Pumpkin Potato Soup

I needed to use up the leftover pumpkin puree from the oatmeal pumpkin cookies I made the other day. Since it's been raining all day, I thought it would be nice to have some soup. And since I somehow ended up with two enormous bags of potatoes (I'm pretty sure the bagger put someone else's potatoes in my cart), I figured it'd be nice to combine the potatoes and pumpkin into the soup.

I thought the result was delicious enough to share. And surprisingly filling. I served it with whole wheat parmesean biscuits and it was a simple and delicious meal!

I shamelessly stole this image from www.thinandhealthy.com.
I didn't get around to taking a picture of my own soup.

Pumpkin Potato Soup

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 Tbsp butter

1/2 onion chopped

2 large cloves of garlic

2 cups or so chicken broth (I used homemade, if you're using a can, just use one can)

2 cups pumpkin puree (again, if you're using a can, just use one can)

2 medium sized potatoes

1/2 cup of milk

10-12 fresh sage leaves (or use dry, but I don't know how much)

1 tsp salt (or to taste. I like salt.)

Pepper to taste - my kids flat out reject anything peppered, so I just added it at the table.

Heat the olive oil in your pot. Add butter, onion and garlic and sautee until onions are soft and butter starts to brown. Meanwhile, nuke your potatoes for about 5 minutes.

Add the chicken broth and pumpkin and stir. Scoop the flesh out of the potatoes and toss in the pot. Add the sage leaves and salt and let everything simmer for a bit. 15-20 minutes is good.

Scoop out the sage leaves and put the soup in the blender. Blend until smooth. Return soup to pot and stir in the milk. Serve.

Generally I don't think of blended soup and biscuits as a meal, but I think there was enough fat and protein in the biscuits and enough fat and fiber in the soup to fill me up. Or maybe it's just because I ate a gallon of the soup!

Five in a Row: Very Last First Time

Last week we "rowed" Very Last First Time by Jan Andrews and Ian Wallace. This is a really beautiful book about an Inuit girl, Eva, who walks under the ice at low tide to collect mussels. This is a rite of passage for Eva who will be making this journey alone for the first time - her very last first time. It's a very suspenseful story. Eva gets lost under the ice and her candle goes out as she can hear the tide coming in. There is just enough suspense to take a child to the edge of what they can handle without going too far.

The illustrations in this book are incredible - full of interesting details that provide a ton of information about Inuit culture. We learned a lot through this book and had a really great week.

Language Arts
Henry decided, on his own, to right a sea themed version of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? It was entitled Blue Crab, Blue Crab, What Do You See? Henry isn't one for drawing, but I was proud that he did color the pictures he chose from the internet. He was pretty proud of himself too.

Helen was also pretty proud of her crab picture.

Social Studies/Geography/Art
We attempted to build an igloo out of ice cubes on a sheet of ice, but we couldn't get the ice to stick together. The interwebs assured me that I could sprinkle salt on the ice to temporarily melt them enough to stick together, but the interwebs lied.

So the project morphed into chipping an ice hole and coloring the ice with Crayola markers in blues and purples. Our art topic from the book was warm versus cool colors, and so we used blues and purples to emphasize the coldness of the ice and to make it look like the illustrations in the book. The kids also added some of their plastic sea creatures to the scene. And note Henry's "annuraaq."

Math and Science
I sent Henry out to collect "mussels" from the yard to use in a demonstration of the tides. We got side tracked with counting and grouping the rocks.

Then we moved onto a demonstration of how when the tides go out, tide pools and dry land are left. He used a Star Wars figure to collect mussels on the bottom of the sea.

Science/Culture


We made a trip to the grocery store and purchased some mussels which Ryan ate for dinner. But first we dissected them. Henry used a butter knife (aka lever - we've been studying simple machines) to pry one open. And we looked up a few diagrams and videos online to figure out what we were looking at.

Music


I went looking online for some traditional Inuit music to play with dinner last night. I didn't come across any Inuit folk streaming radio, but I did discover that "throat singing" is a traditional form of Inuit music. There's a passage in the book where Eva hums  "far back in her throat to make the echoes rumble." If we hadn't been studying this book so deeply I never would have known that this was a reference to traditional Inuit music! Helen really enjoyed watching throat singers on YouTube. Here's a brief demonstration:

Perfect Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

I'm always looking for snacks that my kids will eat that I feel good about them eating. These fit the bill. (I should mention that I don't worry about fat intake, so if you do, these may not be what you're looking for!) They're 100% whole grain, low in sugar, high in vitamin A, and really, really tasty. These are soft cookies, not crunchy. I recommend doubling the batch.

I have no idea where I found the original recipe and I've doctored the heck out of it. So here's my latest, yummiest version.

Oatmeal Pumpkin Cookies

We used a pumpkin we grew in our garden!

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup old fashioned rolled oats
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup pureed pumpkin
1 cup of chocolate chips or raisins or nuts

Preheat oven to 350.

In a small bowl, combine the flour, oats, cinnamon, cloves, baking soda and salt.

Using a mixer, cream butter and sugar. Add egg and mix. Add vanilla and mix. Add pumpkin and mix. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and combine. Stir in chips/raisins/nuts if using.

Drop by rounded teaspoonful onto ungreased baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes.

I ran a nutrition analysis based on a batch of 48 cookies with 2 cookies per serving and here's what I came up with. Oh, and I made these without any of the optional mix-ins because my picky picky kid can't handle the texture. I would love to add walnuts to up the protein. Instead, I serve them with nuts and milk.

Caliories 134; Calories from Fat 59 (I told you, I'm not afaid of fat!); Total Fat 7g; Saturated Fat 4g; Trans Fat 0g; Total Carbs 16g; Dietary Fiber 2g/7%; Sugars 6g; Protein 3g; Vitamin A 14%; Vitamin C 1%; Calcium 2%; Iron 5%

Flash Back: Stomping Turtles

Yesterday I posted on Facebook that I had driven past a guy selling baby turtles out of the back of a truck. A couple of old friends warned me to keep my son away from the turtles. The story that prompted this admonition is now 4 years old. But it's pretty funny and I thought I'd share it here for those who didn't know Henry and I then.

When Henry was just a week past his 1st birthday, and had been walking for just a few days, I took him to the zoo. We went into the children's petting zoo where they had a very large turtle wandering around. Henry was fascinated by this turtle. He kept following it around while I spotted him to keep him steady on his new land legs. Except at one point, he lunged forward and stepped on a, ahem, rather delicate part of the turtle. The next day I was still so upset by the incident I posted about it on my parenting forum.

Kind of sill maybe, but bugging me 

Yesterday at the zoo, I think Henry stepped on a turtle's peni$. The turtle had extended it for whatever reason and as it started to walk away it became visible. Henry took a step toward it and stepped on it. The thing that's troubling me is that the peni$ looked a lot different after Henry stepped on it.

I feel really, really horrible about this. The petting zoo attendant saw it happen and didn't say anything. I was really close and trying to keep Henry from hurting the animals.

Anyway, there's nothing I can do about it, but I feel sick about it.

Not sure what I want to hear, I guess this is just a confession. =P

I was genuinely concerned about this poor turtle and my conscience was really troubling me.  The initial responses to my confession took me off guard.

-- LOL! Don't know what to say??? ETA Can you call the zoo and ask about it, to help you feel better and see if anything really happened?

-- Is it bad that I'm laughing so hard I can hardly type?

And so I responded.

I know it sounds funny, but if you'd seen that poor turtle's peni$. . . 

What if they tell me the turtle is irreperably damaged and in terrible pain? How do you know if a turtle is in pain? I mean, he didn't scream or anything when Henry stepped on him. . .

Maybe it would make me feel better to call.

But, oh my, do you think person answering the phone would think I was just a complete freak?

"Um, hi, yeah, I was there yesterday, and my toddler stepped on the petting zoo turtle's peni$. And the peni$ looked, ummmm, different after he stepped on it. And I, uh, googled "turtle genitalia" to get pictures of what a turtle peni$ should look like, and, uh, it did not look like that after my son stepped on it. So, um, I was wondering if the turtle is okay."

This, apparently, did not help my fellow forum goers stop laughing.

-- Stop! I think it's the mental image of a turtle walking around with his peni$ sticking out...

-- You just gave me my morning laugh! If it's bugging you, call. It's nice that you care so much:) 

-- LOL OMG I am laughing so hard. If the zoo attendant saw it occur and wasn't concerned then I would just let the zoo deal with the turtles peni$. I think they WOULD laugh at you if you called with your concerns about the turtle.LOL

-- I am finally home from work and can let myself ROFLOL. I have tears in my eyes. I do feel a little guilty for laughing at your predicament. And now a picture ! I just couldn't figure out in my mind how this happened. This is definately a memorable board moment. I am sure he has received treatment and good care from his vets.  

There were some who tried to console me through their laughter. 

-- Turtles (that I have been around) are capable of making sounds. I would expect if Henry had hurt his parts that you would have heard something. 

-- I don't think they would think you were a freak. They would think you were a caring person.

-- Zoos are very quick to give animals the veterinary care they need. If the turtle is injured, it's being cared for. And obviously Henry isn't aware of what he did, so even if you found out that he HAD hurt the animal, what good would that do? Would it make you feel better?

--I just can't help myself Jessica...ROFLOL

I do hope the turtle wasn't harmed, but if it's that easy for a toddler to inadvertently injure a turtle's pen*s, then the zoo should know better than to put them in the petting zoo!!

-- I'm really sorry. I know you feel bad, and I think your concern is very sweet. But you are responsible for a near miss with my bladder :)  

And then my personal favorite:

-- Are you sure the turtle just didn't have a bowel movement?

Um, yeah. I was very, very sure. I know what squished poo looks like.

And then, of course, there was the person with intimate knowledge of turtles who made the statement which caused the thread to take a fateful turn.

Turtles do not have penises. Both the male and female have a cloaca (opening in the tail); the male's is shaped differently and during ejaculation something does protrude a bit, but it's not something he'd be walking around with hanging out. 

Now, this woman is typically very knowledgeable on such topics. But I had to beg to differ with her on this one. I didn't want to have to go there, but I had to defend myself.

I beg to differ. I sent this to Kate via email, but here it is for anyone who may be interested.

[unfortunately the link is no longer active]

Scroll down to the pic of the turtle in his water dish. May not be a peni$ per se (sure doesn't look like one I"ve ever seen) but this is what I saw and what Henry stepped on. And he was definitely walking around with it hanging out.

Now, the bulbous things hanging out of the turtle in that one pic - that's what Henry stepped on. And they were flat and weird looking after he stepped on them. . .

ETA: I can't belive I am now responsible for bringing turtle p * r n to the board. -- hangs head in shame -- 

Our resident turtle expert graciously conceded the point. 

-- Yikes! My aquatic turtle is, alas, not well-endowed . . . LOL.

You want to see a picture too, don't you? I know you do. If you don't, scroll quickly because here it comes.

Yes, the reactions on the board were similar to yours.

-- AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! 

-- I would have completely mistaken that thingie for a tail, if it were me!

-- that is absolutely unbelievable! The things that I never knew about turtles...

-- From that picture, things look very... loose inside. If that makes sense? I would guess that maybe things just... shifted and made it look different.

And the woman who suggested it was poo apologized for thinking I was that dense

-- My goodness, that definitely doesn't look like poo. --snort-- I'm not laughing at you, honest, I was just wondering.

And then someone did what we like to do in our culture. She blamed the victim.

-- Weird. That picture clarifies what happened, but I still believe that if the turtle is injured, keepers will notice and call in the zoo vets. At least when I volunteered at a zoo, that's how it worked. They are _very_ strict about the health of animals.

You know, he shouldn't be walking around with it hanging out, should he?* It almost makes me wonder if there was something wrong with the turtle to begin with.

* By "shouldn't" I mean in a physiological/behavioral sense, not a moral sense, of course. We all know that walking around with a penis hanging out violates modesty norms in North American human culture. The question is, what about turtle culture?

At this point the entire thread was a huge joke with ROFLOLing, --snort--ing, etc. My nickname on the board became "Mother of the Turtle Penis Stomper," and to this day, four years later, people still bring it up.

For those readers who are still concerned about the turtle, as far as I know he's fine. At the time, I decided just to trust in the excellent care I know the zoo staff provides for all of its animals. (Translation, I was a big chicken and decided not to call.) But I did return to the zoo about a week after the accident. The turtle was still in the petting zoo and apparently fine. At least I didn't notice any bandages or anything.

How to Traumatize a 2-Year-Old: Our Trip to the Post Office

Periodically Helen and I get to have a "girl's day" while Ryan takes Henry fishing. Girl's day typically involves running errands, which may not seem as exciting as going fishing with daddy, but Helen seems to enjoy it. She likes to help me carry things and pay for things, and, I suppose it's just nice to have mommy's undivided attention.

I enjoy running errands with just one child, of course, because it is so much easier to get one child in and out (and in and out) of a car seat than to wrangle two children. At least theoretically. See, Helen has her own babies. Lots of them. We have a two baby limit for car trips and so her entourage varies from trip to trip. Today we took Bear and Seeping Baby. And since there were two empty car seats in the car (yes, I've already installed the baby's car seat), Bear and Seeping Baby each had to be strapped in to a car seat. And unstrapped when we arrived at the library. And restrapped ("Do the yeg straps too!!!!!") when we left the library. And unstrapped and restrapped and, well, you get the picture. I had plenty of time, and so I indulged her. I'm sure anyone watching me was either amused or bewildered by my behavior. I'm equally sure at least one childless twenty-something thought I was a complete lunatic.

Helen often "wears" her babies while we're out.
Here she is quite literally wearing Baby Joona, one of her favorite babies.

When we arrived at the post office I convinced her to leave the babies in the car because it would just be a quick stop. I struggled with this because, of course, I don't want to teach my daughter that it's okay to leave babies unattended in cars. I decided not to over think it.

To satisfy her need to be a big girl I handed her a small package containing a little dress I'm sending to a friend's baby girl. I told her that we were at the Post Office and that we would be sending the dress to Baby Emmie.

When we walked inside Helen asked, "What this place, mama?" I again explained this was the Post Office where we would send the dress to Baby Emmie. She said, "I no see Emmie." I realized that this whole concept of sending packages through the mail was completely foreign to her. So I explained, as simply as I could, that the Post Office is where the mailman works and that we would give the package to the man at the counter and that he would give it to the mailman who would put it on a truck and drive it to Baby Emmie's house. She seemed skeptical but became distracted by the display of cards and stamps.

When it was our turn to hand over our packages, I gave the clerk my other two packages and told Helen to turn over the dress. She clutched it tightly and glared at me. I assured her that the nice man would make sure the dress gets to Baby Emmie. She clung tighter and glared at him. He offered her a Beauty and the Beast post card in exchange for the package. (Little did he know that as the second child with a big brother he might have had better luck with a dinosaur post card or something.) She curtly said, "no," and turned her back on him.

At this point I realized that our cajoling was going to be fruitless, and  that we were going to have to do this "the hard way." I pried the package from her tiny fingers and handed it over. She sobbed pathetically while the man weighed and marked the package, and I paid the shipping while trying to console her. I assured her that Emmie would get the dress and promised that her mommy will take a picture of her and the dress when it gets there. I whisked her out to the car and distracted her with caring for Bear and Seeping Baby.

Who knew that learning about the U.S. Postal Service would be so traumatic?

Comfort Nursing

Elizabeth Pantley shared the following quote today on her Facebook page.

 "No one could give her such soothing and sensible consolation as this little three-month-old creature when he lay at her breast and she felt the movement of his lips and the snuffling of his tiny nose.” ~Leo Tolstoy

It resonated with me because it took me back to a time when holding and nursing my little one was the greatest comfort I could find in a devastatingly difficult time.

My little Helen was 10 months old when my 16 year old brother died by suicide. Needless to say this turned my entire world upside down. And through that first, most difficult week between Jared's death and his funeral, I was so blessed to have the constant warmth and snuggles of such a sweet little girl. I clung to her and nursed her through those first hours as we met with the detectives. I held her close that night as I cried rather than slept and she nursed sweetly through the night. I wore her close in the sling, my back aching, through the viewing. Her presence provided comfort not only for me, but for many others. But for me, she was my life line.

Her constant presence and constant need for my milk, far from being a burden in that difficult time, gave me a reason to get through it. When all of the activity died down and everyone went home, and I left my parents home to return to "normal life," it was my children that helped me get out of bed each day. Both of my children needed me, but for my little Helen I was irreplaceable. No one else could give her the milk she wanted and needed. And it was such an easy need to fill. I just had to sit or lay down and snuggle a bundle of joy.

More of The Glorious Flight

As promised, here are some of Henry's pictures from his experiments with perspective:

From the ground, looking up.

Sideways

Extreme close up

Self Portrait

He also decided to get creative all on his own today with flight based arts and crafts. For those of you who happen to know him, you know that this is extremely out of character. We created an art gallery to show daddy when he got home.

Here's a self portrait of him watching an orange glider and a purple helicopter fly through the sky. He signed his name in blue.

This one is of a spaceship blasting around the earth.

I love this three dimensional airplane he created with scissors glue and tape. Completely on his own. The piece on the bottom keeps the airplane flying straight.

Finally, this picture has nothing to do with The Glorious Flight or flying, but it sparked a funny story.

I was pointing out to him how the colors and subject matter of his family portrait are similar to those of Michelangelo's Holy Family (which was hanging in the hallway nearby). See the similarities? (Play along with me here. . .)

I went on to tell him that Michelangelo is a famous painter who has made many beautiful paintings and is one of my personal favorite artists. Henry responded with, "I think I may be an even better painter than he is!"

Nothing wrong with that boy's self esteem.