Something to Sink Her Teeth Into

Lil Cherub has grown the cutest two little teeth. I'm sure she doesn't know what to do with them yet...though she has bitten me a few times already... Anyway, they are a reminder to me that she is growing so quickly! Babbling, crawling, cruising, eating lots of food to keep up with all of the energy she is spending. I made my own babyfood for all three of my little blessings. However, this time around I'm taking on a new challenge! She loves to eat toasted o's and graham crackers, so Ive decided to make my own teething biscuits and crackers . I found several recipes at a website that was a great resource to me with my first two blessings, wholesomebabyfood.com. I hope to try this one out this weekend and post pictures soon!

Baby Teething Crackers

2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour

1/4 cup cornmeal

1/4 teaspoon salt (optional)

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 egg, beaten

2/3 cup milk



Heat oven to 325 degrees F.

In food processor or in large bowl, stir together the flour, cornmeal, salt and sugar. Add the egg and mix well. Blend in enough of the milk to form a dough that will hold together in a cohesive ball.

On a floured surface or pastry cloth, roll into a rectangle about 3/8 inch thick. With a sharp knife, cut the dough into 1 1/2 x 3-inch rectangles. Place them on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet. Stick each cracker 2 or 3 times with the tines of a fork. Bake for 60 to 70 minutes, or until the crackers are thoroughly dry. Cool on a rack. These crackers should be hard. If necessary, put them back in the oven for a few minutes.

Yields 10 to 15 crackers.

Tiny Troubles

I'm so frustrated.

Lil' Miss is in a Suzuki program. They use tiny instruments to teach tiny children how to make beautiful music. We had a rough first year - with Lil' Miss being disagreeable in her private lessons, uncooperative in her group lessons, and downright defiant in our practices at home. We did not want to throw in the towel, thus teaching her to quit, but by the end of the year we had definitely decided that we would NOT register for another year of torture.

Well.... over the summer, her private teacher assured us that Lil' Miss was on the brink of excellence. She apparently has a "natural talent" that is going to "take off at the speed of light" once she gets the attitude stuff under control. I certainly could not see this talent, but then again, I never played the violin. Clarinet from grade school through high school - but never touched a string instrument in my life.

We had a real heart to heart with Lil' Miss - as much as one can have with a five year old. She chose to continue and changed her behavior to show that she was serious. One of her little group classmates even said, "Last year she didn't do anything and now she's doing everything!" He received quite the formidable glare from Lil' Miss.

Today, however, she did not want to practice. She really doesn't want to any day, but will usually comply and then feel good about it in the end. Today she dug her heels in and refused. At every request there was a whine, groan or complaint. "Please fix your bow position." "Whhhhyyyyyy????" "Get your first finger on the A string please." "It iiiiissssss!" "How is your pinky supposed to be on your bow?" "I dooon't knooooow." Most certainly not like it is in the shot I took of her above.

After half an hour of this, I gave up. Asked her to put everything away and I left the room to wash dishes. She happily skippped away, read through a bag of library books and then began playing with her baby sister. I wasn't really mad before, but now I am fuming. She thinks she can get away with not practicing and just go play? But what am I supposed to do? Trudge through the practice while she whines and draws it out for over an hour? Should I forget the whole thing and try tomorrow? Should I save my sanity and just quit altogether?

I finally calmed down, called her back in, and got her to finish the practice. It ended on a good note...but seriously, did it have to be so difficult? I pray daily for guidance with the kids, but maybe I need to begin praying before each practice. Maybe we should start each practice out by praying together! That would not only teach her a valuable lesson about prayer, but also hopefully put us in the right spirit to get through it successfully. Hmmm...it took me having to write this long post to figure that out!

Escape Cat

Our cat wants out.

At every opportunity, he escapes out the front, back or garage door. If the door is shut, he smashes his little face against it until the door pops open and quietly slips away. He leisurely sniffs around the porch, taking in the fresh air - until he realizes that he has been spotted. At that point he dashes off the porch into a bush, under the porch or some other place from where he cannot be retrieved. Once in a secure hiding spot, he will not respond to his name, toys, food, bribes or threats and only returns when he feels like it a few hours later.

I think this is all normal behavior for indoor cats, who are naturally outdoor animals. The only problem is that when we adopted him years ago, he was already declawed. This was one of the reasons we chose him, especially since my husband is very attached to his electronic toys and the wires they come with. This makes our cat's little jail break episodes life threatening. He could be attacked by another cat, dog or animal and would have a hard time defending himself.

In addition, I fear he may pick up outdoor "issues" and bring them into our home. Ticks hitching a ride, dirt tracked on the floor where the baby crawls, poison ivy oils on his fur, and who knows what else! Just yesterday he was seen fraternizing with some neighborhood cat. How dare he roll around with some strange cat and then saunter back into our home!

I am not sure how to deal with this problem aside from sending him to live with someone else. Any advice?

I WON!

I won a wonderful prize from the ABC Toys and Crafts Design Team Blog. I'm so excited. It's a Martha Stewart Punch Around the Page Set - the 3 Dot Scallop edge design. It has edge punches that correspond to matching corner punches. They enable you to punch a continuous border around a page. This comes at such a perfect time because I am gearing up to make Christmas Cards. This set is definitely going to be put to good use. Thank you ABC Toys and Crafts Design Team!