Snacks: Strawberry Leather

Strawberries are in season!  I love strawberry fruit rollups but haven't been able to find any in local grocery stores for the last few years.  I never really considered trying to make some for myself until I saw a recipe on a blog.  Then I looked up several recipes and decided to try the Strawberry Leather Recipe on Epicurious a try.

I looked online and found a local farm that produces five varieties of strawberries.  I looked up the varieties and found that the Albion is supposed to be sweeter than average.  I had my hopes set on trying this variety out, but left the fruit stand disappointed.  We picked up 2 packs of strawberries anyways.  I used up one pack to test out the recipe.

4 1/2 cups of halved strawberries

3/4 cup sugar

I blended the strawberries and sugar, then sieved out the seeds.  I brought the strawberry puree to a boil and lowered the heat (medium low) - simmering for about an hour.  The strawberry puree almost boiled over and Daddy helped me transfer it to a bigger pot.  I watched over it and stirred it frequently.  After, I lined two trays with parchment paper, added the strawberry puree as thinly and evenly as I could.  Would be better if I had a silicone baking sheet - since the parchment paper warped/wrinkled.  I preheated the oven to 200F and baked one tray for 2 hours and the other for 3 hours.  I left both trays to continue to dry and cool on a cooling rack overnight.  I cut them into strips and rolled them up.

Result: the 2 hour tray had some mushy spots that didn't dry enough - but the pieces were softer.  The 3 hour tray had dried completely, but was a bit tougher (especially around the edges).  I might have to try 2.5 hours next time.

I tried to offer some to Isaac but he didn't want to try it at all.  He did taste it after when I had him distracted (watching a dog), but he's not very interested in the strawberry leather.  Oh well, more for me.

Skills

Just a short list of things I've noticed Isaac doing lately.

• Runs
• Plays tag with Mommy
• Kicks a ball
• Spins around when asked or when there's music
• Bounces (bends knees)
• Goes down slides facing forward by himself
• Throws toys
• Claps
• Does the "more" sign, though not used meaningfully

Sometimes diaper changing time is a little easier.  In the mornings when I say that we need to change his diaper, he will go to his change mat and sit there.  He lies down when asked.  Also, he likes to help throw his dirty diaper into the garbage.  He's been able to help remove his clothes when we're changing him.

Isaac is a little slower in the talking department.  He babbles a bit but only says "mama" when he's upset or "nigh" for milk and water.  He makes "woo" sounds when playing with a vacuum hose and "rrr" sounds when playing with toy cars.  When he hears "Hello hello", he'll put whatever object he has in his hand up to his ears.

I will have to try talking to him more and naming more objects for him.  I'm not sure if I should try to teach him more signs.  When I was pregnant with him, I planned to teach my baby how to sign.  Now it seems to be one of those "would be nice" things for him to learn.

Walks

I find it difficult to go out for walks with a stroller in tow.  It's okay if Isaac is in the stroller but when he's walking it's tricky to push the stroller and chase after Isaac.  I leave the stroller at home unless I expect Isaac to nap while we're out or it's raining and I don't want to deal with Isaac getting soaked playing in puddles.  I wish we had a full rain suit or some rain pants.

One cold and rainy day, we were on our way to visit the library.  I wanted to give Isaac a chance to walk in the rain but didn't pack any spare clothes.  Besides the stumbles causing his pants to get a little wet, he decided that it would be lovely to SIT in a puddle.  I was not too thrilled.  When we got to the library, I took off his pants and had him running around in his onesie.  It was quite cold, but he would probably be colder wearing soaked pants.  We ended up leaving the library program shortly after it began.  I tried my best to dry his pants (using paper towels at the washroom) but they were still very damp.  I even took us to another washroom to use the hand dryer.  That helped a bit more, but it didn't completely dry.  Now, I am more cautious about letting Isaac romp freely when it's wet outside.  It's ok if we're already on our way home, but not encouraged if we're on our way somewhere else.

When I first started taking Isaac out on daily walks, he would go off and do his own thing.  He ignored my calls and was too busy exploring.  He'd go pretty far away from me and would look up once in awhile to check that I was still around.  I thought about getting a child harness, but in the end decided that I would try to get him used having me hold his hand.

At first, he would push my hand away.  When that didn't work, he just fell or sat down.  He seems to be more comfortable with me holding his hands especially when we're on the sidewalk.  Recently, he has started holding one of my fingers when we're walking together.  I think it's cute.  I'm enjoying this while he's still little.

Socialization

As a stay at home mom, I don't really have the financial means to put Isaac into daycare unless I get a paying job.  So part of my job includes trying to find ways to help Isaac learn how to interact with other kids.

I try to enrol in one or two parent and tot courses.  So far, I've found it harder to connect with the other moms there.  Most of the time, people get to the class on-time and leave immediately after.  For Isaac, he doesn't seem to really show any recognition of the toddlers in his classes.  Over the past two months, he's started to be more curious about other kids - he will go up to other kids and grab them.  I've been trying to teach him to be more gentle and to recognize signs when he starts to get worked up or frustrated so we've started to see some improvement on his grabbing behaviour.

Is it too early for toddlers to develop friendships?  We are part of a little play group that meets weekly.  I'm not sure if Isaac feels more comfortable with the toddlers in our group or not, but I hope that he's learning to share and have fun.

I've noticed that Isaac can get along better with some kids.  I'm still trying to figure out if it's based on personalities, ages, or genders.  He's interested in hanging out with slightly older kids (preschoolers) but not all welcome the attention of a toddler.

I'm always looking for more things we can do or places we can visit to expand our social circle.

Outing: Kerrisdale Play Palace

Isaac and I met up with a friend and her toddler and bused up from Richmond to Kerrisdale.  This is Isaac's second visit to the Kerrisdale Play Palace.

We took off our shoes and Isaac immediately went for the foosball table.  We spent most of our time in the toddler area.  Like last time, we played with toy trucks, "bricks" (decorated paper boxes), play houses and slides.  This visit, he also explored one of the bouncy castles, banged on a drum, and enjoyed putting a ball into a basketball hoop (when I lifted him up to it).

We were there for about 1.5 hours.  The toddlers and mommies were tired out by the time we caught the bus back home.

Swimming

We met up with a friend and went to a public swimming session together this afternoon.  The water seemed a little cooler than normal in the kiddy pool.  Isaac's teeth were chattering a few times.  I tried to keep him moving in the water.  He dislikes getting his head wet.  He used to love being held in a back float position during our swimming lessons.  Maybe he's just having an off day?  He did have some fun splashing and playing with a flutter board.  I think we will have to go again, especially since I didn't register for lessons over the summer.

Highlight during swimming: Isaac struggled to get out of the back float position and knocked off my glasses into the pool.  Luckily I was able to find and retrieve my glasses safely.  Glad my friend was there with me.  I'm blind without my glasses!

New Skill: Spinning around in a circle

Isaac must be absorbing something from his creative movements class because today he started spinning around in a circle.  I cheered and clapped my hands telling him "Good spinning!" and he giggled then spun around again.

After dinner, I asked him to spin around and made a circling motion with my hand.  He showed Daddy his spinning and started clapping when we clapped.  It was so cute!

Playing in the kitchen

Isaac likes to hang out where-ever the action is.  Normally when I'm in the kitchen trying to cook, he likes to be in there too.  Isaac keeps busy by pulling out stuff from our cupboards and drawers or dumping everything out of our recycling bin.  If I'm not watching, he'll try to go through the garbage under the sink if he gets a chance.

Today I put a towel on the floor.  Added some water and some toy eggs to a large heavy pot.  Put the pot on the towel.  Gave him a wooden spoon and a plastic ladle, then let him have a go at the pot.  He had a great time!  He crouched over his pot banging the spoon around, splashing out water, transferring the eggs between the pot and ladle.  After 30 minutes, he was still there playing away - the floor was wet, his clothes were drenched, his face was dripping with water, and he had a big grin on his face.  I stripped him of his wet clothing and he continued playing for awhile.  I was able to get most of the dinner preparation done while he played.

Definitely a great activity.  It was easy to clean since it's only water and I had a towel handy to wipe up the floor and surrounding area.  We will have to do this again another time.

Arts & Craft: Sock puppet

I've been wanting to buy a puppet from Toys R Us for awhile now but decided to try to make one for Isaac instead.  This morning during our daily walk in the neighbourhood, we stopped off at Value Village on our way home.  I picked up a pair of socks ($0.99), and couple of packs of random buttons ($1.99 each).  When we got home, I put Isaac down for his nap then dug out my trusty little sewing kit from my undergraduate years to sew the buttons onto the socks.

To make this puppet, I used:
1 pair of fuzzy blue socks,
3 buttons (2 for the eyes and 1 for the nose),
and 2 plastic hoops (for the ears/horns).

I rolled up one sock into a ball (for the head), then sewed the buttons for the nose and eyes on.  I added a couple of stitches around the mouth area (just below the nose).  Next, I placed the hoops between the head and the body (the other sock), and sewed the pieces together.  Finally, I put my hand into the sock and added some stitches between my thumb, and between my pinkie finger to form the puppet's hands.

So far Isaac has been trying to pull off all the buttons, but it's holding up to the attack.  We will have to see how the puppet fares after a couple of days.

Registering for gymnastics.

The summer program registration started on May 26th at midnight.  I was tired that evening and fell asleep.  DH went to bed at 1am and I woke up and worried that I might be too late.  I went to the computer and tried to sign into the registration site.  It was incredibly slow and timed out a couple of times.  I saw that there were still 3 spots left in the gymnastics course I wanted to sign me and Isaac up for.  When I was finally able to log in, add the course to my basket and pay for the course - I felt thrilled.  Kind of like winning a lottery.  It seems silly but this course was full in the spring so I wanted to get into it this time around.  DH said there must be lots of "crazy moms" out there.

I don't know how people would be able to get into any programs if they waited until the call centre opened.  I'll probably go through this again at the end of summer (for the fall programs).  I hope that we enjoy the class together and meet some fun people.