Vocabulary of a 16-month old

In order of frequency, from most uttered to least:

Dog

Hot

Cold

Poo

More

Gone

He also started to shake his head 'no' a week ago, and today nodded 'yes' for the first time.

So far, neither Gareth nor I have won the "is he going to say Mama or Dada first?" race!

Menu Plan Monday

Monday - Chilli con Carne

Tuesday - Sweet and sour chicken stir-fry with snow peas and pineapple

Wednesday - Chicken with green peppercorns

Thursday - Leftovers from Tuesday and Wednesday nights

Friday - Beef and mushroom ragout (slow cooker) with cauliflower bake

Saturday - Chicken curry (slow cooker) with rice and pappadums

Sunday - Toasted sandwiches

Homemaking Is An Art

After my last post, a little bit of inspiration that I found on someone else's blog:

"Homemaking is an art, and you have the privilege of expressing and developing all your talents there in a little place called home. You get to build...beautify... organize...create...fuss...express yourself. You get to read and study and grow and master nutrition, finances, horticulture, design, wardrobe, etc. And you also get to shape your children, to give their precious lives a bent toward God. To nurture their souls with the good things of God. To pass on the truth about Jesus to one more generation. And to do so means you've got to be dedicated, organized, and a woman of purpose. And you've got to have the spunk and energy to follow through on all the dedication, organization, and purpose that answering God's high calling to homemaking requires."

--Elizabeth George, A Woman's High Calling

Will my house ever be clean again?

This is the mess Jambin created in the time it took me to brush my teeth. Lest you think I am a dental hygiene freak, I can assure you that I only spend a few minutes on my pearly whites morning and night. I don't even floss and gargle every time. If I'm being honest, I will admit that I don't even floss and gargle on a monthly basis, which is probably why my dentist gave me quote recently for the work I need doing, and it amounts to just over $600.

It's not that I have terribly high standards of house cleanliness, but I do like to be able to walk down the hallway without tripping over things, and when I cook, it's nice to be able to take the ingredients and utensils out of cupboards and drawers, instead of picking them up off the floor.

Tidying is tricky. Jambin immediately wants to play with (i.e. distribute throughout the house) anything that I touch. So by virtue of that, anything that I touch to tidy away, automatically becomes his new favourite toy, to be discarded only when I touch something else in a pointless effort to create some semblence of order. You can see where I'm going with this .....

I've done a lot of thinking about this, and as far as I can tell, the only solution is to massively declutter the amount of stuff we own. Less stuff = less things for Jambin to take out of cupboards = less things for me to put back into cupboards. Jambin is a whirlwind of never-ceasing activity - that's just his temperament and I can't see it changing in the short term, so I need to change either (1) the home environment or (2) my reaction to the mess or (3) both.

Savoury Muffins

I made a batch of these today, and they've already been demolished by Gareth, Jambin and myself. I've adapted this from a zucchini slice recipe given to me by Deb, a friend in my mum's group. It's super easy, yummy, and can be easily adapted to use up any leftover veges in the fridge.

Ingredients

* 2 carrots, grated and excess liquid removed

* 1 zucchini, grated and excess liquid removed

* Kernals from 1 corn cob (or 2 handfuls frozen corn kernals)

* 1 onion

* 6 eggs

½ cup oil

1 cup self-raising flour

1 cup grated cheese

4 bacon rashers (optional)

Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Mix all ingredients together, no need to sift the flour.

Place spoonfuls into greased muffin tray. They don't rise much during cooking, so fill the muffin cup nearly to the top. Try using mini-,muffin trays to make small ones for toddlers - my son loves these.

Bake in a moderate oven for approximately 25 mins.

Eat warm or cool - they're yummy either way

Ingredients with an asterix (*) beside them came out of my Food Connect box.