Oh the joyful things that summer brings

August has come and gone. Trips to Denver, the Valley, then Dallas all but consumed our time and energy over the past few weeks. The upside: a short respite from the 110 degree heat. The downside: all the overstimulation has projected Cruz right into everyone's favorite toddler milestone. The answer to every question or statement right now is "NO!"

Are you ready to take a bath? "NO!"

Time to put our toys away. "Not yet, Mommy, not yet."

Visiting friends couldn't even walk in through our front door without a "NO!" half-way out of his mouth.

For the past two days the question, "Do you need to go peepee on the potty?" has been met with a pleading, "No, please, no!" as he sits down to try (perfect photo op, no?). Potty training pergatory has begun! Frustrated after two poop incidents (neither of them in the potty, one on my foot), I yelled, "Why, Cruz?!" Of course, I already knew the answer to that question. "NO!!!"

A little man with a guitar

My idea of a perfect Saturday

After trip to the 'hood Farmers' Market and a few accidental cracked eggs from Urban Patchwork, Cruz and I made some fresh buttermilk and bluberry tart, with the help of a special friend.

I'm not sure what brought more pleasure: the delicious and refreshing fruit tart or the look of joy on Cruz' face as he made his own little pie and ate it!

Banana Oatmeal Carrot Muffins

I once had a ton of carrots and overripe bananas. What could I make with this? Thanks to google, it seems there is a recipe out there for anything. I added "oatmeal" in the search terms and voila!

I usually double everything but the sugar to make one huge batch. Cruz BEGS for these in the morning.

Banana Oatmeal Carrot Muffins (from Daily Adventures in Cooking)
(makes 12)
1 cup flour
1 ¼ cups oats
3 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
⅓ cup oil
½ cup sugar
½ cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 bananas mashed
2 carrot, grated
Preheat oven to 400F. Combine flour, oats, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.
In another bowl mix the oil, both sugars, the eggs, carrots, and bananas.
Combine the dry and the wet and pour into greased muffin tins.
Bake for 20 minutes.

Building Cruz' world, block by block

As I mother, I want to be able to provide the best for Cruz. Does that mean spending $24.95 (GASP!) on these Melissa & Doug cardboard blocks? I mean, these are top of the line learning toys. How adorable are they?! He loves stacking stuff, and come on, who am I to deny him the opportunity to learn and create art [...out of cardboard]???

I grappled internally on this purchase and in the end could not pull the trigger. While I want to give Cruz the world of opportunities, I also don't want to spoil him with materials posessions. I had to ask myself: How do I balance the opportunities we can afford to present to him without the toys I can't afford? The answer: I think WAY too much about stuff.

It turns out he's the one who's taught me about simplicity, enterprise and raw creatvity. A few boxes and some packing tape later....Cruz was on his way to becoming American's next top physicist, engineer or architect.

Super-Granola-Austin-Mom

So our friend Kristy had her twin boys (Wes and Miles, above) a few months ago. I called her super mom for being by herself - no nanny - with two infants all day long, puming, feeding, pumping, changing diapers, etc. and still sane. She called herself "Super-Granola-Austin-Mom" for finally being able to tandem breast feed one day. Then she realized she hadn't bathed them in two days, one had oily hair and the other smelled like poop. I told her that basically solidifed her status as the super-granola-mom.

BTW, the Garden-themed shower we had was amazing! Here is a photo recap:

How do you like them peaches!?

Despite the record high temps, severe drought, a leaky rainbarrel that has prevented me from watering anything and our lackluster efforts to keep the garden alive, our peach tree managed to fruit these tiny, delicious little peaches, or peachettes, as I see it.

Cruz will be really excited about this when he wakes up tomorrow.

Summer Reading List

How is it that as the days got longer this summer, I had less time to do the things I wanted to do, like keep up with this blog! (I literally just "shushed" Dax so I could concentrate on writing a recap from the past few months.)

In a nutshell, this summer has been all about transitions for Cruz, from starting his new journey at The Joyful Garden, to mastering the art of survival through five grueling weeks of swim lessons. I am both amazed and guilt-ridden (since I make these decisions for him) at his ability to adapt and grow in these situations. Every day I feel like we're going through a different science experiment: Cruz is the subject as I toss variables his way. We always eagerly await to see what will happen next. He can now swim and float to save his life and feed Lizzie and let her go potty with little help from his Momma.

Most notably, Cruz has gone through an amazing "language explosion," as he began to express himself verbally just weeks after joining his friends at school. Beyond mimickry, he continues to apply his new language to new contexts daily, always looking for a way to relate to whatever it is that he's doing: "Momma's water" or "Cruz's turn" to take a sip.

With this, his love of books continues to grow and as he finishes our sentences when we read: "I love you like plants love....GROWING!" His summer reading list is long and varied, from books on buses, trucks and diggers to classic bedtime stories like Goodnight Gorilla and Goodnight Moon. Here he is with a book from his Aunt Pam101:



Let's hope this is a habit he keeps for good, unlike his Momma who only likes to read on vacation!