with a side of compost...

It is a weird thing of mine, I never order anything on the menu that comes with a "compote." The first thing that leaps to mind is "compost" and all I can think about is some filthy steaming pile of manure sitting on my plate and I wouldn't be able to enjoy the meal. There have been some dishes that sound heavenly, until they're ruined by the "warm blueberry compote" or whatever.

The other night I was waffling between 3 dishes, one with a roasted pineapple compote, one with a corn and black bean compote, and the third, which is what I ended up eating, which had no compost whatsoever. We were at Carrol's Creek Cafe, right on the docks of Annapolis, my new absolute favorite place. I should have taken a picture of my meal when it was brought out to me. Now I love to blog and keep documentation of everything cute my kids do or say, but I am not yet at the point where I can whip out my camera and take a picture of a plate of food in a crowded restaurant. But it was a delicious layer of sundried tomato risotto, topped with a macadamia encrusted mahi mahi, with creamed spinach on top. Looked a little Christmassy come to think of it with the reds and greens. It was melt-in-your-mouth amazement. Tim had a steak, the best steak of his entire life. He is still talking about this steak, days later. And we had crab cakes for an appetizer and Tim doesn't even like crab cakes but was raving about this one!

The best part was that we had to take a water taxi to get to this place, how cool is that?! And we watched the sunset right behind our table. And Tim had flowers delivered to the restaurant, they were waiting on our table as everyone around us wondered who's getting the special treatment. And then commenting on how we both look far, far too young to be celebrating our 12th anniversary.

We can't wait to go back to Annapolis! Tim wants to bring the kids and our parents, but I want to save it just for us. There is an overnight sailboat package with breakfast that I'm all over for the next time.

The Trouble with Potty Training

Potty training is so much fun. You get to learn where all the public bathrooms are. And having a potty training toddler on your hands can save you lots of money because you're afraid to take any shopping trips lest you find out the hard way that all the bathrooms are too far away. Or too dirty. Or both.

The most fun you can possibly have while potty training happened to me today. We had to go to the store. Restocking the fridge and pantry. We were out of everything, even syrup. And we buy like 3 gallons of Costco syrup so it's very rare to run out of it.

So we're walking into the store talking about how we're going to stop at the bathroom on the way in to try to go pee pee so we can stay dry like a big girl. I plop Claire on the potty, and she immediately puts her hands on her thighs proudly pointing out how she's not touching anything, as her training has been adament on this point. She squints, indicating how hard she's trying to squeeze out something... but... alas, nothing this time.

About 10 minutes later, we'd gotten through the food line and were sitting down for a quick lunch before we tended to the list. Two bites into her chicken tenders she leans over to me and whispers, "I have to go potty." Oh, you have got to be kidding me right now. I think I may have said that out loud.

Have you ever seen a crazy lady bringing a tray full of food into the bathroom?
Well, that was probably me.

Food

Does your son ever come home from school and eat 2 corndogs for an afterschool snack and then have a huge chicken cesar salad and 2 slices of pepperoni pizza for dinner a few hours later?

Someone is GROWING!!

Either that, or maybe he has a tapeworm, we'll have wait and see.

Look, he's almost as tall as Granny!

Sassy Mouth

Combine being the baby of the family with some super cute bouncy blonde curls framing an adorably pouty mouth and dimpled cheeks and you really can go far in life! Let's just say Claire is used to getting things her way.

But we've been putting up some resistance lately. Maybe it's a little late for that, but we're trying.

She wanted a piece of cheese. Actually, she pulled her wrap apart to pick the cheese slices out of it and toss the rest off the side of her plate. Tim stopped her and reassembled her wrap and told her what we always tell her when she tries to eat nothing but cheese for every meal... too much cheese isn't good for you. And Claire came back in his face yelling, "It's yummy and healthy, what's the deal with you?!"

***********

Sometimes Claire likes to play by herself. She will be upstairs quietly playing with her dolls or changing her clothes or rearranging her stuffed animals or flossing, or who knows what else. When I call to her, I just want her to acknowledge that she hears me, a little reassurance that she hasn't left the house, since those childproofing doorknobs are soooooo effective.

So one day I was calling and calling and calling her name, starting to get worried that she wasn't answering me. I opened the door to the basement and hollered down there just in case she had slipped down there, and called up to the loft, and checked the pantry where she can sometimes be found sneaking granola bars or chocolate chips. She suddenly appeared at the top of the stairs with a really annoyed look on her face like it was soooo inconvenient to answer me. "I'm playing up here, what's the problem?" She asked, in a tone that matched the look on her face.

Oh we're in trouble with this one.

Something I learned

I learned something new today. Or last night. Whenever.
Here is what it was. Cleaning vomit off the top bunk is very hard and gross.
That is all.