Don't Pat the Belly

Pit Stop

Mar 16th, 2011

by G.

The Toddler "Pit Stop" in my Kitchen

Capone has 2 potties. In theory one is his bathroom upstairs and one is in the downstairs bathroom, but in reality one is probably parked next to his race car or in the middle of the living room or being used as a stool in the kitchen. And just last night, I caught him wearing one on his head as a hat. We aren’t really potty training, but we talk about the potty A LOT. He’s even asked to wear his big boy training pants for short periods of time and occasionally asks to sit on his potty.

Tonight, though, we had a major potty breakthrough. We aren’t actively potty training, but we talk about the potty a lot. Capone ran in the bathroom, plopped himself down on the potty (without being asked) and peed. He was so proud of himself. We clapped and cheered and got M&Ms (and quickly emptied the potty before he flung it across the room).

I don’t know if this is the beginning of a trend or fluke, but if the toddler pit stop in my kitchen is going to help us move out of diapers, I think I can live with it a little longer.

Posted in: Al Capone's Adventures, Cloth Diapers, Family, Parenting.

CSA: Local and Global

Mar 15th, 2011

by G.

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Last spring, I really wanted to join a CSA (community supported agriculture ) program. I researched and researched and by the time I found one, Henry was full, so we went on the waiting list for this year. Fast-forward to February and I was delighted to discover an email one morning telling us that we were officially offered a spot for for 26 weeks of organic produce.

I was beyond excited and have been trying to figure out how I can manage to blog about this adventure in our currently hectic lives. And to be honest, I’m still not sure how that’s going to work out.

The irony of this move to eat locally, it that it has also taken us across the world to Japan. We talk about our farmer Henry a lot. He sends us emails about the farm, we follow him on Facebook and mostly we talk about him to get Capone ready* for the diet and lifestyle change that will be coming in a few weeks (10 lbs of produce a week doesn’t leave much room in the fridge for Goldfish).

And while we are getting to know our food better, we are also getting a inside look in the tragedy in Japan. Henry’s family is from Japan and his daughter is currently an exchange student in Tokyo. We’ve been fortunate to get updates about Zoe through her blog but today her story was picked up by the Chicago Tribune. So our CSA experience has started by showing us the local thousands of miles away.

*Thanks to lots of talking and reading about farms, Capone thinks he knows all about Henry. Although his version of Henry’s Farm includes a train, apples, and an octopus in addition to the usual farm equipment.

Posted in: CSA.

5 months in 5 minutes

Feb 20th, 2011

by G.

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Life’s been a little crazy and among other changes in our lives, there just has been no time for blogging. So I make no promises that there will be super regular posts in the future, but in the meantime. Here’s a recap of the last five months in five minutes or less (because that’s about all the time I have today)

Over the summer I decided to embark on a major job change and in September that new job finally materialized. I now work in the same buidling as Rakicy and that means we carpool and most days our whole family is out the door by 7:15 to drop Capone at daycare and we don’t get home again until after 5. It makes for longer days, but it’s been a nice cut back on gas and Capone loves that both of us drop him off and pick him up together. September also brought a trip to Indianapolis so Rakicy could run a half marathon and all new kitchen appliances when our oven decided to quit.

October brought finally settling into a new routine with my new job situation and Halloween. And just like last year, Capone got a cold and we took a slightly snotty, but very cute puppy trick or treating to the businesses downtown.

Due to all of the job changes, we couldn’t travel for Thanksgiving this year, but we have a wonderful community Thanksgiving with all of our friends who were also in town.

Before we knew it, it was December and that mean year end craziness at work and Christmas preparations at home.

Capone wasn’t so impressed with Santa….

…but he loved the magnetic play fridge that he brought on Christmas morning.

In January…Capone got his first haircut. And considering that I cut it myself while he raced around the kitchen on his ride-on racecar, I think it turned out pretty well. And after weeks of not sleeping at all, Capone finally was diagnosed with acid reflux and we all began sleeping and feeling better.

In February, we got hit by a monster snow storm that closed schools, work, and most of the town for a couple of days. Since Capone was excited about the snow drifts that were taller than he was or the bitter cold, we taught him how to Swiffer and he cleaned the floor for days

Spring doesn’t look like it’s going to be slowing down anytime soon. We’re working on finishing the basement into a playroom among other home improvement projects. And while we haven’t been blogging we’ve been participating in the 365 project to record the little moments each day.