getting ready for gratitude
So, it's Thanksgiving Eve. Sort of. See, unlike the US, where Thanksgiving is Thursday, Thanksgiving in Canada is on a Monday. But because it's on a Monday, most people don't actually celebrate it on Monday. They do the dinner on Sunday, or even on Saturday. That leaves Monday for traveling day. But some people still do celebrate it on Monday. I think this is part of why Thanksgiving in Canada doesn't feel like as big a deal. It's diffused.
So far all my prep work has gone wrong, but not unsalvageably wrong, so I guess that's alright.
1. The cranberry sauce. The sugar syrup came to a boil really fast, before I had even opened the package of cranberries, so I had to scramble. But I tasted it when it was cooled off and it tastes pretty good. To be frank, I still prefer the jelly from a can.
2. The mixed winter veg. I planned to do squash, yams, carrots, and orange chunks (for flavor), with a drizzle of maple syrup, in the crock pot. By the time I did a single yam and half the squash, the crock was basically full. Also, I am not sure my squash is actually a butternut. The flesh is yellow! IDK. Luckily I bought baby carrots so I'll just add them to my cheese tray.
3. Dishes. I burned both my hands. Not badly (otherwise I wouldn't be typing), but my hands now have that too-tight gloves feeling and are a nice shiny pink. I don't know why, the water didn't FEEL that hot.
4. The turkey. We want to try spatchcocking the turkey. But the turkey isn't quite thawed all the way through yet. It's been in the fridge since Friday afternoon. Our fridge is so freaking cold. I really hope the turkey is thawed by tomorrow.
5. Rolls. I am just too tired to make the dough tonight. I can still make them tomorrow if things go well. Or I can even have Gordon bring some home. (He has to work in the morning.)
Anyway right now I'm just eating some yogurt before I go to bed.
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Pippa has been getting into absurd trouble lately. A big issue is chewing on things. Her last two molars have just broken through the gum. She especially likes to chew on things that are long (like toothbrush shapes). We earlier gave her an old broken phone with the battery taken out to play with, and today she chewed on the antenna and actually broke it into tiny pieces. We got as much out of her mouth as we could but I'm sure she swallowed some. Isn't 2.5 yo too old to still be chewing on stuff all the time?
The big issue is that we've tried giving her teethers meant for smaller kids, but her teeth and jaws are so powerful now she literally rips off bits of plastic from them, and then it's the same story. If anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear them. I think I'm going to call her NP on Tuesday to get her opinion.
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Mary-Alice still has blue-grey eyes. I am amazed at how she sleeps. She is one of those babies I thought was a myth--the old thing all the sleep experts tell you, about putting a baby down in a crib" quiet but alert" so as to learn it's possible to fall asleep without nursing (or being rocked or held or whatever the crutch is). Let me tell you, with Pippa I tried. Pippa never fell asleep except either nursing or being worn/held until she was like a year old.
With Mary-Alice, she just does it. I don't even have to really try. In fact the first time it happened I didn't even mean to put her to sleep, I just needed to put her down for a minute. In fact, Mary-Alice often prefers to fall asleep on her own at night. She snuggles and nurses, but then pulls away and just drifts off independently. I am not bragging--I didn't do anything to make her like this.
The other thing that floored me is that this kid doesn't like to be swaddled. I finally figured out that she was waking more frequently with the swaddle. This is a problem because she's not really big enough to use regular blankets well (if I put a blanket on initially, her before sleep wiggles push it off of her), and all the gear we have is swaddling stuff because Pip was a total swaddle kid. So I've sort of rigged the swaddling stuff into an under the armpit baby sleeping bag. I've asked a friend to borrow their sleepsacks. I think Mary-Alice will much prefer that kind of sleeping arrangement. That's the other issue, she doesn't like to be cold when she sleeps at all, so it's hard to get her warm enough. In the early morning when it's very cold she wakes up and cries until I put a blanket over her (and goes right back to sleep, so the blanket stays put).
My only issue with the sleep sack is that her poor little hands always feel so cold in the middle of the night. I may need to pull out our little fleece fingerless mittens.
---
Regarding the bleeding. We decided to try a medication option first. It doesn't appear to have worked in the way it's supposed to, but on the other hand, the bleeding seems to be lessening, perhaps on its own, so I'm cautiously optimistic.
So far all my prep work has gone wrong, but not unsalvageably wrong, so I guess that's alright.
1. The cranberry sauce. The sugar syrup came to a boil really fast, before I had even opened the package of cranberries, so I had to scramble. But I tasted it when it was cooled off and it tastes pretty good. To be frank, I still prefer the jelly from a can.
2. The mixed winter veg. I planned to do squash, yams, carrots, and orange chunks (for flavor), with a drizzle of maple syrup, in the crock pot. By the time I did a single yam and half the squash, the crock was basically full. Also, I am not sure my squash is actually a butternut. The flesh is yellow! IDK. Luckily I bought baby carrots so I'll just add them to my cheese tray.
3. Dishes. I burned both my hands. Not badly (otherwise I wouldn't be typing), but my hands now have that too-tight gloves feeling and are a nice shiny pink. I don't know why, the water didn't FEEL that hot.
4. The turkey. We want to try spatchcocking the turkey. But the turkey isn't quite thawed all the way through yet. It's been in the fridge since Friday afternoon. Our fridge is so freaking cold. I really hope the turkey is thawed by tomorrow.
5. Rolls. I am just too tired to make the dough tonight. I can still make them tomorrow if things go well. Or I can even have Gordon bring some home. (He has to work in the morning.)
Anyway right now I'm just eating some yogurt before I go to bed.
---
Pippa has been getting into absurd trouble lately. A big issue is chewing on things. Her last two molars have just broken through the gum. She especially likes to chew on things that are long (like toothbrush shapes). We earlier gave her an old broken phone with the battery taken out to play with, and today she chewed on the antenna and actually broke it into tiny pieces. We got as much out of her mouth as we could but I'm sure she swallowed some. Isn't 2.5 yo too old to still be chewing on stuff all the time?
The big issue is that we've tried giving her teethers meant for smaller kids, but her teeth and jaws are so powerful now she literally rips off bits of plastic from them, and then it's the same story. If anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear them. I think I'm going to call her NP on Tuesday to get her opinion.
---
Mary-Alice still has blue-grey eyes. I am amazed at how she sleeps. She is one of those babies I thought was a myth--the old thing all the sleep experts tell you, about putting a baby down in a crib" quiet but alert" so as to learn it's possible to fall asleep without nursing (or being rocked or held or whatever the crutch is). Let me tell you, with Pippa I tried. Pippa never fell asleep except either nursing or being worn/held until she was like a year old.
With Mary-Alice, she just does it. I don't even have to really try. In fact the first time it happened I didn't even mean to put her to sleep, I just needed to put her down for a minute. In fact, Mary-Alice often prefers to fall asleep on her own at night. She snuggles and nurses, but then pulls away and just drifts off independently. I am not bragging--I didn't do anything to make her like this.
The other thing that floored me is that this kid doesn't like to be swaddled. I finally figured out that she was waking more frequently with the swaddle. This is a problem because she's not really big enough to use regular blankets well (if I put a blanket on initially, her before sleep wiggles push it off of her), and all the gear we have is swaddling stuff because Pip was a total swaddle kid. So I've sort of rigged the swaddling stuff into an under the armpit baby sleeping bag. I've asked a friend to borrow their sleepsacks. I think Mary-Alice will much prefer that kind of sleeping arrangement. That's the other issue, she doesn't like to be cold when she sleeps at all, so it's hard to get her warm enough. In the early morning when it's very cold she wakes up and cries until I put a blanket over her (and goes right back to sleep, so the blanket stays put).
My only issue with the sleep sack is that her poor little hands always feel so cold in the middle of the night. I may need to pull out our little fleece fingerless mittens.
---
Regarding the bleeding. We decided to try a medication option first. It doesn't appear to have worked in the way it's supposed to, but on the other hand, the bleeding seems to be lessening, perhaps on its own, so I'm cautiously optimistic.