Banana Bread, Chocolate and Trains

Welcome to whimsical Wednesday a little late. Yes, it's been that kind of week.

My son had an interesting homework assignment this week.

He was instructed to cook something with bananas. And, since it just so happened I had rotting (oops, I mean overly ripe) bananas on the counter, we made banana bread.

Yeah, Bug's eyes are closed but my camera batteries were dying so I had to go with it.

Now, since this was a homework assignment, the kid's had to help. So, Mommy was brave and let them operate the mixer. Thankfully, we didn't have any mishaps. And, with my children, that is nothing but answered prayer!

Of course, in my house, we add a secret ingredient to banana bread.





That's right. We put chocolate chips in the bread. I have to give Bug credit for this one. It was his idea.




And, thanks to a Christmas present from Grammy, we were able to do something else special with the bread.









We cooked it in a train pan.




The finished result......












Very cool banana bread. Thanks Grammy, the pan was a big hit! And, the kid's actually enjoyed their homework assignment.



PS
Stay tuned as a new Love Letter to the King will be posted on Monday.

Valentine's Day

I know it's early, but since I'm in the mood from all my party preparations I decided to say Happy Early Valentine's Day!

Did I say party preparations?

Ah, yes. As a member of the "party team" for my son's K4 Valentine's party that takes place this afternoon, I've been busy putting together the party snack. Being a little tired of the cookie routine, I opted for a new, more creative route.

Valentine Trail Mix!

I mixed:

Honey nut chex, valentine m&m's, yogurt craberries, sweet hearts and pretzel goldfish.

Finding cellophane treat bags with hearts on them finished it off with quite a nice touch. The only problem? Sweet heart candy is much harder than honey nut chex, and tends to crush the delicate cereal if tossed too much. Oops. I hope the kids don't mind.

I have to admit, I was feeling quite proud after coming up with the treat bags. For a brief moment, I felt as if everything was under control. The only thing left to do was to have the kids write out their valentine's.

Class list in hand, the family sat at the table to fill out cards. Princess valentine's for the girls and Disney Cars mixed with Thomas the Tank Engine for the boys. The kids put the cards together, Mommy and Daddy taped the candy to the each one, everything was going great until....

"This one is for Carlie." Nathan proudly proclaimed.

"Carlie," Daddy responded. "Is she your friend?"

Not even looking up from his card Nathan said, "Yeah, she's my best girl."

After picking myself up off the floor and staving off hyperventilation, I had to clarify. After all, I am Mom. "Nathan," I ask calmly, "Carlie is your best girl?"

"Yeah, she's special."

"Really? What makes her special?"

"She's beautiful."

At this point, I had to leave the room. Beautiful? She's beautiful? You're five and you have a beautiful special friend? I must admit, tears were in eyes. It's not everyday your five year old makes such an announcement.

I decided to take the upper hand and NOT embarrass our son. "Perhaps Nathan, you would like to tape two candies to Carlie's card instead of one?"

Nathan stopped writing, looked me in the eye and said, "No Mommy. If you tape two candies to the card you will cover up her name."

Duh! And we wouldn't want to do that because her name is beautiful, right?

So, as you go about your day toss a prayer my way as I head off to Valentine's Day party in our son's K4 class where I'll need to meet and be civil to his special girl.

I wonder if her Mommy will be there?

Time to Potty Train

Welcome to Whimsical Wednesday, where laughter gets us through the week!

Yesterday, my daughter changed her own diaper.

It occurs to me that this is a sign of her readiness to potty train, and yet I cringe at the very thought of it.

I am no good at potty training. Why do I say I am not good at it? Because I know that I am not good at it.

For instance, we tried the immersion method with Squeaker (our daughter) once before. We bought her underwear of her choice and announced the special day that would be potty training day.

Squeaker proudly wore her underwear and sat on the potty every 20 minutes for about two hours with no success. Considering all the juice she had been drinking, I knew we would need to “go” at any minute so I was trying to watch her closely. But, the minutes ticked by and I got distracted.

Squeaker climbed into a dinette chair and sat down for lunch. She took a bite of her food and released her bladder all in one simultaneous motion. I yelled, “Squeak, you’re wet.”

With a bit of sandwich hanging out of her mouth, she climbed out of her chair, swooshed her hand across the seat spraying pee all over the floor, shook her hand off, climbed back into the chair and resumed eating.

After we washed everything, the diapers came back into being.

Now, this in itself is not enough to scare me out of potty training. No, this is a small blip on the radar. The real root of fear was planted with our first born.

Enter Bug, our son.

At 2 years of age, we tried everything with him. Nothing worked. He simply did not want to go on the potty, so I let it go.

One day, I took Squeaker (who was still in an infant carrier) and Bug to meet a friend and her kids at the library. As we walked into the lobby, Bug announced his immediate need to use the potty.

I was speechless. I looked at my friend for guidance.

“Well, you have to take him.” She said.

“But, I don’t have the diaper bag.”

“Take him!”

So, leaving Squeaker with her, I ran Bug to the nearest restroom yelling all the way, “Hold it son, hold it, we’re almost there, hold it!”

Into the restroom and into a stall we went. Now mind you, I had to carefully remove the diaper so we could reuse it as I had nothing with me. Careful not to touch the inside of the diaper to the dirty floor, I laid it on the ground. And of course I’m yelling all the while “Hold it son, no don’t touch that…no, don’t put your hand in the water….Son! Just wait on me.”

Finally, I get the boy on the potty and he says, “Oh, I don’t have to go.”

You don’t have to go? Boy, you better squeeze something out.

Trying to win the good mommy of the year award, I bite my tongue….lift Bug carefully off the potty seat, replace old diaper and re-dress him. It was sometime during this process that a strange image flashed across my mind. What was that weird thing on the wall by the sinks.

That’s when it hit me. That’s right. It was a urinal.

Okay, I say to myself, this is a bad dream. That wasn’t a urinal. We really are in the right restroom. Just in case we’ll sneak…….

Nope. No sneaking. At this point someone turned on the water and started to wash their hands. I was cornered and Bug was getting antsy.

Out of the stall we walk only to be caught like a deer in headlights in the glare of a man whose expression could only be described as “Oh dear Lord, I am going to jail!”

The worst part is, he started looking around to make sure he wasn’t in the wrong restroom.

Now, you would think I would quickly slink out of the restroom, leave the library and never step foot in there again. But, you have to understand that I am very OCD and my 2 year old had just touched a toilet. We had to wash our hands. So, standing at the sink, next to the man, I wash my son’s hands and apologize profusely trying to plead my case.

“He had to go.” I said.

The man finished washing his hands and backed his way out of the restroom, never taking his eyes off of us.

With head bowed in disgrace, I exited the restroom to the sounds of my friend’s hysterical laughter.

So yes, potty training is terrifying and with child #2 ready to take the potty plunge, I grit my teeth and pray that at least part of my dignity remains intact after the ensuing battle.