Simone. The High Priestess of Soulful Food. Ohm...

 

Drake and his bestie, Simone, rode the bus home together to spend the afternoon at our house.  At first I was a little intimidated by her diet restrictions but I have never backed down from a culinary challenge.  It's actually nice to have a productive challenge as opposed to "how do I get my kid to eat that when I know he eats it at Simone's house...".  Drake is a very picky eater.  Nothing green, no veggies, nothing squishy (I fall into that group), no rice, no potatoes (except crispy smashed potatoes--OMG, YUM! or fries), no beans, yada, yada, yada...  If you are a parent, you know the list.  However, this little stinker will go to Simone's house and happily eat whatever they serve.  I have been covertly adding "Simone Foods" to our menu and it has been successful so far.  I have even stooped so low as to suggest, "Can't imagine why you won't try it, pretty sure Simone likes this.".   Shameless, I know.  Moving on!

Simone's diet is gluten free, soy free, and diary free and her Mom is a freakin' superhero!  I took some time to look through a stack of recipes that I have been wanting to make, but not up to hearing the complaints, and found some things that would work for Simone.  So tonight we had Grilled Garlic and Basil Pork Chops, Crispy Smashed Potatoes (<-- seriously addictive) and Steamed Broccoli.  For dessert I found a recipe for a No Bake Apple Crumble Bar.  This is where my day of enlightenment began.  

First, I still needed a few things for dinner and for the weekend so I headed over to the grocery store.  Apples.  I was headed for Honeycrisp but was distracted by Lady Alice.  I have NEVER heard of Lady Alice apples before today.  Lucky for me I read the price wrong and bought them before I realized my mistake (7 bones for 6 apples).  They are AMAZING!!!  Crisp, sweet with a bit of tartness and very juicy.  *drool*

Second, Coconut Flour.  If you have never had it before, don't avoid it.  It smells absolutely divine!

Third, Earth Balance Organic Coconut Spread.  Okay, technically I didn't need this but it fit all the requirements and it is now my new favorite buttery spread.  Can't wait for breakfast tomorrow.  Dave's Killer Bread + Coconut Spread = No, Mommy is not going to share.

I have a pretty wide selection of what I would consider odd staples in my pantry.  I got to use many of them tonight and everything was super tasty.  Therefore, I love Simone!  Don't tell Drake, he will hog her all to himself.

For those that are curious and want to try the recipes from tonight, here you go!

Grilled Pork Chops with Garlic and Basil

http://www.porkbeinspired.com/recipes/grilled-pork-chops-with-basil-garlic-rub/

Crispy Smashed Potatoes - NOTE:  Throw in some peeled garlic cloves while boiling potatoes and add them to the "smash".

http://lovegrowswild.com/2013/10/crispy-smashed-potatoes/

Steamed Broccoli

....yeah, steamed broccoli...

No Bake Apple Crumble Bars

http://byebyegluten.blogspot.ca/2011/09/no-bake-apple-crumble-bars-gluten-free.html

And yes, Drake ate it all and LOVED it all!  Even the green!  BAM!

The Drake Equation

Today our little man turns 8.  In some ways it honestly feels much longer than 8 years.  In other ways I can't believe it's already been 8!  I remember my first day with Drake.  You go to the hospital to have your second (or 3rd, or 4th...) and after the baby is born and everyone fights over holding him and commenting on his hair or color or who he looks like, they all disappear.  *Crickets chirping*   Even the hospital staff.  It is almost as if they are thinking, "She's done this before, she won't need anything, lets go help the brand new mommy in room 3".  At one point I gave up on the nurse call button and roamed the halls in my rear a/c fashion gown (fairly certain ass chaps would have covered more) in search of water with ice.  Needless to say I had a lot of one on one time with him.  I couldn't stop staring at him or smoothing my hand over his head, or snuggling and smooching him.

I had been so worried before he was born that I wouldn't be able to love him the way I loved Robby.  How could you possibly be able to?  But when I held him and we were all alone, I felt like the Grinch.  My heart swelled and I realized how ridiculous I had been.  The love I had wasn't going to be split between the two, it doubles and triples.  I was so overwhelmed with just how magical and special he was to me.  He was mine.  And I didn't have to share him, with anyone, until the next day.  I remember saying to him, "Where have you been all my life?  I have been waiting for you."  I still say that to him, to both the boys.

I got to be Drake's Mommy.  I realize that just the thought terrifies some of you when you imagine being in my shoes.  But the rewards are never ending and I wouldn't trade places with anyone else.  Not ever.

Ninjas don't wear cowbells

Robby and Drake, first day of 3rd and 1st grade.

School is back in session and this is a whole new world to me.  For the first time in over 8 years I have no children home with me during the day.  What did I do with my first day of freedom?  I had early coffee with a great friend, followed by grocery shopping, followed by my very first day of work and earning a wage in 12+ years.  *sigh*

I had the day off today and it started out fantastic!  Coffee, pedicure, couple of errands, time with Gen, a little cleaning, donation drop off and all before 1pm!  Off to pick up my cherubs from school.  

Robby is LOVING his class and teacher.  No problems settling back in at all.  Drake is learning a whole new side to school not to mention trying to make it through a long day.

Drake's teacher meets them in the morning in the commons (a.k.a. lunchroom) so he has about 20 minutes of sitting in the lunch room with other kids as they eat breakfast.  Do you see where this is going?  Are we all clear on Drake's favorite pastime?  The first day of school he managed to score a free breakfast.  Today he tried again but Robby caught him and couldn't get Drake to leave the food line so he had to tell a teacher.  This resulted in a 8:23am call to me (they were dropped off at 8:10am) letting me know that I need to have a chat with Drake about how the food services works and when he is allow to use his code.  I thought it was no big deal because I was NEVER going to give Drake the code.  That would just asking for trouble.  Unfortunately a well meaning para educator taught Drake to memorize his code.  ARGH!

Fast forward, another Drake incident, fast forward, headache starting, fast forward, I fell again, fast forward, playing at the park after school.  STOP!

I had a wonderful time chatting with the Moms at our usual picnic table and then I see Drake walking across the grass with a small, green, biodegradable bag.  

Me:  "Drake, where did you get the green bag?"

Drake:  "Over by the sign with the dog on it."

Me:  "Where are you going and why do you have the green doggy bag?"

Drake:  "I need to find someplace private."

Me:  O.o  "Why?"

Drake:  "I have to poop."

Me:  "In the doggy poo bag?  Right here at the park?!"

Drake:  "Yeah."

Me:  "How about we walk over to the bathrooms instead?"

Drake:  "Okay, but this would have been faster." (clearly exasperated)

For this and every other time I am mere seconds away from a disaster, I am thankful for my Drake-dar.

*"Ninjas don't wear cowbells" is courtesy of Michelle.  It was her reply to my plea to have the boys wear cowbells so they would stop sneaking up behind me and scaring me senseless.

Be afraid, be very afraid...

No morsel of food is safe from...the Picnic Bandit!

Gotta tell you that I am very frustrated right now. I am having dreams of straight jackets, duct tape, alarms, booby trapped doors and even shock collars. That twitching eye, yeah it's back. Of course this is all due to Thing 2... Dennis the Menace... The Energizer Bunny... a.k.a. Drake.

Last night the boys decided to have a sleep over in Robby's room. It always starts out as a great plan but within the first hour, they are usually in their own rooms because they can't settle down. So Drake ended up back in his room and wide awake. He came out multiple times for one excuse or another (water, bathroom, hungry, lets party all night...). At 10pm Bob and I head to bed and Drake is still awake. He got in trouble a couple of times but then all was quiet and we fell asleep. Mistake #1.

Midnight, I hear rustling in the other room so I peek at Drake's bedroom door. It is closed so I assume that the rustling is coming from a cat. Mistake #2. Without my glasses all I can really make out is whether his door is shut or open and apparently he has figured this out because he actually took the time to shut his door after he escaped.

12:15 a.m. Drake comes in to wake me for his feast. I mumble something about it is bedtime and to go back to bed, then I start to doze off. Mistake #3. Finally all the alarms and whistles start to go off in my head and wake me up. I bolt out of bed to assess the damage.

There is 1 dim light on in the living room, no where else. On the coffee table there is a bowl of sugar, a can of soda with the top pried off just enough to allow soda to dribble out, a cup of milk, a box of lemonade, 3 packages of fruit snacks (1 for Millie the cat), the jug of orange juice, and 1 cup with a mixture of OJ/Water/Milk/Lemonade. He also was referring to some cold delicious meat which I discovered was a package of bacon he opened, using 3 steak knives, and left it sitting on the table.

Yeah...I freaked.

I sent him to his room with him yelling at me for ruining his feast and then I went to work cleaning up the mess. This is when I realized how much care and stealth he used to accomplish the heist. Cabinets where open, chairs strategically placed for the out of reach items, steak knives not so cleverly hidden, and all the lights out. He did it in the dark! He did it silently! He covered his tracks!! I am a light sleeper so lights, sounds, things out of the ordinary wake me up and he covered ALL of his bases. HE'S FIVE!!!!

I stayed in the living room on the couch until 12:45 a.m. to make sure he couldn't get past me. It was only after his yelling and crying over his defeat woke Bob who then went in to scold him that I was finally able to go to bed.

During our waking moments we are always on guard for Drake's shenanigans and that is VERY tiring. Now we have to sleep with one eye open? *whimper*

Amateurs...

I had a very productive and interesting day today. Started my morning dropping Robby off at school and then Drake and I ran some errands. We got cocoa/coffee and spent the morning together before his evaluation appointment. That was a little nerve wracking but everything came back normal and all 6 stations reported that he was very intelligent and there were no concerns. We will still need to do a deeper evaluation but I am feeling much more confident.

After the evaluation was over, I took him to McDonald's for lunch and to play. While I was trying to eat my lunch another Mom scooted over next to me to chat. She was there with her son who was a year younger than Drake. Since I was busy eating, she did all the talking; this was the beginning of her end. She was telling me just how rowdy her son was, that he and his Daddy like to play fight so he is very energetic. She told me stories of always having to keep an eye on him because he would get into everything. She shared numerous occasions where he did something "so gross" that she nearly passed out. I smiled, chuckled a couple of times and kept listening. After about 20 minutes she told me that she hoped I didn't think she was a horrible Mom because my son [Drake] was so calm and quiet and her son was a raving lunatic.

I decided to take pity on her and told her of the time I couldn't find Drake until I started to follow the "bread crumb" trail of steak knives he left for me and the time that I discovered him eating a cat hairball. I think it was when I shared the story of Drake at St. Edwards park putting "some sort of a balloon" in his mouth in the men's restroom that she was finally pushed over the edge.

I am probably one of the last Moms you want to get into a competition with about the unbelievable things your children have done. She left shortly after that, not sure why...

Amatuers.

Erpy

Drake came down with a tummy virus and has been pretty miserable the last two days. Poor little man couldn't even keep water down longer than 5 minutes. He made it 8 hours last night without vomiting. When he woke this morning he took a sip of water and promptly threw it up. So...off to the clinic we go...

We managed to be the first ones in line at the clinic when they opened. He was still vomiting but they gave him a Zofran tablet to help. 30 minutes later they had me start giving him 1/2oz of water, every 10 minutes for the first 6 hours. Thank God Robby thought that was an excellent job for him and he was very diligent about it. Precisely measuring out 1/2oz each time, no matter how many attempts it took. lol

Bob and Robby took time to work on the "Honey-Do" list while Drake and I napped and then they headed out to the shop for some Man-cave time, followed by burgers for dinner. Drake and I stayed inside in our pj's, I gave him a bath and we munched on plain spaghetti. I told him he could drink water when he was thirsty now but he keeps forgetting unless he hears an alarm go off somewhere in the house. Pavlov's dog...

Drake is going to stay home from school tomorrow but Robby is all set to go and share his cherry birthday cupcakes with his classmates.

Regarding erpy... My grandmother used to say "erpy" when referring to being nauseous. I HATE that word. It's a word that even if you were feeling great, as soon as you heard it you wanted to zook. *shivers*

Mama Bear

It is very hard to be a parent! There are plenty of books, videos, seminars, classes, advisers, etc but if your children don't fit into any of the numerous categories, then you are forced to reinvent the wheel. I am completely in love with my children. I have 3 of the most talented, brilliant, compassionate and amazingly unique boys. They challenge me, fulfill me, make me proud, push me over the edge of sanity, make me laugh until I cry and make me cry until I laugh. They provide no end of entertaining stories to tell and they will always keep me on my toes. Bottom line, no matter WHAT they do or say, I will always be their Mom and I will always move mountains for them because I love them.

Mama Bear was NOT happy yesterday. Our job is to raise them to be productive members of society. Lay the groundwork so they are able to go on in life to make good decisions, excel in their endevours, become spouses, parents and to have the confidence to attempt what we are attempting now. To feel like you have completely failed your child at the tender age of 4 is not a good feeling. Suffice it to say that all is on the mend and we have a plan evolving to put everything on the right track.

I realized yesterday that I truly have no idea how Drake's mind works, what makes him tick. He is sensitive like me, enjoys making people laugh, and wears his emotions right out there for everyone to see. I honestly thought that he was my mini-me (other than the mischeiviousness, that he gets from Bob...). That is not the case. He is VERY much like Bob and I don't get Bob. lol! I love him dearly but I don't get him and I have been scratching my head for 12 years now. Now I see that Drake is Bob's mini-me yet so completely unique that even Bob is scratching his head. I have a social introvert. What? Seriously. A social introvert.

So now we are calling in the big guns. lol! Someone with a PhD to observe him and see if they can give us any guidance on what Drake truly needs to flourish. Bob and I are very fortunate to have such wonderful people who care about our family and are here to help us through. It is time for us to be 2 steps ahead of Drake instead of him lapping us. =]

This picture is from Mother's Day last year when I spent the afternoon swinging in the hammock with Robby & Drake, before I knew that I had one more son out there to love whole heartedly. I look at this picture and it is cathartic for me. This is why I am a Mom. This is why everything we do and endure is worth every moment.

The most dangerous place to be is between a parent and their child.