The road to no more nappies is not for the faint of heart

Dear God, the road to no more nappies is a trying one. 

Today has been a mixed bag: success at the little loos at King's Park, complete disaster later at home. The kind of disaster that happened in the two minutes I was trying to put the shopping away, left me gagging (literally), required a lunch time bath and which meant that the shopping list now reads: Napisan. Anti-bacterial wipes. Hand sanitiser. Enough said. 

E is now "resting" in her room (with a nappy firmly on I might add) and I am airing the house out.

But I am grateful that we are getting there. It is a long, frustrating and occasionally disgusting road, but at the end of it is independent toileting, hurrah. 

And if anyone has any tips for how to ensure the solids wind up where they belong, I'd also be grateful for that!

 

Domestic Goddess One Pot Roast Chicken

We were having a bit of a blah afternoon until I decided to cook this and the smell of it wafting through the house acted as a multi-hour lift. I based it loosely on this recipe but we had different veggies so I used those instead. I also reduced the amount of veggies so it would serve two adults and a toddler about whose roast vegetable eating habits I am realistic enough that I didn't really cater for her.

1. Chop about 200gm of bacon into short strips, fry them in an oven proof and stove proof pot with lid until they are crispy.
2. Into the same pot put half a leek cut into rings, three small carrots peeled and chopped into chunks, two large potatoes peeled and quartered, and 10 button mushrooms. Stir veggies and bacon together.
3. Add half a cup of white wine (or more if you have it - the original recipe called for 1/2 a bottle but it also used enough vegetables for four people) plus two cups of chicken stock. Put the lid on the pot, crank up the heat and bring to the boil.
3. While that is happening, stick a lemon and a handful of rosemary up the chicken and slather the outside with olive oil and salt and pepper.
4. Put the chook on top of the veggies and put the whole lot in the oven.
5. Cook it for 1 hour with the lid on at 180C and then half an hour (or more if necessary) with the lid off. Baste several times during the lid-off time so the chicken browns.
6. When it is cooked, take the chicken and vegetables out and put them on a serving platter. Put the pot back on the stove, stir the sauce to loosen any bits off the bottom and thicken it with cornflour paste to make a gravy.
7. Tell your family that from henceforth you shall be known as Nigella.

A big girl room

 On the weekend we ticked off another box on the road from babyhood to childhood: the sides came off the cot.

E is very pleased. She told everyone at daycare on Monday (and everyone who will listen subsequently) about how Daddy "built" her bed and how it has blankets in it. (Her cot always had a pile of blankets fit for the Arctic, and exactly the same ones are in the bed, so where this came from we have no idea).

D and I are less pleased that our evenings have suddenly disintegrated: the thrill of being able to get out of bed on her own and come running into the living room, laughing hysterically ("E got out of bed! E running to Mummy! Now E running back to bed!!") is yet to wear off.

We are trying to focus on the nice parts: reading stories on the bed together before lights-out, the added space in the bedroom now we have rearranged it, the easier access when we want to sneak in after she has (finally) gone to sleep to give her a pat and a kiss. And hoping that the novelty wears off very, very quickly!

 

Late afternoon gratitude

Image from http://niteshok.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/storm11.jpg.

At the end of an afternoon that has been inexplicably stormy (both literally and metphorically) I'm making an effort to feel grateful for:

* A 15 minute walk in the pram in between rain and thunder. An uphill, blood thumping, nose warming walk. 

* Returning to the house with renewed patience and enthusiasm, the quick whizz-around-put-the-toys-away that followed, and the relief of everything being tidy-ish that followed that. 

* The deliciousness of chicken pot-roasting in our absence, in time for us all to eat dinner together in an hour.

* Playschool!

Meatless Monday: corn and fetta fritters

Here's one for the Veggie Mama, and her Meatless Monday link, 'cause it's veggie (obviously) and it's got fetta in it!

Got the recipe from here.

Cooked it last night, intending to give it to the toddler whilst D and I had something else. Tasted the toddler's dinner and liked it so much that the plan of cooking a second dinner was rapidly abandonded (hurrah!) There were crunchy little pops of corn, salty fetta and slivers of spring onion, which I used along with parsley and chives as the "micro herbs," whatever they might be. The two year old insisted in smothering each bite (as well as everything else on her plate, including the cherry tomatoes) in tomato sauce but who am I to judge? We had ours with green salad and tomato relish.

Definitely going on the repeat list.

Suddenly my two year old could use adverbs

Well, one at least.

At the moment, everything around here happens "suddenly."

"Suddenly E putting blanket on Belle's [the cat's] head!"

"Suddenly E drinking orange juice!"

Probably the funniest was E running at top speed across the oval near Mum and Dad's,  yelling "suddenly E turning into butterfly!"*

We think that the phrase must appear in one of her books, although we can't think which one. I expect the answer will come to us in a flash, when we're not really thinking about it. Suddenly.

* The Very Hungry Caterpillar is popular lately.