Charlyn’s Web

It’s amazing how kids, with the same parents, can be so different.

Hans being the first born, didn’t have other kids around much to take away his toys. There were occasions when there would be other kids in the nursery at church, and kids being kids, eventually someone would take a toy away from Hans. I remember seeing the most surprised look on his face and he’d just stand there. Then he’d go find something else to play with, if an adult didn’t step in and make the other kid give it back.

Kirsten had an older sibling to take things away but it didn’t happen much because Hans was 2 ½ years older, and a boy, and not interested in what she was playing with. If other kids took things away from her she may have hit but most likely she would have whined- which is an ongoing condition with her.

Then along came Talia, just 18 ½ months after her older sister. If something is taken away from her she doesn’t look surprised, she doesn’t whine, no, my little Sunshine will track them down and beat the snot out of them.

This is a dilemma because she likes many of the things her sister is playing with, so instead of being the kid that something is being taken away FROM , she is the kid doing the taking. If she doesn’t get what she wants then she shrieks in that shrill voice of hers and if that doesn’t intimidate then she resorts to physical violence.

The other day, I was trying to read something on the computer when the most awful shrieking penetrated my consciousness. I looked over to see Kirsten curled up in a ball on the floor with Talia on top of her beating on her with a toy cleaning brush, both of them screaming. Talia had wanted something that there was one of, and Kirsten wasn’t about to let her have it. Then Talia, after being punished, wouldn’t listen to advice to find something similar to play with, and kept voicing and showing her displeasure. She spent time in her bed where she could think about the error of her ways. Yeah, right. At least I could close the door on the noise.

The girls weigh about the same, and since Talia is shorter she has a little more force behind her. And she is not afraid to use it. I’ve seen her take Hans down. He towers over her and out weights her by 20 pounds but I have seen her grab him by the legs and throw him to the ground. Bully and Brute are often used in the same sentence with the name Talia.

With each kid, we have attempted to find the discipline technique that works best for their personalities. I found an effective discipline to use for Hans was to take away one of his favorite toys of the moment, either a train or a plane. At times, I had quite a fleet of planes on top of the refrigerator. That hasn’t worked with Kirsten because she hasn’t attached to the toys, but two things that do seem to work is isolating her and taking away reading time. I seem to be able to work around her obstinacy by giving her choices. Sometimes the choice is “you do it or I will do it for you”; she doesn’t like that. Now, Talia will be another challenge to find her “trigger.” So far, she hasn’t attached much to toys, although she loves books. If she gets upset there is just no talking to her. I guess we’ll just have to keep exploring possibilities as we go along.

Ah, the journeys we take. And they say the journey is the best part. I doubt they meant the Journey to the Best Way to Discipline Your Child. There are so many different roads to take, so many different opinions and if the wrong path is chosen you could end up with a real bully and a brute.

I knew there was something more I wanted to say about making the Arroz con pollo but it was swallowed up in a black hole in my brain and wasn’t spit out until I had posted it. Old brains….

The recipe called for mincing garlic and then, using a rubber spatula, mash salt into it to make a paste. I have seen this done on TV before but the chefs used a mortar and pestle to mash the whole garlic with salt. I assume this recipe called for mincing first as a way to get around the use of the mortar and pestle as most home cooks don’t have that. I, unfortunately, choose to use a flimsy rubber spatula that would get caught on the side of the bowl and then flip back out sending salt-infused garlic all over the kitchen and me. Ah, eau d’garlic, what nice perfume!

Aren’t you glad you don’t have to clean my kitchen?

I have been looking for a good Arroz con Pollo recipe but it seems that most I see are just chicken on top of Mexican rice. They seemed bland. Then I got a free issue of Cooks Illustrated, which is a pretty neat (and expensive) magazine. They go through the process they take to make a recipe better. There was a mention in there about an Arroz con Pollo recipe they did last fall. Of course, the recipe is no longer available online (except for Premium members). So I searched the web to see if anyone had posted it. I found one but the lady had altered it some to suit her tastes but the methodology was there and she pointed out what she had changed. I also found another Cuban recipe that did similar things. Last night I took the plunge and made it. I gave myself plenty of time, the recipe said it would take just over an hour but I figured it would take longer being the first time for me. Also, the girls were asleep so at least I didn’t have a brown head between me and the counter. (Kirsten has taken a great interest in what I am doing in the kitchen.) It took about an hour and a half- which made it done before Brett got home but it kept fine. I also cooked up some pinto beans, a really big batch and will freeze some of it. Added some onions, green pepper, garlic, cilantro and green chiles to some of the beans. Yum.

I had to please Mr. “Put Tapatio on Everything.” He doesn’t like bland- but at least he will try something now before he puts the sauce on, as that tends to upset the cook. Don’t want to upset the cooks, ya know- they tend to get huffy. But even he thought the Arroz con Pollo was good even without sauce on it! It made a huge batch. Next time I would like to try it with the medium grain rice (or Mexican rice) that the recipe recommends. I think it’s a keeper, AND I even wrote down what changes I made to the recipe as I went along. Wow, may even be able to recreate it! Wouldn’t that be something!

I also made some of my “Not Quite World Famous” Salsa. Which is gone already. It was really good.

Of course that causes another dilemma as we’ve been trying to lose weight and if it tastes good then we tend to overeat…. sigh.

Another week has zoomed by. Hans is excited because tomorrow is Saturday- partly because his Dad will be home and partly because he gets to watch cartoons (a lot of them).

Illness: It seems to be receding but is still here. Kirsten says she has a “funny, little voice”. It is rather squeaky. She is bothered by stuff in her throat and her nose is still runny. Talia is pretty chipper but has a runny nose also. Both girls are giving me no trouble at nap time- going right to sleep so you know they are tired. Hans is better but still some nose stuff. Brett is slowly improving also but has had trouble sleeping, partly due to a stuffy nose. I keep thinking that maybe I am getting something too but still am keeping it at bay. I am sleeping really soundly and quite a bit too.

Surprises in the mail! One was a fun “pic-a-nic” basket from my friend Boo Boo yesterday. A touching card and green Crocs (clogs). They have been quite comfortable for my picky feet so far. There are nubbies on the sole to massage the feet- feels really nice! Then today a nice long letter from our harvesting friends in Kansas. What fun to catch up on all of the goings on. Makes me feel like I am right there. It’s the little things in life that make it fun.

Walks: I got up the gumption to insist on a walk again today. The sun is shining! Yeah! Praise the Lord! It so helps the spirits when the sun is out. It shines in the windows and warms the house as well as my soul. It stated out pretty cold this morning but was up to 32 when we went out for the walk. There was a slight breeze but the sun felt so good. The kids didn’t fight too much about going out- I think the sunshine helped with that. We just walked down and back- didn’t do any extra because I think everyone is still not totally up to full energy. It felt nice!

Now on to the weekend!

When is a Pixie not a Pixie? When she is 5’10” tall.

Webster’s Encyclopedic Dictionary- Pixie or Pixy- n. a small, mischievous elf or fairy.

I gave Kirsten the nickname of Pixie when, for the first two years of her life, she hovered on the 50th percentile line on the growth chart. If that line was followed out to adulthood, she would have been 5’4″ tall. Hmmm. When we pointed this out to the Doctor, she looked at both of us and said “there is no way you two could have a 5’4″ child”. Not that I have anything against 5’4″, it just seemed odd. We harkened back to my Grandmothers to account for the “short” gene.

I had noticed of late, that Kirsten seemed to be shooting up and looked taller than other girls her age and I began to wonder….

I found a height predictor calculator on WebMd.com where you put in the mother’s and father’s height and also the child’s age, height and weight. Both the girls were coming up 5’9″ tall, which would be the median between Brett and me (slightly closer to me). But I had noticed with Hans that after the age of 4, it started to take into consideration how tall the child was at that point. Now that Pixie was 4, I entered the information in for her. It says she will now be 5’10” tall. I guess that is not “small” but the “mischievous ” part still fits. She may not be a “Pixie” to the rest of the world but she may be the Pixie of our children. I compared the girl’s hands yesterday and they are the same size. Her “little” sister may pass her up yet.

Yesterday was a typical winter day here with thick clouds overhead and cold temperatures. On days when we are having the inversion (cold air trapped under a high pressure) the temperature will vary by only a few degrees- 25 is the low and 30 is the high. We had been in the house for days now, due to all of the illness so I thought that it would … wait for it… be “good” for us to go out to get the mail. The children had questions about how “good” it would be for them. Hans complained and was a slow as could be getting his stuff on. Talia complained too and wasn’tvery cooperative. Kirsten, on the other hand, quietly went about the business of getting her cold weather gear on. After the long fight, noise and hassle, I was glad to get them outside and on our way. Sigh. I have such delusions about how these things should go all the while the kids have their ideas about how things should NOT go. I was cheer-leading the troops- Come on, get moving quickly so your blood will pump and you’ll warm up! They move slower and come to a stop. Is it instinctual to just stand still in the cold? Huddling up, I guess. I decided they could just do their thing and I would walk quickly to the mailbox, a 1/4 mile away. Talia stopped in the driveway and after I was a fair distance from her; she started to wail. I yelled back at her that I would come get her on the way back. Of course, I should have realized it was a loosing battle to have her actually HEAR me, what with all that noise so close to her(coming from her own mouth). I heard an opening and shouted again and then she calmed down. She had started walking by then and Kirsten, who actually had been walking quite quickly waited for her at the end of the driveway. What a sweet sister. Hans was a few feet behind me and I made it to the mailbox. On the way back, Talia had started crying again. I often wonder what our neighbors think and am glad that they are not very many in number and work outside the home. I gave both girls hugs and told Kirsten what a good big sister she was to have waited for her sister and then walked with her. I walked everyone home and they were very grateful to get back into the house.

I may think twice on an overcast, 30 degree day about a “good for us” walk.

On Sunday the 21st Hans came down with a fever cold. He was down and out on Monday with a high temperature. Tuesday and Wednesday he was showing improvement but on Thursday his temperature went high again and he didn’t act like he felt well at all. He continued to have a low fever and by Sunday I was getting concerned. I told myself that if he still had it on Monday I would call the doctor. Then I took his temp and it was in the normal range! Whew! He has started to perk up too, which is a good sign. Although he still has a cough and runny nose.

I kept watching the girls, waiting to see if they would get it too. They just seemed fine all week. Brett, on the other hand, came down with the cold part pretty soon. I felt like I was fighting something off, took Coldeze lozenges when my throat felt sore and some fake Air Borne too.

Then Saturday morning rolled around. I was awakened by whinny “Mommy”s coming from the girl’s room about 6:30. I got up and went in there to find Kirsten on the floor pointing to a wet spot on the floor- “I threw up!” Great way to start the day, I always say. Really, I’m sure I say that. Kirsten ended up doing the nasty deed every half hour, stretching longer slowly. She seemed done with that part early in the afternoon but was running a fever. Talia ate a large breakfast and was playing all around, seemingly the only truly healthy one in the bunch. I was feeling a little off but I have also been known to be a little bit of a hypochondriac and with all of the sickness around me, I had plenty of symptoms to feed off of. Then in the late morning, Talia came up to me and laid her head on my leg, saying “I don’t feel!” Yep, she was hot too. She was “sick” really only once but she seemed to feel worse than KJ later.

We kept our germs to ourselves and stayed home from Church on Sunday. I can’t think of an instance where the whole family has stayed home before. We watched lots of TV- mostly Looney Tunes DVDs. The girls slept alot. Hans wouldn’t take a nap but fell asleep in a chair before 8 o’clock. Brett stayed home from work on Monday and everyone continued to lie around.

Through this all, I have been waiting to get really sick. And waiting. And waiting. But, so far, praise the Lord! I have remained well. This is surprising because I used to catch about everything out there. Maybe that’s what has given me immunity. Also, I am the Mother- which means I deal with the body fluids. I shall leave that there but it contrubutes to my surprise.

Today, Hans seems well and we had school. Talia slept until 8 AM and still seems a little off. She’s been having problems with the other end now. Kirsten also but she seems to be OK otherwise.

I can’t believe I am saying this, but I will be glad to have everyone back to their rambunctious selves again.

This is the start of my blog.  I am sure everyone has been breathlessly waiting.  Well, you  can take a breath now because here it is.

I’m not sure what exactly I will be saying.  I think things about the kids, updates on the cute and not so cute things they do.  Maybe some recipes.  Life in general.  This way, people can check in when they want and not have their email boxes filled with things they aren’t interested in.  I’m always afraid I am annoying people when I send out the profiles on the kids.

Remember, be gentle.  This is my first, stumbling attempts at this.