Friday, August 1, 2008

Happy


Amy knows how to laugh now. She was looking at me the other day and just busted out chuckling. It's the best sound in the world, is it not? Actually, science needs to find a way to bottle babies' laughter, because in pill form I'm pretty sure it would actually cure cancer.

I'm glad that Amy is happy, because she's had a pretty rough week. She pretty much refused to take any bottles from the sitter, so she was RAVENOUS by the time I got home each day. She's had a pretty nasty diaper rash so maybe she was too upset to eat, or maybe it's my newfound love of onions that's the problem. I've recently discovered that I can make caramelized onions in my own kitchen - the trick is to use a lot of butter - and I can't get enough. The other day, for example, I did the onions and tossed in some black beans, cut up chicken, barbecue sauce and cilantro and made it all into quesadillas. YUM. But I don't think Amy enjoyed it so much.

I finally took the plunge last week and got all my hair cut off. SHORT. I will post a picture as soon as I figure out where I left the camera, but I also need some blonde highlights pretty badly. Porter told me that it looks "horrible" (did he mean adorable? I don't know) but Betsy was more diplomatic. "I love you..." she says, all serious-like, "but I don't like your hair." Personally, I'm a bit on-the-fence about it. I was going for the Mia-Farrow-in-Rosemary's-Baby cut, which would look really cute but I seem to have the wrong hair for it - it keeps trying to poof up in the front, early-nineties style. Maybe it will look better when the front is longer. At any rate, it's much, much easier to deal with when getting up at four-thirty in the morning.

Porter has actually started to use the potty a bit - many of his compatriots are already fully trained but he's light years ahead of where Betsy was at the same age, so I feel all right about it. We went to Target today - because it's a Friday and that's what we do on Fridays - to pick him out some big boy underpants. Porter chose Buzz Lightyear, same as his Halloween costume (that I bought him in January).Of course it wasn't until I got home that I realized, due to a grave design flaw, our favorite space ranger only appears on the BACK of the underpants. Seriously, what genius thought of that? So, Porter has to wear them backwards and with no pants on, so that he can see Buzz, and he looks really funny running around that way. The whole backwards-underpants thing could cause a real wedgie problem, if he had a butt, WHICH HE DOESN'T.

And Betsy? She starts kindergarten in TWO WEEKS. How is that even possible? And we still haven't gotten her supply list - we don't even have her class assignment, I have no idea if she'll be in the AM or PM class - so I have been deprived of the eraser-sniffing fun of back-to-school shopping. Only in Betsy's case it's not BACK to school but I'm pretty sure you catch my meaning.

Allow me to take a moment to share my newfound love for "Snacktime," a new album of kids' music by the Barenaked Ladies. Sheer brilliance. We got it from the library but I will - nay, I must - own it soon. And the answer to the question "That's all very well and good, Joni, but is there a song about ninjas?" is Of course there is.

And squee! It's only one more week until the Olympics start.

4 witty remarks on "Happy"

Anonymous said...

1. YAY for Amy laughs!!
2. I set the camera on the counter where you keep your phone when we left(I was thinking otherwise Porter would find it).
3. Longer hair.

Anonymous said...

oh i love to hear a baby laugh. :) can't wait to see your new hair cut. we start school in 3 days. :0 hope you both have a good kindergarten year.

Catherine on 9:14 PM said...

Aw, Betsy's starting school. If you don't get her supply list soon just make sure you get her pencils, folders, crayons, and a couple cartons of cloves, that's what all the other kids will have.

JUST KIDDING, THAT WAS TASTELESS

I love caramelized onions. I went through a phase that only died out when I realized that if I keep eating two tablespoons of butter with every meal I won't ever have a waist again. But a favorite stale of mine is thusly:

boil plenty of red potatoes (or any other waxy potatoes).

caramelize lots and lots of onions; I prefer spanish onions, I feel like they have the best textures, also they are...the cheapest. Right at the end throw in plenty of white or bella mushrooms, chopped pretty small, to absorb some of that extraneous butter. Oh no, they absorbed too much. You'll just have to add more butter. How tragic.

Add the onions and mushrooms to the potatoes, season with salt and pepper and all that stuff, plus cilantro and green onions or parsley and basil. Just before serving, throw in a handful of diced, ripe tomatoes and sprinkle on plenty of pinky-nail-sized cubes of fresh avocado (don't go overboard with the tomatoes or the whole thing will taste like...tomatoes). Serve with toast or very fresh bread, and make sure you have lots of sharp cheddar or parmesan at the table for sprinklin'.

Or you can drain the potatoes before you add all that other stuff and have a really weird hot salad. You can also add those cut little baby octopusses or some kind of mussel, though I've never tried that because I'm a lazy, lazy aunt.

Mandy's Blogspot on 10:02 PM said...

i'm all depressed (i mean, thrilled) that betsy is old enough for kindergarten.

don't even talk to me about Miles's impending birthday.

 

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