culinary adventures

This is turning into a "weird" food blog, it feels like. Of course (well, okay, you wouldn't have just known this, but..) last night we had some fried baby goat blood. 

This is what is looks like before being cooked. Isn't it interesting how it is all coagulated? 

This is what it looks like afterwards. It is actually quite tasty. Just really filling. I found I couldn't eat a lot because I was full after about four pieces. 

 Isaac did not try it, as far as I am aware. I think he did try the fried chicken blood last time though. He definitely ate attieke (cassava couscous) last time we had it. Although, who doesn't like attieke? Our neighbor came over asking how we made it because she enjoyed it so much last time. We gave her a box of it because really I don't think it would be quite the same with semolina couscous. I guess that although Isaac is still somewhat "picky", he does get exposed to a greater variety of foods than some of his classmates probably do. So that is probably worth something. 

 This, though.... I almost could not bring myself to try. I think the problem was too much information at the wrong time. Do you think you would try it? It is crunchy!

So, these are actually /shi-tumu/ (don't know how you write it but that's how it sounds phonetically). Literally worms from the shea tree. The way Henri explained it to me made it sound like the worms came out of the shea nuts and then devoured the leaves of the tree. That was just too much for me because this last year my peas were inoculated with some weird bug eggs. I didn't realize this until I had saved some peas for planting this year. They hatched and ate their way out of the peas and it was so gross. Then, this week, I opened my little seed box because I had a seed planting activity to do with my speech kids, and found, oh, probably 20 of these dead bugs in the bottom of the box. I felt like I might have to vomit, but instead I was conveniently in a gravel parking lot, so I just shook them out of the box  into the gravel and shuddered. So, after that, I did not want to eat anything that came out of a nut or seed! Ew! But then Henri clarified that no, they did not hatch from the shea nuts. Maybe the eggs were laid in the bark or near the tree, but definitely not in the nuts. Okay, I thought, I can try one then, since they did come all the way from Burkina with a friend's wife who recently arrived. (Don't ask how that got through customs.) They are an acquired  taste for sure, but not too strange. I mean, it was good I was at home to try the first one, but I could probably fake a smile if I had to eat them again. The Bobo people in Bobo-Dioulasso eat them. Payback, I guess. If you worms are going to eat our shea trees, we will eat you! In a nice spicy sauce. ;)

Two Isaac quotes from yesterday: 

1. He found out that my middle name is Rose. "You just a rose smeller!" Is that some sort of preschool insult or something? 

2. "There's too much laughing in my tummy!" 

And from just now"

"Do you know red hair? That's a type of hair."

just a beautiful saturday

By the way, in case you didn't know, "Jupiter is the gassy planet" (add kindergarten snickers and it is funny). This is what a kindergartener at Isaac's school said the other day. I could not suppress my laughter.

We enjoyed a beautiful Saturday outside.

 Thank you Nana and Boompa for the nice wheelbarrow! I don't think it was intended to hold small growing children, but it worked for that purpose at least one time.

 Oh, too much love in one picture. I can't stand it. Sweet children!

hockey fight

This crazy squirrel came right up to our window just now. I chased it out of my chives planter (the *@#$% squirrels keep digging in my planters) and then it came back, then it came closer. Also, yes, our windows are gross. Sorry.

This is my absolute favorite picture of Isaac's of all time: "This is you when the baby was in your tummy." Notice the legs on the baby. It's pretty much the most awesome thing ever.

It felt like a rough first week back, and not because of leaving the kids. They did fine. Isaac actually cried more than Sonia but that is pretty consistent with each of their characters. Although Isaac didn't cry because he missed anyone. He just cried because he didn't want to leave the cool toys in the baby room. 

My angst is more from coming back to find that for some kids, services were NOT provided as they should have been or at least as I had envisioned it going. I feel like somehow it is my fault but I don't think it really is. I had originally hoped to ask for the summer off (since it is only 5 weeks and we don't get paid enough to cover the cost of daycare for both kids most likely) but now there is absolutely no way I will leave the summer to someone else. The vast majority of my caseload is going to kindergarten, which will be good if we end up moving to Salem - less goodbyes. But if I think they need summer services, it looks like I need to be the one to provide them! 

Isaac saw a picture of some guys playing a hockey game and said, "Look, there's a hockey fight!" I guess the hockey game we went to pretty much looked like a fight, what with people slamming into the walls and hitting each others' sticks. 

I almost forgot to mention - Isaac keeps seeing this picture when we go by the redbox in Fred Meyer. He is always very concerned about the lady and the blood. He doesn't seem to think it is very funny, although I certainly do. "That lady is getting eaten, Mama!" 

Please have my head examined if I ever actually rent this movie. Thanks.

three and a half

They are both three and a half! Since this will never again be possible (at least, not that I'm aware of), I had to take a video! 

 (ok, video is not working...)

And a picture, in case you can't watch the video.

I am starting back to work tomorrow and am feeling really anxious. I know both kids my will be at good places but I am feeling like I am going to have to jump right back in and help all these kids with speech and language (and social communication) and my brain isn't quite there yet. Also I am of course sad to be leaving my sweet tiny tiny baby and see less of my sweet bigger boy. And nervous that I will forget something really important and someone won't have food tomorrow. Pray that I don't mess it up!

best friends

"Mama, I love Sonia so much!"

Sonia and Isaac had fun splashing in the bath together yesterday. I put Sonia's bathtub in the big bathtub because I have been getting tired of mopping up all the water from the bathroom floor! They were smiling and laughing at each other.

Isaac was saying a few days ago, "Grandpa Wally is my best friend." 

"Oh," we asked him," Really, why is that?" 

"Because every time he sees me, he does 'poke!!'"

He also asked if Grandpa Wally's nose hairs were really really long. I said, not particularly. He has been thinking a lot about Grandpa Wally.

He has also been concerned about people turning 50. He thinks this means they are getting really old and they are going to die. Ever since we told him that Nana was going to be turning 50 this year (oops, maybe I shouldn't say this on the blog?), he has been really concerned. "Will she die? Will she be very sick?" No, Isaac, we have said. Fifty is not that old. Boompa is already older than 50. Is he old and sick? "No," says Isaac. What about Grandma? She is older than 50. And so is Grandpa Wally and Grandpere and Yaaba. "Oh," says Isaac. But he still is concerned about the impending doom of turning 50 for Nana. 

I don't think he has a concept of quantities above 10-12, so 50 is just "a lot" for him.

Isaac's photos, installment 2

curated by Mama.

remains of breakfast

 my Papa

 deep fat fryer

 I shared my "do not enter" sign with Sonia.

 Self portraits are a favorite. me and jelly mustache.

 tiny whiner.

 lamp.

 And Sonia fell asleep in her bumbo seat. 

what about me?

Poor Isaac, I guess he has been feeling a little neglected.

The other evening I was taking pictures of Sonia in the Bumbo seat and he said, "Mama, why don't you take pictures of me as much anymore?" So I took some pictures of my handsome boy. Don't focus too much on what I am feeding him. I did get him to finish the cheese-stuffed pizza crust. Yes, it is kind of junk food. And yes it is a huge step for him to eat something with three ingredients combined. So it was a victory. 

I guess I have been trying to focus on taking pictures of Sonia since my siblings all complain that there are not nearly as many pictures of themselves as babies. Since I am the oldest, there are a good two albums of baby pictures of me, and not any full albums of anyone else. Actually I think for Uncle Mikey there may not even be a full page. (Okay, just kidding. Kind of.) But I guess Isaac is feeling left out. So, Sonia, when you get older and wonder where all the pictures were, this is what happened. Isaac asked for equal amounts of pictures. Since you are three and half years younger than him, you just got less. Sorry.

Isaac has recently been playing "Fallout". I think this is a game Uncle Mikey plays. I hope it is not violent. I was kind of tired last time we went to Nana's and not so much into supervising. But Isaac's version is to stand up these trees that are part of his train set. He originally was knocking them over with the end of the stomp rocket pipe, but when I showed him that he could blow them over using the air from the stomp rocket launcher, he immediately adopted that way of doing things. He has been playing it on and off for the last few days.

Mmm, we also had attieke et poisson, which is one of my very favorite things to eat. Not Isaac's though. I think we might have gotten him to try some attieke, without vegetables though. Actually, Papa had him play "Close your eyes, open your mouth." He did eat some of it that way. Mmmmm..

Isaac continues to say the funniest things. Some of them I wrote on facebook. Some I can't remember exactly what was said. 

Yesterday we were driving to church, and Isaac said, "Look, an American flag! And look, below it there's a joke flag. (as in the state of Oregon flag)" I laughed so hard. Then he said, "Sometimes you crack me up too Mama."

He was convinced that some animal footprints near his school were crocodile footprints. I think they were probably dog. 

He also said about a neighbor kid, "She was not talking nice to her mama. And that hurt her mama's feelings. That was not good." What a sweet little guy! 

I was talking about how babies go through stages and something about how it was okay for Sonia to put her hands in her mouth right now because that is how she learns, but how she needs help to hold on to things... can't remember exactly what I said, but he said, "But they can do it on stage in their bumbo seats!" I also started laughing imagining a bunch of babies on a stage sucking on their hands in bumbo seats. 

He is a wealth of humorous comments, that is for sure. After working with preschoolers for a year, I am convinced three is the best best best age. I mean, Isaac will always be fun no matter what age he is. But three is this intersection between greatly increased expression and a still slightly illogical, magical interpretation of the world. I remember reading a book to my kids at work last year in which the lady catches a star. I asked all the kids at the end of the book, "Do you think you really could catch a star?" Most of the younger kids (three year olds) said, "Yeah!" and most of the older kids said, "No, not really." Although, at the same time, the older kids are so smart! It is fun to see them before they are ready for kindergarten. They know so much, it is just incredible. 

Speaking of which, I have been working more with Isaac on pre-reading. He is really into thinking of a bunch of different words that start with the same sound. "Sharon and shy and.... shop and...." he goes on and on (granted, /sh/ was a little more confusing as far as which letter and I told him not to worry about the letters we use for that sound). 

He is also interested in angels and devils. Lots of playing out fights between the angels and devils, where he is one or the other. 

There was another crazy fit/tantrum about watching movies this weekend. I'm not exactly sure what the reason was... but we are taking a break from movies for the next few weeks. Isaac does get too crazy about movies sometimes. It is hard, I suppose, not to be able to watch a movie when you really really want to. Maybe that is what all the fuss was about. Usually he gets to watch two movies over the weekend. He wanted to on Friday, but I told him, no, it is not the weekend. Big fit. Then on Saturday, he tried to watch a third movie. No, you have already watched two. Big fit. I don't think I even had thought about how to react. I think next time he can choose how to calm down and then I will explain, very briefly, why he can't watch the movie. I guess that sounds like a good game plan. We will see how it works. 

Well, it sounds like Sonia is waking up from her nap, so... until next time!