 30 minutes or more.
This soaking allows the dried fruit to re-hydrate, making them soft and juicy.
I strain off the dried fruit and use the milk in the batter, so I don’t lose any flavor.
Hint 2: Layer of bread, layer of fruit, and layer of bread.
This is because the fruit may overcook if it is on the top or the bottom.
Hint 3: flatten each layer of bread by hand.
This ensures that the batter will fully cover the bread in the early baking stages, so the bread does not dry out.
Hint 4: Place a saucer or cup in the backing pan on top of the layers of bread and fruit to poor the batter into.
This ensures that the batter being poured in does not move the bread crumbs around and create trench in your pudding.
Note: remove the cup or saucer before baking.
Hint 5: Once the pudding is out of the oven, cover with aluminum foil, and wrap in bath towel for 30 to 60 minutes.
The edges will cook fine in the oven, but not the center of the pudding, this towel wrap traps the heat in the pudding, so it will finish cooking its self.
Special: Fitted Bread pudding.
Instead of shredding or cubing the bread you can make a layer of perfectly fitted slices for each layer.
Hint A: fill in all the gaps with bread.
Hint B: flatten each layer.
Hint C: use a knife or fork to release any trapped air after the batter is added.
3 Comments
September 25th, 2007 at 12:26 am
(Uncategorized)
Thanks to Olya (web mistress)Â I have a new URL from which to spam you all.
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September 24th, 2007 at 3:42 pm
(Humor, New, Quote)
Character: Homer Simpson:
“Marriage is like a coffin and each kid is like another nail.â€
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September 21st, 2007 at 11:07 am
(Damien, Food, New)
Last night we (the boys and I) went to visit my Mom to install and setup a wireless router for her.
Sergey slept while I was busy swearing at the DSL modem, which is like a full time job.
Meanwhile Mom was entertaining Damien. Damien had found the trail mix and sampled the various bits.
Nuts, raisins, nuts, more nuts, M&Ms, and more nuts = Trail Mix (pre Damien).
Well it didn’t take Damien long to figure out that colorful little M&Ms contained chocolate, and that he really preferred chocolate to nuts and raisins.
With the thoroughness and patience of an archeologist Damien went through the entire bag and ate all of the M&Ms.
Nuts, raisins, nuts, more nuts, and more nuts = Trail Mix (post Damien).
Once all the M&Ms were gone, Damien decided that it was time to share, and started feeding Mom nuts one at a time.
2 Comments
September 20th, 2007 at 3:15 pm
(Damien, New, Sergey, Swimming)
Well we don’t want our children to drown so we decided to take both of them to swimming class.
On the first class Sergey adjusted right away, and over all he was one of the most talented students in the pool. Technically he is too young for the class, you need to be at least one, and Sergey is two weeks shy of that age, but they let him in anyway.
Damien on the other hand was on the other side of the spectrum. He screamed and cried from the moment we got in the pre swim shower. He did not let up until after class had started, everyone was singing a song very quietly, and he went quiet so he could hear what they were saying.
It didn’t help that Damien was shivering, poor guy has almost no body fat, and he was not moving around much, plus he may have had a slight cold or flu, it is that time of year (daycare).
At the end of the class the teacher set up a slide for the kids. Damien wasn’t initially very interested in sliding into the water, but watching all of the other kids splash into the water, and into their parents arms made him want to try.
He got out of the pool and stood in line, but he was frozen in place with his shivers, the other kids were typical kids, meaning that they cut in front of him without thinking. So I got out helping him up the slide, while Olya waited below for Damien to splash into her waiting arms.
Now all of the other kids hit the water and splash over to Mommy or Daddy, usually keeping their heads above water. I mention this only as a point of reference.
Damien Slides down the slide, and splashes into the water. Here is where Damien shows his creativity, instead of splashing over to Mommy; he decides to head straight to the bottom of the pool. Damien goes disappears from view, and Olya looks at me with the “what am I supposed to do now” look on her face. “You’ve got to pick him up your right next to him” I say. Olya scoops Damien out of the water who is not happy, but none the worse for the ware, at least we know that he can hold his breath. Next week we can work on staying above the water.
1 Comment
September 7th, 2007 at 9:18 am
(Damien, New)
This morning Damien came up to me and said “Poopy, time to change, time to change”.
While you may not think this is very important, it is the first time Damien has acknowledged on his own that he has a poopy diaper. This is an important mile stone in being able to potty train a toddler.
Of course when I asked him a moment later if he was poopy he still replied “no”, so we are not there yet.
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September 7th, 2007 at 9:13 am
(New)
I was sick yesterday with a fever so I didn’t go visit Grandma, but Olya did and she too both kids with her. I am sure it was appreciated.
We also learned that Grandma is doing very well, and that she will be moved to a hospital in Milwaukee on Friday (today).
Wednesday we all went to visit Grandma again. Damien was a hyper because they couldn’t play outside all day. When we got to the hospital Damien was running up and down the corridor as Olya and I took turns going to the bathroom. I would walk after Damien as he ran ahead, when ever he got too far from me I would tell him “No, we are going this way” and make U-turn with Sergey in the stroller. Then Damien would have to run all the way back to me and then out in front again. As we were all heading up to visit Grandma Damien sat down to take a break, “Bye bye Damien” I said. Damien got up quickly, and ran up to us saying “not funny”, oh yes it was.
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September 5th, 2007 at 11:23 am
(New)
Well we went to see Grandma last night after we were done in the ER with Damien (another story).
We got there just before 9 PM, at first we couldn’t find her because they had moved her to a different room.
Grandma did wake up for the four of us and seemed glad that we had come; she was able to move around and used both of her hands, also she was able to talk to us but it was very mumbled. Stroke victims can have spontaneous recovery where some or all of their functions return.
We still plan to visit her a few more times this week to see how she is doing.
If this is a double post sorry
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