Goodbye Grandma Nina

I feel a little funny calling her Grandma Nina because she was Jeremy's grandmother. But she was the kind of Grandma so full of love and blessings and worries about whether or not you are dressed warmly enough, that it seemed there was enough to go around, so I got to call her Grandma Nina too.

She died last night.

Jeremy says there is now a huge hole where she once stood as a rock. She was the center of gravity for his family. We tried to visit her every weekend, if that gives you any idea of how much she was loved.

I remember her stroking my pregnant belly and telling Isaac that he had very dopey parents because we had visited her so late (8:30pm) at night. She said we were dopey dopes, but that he would be very smart.

Her yiddish flowed onto small Isaac, "Shayna punim. Tattela. Shayna kinda. Zeezun kinder."
And then to us, and anyone else in the room, "I love him! I love him. I love him!"

Grandma Nina, 94 and Isaac, 7 days

We love you too! We love you too!

Toddler + Cats = Problems

I have two old lady cats who are mother and daughter. Their names are Evette (mother) and Goose (daughter). Evette is crotchety and fluffy and loves affection and your lap. Goose is white and squishy and bizarrely scared of almost anyone who is not Jeremy or I. She used to play fetch when she was a kitten, and sit out on the stoop with me impressing all my neighbors, and dogs of my neighbors even more. I've had them both for about 10 years, so this is not a new relationship. We go way back.

One year ago we added Isaac to our mix. It was very easy at first. The cats stayed away from him and he didn't notice them.  Then he did notice but couldn't give chase.  Now it's totally different. He wants them bad. He wants to squeeze and shake them like big furry maracas, and they are having none of that. Goose runs away really low to the ground, or moans and hisses at him. She's even scratched him once. I tell him over and over, "Don't mess with the Goose!", but he doesn't listen.

Before the danger set in.

 Evette thinks if she holds really still and just twitches her tail a little bit he won't see her, but of course that doesn't work at all. He grabs her and squeals, or plays a maniacal game of patty cake, and then grabs. "No Isaac!, Gentle!", I say. Then I pet him like I want him to pet Evette, "Gennnntle."

The only thing that works is to sequester them in our room. It's a bummer, but I don't know what else to do. Any suggestions?

Back in May, when we didn't grab and were a happy kitty-baby family

Happier kitty note: I just found a Australian kitty website called Flippy's Cat Page. The lady who runs it obviously loves cats like crazy. One of the pages on it has a super long list of kitty names (6,300). Some of them really make me laugh.
A few highlights: Lord Chrysanthemum, Mervette, Sheepish Lion Lampert, and Baby Bookins.  Funny, there was no Goose or Evette!

Happy Birthday & Banana Cake Recipe

Isaac's made the BIG ONE!

We had his party yesterday at the playground across the street. It was really fun!
Possible thunder-showers ensured we had the park to ourselves, the play gym was a lovely mingling backdrop, and Isaac got to show off his climbing up the slide skills. We ended with him almost falling asleep in the swing. 

I especially loved it when we all sang him happy birthday. He looked so surprised and tickled that everyone had suddenly broken into song. He broke into a big grin. That made my day, and his too, hopefully!

I made a banana cake because banana was Isaac's very first food, and remains his true food-love.

Gone in about 30 seconds!

The cake was good, like seriously, crazily goo-ood!.
The recipe is from the Joy of Cooking, with a few changes on my part. Thank you Joy!

(Birthday) Banana Cake!

Butter and flour a 9" springform cake pan, preheat oven to 350 deg.

In a cuisinart or blender mix together:
2 very ripe large bananas (I used 3 medium ones)
2 Tbs. sour cream

Add:
2 large eggs
2 tsp. lemon zest
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Beat on low speed in a separate bowl for 30 sec.:
2 cups cake flour (make sure you actually use cake flour!  I think that was the secret to the delightful crumb!)
3/4 c. + 2 tbs sugar (I used less than 1/2 a cup and it was still plenty sweet)
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp salt (I used less)

Add 1/2 the banana mixture with:
10 Tbs soft butter

Beat on low until the dry ingredients are softened, then on med for 20 sec.  Add the rest of the banana mixture in 2 batches, beating for 20 sec. after each time you add it.

Pour into the prepared pan and smooth the top.  Bake for 30 - 40 minutes, let cool for 10 minutes, slide a thin knife around the edge, and voila!

Or, almost voila! If its a birthday cake for a 1 year old and you want to have frosting, but not frosting loaded with refined sugar, try this cool icing, adapted from the Sivananda Yoga Cookbook:

Milk and Maple Frosting:

Into your mixer add and blend:

1 stick (1/2 cup) softened butter, unsalted
1 cup whole milk powder, minus 2 Tbs. (you can find this at Indian, Middle Eastern, or Health food grocery stores)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup maple syrup

You will find that it is ever so slightly granular from the whole milk powder, but when eaten with the cake it just tastes delicious, and not too sweet.

The little man's first piece of cake ever in his whole 1 year old life!

He was very focused.

He only looks perturbed here because that was the last bite.

I want more cake!

Smart phone = Stupid person?

My very old sort-of-smartphone died in my pocket last Friday. It is now Thursday, which means I've gone six days phoneless. After an initial feeling of loss, confusion and out-of-it-ness (much like coming off drugs), things have brightened up considerably. I have felt like a puppy off-leash, inspired to run around and yelp with freedom. When I was at the playground with Isaac, I was at the playground with Isaac (yelping). When I was waiting for the walk-sign, I was waiting for the walk-sign, not yelping, but also not in my in-box!
I've been very "present".

Now my new smartphone is here and I feel very middling about it. I did take it out of it's box, but then I also just stuffed it back in. It felt too cold, hard, computer-y and heavy. I thought there is no way I want to put this thing up to my face. Then I saw it has earbuds so I wouldn't have to put it up to my face.

The guy at Verizon said the screen resolution is beautiful, and that I wouldn't need to get up from the couch to turn on my computer; it's that awesome. That means that if I keep this thing, I'll have access to crazy infinite amounts of information anytime, anywhere. Jeremy calls the web the Internets. I'm scared to get tangled up in the Internets!

I know I am going to check my email way too frequently. I'll check the weather, look for directions, take pictures, surf a little, yet perhaps still feel unsatisfied. It's only been a week;
I remember the feeling of seeing the little red splat on the message icon on my Blackberry.
I felt Excitement! Curiosity! And then disappointment when it was only a notification of a change in terms from Chase bank. 

I listened to a interview on NPR where the interviewee (I can't remember his name!) talked about how we are conditioned as a rat can be conditioned, to look at our email.  He said when you occasionally gave a rat a treat after they heard a bell, they always reacted to that bell.

I don't want to be a rat! I don't want to be a momma (and I have been with my defunct blackberry) who looks at their phone while they push their baby in the swing. But I also don't want to lose out. I don't want to miss something important, I want to see some beautiful resolution!

In a wonderfully synchronistic and serendipitous moment, my step-mom sent me a link to another NPR interview addressing exactly what I have been pondering. The interviewee is MIT professor Sherry Turkle. She has been studying how technology affects ourselves and our children for a very long time. In this interview she questions what is gained by always being on and available to anyone at anytime.  My favorite quote was that the greatest gift you can give your child is to leave your phone at home.

I'm not a nut. I'm not going to give up a cell-phone completely, but I've decided as of this moment, to get a dumber phone and enjoy my own smarts.

The Strange Practice of Dunking Babies Underwater

To dunk or not to dunk, that is the question!
I dunked Isaac yesterday, for the second time ever. It was a last hurrah sort of baptism; the last day and the last hour of the little pool across the street. I dunked myself at the same time since it didn't feel right just watching me push him under.
They say the younger the better, that the little guys automatically hold their breath as long as you do it forcefully and quickly. Isaac did. There was no coughing or choking or anything like that, just a super surprised big eyed fish looking face. His hair was plastered straight on his head with water streaming off, eyes blinking and blinking.  There was a cry after that, a little one. Then there was a grumpy stage (understandable), and he was over it, complete with chortling and ba-ba-ba-ing.

Then why did and does it freak me out so much!? It's healthy for goodness sake, no?

Infant Aquatics seem to know quite a bit about this subject.  Their website has a very compelling videos of little ones as young as 9 months old in action.  Like little fishes they flip over and float on their backs!

water baby at 6 months old

Beautiful New Camera! New Backpack too!

And we are so very happy about both.
The camera is a Nikon D3100 and it takes insanely gentle, lovely photographs.  
Huge thank yous, Grandma Judy! 
The backpack is a Deuter Kid Comfort II. It comes with nice yellow buckles, lots of pockets, a kick-stand so it stands, and a little teddy bear peeking out the side.  
Huge thank yous Omi!
Combining the two was very exciting.

Since the proof is in the puddin', I give you some puddin', from our recent trip to Seattle
Isaac is walking (well, riding) to the meadow at my Dad's house, trying out (sleepily, dirt-ily) the baby back-pack for the very first time.
He did grow to love it, but not quite at first.

We loved the pack, even if he at first did not.  It has snazzy design elements incorporated so its nice to our hips and shoulders.  My mom says its the Cadillac of baby backpacks.

He smiled a lot and slept a lot in this pack.
I took a lot of photographs of both activities, and whatever else in between.

Down below is at Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park.  A lovely place to nap.

The Olympics are an even lovelier place to walk and look and smell!
There were mountain goats, alpine flowers, and overwhelmingly stunning vistas of mountains galore!

Cornstarch is Not Just for Lemon Meringue Pie!

Its for baby bottoms too!
Or wherever else they need a little smoothing and drying.
Its also cheap and doesn't smell weird. Natural, like I like it.
I got this advice from my yoga student Leah, who seems to know what to do in this mommy-ing maze. She gave me very emphatic advice to get it out of my kitchen cupboard right away and onto his skin.
Isaac and I are both very appreciative.